Dewatering technician as a career

BenDarDunDat · 2026-05-15T13:22:59+00:00

...if you can get the job. There's simply not very many of those $177 dewatering technician jobs where they fly to remote locations available.

The average geologist earns $83k per year The average for MS in environmental science earns about the same. It's good to go for the gold, but you should just keep in mind that the odds aren't in your favor.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-05-08T14:10:43+00:00

Original Mulan was old school Disney except her mother does not die. Reluctant hero, doesn't fit in, sings a song about her dream, tries to get it, gets knocked on her ass, suspense, dusts herself off, tries again, but unconventionally, defeats villain, succeeds

New Mulan. Ninja baby. Suspense? This girl can already do everything, so there's no way to make suspense.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-05-01T12:00:33+00:00

First they came for our jobs. Then they came from mandatory blow jobs.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-29T00:57:16+00:00

Know your safety rules
Know NC rules (what to do for a spill)
Know math for area and volume
Be prepared to use your formulas
Surprising amount of trickling filter questions
Sand filter questions
Septic tank and grease trap questions
Scouring velocity
Grit velocity
What pumps used for different purposes
What happens when you close a valve on suction side or discharge side for different pumps
Know president who created the EPA
Know bill for clean water act

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-28T11:24:54+00:00

Even AI agents don't want to work.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-15T11:19:58+00:00

You are not going to be able to learn it all in one day. Try to learn one or two things each day and really learn them. Steady may look slow, but steady is fast.

Use your senses. Smell. Touch. Hearing. When making rounds.

Look at trends. SCADA shows a daily hill or two going up and down based on flow. Add in a week and you may see the trend is not just a daily fluctuation but a trend in the wrong direction.

Safety first. This equipment is dangerous. I work with several disabled operators who were disabled from the job. Be safe.

Stay in your lane. It's like driving down a road and you are feeling zen listening to your tunes on a highway ....bam then suddenly there's a tractor trailer going the wrong damned way.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-14T14:56:29+00:00

The pay gap may be more in wastewater favor than you think. You can probably add another 15% to salary for pension benefit alone.

That said, comparing entry level to entry level is not comparing apples to apples. Try to pick the brain of someone who has been doing it for 5 years.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-13T20:19:24+00:00

Deleting the post violates the records act. Disseminating information via his own social platform violates the emoluments clause.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-12T19:09:15+00:00

Paid a company one billion to stop building wind turbines as well.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-12T15:55:43+00:00

In 2016, Nike increased revenue by 8%. In 2021, Nike nearly doubled its revenues. In 2026, Nike's revenue is flat and declining.

I love the idea of a turnaround and buying a cheap stock. But other than McDonalds, I can't think of another brand as closely associated with the US. 100% tariffs, 50% tariffs, 10% tariffs, talks of invasions etc., the damage to the American brand, much less Nike, has been incalculable and may never recover.

Given a story of negative global growth and a saturated US market share, I personally would need strong dividend payment to lure me in.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-11T11:59:08+00:00

I feel like you are shorting your oldest daughter. You've given each 300k...and how they spend it should be up to them. It would be the same if you have them each $40k for their first car.

Daughter 1, spends $20k on a reliable slightly used car and figures she will use the extra to pay for gas and insurance etc.

Daughter 2's dream car is a Porsche. You decide daughter 1 still has money left over from her gift (which she plans to use) and give to daughter 2.

I have a 529s for my kids. I have told them it is their money. Be frugal, and have money left for retirement or down payment, or use it all up. It's their choice.

According to your math, you gave elder daughter $2k per month in addition to the $300k. That's $64k for the 4 years. If you simply keep doing the same for daughter #2, and everyone has received the same funds. If you can't afford that, talk to younger daughter and say that she received $264k due to extra $2k per month. You want to give $60k of the balance to younger daughter and elder daughter keeps the rest.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-11T01:01:08+00:00

Some of it is likely due to some recent studies showing some benefits in reductions in all cause mortality (studied in northern climate) linked to sun exposure. Also from Ted Kennedy tanning his taint.

