Comments

Episode-1378- Listener Feedback 6-30-14 — 24 Comments

  1. Hey Jack,

    What AT&T and others are doing is exactly like what the trades unions developed 50+years. I’m graduating from the IBEWs (electricians) national journeyman aptitude training center this August. Its a great way to get guys the knowledge and on the job training quick. Glad the white collar work force is catching up to us. Being a college dropout I get all tingly when you talk about colleges closing lol. Great show as always buddy!

    • Companies may be short sighted and may change their criteria at any time. If you are trained to work at Company A, then you may not be trained to work at Company B or may have trouble advancing at company A without additional training. Many degree programs at good colleges cover the basics for many types of computer theory. As far as electives, that is a different matter .. but people with Masters degrees in computer science may have better opportunities

      • I don’t buy it, not for a second. Yes you may loose that job at Company A but by the time you do you have something a lot more valuable today than a degree, you have the experience on the job.

        • It is true what you say, but some degree programs can give you a deeper understanding of various aspects of computer science. Maybe it depends on the person as some people move on to management or don’t go as deep. You can probably learn stuff from books and all, but alot of people aren’t always able to do that or don’t read the right books. Many high tech companies in our area where started by people from MIT so it seems like some of those folks can have an edge though some of them can also be a bit snooty as well ..

  2. Jack, The biggest reason the government is backing off of marijuana is because the banks want it. When Federal regulators stated that they’ll allow banks to do business with marijuana dispensaries I told my wife that weed would become legal within 5 years. I agree that it should not be illegal but I wish this little piece of liberty came from the people and not just as a by-product of banking intrests.

  3. Jack:
    Just wondering where you source your pork? I have a source for beef, chicken, raw milk and yard eggs but haven’t found a good source for pork and if you buy it in the store please share with me the type of pork you buy…I do buy bacon in the store but I use the uncured free-range bacon
    Thanks!

    • Shannon, I get down to Houston a couple times a year. My dad’s in Seguin and sister in Brenham. I have large black, mulefoot and ossabaw and registered w Agritrue. We still gotta go fishin, too

  4. My 2 cents on used truck selection is based on 20 years in the dealership.

    Look at the color of the oil. If it is gas motor it should not be black. Diesels are a little harder with this since the oil is designed to collect particulates. On abused engines, a fresh oil change will not have a golden brown color for long. It will get dirty quick. You can ask how long it was since the oil change and determine if the engine had a poor oil change schedule. This take some experience to determine.

    Brake dust on the front wheels are a good indicator that the vehicle is subjected to a lot of stop and go traffic. It also may be an indicator that the brakes may need to be replaced. Engaging the emergency brake and it goes all the way to the floor is an indicator that the e-brakes need to be adjusted or replaced.

    The most often overlooked component in a truck is the rear axle. Look at the cover of the axle. It is a somewhat oval or round sheet metal cover that has bolts around it’s entire perimeter. If that cover is caked with grease then the axle fluid probably has never been replaced. I always replace my axle fluid on any used truck I buy.

    Check your engine hoses. They should not be swollen and a “sweet” smell under the hood means you have a coolant leak somewhere. Look under the vehicle and see if there are oil leaks on the driveway or parking lot.

    Those are some quick things to look at that may cause you to disqualify a purchase. Jack had some really good ideas. I am one of those people that looks at the brake pedal and the gas pedal. Haha, I thought I was the only OCD tech out there. Good luck on your purchase!

  5. No wonder Jack’s a good permaculturist. I thought brake pedal wear was my signature weirdness. Eagle-eye observation skills handy for all kinds of stuff. Been buyin $3k beater service trucks a long time. : )

    • Really, you do that too? You are the first person I ever met that knew about that without me telling them first.

      • Yup. We’re pretty hard on these little trucks we use for contracting so try to get best rig for the money. I spend way too much time in my own head. I was dying laughing when u were talking about it, I thought, ‘I’ll comment on it but Jack won’t believe I’m original’, lol

  6. Mark Cubin was out last week commenting on the collapse of student loans and colleges. Put an interesting catalyst out there with Sallie Mae capping the amount you can borrow. So far, it seems the government just wants to forgive debt and stick it to the taxpayer, if they cap the loans, that would speed up things quite a bit.

