Nothing in particular

SpaceNut · 2017-01-27 19:55:14

That is good to hear that you are able have some income from hard work.
From all of the discusions on this board I am wondering if you can do a high tech greenhouse using all of the mars related science to be able to create an income base from farming..Then possibly energy from methane gas creation. plus other self sustainable activity...Target activities that can produce sales or bartering.....

SpaceNut · 2017-01-28 21:07:16

I know nothing when it comes to providing food for my family from a garden of any type but as I did the reasearch to educate myself and shared this information I am gaining in the knowledge in what it will take for my own self sufiency to occur.
The sabatier reactor is another area that I am no expert at but I am learning how to use the exhaust captured from a wood stove used for heat to create methane gas for later use, it is also the means to create clean drinking water to which I am in need of as well since the artisien well is pumping for a super high iron plus content aquafer.
So if I could build the device making it a safe to use for not only my own needs then quite possibly then it could be a money maker as well....

RobertDyck · 2017-01-29 14:36:21

There are a couple ways to remove iron from drinking water. One is reverse osmosis, but it requires significant water pressure. And the pressure is lost across the membrane, so it takes significant electricity to run the water pump. Another is oxidation: oxidize iron, it settles out as rust. There are commercial systems you can buy today to do this. Just Google home water purifier iron and this link will do it for you.

RobertDyck · 2017-01-29 15:32:10

I have looked at building houses. The cost of houses has increased to such an extreme that there must be a way for me make a profit. My house cost $46,500 when I bought it. When I moved in one neighbour asked how much I paid; she laughed at me, said the previous owner paid $36,000, and the owner before that paid $24,000. However, similar homes in my neighbourhood are now selling for $180,000. Typical new homes are larger than mine, but typical new homes cost $350,000 to $400,000 each! How could any young person possibly afford to buy a new home? But I keep thinking, how I get a piece of that?

Competing with well established, large corporations would be difficult. For me to succeed, any house I build would have to be different. I have looked at 100% energy self-sufficiency. It's cold up here, but my calculations indicate a home could be self-sufficient. That's one reason I keep harping on about gallium-indium-nitride photovoltaic. I would like to build houses where the entire roof is a giant solar array. And a combination solar thermal and photovoltaic. Because high efficiency photovoltaic cells are black, they are the black surface to convert sunlight to heat. So mount the photovoltaic cells on a copper manifold, using the same thermal compound used to mount a computer's CPU to an aluminum heat sink. The copper manifold would ensure the photovoltaic cells would not over-heat, extending its life, as well as any light not converted to electricity would be used as heat. Cover the whole thing with a PCTFE sheet for protection from rain, snow, hail. Stretch a few layers of PCTFE film between the top sheet and the photovoltaic cell, creating a multi-pane window to trap in heat. Connect the air space between the photovoltaic cells and last plastic film to the home heating system, so it could heat air. Then the house computer could balance how to use the heat: heat the house or pre-heat water for the water heater. Add to this a couple small windmills in the back yard, ideally helical windmills because they work with wind gusts from any direction: north, south, east, west, or even up. Besides, helical windmills look pretty. Batteries in the basement, such as Tesla Powerwall. And geothermal heat pump. Well insulated, but nothing extreme, just modern construction techniques for a well insulated and well sealed house. Add a home heat exchanger.

I would also like to build houses using Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF). That means the forms used to pour cement to form concrete walls stay in place, act as insulation. So concrete walls extend from the basement footings to the roof. Concrete walls are strong, but they also act as a thermal mass. But I want to make ICF different. They're currently made of polystyrene foam aka Styrofoam. I want to make them of silicone resin, because it's completely non-flammable. Make the floors of concrete/steel composite, which is a construction technique already used for apartment and office buildings. That means the steel tray used to hold wet cement stays in place, becomes part of the concrete structure. Instead of steel reinforcement bars (rebar), the floor uses heavy gauge steel wire mesh in the concrete. This means the floors will be non-flammable. It also means floors can span the distance from the concrete exterior wall of the house on one side to the other. So all interior walls will not be weight-bearing. That allows use of galvanized steel wall studs inside the house; the same ones used for office buildings. Use drywall aka wall-board that has fibreglass felt instead of paper; again non-flammable. Georgia-Pacific makes that drywall. Use electrical wires with Teflon insulation, because it's non-flammable. Use galvanized steel electrical boxes, not plastic.

