well, ‘expected human behavior’ and ‘selfish’ aren’t mutually exclusive terms though.
for sure. But it’s also not a binary thing, it’s not like a person is either a selfish person or not a selfish person. And any action could be MORE selfish than another.
That’s part of why the mandates are so infuriating. We operated safely the entire time. If you’re sick, go home and nobody will punish you for it. We’ve had a bunch of cases but zero workplace spread, everyone taking it seriously and still getting the job done.
Then an incognizant old fool who likes to paw and sniff scared little girls signed a piece of paper someone gave him, and a bunch of those people who got it done all through the pandemic are gone because of it.
BTW, any idea when I’ll be able to get metals reliably? 304L took almost two months to get here. Don’t get me started on brass.
#buildbackbetter
Edit: My point about selfishness and expected human behavior is that we don’t want the government getting into the business of measuring selfishness and doling out punishment to whoever is determined to be the most detrimentally selfish among us. That’s EXACTLY what a lot of people want. That’s exactly what the social credit score system in China is.
These people are absolute idiots, btw.
Supply chain has been insane. The hardest thing for me to get is my suction hoses. They’re big rubber suction hose with a pvc spiral lining, and the combination of covid followed by those crazy texas storms we had last Feb/March destroyed the pvc industry. Stock items turned into 3 month lead times. Pipe fittings have also been a huge problem for me, but that’s starting to open up. Oh, and my motors. I buy vane pumps from Parker in France. They’re usually a long lead time in the first place, like 2-3 months. I placed my last order in July of last year… received them a few days ago.
Steel and Aluminum supply hasn’t been bad here, at least with what I buy. I buy a lot of 5052Al sheet in different thicknesses, and HRPO steel sheet. I also buy a lot of carbon steel extrusions (pipe, tubing, flat bar, angle, etc) I would say in the last 6 months, I haven’t really had anything with crazy long lead times in that department, my suppliers have been good on that. Price is crazy, but supply isn’t an issue right now. But, I’m also not buying any really rare/unusual metal products, so I’m sure that helps.
My company goes through a lot of poly fittings, and they have been tough to source lately. If I can’t get Jaco, I can usually get Parker fittings. It a PITA, but we have been working through it.
I was told by a supplier that the fittings shortage is more related to the Texas storm than Covid.
The mill run of Japanese titanium we ordered last February just arrived last week after sitting on a boat off the Port of LA for a few months. 50 percent cash in advance too. Bonkers.
I have a couple of Force Majeure letters explaining a resin shortage was at the root of CPVC component shortage, although that was a few months ago. A number of suppliers no longer take phone calls for RFQs and other issues. Email only.
Everyone with school-age kids is missing tons of work now too. Daycares closing, schools changing plans left and right, all kinds of crazy stuff these kids and teachers are dealing with, and it seems like everyone’s gotta take time off to stay home with their kids now.
One of my best friend’s wife is getting out of teaching after getting her master’s degree in education. She’s only 31 and walking away from the work. She’s had enough.
Asking children to sacrifice for the sake of scared adults is pure insanity at this point, as are most of these policies and the opinions behind them. That’s how you end up with a patchwork of policies that makes the job of teaching children nearly impossible to do, not unlike being a police officer in San Francisco right now. That’s how you get the people who belong in the job and self-selected for it to do something else.
The virus didn’t do any of this. People did.
I’d argue that is exactly what they do. Governments (should) pass laws that protect the people and the state. From harm, poverty, famine and (finally) illness. However this a political science thing. And a POV not a fact. And way off topic.
I do “respect” the point that make that “this is how it starts”. But in the face of 850k deaths I feel my risk of over step of power is out weighed by almost a million people dying.
There can be only 2 conclusions drawn from this statement.
I have no idea which is true. And I do not know which one I would prefer to be true if I lived in the states.
The problem with this line of thought is that you don’t explain “compared to what”? How many additional deaths would result from your particular society allowing more freedom and encouraging people to be responsible? I couldn’t say for a place like the UK, but a comparison of Florida and California in the USA doesn’t really paint a favorable picture of authoritarian policies.
