Words of Wisdom Advice about some of the better ideas and products I've tested and used, which may be off the beaten path, so perhaps you had not heard about them
(and no, I'm not promoting any Updated 4 / 2019 |
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Quality & Service is not expensive -- it's priceless. |
Ethical Responsibility:
I aim to do what I can to set a good example in the business community; working to abolish planned obsolescence in all forms. Setting a good example is the only thing any of us can truly hope to accomplish within one's life, as we have no control over whom might gleam from our example. We can try to teach others to live and love, but until they own it and it becomes part of them, it is just a string of words that have little meaning to them. If you think about it planned obsolescence is intentional fraud, which should be a prisonable offense. Yet it has been allowed to be standard operating procedure within most industry, which has more than doubled our pollution and landfill problems. I believe changing this one detail would do more to help the landfill issue than all the recycling programs combined, as well as cure a lot of health issues with a lot less stress in our lives. Companies can still be plenty profitable without designing their products to fail within a time frame just beyond their warranty, even given the variables of matreial quality and manufacturing quality. We need to pass a law, which from that time forward would make planned obsolecense the crime it is, where if it can be proveen how planned obsolescence was implemented in any new products comming on the market the head of that company will go to jail. No patsies. I am not suggesting we force all companies to recall what they had already sold. That would bankrupt them all. Just not allow this very intentional fraud to continue. Are you with me? To read more go to: http://mind-temple.com/ethics.htm |
Concrete Work:
If you have a diveway that is in need of replacement I highly advise not just letting them get away with doing the same thing (minimum Building Code). Every concrete contractor knows the solution of how to reinforce a driveway pad: adding several inches of gravel over the dirt before the new pour, fibered concrete, wire mesh, and rebar. A combination of all 4 is best. The fact that you are looking to replace it is proof that had not worked the first time, so why would they do the same thing all over again? The only reason they are standing there talking to you about this is because this pad had failed, but they are most all looking to get that sale by offering the lowest price, so 9 out of 10 will not even offer you an alternative, which will keep this from happening all over again within another 5 years. ![]() Gravel is cheap at around $25 per cubic yard, and steel reinforcement is not that expensive. You should realize how around 75% of what you are paying them is their labor, business expenses, and profit, so even doubling the cost of parts should not increase your cost more than 25% at the most. Who would not pay an extra 25% to know it will last 4X longer? If they are trying to gouge you for a lot more than this they are just trying to take advantage of you. |
The Practice of Tipping Service Providers:
I have lived in the Portland Oregon area since 1978, and have been a licensed gutter contractor since 1993. In my work I tend to go the extra mile on each job. I far exceeding Building Code requirements and my client's expectations as well. I have commonly heard my clients say 'This looks even better than they had imagined', and I have maintained a very high saticefaction rate. Yet, they rarely had taken the time to write a review of my work publicly or privately, and I have not seen a lot of evidence of referrals coming my way. In that time I have never even thought about my clients offering me a tip at the end of a project large or small, but I hear on-line how it is expected in other parts of the Country. I have been shocks a few times when they had offer me something extra, which is less than 1% of the time. I have rarely had a client even offer me a glass of tap water on a hot day. Maybe that is just the culture here in the Great Northwest? I took this as just an example of how hospitality is dead in America, but perhaps that is just true in the big cities of the Northwest. I figure this is just human nature and have not fretted this harsh reality. I just make sure I have a well stocked cooler with me each day. With the exposure of my extensive web site since 2003 I have been getting clients all across the country for my custom copper work, and yet it seems they must have gotten the word out how you DO NOT TIP vendors in Oregon! Even though we are not charging them a sales tax in this State. There again it has been less than 1% that I had been surprised by a client who intentionally overpaid me. I offer rain management products free of planned obsolesence, which cannot be found from other sheetmetal shops at any price, and for what I offer I am even far more reasonably priced and spend a lot more time communicating with each client to cater to their unique desires than other shops, but I am lucky to get a simple 'Thank you'. Corporate Excecutives get huge bonuses on top of their enormous saleries for successfully ripping off their clients and raping our planet. Does this seem right to you? Because of all I have shared on-line with thousands of step-by-step photos of my craft I have helped countless people start or enhance their business practice. Yet, I can count on one hand with fingers to spare how many 'Thank You's' I have gotten over the last 2.6 decades, since my web site went live. I also feel there is something fundamentally wrong with how we are expected to tip waiters in a restaurant. Yet, not tip any fastfood places; whom are definately paid minimum wage and struggling. I would rather tip my gas attendant than a waiter (we are not allowed to pump our own gas here in Oregon). My Wife and I have often tipped them a buck with each fillup, and it is great to see the surprise