Thur. May 3, 2018 – say what?

By on May 3rd, 2018 in Random Stuff

78F and humid with overcast skies. We never got rain yesterday, although it blew and gusted, and was overcast all day. Hoping for the same today.

So I’m skimming thru my alumni email, and I see this gem…” A new kind of career

Kristin Antkoviak, who is graduating with a master’s degree in landscape architecture, hopes to use landscape architecture as a path to social justice.”

MASTER’S DEGREE. Wonder what her debt looks like?

“A neighborhood landscape architect would help educate people on water use and the tradeoffs of different kinds of trees they like, as well as coordinate with government and advocacy agencies.

“After 100 years of these social environmental injustices, I think these native plants can give a healing aspect to the community. Nature has so much to offer.””

I wonder who will be paying for it? and her?

Oh, I guess that would be these guys. Here’s a nice list of the sort of parasite on the body politic that sprouts when there is just too much money:

“There are a couple groups in the community that would be good to talk to too: The Arizona Alliance for Livable Communities, the Arizona Partnership for Healthy Communities, the Downtown Voices Coalition. The Sonoran Institute is a great connection and also the Sustainable Cities Network.”

““There were no street trees. The first thing I started to do was pull historical maps from 1930 until now and you can see there were almost no trees from then until now,” she said.”

Oh my, let’s help those poor unfortunates that don’t know about some of the trees available, or how to plant stuff IN A DESERT. Good thing someone is working with “vulnerable populations.”

Jeez o pete, woman was already working as a microbiologist for 6 years. Wonder what THAT debt looked like? Then she goes back to school for a masters. Hey maybe she’s independently wealthy and this is just her ‘giving back’ to the community. Doubt it though.

n

https://asunow.asu.edu/20180429-sun-devil-life-asu-grad-sees-landscape-architecture-path-social-justice

62 Comments and discussion on "Thur. May 3, 2018 – say what?"

  1. Ray Thompson says:

    I was looking back at some pictures from when I lived in Victorville CA was I was about 9 years old. That would be about the 1960 time frame. What struck me was the complete lack of trees looking out from my backyard. Just dirt and some small scrub brush. How can this be. Google earth from today shows the same empty spaces, no trees. How can mankind be so ignorant and unkind to planet as to not plant trees in the desert? (sarcasm).

    I also remember several yards in my neighborhood that did not have grass, just local vegetation placed to be low maintenance and little to no water. There were a few yards with grass, required a lot of water, almost daily, to keep the grass green. That had to be expensive. Whereas the people with the natural yards, which looked really good in the area, did very little to keep up the yards and never watered.

    These people were able to do these natural yards without a college diploma. They simply looked around, saw what survived in the arid conditions, and plant those in their yards. Probably geniuses compare to the aforementioned female with the high priced degree.

    I talk to some kids in school and ask what their plans are when they leave high school. It is surprising that some are fairly level headed, going on to trade school, or pursuing a worthwhile degree. However there are too many of them are looking for a degree in some worthless discipline, something in which they will never get a decent job. Some are getting a free ride scholarship from some liberal limp wristed FAQ organization that promotes a failing agenda and the pussification of America.

  2. JimL says:

    70º and sunny right now. Last night we had 81º and muggy. This from snow flurries on Sunday. Sheesh. Not surprised, though. This kind of thing happens every year.

    Every once in a while I get grief for the weeds in our orchard. Seems they don’t look so good when there’s a mini-drought in August. I point out (frequently) that I have no erosion when the rains come back, I have trees that survive, and I don’t have to mow in August. That’s a winning proposition there.

    I am hopeful that our children will grow up showing good sense. Eldest seems to be there already.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Jeez o pete, woman was already working as a microbiologist for 6 years. Wonder what THAT debt looked like? Then she goes back to school for a masters. Hey maybe she’s independently wealthy and this is just her ‘giving back’ to the community. Doubt it though.

    She probably washed out of the med school process, and the parents weren’t interested in sending her to an island school like Ross University. Kudos to the parents.

    A landscape architect can make decent money in a place like Arizona or Florida, where the laws favor the HOA boards’ puckered shincters and, more importantly, the sphincters’ lawyers.

