Comments by "alex smith" (@alexsmith-ob3lu) on "Wendover Productions" channel.

  1. Excellent video! Reminds me of a family story… My old man worked as an HVAC Controls (BAS) technician for a corporation. His company that employed him was called “ESC Automation”. It got bought out by a private equity firm in the mid 2000s. As soon as the takeover was complete, half of his colleagues were laid off and the remaining employees got their wages slashed in half. So more people ended up quitting and before you knew, my old man was doing all the work and overtime work for cents on the dollar just to keep regular customers happy. After a few years of milking the corporation dry, the private equity firm sold everything to an investor who allowed things to be turned around in the company for the better. My old man was lucky and did not lose everything, but man, most folks out there are given a rotten deal with corporations these days.
    198
  2. I’m surprised that Aqua farms (raising fish in a given area of the ocean) has not become more popular.
    10
  3.  @HuyHTX  I get what you're trying to go at, but its gotten to the point where its getting impossible to just "hop around". Which is why many people (including myself) don't want to work at a corporate job anymore.
    5
  4. I hear you. The same thing happened to my old man who worked in a corporate job as a BAS technician.
    3
  5. There is a good movie made about autonomous weapons already. It’s a 2016 movie called “Kill Command.”
    2
  6. The biggest issue with America is car dependent suburban sprawl that makes rail transit challenging to operate. Before WW2, America had reliable railway transit for passengers all over the country. Things will not change until many freeways and car oriented suburbs are abandoned or federal financial funding stops.
    2
  7. In Canada/USA, we've turned the automobile into a mandated prosthetic, instead of freedom on wheels. Literally, there are entire neighborhoods where you cannot walk two blocks down to a grocery store because there ain't no sidewalks; which forces you to drive all the time.
    1
  8. I work with low voltage HAVC controls and that was very well explained! Bravo!
    1
  9. When it comes to waste management, recycling and incinerators; we have the ability to automate these processes because every waste facility is designed to an industrial scale. You should consider technical-community college in the engineering technician program or a highly specialized machinist trade.
    1
  10.  @stelamo  In Maine and Florida (where there are a few aqua farms) I see fisheries feeding the farmed fish with barley, bait, worms and other grains. And no, it is not in indoor tanks, but they have big nets and tanks out in the ocean doing the aqua farming.
    1
  11.  @TStark-vj2wo  The reason why others fear environmental and health issues is because the average person has become dumber than compared to the previous generations of people.
    1
  12. Car centric suburbia is financially insolvent. When you sprawl everything out, you denude the tax base and increase the amount of infrastructure liabilities that you're obligated to maintain.
    1
  13.  @jakel2837  He befriended some loyal customers over the years and wanted to continue to provide a high quality standard of HVAC control service to those customers. He was lucky that the vultures only bleed the company for several years before moving on. These days, private equity firms go all out in destroying a corporation after take over.
    1
  14. The problem is not "college is expensive." It is young people without any guidance (or hardly doing any personal research) making awful post-secondary and career choices that are not in alignment with reality! College can mean anything in the U.S! Four year college, graduate school or an associate program at community college. Education must be based on what the national/state economy needs! We certainly don't need any more people with molecular biology degrees!
    1
  15. Interesting video. I find it fascinating how back in the 1950s and 60s, when plastic products were beginning to rise in popularity. The USA had the choice of making biodegradable plastics from algae or petroleum based plastics. It’s only right now that we’re going back to what was done right before in the past.
    1
  16. The biggest problems are education and property owners not prioritizing their buildings properly. Most property owners are willing to spend lots of $$$ for green products, but are unwilling to spend $$$ for the technical- operational people (BAS/DDC techs) who can actually do more work with energy efficiency and cost savings than simply installing a bunch of green products (which has a very high cost for maintenance). Jay Santos (Principal at Facility Dynamics Engineering) did a lecture at Laney College about this nation wide issue for energy efficiency, and it’s not technological; it’s a skilled labor problem.
    1
  17. That’s an awesome story! Thank you for sharing!
    1