09:17 – It was 69.8F (21C) when I took Colin out at 0700, partly cloudy. Barbara has some work to do in the garden this morning, and is volunteering at the Friends of the Library bookstore this afternoon. Our dinners the last couple of evenings have been mostly from the garden: potatoes, green beans, and yellow squash casserole. Knowing I like meat, Barbara grilled a couple of pork chops Sunday evening for me to have Sunday and yesterday along with the rabbit food.
We’ve been watching the 2008 BBC version of War & Peace. Lots of cuties, a good dress once in a while, so I’m happy. The plot has something to do with Russia and Napoleon, but I’m not really paying much attention to that part. We also have the Aussie series A Place to Call Home in progress, with the extraordinary Marta Dusseldorp, as well as Dalziel & Pascoe, with the extraordinary Susannah Corbett.
As I remarked to Barbara, I’d be pretty happy watching just historical costume dramas and documentaries, with no contemporary series other than Heartland and one or two others. I think she feels pretty much the same way.
We got a lot of chemical bottles filled yesterday. Today, I’ll be making up still more chemical solutions. While I’m at it, I need to order a few thousand more bottles. We’re down to only a few hundred of the 15 mL bottles left in stock, and we use a lot of them.
Kathy’s comment yesterday about how little the bulk food/calories cost them got me to thinking, so I calculated just how much they did spend on their dry bulk LTS stuff.
~ $100 – 400 pounds of white flour
~ $120 – 400 pounds of white rice
~ $360 – 400 pounds of assorted pasta
~ $140 – 300 pounds of white sugar
~ $100 – 120 pounds of oats
~ $ 50 – 80 pounds of cornmeal
~ $ 80 – 100 pounds of assorted dry beans
~ $ 18 – 48 pounds of iodized salt
~ $ 70 – 18 gallons of vegetable oil and shortening
~ $180 – 24 large jars of herbs and spices
or roughly $1,200 for enough food—literally a ton, at an average of about $0.60/pound—to feed four people for one year on iron rations. That’s about 500 pounds of food and $300 per year per person. The only additional cost, other than their time, was about $150 for LDS foil-laminate Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers.
Of course, they actually spent about five times that much, but most of that was on canned foods, particularly meats. (If not for the meat as supplemental protein, they’d have needed a lot more beans to provide complete protein, probably 250 pounds rather than 100.)
Hmmm. Barbara’s patience extends only so far. I pointed out that two of the cuties–Lily James and Aisling Loftus–that are in the 2016 War & Peace are also in another Brit costume drama from 2016. She said that sounded interesting. But she knows me too well. When I asked her if she wanted me to get it, she asked what the title was. I told her Pride & Prejudice … and Zombies. NFW, she said.
As I remarked to Barbara, I’d be pretty happy watching just historical costume dramas and documentaries, with no contemporary series other than Heartland and one or two others. I think she feels pretty much the same way.
Ad revenue is spread way too thin for the broadcast networks or basic cable to come up with new quality programming right now. I blame Facecrack; ads on that site aren’t nearly as effective as the conventional wisdom says they are.
HBO and the streaming services are where quality will come from for now. “Westworld” is going to have a huge second season after the DVDs hit in time for Black Friday.
Hmmm. Barbara’s patience extends only so far. I pointed out that two of the cuties–Lily James and Aisling Loftus–that are in the 2016 War & Peace are also in another Brit costume drama from 2016.
Lily James is pretty cool in “Baby Driver”. The movie stops being fun in the last 1/3, however — kinda unusual for Edgar Wright.
Ha. I’ll have to look into that, just based on the title.
Not that I’d be likely to watch more than a few episodes. I watch very few movies (several per year, and only at home), watch several episodes of a few series per year, and complete a series every few years. The internal contradictions, PC bullshit, or just general bullshit always get to me and I find myself not bothering to watch the next episode.
This one is just a real production of P&P, but with zombies staggering around chomping people. It’s a movie rather than a series.
