What happens to the best

Smoker's Lounge
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…and brightest in society. I mean, they are the best at their craft, so why are they doing such a terrible job.

So, you are a lifetime umpire. You started out doing girls softball, and worked your ass off. Higher ups noticed you were the top of your field, and somehow you made it to MLB. Now that you are there: what happened to you? Bad eyes? I mean, really, what game are you watching? Can you explain why you totally SUCK at your job now?

So, you are a lifetime NFL referee, NUFF SED.

So, you are a lifetime teacher. Always had the kids in mind, included their parents when appropriate, motivated them, etc…
Well years have passed, why are you such a closed minded dick? Why do you hate the children you teach? Tough questions, I know, but you cannot blame it all on burnout. summer’s not long enough?

So, you are a lifetime ‘leader of men’. Why then, is every decision you make wrong, in hindsight. I mean really, why do you get nothing right? Nothing? You were a sharp young leader, with good intentions, now - not so much. What happened?

So, you are a fisheries manager. Basically, an important gov’t employee. you are watchdogging the fisheries, waters, and all that plays into a healthy ecosystem. Great, we need more people like you. But can you tell me what are the species you have ‘conserved’, and are in a much better place than they were, years ago. Oh, ZERO species, have benefitted from your “management”. THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MANAGING FISHERIES???
You, as a group (AMFSC), have saved ZERO fish, and have seen virtually EVERY species fall prey to overfishing. It is all your fault, not the recs, comms, or poachers. It is you, the AMFSC!!! eff you all. I am hearing salmon is next. what will be the excuse then?

So, you are an excellent reporter, credentials up the ass. You used to give impartial views of everyday life. Now, you are a cog in the propaganda machine. How does it feel to have no soul?

So, you like doing business with China? Very smart, only EVERYONE, knew this bullshit world domination crap was coming in the 90’s. Keep buying NIKE’s, nothing like some slave labor to keep things going, guess $$$ means more than anything. Lebron James employs slaves. This is an ironic one. Buy anything from QVC? slaves!

I did it too, took all/most of my high volume ‘widgets’, and started placing blanket orders with a Taiwanese outfit, that facilitated my relationship with the chinese factories. At that time, landed was like 7-10% on the slow boat. Saved big money, raises for everyone. But the product sucked, rust everywhere, etc…not to mention I helped put some very nice people around the USA out of business. They counted on my orders, and I shafted them at the behest of the BIGBOSS. I had no choice, and i am sick about it to this day.

But now, we KNOW so much more about everything, why are we still making all the WRONG decisions?

Someone please, tell me why, we as a people, keep making the wrong decisions. We like pain? We like to see how much we can eff it up before we try to fix it? what is it?

I have my suspicions, but if anyone else would like to chime in, feel free.

not really an anger thread, more of a quest for knowledge.

ps, Dear smart people,

       Please do not take us to war with a nuclear power.

 Thank you, 
 Humanity
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Why do we need this bullshit sounds like the start of a political thread and we know how that will end ,
I come
here to look at plants have fun and chat this bullshit shouldn’t be on this page

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It’s simple, too many people love low prices and are willing to turn a blind eye to the harsh realities of some (most) Chinese businesses. I remember the buy American Walmart nonsense when I was young, hell, Walmart is one of the biggest offenders and practically had (has) slave labor of their own. Sadly, it’s almost impossible to not but Chinese goods, and we need to start spending more on quality goods from other places.

However, I support Nike and think they’re a great brand in so many ways that I allow myself to indulge. I do have faith that they’re working to charge their supply chain, it’s truly not easy and will take time. I worked for a manufacturer heavily reliant on Asian goods, and the Chinese goods always outsold goods from other origins based largely on price and good quality for the money.

In a way, the amount of business we do with China is a safeguard, they have a lot to lose if they go too far, and our infusion of money into their economy is westernizing them fairly quickly. Unfortunately, Russia doesn’t have much to lose right now…

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I watch a video of an octopus finding it way out of a maze. The people who made the video thought the octopus was a genius because of how quickly it navigates the maze and escaped.
However, I was thinking why didn’t the animal just go over the top of the maze because clearly it was capable of doing so. It tentacle where able to reach from one end of the maze to the other without having to move it body.
So why didn’t the animal just reach over? Reaching over the maze would have brought the animal closer to the sun. He is a creature of the ocean floor, so his natural instincts tell him to move down, instead of up.
His instinct for survival took over long before intelligence kicked in. That was because he has to get away from the sun that was burning his skin and hurting his eyes. His only move was to get away from it as quick as possible.
Humans react in the same manner when faced with danger. Danger can me the loss of resources in the next 20- to 40 years. So they react as soon as possible long before they have time to think about what they are doing.