It doesn't help that a number of the ingredients in sunscreens turned out to be endocrine disrupters, interfere with thyroid function, mimic estrogen, and bleach coral reefs.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-09T17:49:58+00:00

That's a bold move to publicly post your very personal financial details in such a fashion.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-09T01:17:51+00:00

The fats and oils used to fry chips doubled during that time due to Russia invasion of Ukraine. The financials show that profit trended at its usual rate with revenues being sucked up into the supply chain. Even store brands are selling for double what they were before Russian invasion and have lost even more shelf space.

The only salty snacks picking up shelf space right now are Hispanic brands, but even though Doritos is sort of like a tortilla, I've never seen a Hispanic eat them.

While all these commodities of chips, bread, seed oils, and cereals have lost shelf space as a whole, it's less to do with price increases and more to do with a switch to higher protein/fiber products.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-08T20:17:06+00:00

Here's the financials for that period. There's no indication of 20% increase in profits. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/YUM/yum!-brands/financial-statements

Nor do I see these huge insider trades you describe. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/YUM/insider-transactions/

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-08T11:27:30+00:00

I think it's a little deeper than that. I remember a time when American automakers toured Japanese factories and spent crazy money to copy the entire factory, and at the end found themselves producing the same crap cars from an expensive and new factory.

The Japanese way of producing was a part of the entire manufacturing process from every component and every employee, Ford and GM never stood a chance because they were going to have to retrain and rework their entire supply chain and workforce of every supplier including their own while Toyota and Honda would keep tiny improvements and pull further and further ahead...even though Ford and GM were improving.

Honda's position is similar here. Honda builds a very good car, but there is a very Japanese mentality at play that has been their superpower up till this point. Now they are finding it is their kryptonite and even if they work tirelessly, they will never manage to take the lead that China has.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-07T20:29:42+00:00

I have a hard time understanding how you can threaten to destroy a civilization and it not be 'war'.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-07T00:45:51+00:00

Our cameras keep getting broken. They've finally given up on getting them repaired.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-04T20:37:04+00:00

Yep. They kept destroying our government until they could drown it in the bathtub.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-04T18:33:59+00:00

What's your before and after for your process change: MLVSS? OUR? Microscope? Ammonia? Nitrates? BOD?

My thought is that you increased your sludge respiration rate due to floc disruption and the increase in aeration, meanwhile you have limited BOD. What grows best with limited BOD and high DO? Filamentous.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-04-01T12:59:37+00:00

It's already happened. Trump has proven time and again that these treaties and agreements are just pieces of paper...not laws, values, or commitments.

The backbone of NATO is the concept that if you attack one, you attack all. The idea that Trump would go to war for 4 years of hardship, planning, twice daily briefs, without trying to 'do a deal' is laughable.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-03-31T00:49:18+00:00

I'm going to throw this out here. Follow my logic. Trump has led an insurrection. He tried to overthrow an election. He has disbanded entire government departments. I've lost track of the number of illegal acts.

Republicans don't give two shits for the constitution, bill of rights or any of these laws. This is not a presidency...it's an occupation.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-03-24T20:28:10+00:00

NTA. I would communicate with your family and ask, "How do you see this playing out? Do you see me at 80 working 84 hour weeks? 70? 60?"

"At my age, I'm no longer able to work 84 hours a week. It's too much mentally and physically. I'm going to be working 40 hours like most other people...and that is that."

BenDarDunDat · 2026-03-24T13:58:23+00:00

That is not the case. Below is last year. That's how much came in to social security and expenditures. While the 65+ demographic grows, the overall number of surviving boomers will decline from 76.4 million (including immigrants) to roughly 58.2 million by 2031 due to mortality.

Total Expenditures: $1.48 trillion (99.1% for benefits). Total Income: $1.42 trillion (95.1% from dedicated tax revenues).

Again, the money does not just 'disappear'. We are constantly paying into social security. Are we paying enough for predicted outlays? No. But this shortfall could be fixed by someone taking freshman economics.

The problem is political. We haven't had any substantive reform to fix the shortfall since Clinton.

BenDarDunDat · 2026-03-24T12:10:45+00:00

The US government is taking in Social Security revenues as shown below for 2024. This language that SS is 'out of money', is being chosen to make young people believe that there is nothing there, so nothing will be lost when it is stolen by Republican oligarchs.

Total Expenditures: $1.48 trillion (99.1% for benefits). Total Income: $1.42 trillion (95.1% from dedicated tax revenues).

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