The Brits, Canadians, and Aussies seem to do very good quality programming on pretty small budgets. Of course, none of them really have the “star” system like the US does. Their acting talent is mostly journeymen, who are very competent, but make only a decent upper-middle-class living. That’s generally true of even their biggest names, which is why a lot of them come to the US for high-paying acting jobs.
I’d guess that the 10 seasons of Heartland (170-odd 45-minute episodes) cost less than one season of some US series.
Gal Gadot *only* got $300K for Wonder Woman. Feminazis complained immediately, but Robert Downey *only* got $500K for Iron Man. GG will make millions on the WW sequel now that she is a *US* star.
“The Brits, Canadians, and Aussies seem to do very good quality programming on pretty small budgets.”
In the Seventies the Australian ABC showed a series called Rush, about the gold mining booms in Oz in the C19. I and my family loved it but unfortunately it was only broadcast, no VHS or DVDs, as the “talent” was only paid for broadcast rights.
I’m “wired” for literary stuff, so my take on who does the best in that area is that it’s usually been the Brits and the Irish. They have had better writers than we’ve had, and that continues into the present. The Canadians and Aussies, not so much. This was also true of the British and Irish grad students I knew back in the day, 25 years ago; much better and more widely read.
Overcast and more rain expected up here today; I’m on minor local errands and inside cleanup operations again; no Planning Commission meeting tonight due to a couple of the guys unable to make it because of work-related issues. So the secretary will send us the housing chapter revision from the town plan for our delectation until the next meeting August 8.
Exciting!
I did hit a couple of stores yesterday, and picked up a couple of cheap preps.
In the ‘super cheap’ in all senses category, it’s an LED emergency light from eddie bauer. Hand crank and solar, $3. Very high on the gimmicky scale, but the kids will like it.
https://www.amazon.com/Eddie-Bauer-Dynamo-Lantern-ONESZE/dp/B005UE9X8Q
Also got a big cast aluminum frying pan, vintage, Ware, about 12″ x 3″ and I added a modern lid, $15 total. Not sure how to ‘season’ the cast aluminum versions of cast iron, but after I clean it up, I’ll give it a shot.
n
In the Seventies the Australian ABC showed a series called Rush
That reminds me of another show I haven’t seen mentioned… the Aussie series Rake. Talk about a flawed hero! But for some reason, I really, really like it. It was impossible to find as streamed content a few years ago, so I own S1-3 on DVD. I’ve seen it available recently tho.
From the Hard Questions Department:
https://readfomag.com/2017/07/12/aerodynamic/
I especially like the questions concerning the blatant lack of “diversity” in the diversity-cheerleading neighborhoods.
And my own question: if us Normals are in the vast majority in the West, how is it that we are browbeaten and bullied by tiny, tiny minorities of vociferous complainers, whiners and grievance whores and pimps???
And why are things so much worse for our largest minority despite us spending TRILLIONS to make things better for them since World War II?? (see Fred Reed for a cogent summary of that gigantic fiasco).
I especially like the questions concerning the blatant lack of “diversity” in the diversity-cheerleading neighborhoods.
When we lived in SW WA State, our neighborhood’s elementary school was the only consistently decent K-5 public facility in the entire Portland Metro. Lots of Oregon plates on high end cars pulled into the parking lot every morning.
“Lots of Oregon plates on high end cars pulled into the parking lot every morning.”
But where muh diversity???
At least some of them must be aware of their own hypocrisy.
_Shiloh Ranch: A Post Apocalyptic EMP Survival Fiction Series (The Blackout Series) (Volume 4)_ by Bobby Akart
https://www.amazon.com/Shiloh-Ranch-Apocalyptic-Survival-Blackout/dp/1542496608/
Book number four of a six book apocalyptic CME (coronal mass ejection event) series. I read the POD (print on demand) trade [paperback). I am now reading the fifth book in the series and the sixth book is at hand. These are quick read books in a comfortable format with 50 pages addendums on EMP and CME events. And prepping.
