In response to the first part (*Intro) to our book for Millennials, reader Perry offered this which is spot-on:
“I spent 44 years working in a steel mill as a
machinist. They need SKILLED WORKERS.
The company will not train you.
You must go to a trade school.
You must pass a hands on test.
You must pass a drug test.
This is a good paying job.
They do NOT want unskilled labor!”
And he precisely right.
I don’t think Millennials know how screwed-over they have been by the Powers-that-Be and the dastardly law firms that have facilitated the de-industrialization of America.
I expect when Perry was a young man, his school offered plenty of “hands on” training for real trades in the Industrial Arts programs.
One of the major disasters of American Education is we let lawyers – more than the free market – determine what would be taught.
Take my personal experience, please:
My first industrial arts class was Woodshop 1. My project was a maple folding footstool that my Mom had into her early 80s.
The project wasn’t “hard” – but we got to use a lot of equipment. The maple was narrow pieces of 1-by-4. To make the required pieces we had to learn to do a glue-up. This involved using a jointer.
After that came several passes through a planer to drop the thickness down to ¾ of an inch.
Following this, scrapers (there’s a lost art for you!) were used to remove the planer marks.
Things were “roughed out” of the cleaned up wood on a 3-phase powered 12 cabinet saw. Think any school board in America would let 12-year olds mess with saws that can kick a piece of wood out with near lethal force? Not bloody likely, right?
But it’s another example of how the education of Millennials is terribly insufficient.
In marketing terms, it makes total sense. Rather than have the public teach people marketable skills, as they did in Metal Shop (*another sequence I scored straight A’s in) and Gas Engines Shop (ditto), you my Millennial friend have been bred by a corrupt system of Monetizers to be totally dependent on corpraculture to exist.
Sure, it works while software is young and isn’t self-coding, but give it time. A.I. (and robots) are in the wings.
The Monetizers have seen to it that what used to be free is now a $20,000 per year tech school with the same shitty student loan programs which gun-point parents into signing those God-awful Federal Student Loan papers. I refused to sign on any of them for my kids – told them to fund their own schooling since it would mean more.
And when they whined, I explained that Lincoln outlawed Slavery and it’s a point of Freedom largely lost on Federal Aid pushers, and come to think of it, the family lawstitutes who put Slavery into child support agreements that reach past 18 – the age of majority.
You see, my Millennial reader, the world is foxtrot uniformed because we Old People didn’t pay attention. We watched too much television, spent too little time reading, and not enough time thinking.
YOUR big trip wire is the Monetizers never sleep and if three networks could dumb down the Greatest Generation Ever, why just imagine what 300 channels and 1.4 billion videos ought to deliver.
In the meantime, hats to Perry for groking it solid.
He can do that because he is not one of the entitlement-crazed Millennials. He’s a doer…and there’s your challenge.
Millennial Video: Joe Friday
Think of it this way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZo2hhvvlpw&feature=youtu.be
Re-Engineering the Cat
The past few years I’ve been noticing that people try to train dogs, but they don’t give much effort to cats.
So for the last few weeks, I am back into Zeus the Cat’s training program and it’s pretty damn interesting to say the least.
For one, when I leave the house in the morning for the long (40-foot) commute to the office, Zeus is now coming when I say “Here boy…come here puppy….good dog…”
Surprisingly, I get 60% better performance by referring to him as a DOG rather than a CAT. Weird? Uh=huh…
I don’t know why this should be so, but he comes when I whistle for him nowadays, too.
Apparently, that part of the Galaxy that we passed through a while back – that screwed with gender identification – was not a humans-only effect. It seems to demonstrably have screwed up the species orientation of at least one Cat.
If you have a cat, try calling it like a dog for a week or two and let me know what happens….
Meantime, Zeus now goes to his bed when I point at it…and when he wants something to drink in the House, we have sorted out his “shopping list.”
After some dry kibbles he will first go over and look at the fridge for about 3-minutes. He starts by glancing at us carefully. As soon as he sees we’re looking in his direction, he will stare a hole through the fridge door. He wants milk to drink.
When that fails, he will head for the bathroom. Zeus has discovered that the toilets are flushed and there’s passable water in there.
