84 thoughts on “Linky Friday: Service, Server, Servant”

  1. SE11: Kroger has closed all its NC Triangle locations in Durham, Raleigh, etc on the basis of not growing enough. Kroger employees were unionized, and cynics point out that most of the stores will remodel and open as Kroger’s nonunionized subsidiary Harris-Teeter. I can’t recall any other supermarket in Durham that still had tabloids like National Enquirer by the checkout lines so that is one small gain.Report

    1. Interesting, I did not realize the employees were unionized. Are they everywhere? I definitely prefer shopping at Kroger (when I have time to do the hour’s round-trip drive) than at the local wal-mart.

      I expect we’ll get grocery delivery services here approximately 20 minutes before the sun’s expansion engulfs the earth. All those cool innovations that mean people don’t have to spend large amounts of time doing stuff and interacting with difficult people never come here.Report

    2. There is a bit more too ut than just that. Harris Teeter that bought 8 of the closing RDU is under the same company but runs as a separate division, and those 8 will be remodeled/rebranded to the slightly higher end HT brand, while others are sold off to Food Lion and developers. All were underperforming and several were redundant in an over saturated market so there was several factors involved. https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-news/article213090544.htmlReport

  2. Se2: Wouldn’t it be easier and a lot cheaper to just lift out the reactor compartments for disposal (probably at Hanford, in the damned open-air trenches), then just scuttle the hull someplace where the water’s nice and deep? The Puerto Rico Trench is fairly handy to Virginia where the ship is currently berthed.

    Sr4: Link doesn’t go to anything that seems appropriate.

    WT1: Just yesterday I was soldering a header onto a small circuit board and thinking to myself that a third hand would have been very useful.Report

      1. Sr4: This is the big reason why I am always anxious about giving the government even more information on citizens. Less because government might misuse it (although that is still a strong concern), but more because they are so often bad about securing that information.Report

        2. Well, it’s not like private corporations are much better at that sort of thing. I think the bottom line is just that there’s so much data about us scattered across so many platforms both public and private administered by so many people of varying degrees of competence and goodwill that it’s just unrealistic to hope for the kind of security and privacy that we would like. At this point I’m just happy if they spell my name right.Report

      2. The Navy and Marines can’t handle Greenpeace for a few days?

        After downloading the GAO report and skimming it, the scarier part — to me, at least — is that a number of the cost-saving plans call for removing the reactor compartments somewhere other than Puget Sound. Then turning regulation of their disposal over to either the civilian NRC or the local state. Transportation methods and storage locations “to be determined”. The NRC is being more polite than “Oh, hell no!” but not much.Report

        1. We had to deal with them once, but we couldn’t get permission to shoot them, so it really was a miserable couple of days.

          ETA: I thought the Navy had plans for decomming the big nukes, once upon a time? Did they get scrapped?Report

          1. My understanding is that the fundamental problem is the four big shipyards can’t keep up with the maintenance on the carriers and subs. And the problem is getting worse because the yards themselves are falling apart. Taking yard facilities out of service for maintenance puts ship maintenance even farther behind. And pulling the reactors from the Enterprise will take up time and resources that put maintenance of the active ships even farther behind. So they slip the decommissioning schedule, and all the time the running expenses for keeping the Enterprise in a condition where she can be safely moved keep piling up.

            Everybody knows my belief that we can see the day out there when the US is no longer a global conventional superpower, because the toys are just too damned expensive. Does anyone think we’ll build all of the 2,400 F-35s? All ten of the Ford class carriers?Report

        3. When our ships were docking at Perth (Freemantle achyually), there were Greenpeace protestors–one dude was screaming “Yankee’s go home.” We thought it was funny (because we knew the bar owners didn’t feel the same way).

          When we were shooting machine guns off the flight deck of a ship in the Aleutians, we had to stop because of a Greenpeace plane. There were seals (the animal, not the spec ops) on the ice or something. It was a prop plane and we joked about targeting it.Report

          1. I remember Freemantle having Dial a Date setup, giving tours of the LCAC to curious locals, getting a couple of phone numbers from gorgeous young ladies while giving the tours, and having other locals help me celebrate my 20th birthday by not letting me buy a drink & getting me safely back to the ship.

            Loved that town.Report

  3. WT1: I’d use it to hold the steering wheel. Seriously, I think I’m developing arthritis in my hands. You try holding a wheel for 10 hours a day, day after day after day…Report

  4. [Se8] and [Se13] are relevant to my interests.