on their face, since this is just not done. Yet, if a waiter gets less than their 20% due you are scum of the Earth. I do not say this as any sort of complaint. Just sharing an observation for you to ponder. I really do not care if I ever get a tip for going the extra mile. I feel that is just how every business should be run, while charging a more reasonable fee, and maintain a 95% recycle rate for any construction debris. I do my best to set a good example, since that is all any of us can hope to accomplish within our brief time here on Earth. A a result I cannot afford health insurance. I will never be able to save up enough for a downpayment on a house. I have no retirement plan. If I could just manage to pay off my credit cards that would be amazing! When I can no longer be of service I will no longer have the right to live. That is just my reality, and I accept this fact. I will not take advantage of others to get ahead, yet that seems to be our norm. |
The Eternal Equalizer: We oftern forget the eternal equalizer within our interactions with others. We should see them not as they appear to be at that one moment in time, but whom they may have been in past lives, all they will become within this life, and who they may become in future lives. They may have been incredible Leaders, Healers, or a most wise High-priestess, and may even achieve greatness in the near future. Perhaps way beyond even my own potential. It is the narrow thinking of linear creatures that cannot see beyond the now, and judge other harshly because of this limited vision. When we first meet I may be your senior by over a decade, but I try not to just see you as that young punk who thinks they know everything, but to also see your potential, which can level the playing field and remove the ego from our interaction. This may help us treat each other with respect and make for a healthier relationship. Let's be very patient with those who may seem less developed, as we were there in that stage of development not so long ago. It is all a gradual process.. |
Automobiles: Although, presently they are still constructed with heavy steel frames, which get a lot less gas mileage than they should be getting, but that is true with most all other auto makers as well. My understanding is that is because of oil companies having bought controlling stock in each manufacturer to thwart those sort of progressive designs, just so they can continue to sell more of their poisionous fossil fuel.
If they can make a sturdy aluminum frame bicycle these days for just $200 why do they still claim it is too expensive to make cars like this? There is also other sturdy flexible light weight materials that can be used; such as impact resistant polycarbonate plastic, carbon fiber, and titanium, which happens to be the one of the top 10 most abundant metal on our planet. If auto makers were ethical they would be making us lighter weight cars that are stronger, have more efficiant powerful drive trains, last longer, safer, and far more fuel efficient than the junk they push on us, which is deisgned to fail, and ruin many lives; being far less safe than they should be (see below for more details). |
Flying Cars: For nearly 20 years now I have heard people ask why we do not have flying cars by now. I then remind them how we have had flying cars for a century now. They are commonly called airplanes and helicopters, and most drivers are not qualified to opperate one. I wonder if we will ever make a safe flying car made for the low average user, and I kinda hope we never do. A helicopter is required to have it's engine rebuilt after just 500 hours of flight time. We hate the Government regulating our lives! So, there would be plenty of unsafe vehicles falling out of the sky accidentally crashing into our house roofs. That would be a nightmare! |
Safety Bumpers: All the auto manufacturers have seen fit to not implement the most important safety technology over the last century that would be better than seat belts and air bags by implimenting impact resistant bumpers, with the same sort of system as the common suspension holding your car chassis up off the ground built into the front and back of a vehicle, where we are likely to have a higher speed impact. It could be nearly as safe to drive as bumper cars at amusement parks at higher speeds. See my History Page for more details. A Better Seat Belt: We all know how seat belts help us be safer in the event of a collision. Although, many people still suffer great injury from the high G-forces of our body thrown against those restraints that lock us in our seat. My own Father was nearly roasted alove when he could not get free after he had come to a stop and the engine had caught fire from the fuel dumping onto the hot engine. He suffered horrible permanent burn scaring and almost had to have his leg amputated because of it. Something as simple as a high tension spring or bungie could be afixed to each end of the seat belts to allow the body to move another 6" to slow you down before those seat belts lock up. This alone would hardly cost much, and would make a huge difference to reduce the injuries caused from the tramma induced by the narrow seat belt cutting into your body. Not enough movement to allow you to hit the streering wheel, let alone the wind shield. Just enough to help minimize those horizontal G-force, which will make your body weigh many times that of a vertical G-force from natural gravity. As an example in a court room as a jury member in auto accident case we were taught that just a 5 MPH impact could make a 6# head suddenly weigh 60# of force to jerk on the neck spinal column and cause great permanent injury, so do not take light of this important detail still not implimented into most, if not all automobiles for some strange reason. Are there no engineers who could have come up with this simple concept, which has already been in use in safety fall protection for Roofers for many decades? Horrizontal G-force in a car can easily be far greater than vertical G-force from a fall off a roof, and far more commonplace