Bit Bucket
From a Reddit thread asking for “things the public doesn’t know about your job”:
One last thing…the myth of the $500 hammer (or wrench), which I learned in a logistics class. During the cold war there was a need for a milspec tool for use on nuclear subs. This thing had to be exact in its measurements, not retain radiation, survive extreme temperature changes, and perform several functions. The tool took a few years to design, some new applications in material science had to be invented, but they got it done. A congressman sees this item listed in the budget with a really long and confusing item name, and a price of $325. He asks his staffer, what is this? The staffer makes some calls, some people try to explain it to him, and the staffer reports back, “It’s some sort of wrench or something.” The price is inflated to $500, it gets called a hammer, and everyone ignores the fact that while they were needed, the Navy only needed about 100 of them. Meanwhile, congress spent several million “investigating” this, including trips to the naval base / golf club we had on Bermuda at the time, and everyone promptly ignored the findings, but it still makes a great empty talking point.
See also, Leo McGarry talking about submarine ashtrays.
Edited to add: it wasn’t Leo, it was Christian Slater’s character talking to Donna. My bad. Thanks, TJ
dalasverdugo liked this
baitandswitch liked this
toolittlecakes liked this
katiebakes liked this
marco liked this
diablocodyisnotevenherrealname reblogged this from nickdouglas
rjdlc reblogged this from tbridge
tbridge reblogged this from nickdouglas and added:
See also, Leo McGarry talking about submarine ashtrays. Edited to add: it wasn’t Leo, it was Christian Slater’s...
angleofattack liked this
nickdouglas posted this
Page 1 of 1