Use copper water pipes, not PVC; again non-flammable. Use silver solder not lead solder, to ensure no lead in drinking water. Use stainless steel sewage pipes, not ABS; again non-flammable. Stainless steel grade 409 has the least nickel and chrome, making the cheapest grade of stainless steel. I checked, pipes of this metal are available. This grade of stainless will develop a patina of rust, but once the patina forms it will not rust further. The chrome oxide in the patina seals the metal to prevent further corrosion. You could add a further layer of insulation by building a wall inside the ICF, using galvanized steel studs and insulating with "ComfortBatt", a brand if insulation by a company called Roxul. It's rockwool insulation, with the same "R" value as fibreglass, but rockwool has no binder so no off-gassing, and rockwool is completely non-flammable. For interior doors use steel doors and door frames currently used for office buildings. For exterior doors also use steel doors and frames, but a heavier grade (thicker steel) for security, and insulate the doors. I waffle about insulation for exterior doors; the best insulation is polyurethane foam, but that's flammable. However, it would be enclosed in the steel of the door. The "rough" frame for window frames would be steel, and since it acts as the mould to pour cement, the concrete will be right against the steel. That means a jack could not push the window frame apart; one technique thieves use to enter a home. Same with the door frame.

Use galvanized metal (steel or aluminum) for the trim, including finished window and door frames. So the house will never have to be painted. Finish the exterior in brick, or fieldstone, or limestone, or slate. Even stucco is low-maintenance and non-flammable, although considered not as "high end". Baseboards for office buildings could fabricated of Spectra instead of Vinyl. Although Spectra is technically flammable, it's highly flame retardant. And it's durable. Shaped baseboard for a home could be made with Spectra facing, and silicone rubber body; again silicone is non-flammable. Use silicone rubber carpet underlay, again because it's non-flammable. And use carpet with fibreglass cloth backing; again non-flammable. Carpet pile would be normal, which is also flame retardant. Use high grade stainless steel for kitchen cupboards and bathroom vanity, with silicone rubber sound dampeners. For kitchen countertop use granite. For bathroom vanity countertop use cultured marble made with phenolic. Again, phenolic is non-flammable, other (cheaper) binders are flammable. Flooring for the kitchen, dining room, front foyer, and even closets would be something hard and non-flammable. Available flooring materials: granite, marble, travertine, slate, sandstone, limestone, terrazzo, ceramic, porcelain, terracotta, or even polished concrete.

One reason to make the house entirely non-flammable is safety. Another is that provincial law here says "first responsders" must have easy access to the house. But anything police or firemen or paramedics or "first responders" can do, thieves can do better. So ensuring the house has easy access means thieves can easily break in. So this allows replacing windows with ALON, so thieves can't get in.

Last edited by RobertDyck (2017-01-29 18:05:58)

Terraformer · 2017-01-29 15:56:26

Speaking of houses, what's yours like in terms of size? I know you're in Winnipeg, rather than the more in demand cities of Toronto or Vancouver, but is there an opportunity to add a rental unit to your property? What are rents like, and construction costs, and how much could you do yourself?

I'd quite like to get building homes here in the UK. There's a lot of pent-up demand I think for smaller homes, 1-bed rental flats and 2-bed terraces - 2/3 of households in the UK have 1-2 people in them, but the majority of our housing is 3 bedroom houses (typically semi-detached, a legacy of when the government thought it should be involved in building housing). I think there is a lot of room for adding 1-bed and studio accessory dwelling units to existing housing (again, we have a lot of semi-detached housing - either put a studio at the side, or a cottage in the backyard accessed by a side alley), which would be a cheap and fairly non-disruptive way to massively bring down rents. I emailed my MP, he passed my email on to the Housing Minister, but I haven't heard anything since. The government have a white paper coming out re. housing, but I'm not holding my breath that they'll include anything about ADUs. Pity, because they should be able to keep various constituencies happy - homeowners get to add value to their home and make a bit of side income, the new units won't be built on greenfield site so it keeps the countryside lobby happy, renters get far more affordable rents...

We also need more homes to own, of course. I think we could get the price of small (60 sq.m, two small/medium bedrooms) terraces down to about £60k. That would put the 10 year mortgage within reach again, and it would be great for single people, or couples without children, who want to own their own home with a small yard.