than construction accidents, so it should be far more important to use this very basic technology in cars as well We also could use a secondary release that is only use in case of an emergency when the primary release has failed to release. How many people would have a knife of sizzors within reach when they desperatly would need it to save a life? Rear View Mirror Deficiencies: The goal of driving it to avoid accidents. Not just be safer in a collision. Blind spots are a large cause of accidents. Visibility can be dramatically improved with a clip-on wide angle rear view mirror place over your stock mirror. I feel blind without it when driving a rental car, and have found the need to bring my mirror along, if I have not forgotten to do so. In Europe many cars have their rear view mirrors mounted out front on the fenders, instead of on the doors. This allows the diver to see them while looking through the windshield with just a quick turn of the eye, and not have to bend their neck, which impairs their forward vision a bit. Not having to turn their head so far to either side to see them through the side windows is a huge advantage, but the down side is the mirrors up there are less attractive and may need to be a little larger, since they are fartur away. Oh dear, how will we be able to suffer the aesthetic compromise for safety? I have a larger roof rack that protrude out past the wind shield that allowed me to mount a wide angle mirror out in front off to the left to cover those blind spots the center mirror cannot cover, so now just looking forward I have no blind spots. The down side to this unconventional roof rack is I am no longer allowed to go through an automated car wash.
Bad Weather Windshield
Visibility: Another simple thing you can do to
improve visibility is to use No Touch Rain Shield windshield coating
spray found at many convenience stores. It is a small green can.
Improving Your Visibility to Others: You can also add some white or red reflective tape over your car's paint or over the glass near the top bottom edges. Perhaps think of it like a form of pin-striping along the sides and across the rear, which also help others see you better at night. 3M makes that tape and it can be found at many hardware stores. It will last many years without shrinking or pealing. It is what they use for the stickers on your license plate when you renew your tags. It will not be easy to remove, so keep that in mind when you apply it. Glass would be have lot less risk of damage when the need for removal is needed. Freeway Traffic Congestion: We've all had to deal with the frustration of stop-and-go traffic situation on freeways. Often caused by rubber-necking as we pass by an accident, which may even have blocked off a lane or 2. Although, we see there are many times this sort of rush-hour congestion has nothing to do with an accident, so we ponder why this happen as we continue to crawl so slowly down the road? It is quite maddening. If you could see it from the air you would see this slinky effect going on, where it slows down and loosens up over and over, which is even more confusing, since there seems to be no ryme or reason. The main cause of this is tailgating and unnecessary lane changes to jump over into that faster lane, which then seems to slow down more than the lane we had abandoned. We would logically believe how driving closer to the car in front of us would allow for more cars on the freeway at the same time, but it actually causes this slinky effect when we find ourselves having to suddenly brake hard being so close to that car in front of us, which has a repercussive effect on those cars behind us as well. This is why frequent lane changes are also a cause of this effect, when the car we are cutting off has to suddenly slow down to avoid a colision. I am not saying we should never change lanes, but we should refrain from the temptation of jumping into the other lane that seems to be moving faster. What we are actually seeing is just that slinky effect in the other lane that is not timed the same as the lane you're in. Swapping lanes serves to then slow that lane down, because the car you're pulling over in front of will need to make some hasty braking to let you in and allow for the gap needed for safe driving. In turn causing all the cars behind them to brake harder and harder down the line as well until that lane is not moving at all. Slinky effect. Then eventually it loosens up. Only to happen over and over again, since we never learn to just chill out. When one person has not paid careful attention to this they may bump the car in front of them, so those 2 cars will need to pull over to swap insurance information, now causing another rubber-necking situation. So your lane swapping may have caused an accident you are not even aware of, so try to keep this in mind before changing lanes when it is not necessary. If we all would drive like this congestion would be reduced substantially. |
A Little
History:
Apple -V- PC: Apple's Time Machine back-up software was a strong draw for me in finally getting a top notch 27" IMac in early 2010, but I quickly found out it was very limited and not very usable with running Parallells to be able to run Windows on this IMac machine I had to run before I could try to wean myself off PC software, which I was never able to do. I had imagined it would only take me a couple months to ween myself off PC software and learn the Apple system, but this did not hold true. I kept hoping they would have made substantial improvements with it in each of the 3 OS upgrades since then, but that never happened either. Right after upgrading to Mountain Lion I started experiencing frequent crashes where it would suddenly reboot while I was in the middle of doing something. After about 20 hours on the phone with support, 10 days in for service with 8 trips to their local stores with no positive results I finally had to insist on a full refund. Since I had bought AppleCare with it they had to refund all $3,500 I had spent on their hardware and also any software I had bought.