The Rymans have bugged out of Nashville in their old beat up 1969 Jeep Wagoneer that survived the CME event. They chose not to join their neighbors in the FEMA camps. They joined their friends at the Shiloh Ranch outside of Savannah, Tennessee. They settle in and immediately start helping the fortification of the ranch against the sheriff of Hardin County, Tennessee. The sheriff who is the grandson of Buford Pusser but is more like Barney Fife. But, is the sheriff the only problem ?
The author has a website at:
http://www.BobbyAkart.com
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (157 reviews)
Hey, we haven’t even hit peak summer in the Land of Sugar yet, “Most of the United States has reached peak summer—but not Texas”:
https://spacecityweather.com/most-of-the-united-states-has-reached-peak-summer-but-not-texas/
“One of the cruelest aspects of summertime in Houston is that it lasts so late into “fall.” When considering the average high temperature, the peak of summer for most of the United States comes in July—on average July 23rd for the lower 48 states. This is understandable, as the Sun reaches the highest point of the sky in late June. However this is not the case for much of Texas, and especially the Texas coast, where the peak of summer typically comes during the second week of August (see map below).”
At least some of them must be aware of their own hypocrisy.
I wouldn’t doubt that some of the parents are now involved with Portland’s antifa. My guess was that the fancy cars came from the artsy Hollywood district across the river.
And my own question: if us Normals are in the vast majority in the West, how is it that we are browbeaten and bullied by tiny, tiny minorities of vociferous complainers, whiners and grievance whores and pimps???
And why are things so much worse for our largest minority despite us spending TRILLIONS to make things better for them since World War II?? (see Fred Reed for a cogent summary of that gigantic fiasco).
I guess the answer to the first questions is the Feds/goobermint agencies have decided to stick their noses in and punish anybody who says anything against a *minority*. Won’t bake a cake for some Dykes, get put out of business. Say n****r during a crime and get hung then quartered. Next up: thought crimes. Hey, WHITEY!, you were probably thing about …BLAM! BLAM!
The answer to the second question is: the commies and Progs have turned minorities into dumbfuks. Throw a chicken and pack of ciggies in their direction for votes. The Black community will die out if the Progs don’t spend billions on ciggies, booze, abortions, ObamaPhones, etc.
Here is Obola’s real legacy, “Federal spending is skyrocketing — along with US debt”:
http://nypost.com/2017/07/25/federal-spending-is-skyrocketing-along-with-us-debt/
“Federal spending topped $400 billion for the first time in June.”
“That has the unfortunate distinction of beating the record of $392.8 billion that was spent in March of 2017.”
“I mention this because the US debt is getting awfully close to $20 trillion — a level which, as I said in a column a while ago, the media should give as much attention as it does whenever the Dow Jones industrial average passes through milestones.”
“US debt is getting awfully close to $20 trillion”
Officially, maybe, but that doesn’t count off-the-books stuff or pensions and other kick-the-can items that are promised. Unfunded liabilities, all. I’ve estimated previously that actual government debt in the US–federal, state, and local–is probably 10 times what they’re admitting to. Call it $200 trillion.
To say this is unsustainable is a gross understatement. We’re heading for a crash and a complete reset, sooner or later. American people and companies who hold government debt (or private debt in the form of corporate bonds or pensions) will be paid off at some tiny percentage, probably via grossly inflated dollars. Foreign holders will probably take a 100% haircut via default on foreign-held debts. That’s why the Chinese, for example, are trying desperately to convert their holdings of US financial instruments into real estate and other hard assets. I don’t think that’ll work. When things come to a head, foreign owners of US assets will find their assets confiscated.
lol! Expert trolling by President tRump using the BSA jamboree to slam Obola and Cankles. The tRump continues to sour Prog lives on a daily basis. I hope he fires Mueller and starts the counter-revolution this year. Progs in the open — lock and load one 30 round magazine.
” Not sure how to ‘season’ the cast aluminum versions of cast iron, but after I clean it up, I’ll give it a shot.”
I’d start by wrapping it in a paper bag. Then put a price tag on it ($16.95 is a good start.) Put it out on the curb & hope someone steals it.