But even better is the shower if the sliding doors are left open. Ever hear of a cat meowing for the shower to be turned on slightly?
Even more than slightly and he doesn’t seem to mind getting wet.
Having been an outdoor cat, he doesn’t seem to mind water. Outdoor cats get soaked on a pretty regular basis. Maybe he’s enjoying getting soaked on his own terms – not Mother Nature’s – for a change.
Only downside to treating him more like a dog? He shakes like one, too.
A Serious Hydration Reminder: PRELOAD!
This is not medical advice. And the fact that my son George-II is an EMT and may have heard stories about EMTs running drip lines on serious “morning-afters” is purely coincidental.
Thought #1
G-II did some serious snowshoeing over Christmas, as I mentioned before. One of the keys to snow-camping by yourself in the wilds of the Cascade Mountains is getting seriously hydrated and staying that way. (Pix on his FB page here.) Video is of a snow shed on the old rail line.
There are several hydration tools we have used, but go with one that has the electrolytes your body needs. I like Pedialyte but there are others.
Thought #2
You need to read the web page over at http://olive-drab.com about how important hydration is, says G-II. He quoted me this part:
“The importance of hydration was shown by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who developed a highly successful heat doctrine for desert operations, demonstrated during the 1967 war with Egypt. The Israeli forces experienced minimal losses from heat injury and illness, while the Egyptians suffered 20,000 casualties from heatstroke alone, representing approximately 50% of the total Egyptian war casualties.”
d’ Grok
While neither of us encourages people drinking – especially to excess – remember that preloading with lots of water – and keeping those levels up will do amazing things to speed your recovery time in the event you get a little carried away.
Since you know what weekend this is, figured the least we could do was point you in the least painful direction to start 2017 off right…
Peoplenomics Tomorrow?
I was going to take the day off, but…
Something of a change of pace – in keeping with the Holiday spirit of things: I go through some suggestions on how to set up your home sound system for maximum enjoyment.
Having designed studios both in the Pacific Northwest and in L.A. I have a pretty good idea of how to get some of that kick-ass sound most people only dream about…a nice counterpoint to our update of the charts…
Write when you get rich…
George,
Staying hydrated is something that’s lost on a lot of folks and it’s double damned important if you’re going to be doing any physical exertion and/or drinking.
I spent many, many years doing unlikable things in unlikable places in the service of our country, lots and lots of distance running and serious backpacking. I can tell you pedialyte is about as good as you can get if you can stand the taste. Good nutrition, good old plain water and a dill or kosher pickle works pretty well, too.
Stay away from fancy sports/energy drinks and sodas. They’re all crap and will cause you to experience failure.
Happy New Year to you and the Missus
MAJ-13
And I totally agree, not to overlook that anything with high fructose corn syrup is akin to drinking poison.
Agreed. I avoid it like the plague.
If you have chickens ,feed them dog food and they will start barking like a dog,lol
I may try dog food on the cat – puppy chow maybe
UMMM: you do realize that cats cannot digest dog food, don’t you? The nutrient requirements are WAY different between the two species. Also, why don’t you just leave a water bowl out for Zeus 24/7? Cats also require more water than dogs [they’ll die after 3 days without it] and if Zeus supplements his aqua needs with outdoor sources he runs the risk of parasitic/bacterial infections that all “outdoor” animals face. A small bowl spares your cherished friend all of this.
Feeding dog food to a cat is NOT a good idea.
Cat’s nutritional requirements are much different than those of a dog.
Cats require higher levels of protein than dogs, and cats MUST have the amino acid called ‘taurine’ in their diet; dogs can actually make their own taurine. A cat eating food deficient in taurine will develop severe heart disease and other health problems.
Cats require a different form of Vitamin A than dogs do since dogs can use beta-carotene as a source of Vitamin A but cats cannot. Cats can not manufacture the fatty acid called ‘arachidonic acid’ and must have it supplemented in their diet but it is not essential for dogs.
noooo! Cats and dogs have different nutritional needs so the added vitamins and such are very different. It is dangerous to switch feeds between these species.
