Spring Banter

[Hoth]

44 minutes ago, Supernovice said:

How do you know someone went to Cornell?
They tell you.

 

 

I’ll be here all week, tip your waitress.

That was always my observation for Harvard alums. ALWAYS find a way to work it into conversation. Maybe it's all the Ivies.

[PhineasC]

7 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

My nieces husband just quit his job as a cop to be an electrician apprentice with his brother, he figures the pay will be better eventually and it's less dangerous.

I noticed in my family a lot of the young men ended up becoming cops over the last 10 years when they should have become tradesmen.

It was a bad move driven by bad advice from their parents.

[PhineasC]

5 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yep. Need a lot more Mike Rowes going around. There’s a lot of very good careers waiting and many of these skilled trade also open avenues for entrepreneurship which has been on the decline in the US for 30 years.

Part of the problem is that people like Rowe then get attacked for being “anti-education”...which is obviously a nasty smear tactic. There’s plenty of room for both. College isn’t for everyone. Having more people go into trades would actually incentivize colleges to lower their tuitions too or at least stop the obscene inflation in tuition. 

College is basically an indoctrination camp now, and deciding to learn a trade instead is akin to telling the Soviets to shove their gulags up their ass. It doesn't go over well with certain people.

[NorEastermass128]

8 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yep. Need a lot more Mike Rowes going around. There’s a lot of very good careers waiting and many of these skilled trade also open avenues for entrepreneurship which has been on the decline in the US for 30 years.

Part of the problem is that people like Rowe then get attacked for being “anti-education”...which is obviously a nasty smear tactic. There’s plenty of room for both. College isn’t for everyone. Having more people go into trades would actually incentivize colleges to lower their tuitions too or at least stop the obscene inflation in tuition. 

LEARNING a trade is an education.  

[PhineasC]

The average college grad from a low to mid-tier school with a BA is dumber than a box of rocks at this point and will have an incredibly warped worldview that makes it nearly impossible to put them to work. Kinda hard for them to deal with starting an entry-level job with a company they have been taught is raping Mother Earth and oppressing everyone (AKA all companies)... grade inflation is real and makes a lot of college degrees pretty suspect.

I will take someone with a HS diploma and 10 years of real experience in many cases. In some of our jobs, the degree is needed because it signals a basic proficiency with certain mathematical and engineering-related concepts; that's a different story.

[DavisStraight]

I think I recognize three Bruins playing tonight.

[ORH_wxman]

2 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

College is basically an indoctrination camp now, and deciding to learn a trade instead is akin to telling the Soviets to shove their gulags up their ass. It doesn't go over well with certain people.

There’s a ton of money at stake in keeping the narrative about college going. Encouraging everyone to take out government guaranteed loans has been one of the biggest windfalls ever for colleges in the past couple decades. They don’t have to worry about any of those loans getting repaid since they are guaranteed...all up front money for them. Zero incentive to make tuition more affordable. 

When we were discussing the narrative in the 1980s/1990s earlier, another aspect back then was that college was more affordable than now...even when taking account for all other inflation. 

[ORH_wxman]

2 minutes ago, NorEastermass128 said:

LEARNING a trade is an education.  

Yes it is. Very valuable education too. But the trades have been demonized for so long that it’s been tough to shake the stigma. The narrative is definitely starting to turn but it doesn’t flip overnight. There will be more attacks against them because of how much money is at stake. 

[PhineasC]

3 minutes ago, NorEastermass128 said:

LEARNING a trade is an education.  

I'm sure the electricians here have many stories of them trying in vain to explain basic concepts to a mousy homeowner who surely has very impressive degrees in English or history but can't change an outlet.

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, losetoa6 said:

You learn tricks of the trade but ..yes it's a bitch sometimes.  I recently pulled 200 amp rated 250 mcm wire through 2.5 inch PVC 10 foot at a time 300 feet out to a generator . Owner wanted it in conduit even though direct buried 24 inches is fine . It kicked my ass . I almost called my buddy's temp service to hire a guy temporarily.  . Occasionally I get a laborer on weekends to help on hard jobs but thats rare .

