Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

New to the forums so thought I would drop into this thread. I am a Database Administrator for a well know stock exchange. Been in the field since I was 18 and for almost 30 years now. Started in a small C64 repair shop that soon started doing PC builds. 8086's, 286's and so on. Started doing PC hardware then added programming and networking. Eventually got my Microsoft MCSE cert to concentrate on administration but a curve ball was thrown into that . One of my electives for my certification I took Database Administration and low and behold the demand for Database Administrators was very highly needed. Boring work mostly but pays well and has very good security in the IT world. Long hours and lots of on-call sucks but being paid well for it I suppose makes up for it.

I've done a stack of repetitions of things in my career as a potter, and always thought that various numeric milestones were noteworthy, but I just discovered that a person who separates eggs (into whites and yokes) for a living, deals with a million eggs PER YEAR as a normal part of their every day existence.

I'd just like to give a wave and a thanks to all those people who do all those things that make everything possible in our world.

Humans are awesome.

Hmmm, skills. Very few are people related, I'm an engineer by day; aerospace manufacturing. Coolest project ever - super plastic forming complex titanium structures for the Boeing X51A Waverider hypersonic demonstration vehicle.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIbW8-Ow50I[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vp-XDVauic[/youtube]

- I can make things fly but clearly I can't embed a YouTube video in a forum post!

Started as a machinist and electrician, turning, milling, gear hobbing, welding, electroplating, precision grinding; then CNC programming and machining, control upgrades, machine install & repairs. Then CO2 lasers - cutting and welding superalloys, electronics, CNC machine integrations...

Then Manufacturing Engineer for aerospace structures, exotic alloys, commercial and military - Space shuttle, F-16, FA-18, YF-22, X35... Weld engineer for laser and electron beam welding, exotic alloys, vacuum brazing, electrical discharge machining...Currently building compressor turbines for industrial gas turbine engines.

Spare time other than AP, snow skiing, water skiing, boating, private pilot SEL hp and instrument airplane, scuba dive, remodel construction, plumbing, manage rental property, electrical, solar, electric cars, cooking, boating, outdoors, backpacking, Boy Scouts, drinking beer - the last two are mutually exclusive.

I guess I'm a little late to this thread, I joined BYAP in 2015 some time after starting my first system. I have learned a TON off stuff here and I thank you all for your contributions. I hope to continue to give back when I can.

Jajaja... that's quite the resumé there dstjohn99! We can cut you some slack...
The trick to Youtube Video embedding is to just include the part AFTER the "v=" between the [youtube/] tags.



Neat video!

--
Sam

Aha! so simple. Thanks! Now if I can just figure out how to turn on the copy machine and use a stapler...

Well, let's not get too far ahead of the rest of the class! Copy machines are an advanced technology and not appropriate for just any Tom, Dick, or Harry to use without proper training...

For now, just study this training guide and see how it goes with the stapler:






--
Sam

I guess that means I need to add "better stapler operator tutorial producer" to my skill set, because I think I could improve that video.

Many people dont realise that you can turn your stapler into a pin applicator.

There is a plate that the sharp ends of the staple hit once they go through your paper. This plate has grooves in it that turn the ends of the staple in on itself to bind the paper.

But on most staplers, you can poke the plate up from underneath the stapler, and rotate it. This exposes a second set of grooves to the staple, that bend the staple in the other direction. The result is that your document is pinned rather than stapled, making it a lot easier to remove the staple when you want to shred the papers for security, or recycling.

aahh so that's what the paper weight does......

Pete.

Speaking as someone who used to have to deal with the results of (supposedly intelligent) people using and abusing the office photocopier... listen to Sam!

I came back from a two-week holiday once, to find the photocopier not working. Asked around, and found out that:
1) it had 'just stopped working' two days after I left
2) nobody had tried to find out what was wrong (or at least they wouldn't admit it)
3) nobody had called the service number that was posted both on the wall AND on the machine itself

From what I could work out, the photocopier had run out of toner. Some... bright spark... had tried to change it, and instead of following the instructions (printed on the toner box AND inside the open panel) they just started flipping catches and pulling on handles. They pulled out the (large, heavy, fragile) fuser unit, dropped it, shattered the roller, then just pushed it back into place and pretended they never touched it.

So yeah, if you are the sort of person who reads and follows instructions, you can probably be trusted with a photocopier. If you think "I'm smart! I can figure this out myself!", keep your dang pokey fingers off my office machinery!

I have always found photocopiers to be very sexist myself..... female user work, male user break down/run out...
cannot believe a bloke has not designed a much more bloke friendly device....
what sort of idiot designer expects people to actually read instructions......

can see it all started going downhill after the stone tablet and chisel went by the wayside.....
early printing was understandable as it addressed the laziness of making more than one stone tablet..with a paint roller and a big machine. Then they added an engine and more power. It all made sense then...that is bloke ingenuity and re-purposing at its best.

But that would make the saying "when all else fails read the instructions" obsolete, where's the fun in that!

Pete.

Darren you're makin me laugh.

Instructions, what are those? My AP system sure didn't come with any, not that it would have mattered.

Upon rethinking my entire life just this minute, I've decided that I actually quite enjoy a user manual.

Sometimes I get a product with no user manual, and I feel a little disappointed.

I think I'd rather it was a little more complicated, With something new to explore.

Like when you buy a new digital SLR camera* rather than a toaster.

Toaster manuals are a dull kind of read.

But a new digital SLR camera manual, is a document worthy of some attention.

Like that capitalized "W" a few sentences ago that I thought I'd leave there for no reason.

A person could spend hours pondering such a thing.

I think I'll add user manual reader to my skillset.




*I've never bought a new digital SLR camera.

We registered another business in the new year, and have actual grownup clients and everything.

We've even been paid a few times this year, so I guess that means I can officially add Professional Web Designer to my skillset.

My first website (before I went pro ) was for the Shooters Party in South Australia way back in the days of the gun buy-back. I'm not a shooter and didnt think much of their policies, and personally feel no need to keep an assault rifle around the home, but at the time an acquaintance who was a party member claimed they were struggling to get their message out due to media bias. I'm all for free expression of ideas even if I dont agree with them, and I tend to trust the populace to make sound decisions and actually believe in this democracy thing, so I made their site for them for free.

'Twas a strange feeling in hindsight.


These days I'm not so confident in the decisions of the populous, but I can probably answer a question about a wordpress site.