I know its a rerun, but...

[Diydave]

Worth repeating, after the recent events in the news...



Obituary

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.

No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
– Why the early bird gets the worm;
– Life isn’t always fair;
– And maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death,
-by his parents, Truth and Trust,
-by his wife, Discretion,
-by his daughter, Responsibility,
-and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;
– I Know My Rights
– I Want It Now
– Someone Else Is To Blame
– I’m A Victim
– Pay me for Doing Nothing

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

 

[Lil Foot]

Excellent! And sadly, so true.

 

[Corney]

In the safety world they say "there is no such thing as common sense because what may be common to me may not be common to you"

At one time everything used to be more common between people?

 

[ShaunRH]

In the safety world they say "there is no such thing as common sense because what may be common to me may not be common to you"

Wow, the Safety world is that full of oxymoron's?

It's called "Common" because it implies a universal understanding of basic rational perceptions of the world. For such a skewed view to exist in a "Safety" environment is frankly... dangerous!

I know the Safety Czars went off the rails years ago, but a statement like that is beyond rational. If I had any safety person feed me that, I'd hand him his head back in his hands after a severe logical dismantlement of his flawed ideological reasoning.

Common Sense *IS* Common and *IS* relevant between to total strangers in the same situation... BY DEFINITION. We are surrounded by idiots with power...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvIweCIgwk

 

[Tooljunkie]

What about common sense's long lost cousin stupid?
Mind you without stupid hanging around, some of us wouldnt appear as smart.

Once common sense left the goverments,its all been downhill.

 

[Daren Todd]

In the safety world they say "there is no such thing as common sense because what may be common to me may not be common to you"

At one time everything used to be more common between people?

I can take some pictures of the shop at work and show where the common sense went. We had to label the floor with what tool is supposed to go where Even though the bloody things are bolted to the floor to keep them from tipping over and falling on someone You got me as far as how someone can tip over an air compressor or drill press. But apparently it's happened before Kind of like the warning label on a tube of preparation H

 

[Diydave]

The trial lawyers would likely now label the floor," caution, gravity hazard floor is hard, and you can fall on it"...

 

[Corney]

Gentleman I don't disagree with your comments on common sense!

We currently have four generations in the workplace for the first time ever, they older generations have a great deal of experience and knowledge. Many grew up on family farms and business's. They have common sense gained by experiences.

Problem lies when we expect a generation (Y) and a half (X) grew up playing video games being driven to school everyday. Some are 30 and still live in their parents basement. We can't expect them to have common sense because they do not have any experiences to teach them that?

We can not simply say the world in going to hey! These young people are our future because like it or not you old farts( me included) are eventually going to get sick of working or die! Lol. I have chosen to mentor these young people and try and teach them common sense. I used to be floored about how little these young people have been taught. Not anymore, I expect it and build off what they know. These generation makes some of the best operators because of their hand eye coordination, they can also access information quickly and pull a utube video up to get er done.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Humblebub]

Corney, you make some good points. I frequently interview new potential hires and cringe at what they don't know. It is not because they are stupid but rather what they have never been exposed to. My problem is very few will take a lower paying job while we can off-load what we know to these young people. Patience is lacking as it a work ethic that matches my own.

My employer, who places emphasis on written communication, will often ask, "can he/she write". My answer now is, "I don't know, but they can communicate".

 

[Tooljunkie]

So some of the most educated people i know cannot change a flat tire or replace a light bulb.
I just had a day of electrical diagnosis, owner attempted a replacement with used parts. Turns out used part was faulty also-which i repaired.
He was envious of my shop and skillset.
Hes not lacking common sense, but hes the reason there are people like to take care of things that people like him cannot.

Dont forget also, we put the stupid lacking common sense people in positions of power.

My son is almost 24,i think hes starting to get it.
My 19 year old daughter does not, nor does she have any interest in getting some common sense.