Really – I don’t know a good way to season it. I got rid of every piece of aluminum cookware & replaced it all with stainless & cast iron. Cooking performance & taste are enough reason for my wife, even allowing for my irrational dislike for dietary aluminium.
I hope he fires Mueller
Me too. Mueller is a witch hunter and witch hunters always find witches. Remember Scooter Libby ?
“We’re heading for a crash and a complete reset, sooner or later.”
The Prophet Oeffdee, many curses on his name, hath spoken: By 2019 at the latest. The chit is snowballing now.
I don’t think we’re gonna have the whole four years of tRump’s term after all. The Enemy is working overtime, around the clock, in fact, to bring him and the country down, and even without those assholes, the financial house of cards just is not sustainable any longer.
I hope and pray we can survive relatively intact but I fear a combination of another Greater Depression, by orders of magnitude, and a following second civil war. With the Grid in various areas up and down like a roller-coaster. At best.
And I really hope and pray I’m just WRONG as can be and ALL WET even. A figure of fun and ridicule. I’d take that.
A lot goes unspoken, on both sides. The Enemy isn’t necessarily bad by their own lights. Many of them actually believe they’re doing good by forcing those who can afford things to pay for others who can’t. Some, who see deeper, doubtless understand that things are coming to a head between the Haves and Have-nots, and so with the best of intentions are trying to stave off the coming storm by taking from the Haves and distributing to the Have-nots.
My own attitude is and always has been, Fuck the Have-nots, whether they’re here or overseas. I just don’t care about them. I literally wouldn’t bother to piss on them if they were on fire. But I can see the progs’ viewpoint. Not all of them are evil. Many–most in fact–are decent people who aren’t very bright, and even some who are very bright but haven’t thought things through. It’s a common human failing to believe that the Law of Unintended Consequences doesn’t apply to YOUR ideas.
A lot goes unspoken, on both sides. The Enemy isn’t necessarily bad by their own lights. Many of them actually believe they’re doing good by forcing those who can afford things to pay for others who can’t. Some, who see deeper, doubtless understand that things are coming to a head between the Haves and Have-nots, and so with the best of intentions are trying to stave off the coming storm by taking from the Haves and distributing to the Have-nots.
Somehow, we have gotten the impression that healthcare should be free in the USA. I don’t know if this was started by Medicare or not, but the ERs have been abused to the point of breaking many of them. The only way that I see out of this mess is putting all CITIZENS on Medicare. And, changing the Medicare tax from 1.45% on both sides to 6.0% on both sides.
I am not sure that this will fix things. In fact, I am beginning to wonder if it might make things worse. If, paying for healthcare can get worse as it is at the breaking point now.
Did tRump stop the bail out of OdooshCare exchanges? Wasn’t there a $XXX billion fund for bail out of insurance companies? Gotta pay for the poor dumbfuks.
Yes, it will make things worse. MUCH worse.
If you really want to improve matters, let the free market take care of it.
As to how it can get worse, you’ll pay even more for even less.
If you really want to improve matters, let the free market take care of it.
The only way that a free market in healthcare could work is to do a insurance / payment check at the beginning of each ER visit. Doing the insurance / payment stage at the end, like we do now, allows a person to deny payment.
Good luck in getting Congress to repeal that law.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act
the ERs have been abused to the point of breaking many of them
Indeed. I know one lady who goes to the ER for herself or her three kids once or twice a week. She is a leach on society living on massive welfare assistance. She pays little to nothing for the ER visit instead stiffing the taxpayers. Typical visits are for sniffles and minor sprains, stuff that should be just treated at home. But no, gotta to go to the ER because it is free.
The demand for free good is infinite.
I read that before the Seventies in the US if you wanted to adopt a child you could easily do so by agreeing to pay the mother’s hospital bill. Guess that’s not affordable now, nor are the babies available.
“Really – I don’t know a good way to season it. I got rid of every piece of aluminum cookware & replaced it all with stainless & cast iron. Cooking performance & taste are enough reason for my wife, even allowing for my irrational dislike for dietary aluminium.”
