Grammer

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115280/golden-age-grammar-myth

This reminds me of the rules of grammar,
and the number of "authorities in control"
that I have worked in my life.

Grammar is something that some of the
control freaks have insisted that their
style be matched, even when it was wrong.
In general, now, I just do not give a damn,
about any style,
for that matter, not much of anything.

Now how does one learn in a situation like that?
The first was a fellow we
referred to as Brezhnev. Then there
was Billy C, the pleasant evil person,
who sold leased cars to the leasing company,
and then leased them back.
Creative financing,
he called it.
Then there was the worst of the
bunch, DC, the asshole in many way,
followed by the religious thief and fraud artist,
but he went to church each Sunday.

Each had a style unto themselves,
and they each insisted it be matched.
Billy C was the easiest to match;
say as much as possible, but preface
everything as: it may be found: XY showed:
take no authority for anything: etc..
He also insisted on parallel construction,
that is a long list of phrases, of the same type,
separated by commas.
One of this reference books,
called his style type as over-commas-ed-ass.

Oh well, he was a pleasant fellow,
but he never paid all the bills.
He created so much ill will that
it was difficult to work for him,
and the company was a target
for the people he screwed.

Sugar in gas tanks,
and anything lose walked off,
things went missing,
even the employees had it in for him,
such was life.
Expense claims not paid,
employee deductions not remitted,
then no health insurance,
when sickness happened.

Bouncing paychecks,
and expense claims,
rent not paid,
the sheriff seizures,
(in Canada the sheriff are civil),
Such fun.

But he was a wonderful speaker,
with no follow-through.
He had the habit of disappearing
for days at a time,
then surfacing in some small town
with a job for us to do
at a giveaway price.

He came from a company
that was said to have the father,
the son, and the holy ghost.
After they got rid of him,
it provide for many people for years,
until it was taken over by an eastern concern,
which could not pay for it,
and then it was returned to Frank,
who was buried the same day as my mother.
 

 
  

Minimals

Minimalism is a lifestyle that keeps the acquisition of materials as low as possible. It is a frugal and brutal lifestyle, but it is one of the common intentional lifestyles adopted by excentrics. I have only one thing to say about it. How do the children brought into it fair?

I was one who was raised on farm, where the farm came before people, and there was nothing spent on the people unless it was necessary. It was a brutal life for me. People on welfare had more that we lived on. There was no shortage of work or food, but there was little else.

Anyone adopting a minimalist lifestyle would do well to not force it on anyone.  

The daily questions

Every person has or should have a set of questions for the underlings, or am I the only one. Here are mine, more or less:

How's it going?
Any issues?
Possible solutions?
Previous solutions?
How can I help?
Upcoming issues?
Anything else?

Advertisement

http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com/2013/07/09/nutrition-standards-wont-fix-big-foods-worst-child-marketing-tactics/

All advertisement/marketing is basically corrupt, low ethical, but it does influence buying decisions. These people are devoid of integrity. Anyone making a living that way should be in the same Buddhist group and arms merchants and poison merchants. Not suitable for a Buddhist, more suitable for criminals. It does have a use of letting customers know about potential new products, but it has become too much. If a company cannot operate without advertising, perhaps, it is not retaining customers, and the product should remain in stores.

We can inoculate the young against advertising, and then where would the economy be. Stoic, Cynic, Epicurian, Buddhist, Hippy, The Moneyless Society, what ever.

We, the people, need to stand up to big business and vote with our feet, but how? I need a new little truck gofer. What choice do I have? Fix the old one, but that will cost more than it is worth, and what will be next to let go? Oh well, that is a prepaid expense, not an investment. But there is no alternative to big business. Years ago, I could have bought North American, but now what is the choice for small pickups...Korea, China, Japan, ... or full size. But I have heavy trucks to run, so it is not a urgent decision.    

Seneca letter 47

Dipping into the old Romans, I came across a statement that made me think for a while. 

Seneca claims "Each man has a character of his own choosing; it is chance or fate that decides his choice of job."

I will suggest that the truth of this statement is not in question, but rather the current population thoughts on this matter. I suggest that the current population think that character is fixed or fated, and is generally more fixed than flexible, and that job is more choice. Backwards to Seneca's view.

Now which is right. Job choice is first, among the available options, somewhat flexible, but the options are not so flexible. It may be that we have some choice, but many hold on to a ideal, and then desperation sets in, and end working as a cabbie, while holding a Ph.D. or as a dirt tech with a Masters in Library Science. Oh well, shit happens. 

Now on to the first half. Is character fixed or flexible? How much have I changed over the years. A great deal, and not always for the better. Much of the change was forced as a way to deal with the situation that existed. I suppose there were other choices... but I did what I did... It seemed the best choice, not the wisest choice, but a choice none the less. So personality is a result of choice, but those choices are dictated... or forced decisions... by environment... situation... for the most part, not choice as the result of any plan.

There are many fraudsters, sociopaths and psychopaths walking our streets, driving in traffic today. And they became that way by choice, for they will prosper financially in this environment of today. They have a choice, so Seneca is largely right, and the common thoughts of modern society is wrong again.    

 

Next Stage of Retirement

I have reached the next stage of retirement, that is failure to renew the company engineering permit. As of July 1, 2013, TGL is no longer an engineering company, but rather a government identity without a purpose or source of income, and will remain so until it drys up and blows away soon. 

I will retain my personal permit, and may conduct engineering through ENC for the next 9 months or so, mainly in a training capacity, when I shall relinquish my personal engineering permit. 

Thank you all for the support over the years. It has been an experience.

Now perhaps I can get on with the fun part, telling stories, lies, exaggeration, streches, and a few facts, just to keep some truth in the writing. 

  

ethical question?

This is a situation that has, in various form, occurred repeatedly. 

We did a geotechnical report for a building company back in 2001 or 2002. They called last week looking for the Schedules and were told them to go away as we did nothing other than the report. The competition showed up here yesterday asking about the project and were explained what transpired. He then told us that he was going to go and look at the building and, if everything appeared ok, he was going to sign off on the Schedules. We think that he is committing fraud as there was no design or field review conducted and he will sign off.

The Alberta building code schedules are a requirement of building code to prevent under-sizing by the contractor, engineer, owner - whoever, by requiring the circuit to be closed, aka, geotechnical investigation, design to match, construction to design, and a commitment to say it is all correct. Anyone signing a C-2 after the fact is committing a breach of Alberta engineering ethics. 

Is it fraud? Likely, certainly un-ethically, but if all the parties know what is going on, I am not sure that it is fraud. The City building inspection department does not likely care, as long as they have the paper they need. The builder and piling contractor are long gone on to other things.  That leaves the owner, engineer, and geotechnical engineer, and likely future owner. Our competition is taking on tremendous liability by accepting responsibility for the foundation, likely at the change of ownership. He could be sued by the new owned if he find anything, even with change of use, if what the contractor did was not as per plan.

It is definably prostitution of the stamp. That says enough about the man's ethics. Be aware also, you cannot hang about the animals without picking up the smell. But, will you have the proof required to take it to APEGA? Not likely. Without the proof, APEGA will do nothing. What it says is our completion is unethical, possible fraudulent, but nobody has the willingness to spend the money necessary to prove it. You could report it to APEGA, and that might make you feel better, but do not expect results. There could also be blow-back, which we do not need.

This whole industry is corrupt, bits and pieces, from time to time. I am glad I am retired soon. Perhaps I can wash the smell off yet.