RobertDyck · 2017-01-29 17:00:44

Terraformer wrote:

Speaking of houses, what's yours like in terms of size?

My house is 2 story, technically 1¾ story. The roof is 45°, and the ceiling of the upper floor slopes with the underside of the roof starting 5' above the floor. Real estate document I got when I bought the house says it's 800 square feet, but when I measure the outside of the stucco, length x width it's 348 square feet; multiply by 2 stories = 684 square feet. It has a part basement; large enough for a furnace and water heater, full-size washer and dryer, and you can turn around. The rest is a dirt floor crawl space. The property is 25' wide by 107' feet deep. There's a small single-car garage with gravel parking space beside the garage. The ground floor has a fairly normal size living room, stair to the second floor, side door entrance and stair to the basement tucked under the stair to the second floor, and a kitchen. It's a galley kitchen, rather nice with sink, stove, fridge, and enough counter space for a microwave oven. The kitchen has room for an octagon table with 4 chairs. The front bedroom upstairs is normal size. A bathroom with toilet, sink with small vanity, and bathtub with sliding glass shower doors. The ceiling above the tub is 45° slope, so the shower enclosure is plastic panels glued to the walls and sealed with silicone caulk, not a standard "single unit" shower enclosure. The back bedroom is small. A couple times I did rent out the back room, one guy put in a king size bed. That bed was pushed into the corner, the other side was so close to the closet that he couldn't open the closet door. But the back bedroom is the right size for a home office.

I have a double pedestal desk (drawers on both sides) with printer stand and a book case. I have a tower personal computer with monitor on once of my desk, and iMac with 24" display on the other side. I also have a "tower" server with multiple hard drives. One hard drive boots to Windows with 20 different antivirus programs; I use that to clean customer computers, or recover data from damaged hard drives. Another hard drive boots to Windows Server with SQL Server. Another boots to Linux Ubuntu Server with the full LAMP package, configured as a web server, and with Clonezilla Server for deployment. I volunteer at an organization, had to learn how to install and configure Clonezilla on my own system, then set up a deployment server for them. I have another computer shoved in a corner set up as a Minecraft server. At one point I developed Minecraft mods, just to prove to a potential employer than I could write in Java. That employer still didn't hire me, so I stopped updating my Minecraft mods.

I often said this house is about the perfect size for a single guy. The only thing I would like is a full basement, maintenance to my fence, maintenance to the garage, and replace my apple tree with a dwarf variety. When it matured it proved too big for my little yard. And the tree shades my little vegetable garden, I haven't been able to grow vegetables in years.

And a built-in dishwasher would be nice. One cupboard has enough room for an 18" wide dishwasher. Most are 24" wide. That's what would fit, and beside, I'm single so don't need a lot. I bought a counter-top dishwasher, the smallest available, but proved too high to fit under the cupboard on my kitchen counter. It's inconvenient having to drag over a small table with the dishwasher, hook it up to the sink. And the countertop unit doesn't do a very good job.

::Edit::

Terraformer wrote:

I think we could get the price of small (60 sq.m, two small/medium bedrooms) terraces down to about £60k. That would put the 10 year mortgage within reach again, and it would be great for single people, or couples without children, who want to own their own home with a small yard.

60 square metres = 645.8 square feet. I said my home is 684 square feet, not including the chimney, moulding around my front door, archway over the side walkway, and most importantly not including the part basement. In Canada you're not supposed to include the basement in square feet. The real estate agent must have included the basement to get 800 square feet. So my house is 63.5 square metres. And converting currency, today £60k works out to $99.21K Canadian dollars. And again, a similar home to mine in this neighbourhood has a list price asking $180k. Would have to install a lot of upgrades to make my house worth that: new flooring, new paint, new countertops, etc. And aforementioned "maintenance". But still!

Last edited by RobertDyck (2017-01-29 18:42:20)

elderflower · 2017-01-29 17:41:52

I expect that the price of a house in Winnipeg will go up soon, Robert. When the flood of refugees from the Trumpetanian Republic civil war gets going. They are going to want housing and they won't be able to head south owing to the Wall.

SpaceNut · 2017-01-29 19:17:24

I did have a whole house iron removal unit that after a short time due to backwash build up it became clogged and no longer functioned. The nieghbor down the road has the oxygen injection, water salt softner, iron removal unit and it keeps needing to replaced on his as well since they are not lasting....

