misteraven

meme or real? I can’t tell anymore.

Bumping this because it’s by far the best breakdown I’ve seen about the situation. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth the couple minutes. Ukraine’s Deadly Gamble https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/ukraines-deadly-gamble

@6Pennies @Mercer @Kults @Elena Delle Donne best explanation of all this I’ve found so far… Ukraine’s Deadly Gamble https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/ukraines-deadly-gamble

Pretty incredible but at least explains why the Russians are coming off so weak… Starting to see a lot of buzz that most are new conscripts and not real soldiers and that many have no clue they were invading. They’re claims they were told it was all a training exercise. Again, makes no sense… Seems like a weak strategy from a historically brutal leader to think a show of force would have people in the Ukraine turning over. And even if that was the strategy, why do it with fake soldiers? Again, nothing here is making any sense at all. Also to think Russia can’t actually wage war at their door step or fight for 10 days and then run out of munitions seems ludicrous on its face when we’re wrapping up two decades in Afghanistan on top of patrolling most of the planet. Anyone actually seeing any feeds or outlets from the Russian point of view?

cant stand virtue signaling like this. really think that NH pulling vodka off their shelves makes an ounce of difference? yeah, that’ll teach Putin to mess with the Ukraine. I’m sure he’s soul searching the transgression as soon as the tweet got passed across his desk. Smh

Best coverage has been… https://instagram.com/realnewsnobullshit?utm_medium=copy_link https://t.me/realnewsnotbullshit

Still a nuclear power. Hopefully he isn’t crazy enough to play that card, but yeah this isn’t making much sense. All coverage points to the Russians being straight amateurs and have a real tough time buying that.

lolllll…

no doubt, it’s all fucked. Lot of people were taping Ukraine or using it to launder money. yeah suppose the main point I was making is Putin warned everyone back in 2014 that he wouldn’t tolerate a nato / west sympathetic country on his door step and we pretty much engineered exactly that. really it’s the timing that I’m wondering about… Though I’m speculating now, it makes sense to me that the USA really wants to eat the dog right about now, but I’m wondering why Putin picked now to get riled up over it all. It really is a shock to me how weak Russia has come off, so the fact that Biden is beating his drum and mobilizing significant money and force when Ukraine has largely handled itself far beyond anyones expectations is suspect AF (and supports my assumption that the Biden admin is psyched to have a diversion). Crazy days.

Honestly the big surprise to me has been how weak Russia appears. Granted we’re just coming off that disastrous withdrawal out of Afghanistan (which I’d like to think is very representative of our tactics and capabilities) but damn… Would have though Russia would have steam rolled through them in less than 48 hrs. Instead I’ve seen a bunch of footage of their planes being shot down, tanks running out of fuel and some other rookie shit. Not at all what I would have expected. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cacbzs_ujnk/?utm_medium=copy_link

Not sure it’s all that deep, especially because there’s videos of Putin speaking from years ago about all that’s happening now. If you all remember the shit that popped off back in 2014 in the Ukraine, where the USA literally acknowledged it was stirring the pot out there and helping replace Ukraines leadership. Previously Ukraines government was pro Russia. We helped replace it with one that wasn’t with promises to help them enter into NATO. Some of this even goes down the rabbit hole in that Joe Biden via Hunter we’re personally profiting from the regime change. This is what was driving Trump to threaten to cutoff funding the Ukraine if they didn’t cooperate in an investigation, which in turn was what led Congress to impeach him. In any case, besides a history that goes back hundreds of years of the region largely being unified, there’s obvious geo political reasons for it as well. Ukraine previously was a founding republic of the Soviet Union and part of the Warsaw Pact, which was the Soviet Unions direct response as a counter balance to Western Power being consolidated under NATO. Though the Warsaw Pact disintegrated with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin has been consistently vocal about his concern with NATO and Western power and influence in the region. Obviously he’s pissed when a country on his border, with deep connections to the former Soviet Union and territory in general is suddenly flipped with an anti-Russian government and NATO support, never mind discussions of it potentially being invited into NATO. Likewise you can see the advantage of the USA having a new best friend on Russia’s door step. This isn’t much different than the Soviet Union being BFF’s with Cuba. USA wasn’t having it, so JFK invaded which was the bungle we now know as the Bay of Pigs and is historically recognized as the closest we all came to nuclear war. Anyhow, none of this is really secret stuff. There’s literally news reels of most of it, including Putin calling out the USA in 2014 for meddling in the Ukraine. Unsure exactly on the timing, but I’d bet that the Biden administration is desperate to get attention off the shit show the USA has been the last two years and it’s a fairly common tactic, historically, for governments to push out war when their population is about to boil over. In this case, it would deflect attention, possibly unify the country and likely kick start the economy in the short term. Plus gives them someone else to blame for shit, something we’re already starting to see.