    I figure they want to make school really expensive so they can federalize all the schools like they want to do healthcare. I mean we can’t have all the mega corporations running our schools right 🙂 Then everyone can have “free college”. Sorry, lots of libs around here, so getting into their head, plus I hear from them all the time how college should just be funded by the gov, cause K-12 has been great for kids that they need another 4 years 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohLrNlY_TBk

  7. Per the overabundance from Permaculture “problem”; The only time, so far, that Ive seen Geoff come close to getting ruffled was during the PDC, a member asked if there were hidden problems using Permaculture, like the mountains of old tires that comes from driving cars. LOL! He covered quickly but I still saw that rapid flash of “WTF?” cross his face. I cant help but wonder how Master Mollison would have responded. 🙂 Great ‘cast as usual brother.

  8. A note on DE, you implied that it “sucks the moisture” out if the bugs (kind of like salt?).

    Rather than that, the process as it was described to me was that it either sliced up soft skinned bugs causing their moisture to leak out. It affects armored bugs (fleas) differently. In this case it limited their movement by clogging the cracks between the armor.

  9. “The idiocy of “no guns” signs” – No doubt there is some idiocy in that situation, but maybe a bit quick to pass judgment on the store owner? Freaked out after a violent robbery attempt, who knows what advice he got from lawyers, insurance agents, etc. about possible civil suits- it may seem odd at first glance to hang out the no gun sign, but who knows what a lawyer in a court room and a jury might focus in on. Mississippi is known as one of the preferred places for civil suits because juries have given out lottery-like winnings with great frequency. The guy may just be trying to do what he can to protect his business. No one here really knows what motivated him to hang out the sign, but passing judgment on him is the easy thing to do.

  10. Mississippi has an enhanced cc that requires a class. After the class and getting the IC (instructor Certified) sticker on the back of the license, you can carry almost anywhere, federal property, jails, highway patroll stations etc excepted
    Interestingly, Rick Ward was my instructor for my class
    No sign applies, if you have the enhanced permit, but if asked to leave, you probably should.

  11. Thought I would chime in on the topic of education programs / degrees designed by an industry. Years ago I looked into going into game programming and found out about the Guildhall at SMU. It is a certification or masters degree program geared completely to the gaming industry that works with game companies to design the course work.

    At the time I looked into it they had a 100% placement rate. They have been around since 2005. The price tag is what kept me away but loved the idea.

    http://www.smu.edu/guildhall

  12. Addressing the 3k used truck call: I heartily agree about using CarFax. The 30 bucks I spent on it saved me so much….
    A few years back I was in the market for a used pickup. After a couple of months of craigslist shopping I found “the one”. So after a phone call I met with the owner. The truck (a late 80s Toyota Pickup (pre Tacoma)) was in really nice shape…No frame rust, really no rust in general. A big thing with this era Toyota is/was rust. The engine sparkled you could eat off the damn thing….Oh man!! I was gonna have wheels again!!! In spite of all of these positive attributes I had this weird gut feeling. First off I met the seller in a very non descript industrial area. Which I can understand, he didn’t want anyone coming to his house because he said he’d had problems with weirdos on Craigslist. He had some story about this guy from Africa who really wanted this little truck (this story has some basis in fact. I have friends from Central America that say these little Toyotas go for a kings ransom in places like Honduras and El Salvador etc. He had the truck running when I met him.
    Not a good thing. I didn’t get to see the engine start from a cold start. A big deal because you wanna see what color that tail pipe smoke is when the truck initially starts….I kinda brushed it off. After all I was excited. The seller also said he knew a title place that I could go to that a “friend” of his ran.
    We settled on a price. We agreed to meet the next day to exchange money and do the actual sale.
    On my way home something clicked in my head and I started to piece everything together.
    I ran a CARFAX. I am so glad that I did. First off the car had been through about 5 owners. Second it had been involved in an accident (Im guessing that is why the radiator gleamed like gold). Lastly. Even more importantly the SOB had probably rolled the odometer. the truck had over 200,000 miles on it. Needless to say I acted like I was gonna buy the truck and then called him at the appointed time and had some choice words for him. My blood still boils
    So while you are out there keep your eyes open. Trust your gut. You will find a nice truck.They are out there.

  13. Im a week or so late but….

    You said it right, Jack, it’s “MOOC” not ‘mock’. It stands for Massive Open Online Course. It refers to the online curriculums that universities are putting up online; for free. You just dont get credit from them, unless you officially take the class and pass their test.

    -Richard J
    Houston-ish area