    St. Augustine grass has wreaked more financial havoc in Florida than any hurricane.

  4. Harold says:

    Morning 72f and humid in Memphis. An unpleasant reminder that summer is close at hand. I dropped Weathertech floor mats in my new (new to me) car. They are not cheap but in my opinion worth it. When I took my (new to me) car back to the dealer for post-sale detailing the USB charger and cables I had put in it disappeared. Salesman shrugged it off saying the detailers thought the car was a trade-in. “So” I responded “it’s OK to steal stuff from a trade-in?” … This does not give me confidence in my dealer. They did give me 4 new tires as part of the “Certified Pre-Owned” plan. The salesman will pay for the theft ($17) but I contend the dealership should pay as they admittedly employ thieves. Not in the best mood this morning.

  5. Mike G. says:

    Greg,

    Please do not equate going to Ross University as an indication of failure in the health field. My future son-in-law is a Ross grad in veterinary medicine and for him, this was simply the best option given the admissions minefield these days. There were literally no positions in programs stateside due to too many qualified applicants.

    It is unfortunate that some people cannot see the inherent value in trades careers without having to qualify it in some way. I do not think Roger Cook (This Old House landscaper) cares about social justice except for the lack of young people going into trade work.

    .mg

  6. Greg Norton says:

    It is unfortunate that some people cannot see the inherent value in trades careers without having to qualify it in some way. I do not think Roger Cook (This Old House landscaper) cares about social justice except for the lack of young people going into trade work.

    Roger Cook has a Bachelors degree in Wildlife Management and Environmental Law from University of Maine.

    “This Old House” has a history of not being immune to Prog political concerns and is probably not the best example of promoting the trades as equal career paths, especially when you consider the background of the current host and the circumstances of his hiring.

  7. JimL says:

    Can you fill us in? I wasn’t aware of anything untoward, and I’ve been following the show since just after Bob Vila left.

    I do see some leftward leaning agenda, but given that it’s produced in Bahston, I would be surprised if I didn’t see some of that.

  8. Alan Simpson says:

    Why oh why is any newspaper publishing fluff like this in the first place.
    And they wonder why there in a failing business!

  9. Greg Norton says:

    Can you fill us in? I wasn’t aware of anything untoward, and I’ve been following the show since just after Bob Vila left.

    Kevin O’Connor is a former banking exec at Bank of America and Fleet, with an MBA and a degree in History from Holy Cross. He had zero background in the trades when he was hired, but the producers felt he could better relate to the concerns of the featured homeowners than a host like his predecessors.

    Most of the projects have not been “typical” renovations since the days of Bob Villa, and the homeowners are definitely the 1%. Heck, in the case of the first Spring project with Steve Thomas, the conversion of the church in San Francisco, the owners were the lead store designer for Gap and his wife, the chain’s “perfect size 8” fit model.

    Steve Thomas left to “spend more time with his family”. Nobody has said anything otherwise in 15 years, but my guess is he was fired. Go back and watch his last run of shows, and pay attention to the look on the look on the face of the wife half of the owner couple in the Fall project whenever she dealt with Steve, especially in the first or second episode when the two disagreed over spending a ton of money and time to move a window a foot in order to make, in the wife’s words, the house face look less “mean”.

    At the end of the exchange, after the owner goes out of earshot, Steve says the line which I’m guessing got him canned. “It looks fine to me”. Kevin O’Connor appeared on “Ask This Old House” as a test within a few weeks and the new host was announced before the end of Steve’s last season aired.

    A Bank of America VP knows how to keep his mouth shut.

  10. JimL says:

    Now _that_ is an interesting backstory.

    I remember Kevin’s first project – a shed or something. I’ll have to go back and watch the back catalog & see if I can pick it up.

    My thanks.

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    I stopped watching long ago. Bob Villa was a presenter, who played the role of ‘everyman’ on the show. By his own comments, he intentionally asked the simple questions. Of course that was at the start of the DIY movement, and there was a DIY focus to the show. That gradually changed and they brought more and more contractors in for more and more things.