People are also fleeing these places in numbers unseen in my lifetime. Deaths aren’t the only meaningful metric, far from it in fact. Especially when our leaders are not particularly forthcoming about the nature of these deaths, seemingly having chalked up a lot of people who died with COVID as COVID deaths.
Most delusional people will tell you they’re not delusional, but I don’t feel like any of my observations are untethered to reality. All we need to do is look across the pond to the UK or across the big pond to Australia to see what more developed versions of these policies look like, along with the willingness of people to go right along with the most extreme measures as long as its done under the pretense of public health.
The fact that Democrats say we need MORE authoritarianism at this stage of the pandemic with the threat profile presently presented is rather telling. That’s why I don’t find the poll results particularly surprising, as it hashes with simple policy and rhetoric observations you can make here in the USA.
Taking a step back, this is all entirely in-line with the line of thinking that goes into many liberal policies. You and I have dramatically different ideas about gun control and self-defense laws, for instance, and even entertaining the idea that UK gun policy is a net negative on society is treated as a beyond the pale disregard for human life by so many people.
In fact, many people seem quite proud of their do-nothing gun control policy in the UK, having given away their rights for little more than assuaging the feelings of people with irrational fears. All you need to do is compare the before and after crime rates in the UK and see how ineffective they were.
This is the danger of the pretense of ostensibly compassionate policies couched in good intentions. Every totalitarian in history has come couched in good intentions, and then went on to oversee varying levels of social and cultural arson among their people. After the policies fail spectacularly, they all went on to do all kinds of horrible things once they eliminated any sort of resistance through laws like gun control, speech control and heavy-handed coercion.
Back to the USA, where we’ve staved that sort of thing off for over 200 years, we are blessed with enough people who will entertain the possibility that doing nothing at all will play out better over time than whatever the next vast government boondoggle will be.
Besides, how will you know when you’re being governed by incompetent fools with no tools in their toolbox besides lies and heavy-handed authoritarian policies?
If the presence of incompetent fools, authoritarian policies and abysmal outcomes isn’t a big enough warning, when would someone like you find it alarming?
accurate. That storm was crushing.
yea overseas stuff has easily been the worst problem we’ve seen. I buy valves from Australia that were recently a big problem. All my metal is 'Murican.
For sure. I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where a) I can come and go as I please with work, and b) I can bring my son to my office whenever I want. I actually still bring him up here every afternoon after school for a few hours. My son is 7. He got halfway through kindergarten before things shut down, and he did all of first grade with me. I’ve still got his desk sitting next to mine, and all his stuff. It was actually a really great experience for me, I loved it. And he got way ahead in school because I was there with him. BUT that’s absolutely the exception. I watched a lot of his school zoom calls, and some of these kids were just getting more and more lost. It was really bad for a lot of people. And I’m sure a lot of parents really struggled.
Sad and not surprising. Teachers already got the shit end of the stick. This has been so rough.
That’s good to hear. I try to always buy American in personal and business endeavors. We always try to source as locally as possible, and nobody from accounting will be making a stink if we pay a little more for it.
I want to buy American titanium and so does the US Navy. Unfortunately you can’t buy what’s not available. Even the US Government understands this, which is why there is a fascinating story of raw material procurement that goes along with the SR71 Blackbird.
Long story short, we set up a bunch of phony procurement networks to get the titanium from the Soviets to build a plane that could spy on them with impunity.
Thanks, stupid authoritarians and your crappy system of government!
Edit:
After re-reading that Force Majeure letter from last year the resin shortage we dealt with was definitely related to that big storm in Texas.
A lot of the electronic components that keep getting delayed for us are ripple effects from that storm. It reminds me of the high RAM prices in the 90’s where some event took out a huge chunk of the worldwide supply.
Lets take South Korea. They have few “authoritarian” laws. But high levels of social adhesion to the laws in places and many of those other want to / have passed. Their infection rate is 18 times lower than the USA. And they are much more heavily populated. On this basis - the number of people that could have been saved is 850,000*(17/18). About 800,000 people. That is more than every dead US service personal since 1900. Both WW1&2, The Korean War, Vietnam, both Iraq wars, Cambodia. Everyone.
This is if the laws were passed and people kept to them. And did all the other bits. Like good hand washing ETC. Wore masks even when not required. Submitted detail to virus track.
