"Things fall apart, it's scientific."
- The Talking Heads
The purpose of maintenance is to forestall entropy. It is our job to make sure that the lights stay on, water comes out of the tap when you want it, that your car will function. All the little things you never think about - if we're doing our job correctly - that are absolutely essential to your survival.
Entropy always wins, of course. For example, less and less people go into the trades every year, and the huge gains in industrial technology mean that the older, more experienced people become obsolete as the new tech diverges from their skill set on a daily basis.
It is, like all other things, a battle which we will eventually lose, though I suspect the battle won't be lost due to our efforts...Left long enough, it would, but I doubt we have that much time.
You'll know it when we fail. Just saying.
It's already started, out here. Experienced linemen are required to keep the lights on...But there's a shortage of them. All their high school buddies went on to either meth or college, and in college all they wanted to learn was how to get filthy rich without actually doing any work (JP Morgan geeks, I'm talking to you).
It's worse than it looks, really. Ask me anything.
Or rather, ask me for anything besides time.
Or Kill Me.
This one is far too easy to believe.
I'm not mechanically inclined, and I know that some day, it will probably be the death of me.
Too true. This is Doom I can believe.
Right on. No one wants to do that work.
I was talking with my wife the other day about sky scrapers.
Is it me, or were they possibly one of the worst ideas in recent years? I mean, yes, there will be maintenance performed on them to keep them in as good a condition as possible for as long as possible, but the island of Manhattan... what is that going to be like in 500-1000 years when those things all start crumbling?
Or will they simply demo them one by one when they start to crumble? That seems like the easiest idea, but not overly easy.
Quote from: Hoopla on January 11, 2011, 05:02:34 PM
I was talking with my wife the other day about sky scrapers.
Is it me, or were they possibly one of the worst ideas in recent years? I mean, yes, there will be maintenance performed on them to keep them in as good a condition as possible for as long as possible, but the island of Manhattan... what is that going to be like in 500-1000 years when those things all start crumbling?
Or will they simply demo them one by one when they start to crumble? That seems like the easiest idea, but not overly easy.
Try "ten years after the maintenance stops, TOPS". Even a few missing windows can bring a skyscraper down, eventually.
Dude, I :mittens: this one.
Vishnu, the Maintainer.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 11, 2011, 04:35:32 PM
"Things fall apart, it's scientific."
- The Talking Heads
The purpose of maintenance is to forestall entropy. It is our job to make sure that the lights stay on, water comes out of the tap when you want it, that your car will function. All the little things you never think about - if we're doing our job correctly - that are absolutely essential to your survival.
Entropy always wins, of course. For example, less and less people go into the trades every year, and the huge gains in industrial technology mean that the older, more experienced people become obsolete as the new tech diverges from their skill set on a daily basis.
It is, like all other things, a battle which we will eventually lose, though I suspect the battle won't be lost due to our efforts...Left long enough, it would, but I doubt we have that much time.
You'll know it when we fail. Just saying.
It's already started, out here. Experienced linemen are required to keep the lights on...But there's a shortage of them. All their high school buddies went on to either meth or college, and in college all they wanted to learn was how to get filthy rich without actually doing any work (JP Morgan geeks, I'm talking to you).
It's worse than it looks, really. Ask me anything.
Or rather, ask me for anything besides time.
Or Kill Me.
:mittens:
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 11, 2011, 05:04:57 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on January 11, 2011, 05:02:34 PM
I was talking with my wife the other day about sky scrapers.
Is it me, or were they possibly one of the worst ideas in recent years? I mean, yes, there will be maintenance performed on them to keep them in as good a condition as possible for as long as possible, but the island of Manhattan... what is that going to be like in 500-1000 years when those things all start crumbling?
Or will they simply demo them one by one when they start to crumble? That seems like the easiest idea, but not overly easy.
Try "ten years after the maintenance stops, TOPS". Even a few missing windows can bring a skyscraper down, eventually.
Yeah, good point. This is a good one, Roger, and about a topic people don't think about nearly enough.
A couple decades after the maintenance stops, the world won't even remember anything good we did. Just the nuclear waste and the shitty ruins of modern architecture.
Quote from: Sigmatic on January 11, 2011, 07:53:48 PM
A couple decades after the maintenance stops, the world won't even remember anything good we did. Just the nuclear waste and the shitty ruins of modern architecture.
We'll always have Mt Rushmore. :|
Ha ha ha ha.
Yes.
That will remain for a time.