RobertDyck · 2017-02-19 19:38:47

SpaceX launched Dragon today. It was the first launch from pad 39A and KSC, the launch pad that Apollo 11 used. That static service structure and rotating service structure for Shuttle were still there. This time Falcon 9 "boosted back" to KSC, and landed on land.

But at the end of the video, one of their hosts said "If you're interesting in joining us, we currently have a posting for a Full-Stack Enterprise Software Engineer". Uh, guys, that's me. That's what I do. And I already applied for this job. HR replied September 29, 2016:

Unfortunately, due to ITAR requirements, we are unable to move forward with your application at this time.
ITAR Requirements:
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here.
Should you obtain US Citizenship or Permanent Residency in the future, please do not hesitate to reapply.

In my original application I stated that I had worked in the United States twice. In 1996 I worked in Colonial Heights, Virginia, just outside Richmond, at Allied Signal Fibres. At that plant they made Spectra for US military personal body armour, and "Spider Wire" fishing line. In 1999-2000 I was solely responsible for the computer system for one tax, for Miami-Dade County in Florida. At that Miami job I received security clearance from the FBI. I've worked on primary banking systems for Credit Union Central of Alberta, used by every credit union in that province. And I bid on a few NASA contracts, got on their short list a couple times. One was the Shuttle Unit Revalidation Equipment (SURE), a diagnostic workstation for communication equipment on Space Shuttle orbiters. For that contract I received Canadian equivalent to ITAR clearance, then with that got actual ITAR clearance. So I already achieved ITAR clearance; and I did it, not someone else. And I got that while I was in Winnipeg Canada. So the clause "or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State" definitely applies.

HR did not reject my application immediately. Then Elon gave his presentation about Mars Colonial Transporter at IAC. One person in the audience asked why he doesn't hire non-Americans. His answer was ITAR. But as I've explained, I already achieved ITAR clearance. It was a pain, but I did it. And I'm willing to become a "lawful permanent resident of the U.S.", the catch is the first step is an American employer must sponsor me. And if an American employer does, then I'm ethically obligated to stay with that employer. So the first step is for SpaceX to sponsor me.

Guys, you didn't just advertise that same job on the SpaceX website or SpaceX Facebook page. That is the only job you actually mentioned in your live webcast of a Falcon 9 launch. You already have my application, just hire me already!

SpaceNut · 2017-02-19 19:51:58

I do hope that you do get to do this important work as the best I can do is to be here on this forum due to where I am working....I can say it rides in the Ocean and not space....Many of the shared issues are present.
Good Luck..

RobertDyck · 2017-03-22 21:21:48

One of my cats is gone.

Beginning of June 2015, a friend asked me to take care of her cats. She got kicked out of her apartment. She was homeless for a while, but welfare has put her in a hotel. Low rent, rundown, dilapidated hotel. She asked me to take care of her cats while she looks for a pet friendly apartment. The cats were still here. I have one cat, who did not appreciate the intrusion into her territory. The "guest cats" have been here so long that everyone said they're mine now. I've been bugging the owner to get an apartment, so she can take her cats back. But she stopped responding to my emails. She doesn't have a phone, and the hotel where she's staying refuses to acknowledge she lives there. A mutual friend ran into her this winter, said she's still living at that same hotel.

Last night he whimpered, and staggered. I asked another friend to drive Ezra and I to a vet. The vet said he was too far gone. I paid for a blood test, to find out what's going on. The blood test said urea and creatinine were off the scale, not just high but so high they couldn't get a measure. His kidneys had completely shut down. The vet said caring for him would cost a lot of money, more than I could afford, and would only prolong his life a couple days. He would have died anyway. Would suffer in the vet clinic, and finally die. My friend said she did that, her cat only lasted 5 days, and suffered all 5 days. We had to put Ezra down. I stayed there while the vet did it.

The cat asked me for help. I had him put down...

kbd512 · 2017-03-22 22:37:00

Rob,

If you don't have a current security clearance issued by the Canadian or US government, then that's the most probable reason why SpaceX won't hire you even if you've otherwise fulfilled ITAR clearance requirements. As a function of the use of the Falcon 9 for national security missions, it's a safe bet that some aspect of the work is classified. The security clearances aren't cheap and obtaining them is a process to be sure.

