[RANT] Absurd prices (and even more absurd culture)

Marco Bernardini

Marco Bernardini

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While browsing the online catalog of our equivalent of Home Depot (but smaller) I found this lathe for the absurd price of 739 euro (~ $1000) without any accessory:
http://www.bricoio.it/it-IT-it/Torni-Einhell-Tornio-Per-Metallo_EHKOP001.aspx
Another similar shop has the same lathe for ~ 900 euro (~ $1200).
Tech specs are here: http://www.einhell.de/de_en/shop/metal-lathe-bt-ml-300.html
This gives you an idea of the planet where I live… to be a DIY farmer or a DIY fisherman is socially acceptable, a DIY woodworker begin to be uncommon, while if you are a DIY metalworker you are considered "strange": "respectable" people don't make this, how could be fun something made in a dirty factory by coarse workers? :angry:
BTW, here there is even people hiring a joiner to assemble Ikea furniture! :nuts:
Soon or later I'll write an aggressive sociological/philosophical book about this!
 
That "absurd culture" thing you speak of might me the world over, I've encountered quit a few people over the last several years, that can't seem to make head nor tail of actually wanting to be in my shop making things (doing work) for relaxation, when in there view I could be doing something much more socially acceptable like watching a reality shows:nuts:
 
Don B said:
"... I could be doing something much more socially acceptable like watching a reality shows:nuts:"
Click to expand...

What's wrong with reality TV shows?

I watch them all the time. My favorites are "Keith Fenner" and "Tubalcain".
 
Marco Bernardini said:
While browsing the online catalog of our equivalent of Home Depot (but smaller) I found this lathe for the absurd price of 739 euro (~ $1000) without any accessory:
http://www.bricoio.it/it-IT-it/Torni-Einhell-Tornio-Per-Metallo_EHKOP001.aspx
Another similar shop has the same lathe for ~ 900 euro (~ $1200).
Tech specs are here: http://www.einhell.de/de_en/shop/metal-lathe-bt-ml-300.html
This gives you an idea of the planet where I live… to be a DIY farmer or a DIY fisherman is socially acceptable, a DIY woodworker begin to be uncommon, while if you are a DIY metalworker you are considered "strange": "respectable" people don't make this, how could be fun something made in a dirty factory by coarse workers? :angry:
BTW, here there is even people hiring a joiner to assemble Ikea furniture! :nuts:
Soon or later I'll write an aggressive sociological/philosophical book about this!
Click to expand...

Marco...

A lot of us share your frustration... Many, many people have forgotten what it's like to be a person. I actually know some folks whom I'm convinced are human but, not really people and aren't grounded in reality anymore.

Be careful about writing an aggressive social/philosophical book that is direct and to the point as, the subjects of it's criticism will interpret it as a manifesto plotting against them. If you do write such a book, proactively counter the arguments that you're a troglodyte and they are the next step in evolution. FWIW, I'd frame it in "truthful satire" and deliver the backhanded slap of a lifetime.

I've been working on a similar topic for a while regarding my true feelings about manipulative marketing and the greed that drives it. I don't intend to make it public...


Ray
 
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I had an example of this just this morning. Bunch of us walked down to get coffee from the office. One of the elevators is out and when we get to the bottom floor the service guy is there with the doors open where you could see all of the workings. I stop and talk to him. We talked for 45 min easy. (He said half joking he was trying to make this job go all day and I was happy to help him meet his goal) I ended up buying him a coffee and he gave me a box of bearings. :) When I got back to the office one guy asked where I had gone. When I told him I got this blank look. I said "Aren't you even curious how an elevator runs and works." He says "No why should I be." I say "You ride in it several times a day trusting your life to it!" and his response " It could be winged unicorns for all I know and that's fine with me." I just don't understand that kind of thinking.

Jeff
 
To be a blue collar worker and get your hands a little dirty to make an honest dollar is maybe not the shining star job that once fueled this world. Today it’s greed and getting that $ the easiest way possible, even stealing it…like high frequency trading!
 
churchjw said:
I had an example of this just this morning. Bunch of us walked down to get coffee from the office. One of the elevators is out and when we get to the bottom floor the service guy is there with the doors open where you could see all of the workings. I stop and talk to him. We talked for 45 min easy. (He said half joking he was trying to make this job go all day and I was happy to help him meet his goal) I ended up buying him a coffee and he gave me a box of bearings. :) When I got back to the office one guy asked where I had gone. When I told him I got this blank look. I said "Aren't you even curious how an elevator runs and works." He says "No why should I be." I say "You ride in it several times a day trusting your life to it!" and his response " It could be winged unicorns for all I know and that's fine with me." I just don't understand that kind of thinking.

Jeff
Click to expand...

That's funny, LOL, that's me to, if a bunch of people are looking at something it's usually all the shiny bits and pieces and I'll be on the back side or underneath trying to see how it works..!:))
 
It is a pretty blue though.

One of the things I have found is if we can get em while they are young and let them learn how fun making can be, you may have them hooked for life. Working with cub scouts is one way. We turned the geology pin into a study of minerals and ore leading into metallurgy rather rock polishing for instance. We have one boy who tries to turn everything into a weapon so we have had to lay off the craftsman pin until he graduates in August then out to the shop with the boys every Wednesday to make to stuff with power tools.

Dave
 
most of the "ME's" (mechanical engineers) at work don't know what a 1/4-20 is :thinking:
 
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