What Irked You Today?

[Jim N]

On 4/28/2025 at 10:18 PM, peteski said:

That sure is an odd reason I never heard of before now. But whatever  . . .

I assume that this is to prevent damage to the car being hijacked and the car in front and behind it.  Well, that's all well and good, but think about it - how often the hijacked car (not damaged during the initial part of hijacking) is recovered undamaged?  From what I see, when a hijacker is finally apprehended, most of the times the car gets seriously damaged anyway.

My mother also used to do this, but her reasoning was that if she leaves large enough space between her and the car in front of her, if she gets rear-ended she will be far enough not to hit the car in front of her. I thought that was also a silly reason, but what do I know . . .

Pete, I have not heard of this until recently, so it is likely a new way of thinking.  The issue isn't about damaged cars, but to offer a possible avenue of escape.  Time will tell if there is any merit behind this or not.

[Jim N]

On 4/26/2025 at 3:06 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

The USA is in exactly the same boat. And a lot of young people who complain endlessly about "not being able to afford anything", but who consume three $8 coffees daily and can't exist without $1500 phones and $400 sneakers, are in abject panic about the prospect of manufacturing jobs coming back to the States ("ewwwww...icky!!!") even though it was exactly those semi- and highly-skilled jobs that enabled the creation of a well-paid middle class in the first place, with families who could own decent housing on one income.

"Experts" and the management classes "offshoring" manufacturing have pretty much ruined everything.

EDIT: It's my parents' generation that started us down the path to ruin after WW2, my generation that pushed to accelerate the snowball down the hill, and every one since that's been too preoccupied and entitled to do anything about it.

So here we are.   

When our two kids were in high school, my wife and I sat them down and told them that when they graduated, they were either going to college or to the local technical school.  We further told them that if they went to college, they were going to get degrees where they would get good paying jobs.  Our daughter earned a degree in economics with a minor in mathematics and works in an actuarial department at an annuity / life insurance company.  Our son earned dual degrees in psychology and criminal justice and is a detective in a police department about an hour from where we live.  My apologies if this comes across as boastful.

The reason we took this approach with our kids is that too many adults who should have known better were feeding the nonsense that if you do what you love, you will not work a day in your life.  The universities were parroting this too.  In my opinion, these schools should be sued for fraud, and whatever settlements that come out of this, should be paid out of the endowment.  It's truly sad what a bunch of nit wit adults did to a large swath of a generation of kids.

[johnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Jim N said:

if you do what you love, you will not work a day in your life.

I learned the hard way that this idea is the easiest way to destroy a passion for something. Also, good on you for how your children turned out as adults. I watched far too many of the people I've know since childhood struggle or just flat out fail because they did not have that push from their families. 

[Mark]

I like what I do, but have always separated that from any feeling of fulfillment.  I'm working because I have developed habits such as wanting a roof over my head, and not begging others for food.  Not a millionaire, but my house is paid for, my car could easily be, and I've got enough set aside for coming house remodeling as well as retirement.

I haven't always had the luxury of working with (or for) people I liked or even tolerated, but only once did I quit a job to get away from the drama.  As much as I like what I do, it's just a means to an end.  That doesn't stop me from doing my work to the best of my abilities every day.

You want fulfillment, look elsewhere: family, friends, your community, your church, hobbies, and other outside activities.  If you get any fulfillment at work, that's a bonus.

Edited April 30 by Mark
Spelling

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

I like what I do, but have always separated that from any feeling of fulfillment.  I'm working because I have developed habits such as wanting a roof over my head, and not begging others for food.  Not a millionaire, but my house is paid for, my car could easily be, and I've got enough set aside for coming house remodeling as well as retirement.

I haven't always had the luxury of working with (or for) people I liked or even tolerated, but only once did I quit a job to get away from the drama.  As much as I like what I do, it's just a means to an end.  That doesn't stop me from doing my work to the best of my abilities every day.

You want fulfillment, look elsewhere: family, friends, your community, your church, hobbies, and other outside activities.  If you get any fulfillment at work, that's a bonus.

That's exactly the lesson I've learned. I've always had an aptitude for all things mechanical, as a kid was dead set on doing that as a career. Fast forward 10 or so years, even the change from automotive to industrial didn't help. Just flat out hated it. Decided to get my welding certs, changed careers and never looked back. 12 or so years doing that, life could not be better. Home owner, no crazy debt, needs are more than met and best of all I actually enjoy working on vehicles and projects again. 

