Good Morning. So, to Sven and whomever lives in CA:
I realize it is hard to know when to move somewhere else.
And that moving is a huge trial.
But having had that decision helped along by our situation in 2014 I can tell you this much:
Even if you are “aware” of how lefty your state/county/city is, I can promise you that you’re NOT actually aware in the ways that matter.
Much like the the proverbial “Frog in the Pot over the Burner,” you’ve gotten used to things which
IF YOU MOVED SOMEWHERE MORE SANE
you would see literally everywhere. You’d see it in the demeanor of the people around you to the much more sensible laws and enforcement of such laws.
We have Democrats here too but they can’t be elected to things if they are too crazy.
Also, because of that phenomenon, I know that if I moved to someplace even more sane like a small town in New Hampshire, for example, I would suddenly “see” situational things of which I’m unaware now, living here.
I’m very attracted to some places in Eastern Europe, for example, but those regimes, while interesting to me, don’t have constitutional protections for their relatively sane policies, and therefore could change overnight into hellholes.
But to the question of relocating within the US, I’m thinking that although AZ is pretty OK, compared to Oregon, NH (and maybe TX and FL) is probably the only state which has actively been moving in the right direction for over 20 years.
Let me give you one concrete example of the “Frog in a Pot” blindness:
In Oregon I, and most everyone else, was aware that there were gangs of youths that would just go into a large retail store and steal huge amounts of stuff (this was around 2012, let’s say)
People on both sides of the political spectrum were aware of it. Most were NOT positive about it, of course. Everyone agreed that it was pretty dangerous and destructive to the neighborhoods where it happened.
I and many others, were not aware of why it was happening though.
I, naturally, thought, “Well, when you have liberal policies generally… this is what you get.”
But, what I, and most others didn’t fully understand, was that the City of Portland, had adopted a policy of not arresting and prosecuting these crimes. Much like we are actually hearing about now taking place in many cities around CA. Prosecutors not following the law, and Legislators actually passing laws decriminalizing crime. Police legally not required to dispatch if stolen items from one person are worth less than $1000.
We actually didn’t KNOW about the differences in the laws between a SANE city and OUR city.
And it’s not really until you move when you really realize the difference and see the result of a normal sensible attitude toward crime, as in the above example.
which is at a very difficult 11:30 eastern, 8:30 am for me!!!
But it was a fun stream about an hour.
All, y’all should check it out. he’s very good, and he should be much bigger. He manages to get around 100 viewers, but it’s a rather hard time of day. Due to a glitch, the stream got saved twice after finishing and has about 300 views total on it now.
It was the phrasing that I can’t accurately replicate, but in essence:
Me: “What?”
“Oh… you mean the shirt?”
“My friend sells them. you have to support your friends, right?”
“Well… I’m not all that political.”
“People keep saying that [regarding Trump going to jail, or whatever]”
[This was true:] “I was going to get a shirt from the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign and then do a podcast comparing the experience, but the Biden campaign was so low engagement, I ended up scrapping the idea, and I NEVER got my Biden Shirt. On the other hand, I had a Trump shirt and a bag full of goodies in under two days.”
(in retrospect, that would have made for an okay video, but I just lost my enthusiasm for the idea.
Anyway, that was my response in a nutshell… although there was a bit more to it than that, if you can use your imagination.
It was Harper that described it as a “Blastwave of Neutrality.”
It’s because I’ve been working on my CPAP and chinstrap settings by using my FitBit Versa 2. And I finally got a decent quality of sleep for the first time in a week.
I am going to go for the Big Sleep Study again, I’ll be setting that up on Monday, God willing, but who knows how long that’ll take to arrange. That’s what I really need, and if I successfully manage it, I’ll get a modern Cpap machine. I have 4 right now, all circa 2005, I’d guess.
A blessed Sabbath, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, dv8 (and Harper!)!
dv8 -- in re moving out of CA, we’ve talked about it, but I don’t see it happening until retirement. Where? Who knows.
Good luck with your sleep study. I did one once and they stopped it early and put me on a CPAP machine, but I couldn’t tolerate it. It felt like I was drowning.
There’s actually a great trick for tolerating a CPAP.
You simply put it on a couple hours before sleeping on the first night especially, then you read or mess around on your computer or whatever. Since you’re wide awake, you can get used to the pressure and the feeling of restriction. Within 15 minutes or so, your involuntary breathing will get used to it, you keep it on a steady power supply, so you can get in bed whenever you want without turning it off. and then just lie down. By then apart from some unusualness with the mask/nose inserts, etc, it’ll feel pretty normal.
If I wasn’t lucky enough to overhear someone talking about that technique. One patient to another in the waiting room, I never would have been able to use the machine. I’ll bet I’m more funny about having stuff on my face than any of you.
Anyway, water under the bridge at this point, I know, but that’s how you do it, and it really works. You breathe in a different range when the machine is on, and so after some number of minutes or at most, an hour, you don’t even notice the pressure anymore because of that.
and of course, after a week or so, the transition is just like putting on a pair of glasses or something like that. Not a big deal.
