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RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

What's on your mind?
General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby PenultimateManStanding » Fri 14 Dec 2007, 03:23:17

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kadoomsoon', 'Y')all have no clue how intense this is going to get.
I don't think that's true. Plenty of us do, the trouble is that everyone has a little problem looking the Cosmic Cobra in the eye for too long. It dances there and we tend to want to look away.

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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Fri 14 Dec 2007, 16:33:20

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')Tyler - besides AP - you post some of the most assinine stuff here.


I feel snubbed.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')A guy that flips a burger DOES NOT HAVE THE APPTITUDE to be a lineman.


Actually, most of our power plant workers and lineman come right off the "burger assembly lines" and learn on the job. We teach classes daily.

It's true that many of the guys have been around for 40 years and are about to retire, but you don't need everyone at the pant to have 40 years of experience.

Auto workers make excellent power plant workers in a short amount of time. It only takes a hundred or so craftsmen to run a plant.

How many people have the Big 3 laid off in the last decade?

A problem?

Yes.

The end of the line?

No.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Fri 14 Dec 2007, 16:38:52

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'A')nd those of us who WANTED to become engineers, nope, first it takes a ton of money to get through college and then you can't get it if you're white.


Quit whining, I got my engineering degree without a dime from my parents. I used my GI Bill and worked nights at a restaurant. I know of a lot of others that didn't even have a GI Bill.

Bottom line, you had the chance, you just didn't want to make the sacrifice.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby I_Like_Plants » Fri 14 Dec 2007, 18:31:32

no jbeckton you're full of shit.

First, there was such a thing as a GI Bill, bully for you. Secondly, you probably got pay+food at that restaurant, restaurant jobs are not without their frills, they are generally good jobs even table busser.

Which is why whites are not allowed to get those jobs where I was going to college. OR trying to.

If I'd been smart enough to move to an all-white area, I'd have tons better. I just had no idea. I worked my ass off cleaning out animal cages and mopping floors at a veterinarian's for $4 an hour because that's the only kind of jobs a white could get - I was damned glad to have it.

Now you say you're teaching classes for plant workers and linemen? Give out some info here, some links, see if I don't show up.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby roccman » Fri 14 Dec 2007, 18:59:00

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'n')o jbeckton you're full of shit.

First, there was such a thing as a GI Bill, bully for you. Secondly, you probably got pay+food at that restaurant, restaurant jobs are not without their frills, they are generally good jobs even table busser.

Which is why whites are not allowed to get those jobs where I was going to college. OR trying to.

If I'd been smart enough to move to an all-white area, I'd have tons better. I just had no idea. I worked my ass off cleaning out animal cages and mopping floors at a veterinarian's for $4 an hour because that's the only kind of jobs a white could get - I was damned glad to have it.

Now you say you're teaching classes for plant workers and linemen? Give out some info here, some links, see if I don't show up.


Rigtheous response ILP!!

JB is a fuckhead...reminds me ...I need to count votes and report to the group how much of a fuckhead JB really is.

BTW - JB got an engineering degree BUT HE COULD NOT PASS THE STATE REGISTRATION EXAM...so he is really an overpaid moron.

ILP don't forget to vote in the HOF thread I am gonna bump next.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby I_Like_Plants » Fri 14 Dec 2007, 19:50:20

Rocco - I'm not going to be that harsh.

a lot of these old guys don't realize that what was easy-peasy in their day is hard as fuck to even try to do now. I spent too many years wondering what was wrong with ME, working my ass off, begging to a non-white for financial aid of which I got the tiniest sliver, weighing well UNDER the healthy BMI range, trying to get a degree. There was no car to give up, no cell phone to give up, I was living a life that was nothing but work eat (not enough really to eat, just the bare necessity to maintain life) and study, and that's how it is now.

That's not how it was then, and talking to one of these old fucks who lived in a USA that's only a memory now is like trying to explain it to a bag of hammers.

A lot of "how things are" is learned at the gut level, and in one's childhood and young adulthood. We were in a repression during those times for me, and discrimination against whites was extreme. Looking back, I wish I'd had the guts/insanity to learn the old slash throat silently and clean out pockets routine, that many less nonwhites....

As for the "state exam" that sounds like the PE or Professional Engineer exam, and that thing's a bitch. Most engineers don't bother, since only Civil Engineers actually need it. The ones who aren't Civil Engineers who take it often do so to have one more hard-won piece of paper on the wall, generally consultants.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 10:39:50

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'R')occo - I'm not going to be that harsh.

a lot of these old guys don't realize that what was easy-peasy in their day is hard as fuck to even try to do now.