    Eventually, the show became a “showcase” for various products, chosen for their availability as donations, and as product placement. Once they start doing that, you can’t trust them anymore. They spent an increasing amount of time featuring manufacturers and salesmen, and almost no time on the actual build. Steve was guilty of this too.

    I think the last season I watched was with Steve at the Phoenix house.

    n

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    For an education on what can go wrong with a house and new or old construction, watch any of the Mike Holmes shows. Watch them all. I learned more about fixes and bad work in those 5 or 6 seasons than in years of watching stuff get done ‘right’ or off camera. Anyone who is thinking about buying existing houses should be required to watch his shows to see how much ‘mascara on a pig’ most flippers do, how to spot it, and what are the indicators of hidden problems.

    NB in some of the various incarnations of the show, he does take donated product (he’s trying to fix peoples houses with no money) and doesn’t always make it clear when it’s a product he’s used and recommends, or a placement or donation.

    Diligent study of his shows pay off ‘bigly’.

    n

  13. Greg Norton says:

    Eventually, the show became a “showcase” for various products, chosen for their availability as donations, and as product placement. Once they start doing that, you can’t trust them anymore. They spent an increasing amount of time featuring manufacturers and salesmen, and almost no time on the actual build. Steve was guilty of this too.

    PEX. God I hate that stuff, but TOH has pushed it since Steve Thomas started, nearly 30 years.

    Of course, Bob Villa was fired over his deal with Sears. Kinda ironic now.

  14. Ray Thompson says:

    what can go wrong with a house and new or old construction, watch any of the Mike Holmes shows

    Yep, some really crappy construction and hacks, even in new homes.

    I watched one show where the owners were complaining of a leak in a window. Removing the interior and the siding revealed major problems in the construction and the water sealing. So much so that the entire siding on the house had to be ripped off, proper sealing done, and everything replaced. It was so bad that some of the structural members had to be replaced. The house was in danger of collapsing. It was well over $100K to fix the issues. This was a fairly new home, less than five years old.

    Holmes gathered the other homeowners in the sub-division and showed them the issues and said the same problems existed in their homes. They would all have to have the same procedure accomplished. His suggestion was they go back and sue the builders for improper construction, sue the inspector for failing to do his job and sue the project management for allowing such shoddy work.

    The looks on the other home owners faces was, shall we say, priceless. All were facing major reconstruction issues.

    For really cheaply built homes no one can top Ray Ellison Homes in San Antonio. He built some of the cheapest and most poorly constructed homes I have ever seen. MIL lives in one and there are constant problems. There is no insulation in the walls, none. No insulation in the attic until she had some added. All the wiring is cheap two conductor 14ga stuff put in when three conductor 12ga was required. Inspector still approved the construction because of a lot of kickbacks and corruption.

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    When we were looking at new construction (before buying this house) I was SHOCKED by the low level of craftsmanship from the production builders, even name brand national companies. REALLY cr@p work.

    n

  16. lynn says:

    I went and got my annual + 0.5 year physical from my GP today. All good so far (blood analysis is tomorrow or Monday) and that painful area on the middle right side below the rib cage is not hard, always a good sign. I told him that my Dr. Google analysis said gallstones and he said that I was not crying when he pushed in on it.

    He did the usual digital exam (I just love that, not !) and remarked that I have an enlarged prostate. But, the prostate is nice and smooth, not bumpy. A bumpy prostate is bad (tumors). I am not surprised due to rarely making it through a night without having to get up at least once to pee now.

  17. lynn says:

    Inspector still approved the construction because of a lot of kickbacks and corruption.

    Over half, maybe three quarters, of the houses built in Fort Bend County are without home inspections. Usually the neighborhood is built out before the cities annex the neighborhood. Commercial projects outside the cities might get a County Fire Marshall inspection.

  18. lynn says:

    I saw another Tesla Model X today. This time in white (previous was black) and a model 90D (300 mile battery). Teslas are definitely making it here to the Great Lone Star State even though they are illegal to sell here.

  19. Greg Norton says:

    Over half, maybe three quarters of the houses built in Fort Bend County are without home inspections. Usually the neighborhood is built out before the cities annex the neighborhood. Commercial projects outside the cities might get a County Fire Marshall inspection.