A few weeks back you said you weren't coming to the US as long as Donald Trump was POTUS. Just curious, but what caused you to change your mind?

Sorry to hear about your cat.

RobertDyck · 2017-03-23 00:17:36

kbd512 wrote:

If you don't have a current security clearance issued by the Canadian or US government, then that's the most probable reason why SpaceX won't hire you even if you've otherwise fulfilled ITAR clearance requirements. As a function of the use of the Falcon 9 for national security missions, it's a safe bet that some aspect of the work is classified. The security clearances aren't cheap and obtaining them is a process to be sure.

The response by HR said their reason was I was not a US resident. They said that if I were to become a US resident, I could re-apply. There is no other reason. And as I said, I received ITAR clearance for ballistic missiles, and specifically documents about communications equipment on Shuttle orbiters. That included schematics and programming instructions for all equipment. For a spacecraft carrying American astronauts. I would think that has tighter security than what SpaceX is doing. SpaceX may consider their corporate secrets important, but American security would consider the Shuttle more important. And I did get all that stuff for Shuttle. And no, I won't tell you any technical details of what was included, because it's classified. I know Shuttle has been decommissioned, but I have to prove I can work with classified information. The bid process for that NASA contract was public domain, so I can tell you that much, but only that much.

kbd512 wrote:

A few weeks back you said you weren't coming to the US as long as Donald Trump was POTUS. Just curious, but what caused you to change your mind?

I don't remember posting that, but that is a point. The US appears unstable right now. I would like to set politics aside, focus on a job with a commercial company. And would like to focus on technical stuff dealing with space. But I haven't been allowed to do that. I have a small home business repairing computers but so close to unemployed that effectively I am. Another alternative is to enter politics. I had won the nomination in my electoral district for the federal election, for the party that is currently government of Canada. I had become president of the riding association, and had a seat on the executive for the provincial association for the federal party. I got manoeuvred out by individuals not in my electoral district.

I had also been elected president of the provincial constituency association, and the leader of the provincial party asked me to stand as a candidate for the provincial election. I said no because I wanted to run federally. But individuals in the federal party in this province but no one in my electoral district have actively fought against me. And with the new leader, the federal party has moved in a direction I do not agree with. Perhaps I should run provincially. There's a new leader of the provincial party; key party members couldn't forgive the leader for failing to increase the number of elected members for our party. The new leader got a couple more members elected, but not enough. Those same powerful party individuals forced the new leader to resign as well. She's currently serving as interim leader until they find a new one. Who will it be? What will the provincial party become?

kbd512 wrote:

Sorry to hear about your cat.

Last edited by RobertDyck (2017-03-23 17:16:08)

Tom Kalbfus · 2017-03-23 08:47:37

RobertDyck wrote:

kbd512 wrote:
If you don't have a current security clearance issued by the Canadian or US government, then that's the most probable reason why SpaceX won't hire you even if you've otherwise fulfilled ITAR clearance requirements. As a function of the use of the Falcon 9 for national security missions, it's a safe bet that some aspect of the work is classified. The security clearances aren't cheap and obtaining them is a process to be sure.
The response by HR said their reason was I was not a US resident. They said that if I were to become a US resident, I could re-apply. There is no other reason. And as I said, I received ITAR clearance for ballistic missiles, and specifically documents about communications equipment on Shuttle orbiters. That included schematics and programming instructions for all equipment. For a spacecraft carrying American astronauts. I would think that has tighter security than what SpaceX is doing. SpaceX may consider their corporate secrets important, but American security would consider the Shuttle more important. And I did get all that stuff for Shuttle. And no, I won't tell you any technical details of what was included, because it's classified. I know Shuttle has been decommissioned, but I have to prove I can work with classified information. The bid process for that NASA contract was public domain, so I can tell you that much, but only that much.
kbd512 wrote:
A few weeks back you said you weren't coming to the US as long as Donald Trump was POTUS. Just curious, but what caused you to change your mind?
I don't remember posting that, but that is a point. The US appears unstable right now. I would like to set politics aside, focus on a job with a commercial company. And would like to focus on technical stuff dealing with space. But I haven't been allowed to do that. I have a small home business repairing computers but so close to unemployed that effectively I am. Another alternative is to enter politics. I had won the nomination in my electoral district for the federal election, for the party that is currently government of Canada. I had become president of the riding association, and had a seat on the executive for the provincial association for the federal party. I got manoeuvred out by individuals not in my electoral district.