There are actually some plusses with using a cpap also, in addition to the not snoring or having stoppage events, and getting much better sleep, etc.
For example, I can sleep with the blankets completely covering me because I have an air supply. Also, because my nose tends to be stuffed up most of the time, the nasal inserts push air in through my nose and opens up my nostrils. So it sorta bypasses the congestion I usually have, and then, the next morning, having had my nose opened up all night, I can breath perfectly all through the day.
It’s a win win for me.
I have to say, it’s definitely worth it for the much better quality sleep you get. You have no idea of the difference in energy and brain power throughout the day, until you experience it for yourself.
Of course, there are some surgeries you can get. They don’t always work, and some are risky, like not being able to swallow if they nick the wrong nerve, that kind of thing. But when they are successful, you no longer have apnea or need the machine anymore.
My apnea is caused by having had Braces as a kid. My Jaw was moved so far back to correct my bite, etc, that about halfway through the procedure, I started having those kind of events, and so did my brother.
I didn’t get the apnea diagnosis though until I was in my 40s. I had a study, in the early 2000s, and I’ve been using the machine ever since.
I’m so intrigued with New Hampshire, I really want to check it out. It’s probably not practical for us, but it would be nice to travel out there and investigate the place.
I hear complaints that Mass. liberals are moving there, like Californians to Oregon or Colorado, and messing things up. Never been there myself but used to know someone from NH.
I’m not too sure, I do follow FreeStateNH on Twitter. They seem to be having enough success with the influx of Libertarian leaning conservatives, etc. that the left is starting to really complain. But it’s such a small state that they can’t get much help nationally,
Their first successful local election was 20 years ago, and a FSer ran as a Democrat, now, they run as Libertarians, Republicans, or whatever party they think they can get a win in. It’s a good strategy, I guess. Obviously, they weren’t successful in creating a mass migration like they wanted to, but they keep attracting people more and more. And there are a number of strategic reasons why NH was chosen for the Free State Project.
Although I’ve been very interested in it, there are lots of people who know a lot more about it than I do.
But Crap! We could sell our $0.5M house in Sedona and buy one for $30K in northern NH and live on the rest. And there are plenty of nice places all over the state that are less than 100K, if I don’t want a fixerupper.
There are reasons why it wouldn’t be practical for us, but it’s very tempting. Very tempting indeed.
Although I’ve been very interested in it, there are lots of people who know a lot more about it than I do.
Yup, I got church today, I think I’ll make it no problem.
Too bad I already had breakfast. I’m pretty restless, so I’d be inclined to go out early, have breakfast at the grocery store, and then go to church, but I guess, I’ll just go when it’s time. I’ve got about an hour until I really have to get ready, but maybe I’ll do that now.
Good Morning. So, to Sven and whomever lives in CA:
I realize it is hard to know when to move somewhere else.
And that moving is a huge trial.
But having had that decision helped along by our situation in 2014 I can tell you this much:
Even if you are “aware” of how lefty your state/county/city is, I can promise you that you’re NOT actually aware in the ways that matter.
Much like the the proverbial “Frog in the Pot over the Burner,” you’ve gotten used to things which
IF YOU MOVED SOMEWHERE MORE SANE
you would see literally everywhere. You’d see it in the demeanor of the people around you to the much more sensible laws and enforcement of such laws.
We have Democrats here too but they can’t be elected to things if they are too crazy.
Also, because of that phenomenon, I know that if I moved to someplace even more sane like a small town in New Hampshire, for example, I would suddenly “see” situational things of which I’m unaware now, living here.
I’m very attracted to some places in Eastern Europe, for example, but those regimes, while interesting to me, don’t have constitutional protections for their relatively sane policies, and therefore could change overnight into hellholes.
But to the question of relocating within the US, I’m thinking that although AZ is pretty OK, compared to Oregon, NH (and maybe TX and FL) is probably the only state which has actively been moving in the right direction for over 20 years.
Let me give you one concrete example of the “Frog in a Pot” blindness:
In Oregon I, and most everyone else, was aware that there were gangs of youths that would just go into a large retail store and steal huge amounts of stuff (this was around 2012, let’s say)
People on both sides of the political spectrum were aware of it. Most were NOT positive about it, of course. Everyone agreed that it was pretty dangerous and destructive to the neighborhoods where it happened.
I and many others, were not aware of why it was happening though.
I, naturally, thought, “Well, when you have liberal policies generally… this is what you get.”
But, what I, and most others didn’t fully understand, was that the City of Portland, had adopted a policy of not arresting and prosecuting these crimes. Much like we are actually hearing about now taking place in many cities around CA. Prosecutors not following the law, and Legislators actually passing laws decriminalizing crime. Police legally not required to dispatch if stolen items from one person are worth less than $1000.
We actually didn’t KNOW about the differences in the laws between a SANE city and OUR city.
And it’s not really until you move when you really realize the difference and see the result of a normal sensible attitude toward crime, as in the above example.
So, I’m going to try to make it to church this week. I failed miserably last Sunday.