    Our last re-roofing in FL was inspected and approved by the county staffer from his car. Six months in, the seal around the chimney leaked and water was pouring from our ceiling lights above the fireplace.

    A real hurricane up the mouth of Tampa Bay and the Interbay peninsula will be a disaster, easily as expensive or more so than Houston just due to bad construction/inspection alone.

  20. lynn says:

    When we were looking at new construction (before buying this house) I was SHOCKED by the low level of craftsmanship from the production builders, even name brand national companies. REALLY cr@p work.

    The real estate crash of 2008 really killed off the existing home builders. Now almost all of the subs are itinerant illegal aliens from Mexico, Serbia, Honduras, etc, etc, etc.

  21. JLP says:

    “landscape architecture as a path to social justice”

    Adding “social justice” to a thing is just marketing. It’s the same as adding “tech” to the end of a company name or “i” to the beginning of an appliance name to show it is modern and internetty. The “for social justice” clause is so that you can get the government and the gullible to fund it.

  22. lynn says:

    Our last re-roofing in FL was inspected and approved by the county staffer from his car. Six months in, the seal around the chimney leaked and water was pouring from our ceiling lights above the fireplace.

    I had to replace the entire fireplace chimney for $1,700 in our previous two story built in 1993 because the cap was smaller than the chimney. So, they just put the cap on and built a side cap of wood and caulk of about 18 inches by 12 inches. After 15 years the caulk and wood failed and it started raining inside our chimney during Hurricane Ike.

  23. lynn says:

    “The Helium Factor and Hard Drive Failure Rates”
    https://www.backblaze.com/blog/helium-filled-hard-drive-failure-rates/

    “In November 2013, the first commercially available helium-filled hard drive was introduced by HGST, a Western Digital subsidiary. The 6 TB drive was not only unique in being helium-filled, it was for the moment, the highest capacity hard drive available. Fast forward a little over 4 years later and 12 TB helium-filled drives are readily available, 14 TB drives can be found, and 16 TB helium-filled drives are arriving soon.”

    Interesting. I do wonder about 5 and 10 years out.

  24. Greg Norton says:

    Interesting. I do wonder about 5 and 10 years out.

    Transition to SSD?

    I’m curious about why they don’t have 3.5″ form factor SSDs. Heat?

  25. JimL says:

    If you don’t need 3.5″ form factor, why build it?

    Consider that the initial markets for SSDs are laptops & servers, both places where space is at a premium. Why build a form factor that is less likely to sell? I can put a 2.5 in a 3.5 bay, but not vice-versa.

  26. lynn says:

    “A.F. Branco Cartoon – Saboteurs”
    https://comicallyincorrect.com/f-branco-cartoon-saboteurs/

    Wow is that ever the truth !

  27. Greg Norton says:

    If you don’t need 3.5″ form factor, why build it?

    More room for more chips. My guess would be that heat becomes a problem.

  28. lynn says:

    I’m curious about why they don’t have 3.5″ form factor SSDs. Heat?

    If you don’t need 3.5″ form factor, why build it?

    Consider that the initial markets for SSDs are laptops & servers, both places where space is at a premium. Why build a form factor that is less likely to sell? I can put a 2.5 in a 3.5 bay, but not vice-versa.

    My thought exactly. They can use the same device for laptops and desktops.

    A friend of mine works for Texas Microsystems. They build a 300 TB SSD Network 1U device for the server racks. Shoot, he may be up to 500 TB now, I have not asked him lately. The last time he and I talked, they were back ordered for 18 months.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    A friend of mine works for Texas Microsystems. They build a 300 TB SSD Network 1U device for the server racks. Shoot, he may be up to 500 TB now, I have not asked him lately. The last time he and I talked, they were back ordered for 18 months.

    Before I quit, nearly 20 years ago at GTE, we marveled at a 1 GB 1U flash drive which the execs bought for our fraud prevention efforts. I don’t want to think about what the company paid for that.

  30. Ray Thompson says:

    I was SHOCKED by the low level of craftsmanship

    I was SHOCKED by the high level of sloppiness

    Fixed it for you.