My Cousin likewise threatened to move to Canada if Trump got elected. The Democratic Political Machine has created a lot of prejudice against Donald Trump, they created a Nazi-like caricature of him, they convinced a lot of people that it was going to be the "Fourth Reich" if Trump got elected! What we see now is the results of that action. Democrats have gone crazy because they didn't get their way, so they are doing everything that can to political obstruct Donald Trump, even to the point of hurting their own constituents! Lets take Chuck Schumer for instance, he is complaining about Trump wanting to cut Homeland Security money for New York City, but is he willing to make a deal with Donald Trump to get that money back? He is the head of the Democratic minority in the Senate after all, if he would call off his dogs that are attacking Donald Trump on everything, (Those in Congress and in the Media) then Trump very well might consider restoring the money for Homeland security, he is known to be a dealmaker after all! Chuck Schumer doesn't seem to want to do that however, he would rather play spoiler to the Trump Administration and his own constituents in New York State are going to suffer because of that!

I had also been elected president of the provincial constituency association, and the leader of the provincial party asked me to stand as a candidate for the provincial election. I said no because I wanted to run federally.

Curious that you wanted to start at the top, at the Federal Level rather than rising up through the local level as most politicians do. Trump started at the top, but of course he rose up through the world of business first, those are his credentials! I don't actually think he bought the Presidency with his money, but he did put his financial success on his resume!

But individuals in the federal party in this province but no in my electoral district have actively fought against me. And with the new leader, the federal party has moved in a direction I do not agree with. Perhaps I should run provincially. There's a new leader of the provincial party; key party members couldn't forgive the leader for failing to increase the number of elected members for our party. The new leader got a couple more members elected, but not enough. Those same powerful party individuals forced the new leader to resign as well. She's currently serving as interim leader until they find a new one. Who will it be? What will the provincial party become?
kbd512 wrote:
Sorry to hear about your cat.
http://emojipedia-us.s3.amazonaws.com/c … bbcc45.png

GW Johnson · 2017-03-23 09:54:25

Robert:

Take what an HR bureaucrat says is a "reason" for a decision with a grain of salt. Maybe a whole salt lick block. They have standard "reasons" for all decisions, intended to deflect attention, not necessarily to convey truth. In most outfits, the HR dept serves to deflect job seekers, not to really hire anyone. That takes connections on the inside. It has been like that for some decades now. Sad but true.

GW

Tom Kalbfus · 2017-03-23 10:17:31

HR can't interview everybody. They have a certain idea about who they want to hire, if a person does not match what it is they are looking for, they will find some excuse to turn them away. What they say to you isn't necessarily the actual reason. People have a tendency not to say what is on their minds in this politically correct world we are living in.

RobertDyck · 2017-03-23 12:13:21

HR can be a problem. A number of years ago I applied for IT work at an insurance company in Winnipeg. Had an interview with HR. They didn't hire me. A couple years later I ran into the computer department manager at a computer club. This club is specifically for senior IT personnel at larger companies; others can attend, but that's the focus of the group and majority of members. After speaking with the computer manager, he wanted to hire me. It was company policy that all new hires had to go through HR, so he arranged me to speak with HR. I had an interview with exactly the same person. She again refused to hire me. Even through the computer manager had already interviewed me and wanted to hire me, HR said no. Insert expletive here. Members of that club exchange knowledge and best practices, they work for different companies but help each other. I attended meetings specifically to gain connections to get a job. I did establish a connection inside, and still didn't get the job! Insert second expletive here.

Tom Kalbfus · 2017-03-23 12:29:24

Well what happens when you don't have employees?

The manager of the store was working late at night, a customer walked in, it was 2 AM, this was supposed to be a 24-hour convenience store, and he needed to hire some employees, but he kept on sending them to HR and they kept refusing to hire them, so the Manager is stuck as the lone store operator.

RobertDyck · 2017-03-23 13:39:22

Tom Kalbfus wrote:

Curious that you wanted to start at the top, at the Federal Level rather than rising up through the local level as most politicians do.

