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Post by steev on Jul 29, 2017 1:10:39 GMT -5
While I'm no fan of robots, I suspect their most useful activity might be to cull non-productive humans; the problem being, of course, how to distinguish such; it's like eugenics: depends on who's doing the defining; that's where it gets dicey.
It's kind of like when my customer du jour noticed the work I was doing and mentioned how rigorous it looked; I said I've never paid a gym membership. Why would I? I get paid to bust my ass. Granted, I have to use my head more, these days, to keep from breaking anything, but it's a holistic sort of thing.
I use my head; I use my body; it's all about getting the job done; I don't need no stinkin' robots!
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Post by prairiegardens on Jul 29, 2017 7:03:04 GMT -5
Well, it took me three hours to water a little patch of corn, some vines and a few bushes yesterday ( no hose all hand work no running water available) and I would have been very happy to have had help robotic or not. It's supposed to be hovering around 31c all this week so going to need to be repeated about every second day and I'm not looking forward to it. Thinking to semi bury 2litre pop bottles and and use those, they'd be easier to deal with, fill them up and let the water seeps out where it's wanted. This soil has loads of clay so at least it doesn't dry out as fast, the other land is so sandy water doesn't hang around at all.
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Post by steev on Aug 1, 2017 2:23:10 GMT -5
So now I've got clients concerned about Tattooine, who has apparently decided to be history; damn, maybe I do need robots.
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Post by prairiegardens on Aug 17, 2017 10:51:55 GMT -5
"Friends" of the guy who was coming out screwed that up now so looking for someone else. I got a supposed friend of his to agree to come out to help him, after not showing up and then holding me up for an hour to front him $20 for gas money he turned out to be even more useless than I am to do the job at hand, which was highly frustrating for everyone. So after an hour they packed it in for the day, asking to come back the next day. I really wanted the roof at least finished but told them I couldn't be there until about noon, the regular guy said np, it was all good.Fine, then. So drove over about 11:30 , some had been done, about a third of it, no sign of anyone.
Called the usual guy. He said nobody had shown up so he'd got hungry and left (I'd been feeding and coffee-ing him as well, so guess he'd been expecting that) and his buddy was awol so he'd left after an hour, rather than waiting for me to come.
Turned out his girlfriend was with him. She was a schoolmate of the wife of the original guy, Scott, who'd at least told me he'd rather not help build anything because he hasn't a clue how. According to him, she's a lazy selfish piece of work in her early 20s already divorced, never had a job and has been living off them for 5 months without contributing anything to pay for either rent or food or looking for work or even agreeing once in a while to babysit for them.
The month before, he had moved in with her at Scott's place. From what Scott said, she almost certainly did a bunch of damage to their truck when they finally had said that's enough, either pay rent or move. Scott said as a result of that she and Dustin had broken up, but she's suddenly turned up pregnant so back in the picture. On Sunday she was bored and wanted to go home to watch tv so that's what they did. Then he wanted me to drive 30 minutes (each way) to go pay him because his truck is having issues, never mind that he'd let me down by not being there and doing the job he'd promised to be doing. He's a really good worker when he's there without his friends.
He promised to come out this week after work...his idea, not mine, to finish the job but that hasn't happened, so now I need to find someone else again. In the meantime it rained like crazy for two days so everything will now be soggy and there's enough of a roof on it to mean it won't get much benefit from the sun to help dry it out.
Hard to imagine that something so simple could turn out to be so incredibly difficult to get done. It's probably only taken a week, if that, of actual work, but it's been going on now since the end of May, with no end in sight. Once the roof is on I can do most of the rest of it I think, and even semi mobile as I am it likely won't take any longer, working in 15 minutes of work rest rhythm than getting even him out here when it's convenient for him to have a little extra cash.
It's just a lot more difficult not having someone to help. And when he was there he was a hell of a worker as well as being cheerful and cooperative. Too bad he's apparently been sandbagged by his girlfriend, the brief time she was out of the picture he seemed to be happier and god knows he was more reliable, he actually followed through on what he said he would do.
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Post by steev on Aug 17, 2017 19:30:28 GMT -5
It is a trial, trying to work with inadequate help; in that vein, I will propose "Bill Bunting in 2020", as our current POTUS is so clearly inadequate (reference BB on youtube; "white nationalists in America").
He's rude, crude, and socially unacceptable; speaks truth, though; my kinda guy; straight across.
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Post by steev on Jan 17, 2018 4:09:12 GMT -5
So I've got another helper who's utterly incompetent; he called me today that "I'm done here"; so I come back to find him sitting on his ass next to a patch of weeds "you didn't tell me to do anything about those"; am I going to replace him? Oh, hell yes; will he know why? I doubt it. He's got his head up his cell phone all the time. I am not optimistic about Humanity. I think we may be coming to a time when the incompetent will fail and the brutal will rampage. Hopefully, the rational will survive, but that depends on the level of power of the incompetent, lest it destroy us all, which it currently has the power to do. How long will our farming/gardening efforts be productive in a decade-long nuclear winter? Not predicting; just asking. Something one might want to think about, if one hopes to be around, or if one hopes one's children will be around, or one's grandchildren, whatever.
