“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

― Robert A. Heinlein

On 3/29/2020 at 12:13 AM, txchaser said:

On this note, the difference between mac and PC computers - PC's seem to be pretty disposable, at our office they get replaced all the time, even the expensive ones. The macs last a ridiculously long time. Old macbook airs with 4gb ram still going strong. Slow, because they needed more RAM, but still working. I only replaced my old mac because I dropped it on concrete the second time and broke the screen. It survived the first fall with just a dent.

I built my own PC about 12 years ago and it still works great. I picked the case, motherboard, CPU, power supply, RAM, cooling system, hard drives, everything. The only changes since the original build has been upgrading the hard drive and RAM and the Windows OS upgrades. I couldn’t be happier with it.

 

I also have a Mac that I needed to use to develop IOS apps. Try as I might, I never liked it and I only use it for IOS app development.

 

I taught my son to change a tire when he was 12 (he’s 14 now). We did the Home Depot and Lowe’s kids workshops when he was young to introduce him to tools. Since then we’ve done a number of woodworking and home projects and he’s familiar with more hand and power tools. He may not be good with them yet, but at least he’s used them.

 

But I do agree that today’s younger generation seems to rely more and more on third parties to do what I think are basic tasks.

On 3/27/2020 at 6:06 AM, TnRiver46 said:

 

Well I’ve got my neighbors whining about my tall grass for the second year in a row thanks to the fine folks at Briggs while my mower in the repair shop that’s backed up for weeks !!! So I’m really happy for you guys...... hahaha....... like I said they don’t make them like they used to......... wish I could afford Honda. The next logical step for me is buy one of those mowers without a motor 

One word “goats” ???

2 minutes ago, NHBull said:

One word “goats” ???

Hahaha. Carb was rebuilt and she’s up and running! 

I'm gonna be the dick here. I'm a tradesman. My son, father, and sister are numbers people. I have destroyed my body to make a living. They have not. I'm legally crippled. I currently work 50 hours a week because cripple pay doesn't pay my bills. Dad retired at the top of his game. Sister just sold her business for $1M  and my kid will be making more money annually at the age of 35 than I have made annually in my 50 years on this earth.

 

I wouldn't trade my career for anything(besides the whole cripple thing)

 

Just because someone can fix a lawnmower doesn't make them successful. 

Wow, didn't realize I could relate to so many members on here, good to here.

 

Maybe it's an age thing but working with hands and just sucking it up is old school mentality. 

 

Something broke, you fix it.

Rings cracked in an old car, you pulled the heads.

You cut and split wood every weekend. 

You pulled weeds in the garden and picked potatoe bugs. Lol

 

You pulled the covers over your head at night so the mosquitoes didn't chew you up.

 

Oh, and I still work part time at my brother's sawmill handling 064 Stihls at age 59. 

 

Who started this thread ?

1 hour ago, slonezp said:

 

Just because someone can fix a lawnmower doesn't make them successful. 

 

   There are two kinds of "successful". One is being successful in other peoples' eyes. That doesn't mean squat.

   The other is being successful in your own eyes. That's the ONLY opinion that counts.     jj

It's all true. There are lots of millionaires these days. More than ever. Lots of them are millionaires on paper only. They may own property, houses, buildings and land. They might have investments also. Sometimes, these things can be hanging from a thread. I've done carpentry work for two guys who were paper millionaires. One retired, the other went broke. It can happen. Hands on skills are always good to know.

1 hour ago, slonezp said:

I'm gonna be the dick here. I'm a tradesman. My son, father, and sister are numbers people. I have destroyed my body to make a living. They have not. I'm legally crippled. I currently work 50 hours a week because cripple pay doesn't pay my bills. Dad retired at the top of his game. Sister just sold her business for $1M  and my kid will be making more money annually at the age of 35 than I have made annually in my 50 years on this earth.

 

I wouldn't trade my career for anything(besides the whole cripple thing)

 

Just because someone can fix a lawnmower doesn't make them successful. 

Sure makes you feel like a failure when you can’t fix it haha. But alas, I can make $75 dollars and get it fixed 

6 hours ago, Koz said:

I built my own PC about 12 years ago and it still works great. I picked the case, motherboard, CPU, power supply, RAM, cooling system, hard drives, everything. The only changes since the original build has been upgrading the hard drive and RAM and the Windows OS upgrades. I couldn’t be happier with it.

 

I also have a Mac that I needed to use to develop IOS apps. Try as I might, I never liked it and I only use it for IOS app development.