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I’m not a politico, man. Go easy, it’s just a chat.

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Nice, thanks for your perspective. I’m guilty too, but super aware at this time. Seems even if you want to buy American, most of the components have probably been outsourced. It is a brutal cycle.

How do we break it?

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Origin Maine is one company trying to be a solution. Their story is worth checking out. They just went to the Dominican Republic and brought back the equipment to start manufacturing steel toe boots properly in the USA.
I really don’t want to support slavery home or abroad

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Pay very close attention to where your wallet goes.

Stop buying cheap shit.

Buy higher quality, less often.

I have a pair of pants that were very expensive and heavy duty high quality. I’m still wearing them 20 years later. Just one example.

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We as a collective of consumers need to be more mindful of where our goods come from and also find the lesser evil where necessary. We also need to make sacrifices and dig within ourselves.

A good example… I left the my career behind a year and a half ago to pursue my own business. I was tired of working for a narcissist and also making a lot of money for others instead of believing in myself. I’m starting a design and furniture business. This started with some unique shelving designs as well as some kids items I wanted to make. I started out thinking, I can work with Asia on the goods and just finish them here. Then I decided that just didn’t feel good, even though I found some lovely suppliers that offered what I wanted at a good price and would work with my own designs from basic drawings. I’d have goods within 3-4 months to finish and could work on my website and business launch.

Then I decided I should know how to make it, then I decided I needed unique finishes, then… 1 year later I now have a full wood shop and have learned to make my own water based wood dyes and taught myself several finishing techniques that I’ve never seen before. I have been selling pieces as art, have two pieces in a smaller but highly regarded museum and am scraping doing random things made of wood for people while I try to get all the other stuff done. I’m also sourcing all of my wood from ye and trees that need the be removed due to disease or infestation and am working with local tree Serbs and learned to freehand mill slabs. Doing it this way is nuts, but it’s now my way, and I hope people recognize my dedication and what has gone into what I make and that many thousands of hours spent learning my craft.

What does all those cost me vs. sourcing from
China and assembling here, probably over 250k I really don’t have at this point. But I’m not going to sacrifice, if I put my heart and soul into it, people will eventually notice. The goal is to have a company my kids want to me a part of, and can feel good about doing so

But we shall see…

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If anyone of you hasn’t seen My Octopus Teacher, I think it’s a must watch!

Cephalopods are fascinating creatures! They’re known to escape their aquariums, get a snack, then crawl back into their tanks through the tiniest cracks

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Conscious thought on what your buying, where its from, what its made from, and the waste from said object when utilized and or in production of.

Most have the bigger is better, or more is better mentality and its ingrained in our shopping habits.

Breaking that cycle takes work and unfortunately most don’t want to face the fact that their consumption or actions do have detriments, though instead of ignoring it for bottom dollar one can work on it progressively as one can.

Needs vs Wants

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Not sure what you mean

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If we all paid as much attention to other stuff we buy as we do seeds and researching breeders, this world would be a much better place :joy:

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i know a thing or two and have done so the same a good while back when i was running my own business a decade or so ago :wink: i should send you some pics later.

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@Mr.Sparkle Please do! I was about to go down the road of growing my own dyes, but we’ll save that for after I get all the other crazy projects going… :crazy_face:

I’ve been using a lot of keeda and transfast as bases to blend with other materials. Mica powder and thickeners primarily, but I need some help with how to use thickeners and what’s best… after blending for a year and proving to myself my blends work better than most popular brands, I may launch some house blend dyes and diy design stuff as well

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Greed and conditioning

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Sorry about that wrong person :rofl:

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No worries :v:

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I know there’s alot of ways to go with this, I left a few subjects to examine as examples of silliness, and you cats have responded with excellent stuff. focus on the china goods, thats’ cool…

…one of my biggest peeves these days, is the umps and refs, and even the players, and how they all relate to legalized gambling.

and just as i was thinking that, some nfl player gets busted for betting on his own game TODAY!. growing up, dabbling, we knew the nba games were fixed, and had a pretty good idea about the nfl. nba gets cold busted back a few years, and on and on and on. Now the gambling is too prevalent, now the integrity of the games will always be in question. Definitely not where I want to be as a fan.

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