    [Se8] unfortunately is behind a paywall. Not everything on WSJ is viewable for free, which is fine, but I’ve not subscribed to it.

    [Se13] looks like the same company, though!

    [Se13] also offers some sort of a reason to visit Columbus, Ohio. I’ve never been to Columbus. I can’t imagine why I would ever go. If I do go, that’s the place to stay, though. Room looks pretty nice and it’s cool that there’s a roll-up window into the brewery floor. The “beer-paired breakfast” looks like pizza and burgers, and that sounds like a great way to get ready for a business meeting. The brewery attached to the hotel is apparently going to make sours. Which actually aren’t my thing, but hey, there’s an audience for them and BrewDog’s IPA is famous for a reason. The mini-fridge in the room will surely be stocked with bitter and malty varieties of the house label too.Report

        2. On the one hand, he was weak and ineffectual and didn’t really do a hell of a lot.

          On the other hand, he was weak and ineffectual and didn’t really do a hell of a lot.Report

          1. Which, even taking the point without argument, puts him head and shoulders above the ones who brought us the 1982 recession, Iran Contra, the Beirut barracks bombing, the Iraq war, the 1998 savings and loan collapse, the 2008 Great Recession…

            “Didn’t inflict suffering on the nation” is a bar that few of his successors* can claim.

            *With a singular notable exception from 2008-2016Report

  7. Really OT but:

    https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/lil-xan-noah-cyrus-who-weekly.html

    Apparently around my generation (but largely younger millennials and whomever comes after millennials) are really into inking and tattoos. I don’t know if this is because I am Jewish with residual feelings that tattoos are taboo, this is one of those weird areas where I am operationally conservative, or a future protective dad (maybe all three). But I don’t get it. Especially this kid, he is a skinny 21-year old. He doesn’t look tough or hard core with his neck and face tattoos. He looks pretty absurd and I want to say “Who do you think you are kidding?!?”

    I also want to say that to the guys I know who went to high school with me and are now thirty somethings with tattoos when I know they did Model Congress in high school. Who do you think you are kidding?Report

    1. My attitudes towards tattoos have grown more skeptical over time, when I imagine what my 21 year old self would have had permanently marked on my skin for all time.

      “Grandma, Pop-Pop looks so peaceful, but what does ‘Gabba Gabba Hey!’ mean?”Report

      1. The thing I find socially interesting is how quickly the taboos changed. I graduated college in 2002 and a few people had tattoos then but not as many. A few years later, the number of people with tattoos seemed to sky-rocket but they were still generally small or smallish and could be hidden even when wearing a t-shirt. Now it is not uncommon to see people with these ugly (and oh boy are they ugly) neck and face tattoos. They also tend to make people look more dumb than tough and cold.

        Plus my reaction to seeing this 18 year old girl with her dope fake tough boyfriend is that of a concerned parent. Like all I can do is imagine what if I had a 18 year old daughter and she came home with a stupid-dope boyfriend with face and neck tattoos. I wouldn’t like it all and I am not even a dad yet!Report

        2. I stopped a young woman at the grocery the other day to complement her on her tattoo. Left arm full sleeve. Incredibly vivid colors. Flowers and vines and leaves and little faces — mice, fairies, birds — peeking out from behind things. I don’t know how it will age, but for now it was absolutely gorgeous.Report

          1. I noticed most of the ICU nurses who helped with my friend’s case last week had multiple visible tattoos – at least 9 people, ages 25-40 or so….

            They were all very attractive tattoos. I really think the norm has changed. (Although if anyone was going to be able to flout the professional norm of their institutions, it would be the engineer-shamans otherwise known as ICU nurses :D.)Report

          1. The judge will have “writ” inked on one set of fingers, “tort” on the other set, “justice for all” entwined with barbed wire across his forehead, and when every case is over he’ll whip off his robe to reveal a huge set of scales on his back.Report

            1. We are going to get lawyers with visible tattoos a lot sooner than judges with visible tattoos. The older judges are going to have opinions about this. They might not be able to do anything prohibiting visibly tattooed lawyers from appearing in court but they can make it painful for them. Law has some inherent conservatism built in. We have archaic habits, writing, and dress ideas.Report

              1. Is the concept of professionalism and respect for institutions conservative?

                If so, I guess I’m a conservative. (Ironically, Trump’s making conservatives of us all.)Report

    2. I suspect you’re wondering “who they think they’re kidding” because you’re applying an earlier generation’s interpretation of what tattoos “mean” to people for whom they don’t mean that at all.