Fully agree – I work with aluminum in various forms of heat exchangers almost daily. It is great for the right application – not cookware… I don’t mind aluminum cans though. The UBC (universal beverage can) is an amazing alloy package designed by a consortium of alloy producers and can manufactures for recycling and manufacturing post recycle. One of the most successfully engineered consumer products of all time. There are 3 distinctly different alloys – the deep draw can, the top and the lever. All are designed to make a 4th useful alloy when melted together.
“But no, gotta to go to the ER because it is free.”
Here, the ERs don’t even bother with addresses for crimmigrants, why waste $0.45 on a stamp.
I sound like a shill for the aluminum industry, but one of the projects I am most proud of was a new type of aluminum heat exchanger for a large machine that is installed all over the world. I am mainly a thermodynamics / heat transfer guy but spent a good part of a couple of years on what turned out to be a very challenging manufacturing problem. Can you tell I like aluminum?
I am totally disgusted! We hit a WhatABurger on the way out of El Paso. Lo and behold, in big letters, on the window:
One Nation
UNDER GOD
Indivisible
Hawk, spit! And a full color FUSA flag on top of it! Disgusting. I almost couldn’t eat my delicious patty melt. What has the FUSA come to.
The idea with the aluminum version of the cast iron pan is that it is a LOT lighter. Still not LIGHT, but lighter. That is really the only advantage.
@bill F, I think it is truly AWESOME that you can work at something you love.
Spent some time today doing the auction pickup that I missed yesterday. Got a bunch of good stuff. No preps, but should be good resale. I need a couple big hits.
Spent a couple hours in the shade breaking down scrap. I need the space so it’s time for it to go. BIG pile of aluminum and about 30 transformers. Won’t add up to big money but it has to go anyway, so it might as well pay me.
Did I mention that it was hot?
oh, I took a closer look at my melon patch, and what I thought was an acorn squash is a personal size watermelon. In fact the squash plant died. One more for the list of stuff that won’t grow there….
Stopped at the salvage steel yard and priced some galvanized pipe. I’ve got 2 antennas I’d like to elevate. My installed Cushcraft R7 vertical HF antenna REALLY needs another 10 ft of height, and I’ve got a Ringo Ranger for 2 meter that I’d like to get up high. My base radio has 4 antenna connectors, roughly one per band HF, 10, 2 and 70cm. 20ft sticks of 1 1/2″ galvanized water pipe are $44 each. Seems like about double what I paid last time I bought pipe. No salvage either in that size. I needed to double check the mounts will work if I’m gonna drop $100 on pipe. Maybe I’ll look for a bit of used Rohn tower instead. If the price is close, I’d rather have the truss tower.
Always stuff to do…..
n
“Disgusting. I almost couldn’t eat my delicious patty melt. What has the FUSA come to.”
You did, of course, report those terrible transgressions to the local antifa chapter, did you not?
Mmmmmmmmmm……patty melts…….on rye….with onions….Angus ground beef….Murkan cheddah….medium rare…..
“Did I mention that it was hot?”
The local rag mentioned we gotta be careful here this week and watch out for heat stroke and suchlike because it could hit the 80s.
Hawk, spit! And a full color FUSA flag on top of it! Disgusting. I almost couldn’t eat my delicious patty melt. What has the FUSA come to.
Yes, Texas is full of many such places. The worst offender is Buc-ee’s. Just look at the dress code. They don’t understand that “ink” is an expression of individuality.
https://www.buc-ees.com/careers.php
(The dress code used to prohibit “Hair colors God did not intend for people to have”, but someone must have reeducated their HR person, hopefully at a camp -er- weekend seminar.)
The parents drove in last night and picked up a four inch nail around El Campo, TX. They came in the rest of the way on a flatbed trailer truck since their car does not have a spare. I had them leave their car here at the office since they are going to Maine to get cool for a while. They have a nice B&B at an old lighthouse waiting for them as they flew out this morning. BTW, I did not know that AAA will tow your car up to 100 miles for “free”.
