It's Come To This

[Whiterum]

A proud father was showing a fellow worker a picture of his five grown sons. His friend asked what they did for a living. The father said the older two are doctors and the youngest two are lawyers. The friend asked about the middle son and the father said, "Oh, he's a plumber. Someone had to pay for all the others' educations."

[voice]

I do all my own plumbing, my dad was a gas fitter so I learned it from him, so can do gas and water, can do a bit of electrics, but mostly pay someone else to do the complex stuff. I try my hand at most things, but never got the hang of plastering.

[perrykneeham]

Yeah, I'll have a go at most things. Have done some pretty big structural stuff in my time. Happy to do electrics and plumbing. I can render but wish Incould plaster, mainly as it's great for covering up my shabby blockwork. It's a Cornish work ethic thing for me, but it's probably a false economy: better to pay a pro if it's a decent sized job.

Six sheets of 8' x 4' x 3/4" MDF turned up this afternoon so I'll be building wardrobes tomorrow. It nearly killed me getting the fuckers indoors. They're not light or easy to handle.

[rick49]

The state of the American media. Must be the New Math.

MSNBC FAIL: Bloomberg ‘Could Have Given Each American $1 Million’

"MSNBC anchor Brian Williams just can’t seem to ever get his facts straight. During his 11th Hour show Thursday night, the hapless host eagerly seized on fake news from Twitter that the $500 million spent by failed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg could have provided all 327 million American citizens with “$1 million” each. It’s actually about $1.50 each."

"Without bothering to check the blatantly false information, Gay immediately cited some astonishingly bad math from social media: “Absolutely. Somebody tweeted recently that actually with the money he spent, he could have given every American a million dollars.”

"Williams was ready with the tweet from journalist Mekita Rivas, which flashed on screen:"

I’ve got it. Let’s put it on the screen. When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear. “Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. U.S. Population, 327 million.” Don’t tell us if you’re ahead of us on the math. He could have given each American $1 million and have had lunch money left over. It’s an incredible way of putting it.

www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kyle-drennen/2020/03/06/msnbc-fail-bloomberg-could-have-given-each-american-1-million

[voice]

I suppose I can afford to pay someone now, and did when I had both our kitchens re-wired last year, but most of the time I actually enjoy doing it, get a sense of 'I did that'. Same as I still do as much work on my bike as possible, harder with how much more complex and needing specialized tools these days, I just like tinkering. Actually made my first knive recently, not as pretty as you can buy and probably cost a bit more all told, but hey I made it.

[perrykneeham]

A lot of it comes down to practice and having the right kit. I need to build a workshop so that I've got a clear, dry space to work with everything at hand.

[voice]

yeah I'd like to build a workshop, but never have the time, my garage is my workshop, the car's not been in there for about 9 years, though the bikes live there.

[Deleted]

I answered an ad for a wood stove and when I got there the owner proudly showed me around his house and the DIY he'd done, especially a white formica wardrobe he'd installed. Sliding back the doors and showing the runners and formica shelves with great pride I looked up and saw the old stone lintel of a huge fireplace with 1624 and oak leaves carved in it. He'd covered it up.

[mids]

Mar 7, 2020 16:04:52 GMT rick49 said:

The state of the American media. Must be the New Math.

MSNBC FAIL: Bloomberg ‘Could Have Given Each American $1 Million’

"MSNBC anchor Brian Williams just can’t seem to ever get his facts straight. During his 11th Hour show Thursday night, the hapless host eagerly seized on fake news from Twitter that the $500 million spent by failed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg could have provided all 327 million American citizens with “$1 million” each. It’s actually about $1.50 each."

"Without bothering to check the blatantly false information, Gay immediately cited some astonishingly bad math from social media: “Absolutely. Somebody tweeted recently that actually with the money he spent, he could have given every American a million dollars.”

"Williams was ready with the tweet from journalist Mekita Rivas, which flashed on screen:"

I’ve got it. Let’s put it on the screen. When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear. “Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. U.S. Population, 327 million.” Don’t tell us if you’re ahead of us on the math. He could have given each American $1 million and have had lunch money left over. It’s an incredible way of putting it.

www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kyle-drennen/2020/03/06/msnbc-fail-bloomberg-could-have-given-each-american-1-million

Yup. The left are hilariously dumb.

[jimboky]

Mar 7, 2020 16:54:28 GMT perrykneeham said:

A lot of it comes down to practice and having the right kit. I need to build a workshop so that I've got a clear, dry space to work with everything at hand.

otherwise known as a Mancave, don't forget the big screen TV, beer cooler, and stuff like that

[flatandy]

Mar 7, 2020 16:03:43 GMT perrykneeham said:

... but it's probably a false economy: better to pay a pro if it's a decent sized job.

It's this, combined with the stuff about having the right kit, that usually puts me off. You can find a Youtube on it, and someone manages replace half the plumbing in 12 minutes. The trouble is that you discover that it takes you an hour to search for and watch the right video, half an hour to find the kit you need, an hour to do the work, half an hour to find out what you did wrong watching the video again, an hour to go to the hardware store to find the right adapter because the thing you installed came at 13mm and your outlet pipe is 17.5mm, an hour to do it again slowly each time, and you find you've used half a day. And you realise that what a plumber charges is actually less than your time would cost...

I did actually change the tap in the kitchen - that was pretty easy (apart from the pipes having different gauges). But it terrified me that I'd create a massive leak and have to call out a proper plumber at emergency rates. But that's replacing the whole thing: opening it up to just replace a washer seems like asking for trouble.

[rick49]

Unscrew end of faucet where water comes out.
Take wornout washer out.
Take washer to hardware store to get right size replacement.
Put new washer in thingy you unscrewed and screw it back onto faucet.

[rick49]

And I even know how to change a light bulb.

[mids]

Changing a tap washer is about as easy as changing your sheets.

[rick49]

My old shop teacher would be so proud of me.

[voice]

I'm finding there is simply less stuff that is even made to be repaired.

[Deleted]

There's that too. And when you find the bit you need it's Chinese and breaks within 10 minutes. I also have a set of spanners which has every single size except the one I need.

[Repat Van]

Mar 7, 2020 13:22:04 GMT flatandy said:

I'm not millennial, yet I am also disinclined to do any plumbing work. It genuinely terrifies me in case something goes wrong.

I just wouldn’t want to. And I don’t have to...so I wouldn’t.

[perrykneeham]

I don't think any of us have to.

[rick49]

Not when you can just call The Guy.