Re-watched "The Day After", 1983, thanks to youtube; great movie; very disturbing; even relates to soil/farm conditions post-nuclear; it really takes the fun out of nuclear war, in case anyone is stupid enough to think it's a good/winnable idea. Am I addressing current International chest-pounding? Yes.
We need to address the needs of our ecosystem, so far more important than our national/political/religious systems; politics, nationalism, or religion don't feed us; the ecosystem does; it is the body of our Great Mother which sustains us, not our human-invented bullshit about religion, nationalism, or politics; when did those ever produce something you could eat, other than bullshit?
I realize this isn't about plant-breeding, but it's about whether plant-breeding is of any use, if nuclear war is possible. Personally, I think one must soldier on, in hopes that SHTF doesn't happen. World without end, eh?
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Post by steev on Feb 7, 2018 5:28:28 GMT -5
Helper stopped weeding "because there were bees (in the eaves)"; ignorance rules; only paper wasps, which aren't aggressive, if not messed with. He has so much to learn, if only the difference between bees and wasps.
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Post by steev on Feb 16, 2018 1:48:48 GMT -5
I'm so tired of bitching about Boar-tits; he doesn't hear what I say; doesn't remember what I've shown; doesn't think about what he's doing, whether it makes sense or creates un-needed work; makes excuses when corrected, as to why his stupid/ignorant actions made sense ("You didn't explain it well" is a favorite: "Cut the weeds here" is too obscure, rather than his going to cut two dozen ivy shoots with clippers, leaving the weeds un-cut"?) This guy is history as soon as I can replace him with a less counter-productive worker. He won't understand what happened; I'm probably not somebody who expects competence, just a racist SOB.
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Post by steev on Feb 17, 2018 21:45:01 GMT -5
Today my experienced helper brought his father-in-law, in case there was work for both; no problema! After seeing him work a bit, I asked whether he'd like to work Tues/Sat; later, having discussed it between them, he said he'd like to, if I can be patient; no problema! I admit to having been impatient to call Boar-tits to tell him he's fired; first thing today, when I went to dump bundles we'd accumulated this week; one was from a place I'd told him to root out the wild onions, showing him that, in case of doubt, he could tell by the smell of a bit of leaf whether onion or not; the bundle contained ~four dozen daffodil plants, including one in full bloom.
A while back, he'd said he'd gone to college a bit, but when his "baby-mama" produced their daughter, he'd dropped out to support his child; when I asked what he'd studied, it was some program (criminal justice) that would have qualified him to apply to police academy; just the sort we need for cops!
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 18, 2018 18:17:09 GMT -5
I got a couple of emails yesterday, one from a guy who had helped me a couple of years ago before he got a 6 day a week job, he said he'd changed jobs, so could likely come out and help on some weekends if I still needed someone. The other was from someone who brought both her dad and their drinking issues, saying she'd like to come out again and help for no pay if they could get permission to hunt there. I'm not there and won't be for another 2 months, more or less. Exchanged emails with the guy, not taking the second up on her offer, all I'd need would be two alcoholics bumbling around the place with rifles. Bad as my experience has been trying to find help though, I think you've got me beat, esp when it's your business. Good luck with the latest  |
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Post by steev on Feb 23, 2018 0:12:03 GMT -5
The FIL is chugging along, clearly very ignorant but willing and able to learn; oddly enough, my appetite is improving as my optimism grows; hope I can put on some muscle, already having more waist than I need/want. Yes. I'm a vain guy who'd rather look younger than I am; I could dye my hair/beard; oh, hell, no; I just want to be damned fit for my age; if the ladies think I'm catnip, that's not my fault, innit?
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Post by steev on Mar 7, 2018 14:05:28 GMT -5
The FIL hasn't been heard from this week. Feh!
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Post by richardw on Mar 9, 2018 2:45:55 GMT -5
Whats happened ya reckon?
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Post by steev on Mar 9, 2018 11:32:05 GMT -5
I suppose he decided to return to being a chore-boy in a restaurant, that being indoor and less rigorous.
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Post by steev on Mar 27, 2018 23:39:26 GMT -5
The FIL was waiting when I came out today; I have no idea where he's been the past two weeks. He really doesn't get the vibe of our work, so I'm still looking for a real trainee; if I find one that works out (buys the business), perhaps he'll continue to employ the FIL but I wouldn't bet on it. I don't want to dump on the FIL because his SIL is a well-trained, excellent worker.
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