I just pulled the nail out of the tire and plugged the tire with my temporary kit. Connected up the compressor, turned it on and no joy. Then my son discovered the rip in the inner sidewall. The wheel is going to Sams Club tomorrow without the car. Then I get to take the car back since the other side tire will have to be replaced also.
Man, it is hot out there.
“@bill F, I think it is truly AWESOME that you can work at something you love.”
I am full of aluminum stories all of the sudden. We forget how it was a miracle material not long ago. Napoleon had a state dinner where the regular guests had gold spoons, forks, knifes, but the elite had aluminum. And, don’t forget that the top of the Washington Monument is an aluminum pyramid. The crazy part is that it is really just solidified electricity (but it took a couple of really smart guys to figure that out). It is the most common metal on the earth’s crust but also one of the most versatile. OK – I am done discussing Aluminium…
[snip] Feminazis complained immediately, but Robert Downey *only* got $500K for Iron Man. [snip]
I’d be willing to bet the house payment that Downey signed on for a smaller up front in return for a piece of the total box office. Ms. Gadot, on the other hand, probably did no such thing with her first feature, and probably not even the sequel. I once read that Brando took a piece of The Godfather, and between production and release ran into some money problems. Coppola bought him out, and reaped the rewards.
I am mainly a thermodynamics / heat transfer guy but spent a good part of a couple of years on what turned out to be a very challenging manufacturing problem. Can you tell I like aluminum?
Welcome, you are the third thermo guy XXX person here.
PFX ? Our software models PFX (plate fin exchangers). I have seen people model some wild processes using the PFX over the years. Lots of cryogenic stuff.
I worked in the Alcoa aluminum plant in Rockdale, TX for three months when I was a roving engineer. Never again, I have horrible stories …
My parents live across the bay from the Point Comfort Alcoa bauxite to alumina plant. They just shut that plant down at the first of this year. But they left 30 guys working there to keep it from becoming a EPA Superfund site due to mercury pollution in the bay from WWII when we were begging for aluminum to build more planes with.
“PFX ? Our software models PFX (plate fin exchangers). I have seen people model some wild processes using the PFX over the years. Lots of cryogenic stuff.”
More so regular refrigerant applications. But I do work with plate fin and micro channel HX. The company I work for did do some ground breaking PFX work with process fluids but sold it off before I came aboard.
I work in more mundane HVAC applications now. Have rubbed elbows with the cryogenic guys (including my dad). I did spend a few years at MSFC in Huntsville working propulsion. Now, I satisfy myself with more earth based engineering -it is not as bad as it sounds (-:
It gives a lot of people a good quality of life.
“Welcome, you are the third thermo guy XXX person here”
I was horrible at chemistry but loved thermodynamics. They wanted us to take the EIT exam as undergrads and I was scared to death of the chemistry part. So, that is the one review I went to. I quickly realized they were mostly talking about things I learned in the 2nd semester of thermo so, “no problem”.
I actually taught 2 semesters of thermo I (with some EE students that did not know the difference between PSIA and PSI) and one semester of thermo II, which includes both RANKIN cycles (which have made my living over the years).
I had 2 students I currently work with (for more than 10 years) at my current job.
YUUUP! I am the other thermodynamics guy/(person..PC) here. 45 years in aerospace doing heat transfer and thermo in airplanes, rockets and spacecraft. Al heat exchangers in aircraft and Al fin and tube radiators in spacecraft.
I was horrible at chemistry but loved thermodynamics.
Me too. I cannot memorize anything at all until I have been using it for 10 years. Yeah, I took the EIT as a senior and passed it. I never took the P&P (principals and practices) as they were no required here in Texas to get a PE until recently. I applied for and got my PE in 1989, #66823.