Edited April 30 by johnyrotten
Typo

[JollySipper]

16 minutes ago, johnyrotten said:

best of all I actually enjoy working on vehicles and projects again.

Who wants to do a job all week just to go home and do the same work in the evenings/weekends? They say you can tell someone is skilled at a task by how their own things go neglected...... A good painter's house always needs painted, a good mechanic's own stuff always needs repair, etc..........

[89AKurt]

I'll latch onto "if you love what you do" for work, I hate what my career became under the building departments.  I love doing a bunch of other stuff, but no pay. 🤔   Got the last check of my career, customer uses a bank service, they only printed my first name, credit union wouldn't deposit it because of the amount.  So in about 10 days she will pay me directly when in town.

I'm on the warpath trajectory with the hated County building department about something, withholding details for now, but it never ends. 😡

[rattle can man]

The mower I fixed has electrical issues again.

[TonyK]

Are you sure that's the problem?  😄

[johnyrotten]

50 minutes ago, rattle can man said:

The mower I fixed has electrical issues again.

I've had the stator go bad on a ride- on, there was a diode in there that was causing problems, and I've learned the ignition switches aren't the greatest. I also bypass the seat switches on mine. 

[rattle can man]

Had a broken wire shorting out to the engine block, blowing fuses as fast as I could plug them in.  I spliced in a new connector, since it was actually broken off there. I soldered everything with resin core solder and shrink tube over any bare wires. Mowed twice uneventfully, but now no electrons are flowing to anything with a fully charged battery.

It's now a honey-do on Sunday.

[rattle can man]

Another irk: poorly written headlines. From a local TV station news page:

How did someone from KS get on a Russian mission in 1972 and survive this long?  That's the way the headline makes it sound.

 

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

19 minutes ago, rattle can man said:

Another irk: poorly written headlines. From a local TV station news page:..

How did someone from KS get on a Russian mission in 1972 and survive this long?  That's the way the headline makes it sound.

Newly minted "journalists" journalisiming. Lotta that around now.

Numbers are hard. Words are too.

[Can-Con]

34 minutes ago, rattle can man said:

Another irk: poorly written headlines. From a local TV station news page:

How did someone from KS get on a Russian mission in 1972 and survive this long?  That's the way the headline makes it sound.

 

 

 

Well, they certainly ain't in Kansas anymore, Toto. 😁

[FoMoCo66]

Not really an Irked but something that made me sad. We are moving cross town and I just finished packing up all my models, no more modeling for a couple of months.

[A modeler named mike]

7 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Not really an Irked but something that made me sad. We are moving cross town and I just finished packing up all my models, no more modeling for a couple of months.

I can totally understand. I can't move my model room and its 30 years of goodies until I can move out tons of wall to wall antique furniture stuffed in a room in dad's basement. That's where I plan on reerected my model room. Hopefully before the end of summer. 

[stavanzer]

Drunk Driver last night sideswiped my truck. He managed to come up in my yard, and hit the right rear fender on my truck with the left side of his car. 12"x12" sqaure-ish crease, and some chipped point. Truck is a 2007, but the bodywork was perfect.

Police Report has been filed, but I've been up since it happened at 3am.....

At least the Rottweiler scared away the folks pounding on my front door.

Everybody is Okay, but We (wife & I) are still a bit perturbed by the whole thing. We slept through the crash, but not the subsequent Fight, and Drunken Shouting.

Called 911 and stayed inside. I'm not going outside to investigate, when these things happen anymore. Given what happens today, it's worth your life to get involved and I'm not ready to risk it for that yet. But, buying more cameras to cover a couple blind spots now.

Edited May 4 by stavanzer

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, stavanzer said:

Drunk Driver last night sideswiped my truck. He managed to come up in my yard, and hit the right rear fender on my truck with the left side of his car. 12"x12" sqaure-ish crease, and some chipped point. Truck is a 2007, but the bodywork was perfect.

Police Report has been filed, but I've been up since it happened at 3am.....

At least the Rottweiler scared away the folks pounding on my front door.

Everybody is Okay, but We (wife & I) are still a bit perturbed by the whole thing. We slept through the crash, but not the subsequent Fight, and Drunken Shouting.

Called 911 and stayed inside. I'm not going outside to investigate, when these things happen anymore. Given what happens today, it's worth your life to get involved and I'm not ready to risk it for that yet. But, buying more cameras to cover a couple blind spots now.

I went through the same thing last August, hopefully you have the damages repaired and they get the full extent of what's coming to them.