  31. Greg Norton says:

    The salesman will pay for the theft ($17) but I contend the dealership should pay as they admittedly employ thieves. Not in the best mood this morning.

    Thieves work at a car dealership. I’m shocked! Shocked!

    When my wife bought her Exploder, we ended up with nearly $5000 worth of “free” extended warranties buried in the payments. The disclosure sheet made the coverage look like taxes. Fortunately, Ford knows they have a dealer problem in South Austin and took back the extended warranty, but Group One didn’t make it easy.

    Gotta wonder what happened when the F&I weasel had the commission for the warranties reversed out of his check. The dealership held the refund from Ford for a week before applying it to the loan.

    (In case you’re wondering how, the dealership essentially spent our down payment plus a little more on warranties, leaving us with negative equity. To cover the disappearing cash in the payment, they found a 2% (!) car loan at BBVA. Having grown up in the era of 7-8% car loans, we didn’t think anything about the monthly number until we got home and took apart the disclosure sheet. Zoinks!)

  32. Miles_Teg says:

    Lynn wrote:

    “I am not surprised due to rarely making it through a night without having to get up at least once to pee now.”

    Diabetes?

  33. lynn says:

    “I am not surprised due to rarely making it through a night without having to get up at least once to pee now.”

    Diabetes?

    Enlarged prostate. Which, makes it difficult to fully drain the bladder.
    https://www.webmd.com/men/prostate-enlargement-bph/features/enlarged-prostate-bph-complex-problem#1

    Don’t get old, it is not for the faint hearted.

    On the other hand, older women have the opposite problem which is too easy to start peeing. Such as laughing, coughing, etc. Don’t ask me how I know this.

  34. ITguy1998 says:

    Ah, PBS home improvement shows. I loved This Old House with Bob Villa. I remember Dad watching it -that’s how I got started. I liked Steve Thomas too. The new guy, not so much. I watched for a few years, but between the host, and the blatant product placement, among other things, I lost interest. Haven’t watched in several years now.

    I miss The New Yankee Workshop.

    I used to watch Hometime too. It was ok. Sometimes too cheesy, but usually ok. The later years suffered from the product placement bug as well.

  35. Rick Hellewell says:

    Huzzah for me! Just got approval from the WordPress gang that my GDPR plugin has been approved. It’s now available via the Add Plugins screen – just search for ‘Simple GDPR’.

    I’ve reinstalled it here, but you will see no changes if you have already OK’d the use of cookies.

    So, in case anyone cares (and I suspect that RBT would not), this site is GDPR-compliant. At least, I think so.

    Of course, I Am Not A Lawyer. Your Mileage May Vary. All aspirin’s alike. Professional driver on a closed course. etc.

  36. Spook says:

    Cookie thingie seems to work just fine in Midori browser
    (private window), on Linux Mint.

  37. paul says:

    “I am not surprised due to rarely making it through a night without having to get up at least once to pee now.”

    Diabetes?

    Erm…. more like one beer too many before bedtime. For me, anyway.

    Not a problem anyway. I like to pet the dogs and wander around the house at night anyway. If it’s warm, go out and look at the stars…. and perhaps pee on the grass. 🙂

  38. Miles_Teg says:

    Lynn wrote:

    “Enlarged prostate.”

    Yeah, my father and brother had/have that. So far I’ve missed out.

    “Don’t get old, it is not for the faint hearted.”

    I’m 60 in six days. Hips, knees and thigh muscles are giving me hell. Bladder works well when I take my meds.

    There now seems to be a huge market for incontinence pads. I didn’t even see them 20 years ago. Fortunately I’m not there yet.

    “On the other hand, older women have the opposite problem which is too easy to start peeing. Such as laughing, coughing, etc. Don’t ask me how I know this.”

    I’m glad I was born with a Y chromosome. Various wimminz I know have had various “ladies operations” when much younger than me. And I learned a lot about wimminz plumbing in the early Nineties when a young wimon from my church was boarding at my house.