A few years ago, the media strongly criticized one politician who ran provincially, then ran federally, then ran provincially again. He kept trying to get elected, meaning tried to get work, but failed. And realize each time costs a lot of money. The media strongly criticized him for running provincially when he had expressed a desire to run federally. They said if voters elected him, he would just quit his job to federally again. The media wanted politicians to focus on one level. Yes, there are cases were politicians move from one level to another. A former federal cabinet minister, in the last government (other party) has won the leadership of the provincial party in Alberta. A number of years go an NDP federal Member of Parliament quit so she could run for mayor in my city. She lost, so now is not employed as a politician at all. But I keep thinking of that individual whom the media criticized for trying to rise through provincial to federal. So I tried to focus on just one.

However, in 2001 I was elected president of the local community association. That just lasted one winter. A few years ago I was elected to the board of directors for that same organization. I've been president of the provincial constituency association, and federal riding association. When the Conservatives were the federal government 2006-2015, they changed the name from "riding" to "electoral district". That's the American name; we're Canada, we don't need to use American names. It means the same thing, but why use the American name? Obviously I consider the other major party to be dumb-ass. But when I was president of the provincial association, I was also a member of the provincial council. And when I was president of the federal association, I had a seat on the executive for the provincial association of the federal party.

So if I were to do what you suggest, the next step would be provincial MLA: Member of the Legislative Assembly. That's what it's called in Manitoba. They have different titles in different provinces.

SpaceNut · 2017-03-23 18:01:01

I am as well, "Sorry to hear about your cat."

Some things that are label ITAR as well really do not meet the sniff test for what really needs to be protected.

As for HR not selecting a perfect candidate match, I think that I have heard them all from you have earned to much in a previous job, you are to educated/to much experience, live to far to commute, and with out saying the words you are to old come out of there mouth there is the we will call after all candidates are interviewed...we will call you if you are chosen. Something as being over or under dressed in the interview process can also rigger the no response to selection.

I know that if Mars Society and some of us oldfarts where making a business for space, that you would be already hired.

kbd512 · 2017-03-23 23:30:20

RobertDyck wrote:

The response by HR said their reason was I was not a US resident. They said that if I were to become a US resident, I could re-apply. There is no other reason. And as I said, I received ITAR clearance for ballistic missiles, and specifically documents about communications equipment on Shuttle orbiters. That included schematics and programming instructions for all equipment. For a spacecraft carrying American astronauts. I would think that has tighter security than what SpaceX is doing. SpaceX may consider their corporate secrets important, but American security would consider the Shuttle more important. And I did get all that stuff for Shuttle. And no, I won't tell you any technical details of what was included, because it's classified. I know Shuttle has been decommissioned, but I have to prove I can work with classified information. The bid process for that NASA contract was public domain, so I can tell you that much, but only that much.

The US residency stipulation is a requirement for specific types of security clearances. There may be other reasons they did not disclose as to why they wouldn't hire you, as GW previously stated, but I already told you the economics-related reason that they wouldn't hire. You can choose to believe that or not, but that's the first hurdle to clear to get your foot in the door if you actually want to work for a US company that manufactures defense articles. With respect to your past work for US defense contractors, I never asked about you what you did or what you had access to. You don't need to prove anything to anyone here.

RobertDyck wrote:

I don't remember posting that, but that is a point. The US appears unstable right now. I would like to set politics aside, focus on a job with a commercial company. And would like to focus on technical stuff dealing with space. But I haven't been allowed to do that. I have a small home business repairing computers but so close to unemployed that effectively I am. Another alternative is to enter politics. I had won the nomination in my electoral district for the federal election, for the party that is currently government of Canada. I had become president of the riding association, and had a seat on the executive for the provincial association for the federal party. I got manoeuvred out by individuals not in my electoral district.

Stability is an illusion attached to the normalcy bias. There are as many definitions of the word "normal" as there are people, maybe more for people with personality disorders. In any event, the sky is not falling. There are economic issues stemming from harmful trade and fiscal policies, years of infrastructure neglect, and foreign wars. President Trump has not made any of those issues substantially worse than they already are, although his political opponents would have you believe that he's the devil incarnate. There's a whole lot of America between the west and east coasts and one political party chose to ignore that fact.

RobertDyck wrote:

I had also been elected president of the provincial constituency association, and the leader of the provincial party asked me to stand as a candidate for the provincial election. I said no because I wanted to run federally. But individuals in the federal party in this province but no one in my electoral district have actively fought against me. And with the new leader, the federal party has moved in a direction I do not agree with. Perhaps I should run provincially. There's a new leader of the provincial party; key party members couldn't forgive the leader for failing to increase the number of elected members for our party. The new leader got a couple more members elected, but not enough. Those same powerful party individuals forced the new leader to resign as well. She's currently serving as interim leader until they find a new one. Who will it be? What will the provincial party become?

