COTA Austin - construction and infrastructure

[Pup]

For those of us who are not versed in civil engineering, can you explain what exactly is wrong with that?

We aren't stoned

...i'll grab my coat

Masons do their best work when stoned.

[bhall]

Really?

[Pup]

No, I made that up.

[bhall]

No, it was a disappointed "really."

[Pup]

Well, trust me, there are a lot of stoner stone masons.

As an aside to the aside of the aside, when I was between undergrad and grad school, I spent a few years going from trade to trade, trying to learn a bit about each. One of the jobs was in a shop that did stone work. It was pretty cool - we did the panels for the Vietnam Memorial in DC and some other cool stuff. And I kid you not, that entire shop was wasted when they walked in and kept a full buzz going until they left.

And they did beautiful work. Damned hippies.

[Giblet]

I'm a glazier by trade myself, and you have likely seen my work if you enjoy movies. I've had the son of Flynn jump off the "Encom Tower" in the new Tron movie and skydive past all my glass. He then landed on the street in front of a different yet nearby tower, the Fairmont Pacific, also me.

In the new Planet of the Apes movie, the monkeys break into a facility to steal more brain juice, and break out with it. That is actually the BCIT Aerospace Center, again, my glass work where I was foreman. There were a couple old Glaziers that used to brag about how drunk they were in the 'old days', but they always went to lunch together, and came back chewing gum. Nothing like a couple beers at lunch rigging 2400 pound glass, steel, and aluminum to a tower crane to be suspended over the busy streets of downtown Vancouver, to be hauled up to the 66th floor. They always bitched about me, the young guy, never letting them do any 'serious work'. Instead of telling them somthing I can't easily prove "You have been drinking" I just put them on waterproofing and caulking. At least its small issue if they drop a single tool.

Unfortunately, much of trades are filled with stoners and drunks. I have no problem with a little weekend partaking from an adult point of view, but while dancing in the clouds responsible for some pretty intense situations? No way.

Screw that.

EDIT: We are talkign construction in a thread about it. This isn't a car thread. A little OT can be OK if it is loosely related, so long is it winds back towards the point.

[Pup]

Yeah, the smoking has never bugged me even though I'm not into it myself. In fact, it probably helps with monotonous work. The hardest part is just getting them to show up. But drinking is a different matter altogether. It just makes you sloppy, even if it's just a single beer. There were two kids that got injured in that shop in the short time I was there, and both of them had been drinking. One of them got his hand caught in a beveling wheel, and it shot a foot-long shard of hardened steel into his arm. They had to cut open his forearm and spent three hours in the OR picking out little bits of metal.

[xpensive]

You mean it has to look more like this...........

Dear god no.

Actually the stonework on that house looks decent if a bit bland, but the house itself...

Though when I look at the architect's renderings, and the style of the buildings, I'm inclined to think that they're after a very even 'bland' look.

But I'm talking about quality, not style.

That's just a facade for crying out loud, it's american after all...

[strad]

It's just something to bitch about

[Ray]

And then there's the gaps. Good stonework, regardless of style, will have consistent mortar joints throughout. That is, you don't want bits where the stone looks like it's almost touching, and others where there's bit handfuls of mortar and no stone. A good mason, even when dealing with irregular stone, will sift through and pick pieces to fit, and they're pretty skilled with a hammer and can quickly chip down a piece to fit better.

I see what you mean now! Can't unsee it! I get why you don't like it, had the gaps been consistent it would look pretty good to me, but now that I see what you are talking about, you're right that it looks awful.

[Pup]

It's just something to bitch about

Well...yeah.

[strad]

Well if it turns out to be the biggest one I'll breathe a sigh of relief

[xpensive]

Well if it turns out to be the biggest one I'll breathe a sigh of relief

What could possibly be more important than a wall and access road that arguably looks like sh*t, a track perhaps?

[Pup]

One of those stones could fall out and hurt someone.

[xpensive]

One of those stones could fall out and hurt someone.

Right, imagine MrE passing by with his walker?