  39. dkreck says:

    @paul
    If it’s warm, go out and look at the stars…. and perhaps pee on the grass.
    Every man’s god given right!
    100+

    And what are the ‘Scouts’ gonna do about that?

  40. lynn says:

    There now seems to be a huge market for incontinence pads. I didn’t even see them 20 years ago. Fortunately I’m not there yet.

    Just be glad that they are available and that you don’t need one. Yet. My father-in-law started wearing Depends to bed when he turned 79.

  41. lynn says:

    I like to pet the dogs and wander around the house at night anyway. If it’s warm, go out and look at the stars…. and perhaps pee on the grass.

    You are describing utopia for me. Peeing on the back of the garage at night while waiting for the dog to do her business is awesome.

  42. dkreck says:

    Tesla!
    Yesterday driving home from out of town just south of Pixley (really) I passed an auto carrier with about 10 Tesla model S on it. Was being hauled by an older but decent condition Peterbuilt tractor with Big twin exhaust stacks. That sucker was putting out lots of black smoke – no, not a coal roller. Damn rare sight in California nowadays.
    https://www.purplewave.com/auction/140828/item/J1018

    Maybe just a little ironic.

  43. lynn says:

    My cousin in Dallas, TX has been told that his Tesla Model S is just two months away. He is freaking out.

  44. Miles_Teg says:

    Lynn wrote:

    “Just be glad that they are available and that you don’t need one. Yet. My father-in-law started wearing Depends to bed when he turned 79.”

    I thought IPs were mostly for wimminz…

    I do remember seeing an old guy on the bus in Canberra who really should have been using them. Pee all down his trousers. He wasn’t all there (brain wise). My ex-brother in law’s father was the same. My BIL would have to clean the back seat and freshen the car after hus father was there…

  45. lynn says:

    “Just be glad that they are available and that you don’t need one. Yet. My father-in-law started wearing Depends to bed when he turned 79.”

    I thought IPs were mostly for wimminz…

    Two of my friends just had prostate removal surgery in March. They are 61 and 58. Both are still in Depends because they have a lot of control now, just not total control. I have not been gutsy enough to ask the tough question.

  46. dkreck says:

    Well the other choice is a catheter. FIL had one about the last four years of his life. No bag just a short tube with a clamp.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    I miss The New Yankee Workshop.

    New Yankee is gone? Wow. I guess Norm is getting up there.

    We haven’t watched much PBS as of late. My wife watches “Miss Fisher Mysteries”, and we tuned in to see Samantha Brown’s new travel show hit the road in Oregon.

  48. Greg Norton says:

    Musk is getting too big for his boots…

    He got a free pass for way too long IMHO.

  49. Greg Norton says:

    My cousin in Dallas, TX has been told that his Tesla Model S is just two months away. He is freaking out.

    Model S or Model 3.

    I see three Teslas regularly, rolling through the intersection in front of the school when I drop my daughter off in the mornings.

  50. lynn says:

    Model S or Model 3.

    Arrgh, Model 3. The cheap seat. He thinks that the Model 3 is going to be faster than his 15 year old Mustang GT V8.

    I see three Teslas regularly, rolling through the intersection in front of the school when I drop my daughter off in the mornings.

    Sounds like they are all over The Great State of Texas despite it being illegal to sell them here.

  51. Greg Norton says:

    Sounds like they are all over The Great State of Texas despite it being illegal to sell them here.

    Demographics skew high in Brushy Creek. Lots of Apple employees with families in the neighborhood since their Austin office is only 10 minutes away.

    The variable tolling price on Mopac North (primary route from hipster neighborhoods south of downtown to Apple) was pushing $20 again today from what I understand. We get reports since we build the system at the company where I work. I half joke that everyone’s Tesla has arrived and they’re testing “extreme” mode.

  52. paul says:

    There’s anything hip south of the river?

  53. JimL says:

    Re: New Yankee Workshop – it’s been gone for a while. I learned a lot about woodworking (and finishing) watching Norm make tables, lamps, dressers, etc. My guess is he ran out of things to make.

