♥️tx my dude, i don’t worry too much, I’m just pragmatic about my future prospects

Here we are, and it is now

I worked concrete construction for about a decade, and was living in NYC on 911. I figure complications from asbestos and silica exposure will take me out in my late 60’s/early 70’s before congestive heart failure gets me in my 80’s (like most of the men in my family).

I started working for a larger company in NYC and they had safety classes for new workers that included silica education. I had no idea before then, but always wore an N95 afterward when working with Portland or doing concrete demo. But I still had years of exposure from my youth. We were completely unaware of the dangers

Companies have known the risks of silica exposure for years. Many have blood on their hands.

Acht, nae fairies! Pictsies! Nae flitty flitty

Hehehe, I like your funny words, magic man

Isle 6, between the tchotchkes and the ramen.

But the best stuff is next door at the Ace Hardware. The ones by the Duracell batteries are best

Phone home!

Phone hoooooommmmmeeee!

‘Was there anything else on the dinner menu?’

‘Vole-au-vents and Cream of Rat,’ said Gimlet. ‘All hygienically prepared.’

‘How do you mean, “hygienically prepared”?’ said Carrot.

‘The chef is under strict orders to wash his hands afterwards.’

The assembled dwarfs nodded. This was certainly pretty hygienic. You didn’t want people going around with ratty hands.

• Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

Look at that rampless curb. Look at that parking lot.

The pedestrians lost a long time ago

I learned to read a tape measure, covert fractions to decimal, practical application of the Pythagorean theorem, and quite a bit about the application of dimensions and measurement in three dimensional space.

I didn’t think it’s bad for a kid to have a job, provided the hours are limited, do not interfere with schooling, and are integrated into school curriculum. Parents also have a duty to monitor the employer, and the employer should view the teenager as a trainee who might make the company money as an adult, not a source of direct profit.

So, you know, a fantasy

This is gross negligence by the boss, and it’s very very common in smaller construction companies and crews. Allowing a minor to operate heavy machinery is dumb illegal to start with, but the kid learned unsafe behavior from his coworkers, who likely never had any proper safety training themselves. Garbage in, garbage out. (Walk behind trenchers are shite anyway, pay the extra $50 to rent a ride-on trencher)

There is a place for teenagers on a construction site, but it’s not in high risk areas or work. So much can be learned about work ethic, practical skills, and the challenging realities of construction without risking life and limb.

I grew up in a construction household. My dad was a small time contractor. Custom homes, spec builds, one at a time, bank financed, that sort of thing. I go into that detail to say we weren’t rich, not even middle-class until I was almost graduated from high school (secondary school). Also this isn’t an endorsement for how I was raised, just my lived experience.

I learned to run a skid-steer at 13. I was cutting lumber for the framers by the time I was 15. In many ways the skills I learned as a child set me up for success as an adult. But I also learned so many unsafe practices and endangered myself from a young age because of that casual familiarly with dangerous work and locations. The entirety of my twenties was spent unlearning bad habits and practices. I’m still working at it now.

The only time teenagers should be working on construction sites is if the company has a very strong safety culture, which means they won’t put kids in high risk situations. Parents should absolutely be checking these things before allowing their kids to work

there’s something kind of sad about

the way that things have come to be

desensitized to everything

what became of subtlety?

I just couldn’t get through it. But to each his own, I had a good friend who refused to read Pratchett’s Thief of Time because “books need chapters” lol

I have a friend that grew up reading the Wheel of Time series. He talked it up a lot. I got through the first two books and couldn’t keep going. He said, “It gets really good at the end of book three. Book four is amazing. Books five, six, and seven are only okay. There’s a couple more that are really good, but the last book falls flat.”

And I realized that’s probably how people that never watched Star Wars experience it after we recommend the movies to them. “This one specific movie is amazing, and those two are pretty okay. That one was good in its time and I like it for nostalgia. We didn’t talk about how the movie series ended. Want to watch the cartoons?”

Can confirm, am depressed

Sometimes I’m scrolling and my thumb gets lazy and goes sideways and I upvote or downvote things unintentionally.

It’s the only explanation that makes sense

Look on a bag of Doritos.

Do you see a list of ingredients and nutritional value? That’s because they are regulated by the FDA

Sweet! Imma make Mr Bones Wild Ride

I read this as NSFW artist.

The Internet has ruined me

Redo the meme? Like, in GIMP?