For a reasonable priced kibble that the cat will devour and beg for more, buy Purina One kitten kibble and Fancy Feast chicken-turkey flavor kibble. Mix two parts of kitten to one part of FF. I blend mine in a large food container so I don’t have to frequently open the bags. At night, they only have low carb kibble available (Orijen original is best).
Do not give milk to cats; they are lactose intolerant. Dairy farmers gave their barn cats the cream foam from the top of the buckets. If you must, give him half and half in small amounts. I also use this to administer medicine. Open capsule or grind tablet and mix with a little half and half then use a baby medicine syringe to slowly squeeze in his mouth.
I can use one of several different sounds to call the cats. They also know “ham” and “tunafish”. Just like with dogs, always use the same word and intonation for something. And, because parking lot traffic is so close to the apartment buildings where I live, I have trained them to go away from moving cars and towards the buildings. Cats are as bad as squirrels about dashing the wrong way in traffic.
I’ll State my case so listen dogs cats and chickens we’ll all eat the same thing and you would too if you were hungry enough so what makes the difference between my dogs cats and chickens eating the same thing is that I give the dog a bone every once in awhile and the chickens get the 4-H out in the field and the cats get to Chase and eat the rats and mice so you figure that out and me I get to grow my food or buy it from the grocery store so when you hear a veterinarian or anybody else and this animal has to have this you are being fed a bunch of bullcrap take your rights for instance and your mouth and your Wildcats and your wolves and coyotes and your towels they all eat what Mother Nature put out there for them and when mother nature doesn’t have what they need they go after something else All the Above cats rats coyotes dogs roosters chickens birds they will all eat you if you’re dead laying there and I’m sure the veterinarian will say That’s not healthy for them we have to have a manufactured diet that is specifically made for that particular animal and the reason I say that is because they work for a corporation and corporations rule the way you think just like you have to have health insurance vehicle insurance and death insurance and renters insurance and I’m sure there’s fifty other kinds of insurances you will need if you enable them to convince you to do so,ARGH
Go see a a new Young doctor and tell them what you can do with honey and all the healing benefits and that young doctor will say no don’t use honey use what we have been taught to subscribe to you you see how warped their minds are by the corporations
I can put a potato outside and every animal including me will eat it
and you seen how the corporation’s push all that food and Drugs off on you and make you fat beyond belief well if you let them they’ll do the same thing to your animals
I have a cat that stares at the door when he wants out, drinks from the faucet, or cries to be let in the shower once we are out. However, if it’s cold this same cat has to check the weather at every door to see if maybe it’s better on the other side of the house. And, if you ever dare to touch him, you’ll probably lose a finger.
George, look at this article https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2489440/satellite-spots-massive-object-hidden-under-the-frozen-wastes-of-antarctica/ . Possible 300 mile impact crater could explain one of the previous extinction events.
James Johnson, ex-nuke
Food companies hiding harmful high fructose corn syrup under new names:
• Corn sugar
Great concept & I appreciate the insight, thank you George & the Ure Fellowship of readers/doers!
G2 is awesome, great adventuresome spirit thanks for relaying his experiences.
On a tech note, AI is gaining on it:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2114748-google-translate-ai-invents-its-own-language-to-translate-with/
Happy, Healthy New Year to y’all…
The idea of writing a handbook for Millennials is brilliant, George. Not only will it help them have a better life, but it will help those of us who will be ruled by them when they come in to power (God help us).
It seems to me that millennials also need a lesson in how to lose and/or fail.
I work in the IT field and many of the millennials in the organization will blame someone/something else for their incompetence then refuse to even investigate problems until someone else fixes it for them.
It used to be that failure was viewed as an opportunity to learn and get better. Failure, as long as nobody got hurt, was something to be embraced. I’ve learned more in the process of recovering from failure than I could from reading any book. Sadly, millennials seem to view it as the end of the world and an excuse to give up.
Just my 2cents
Think about it…fifteen years down the road…RAP will be the golden oldies…and your nurse..she will be tatooed from head to toe with piercings everywhere. Lol and wont be able to understand the workings of anything without a computer.
I use to get a thrill out of going to the bank. One of the head tellers couldn’t count I would toss a bucks worth of change just to watch her flounder..today that terrifies me knowing the illiteracy od the average college grad.