(with some EE students that did not know the difference between PSIA and PSI)
Oh, it is worse than that. I have worked with a engineers who did not know the difference between PSIA, PSI, and PSIG. If you don’t understand the differences between those three, you don’t have a prayer of working in a plant. Zero PSIG still means that you have 14.7 PSIA of product in a pipe. And if that product is H2S …
I wouldn’t normally consider spreading Microslop stuff around but in the interests of maybe making life a little easier for those here who still work in IT with M$ products or deal with it at home for some odd reason (like we still have to, sadly), here’s a list of absolutely free books to download in whatever format floats yer boat:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/mssmallbiz/2017/07/11/largest-free-microsoft-ebook-giveaway-im-giving-away-millions-of-free-microsoft-ebooks-again-including-windows-10-office-365-office-2016-power-bi-azure-windows-8-1-office-2013-sharepo/
10-4, and I used to work in PSIG at 40,000 ft for commercial aircraft and more for rockets with this:
https://www.digitaldutch.com/atmoscalc/
Which is the PSIA at altitude.
Gal Gadot *only* got $300K for Wonder Woman.
That’s her salary. She might well have a piece of the gross that could be substantially more, probably contingent on the film hitting some benchmarks. Plus she may have a piece of anything with her image on it.
I’d be willing to bet the house payment that Downey signed on for a smaller up front in return for a piece of the total box office.
Probably not. He had some very well known substance abuse problems. Iron Man was his comeback picture. He cleaned up in the later films.
Ms. Gadot, on the other hand, probably did no such thing with her first feature, and probably not even the sequel.
She did a 3 picture deal to be Wonder Woman and this was the second film in that contract. She will make a lot of money for the sequel to WW.
“OK – I am done discussing Aluminium…”
I’ve always thought it interesting that the Brits, who discovered it, originally spelt it “aluminum” and the Americans spelled it “aluminium”. As far as I know, this reversal in usage is unique.
Me too. I cannot memorize anything at all until I have been using it for 10 years. Yeah, I took the EIT as a senior and passed it. I never took the P&P (principals and practices) as they were no required here in Texas to get a PE until recently. I applied for and got my PE in 1989, #66823.
I have an EIT passing grade in FL. 83, and that is with me Christmas tree-ing the fluids section since I never took the class. I’ve never had a job which required the PE, but I do have the preliminary exam completed if it ever comes up.
Our EE program made everyone take the Intern test as a kind of metric on the effectiveness of the core classes. Ironically, the Analog Design professor who flunked half of my graduating class our final semester, including me, could not pass the EIT after many attempts. When he saw me sitting nearby in the exam session he proclaimed, “Damned kids and their fancy calculators got it easy.”
SFAIR, the EIT test wasn’t mentioned my senior year of college. It’s possible that it was and the announcement went straight past my awareness or that I couldn’t fit the time in and consequently forgot it as of no immediate interest — that semester I was taking approx 22 credits and working two part-time jobs.
I have an EIT passing grade in FL. 83, and that is with me Christmas tree-ing the fluids section since I never took the class. I’ve never had a job which required the PE, but I do have the preliminary exam completed if it ever comes up.
The EIT grade in Texas back in 1981 was pass/fail. If I remember correctly.
The EIT grade in Texas back in 1981 was pass/fail. If I remember correctly.
In Florida, in 1990, the state required a score of 70 to pass and reported the score number with the pass/fail notification. Most of the people in my EE program failed the test, and, eventually, the department stopped requiring us to sit for the exam.
When I took the EIT exam, the emphasis was on time value of money for some reason. I’d put that content at 1/3 or more or the questions.
Canadian big company I used to work for had lots of eastern european engineers, ME, EE, who knows.
Not only were they lazy (wouldn’t walk down hall to production area to see the problem firsthand), at least one didn’t understand basic algebra and cross multiplication.
They were cookie cutter guys, who couldn’t come up with an original idea or even any flexibility in application. I would link to products that were in the same class (essentially similar) as what I needed, but they couldn’t apply that to my specific need. (I need a hook like this one only sized for my application. But Nick, that one only is rated for 3 pounds. Yes, find one this shape that will hold 300. But Nick, it’s only rated for 3 pounds….)