    Now I catch the Woodwright’s Shop with Roy Underhill. He does all kinds of things with hand tools and gives tips on how to get things done with minimal tools. Cool. The timeslot I catch (either 10 pm or 4 am) rotates amongst Woodwright, TOH, and AskTOH. I enjoy all of them, though I know that TOH is usually beyond my budget. It is cool to see how things are done.

  54. JimL says:

    Huzzah for me! Just got approval from the WordPress gang that my GDPR plugin has been approved. It’s now available via the Add Plugins screen – just search for ‘Simple GDPR’.

    Thanks, Rick. I’m going to apply that to my sites when I get home.

  55. Ray Thompson says:

    Subbing again today. Awards ceremony occupies two of the class periods so easy today.

    I have been helping two of the classes all week (not being paid) with an Aduino project. Not enough time allowed to get it done. Some really bad planning involved and a project that was way to ambitious.

    Supposed to build a small vehicle, with sensors, that can move. Cases are too small to fit a breadboard. They were going to wire them up by soldering. Bad, bad idea. Needs to be prototyped before assembly which was not in the plans. No concept of the software involved as the Arduino does nothing without software.

    Apparently to be considered STEAM (arts were added to STEM) they need to have a robotics instruction. So some knuckle head at the school board went online and ordered a bunch of stuff without really knowing what was being ordered. Bags of loose parts, no instructions, no guidance. A really messed up effort.

    The good news is that the two teachers I have been working with are following my advice. I told them to just use the breadboards and get something working. Don’t worry about using the cases. The cases were 3D printed without any consideration for the final result. The breadboards are twice as big as the cases that were supposed to fit the breadboards.

    Next year they will get smaller breadboards, modify the 3D project to make certain the boards will fit, allow more than a week to do the project, bring me in a couple of weeks early (I will volunteer), get me a complete project kit so I can finish one at home before their projects start, and tell the clod that ordered to pull his head out of his rectum and not order what some salesperson on commission says to order.

    It is the first year for STEAM and some speed bumps are to be expected. But a complete and total screwup is unacceptable. The teachers are trying but have no experience with such projects, were told at the last minute when the kits showed up at the school, and were not given enough time to do the projects.

    That falls squarely on the school district administrators, the superintendent, and the school board. Such people now bragging to the media how they have successfully implemented a robotics program when the truth is they completely failed. Without my help the school would have nothing except bags of parts. Even my help has not been enough.

  56. Nick Flandrey says:

    If you are or aspire to be a serious woodworker, you have to watch David J Marks and his old show “Woodworks.” No “safety equipment removed for filming” disclaimers on techniques that MUST have the guard removed, no “this is how you use sandpaper”, just project after project, beautifully done with advanced techniques. He is infected with the “contemporary” sense of style that really means “70’s with a splash of bauhaus” but all woodworkers of a certain age are. (If I see another sam maloof chair, or useless james krenov cabinet on a stand, I’ll puke.)

    My problem with NYW was that Norm wouldn’t recognize fine furniture if it fell on his head. He’s a hack carpenter, who had a show building furniture in a style developed by skilled amateurs because it was ‘simple’. I think there is something especially wrong about making Shaker furniture with 5 different routers, and several different power saws, and then using an air nailer to hold it together. I understand the why of the show, but…. while Norm was engaging, he’s a carpenter, not a woodworker.

    n

  57. dkreck says:

    A ‘Master’ carpenter. Well that’s what they called him on the shows. What certification he had is questionable. Carpenter’s union?

  58. Nick Flandrey says:

    Probably. In the unions “Master” means something. Usually time plus training.

    n

  59. Greg Norton says:

    My problem with NYW was that Norm wouldn’t recognize fine furniture if it fell on his head. He’s a hack carpenter, who had a show building furniture in a style developed by skilled amateurs because it was ‘simple’

    New Yankee Worksshop was scripted and filmed in the backyard workshop of the executive producer. I’m guessing Norm just collected a check for lending his credibility.

  60. lynn says:

    There’s anything hip south of the river?

    Just the 300 ??? 200 ??? 400 ??? bed homeless shelter.

  61. brad says:

    STEAM? what the heck does “arts” have to do with the rest of the acronym? Added to up the proportion of girls, maybe?

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