Apple Products:
SSD Hard Drive:
More
RAM: Update to the current PC advances 8/17:
AMD 1800X Chip: I also spent a lot of $ on Corsair RGB lighting parts. Such as this RGB RAM moduels and fans, but cannot seem to get any of it to work right, which has been very frustrating as well, and their customer service is worthless. AMD has since come out with a new Rysen chip that they call Threadripper, which has twice the layers, but also cost over twice as much. Much like with Apple hardware; software and hardware developers are reluctant to cater to AMD fans, so it is rather second rate. RAM is sold to clock at speed of 3,600 MHz and more, yet the mother board hardware will not allow it to run faster than 2,400 MHz, which makes no sense.
More Hard Drive Space:
Larger Monitor:
Onboard SSD Hard Drive: I also swapped out the Corsair RGB RAM for this G.Skill RAM, which has a much better lighing effect. |
Very Soft pillows
that do not go flat? They are not cheap and rather hard to find. I've never seen them in regular department stores. They cost over twice that of an ordinary pillow, but I feel it was a very good investment when they will last over 3 to 4 times as long without going hard and flat like most pillows do within just a couple years. I got mine at A-1 Foam Rubber here in S. E. Portland, OR. http://a1foamrubber.com/ |
These LED bulbs are instant one with whiter color than any other types of light fixture. They are suppose to last a lot longer as well, with less health issues than the compact florescent bulbs or landfill issues. Although, the manufacturers will most likely figure out a way to work in short lived planned obsolescence in these as well. Beside my huge 240 square feet of skylights i the roof I have used low intensity rope lights to light my work shop, in stead of having regular bulbs. It gives off a nice soft light that's not harsh to look up at. It took over 300 linear feet of them to light a 20' X 32' workshop at a cost of $470 back in late 2012. I later added several 4' long shop lights as well, which are LED, but look like conventional florecent lighting tubes. Then in late 2018 I felt the need to replace them all; with many partial strands burning out and the plastic having turned a dingy yellow. The new strans cost around half that much at $240. I have them mounted 9' up from the floor in custom aluminum reflector trays I made to direct all the light downwards attached to each horizontal roof joist. This gave me 470 watts of LED lighting. This is compared to the 28 - 32 watt 4' florescent bulbs I was using at about twice the wattage. |
Treating Indoor & Outdoor
Wood: They now sell a new version of thier Tung Oil they call Outdoor Defense Oil, which has been thinned with pine oil and has some zinc in it to help reduce milew staining. They also sell a very good Citrus Solvent, that seems to works as well as replacement for laquer thinner, but does not dry out as fast and smells better. It also seems easier on my hands. |
Wood Fasteners: We strongly advise that you set the screws using a special cordless impact driver instead of an ordinary drill. They set these SS screws far better w/o damaging the drive slot. Even better than a hammer drill. Trust me on this one. If you have not yet bought an impact driver, do so. It will be one of your best tool investments. Makita makes a nice light weight driver w/Lithium-ion batteries. I think their fluid dampening model XST01 is the best, but hard to find. |
Roofing Work:
Roofing
Quality Standards |
Teak Hardwood Plywood: Although, of course it will take quite a bit more work on your part and some minor tools to make it, but how do you put a price of that feeling of accomplishment and brag rights? If you do not like how it turned out, keep working it over to the desired results. Quitting is the only sure way to fail. I made a simple sturdy 7' wide desk with a monitor shelf with a single sheet of 3/4" Teak plywood and a 1/4" sheet of a less expensive hardwood plywood for the back, as seen here. I treated it with tung oil and it has made for a great desk over the last 2 decade of daily use.
