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You are 100% correct. My primary job now is to purchase a myriad of industrial goods and chemicals from China. You certainly get what you pay for, no matter the source.
I don't speak Idiot - please talk slowly and clearly
"I have sexdaily. I mean dyslexia. Fcuk!"
Driven to the arms of Heineken by the wife
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Why do we buy Chinese at all? Because it is cheap. Around here (i.e. Norway), that is the one primary reason for buying Chinese. It could have been made at a comparable price here, and then the quality would be comparable, too.
But then: When I was a boy, i.e. in the 1960s, we were really mocking Japanese products very much the same way as we mock Chinese products today. They were selling millions by millions of cheap transistor radios (we still had mostly tube designs in those days), cameras in a plastic housing, cars that were referred to as 'rice cookers'. We mocked and ridiculed the Japs for at least ten years after Nikon and Canon (and a few more) had taken over the high end camera marked, after the rice cookers had proved to be the most reliable cars around, and high class stereo systems affordable by everyone were 95% Japanese.
The Chinese are most definitely making high quality products. They don't need us to buy them - the national market is five times the size of the US of A, and there is a huge Asian market outside China. We may be making a fatal mistake by telling China "Send us the very cheapest products you are able to produce!" and believing that what we then receive is representative for what Chinese industry is capable of producing.
I guess comparing Chinese to Western industry today is very much like comparing Japanese industry to Western industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In a few sectors, we have already realized that China has taken over the lead, and we might see more of that as long as we keep on saying "But it is cheaper buying from China than to keep our own industry alive".
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I don't disagree with any of this. If anything I'm lamenting the insistence of US manufacturers on using low grade Chinese material to the exclusion of anything else, to where you can't find quality at any price. I go buy a nicer chair, they'll still use bolts like this. It's frustrating.
And I use Chinese products every day for work. Certain things are great to buy from China, but they don't seem to export quality metal. They could I'm sure, if they wanted to, but as you say, there isn't really a market for it in the west.
It's a mess.
There's smoke in my iris
But I painted a sunny day on the insides of my eyelids
So I'm ready now (What you ready for?)
I'm ready for life in this city
And my wings have grown almost enough to lift me
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Curvaceously ran online? (9)
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Anagram of RAN ONLINE: NONLINEAR
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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YAUT!
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Good clue! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Oops. Did I say "closet?" I meant "retirement." I retired in 2016 to pursue my hobbies of gunsmithing, machine shop fun, and welding, but since the current administration declared war on our own economy, I can no longer afford my hobbies! Bummer. I can't afford retirement, either.
A few weeks ago a local tribe called to ask me to apply for a job, in this case Manager of Generation. They have a large facility that is entirely off-grid and dependent upon three diesel generators. Thanks to a recent grant, they have been able to build a solar photovoltaic generating station coupled with a Tesla battery system. We are about to embark upon the adventure of integrating the new source into the existing microgrid. Since the first of May, I've been working on this project on a time and mileage basis, and so far, they have paid the bill in a timely manner. Today I got a call to negotiate a salary, and we settled on an acceptable figure, so I'm off and running a power company again! I've missed it... 
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger,
Your story has familiar ring.
Enjoy but don't get too deep to keep stress away.
Like the supper table, when you have had enough push the plate away.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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If that pun was intentional, you need to hold still. We're going to have to hurt you now  .
Software Zen: delete this;
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Congratulations!
"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?"
-- Rigoletto
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Light On!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Congratulations on your coming out...of retirement that is.
It's a shame the economy is such that you have to but it's good that you want to.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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Well, I discovered that you can't really retire until your kids retired. I am still doing IT/Prog. for SNL's business.
>64
User: Technical term used by developers. See idiot.
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Congrats! Now when you are restarting the level you will need a new girl as well!
Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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If you make it look too easy, and you enjoy yourself too much, they'll start taking you for granted. You're still not immune to "office" politics. But enjoy it; if and while it lasts. Nothing stays the same.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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Gerry Schmitz wrote: Nothing stays the same.
Not even cold November rain?
Jeremy Falcon
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No. It turns to snow.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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Roger Wright wrote: Oops. Did I say "closet?" I meant "retirement." I retired in 2016 to pursue my hobbies of gunsmithing, machine shop fun, and welding, but since the current administration declared war on our own economy, I can no longer afford my hobbies! Bummer. I can't afford retirement, either.
Ha ha. I knew there was a reason I liked you. You're not the only one that has to come out of retirement these days.
Roger Wright wrote: Today I got a call to negotiate a salary, and we settled on an acceptable figure, so I'm off and running a power company again! I've missed it..
Congrats man. There have actually been studies that suggest not taking life too easy in the golden years helps extend your life span. That's always a plus.
Jeremy Falcon
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I've got a psychologist friend who retired at 65. When he started thinking about drinking again (he's been sober for a long time), he decided to go back to work part-time. He works 3-4 hours 3 days a week, making enough money to keep himself in bicycle gear (he rides a $5K carbon fiber roadie). He's told me more than once, quit your day job if you want, but find something useful to do with your time.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: find something useful to do with your time.
Amen brother. Life is energy, which is motion. Stagnation causes all sorts of issues. If you don't have something to wake up for... soon you won't be waking up. Real talk.
Jeremy Falcon
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Congratulations !
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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Thanks, Bill!
Today I had to do the official stuff - paperwork, pee test, etc. I passed everything, apparently, since they didn't arrest me. I also got to meet the Chief of Police, so I asked him about carrying a firearm on the Reservation. Technically, US Indian Reservations are both Federal property, and sovereign nations. The law says that guns aren't allowed on Federal lands, even though the 2nd amendment says otherwise. His answer was interesting. If you're a tribal member, because you live inside of Arizona you can carry openly. If you're White, you can't.
I thought that was an interesting bit of trivia to add to my vast collection...
Will Rogers never met me.
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