The Off Topic Topic

[Tamas]

Isn't corruption malevolent tho?

I'd say never attribute to corruption/malevolence what can be explained by incompetence

Yeah that's often naive though especially when a lot of money can be gained by being "incompetent".

[Josquius]

Yeah... I don't see "corruption" in the brown envelopes sense of the word at work here. More over zealous bureaucracy that doesn't think about what it has been told to hire contractors to do and contractors who are only too keen to do whatever you pay them for.

I've seen this story before and it is indeed horrid. Par the course for the tories though. Very big on salting the earth.

[Tamas]

Yeah... I don't see "corruption" in the brown envelopes sense of the word at work here. More over zealous bureaucracy that doesn't think about what it has been told to hire contractors to do and contractors who are only too keen to do whatever you pay them for.

I've seen this story before and it is indeed horrid. Par the course for the tories though. Very big on salting the earth.

Yeah it was a decision between spending 5k or 125k and they went with the 125k option. Surely innocent.

[Syt]

Irish road safety ad:

https://twitter.com/Diamandahagan/status/1421128195139571716?s=20

[Josquius]

Yeah... I don't see "corruption" in the brown envelopes sense of the word at work here. More over zealous bureaucracy that doesn't think about what it has been told to hire contractors to do and contractors who are only too keen to do whatever you pay them for.

I've seen this story before and it is indeed horrid. Par the course for the tories though. Very big on salting the earth.

Yeah it was a decision between spending 5k or 125k and they went with the 125k option. Surely innocent.

5k which leaves it their responsibility vs 125k which destroys it and washes their hands of it.

[Tamas]

Yeah... I don't see "corruption" in the brown envelopes sense of the word at work here. More over zealous bureaucracy that doesn't think about what it has been told to hire contractors to do and contractors who are only too keen to do whatever you pay them for.

I've seen this story before and it is indeed horrid. Par the course for the tories though. Very big on salting the earth.

Yeah it was a decision between spending 5k or 125k and they went with the 125k option. Surely innocent.

5k which leaves it their responsibility vs 125k which destroys it and washes their hands of it.

Ok you win this one. 

[Grey Fox]

There's more than 5k worth of concrete alone in that picture.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah that's often naive though especially when a lot of money can be gained by being "incompetent".

For sure - but I'd almost put it the other way round. It's more naive to think it's down to bad people skimming off the top than, as Tyr, systems and incentives that push the organisation - with multiple stakeholders having meetings and signing off on the most risk-averse option for which no-one is truly responsible

Taking the risk that the bridge could collapse but it only cost £5k would require someone to make that decision, it's very easy to get corporate buy-in for spending £125k but meaning there is almost no risk.

Edit: But that may just be my cynicism of working with large organisations including bits of government

[The Brain]

Is the top picture the way it's supposed to look? There was no way to make the bridge safe without making it look like a giant took a dump there?

[Sheilbh]

Is the top picture the way it's supposed to look? There was no way to make the bridge safe without making it look like a giant took a dump there?

Well - yeah.

I also love this guy's line: "Our work has preserved the structure. The bridge remains intact and supported."

They got asked to maybe check if the bridge was safe and fix it - and they're proud that they didn't literally just destroy the bridge

[Josquius]

Not accusing Tamas of this given in Hungary it very much is more the case.
But I'm seeing  a huge trend this past 5 years in the UK for people to accuse anything they don't like of being down to someone in the council getting a bribe, brown envelopes, back handers, etc....
I haven't seen any decent investigations into where this attitude is coming from but it is having huge impacts. Its pretty key to many labour heartlands losing out to the Tories. It's just blindly accepted that labour councils are definitely corrupt.
Its particularly fascinating as you do see very real examples of big money corruption regularly coming from central government. But no. Its that building down the road getting an extension I think is ugly which is definitely down to corruption.

[Maladict]

I can't help but feel that bridge could still serve a purpose to allow excess water to drain.
You know, in case severe weather events become more common for some reason.

[Savonarola]

I saw this at the Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture website:




They still make Viewmasters.  I had no idea.

[mongers]

I can't help but feel that bridge could still serve a purpose to allow excess water to drain.
You know, in case severe weather events become more common for some reason.

Come on that's just preposterous. 

[HVC]

Irish road safety ad:

https://twitter.com/Diamandahagan/status/1421128195139571716?s=20

The squish sound is both unnecessary and somehow makes it funny