You can assume this is not possible in the USA and say you would have only halved the infection rate. But that is still 425,000 people. Personally - that is well worth the risk.
This makes me wonder if you believe covid is a real or not. If you don’t then please just say. I can not respect a person that thinks Covid is not real / a danger.
But you have not.
Not only does the USA imprison more people that any other nation in Earth’s history. But at times law makers have created draconian laws to imprison people. And people are refused bail to ensure inmate number remain high. All to make sure private prisons have enough inmates and enough cash rolling in.
I believe the vis president was caught up in this.
So no offence but your Government is rounding people up and imprisoning them so someone can make a profit off of it.
And I’m living at risk of being subjugated because I can’t bring hand gun home from the range. Or if I want a shot gun I have to evidence a secure gun safe and separate ammo safe?
We have different values.
I appreciate you coming with examples. Island nations, which South Korea effectively is, have indeed done much better with overall COVID outcomes. I don’t agree with the rest of your assumptions or your math, but then again, I don’t have a tendency to compare real-world outcomes to idealized situations.
I don’t find this surprising either. This poll, if it informs us of anything, informs us that an alarming number of Democrats and liberals are quite ready to jump to the worst possible conclusion about those who disagree with them and the threat they pose.
Pretense may have not been the best word, as COVID certainly has a basis in reality. The problem with implementing authoritarianism under the auspices of improving public health is, as I’ve pointed out repeatedly, the lack of limiting principle to the line of thought. If COVID is a public health emergency at this stage of the pandemic, we’ve got a LONG list of other public health emergencies to tackle after this.
Notable Democrats in the USA have already declared racism to be a public health crisis.
Of course we have. That doesn’t mean our body of laws are perfect, but it does mean that we’ve retained a system of viable self-correction that’s proven itself time and time again. Hopefully it will continue to do so, and I think it will as long as HR1 does not get passed. That might be the tipping point, but we’re looking safe on it for now.
The USA also saved the free world with our industrial might last century. Twice. Go read about Churchill’s feelings of relief after Pearl Harbor.
My country holds the historic distinction of grinding our enemies into dust and then building them up into first-world economic powerhouses, all within the lifetime of people still alive today.
What has the UK done lately?
You’re welcome, by the way!
One last edit:
You’re at no risk whatsoever from being unable to defend yourself until the day comes where you’re unable to defend yourself.
I hope you never get one, and if you do, I hope your training is enough.
You must not know anything of what California does, or anything about the Waukesha, WI parade incident.
“Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 115,428 people in 2019, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population.” (Private Prisons in the United States – The Sentencing Project)
Your argument is not really based on facts here.
For sure. It wasn’t that long ago that most of my steel was coming from China. The US just wasn’t producing enough steel to meet the market demands, AND China’s pricing was just so much better. But over time, the Chinese steel quality became a problem that couldn’t be overlooked anymore. American steel also definitely benefited from the Trump presidency.
AMAZING.
That’s awesome. FWIW, I’d be open to relocation if the Skunkworks is hiring. I’m good for more than keeping your area dive bar or advanced research laboratory protected against petty levels of intoxicated violence.
I thought you guys were in Area 51 in Nevada next door to the UFO workshop.
You’re right, LA is out for me. I was there for a few weeks a few decades ago. I don’t care to return except to that fantastic little Bavarian-esque restaurant we ended up at somewhere at the top of Arrowhead mountain.
You’ll have to build the next top-secret hypersonic aircraft (#choughUFO) to fuck over the CCP without me.
Good luck!
@twojarslave
Knowing some folks who have recently moved from FL to Palmdale, I recommend against it too.
Can voucher
The Australian postal service is fucked. Aus has recently changed their definition of a “close contact” because so many workers were being forced into isolation.
Where I currently am/have been I’d have been in isolation almost constantly over the past 6-8 weeks had old Aussie rules been the status quo.
I’m actually amazed I haven’t caught it in the past two weeks. I think the “flu” I caught 3-4 weeks ago might have been covid.
More than a “few” but yes. They’re societal outlook is starkly catered towards collectivism relative to that of the US.
U.K. is easing COVID restrictions…I can’t believe Boris Johnson wants to kill more people with this virus…does he not understand 850,000 already died from it
In the UK? Not even close