 

I taught my son to change a tire when he was 12 (he’s 14 now). We did the Home Depot and Lowe’s kids workshops when he was young to introduce him to tools. Since then we’ve done a number of woodworking and home projects and he’s familiar with more hand and power tools. He may not be good with them yet, but at least he’s used them.

 

But I do agree that today’s younger generation seems to rely more and more on third parties to do what I think are basic tasks.

That's fair, my desktop is a PC, and is running fine for many years... the difference I noticed is in the laptops.

I have a 13 year old cub cadet self propelled lawn mower. Aside from someone else dropping the recharger brick into a bucket of water ruining the charger, So I can’t use the ignition starter anymore, it still works perfectly. I’ve never cleaned it. Never serviced it. Just put gas in it when it runs out (maybe twice a season). Usually starts on one or two pulls the first mow of the season. I don’t just go out and buy stuff just because there’s new stuff to buy, except for some of my fishing gear. IMO, the problem isn’t really that it’s a throw away society. It’s more of a “the grass is greener” society. It’s not. Everything new isnt always better. Example, my 4 year old modest iPhone’s battery failed, leaving me about 30 minutes of battery life on a full charge. So I bought a new one for $700.00. Yippee! It’s nearly exactly the same as my old broken one. There is nearly no difference at all. It just looks different. That is the problem, IMO. Too many people are too psychologically fixated on how much “better” something basically identical is, because it’s “newer and better.” Most of these newer better things are just different words for the same things in The advertisements. Yes, a new TV after 10 or 11 years will be much better than the old one, but for most things it’s all psychology and keeping up appearances. I speculate that because you will still be the exact same person after getting that “newer better” thing, that all these people are suffering from depression because they think they will be transformed into the pictures in the ads when they get the thing, but they wake up a week later still their same old self. There’s more to happiness and life than new and better things.

All you have to do is see all the rich famous celebrities on cell phone videos in quarantine on TV. That is their entire life 99% of the time. Home, alone, all by themselves.

 

OK, cabin fever. I’m done.

No two cents needs to be added to all these words above

 

20 hours ago, CrankFate said:

Example, my 4 year old modest iPhone’s battery failed, leaving me about 30 minutes of battery life on a full charge. So I bought a new one for $700.00. Yippee! It’s nearly exactly the same as my old broken one. There is nearly no difference at all. It just looks different.

You could have taken the old phone to an Apple store and gotten the battery replaced for $49.

3 hours ago, Scott F said:

You could have taken the old phone to an Apple store and gotten the battery replaced for $49.

I know. I thought the new one was going to be awesome. The whole advertising media got to me. It was terribly disappointing.

On 4/23/2020 at 11:15 AM, MN Fisher said:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

― Robert A. Heinlein

Absolutely my favorite author. I've read nearly all his stuff over the years since I was a kid.  Great books and character development. Aside from the perpetual incest in his stories that is.

On 4/19/2020 at 11:15 PM, jimmyjoe said:

Starting a John Deere "B".

Can't be done by a mortal man once it's been running for a few hours, at least ours couldn't.  I remember how mad my dad got when I chugged the engine on ours at the end of a windrow raking one time.  He said,  "Might as well go eat lunch and wait for her to cool off."  I tried to prove him wrong for about 15 minutes before I tuckered out, but I couldn't spin that flywheel fast enough for her to fire.

@MN Fisher, I don't even know what all those words are.  I reckon I've pitched manure and some of the other things, though.

Couple reasons. 1. Things today are way way way cheaper than they have ever been in the past, comparing the prices of things to how much we make. 2. New things are coming out at a faster and faster rate than they ever have before. 3. We live in a society that mainly due to social media compares things and each other more than ever before. 

 

All of these reasons are also the reason why we're in debt more than any generation before us. Schools aren't too expensive, healthcare isn't too expensive, cars aren't too expensive, vacations aren't too expensive, we just like to spend money on stuff we don't need to spend money on. 

Years ago my buddy that I carpooled to work with called to tell me I had to drive to work that day. He was going to put his car in the shop because it wouldn't crank. I brought my tools and showed up early to see what was the problem. It was an RX-7 with the Wankel engine. I knew next to nothing about it, but it uses fuel and air and spark to go. I figured I would check the plugs, wires, distributor, look for a fuel filter, etc. I took the air cleaner off and tried it. It cranked right up. C'mon man! Learn a little something about cars if you're going to drive an old one. He was so put out with that car he just wanted to be rid of it.