It sounds like someone offered you a path to a government job, but you decided not to accept. We all have our reasons for doing what we do, but if you need a job, then sometimes it's best to accept what's offered. Everyone is different, but most politicians don't start at national level positions unless they're well-liked, well-connected, and/or extraordinarily wealthy.

Tom Kalbfus · 2017-03-23 23:54:21

RobertDyck wrote:

Tom Kalbfus wrote:
Curious that you wanted to start at the top, at the Federal Level rather than rising up through the local level as most politicians do.
A few years ago, the media strongly criticized one politician who ran provincially, then ran federally, then ran provincially again. He kept trying to get elected, meaning tried to get work, but failed. And realize each time costs a lot of money. The media strongly criticized him for running provincially when he had expressed a desire to run federally. They said if voters elected him, he would just quit his job to federally again. The media wanted politicians to focus on one level. Yes, there are cases were politicians move from one level to another. A former federal cabinet minister, in the last government (other party) has won the leadership of the provincial party in Alberta. A number of years go an NDP federal Member of Parliament quit so she could run for mayor in my city. She lost, so now is not employed as a politician at all. But I keep thinking of that individual whom the media criticized for trying to rise through provincial to federal. So I tried to focus on just one.
However, in 2001 I was elected president of the local community association. That just lasted one winter. A few years ago I was elected to the board of directors for that same organization. I've been president of the provincial constituency association, and federal riding association. When the Conservatives were the federal government 2006-2015, they changed the name from "riding" to "electoral district". That's the American name; we're Canada, we don't need to use American names. It means the same thing, but why use the American name? Obviously I consider the other major party to be dumb-ass. But when I was president of the provincial association, I was also a member of the provincial council. And when I was president of the federal association, I had a seat on the executive for the provincial association of the federal party.
So if I were to do what you suggest, the next step would be provincial MLA: Member of the Legislative Assembly. That's what it's called in Manitoba. They have different titles in different provinces.

Federal Riding Association
The above is the image that comes to mind when you say that, perhaps your Prime Minister changed the name to avoid confusion. We both speak English, why would you want to pretend you speak a different language just because you live in a different country? English is English, we both inherited it from "Mother England!" In America we speak English, so do you! Do you know what the word "Federal" means? "Federal" means most of the power is derived from the states, or in your case provinces, the Fedral government exists only to do those things the states or provinces cannot do for themselves, that is what Federalism means. In a Federal system, most politicians rise up through local and state offices first, and use their records of their offices they held in state positions to justify running for a higher Federal office. Only Billionaires can get away with running for the highest office in the land first!

RobertDyck · 2017-03-24 00:23:05

kbd512 wrote:

It sounds like someone offered you a path to a government job, but you decided not to accept.

No they didn't. And I already explained why. If you are not able to understand, then stop trying to lecture. The rest of what you posted is frankly offence and condescending.

kbd512 · 2017-03-24 11:50:14

RobertDyck wrote:

No they didn't. And I already explained why. If you are not able to understand, then stop trying to lecture. The rest of what you posted is frankly offence and condescending.

From what I understood from your post, there were / are people who were / are willing to back you for a provincial post. My interpretation of your post was that you still have the support required to take that provincial posting, with the backing of the people who previously supported you for that posting, and then you could later use that posting to take the national level posting that you really wanted. That was all I was thinking. You chose to take offense to that because it wasn't worded in whatever way it needed to be worded to be agreeable to you.

RobertDyck · 2017-04-12 12:03:41

*EXPLETIVE!* My ISP has just discontinued providing web space. No option, it's just gone. I pay a lot of money for service. The cable company provides cable TV, internet, and telephone. But now they no longer provide web space. I had uploaded images that can be linked to forums such as this one. I also had the website for my home business. I registered a domain name, but rather than pay a high fee to host my website, they offer a "frame". Which means all content for my website comes from somewhere else. I set it up so the content of my business website is in the web space provided by my ISP. I'm certainly paying enough for it; my cable bill is ridiculously high. The local telephone company provides all those services, but they aren't any cheaper.

So now what?

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