Don't necessarily need Amish carpenters - there are plenty of craftsmen (and women!) still around - of course they're swamped because few young'uns want to learn how to do something that way, versus the quick slap-together, anymore. For way too many contractors it's how many you build in a year, not how well you build them.
Man, I learned carpentry from guys who learned it before the big boom in power tools in construction. There simply is no match for experienced, attention-detail building. Especially when it comes to finish work.
A lot of new construction I see nowadays makes me sick, especially the cut-rate drywall finishing and trimwork. If I ever did work like some of the stuff I've seen I'd never have gotten another contract.
Mind you, there are some really good contractors out there, who do quality work. Good luck getting one to build you a house without requesting their services years in advance. But don't hire the quickies - you'll regret it.
If you want drywall installed with an eye towards soundproofing, ask your contractor. There are plenty of ways to do it - special mounting clips, layered sound-absorbent materials within the walls, etc... I've seen installations in homes where you bould push 110 decibels directly at a 6" frame wall and have less than 60db on the other side. Yes, it costs money.
If your contractor doesn't know how/doesn't want to to do it, find another contractor.
Doing interior finishing over concrete walls is a lot more expensive laborwise than doing it over stickframe walls, at least if you want it to last. Been there, done both.
Dang it, you beat me to the comment about the geodesic dome:)
I'll add to that just how much having custom furniture built for your home's curves *costs* and how much more it's going to suck if you ever want to remodel...
Strawbale post and beam construction is actually cheaper, and much more energy efficient (not as labor efficient, but building DOES provide local jobs, eh?)
SB&P has gone thru a lot of crap over the last 20 years, but is finally being accepted in a lot of states. I've visited homes built this way, and they are incredibly energy efficient and very quiet inside, and, if built properly, can outlast stickframe construction by a large margin.
Plus, just about anyone can build a SB home. It doesn't take a lot of technology and expensive machinery. If you want cheap and livable, look into it. Here is a good place to start.
Well, one would assume that it'd be PVC within the wall that actually carries the fluids. But...
Speaking as someone who has worked/still works as a general carpenter/handyman, I'd HATE to have to deal with some architects' view of how the plumbing/electrical should run, especially if I have to modify a concrete structure to add or change the plans. Drilling into concrete is bad enough; trying to ream channels into it is a friccin' nightmare - I wouldn't even touch that kind of job, tools or no.
Also, what happens if you have a heating outage and your supply lines (that are built into the wall) break from freeze expansion? God, what a repair nightmare.
Some of us think that cookie cutter neighborhoods are ugly too. Personally I like being able to walk down a street and see the varying styles and periods rather than an endless succession of theme homes.
Tastes differ.
Anyone who's ever walked thru some of the nicer cities in Iowa and seen the beautifully restored older homes there knows what I'm talking about (I'm told that the same applies to areas of cities like Boston, but I've never been there).
2045: This house proudly built by NanoTech Industries Inc.
2050: Union negotiations with the 10^20 member strong NanoBug Union are still underway. The NanoBug Union Collective has threatened complete disassociation of the entire world's building molecules unless their demands are met.:)
If (the hypothetical) Skynet ever developed the concept of ironic humor, this alone would cause a meltdown from sheer hysterical cybernetic laughter. Silly, stupid damned humans. All your nodes belong to me now.
I bet the students would benefit from getting free crack, too. After all, they could save money that way./sarcasm
(I do agree with you, it's just that MS giving "gifts" of this nature to schools is done under the same pretexts (for MS) as it is done to the military. Meanwhile MS bitches about piracy. Hmph. )
The sad part about that is that such things have been abused to the point where you can't even offer a basic kindness. Not that I disagree with the rules you work under, it just makes me sick to think that the companies who abused the system have created regulations that stifle even basic human decency.
This whole article thread, while increasing my respect for our military decision makers, has decreased my respect for our cultural addiction with money. Not that it could be decreased much more without becoming non-existent.
I agree with you, but the timing is still suspicious to me. The DoJ was still hanging onto the penalties side until the admin change - back when it happened, I thought the timing was funny, but not tremendously so.
After observing the Bush administration in action, however, particularly the pandering to corporate interests that goes on, I've changed my mind. It fits in all too well.