 

[Daren Todd]

I've noticed with my kids, it depends on there motivation, maturity level, and mind set as well. Both my oldest and youngest got it right off. Both got jobs in there early teens, and as soon as they graduated high school they hit the ground running and never looked back. Both were driving at 16, had there own vehicle, and generally independent. Now the middle one took forever to get it. No motivation, and was just a tough nut to crack. Now at 24 he's finally getting it, renting his own place and doing decent for himself. He wanted everything to be handed to him, and was one of those kids that got a little money and would quit there job. Then wonder why he was broke wanted everything his brother or sister had, but didn't want to step up to get it. Then would get mad and throw tantrums.

 

[Diydave]

So some of the most educated people i know cannot change a flat tire or replace a light bulb.
I just had a day of electrical diagnosis, owner attempted a replacement with used parts. Turns out used part was faulty also-which i repaired.
He was envious of my shop and skillset.
Hes not lacking common sense, but hes the reason there are people like to take care of things that people like him cannot.

Dont forget also, we put the stupid lacking common sense people in positions of power.

My son is almost 24,i think hes starting to get it.
My 19 year old daughter does not, nor does she have any interest in getting some common sense.

Yep, thinking on the fly is what's important. I had a loader break down on a job, took a dozer over to push it on the trailer, to get it to the shop. had to pick up 3 attachments, while finishing the job, with the dozer, while waiting on parts. Last trip was for the grapple bucket, went to pick it up with the mazda B2300 p/u.

The homeowner was almost flabbergasted, after he told me there was no way I could p/u that heavy bucket, with and put it in the back of that little p/u, by myself. THat's when I broke out the ramps and come-a-long...

 

[CaveCreekRay]

That's using your smarts Dave!

I bought a 500 lb gun safe that was bolted to a pallet. I asked about having it moved and they said it would start at $150 to get it in the house, more if it was a complicated move. So, I bought an 800lb capacity mover for $70.

I experimented getting the safe off the pallet and on to the loader and then moving it up the steps and threshold of the garage into the house. After sitting in the garage for a couple weeks, my wife came home and asked, "Where's the safe?"

In one planned roll, I moved it, by myself, up a 4" step and then up a 4" threshold, onto our oak hallway, made an immediate left into an office and then an immediate right into a closet. I used Pledge on the bottom of the safe so I could slide it on the carpet. Worked great though, it was like dancin' with Gramma.

After I planned it all out, it was pretty easy. There would have been no room for another body any way with all the door frames. And I didn't nick the paint once! Same with the move out. The mover came in handy again.

Sometimes using your brain before using your back is time well spent. As a young guy, I had to use my back more because I was broke. I got smarter along the way just as you obviously have!

 

[ipz2222]

My wife had a piano when we married. Not one of those 3,000 lbs grand, but stil a piano. She sold it and a man ( 1 ) showed up to get it. I was at work, too far away to come home. That man got a creeper I had in the garage and got that piano out of the house , down the steps and into a truck. I would have loved to have seen how he did that. But , he wasn't 22 years old, he had solved problems before.

 

[ShaunRH]

My biggest issue is that we are being told that we aren't smart enough to solve stuff for ourselves, especially 'safely'. Thus we need some overpaid person to come out and tell us that water is wet.

This is what the phrase "Common Sense" actually means. It makes the assumption that if we are at a certain age, we have a common set of experiences to know what is and isn't safe. What is doesn't mean is that just because we know something isn't safe, that we aren't going to do it anyway. That's going against "Common Sense" and it doesn't mean it won't work, it just means it might result in regrets.

So, even a young teenager would probably know it's unsafe to stick your hand or something into a spinning PTO assembly. Doesn't mean they wont do it anyway. The old-timer with years on the machine and could have safely cleared debris off that PTO for a decade while it was running, has no guarantee it won't grab his jacket this time and turn him into a pretzel. Common Sense is not a inviolable law, it's just an understanding of the world around us that lets us know that odds are, if we do one action, we are likely to get another action out of it.

Last example. Common Sense says: if you spend money you don't have, you will have to pay it back some time or nobody will loan you more. Common Sense does not apply to government!