In many of the places I have worked they are more than willing to train.
Hospital. EKG tech, Monitor tech,( yup they have their acls advanced cardiac life support) med tech,, etc etc.. would you rather have a four year grad draw your blood ( she maybe does a dozen a week) or that kid with pimples that can put a darning needle up your thumb nail without you feeling it.. I had my blood drawn once as a thing I ask everyone I aked have you done this before.. yup I have been doing this for thirty years.. yeah after five minutes of digging I asked him if he would let me do it.. I was saved by a young kid a little later.. here he had been pushing paper for thirty years had no practical experience. x-ray tech.. the reason they do that is they can hire only one person whose license the rest work under. the process saves them millions.. the difference in pay.. top pay for my job as a tech even today is fifteen dollars an hour.. top pay.. where the four year grad.. they may start out at thirty dollars an hour but they put their license on the line there are really very few of the higher paid positions in comparison.
leaving the majority of those trying to survive with families in the thirty thousand a year bracket.
If your in an accident who would you rather come rescuee you.. someone with clinical experience or the guys with the emt training certificate.. give me the tech any day. they are well trained they just don’t get the same money or benefits.
education reimbursement.. I signed up for college.. thought the company was going to pay for a portion of it.. when I asked.. this doesn’t pertain to your job. I am going to get a degree for another higher paying position.. yes but once you get the education then we will pay for you to improve in that position not until that is what you are hired for.. in other words nope education assistance is only for those in higher paying positions already.,
I had experience in my field for over thirty years and never made top pay.
Please be aware that dog food is not a substitute for cat food. Cats need taurine or will go blind. Also, dogs can eat anything but cats are carnivores and must have adequate protein. They also need a consistent source of fresh water and shouldn’t have to beg or forage for it.
I’ve been feeding my cats dog food for years and they are fine. Keeps from having two bins in the pantry. Dogs are carnivores also. I know my pit bull and poodle love raw meat when I am cutting up a slab of ribeye into steaks.
Last I looked they were putting sucralose in pedialye, talk about a poison. It gave me heart arythmia and my friend seizures!
Got dehydrated a couple times this year myself… most unpleasant. Last time was on a business trip to Denver, where despite drinking nothing but water for two days and minimal food (just coffee, OJ & 3 strips of bacon for breakfast (though custom omellettes & bisquits & gravy were also available), no lunch or dinner), I felt miserable for three days – until about a half-hour after the airplane cabin pressurized for the trip home…. Altitude sickness.
Never bothered me on previous trips there, but I’d never been there in the winter before. The air just sucks the moisture right out of you.
That’s what a 5x increase in altitude can do for you…
I was sent this video this morning on Millennials this morning, it’s great!! and very accurate!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU
Sorry for the copycat post. Didn’t realize mine is the exact same as yours by a different poster. I saw it this morning on my wife’s FB and thought it certainly worth bringing it to George. Sinek has many other good interviews on YouTube as well. The one on Trump was of particular interest.
Simon Sinek interview. This bears hearing again several times if you’ve already seen it. It’s not really Millennials’ fault that so many of them are entitled, narcissistic, ignorant little p***-ants. It’s very much a parenting issue to begin with so, George, it appears you have the right attitude toward parenting. I guess it argues for the “blank slate” theory of child psychology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK97VG-m3W0
Saw a program on PBS re. German vs. US mfg. A German machine tool maker took kids after H.S. and gave them a vice, a file, and a block of steel. And for 2 years they made various parts…BTW the president of the company started with a file. Also, the floor of the plant was spotless, unlike the average US plant.
George, I’m guessing Zeus is a Maine Coon Cat because his behavior sounds like our Cat, Kitty Boy. He comes when called, and both he and our Siamese cry outside our bedroom door if we sleep in so they can get some water from the master bath tub faucet (although they have a bowl of water near their feed dish, they seem to prefer the water straight from the faucet). Kittyboy will also stare a hole through you until you get up and follow him to either (1) the treats, (2) open the window so he can sit on the stool and sniff, or (3) place some fresh catnip in his bowl.