But perhaps I need to tweak my tinfoil hat:)
What really sucks is that we'll likely never know, unless someone who was in the decision tree at the time writes a best-selling book 10 years from now:)
Since 1876? Hell, I consider it the most corrupt *ever*; but partially because there is more opportunity for it now than there was during the Grant administration. Compare the potential benefits of corruption then and now....ouch...
Absolutely excellent post. I salute you, sir. You certainly have a better grasp of the subject then most of the so-called "education experts"/etc have.
I've said it on slashdot before, and I'll say it again. Intelligence is not knowledge, it's not memorization of facts or memory, it's the ability to *use* what you know, to make associations from knowledge, or sometimes, to create without knowledge.
Oh, and "shear intellectual will" - misspelled, but if you look at the context the misspelling was in, it actually makes sense.... and BTW, that last paragraph was superbly put.
Thank you. You have an excellent grasp of language, much better than mine.
and you know, I know you do, that it was the change in fed administration that killed the penalties that MS was going to pay.
Jackson, in his public comments (I'll agree they were stupid, within our current justice system) was trying to point out to the hoi polloi just how fucked up our system is...I have to admit he was right, even tho he fucked up the case badly. I find that disgusting. To me it's a defect in the system.
It's just more ammo for the argument that the details of court cases involving publicly held companies should also be public knowledge. Oh, hell, that's an old and mostly dead argument now, tho. I don't even care enough to go into why anymore; it'll be at least a few generations before it's halfway fixed (it only took 3 generations to fuck it up)
No matter how you look at it, Zeinfeld, the court system is so convulated that it really accomplishes nothing anymore. It's C4F.
Nice post, anyway. You pretty much hit it on the head.
The more you dig into SCO, the more bovine feces you find. Some of these feces have a the distinct "redmond feces" smell, while other feces seem to have a vague odor of "corruption" and "bad legal advice". It's hard to tell the last 2 apart.
Another is #3. Pure stupidity. But it's a very hard to discern scent among the other scents (see #1 and 2 by previous poster). It may only exist as trace elements in the feces analysis. However, it may also be an important part of the makeup of the feces.
Fer chrissakes already. Hasn't this been posted a couple thousand times in the last year? It's pretty easy to find, even for n00bs. I'm sure that media journalists won't have problems finding it (if they don't, they're not a journalist)
Saddam was being dealt with just fine under our previous policy.
Doubt me? Come on, he couldn't even field one single aircraft to oppose us during GWII. Not One. Hell, they didn't even offer us any serious opposition when we went in on the ground. We've lost most of our people dealing with insurgent guerilla opposition, not during the actual "war".
I'm sorry, but your comparison of Iraq to pre-WWII Germany is just plain ridiculous. There are a few similar data points, but if you look at the whole picture, it's not even close.
If you want to look for dangers to the US, there are other countries that are much more serious threats - like, China, on an economic basis. North Korea? Sure, they get a lot of press - but they can't even keep their country operating on an economic basis - it's sure to crash, probably sooner than later.
Militarily, there is not any country on this planet who can seriously threaten us, not even China (not really, sure, they have some 100 million people in their army....but how would they transport them here?)
Yeah, a coalition of such countries could offer us some serious opposition - but they can't even formulate workable internal policy (comes with the way they function) much less alliances with each other (the Middle East Islamic nations and the Far East Communist nations joining together to attack the US? Get real. They are further apart in political/cultural worldview than we are from them. )
Because if it does then we've put all our eggs in one basket
Par for the course for NASA. They've been doing that ever since they got bitchslapped by the Nixon administration. It's been steadily downhill since. I can't even imagine how disgusted a lot of the people who brought NASA from "can't launch shit" to landing on the moon in a little more than a decade are.
Man, when I was a kid following this (about the time of the forementioned bitchslap) I never thought that it would get this bad.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't necessarily need Amish carpenters - there are plenty of craftsmen (and women!) still around - of course they're swamped because few young'uns want to learn how to do something that way, versus the quick slap-together, anymore. For way too many contractors it's how many you build in a year, not how well you build them.
Man, I learned carpentry from guys who learned it before the big boom in power tools in construction. There simply is no match for experienced, attention-detail building. Especially when it comes to finish work.
A lot of new construction I see nowadays makes me sick, especially the cut-rate drywall finishing and trimwork. If I ever did work like some of the stuff I've seen I'd never have gotten another contract.
Mind you, there are some really good contractors out there, who do quality work. Good luck getting one to build you a house without requesting their services years in advance. But don't hire the quickies - you'll regret it.
