Yeah, that was pretty stupid. Actually, I bet he did have some struggling reporter years, but when you have to reach back forty years for the memory...not so much with the relevant. Go back to the fruit stand, AR.

Rooney should talk to plumbers and electricians and then he'd discover that they're out of a job, too. Jerk.

Not to mention that you have to be licensed, certified, bonded, and spend several years working like a dog as an apprentice to a master plumber/electrician/whoever. The money is good and probably a little steadier than a lot of middle management (companies come and companies go, but humans will always live in some kind of shelter, pipes will always freeze, and toddlers will always stuff their Yo Gabba Gabba tub toys down the toilet out of idle curiosity the second a grown-up's back is turned), but it's still hard as hell to get started in and demands a few years of brutal trainee work for little pay before you start to really earn. It's not really much easier than getting a college degree, and for damn sure not much faster. It's no sane person's idea of a quick fix.

How long has it been since Rooney's had any contact with another actual human being?

ah ... I hear the voice of bitter experience in JZ's post.

Not that I would defend Rooney, ever. I took his point to be that those careers were in demand. or more, that his point was that the college degree to lead to a mid-level office job is over-saturated in the US.

He's totally turned into the "Kids keep the hell offa' my lawn! And eat your goddamn oatmeal" guy, huh?

He's been that guy for the last 25 years!

Just speculation, Toddson. Speculation based on the bitter experiences of most of the parents-of-toddlers I know.

We watch Matilda like hawks, and she doesn't even know yet that she can lift the toilet lid. As far as she knows, it's one of those things that only grownups can do, like chopping onions with the good knife (or any knife) and mixing cocktails.

it's still hard as hell to get started in and demands a few years of brutal trainee work for little pay before you start to really earn.

Even taking msbelle's point into account, when the economy is bad, people wait as long as possible to fix things they can get away with not fixing because they simply can't afford it. Or they'll do the quick fixes but not the major overhauls.

How long has it been since Rooney's had any contact with another actual human being?

Oh, his keepers don't let him out of the bubble except for broadcasts, and then they quickly put him back in.

that only grownups can do, like chopping onions with the good knife (or any knife) and mixing cocktails

hee!! So Emmet's a grownup!!

On a lighter note... [link]

Two fire trucks showed up to a fire call at a Kansas City, Mo., apartment building, but it ended up only being a burned University of Kansas T-shirt.