If you're going to work and help the people returning to salvage their homes. This means items like: hammers, sledge hammers, crowbars, good boots, nails, a tetanus shot, shovels, snowshovels for heaps of sheetrock, those rubbery gloves that go almost all the way down your forearm, facemasks, well stocked first aid kit, screwdrivers, putty knifes to scrape, trash bags, good deodorizers for the vehicle and stuff, a comealong, a wench in case you get stuck in the mud and the comealong won't work, eye protection, an eyewash, needlenose, regular pliers, string and rope, binding wire, a wire brush, jumper cables, a good radio, etc...
When we donate to our YWCA they always need hygiene products of all kinds, ask your wife to help with that one. These people are probably trying to save what's left and deal with the nitty-gritty of daily life. Whatever you bring will be specific with the flood ridden or wind damaged area you find yourself in.
"The point shouldn't be who's right and who's wrong... or who knows what and
who knows "HOW" things work. But we can learn from each other."
I couldn't agree more. People are too often caught up in what they can attain from learning new things or assigning status to other people for how much they can physically gain from them. It often seems as if social interaction is some game where people are motivated solely by what they can acquire from each other.
People are designed to be social creatures. Societal interaction is necessary to some degree for psychological health. The shared experiences we all have with 'old' and 'new' technologies have as much to do with enriching each others lives as they do with technological progress.
Actually, I've always quietly agreed with the folks that have questioned why wer're sending people up there instead of manned probes.
However our leadership, and the leadership of several other countries have a vested interest in manned space exploration now. From what I understand Japan and Russia have pieces of the space station that have been waiting for launch for some time. The EU seems to have an interest..
I think Michael Griffin stuck his foot in his mouth; at the very least he could have chosen his words more carefully.
Engineering is a whole lot of work, not just some of the time, all of the time. And yes it can be quite thankless; I've had to sit there and take it more than once from some pain-in-the-a*s boss who knows nothing about computers or electronics but still wants to tear into me because one of my little bright ideas didn't work. I've been pushed around by guys who just sat around and "did the books" (I guess that was their title). I didn't let that bother me, I just did my job as best I could - if that wasn't good enough for them, too bad. I'm a skilled worker and regardless of what you say I'm not that easy to replace.
Of course it burns me that I just might have to move to a city with an area population of half a million to best use my degree. Supply and demand is spotty for any specialized field, like some surgeons, many types of instructors, meteorology,often psychiatrists, and a million other fields of study where you can make a decent living from a skill. Jobs that start at $35,000 and up aren't falling out of the sky looking for you. And when a doctor or nurse screws up bunches of people can and do die, they (hopefully) pay dearly for it like anyone else.
What makes me happy is that I've learned a diverse set of skills and if work gets scarce I'll find SOMETHING to get me by until the good jobs come around. Not only that before long I'll be skilled enough where you can't really replace me and just try to stick me on some 24/7 bullsh*t salary--chew my a*s out then.
If you aren't good at math or physics or whatever goto a trade school or Community College. Before too many years your salary will catch up to something reasonable. Discouraging people from going into a specialized field is just wrong.
If you need examples of China's probable future there are some rather frightening examples of Asian success stories like Singapore.
Singapore has long been criticized for its human rights abuses; at the same time
Singapore can be called Asia's most competitive economy. The people there do
tolerate the abuses of their government supposedly for the order and peace that it
maintains.
Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, even India are all on human rights watchdog lists
right now for various reasons.
I have no idea just which direction the present government of China will take,
an experiment on this scale has never been tried. What makes me much more
optimistic about the future is that there are people (like some of the folks here)
that care a great deal about what happens to these people and will actually go
to some lengths to help stop these intolerable human rights abuses.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're going to work and help the people returning to salvage their homes.
This means items like: hammers, sledge hammers, crowbars, good boots, nails,
a tetanus shot, shovels, snowshovels for heaps of sheetrock, those
rubbery gloves that go almost all the way down your forearm, facemasks,
well stocked first aid kit, screwdrivers, putty knifes to scrape, trash bags,
good deodorizers for the vehicle and stuff, a comealong, a wench
in case you get stuck in the mud and the comealong won't work,
eye protection, an eyewash, needlenose, regular pliers, string and rope,
binding wire, a wire brush, jumper cables, a good radio, etc...
When we donate to our YWCA they always need hygiene products of all
kinds, ask your wife to help with that one. These people are probably
trying to save what's left and deal with the nitty-gritty of daily life.
Whatever you bring will be specific with the flood ridden or wind damaged
area you find yourself in.
"The point shouldn't be who's right and who's wrong ... or who knows what and
who knows "HOW" things work. But we can learn from each other."
I couldn't agree more. People are too often caught up in what they can attain from
learning new things or assigning status to other people for how much they can
physically gain from them. It often seems as if social interaction is some game where
people are motivated solely by what they can acquire from each other.
People are designed to be social creatures. Societal interaction is necessary to
some degree for psychological health. The shared experiences we all have with
'old' and 'new' technologies have as much to do with enriching each others lives
as they do with technological progress.
Actually, I've always quietly agreed with the folks that have questioned why wer're sending
people up there instead of manned probes.
However our leadership, and the leadership of several other countries have a vested interest
in manned space exploration now. From what I understand Japan and Russia
have pieces of the space station that have been waiting for launch for some time.
The EU seems to have an interest..
I think Michael Griffin stuck his foot in his mouth; at the very least he could have
chosen his words more carefully.
Engineering is a whole lot of work, not just some of the time, all of the time.
And yes it can be quite thankless; I've had to sit there and take it more than
once from some pain-in-the-a*s boss who knows nothing about computers
or electronics but still wants to tear into me because one of my little bright
ideas didn't work. I've been pushed around by guys who just sat around and
"did the books" (I guess that was their title). I didn't let that bother me, I just
did my job as best I could - if that wasn't good enough for them, too bad.
I'm a skilled worker and regardless of what you say I'm not that easy to replace.
Of course it burns me that I just might have to move to a city with an area
population of half a million to best use my degree. Supply and demand is
spotty for any specialized field, like some surgeons, many types
of instructors, meteorology,often psychiatrists, and a million other fields of study
where you can make a decent living from a skill. Jobs that start at $35,000 and up
aren't falling out of the sky looking for you. And when a doctor or nurse screws
up bunches of people can and do die, they (hopefully) pay dearly for it like
anyone else.
What makes me happy is that I've learned a diverse set of skills and if work
gets scarce I'll find SOMETHING to get me by until the good jobs come around.
Not only that before long I'll be skilled enough where you can't really replace me
and just try to stick me on some 24/7 bullsh*t salary--chew my a*s out then.
If you aren't good at math or physics or whatever goto a trade school or Community
College. Before too many years your salary will catch up to something reasonable.
Discouraging people from going into a specialized field is just wrong.
If you need examples of China's probable future there are some rather frightening examples of Asian success stories like Singapore. Singapore has long been criticized for its human rights abuses; at the same time Singapore can be called Asia's most competitive economy. The people there do tolerate the abuses of their government supposedly for the order and peace that it maintains. Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, even India are all on human rights watchdog lists right now for various reasons. I have no idea just which direction the present government of China will take, an experiment on this scale has never been tried. What makes me much more optimistic about the future is that there are people (like some of the folks here) that care a great deal about what happens to these people and will actually go to some lengths to help stop these intolerable human rights abuses.