My tradesmen friends all complain about the "helpers" and how that drives them to work alone as much as possible.

[WhitinsvilleWX]

Student loans were one of the worst things ever. And I’m not really talking about the debt kids have.  I blame the ease of getting all that “free money” for the obscene tuition increases over the last 15 to 20 years. When I went to college (a major state school) the tuition was reasonable. Tuition was $18 a credit hour. 

[DavisStraight]

I recently had an electrician connect a security system at my house, he had to slither through trusses and walk the line on rafters to get the wiring through the attic, not sure how he did it but it helped that was about 5'6" 130lbs, he was about 60 years old and pretty wiry.

[butterfish55]

To be clear....they aren't giving journeyman electrician licenses away. It's a pretty tough, time consuming process. Definitely a huge commitment. Much harder than anything I ever had to do in college.

8000 hours/4 years working as an apprentice and 600 hours of school just to be able to take the journeyman test. Then, after I had my journeyman for a couple years I did another 150 hours of school and took my Masters test.

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, butterfish55 said:

To be clear....they aren't giving journeyman electrician licenses away. It's a pretty tough, time consuming process. Definitely a huge commitment. Much harder than anything I ever had to do in college.

8000 hours/4 years working as an apprentice and 600 hours of school just to be able to take the journeyman test. Then, after I had my journeyman for a couple years I did another 150 hours of school and took my Masters test.
 

A lot of trade schooling is very tough work.  One of my cousins went through welding courses/certification and I saw how much crap he had to master and remember. 

[WhitinsvilleWX]

4 minutes ago, butterfish55 said:

To be clear....they aren't giving journeyman electrician licenses away. It's a pretty tough, time consuming process. Definitely a huge commitment. Much harder than anything I ever had to do in college.

8000 hours/4 years working as an apprentice and 600 hours of school just to be able to take the journeyman test. Then, after I had my journeyman for a couple years I did another 150 hours of school and took my Masters test.
 

Where my son is going if he does the electrical program, it cuts 3000 hours off that 8000.

[WhitinsvilleWX]

9 minutes ago, WhitinsvilleWX said:

Student loans were one of the worst things ever. And I’m not really talking about the debt kids have.  I blame the ease of getting all that “free money” for the obscene tuition increases over the last 15 to 20 years. When I went to college (a major state school) the tuition was reasonable. Tuition was $18 a credit hour. 

My 4 years of medical school was around $50,000. Now it’s around $220,000. And that for in state tuition. 

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, WhitinsvilleWX said:

My 4 years of medical school was around $50,000. Now it’s around $220,000. And that for in state tuition. 

It's outrageous, and that's at least for a field with good earning potential. There are people paying that much for a BA.

[Bostonseminole]

I did have allot of fun in college.


.

[Bostonseminole]

Got to hang with C. ward, Peter Boulware and W. Dunn. Saw Deion once.. that dude was an athletic freak


.

[Bostonseminole]

Why is Ovechkin playing?


.

[butterfish55]

Got to hang with C. ward, Peter Boulware and W. Dunn. Saw Deion once.. that dude was an athletic freak


.

I was at UMiami from 92-94. I went to the UM/FSU game in Tallahassee in 93 when C Ward kicked out ass. That stadium was amazing. FSU seemed like an awesome place to go to school

Ray Lewis was in my geography class. I probably walked by The Rock a few times but he wasn't famous. All the football players drove brand new Mercedes. I'm sure it was because their families had tons of money

[mreaves]

44 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yep. Need a lot more Mike Rowes going around. There’s a lot of very good careers waiting and many of these skilled trade also open avenues for entrepreneurship which has been on the decline in the US for 30 years.

Part of the problem is that people like Rowe then get attacked for being “anti-education”...which is obviously a nasty smear tactic. There’s plenty of room for both. College isn’t for everyone. Having more people go into trades would actually incentivize colleges to lower their tuitions too or at least stop the obscene inflation in tuition. 