      It’s like seeing, I dunno, someone in the mid 20th century wearing jeans and going “who do you think you’re kidding? You’re neither a cowboy nor a miner.” The same pants meant different things to different generations.Report

      1. During the early days of Israel’s existence, there was a tendency for parents in the young nation to give their children (especially boys) tougher sounding names from Jewish history and the Torah. This was kind of done to overcome stereotypes that Jews were just bookish and nerdy. Levi Eshkahol (who was PM during the Six Day War) called this phenomena “Samson Der Nebbish.”

        I’m influenced by this line of thoughtReport

    3. the current generation of college students – lots of them have them but they’re generally less obvious than in years past. Fewer culturally-appropriationey “tribal armband” things. More small ankle or wrist tats.

      Tattoos were still largely the province of bikers and veterans when I was young, so I would never have considered one, and now that I’m old, (a) I can’t think of anything I want on my body forever and (b) I know I’m a giant wuss about pain and needles and (c) I know there’s aftercare required to keep the skin healthy while healing and I am not always the best at self-care when busy.

      I also don’t have any piercings; my parents wouldn’t let me get my ears pierced when I was a teen, and then, once I was out on my own and was like “I could go get my ears pierced!” I was like “Meh, it would be a lot of work to prevent infection while living in the dorm” and so I never bothered.Report

  8. Se2 Big E had always been something of a yard queen during its service, but NAVSEA 08 has really been negligent to let the process be so loosy goosy at this relatively late date.Report

    1. Also worth pointing out again she was uniquely built, and what turned out to be a one-off design. They were busy achieving “firsts” with the design, not thinking of recycling or interchangeable design elements like we do now. Report

  9. [Se5] Meanwhile in Germany, one of the reasons they kept compulsory service so long was the considerable social good the conscientious objectors did.

    The guys who went into military service – good and all, the country needs a military. But the conscientious objectors who opted for a civilian service year – the parks services, hospitals, etc. benefited immensely from a steady stream of enthusiastic and underpaid young people.Report

      1. I think it could work here, but we’d need to overcome the sense some have that time is a wasting doing the service (I could be climbing the corporate ladder instead of cleaning National Park restrooms!)Report

        1. I have had a lot of thoughts and ideas on this front over the years, including one that isn’t unique to me but of coming up with a GI-Bill type educational incentive for 1,2 and 4 year commitments to a civil service position. Like the military you can fill holes and shortfalls where needed, give them some say as to where they go like military recruiting does, and they get 25%, 50%, or 100% of their education covered depending on what they do. I’d even listen to argument that you could do same thing in exchange for forgiveness of student load debt proportional to time served as well.Report

              1. Of course, you know that common sense isn’t what motivates Congress Critters to support various bills. Common-sensically, prolly each and every member of Congress would support this policy proposal on the merits. But that’s not the compelling calculus. I mean, cmon… You’re criticizing politicians for *being politicians*.

                “What we need are *better* politicians, tho.”

                Sure. Who doesn’t agree with that?

                Add: George Carlin “Garbage in, garbage out”

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23BJNveKMRIReport

              2. We agree but we don’t really believe that, and by “we” I speak corporately of the American people. The great lie about how awful our politicians are, is they are elected officials. They are what we let them be. They are a reflection of us. But it is easier to say “the politicians are wicked, lazy, trifling, fools” than admitting that we are and that’s why we tolerate it. We love to rail against the obvious, but do precious little to correct it, because the former is easy and the later is hard.Report

      2. A national civilian service would strike many Americans as bad as a military draft. It will come across as forced labor. It might actually be forced labor and not permissible under the 13th Amendment. The CCC and WPA were voluntary rather than compulsory.Report

        1. Agree, it would take an existential threat to the CONUS to get the draft rolling again.

          But I really see no problem with expanding the GI Bill to a voluntary civil service, or forgiving $X of student debt per year of voluntary civil service.Report

      1. Honestly they could probably get someone to pay them to spend the austral summer down there. Everyone (in the sciences) daydreams about getting one of those jobs one day. (Self included.)Report

    2. Seems like a better deal than what Southern Illinois – Edwardsville was offering earlier this year. (Unpaid positions “for exposure’)

      Damn, I’m lucky I got a tenure-track job back when I did.Report

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