Quote from: Hoopla on January 11, 2011, 08:03:27 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on January 11, 2011, 07:53:48 PM
A couple decades after the maintenance stops, the world won't even remember anything good we did. Just the nuclear waste and the shitty ruins of modern architecture.
We'll always have Mt Rushmore. :|
YOU won't ever have Mt. Rushmore. Your inane petition to have Abraham Lincoln replaced with Pierre Trudeau will be ignored by all right-thinking Americans, and that version you carve into the ice every year on the cliffs of Labrador is hardly a booming tourist destination.
Quote from: East Coast Hipster on January 11, 2011, 08:32:45 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on January 11, 2011, 08:03:27 PM
Quote from: Sigmatic on January 11, 2011, 07:53:48 PM
A couple decades after the maintenance stops, the world won't even remember anything good we did. Just the nuclear waste and the shitty ruins of modern architecture.
We'll always have Mt Rushmore. :|
YOU won't ever have Mt. Rushmore. Your inane petition to have Abraham Lincoln replaced with Pierre Trudeau will be ignored by all right-thinking Americans, and that version you carve into the ice every year on the cliffs of Labrador is hardly a booming tourist destination.
I only proposed Trudeau because he was the only person I knew who danced a pirouette behind Queen Lizzie. People get their nuts cut off for that shit, or at least they used to.
(http://agoldenworld.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/trudeau.jpg)
And as for the labrador carving, are you seriously going to try to tell me that you don't weep a little every time you see the faces of Anne Murray, James Randi, Doug Henning, Leonard Cohen and Wade glaring down at Quebec? If so, I suspect you are dead inside.
:mittens: I wish there was less stigma against those who do choose to go into the trades.
The lack of people entering trades has been disturbing me for a few years now. So much language is oriented at trade work being for dumb people, so many stereotypes about bodies beaten from years of hard labor. How many positive things do we see about it? That it's good, honest work? That it has the potential to pay significantly higher than a lot of middle management jobs the college crowd will fall into?
I grew up in a family of carpenters, builders. They built the homes a lot of my friends are living in and they made good lives for their children that are now being pissed away on frivolity and self absorbtion.
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on January 11, 2011, 08:42:45 PM
The lack of people entering trades has been disturbing me for a few years now. So much language is oriented at trade work being for dumb people, so many stereotypes about bodies beaten from years of hard labor. How many positive things do we see about it? That it's good, honest work? That it has the potential to pay significantly higher than a lot of middle management jobs the college crowd will fall into?
I grew up in a family of carpenters, builders. They built the homes a lot of my friends are living in and they made good lives for their children that are now being pissed away on frivolity and self absorbtion.
Of all the things I can no longer do that I miss, being a carpenter is second on my list.
I know trade people here in Utah. The hourly pay is damned good (the lowest payed guy I've met made 19 an hour). But I don't know any who actually have a 20 hour work week, let alone a 40 hour one. High hourly wages don't mean much if you don't have any hours. Such things don't really encourage people to go into the trade.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 11, 2011, 04:35:32 PM
"Things fall apart, it's scientific."
- The Talking Heads
The purpose of maintenance is to forestall entropy. It is our job to make sure that the lights stay on, water comes out of the tap when you want it, that your car will function. All the little things you never think about - if we're doing our job correctly - that are absolutely essential to your survival.
Entropy always wins, of course. For example, less and less people go into the trades every year, and the huge gains in industrial technology mean that the older, more experienced people become obsolete as the new tech diverges from their skill set on a daily basis.
It is, like all other things, a battle which we will eventually lose, though I suspect the battle won't be lost due to our efforts...Left long enough, it would, but I doubt we have that much time.
You'll know it when we fail. Just saying.
It's already started, out here. Experienced linemen are required to keep the lights on...But there's a shortage of them. All their high school buddies went on to either meth or college, and in college all they wanted to learn was how to get filthy rich without actually doing any work (JP Morgan geeks, I'm talking to you).
It's worse than it looks, really. Ask me anything.
Or rather, ask me for anything besides time.
Or Kill Me.
:mittens:
:mittens:
Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 11, 2011, 08:51:38 PM
I know trade people here in Utah. The hourly pay is damned good (the lowest payed guy I've met made 19 an hour). But I don't know any who actually have a 20 hour work week, let alone a 40 hour one. High hourly wages don't mean much if you don't have any hours. Such things don't really encourage people to go into the trade.
My dad was a construction worker. It was great when he had work but there would be times where he wouldn't have anything to do. Then we'd have a lot less money.