This Old House has been pumping the trades for several years. They always have a group of apprentices on their projects. Their program is called Generation Next. 

 

 

[Bostonseminole]

I was at UMiami from 92-94. I went to the UM/FSU game in Tallahassee in 93 when C Ward kicked out ass. That stadium was amazing. FSU seemed like an awesome place to go to school

 

Ray Lewis was in my geography class. I probably walked by The Rock a few times but he wasn't famous. All the football players drove brand new Mercedes. I'm sure it was because their families had tons of money

I was at that game, might still have the shirt... we camped out for 3 days to get tickets. FSU was awesome, good years also.. lots of parties and a little studying lol

 

UM was a great school also, I was there a few times with my cousin when he went there. Saw one the two live crew dudes hanging out with the players in early 90s. Orange bowl was a dump lol

 

 

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[Supernovice]

@N. OF PIKE

I know you’re a technical analysis guy... been watching a theme last 5 days of individual names getting knifed below support and immediately ripped higher. Then it happened to me today- had a stop well below what I deemed to be very good support (was looking for a retest and then breakout but had a meeting and couldn’t watch it). It ripped lower breaking two levels and then 10 ticks later up 5 levels. You seeing anything thematically similar?

[ORH_wxman]

6 minutes ago, Bostonseminole said:

I was at that game, might still have the shirt... we camped out for 3 days to get tickets. FSU was awesome, good years also.. lots of parties and a little studying lol

 

UM was a great school also, I was there a few times with my cousin when he went there. Saw one the two live crew dudes hanging out with the players in early 90s. Orange bowl was a dump lol

 

 

.

Charlie Ward was a freak. Ended up in the NBA but I always thought he could’ve been a bigger football star. He was a tad small though...esp for back in the 1990s when you could knock QBs back to the Stone Age and not get a flag. Health wise he def made the better decision. 

I remember the epic FSU/ND game late that season. FSU was #1 and ND was #2. ND pulled it off and then the very next week (I think?), BC goes into South Bend and upsets undefeated ND. That was back when BC had Tom Coughlin as head coach and Glenn foley at QB. They were good but still massive dogs in that game. A lot of people said that game was the beginning of ND’s decline as a perennial powerhouse. I don’t think they’ve been ranked #1 since that 1993 game. 

[Bostonseminole]

People in the south are nuts

.

[TalcottWx]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

The average college grad from a low to mid-tier school with a BA is dumber than a box of rocks at this point and will have an incredibly warped worldview that makes it nearly impossible to put them to work. Kinda hard for them to deal with starting an entry-level job with a company they have been taught is raping Mother Earth and oppressing everyone (AKA all companies)... grade inflation is real and makes a lot of college degrees pretty suspect.

I will take someone with a HS diploma and 10 years of real experience in many cases. In some of our jobs, the degree is needed because it signals a basic proficiency with certain mathematical and engineering-related concepts; that's a different story.

Lol.... Your generation is just as bad..... Let's all stop finger pointing at generations 

[PhineasC]

3 minutes ago, DotRat_Wx said:

Lol.... Your generation is just as bad..... Let's all stop finger pointing at generations 

Has there ever been a generation that refused to go back to work in favor of sitting at home and collecting unemployment? Seems like a rather major defect in work ethic right there.

[MJO812]

I went to a community College so my dad had no loans at all to pay for me.

[TalcottWx]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

Has there ever been a generation that refused to go back to work in favor of sitting at home and collecting unemployment? Seems like a rather major defect in work ethic right there.

Many of the people not returning are older and women.... So it doesn't completely fit your narrative. Let more immigrants in, Republicans whining about job openings will be happy in no time. A lot of people are gig working. Many freelance now. Work has changed. Ya there's some lazy people. But hippies were awfully lazy in the 60s too. There's no magical issue with this generation. The jobs blow. Anyone with a brain will pivot and fill trade roles. Doesn't happen overnight. We'll see a change in workplace in next few years including attitude toward college. Using your logic, boomers are to blame for encouraging their idiot kids to go to school in the first place. I say we blame boomers then?