@psm026was at this event.

good to see some of you guys finally catching on. circle of control… circle of influence… circle of concern.

not sure your case is a fair study since you’re well into a successful career. I’d assume you ate some shit and paid plenty of dues to engineer opportunities that ultimately resulted in the situation where you can now pick and choose. we’re talking about a young kid, as green as they come thinking he’s owed something. if he haven’t quit, yes… based on that conversation I’d have fired him. Perhaps not on the spot, but I’d have immediately started hunting for his replacement.

yeah, not surprised. perhaps the next phase of this thread is to talk about how far America will fall over the coming years when you got countries like China making kids go to school for 12 hours a day, six days a week. meanwhile we’re building safe spaces and arguing about what is actually defines male and female. might sound like some Archie Bunker shit, but prove me wrong.

Not my job to lay out a career path. It’s my job to provide the opportunity to step up into one. If I need to point it out and hold their hand through it, they’re probably not motivated, let alone qualified. update: new young kid started today and did well for a temporary fix. Interviewed a promising candidate by phone. Supposed to meet tomorrow but he’s ready to put in his two weeks. Have two other candidates that a trusted friend vouched for, but they haven’t reached out yet.

Appreciate the long insightful post but this paragraph jumped out to me as an absolute race to the bottom. Money only buys loyalty so long as you're providing more than the next guy. Shitty strategy IMO as one can always swoop in and play that card. Maybe snacks and meals aren't the ticket either, but there has to be something out there that does establish loyalty... I offered dude a real career path, super cool work that all of us can be proud to be working on, etc. I do not believe what we are seeing is a normal by product of poor economic policy. I believe we're witnessing a perfect storm of poor economic policy, during an unprecedented event after decades of cultural shift that encourages shunning responsibility and a steady drum beat that virtually everything out there is a right you're entitled to. I welcome yours and additional members personal perspective / experience. No doubt we can abstract and intellectualize this discussion and for sure that side should be recognized. But I'm boots on the ground, seeing real consequence and not just chiming into a topic du jour. Shit is fucked... I'll retool the business and replace motherfuckers with robots before I start paying good money to people with shitty attitudes. Gone are the days of paying dues... I worked years for free just to gain experience, get my foot in the door and get to be hands on with cool shit. Kills me when some kid thinks he deserves salary because he shows up and scoffs at all I'm providing because he can get a couple dollars more just showing up at a fuckin place like McDonalds. (ironically, they'll probably the first to replace their entire unskilled labor force with robots).

I just posted a rant regarding an incident at the shop today but realized I really haven’t updated and spilled the news on where things are at these days. Anyhow, today was a long brutal day and I’m typing this shit on my iPhone, so I’ll drop a photo and note that I’ll loop back soon with pictures and updates. Long story short, we’ve come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Here’s a photo of my wife standing close to center of the production side of our new shop. We’ve been working on it all year and expect to be moving into it in December. If anyone has screen printing experience, knows someone that does or is interested in stepping into a new adventure and working their way into a career in print production… Hit me up. Depending on qualification, talent and attitude, I’ll help you move out. Lots of growth opportunity while working on very cool stuff in a state of the art shop.