[A modeler named mike]

2 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Drunk Driver last night sideswiped my truck. He managed to come up in my yard, and hit the right rear fender on my truck with the left side of his car. 12"x12" sqaure-ish crease, and some chipped point. Truck is a 2007, but the bodywork was perfect.

Police Report has been filed, but I've been up since it happened at 3am.....

At least the Rottweiler scared away the folks pounding on my front door.

Everybody is Okay, but We (wife & I) are still a bit perturbed by the whole thing. We slept through the crash, but not the subsequent Fight, and Drunken Shouting.

Called 911 and stayed inside. I'm not going outside to investigate, when these things happen anymore. Given what happens today, it's worth your life to get involved and I'm not ready to risk it for that yet. But, buying more cameras to cover a couple blind spots now.

Best thing is that the police were involved. I'm glad it wasn't worst. You can never have enough cameras. 

[johnyrotten]

1 minute ago, A modeler named mike said:

. I'm glad it wasn't worst. You can never have enough cameras

I second this. I'm secluded from the rest of the road I live on, it's piece of mind for me. The truck got a dash cam after that mess last summer, just in case. 

[LennyB]

Haven’t spent any time at the workbench of late due to family matters.  So tonight I went in to see if I can figure out where I left off and get back in the grove. Took the half empty soda I had with dinner and sat it on the bench, apparently there was something on the bench and the bottle tipped over spilling all over the chair, computer keyboard and various model bits. The keyboard took a soaking. Took it out to the garage to blow it out with the air compressor before the soda got to far into it. Turned on the compressor but it wasn’t building up pressure, the quick chuck on the end was MIA. That’s right, I swiped it for the hobby compressor a few months ago. Found the chuck, blew out the keyboard and then sprayed it with simple green to get rid of any soda residue that will seize up the keys due to its sugar content.   Blew that out and now I’ll let it dry for the night, hopefully it lives to type another day.
 

Needless to say I didn’t score any bench time, tomorrow we'll give it another shot when everything drys, so for now I’ll have to settle for the couch and my iPad. 

[89AKurt]

I don't want to get into a debate about Tariffs.   Simple fact, when the Income Tax was introduced, Tariffs were dropped, how did that work out?  If this was an investigation, I would say Taiwan is next to CHYna.  Anyone old enough to remember when Made In Japan meant cheap, knockoff, Datsun, then we were fine with moving on to another country, and then we just let what we have now happen.  I have a zero gap on a wheel, sanded down the rough machining, which seems to have been enough.  End rant to avoid getting into trouble. 🤬

Old "American" wheels:

New "American" wheels:

[HomerS]

On 4/30/2025 at 4:08 PM, Jim N said:

When our two kids were in high school, my wife and I sat them down and told them that when they graduated, they were either going to college or to the local technical school.  We further told them that if they went to college, they were going to get degrees where they would get good paying jobs.  Our daughter earned a degree in economics with a minor in mathematics and works in an actuarial department at an annuity / life insurance company.  Our son earned dual degrees in psychology and criminal justice and is a detective in a police department about an hour from where we live.  My apologies if this comes across as boastful.

The reason we took this approach with our kids is that too many adults who should have known better were feeding the nonsense that if you do what you love, you will not work a day in your life.  The universities were parroting this too.  In my opinion, these schools should be sued for fraud, and whatever settlements that come out of this, should be paid out of the endowment.  It's truly sad what a bunch of nit wit adults did to a large swath of a generation of kids.

I added one more thing to talks with my sons.  You are judged by the company you keep and you'll start seeing you need to jettison some of your friends.  For my oldest, I know one of his friends is dead from drugs, a couple have done stints in a 'gated community' and several that are almost 30 years old and still live with their parents because they have zero motivation to get a job/improve themselves.

[JollySipper]

Well, it looks like I may have to be moving soon.......... Not sure I should call it an 'irk', because even though I'm old enough that I dislike change, THIS change will be pretty much welcomed. It's getting to where I don't even want to go outside........ Neighbor kids screaming, nosy adults causing a bunch of ghetto drama, dogs everywhere....... Just need quieter surroundings.

[FoMoCo66]

10 hours ago, JollySipper said:

Well, it looks like I may have to be moving soon.......... Not sure I should call it an 'irk', because even though I'm old enough that I dislike change, THIS change will be pretty much welcomed. It's getting to where I don't even want to go outside........ Neighbor kids screaming, nosy adults causing a bunch of ghetto drama, dogs everywhere....... Just need quieter surroundings.

Ha, I'm doing the exact same thing. Out in the country, more garage space to hopefully work on 1:1's. Models are already packed up.