SB
If you want drywall installed with an eye towards soundproofing, ask your contractor. There are plenty of ways to do it - special mounting clips, layered sound-absorbent materials within the walls, etc... I've seen installations in homes where you bould push 110 decibels directly at a 6" frame wall and have less than 60db on the other side. Yes, it costs money.
If your contractor doesn't know how/doesn't want to to do it, find another contractor.
Doing interior finishing over concrete walls is a lot more expensive laborwise than doing it over stickframe walls, at least if you want it to last. Been there, done both.
SB
Dang it, you beat me to the comment about the geodesic dome
I'll add to that just how much having custom furniture built for your home's curves *costs* and how much more it's going to suck if you ever want to remodel...
SB
Strawbale post and beam construction is actually cheaper, and much more energy efficient (not as labor efficient, but building DOES provide local jobs, eh?)
SB&P has gone thru a lot of crap over the last 20 years, but is finally being accepted in a lot of states. I've visited homes built this way, and they are incredibly energy efficient and very quiet inside, and, if built properly, can outlast stickframe construction by a large margin.
Plus, just about anyone can build a SB home. It doesn't take a lot of technology and expensive machinery. If you want cheap and livable, look into it. Here is a good place to start.
SB
Well, one would assume that it'd be PVC within the wall that actually carries the fluids. But...
Speaking as someone who has worked/still works as a general carpenter/handyman, I'd HATE to have to deal with some architects' view of how the plumbing/electrical should run, especially if I have to modify a concrete structure to add or change the plans. Drilling into concrete is bad enough; trying to ream channels into it is a friccin' nightmare - I wouldn't even touch that kind of job, tools or no.
Also, what happens if you have a heating outage and your supply lines (that are built into the wall) break from freeze expansion? God, what a repair nightmare.
Thanks, but no thanks.
SB
Some of us think that cookie cutter neighborhoods are ugly too. Personally I like being able to walk down a street and see the varying styles and periods rather than an endless succession of theme homes.
Tastes differ.
Anyone who's ever walked thru some of the nicer cities in Iowa and seen the beautifully restored older homes there knows what I'm talking about (I'm told that the same applies to areas of cities like Boston, but I've never been there).
SB
2045: This house proudly built by NanoTech Industries Inc.
:)
2050: Union negotiations with the 10^20 member strong NanoBug Union are still underway. The NanoBug Union Collective has threatened complete disassociation of the entire world's building molecules unless their demands are met.
SB
If (the hypothetical) Skynet ever developed the concept of ironic humor, this alone would cause a meltdown from sheer hysterical cybernetic laughter. Silly, stupid damned humans. All your nodes belong to me now.
SB
I bet the students would benefit from getting free crack, too. After all, they could save money that way.
(I do agree with you, it's just that MS giving "gifts" of this nature to schools is done under the same pretexts (for MS) as it is done to the military. Meanwhile MS bitches about piracy. Hmph. )
SB
The sad part about that is that such things have been abused to the point where you can't even offer a basic kindness. Not that I disagree with the rules you work under, it just makes me sick to think that the companies who abused the system have created regulations that stifle even basic human decency.
This whole article thread, while increasing my respect for our military decision makers, has decreased my respect for our cultural addiction with money. Not that it could be decreased much more without becoming non-existent.
Sigh.
SB
We're talking smiley face artwork, here.
SB
That was absolute roll on the floor hilarious. Talk about irony at it's finest.... I salute you!
Now if I could find a way to do that with the half dozen or so AOL CDs I get in the mail every week.... I have enough coasters, already.
SB
I agree with you, but the timing is still suspicious to me. The DoJ was still hanging onto the penalties side until the admin change - back when it happened, I thought the timing was funny, but not tremendously so.
After observing the Bush administration in action, however, particularly the pandering to corporate interests that goes on, I've changed my mind. It fits in all too well.
But perhaps I need to tweak my tinfoil hat
What really sucks is that we'll likely never know, unless someone who was in the decision tree at the time writes a best-selling book 10 years from now
Since 1876? Hell, I consider it the most corrupt *ever*; but partially because there is more opportunity for it now than there was during the Grant administration. Compare the potential benefits of corruption then and now....ouch...
Cheers,
SB
Absolutely excellent post. I salute you, sir. You certainly have a better grasp of the subject then most of the so-called "education experts"/etc have.