I am only 28 years old. I worked for $10hr at a restaurant in Detroit and received a little financial aid (If you make minimum wage you will get plenty of financial aid, loans are also available). I just made sure that I worked my 40 hrs and volunteered for overtime any chance I got, lived with a roommate and didn't waste any money, or more importantly any time. I worked full time and went to school full time for 3 years. Anyone could have gotten the job I had, black, white, blue, or purple.

I then worked an engineering internship where I made $20hr alternating work and school every semester for my final year. This allowed me to work full time and save money, then attend class full time. This program is available at most universities. It was really tough and I didn't have much time for anything else but it all pays off when you finish.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')As for the "state exam" that sounds like the PE or Professional Engineer exam, and that thing's a bitch. Most engineers don't bother, since only Civil Engineers actually need it. The ones who aren't Civil Engineers who take it often do so to have one more hard-won piece of paper on the wall, generally consultants.


Yes, Roccman doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on what the PE exam is (among other things). I am a ME, so the license is basically useless to me unless I wish to do consulting later in my career. I am actually going to take it in either April or October of 08’ just incase, because that exam is tough and there is no way that I would be able to take it in 20 years should I decide to be a consultant.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby roccman » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 10:55:40

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', '
')
Yes, Roccman doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on what the PE exam is (among other things). I am a ME, so the license is basically useless to me unless I wish to do consulting later in my career.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', '
')
I am actually going to take it in either April or October of 08’ just incase, because that exam is tough and there is no way that I would be able to take it in 20 years should I decide to be a consultant.


Bwhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahha!!!!

Translation: "I was not smart enough to pass, but because I am about to get fired because I am an ass hole...I'll take it...even if it is useless to pass."
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 11:00:14

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', ' ')restaurant jobs are not without their frills, they are generally good jobs even table busser.

Which is why whites are not allowed to get those jobs where I was going to college. OR trying to.
If I'd been smart enough to move to an all-white area, I'd have tons better. I just had no idea. I worked my ass off cleaning out animal cages and mopping floors at a veterinarian's for $4 an hour because that's the only kind of jobs a white could get


Wow, I worked at restaurants in Myrtle Beach, Detroit, and Pittsburgh (hardly "white only" areas) and I can tell you that they will hire any white person with 2 arms and 2 legs for 6-7$hr for a dish washer and 9-11$ hr for a cook. A hard working dish washer will be a cook in just a few months. I know that some smaller places like to use immigrants because they can get away w/paying taxes, but defiantly not all. Are you seriously claiming that a white person cannot get a job as a dishwasher anywhere in Arizona?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')Now you say you're teaching classes for plant workers and linemen? Give out some info here, some links, see if I don't show up.


Haven't you been reading this thread? The power industry has an aging workforce, it seems like we have a retirement every few weeks. To counter this we have been over hiring to compensate for the projected personnel losses. I can tell you that we have hired 6 entry level workers (utility technicians) with zero experience in the last 6 months.

The start out as janitors basically and learn on the job. After a few months they move to the coal yard and learn more. In a year or 2 they have learned enough to be power plant operators. After several years as a power plant operator they are eligible to become control room operators.

A hard working person who is willing to learn everything about the plant can go from utility technician to control room operator in 5 years with all of the retirements we have. Not a bad deal when you consider that it is a union job that pays something like:

Utility Technician: $15-16hr
Coal Yard Worker: $18-19hr
Power Plant Operator: $21-24hr
Control Room Operator: $26-36hr

If you are seriously interested, start looking at power companies websites for these openings. You might have to move, but they are defiantly available.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 11:07:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')Translation: "I was not smart enough to pass, but because I am about to get fired because I am an ass hole...I'll take it...even if it is useless to pass."


Didn't take your meds today?
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby Tyler_JC » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 13:39:53

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '
')Translation: "I was not smart enough to pass, but because I am about to get fired because I am an ass hole...I'll take it...even if it is useless to pass."


Didn't take your meds today?


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I'm not sure why you continue to engage in "debate" with Roccman and I Like Plants.

It doesn't seem like either side is going to make any headway.

A ceasefire might be in order.

Moreover, please refrain from unnecessary ad hominem attacks. It detracts from...whatever it is y'all were discussing in this thread.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 14:24:30

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')A ceasefire might be in order.


A cease fire is not needed, I always know that I have won the argument when Roccman resorts to "translations" because he doesn't 'have anything worthwhile to say.

That’s the best you are gonna get out of Roccman as far as admitting he was wrong, just get used to recognizing it.:)
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby I_Like_Plants » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 16:19:06

Um, Beckton, any and I mean ANY wages made are taken out of financial aid. Minimum was $3.35 an hour. I got lucky enough to get $4.

No one, NO ONE, pays a white college student $10 an hour. Not unless you were in a nice all-white area, this is why I'm not just flat-out accusing you of hallucinating.