Love Main coons. I have one named Broccoli. He is a 22 lb master of the yard. My daughter named him that when she was 4 under much protest from me. But it stuck. He will get in the shower with you and he doesnt just for mice or moles, he catches rabbits and wood peckers, stuff like that. He is family, not like just a cat. Comes when ya call him and checks on everyone at bed time, kinda a family mascot.
3D printing is going to change absolutely everything. New skills will be needed. Already using computer technology millwright, journeyman machinist and tool and die maker are basically one job. Of course three hundred years ago they were the same job…blacksmith.
If you want a manufacturing job that lasts you at going to have to get in on the ground floor in 3D printing and take upgrading courses. Otherwise you are going to have to adapt to new skills.
Many changes are coming to the economy, driven by computers and robotics and new skills will have to be learned.
According to a former principal, superintendent and retired teacher friend of mine, who was also a farm girl: OSHA made it illegal for anyone to use power shop machinery under the age of 18, so the schools can’t teach proper shop classes anymore to our precious snowflakes.
OSHA doesn’t apply to families, of course, so you can let your kids use a power saw. The schools don’t want the responsibility of life threatening injuries and OSHA is either a good excuse or a real barrier. I’m not sure which.
On cats: My beloved ones have passed away, and two of them were jet black. One loved water and would preferentially drink from the toilet, so I had to leave it closed. She also loved to play with water in a dripping shower, but didn’t like getting drenched.
My most recently deceased cat was the most loving, loyal, and gentle friend any human could ever ask for. She slept with me each night and followed me around the house, either nesting on my lap or on the chair I provided next to me. I’d never call her a dog – she was my best friend and that would be insulting. We would take walks together and she was always trusting and either stayed close or dashed off after something and returned. She was a deadly mouser with razor claws, yet I slept blissfully with her on my pillow. We both really trusted each other.
To reiterate others: Clean water that’s always available is essential for cats. I always fed the highest quality dry food available. Cats will supplement their diet with rodents and other critters as they see fit.
George, “Water for Health, for Healing, for Life” by Dr. Batmanghelidj is where I learned that as people age, they experience less sense of thirst. I keep the pitcher of water and the glass on the kitchen counter now, so it’s “in my face” and I can’t make excuses… Waiting to feel thirsty means you’re already dehydrated, anyway, according to Dr.Batman. Also, if you need a test-reader millennial for your book, I got one for ya!
Drinking lots of water will prevent hangover headache
Hey george I was blown away when my son started high school and there were no shop classes i was like wtf ! When i started high school in 1978 we had auto – wood – machine – metal and drafting shops we need to get this back in high school
It is sad, this loss of work ethic, know how ness, stick to it ness, curiosity and creativity. The boob tube has multiplied its effects into many domains of distractions. I sit here tonight after working 2 long days helping my brother paint the outside of his house 200 miles away, yep I drove 200 miles home tonight. I am in my my 50’s and overweight, but by golly, I was able to climb 2 ladders and a step stool for 2 days. I do enjoy painting but haven’t done any in over 10 years. I realized painting is like mowing the grass, if you like mowing the grass you will like painting as you can immediately see the fruits of your labor and that kind of satisfaction, is well, satisfying. While I was painting, I was reminiscing, and you know when you are working and alone with your thoughts, reminiscing is like meditation, except WITH internal words. I was thinking of when I was first introduced to painting, and it was when I was about 5. My Dad was painting the hallway in our house. A hallway where several children had managed to scribble or draw pictures. Every year or so, he painted that hallway. He told me he could tell which kid scribbled by the height of the drawing! Anyway, over the years, I watched that hallway go from baby blue, to yellow, to green, to white. During that time, I would stand there and he would let me paint. I watched my Dad do a lot of things growing up and I always felt extra special when he would show me how to do something and let me help. Fast forward to earlier today, at my brother’s place, he has a 3 year old and 5 year old – daughters. So, guess what I got to do? Yep, taught them how to hold the brush, dip it in paint, wipe the brush and then paint, up and down. We had the best time and they asked a lot of questions. I felt like I got a chance to pass on one of the nicest gifts, of many, that my Dad gave me, self sufficiency, ABLE NESS, and mostly wonderful seeding memories for the future. Happy New Year, George and Elaine, may 2017 be all of yours’ best year yet!