I've said it on slashdot before, and I'll say it again. Intelligence is not knowledge, it's not memorization of facts or memory, it's the ability to *use* what you know, to make associations from knowledge, or sometimes, to create without knowledge.
Oh, and "shear intellectual will" - misspelled, but if you look at the context the misspelling was in, it actually makes sense.... and BTW, that last paragraph was superbly put.
Thank you. You have an excellent grasp of language, much better than mine.
SB
and you know, I know you do, that it was the change in fed administration that killed the penalties that MS was going to pay.
Jackson, in his public comments (I'll agree they were stupid, within our current justice system) was trying to point out to the hoi polloi just how fucked up our system is...I have to admit he was right, even tho he fucked up the case badly. I find that disgusting. To me it's a defect in the system.
It's just more ammo for the argument that the details of court cases involving publicly held companies should also be public knowledge. Oh, hell, that's an old and mostly dead argument now, tho. I don't even care enough to go into why anymore; it'll be at least a few generations before it's halfway fixed (it only took 3 generations to fuck it up)
No matter how you look at it, Zeinfeld, the court system is so convulated that it really accomplishes nothing anymore. It's C4F.
Nice post, anyway. You pretty much hit it on the head.
Bah. Humbug, even.
SB
OMFG, that's priceless.
Thanks!! The more I read it, the more the subtle jokes come out...
You owe me a new keyboard, Simon
SB
Agreed.
Nice to know it's not only me who thinks that some moderators have been really stupid in their use of mod points lately.
SB
Mod parent up (score me -1 Redundant) but this is a VERY GOOD POINT
SB
The more you dig into SCO, the more bovine feces you find. Some of these feces have a the distinct "redmond feces" smell, while other feces seem to have a vague odor of "corruption" and "bad legal advice". It's hard to tell the last 2 apart.
Another is #3. Pure stupidity. But it's a very hard to discern scent among the other scents (see #1 and 2 by previous poster). It may only exist as trace elements in the feces analysis. However, it may also be an important part of the makeup of the feces.
More study is required.
SB
LOL.
:)
The funny thing about both posts is that both are plausible
Argh. I need a high-temp brake for my spinning head.
SB
Mod it down. This is really redundant info.
Fer chrissakes already. Hasn't this been posted a couple thousand times in the last year? It's pretty easy to find, even for n00bs. I'm sure that media journalists won't have problems finding it (if they don't, they're not a journalist)
Oh, and (OT) who says AC's can't karma whore?
Sheese already.
SB
What a lot of crap. Who modded this insightful?
Saddam was being dealt with just fine under our previous policy.
Doubt me? Come on, he couldn't even field one single aircraft to oppose us during GWII. Not One. Hell, they didn't even offer us any serious opposition when we went in on the ground. We've lost most of our people dealing with insurgent guerilla opposition, not during the actual "war".
I'm sorry, but your comparison of Iraq to pre-WWII Germany is just plain ridiculous. There are a few similar data points, but if you look at the whole picture, it's not even close.
If you want to look for dangers to the US, there are other countries that are much more serious threats - like, China, on an economic basis. North Korea? Sure, they get a lot of press - but they can't even keep their country operating on an economic basis - it's sure to crash, probably sooner than later.
Militarily, there is not any country on this planet who can seriously threaten us, not even China (not really, sure, they have some 100 million people in their army....but how would they transport them here?)
Yeah, a coalition of such countries could offer us some serious opposition - but they can't even formulate workable internal policy (comes with the way they function) much less alliances with each other (the Middle East Islamic nations and the Far East Communist nations joining together to attack the US? Get real. They are further apart in political/cultural worldview than we are from them. )
Sheese.
SB
Very good post!
Because if it does then we've put all our eggs in one basket
Par for the course for NASA. They've been doing that ever since they got bitchslapped by the Nixon administration. It's been steadily downhill since. I can't even imagine how disgusted a lot of the people who brought NASA from "can't launch shit" to landing on the moon in a little more than a decade are.
Man, when I was a kid following this (about the time of the forementioned bitchslap) I never thought that it would get this bad.
*weeps*
SB
Maybe one day, the nations of this world will discover that life exists outside of our own tiny blue speck of dust and water.
Maybe one day we'll discover that intelligent life exists at the top of our political food chain. Then again...
Not very fucking likely.
SB
and even more importantly, the astronauts who would perform the mission,a nd have been training for it, ARE WILLING TO GO DESPITE THE RISKS.
SB