I’m going to chime in for a sec. As you guys probably guessed, assuming you noticed my absence, is I’ve been busier than fuck. As I’ve mentioned in other threads, I’m in the middle of a huge expansion of our print business. Can’t recall if I’ve given specifics yet, but we’re relaunching as a premier showcase facility for one of the most respected equipment manufacturers in that industry. We’re getting in several new presses, importing a bunch of high end embroidery equipment, converting our prepress to a fully digital, laser based imaging system, automating all our fold / pack, expanding our finishing to include all Juki industrial equipment as well as bringing in some other high end equipment… One piece of kit is the only of its kind in North America and with how it’s configured will be one of a handful globally. I’ll loop back to it in a proper post, but that piece of kit alone is almost 7 figures. I’m projecting that by about this time next year, we should have a staff of between 35 - 50 people. That is assuming I can find those employees. Today I had a kid quit on me. He’s less than 6 months out of high school. He worked for me last summer, then picked up again maybe 3 months ago. He started at $15 an hour. I pay time and a half for OT. We have an assortment of free drinks in a fridge at the shop, as well as an assortment of snacks ranging from chips to trail mix. On a regular basis we provide pastries in the morning and occasionally provide lunches. I also pay bonuses when I see someone really step up or if people come through when I ask for an extra push on a priority job. Anyhow, today I had an hour long catch up with this person, which was mostly me trying to smooth out some shitty attitude I was picking up on. Dude is pretty consistent. Usually shows up within 10 minutes of when he’s supposed to. Only occasionally doesn’t show up, but doesn’t usually provide a heads up. He is a diligent worker… Pretty much puts on headphones and keeps focused on his job all day. I let him bring his dog to work most days cause his parents won’t watch it. Most the time I ask him to handle some task, he gets on it. Anyhow, that’s the back story so you guys have a little context. When I asked him if he was good, it turned into an hour long conversation that centered on him being worth a lot more per hour. I explained in general terms how my costing model works, as well as some basics about business in general. His response was that McDonald’s pays $16 hour, for basically doing nothing. That he can show up as he pleases and not get fired because their desperate for workers. That he knows kids lol hat work there and that Heuer smoking weed and eating fries half the day and don’t give a fuck, because they’re unlikely to get fired and if they do, the next spot will probably pay more anyways. Kid literally told me if I’d spend a few days showing him the controls on the press, that he can run it. That he should be making as much in salary as the OG pressman I just hired out of state. When I questioned how he factors in the 26 years of press experience the pressman has, he shrugged his shoulders and told me that if he can make it run, he deserves it. In any case, I heard him out and then told him I appreciate his contributions and good look with his future endeavors. Reality is I’m already up against retarded deadlines and the was a kick in the nuts. I’ll also say I’ve had four other employees quit in the last couple months. One simply never showed up again. Come to find out he got hired at a dispensary for $2 an hour more, then got let go a week later. Saw him last Friday night and dude isn’t working. Other kid decided he’s going to focus on his rap career. (Yes really). He’s home with his parents “making beats”. Other kid was a good dude… Quit because an apprenticeship to be a plumber came through. Last person quit because they just don’t want to work. They clean houses twice a week at $50 an hour. My current pressman took 5 months to find. I’m paying him about $20k over industry average. I paid for his move as well as two months of his rent. I’ve paid a $1000 bonus for one weekends work on top of all that. Seems to be pretty capable, though he’s a little rough around the edges and might be someone you’d probably say isn’t a “people person”. My last pressman, also from out of state, also paid above industry average, we provided child care for and even though we’re a young family owned and relatively new business. This dude fucked a job up so bad, that fixing the situation cost me exactly $100,000. Not exaggeration… He lied about what he was doing, fumbled a job completely and then quit as soon as I caught on. Packed his shot and disappeared, leaving me with a $100k mess. This particular guy was about the 35th person I called. Many said they weren’t down ti travel. Probably 60% or so of these 35 people said something along the lines of, “I make almost as much playing call of duty all day as I did operating”. That once you factor in “the cost of driving to work and eating lunch”, that they were doing better sitting home. —————— Anyhow, I’ll m only sharing my own personal experiences. Not shot I read from MSM, not some shit that showed up on my social media feed. Not whatever narrative some ass hat in DC claims. No doubt this is a small slice of reality she may or may not be the case in general out there. But based on my direct experience, shit is fucked. People do not want to work. It’s not about living wages or some moral crusade. It’s an entitled attitude that’s been amplified exponentially by an absolutely unreal dynamic. This situation will indeed go nowhere good and it has virtually nil to do with billionaires or successful corporations like Amazon. The whole system is fucked and the fault lies at the individual level. Both in terms of voting in the assholes we’ve seen, left and right, as well as an attitude that anyone is owed anything beyond what they can provide themselves. Anyhow, shitty fucking day but thought I’d share a little insight on personal experiences. This kid today literally blew my mind and seems to me that his attitude is unfortunately more the norm, than the exception considering I keep seeing the same thing everywhere. Sorry but unskilled labor, especially provided by an individual that is barely even an adult, is rarely even worth $15. I can respect capitalism, market rates and the freedom of willing individual transactions. Obviously nobody is holding a gun to my head. But reality is what we are seeing is an absolute anomaly. The world is upside down after decades of manipulation and a proliferation of entitlement, as well as a general behavior of passing the buck in responsibility. It’s always someone else fault. Shit is going to come home to roost eventually. But meanwhile I get to listen to a 19 year old kid tell me that his time is worth as much as that of a 26 year veteran and if he isn’t going to get paid the equivalent, that he’ll go make $16 hour to smoke weed in the kitchen of McDonald’s on the days he even decides to show up. Shit is fucked. *And indeed, I’m hiring many key positions. If interested HMU.

First time a shit posting bot has actually kicked off a useful thread. Going to give you a pass cause ammo is still hard to come by and though your prices suck, they’re still better than a lot I’ve seen this last year.

@Mercer?

Anyone here own any Pirate Chain? Seems to me with the way things have been going, that an absolutely anonymous and private crypto might be the move. https://pirate.black

Bumped from page 213. Spent some time skimming 2011 responses and came to realize that as we’ve gotten older, we’ve become far more accepting. What failed yesteryears standards is borderline top shelf a decade later. Kinda nuts to see the evolution of this thread as well as how growing older seems to lend itself to zero fucks. Carry on…