An internship paying $20 an hour that allows you go to to school? I really want to call bullshit on that because the only fellow student I saw getting a deal that sweet was a nigger. It was specifically niggers only.

But, as I'll keep on saying, the OVERALL problem was my not being nearly racially-minded enough, not getting myself to the whitest area I could find as soon as possible and going to school THERE.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 16:32:27

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')No one, NO ONE, pays a white college student $10 an hour. Not unless you were in a nice all-white area, this is why I'm not just flat-out accusing you of hallucinating.


Yup, Detroit is a nice "all white" area!:lol:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')An internship paying $20 an hour that allows you go to to school? I really want to call bullshit on that because the only fellow student I saw getting a deal that sweet was a nigger. It was specifically niggers only.


Call it what you want, but if you wanted to be smart you might call a college and ask them what engineering interns or co-op's make.

Most are making $15-$20 by their last rotation I assure you.

From University of Pittsburgh co-op website:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Are all positions paid?

Yes; all positions are paid. The average starting salary is over $2267 per month.


Thats $27,204 a year or $13hr to start and this data is several years old.

http://www.engr.pitt.edu/coop/about/faq.html
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby TWilliam » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 14:53:25

I find it amusing that in this (nominal) discussion about the need for 'infrastructure' workforce, the main thing anyone's talking about is 'linemen' and 'powerplant operators'. These are not the kind of 'infrastructure' jobs that are really the issue here. The problem is REBUILDING and REPLACING infrastructure, not to mention the complete re-creation of the industries needed to SUPPORT such projects, and these are the areas where the REAL need is going to show, especially when cheap, readily available fossil fuel energy becomes scarce.

Spend some time digging up and watching some of the PBS and History Channel shows about the various Depression era public works projects - Boulder Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority, major bridges, that sorta stuff - and pay close attention to what it was actually like WORKING on these projects, and then come talk to us about how 'easy' it will be to 'retrain' the current 'workforce' and how 'eager' people will be to participate.
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby gnm » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 14:56:25

Yeah but "lineman" sounds so much better than "brutal shovel work"

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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby Narz » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 16:17:23

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '2')) Skilled labor is leaving the work force

To where?
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby jbeckton » Fri 21 Dec 2007, 09:33:11

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', 'I') find it amusing that in this (nominal) discussion about the need for 'infrastructure' workforce, the main thing anyone's talking about is 'linemen' and 'powerplant operators'. These are not the kind of 'infrastructure' jobs that are really the issue here. The problem is REBUILDING and REPLACING infrastructure, not to mention the complete re-creation of the industries needed to SUPPORT such projects, and these are the areas where the REAL need is going to show, especially when cheap, readily available fossil fuel energy becomes scarce.


Well, I don't think that fossil fuel energy will become scarce anytime soon so we have a fundamental disagreement.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')Spend some time digging up and watching some of the PBS and History Channel shows about the various Depression era public works projects - Boulder Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority, major bridges, that sorta stuff - and pay close attention to what it was actually like WORKING on these projects, and then come talk to us about how 'easy' it will be to 'retrain' the current 'workforce' and how 'eager' people will be to participate.


Dig a little deeper than what you TV tells you. The working conditions for a factory worker before the depression were nowhere near ideal, the depression only compounded a problem that already existed.

And besides, do you think for one second that the people who worked on those projects were any worse off than the people that did not?
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby TWilliam » Fri 21 Dec 2007, 17:04:36

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', 'W')ell, I don't think that fossil fuel energy will become scarce anytime soon so we have a fundamental disagreement.


Ah. One of 'those'... :roll:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')ig a little deeper than what you TV tells you. The working conditions for a factory worker before the depression were nowhere near ideal, the depression only compounded a problem that already existed.

And besides, do you think for one second that the people who worked on those projects were any worse off than the people that did not?


I wasn't referring to what they SAY, but to what they SHOW. The archival footage, photographs etc. The point is it was hard, nasty, dangerous work that required a quality of character (not to mention physical conditioning) largely absent from the present population. You're not likely to find burger flippers, Walmart greeters, cashiers, real estate agents and the other assorted 'service sector' employees that make up - what is it, something like 60%+ of the workforce? - scrambling to live in bunkhouses, breathing silica dust, enduring extended exposure to the elements and sweating their asses off all day long, and the second point is that these are the kinds of conditions that will likely be returning in the not-too-distant future (assuming of course that such a rebuilding effort is even undertaken)...
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Re: RUST!!! - Power Plants...Bridges and Dams...oh my...

Unread postby TWilliam » Fri 21 Dec 2007, 17:08:53

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '2')) Skilled labor is leaving the work force

To where?


Ummm... the grave? :lol:

Or at least to the rocker on the front porch (a.k.a. 'retirement')...
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