Some of them had their stamp too.
n
That’s my experience with Indian “engineers” and “software engineers” who’ve come to the US in the past ten or twenty years. (Those who came to work in the US before 20 years ago were always very sharp, in my experience.) They may be basically capable of carrying out some particular tasks related to, say, building a web application in Java; they may not be capable even of that. They are never, in my experience, able to think creatively and they are generally not able to research solutions to problems if the research involves anything more difficult than emailing one of their Indian friends or former coworkers. Rather than understand the client’s requirements and implement accordingly, they’ll often half-ass something that they know how to do, then spend twice as much time arguing why they shouldn’t have to change anything as it would have taken to do it right in the first place. This doesn’t even address work ethic, honesty, and many other workplace concerns aside from simple technical competence.
No doubt this is painting with too broad a brush … but not too much too broad. I’ve worked with easily over a hundred Indian “engineers” and “programmers” and “database experts” and other technical “experts” in the past thirteen years, and I could probably count on one hand the number whom I’d consider competent.
Until I was in my early 30s I’d never met an incompetent Professional Engineer. Based on experience, I had nothing but respect for anyone with “Engineer” or “P.E.” after his name.
That high esteem changed in a hurry with one guy I worked for…
10-4, and I used to work in PSIG at 40,000 ft for commercial aircraft and more for rockets with this:
https://www.digitaldutch.com/atmoscalc/
Which is the PSIA at altitude.
Wow, there is still 2.7 psia at 40,000 ft. I am surprised, I thought it was less than that, way less.
“That’s my experience with Indian “engineers” and “software engineers” who’ve come to the US in the past ten or twenty years.”
My experience also with systems, network and security administrators, from small shops through behemoths like GE and IBM. They’re pretty good, though, at taking selfies and sending them back and forth and complimenting each other on FaceBerg.
To continue blatantly rayciss generalizations, I had much better experiences with Russian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese guys, and they every one of them had a great sense of humor, too.
“… many other workplace concerns aside from simple technical competence.”
Like the nasty, gag-worthy food they cooked in the common area microwaves that would stink the place up permanently. I used to just stay inside the frigid and noisy data centers if only to avoid that (plus PHB mangler interruptions).
How many micro- and macro-aggressions is that?
Get DadCooks in here; I bet he can top it.
Yes, it will make things worse. MUCH worse.
If you really want to improve matters, let the free market take care of it.
As to how it can get worse, you’ll pay even more for even less.
Can I make the argument that the USA government is already paying for more than half of the country’s medical insurance ?
97 million on Medicaid.
50 million on Medicare (15% of population but consuming 25% of medical care).
3 million employees (civil and DOD) plus their dependents = 10 ??? million
Equals 150 million people on the USA government healthcare insurance.
OK, only 45% of the country (330 million including the illegals).
We are so hosed.
Equals 150 million people on the USA government healthcare insurance.
OK, only 45% of the country (330 million including the illegals).
Wait, I forgot about the VA. How many people are using the VA healthcare system ? My SWAG would be ten million ?
@OFD said:
I’ve been a bit off my game of late, but don’t worry, I’ve got some good rants left.
Now, how about that tRump giving it too the transgender part/appendage of of the LGBTQXYZ+97 group with a good kick in the ass (hairy or not) to get them out of Our Military.
All of you Veterans and Lifers know what a critical part “hazing” played, starting in Boot Camp. It was the way we eliminated the limp wristed and weak kneed from our ranks. Be it foxhole, aircraft, deck, or tube we got more to worry about than our hair and makeup.
WRT “consumption of medical care”:
The largest consumers/abusers are those who have neither paid for or contributed in any way for the benefits they receive, the same goes for Social Security and SS Disability.
I can’t recall any Chinese (work with many), Korean or Japanese people I have known with much sense of humor (in the Western sense). I have known some Russians and Eastern Europeans with great but very dry senses of humor. The French engineers I work with, mostly all have excellent senses of humor (but typically also quite dry). I have met some Indians with great senses of humor – think Kumar from the Harold and Kumar movies (if you want to admit you have ever watched one of these). Maybe they inherited some of this from the Brits…