Office Chairs:
Good chairs are hard to find, but look for a chair that pivot more in the front under the seat, which will not raise your legs up off the floor when you lean back. Also, the arm rest don't bind up under your desk as much that way. I just find them more comfortable, but are very rare to find. I am currently using a Serta brand I5000 office chair that has a lot more padding and springs under the butt, which most office chairs do not have, and seem to flatten out far too soon. The arm rests could still use more padding, but it is noticably more comfortable. After a year I felt the need to strip off the leather cover on the arm reast to add more padding. Although, it is not hinged right underneath and lifts my feet off the floor when I lean back. It also has a unique lumbar support that retracts when you lean back. A feature I had not seen with any other office chair. |
Skylights: Regular window glass is not good for a skylight because it can get broken easily if a branch falls on it during a wind storm, and would become very dangerous falling shards of glass. These can be made with glass that has been tempered, or even laminated for impact resistance. If the top layer is tempered it will be harder to break and only break in small round pellets, which are less dangerous. Just like the side windows of a car. Laminated glass has a thin soft rubber layer in between that will insulate better and holds the glass together if it were to be broken, just like the windshield of any car. That layer can be made with the white translucent rubber I spoke of above, or the glass can be etched to defuse the light. I do not understand why they even offer the standard skylights. Especially since this tech I wrote about has been around for at least half a century. |
Powered Speaker Docks: Audioengine 5+: I've had a pair on my desk for about 2 years with daily use and have been very pleased. Portable Bluetooth Speakers: Bluetooth speakers have been rather disappointing. I have tried out many differnt models over the last few years, but the sound is mediocre and the batteries tend to last less than 5 hours. The worst part is the terribly short range they seem to have. They are suppose to be good for a 30 foot range, but I am lucky to get half this. I finally stumbled across a company called Rugged Geek who markets a speaker with a 24 hour battery, which you can also use to charge your smart phone in a pinch. It really seems to live up to the promise. I have used it for up to a full week at the job site before needing recharged. They also sell a small car battery jump starter that is amazing. I had been able to start my van at least half a doven time in a single day with over half the battery life still left. It is about the size of calculator. I leave it in my car and have not had to use my jumper cables ever since. I had my alternator go out and it was a great help to finish out the day running several errands befor eI could get around to replacing it. |
The Great Equalizer: In stead of looking down at each other with such judgement or envy; there is another way we should be seeing each other. It's rather narrow minded to see those around us as they appear at this time. We also should imagine who they may become. They may achieve great things well beyond our expectations. Perhaps even more than what we will achieve. Also, we should take this a few steps further. Imagine who they may have been in past lives, and even their potential in lives yet started. I know this is not easy to do, but try to stretch your imagination, or just accept the fact that we have no idea and have no right to assume they had not been or will become quite amazing people. This should extend to other issues, such as racism and our bias towards lifestyles we find uncomfortable. How do we know we were not just like them, or worse at some point. Most chances are we were completely different in our past lives, and persecuted for it by people, whom we have now become. True or not this is just a good way to help adjust our attitude towards other people to equalize us all. Anything else would be counter productive. Such as this messed up society we have created. Seek to see the world though a different broader lens for a better future, which has less division and conflict. |
Other Words
of Wisdom "The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." Khalil Gibran "Smoke at Night Love is a smoke made with the fumes of sighs" William Shakepear “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Mother Teresa “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou "Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul." Mark Twain “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” Maya Angelou "We don't have time to sulk. We had to come out and get a victory." Sheray Thomas “Right now, just speak gently your words of wisdom to the youngsters. Sooner or later, those words will arrive at the right place in their hearts.” Toba Beta “Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.” George Carlin “I don't need anything to get high. I'm high on life.” Melissa de la Cruz “Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.” Wallace Stevens “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Teresa "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." Albert Einstein "You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." Audrey Hepburn "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Mark Twain “I don't like to hear cut and dried sermons. Nowhen I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.” Abraham Lincoln “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Jimmy Dean "Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' " Erich Fromm "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." Mark Twain "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." Francis of Assisi "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." Marcus Aurelius "Quality means doing it right when no one is looking." Henry Ford "Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then." Katharine Hepburn "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." Samuel Beckett "Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” Mark Twain “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” Albert Einstein "It's much easier on the emotions when one sees life as an experiment rather than a struggle for popularity.” Criss Jami “If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.” Albert Einstein "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Albert Einstein "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." Abraham Maslow "Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God." Albert Einstein "Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" Benjamin Franklin "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." John F. Kennedy "I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details." Albert Einstein " is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony." Thomas Merton "Grasp the subject, the words will follow." Cato the Elder |
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