I did make it to watch Duck’s live stream at
https://rumble.com/user/DuckHK
which is at a very difficult 11:30 eastern, 8:30 am for me!!!
But it was a fun stream about an hour.
All, y’all should check it out. he’s very good, and he should be much bigger. He manages to get around 100 viewers, but it’s a rather hard time of day. Due to a glitch, the stream got saved twice after finishing and has about 300 views total on it now.
On the Blastwave of Neutrality ™:
It was the phrasing that I can’t accurately replicate, but in essence:
Me: “What?”
“Oh… you mean the shirt?”
“My friend sells them. you have to support your friends, right?”
“Well… I’m not all that political.”
“People keep saying that [regarding Trump going to jail, or whatever]”
[This was true:] “I was going to get a shirt from the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign and then do a podcast comparing the experience, but the Biden campaign was so low engagement, I ended up scrapping the idea, and I NEVER got my Biden Shirt. On the other hand, I had a Trump shirt and a bag full of goodies in under two days.”
(in retrospect, that would have made for an okay video, but I just lost my enthusiasm for the idea.
Anyway, that was my response in a nutshell… although there was a bit more to it than that, if you can use your imagination.
It was Harper that described it as a “Blastwave of Neutrality.”
looks like I can’t STFU today.
It’s because I’ve been working on my CPAP and chinstrap settings by using my FitBit Versa 2. And I finally got a decent quality of sleep for the first time in a week.
I am going to go for the Big Sleep Study again, I’ll be setting that up on Monday, God willing, but who knows how long that’ll take to arrange. That’s what I really need, and if I successfully manage it, I’ll get a modern Cpap machine. I have 4 right now, all circa 2005, I’d guess.
A blessed Sabbath, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, dv8 (and Harper!)!
dv8 -- in re moving out of CA, we’ve talked about it, but I don’t see it happening until retirement. Where? Who knows.
Good luck with your sleep study. I did one once and they stopped it early and put me on a CPAP machine, but I couldn’t tolerate it. It felt like I was drowning.
Off to church. C’yall later!
There’s actually a great trick for tolerating a CPAP.
You simply put it on a couple hours before sleeping on the first night especially, then you read or mess around on your computer or whatever. Since you’re wide awake, you can get used to the pressure and the feeling of restriction. Within 15 minutes or so, your involuntary breathing will get used to it, you keep it on a steady power supply, so you can get in bed whenever you want without turning it off. and then just lie down. By then apart from some unusualness with the mask/nose inserts, etc, it’ll feel pretty normal.
If I wasn’t lucky enough to overhear someone talking about that technique. One patient to another in the waiting room, I never would have been able to use the machine. I’ll bet I’m more funny about having stuff on my face than any of you.
Anyway, water under the bridge at this point, I know, but that’s how you do it, and it really works. You breathe in a different range when the machine is on, and so after some number of minutes or at most, an hour, you don’t even notice the pressure anymore because of that.
and of course, after a week or so, the transition is just like putting on a pair of glasses or something like that. Not a big deal.
There are actually some plusses with using a cpap also, in addition to the not snoring or having stoppage events, and getting much better sleep, etc.
For example, I can sleep with the blankets completely covering me because I have an air supply. Also, because my nose tends to be stuffed up most of the time, the nasal inserts push air in through my nose and opens up my nostrils. So it sorta bypasses the congestion I usually have, and then, the next morning, having had my nose opened up all night, I can breath perfectly all through the day.
It’s a win win for me.
I have to say, it’s definitely worth it for the much better quality sleep you get. You have no idea of the difference in energy and brain power throughout the day, until you experience it for yourself.
Of course, there are some surgeries you can get. They don’t always work, and some are risky, like not being able to swallow if they nick the wrong nerve, that kind of thing. But when they are successful, you no longer have apnea or need the machine anymore.
My apnea is caused by having had Braces as a kid. My Jaw was moved so far back to correct my bite, etc, that about halfway through the procedure, I started having those kind of events, and so did my brother.
I didn’t get the apnea diagnosis though until I was in my 40s. I had a study, in the early 2000s, and I’ve been using the machine ever since.
I’m so intrigued with New Hampshire, I really want to check it out. It’s probably not practical for us, but it would be nice to travel out there and investigate the place.
I hear complaints that Mass. liberals are moving there, like Californians to Oregon or Colorado, and messing things up. Never been there myself but used to know someone from NH.
I’m not too sure, I do follow FreeStateNH on Twitter. They seem to be having enough success with the influx of Libertarian leaning conservatives, etc. that the left is starting to really complain. But it’s such a small state that they can’t get much help nationally,
Their first successful local election was 20 years ago, and a FSer ran as a Democrat, now, they run as Libertarians, Republicans, or whatever party they think they can get a win in. It’s a good strategy, I guess. Obviously, they weren’t successful in creating a mass migration like they wanted to, but they keep attracting people more and more. And there are a number of strategic reasons why NH was chosen for the Free State Project.
Although I’ve been very interested in it, there are lots of people who know a lot more about it than I do.
But Crap! We could sell our $0.5M house in Sedona and buy one for $30K in northern NH and live on the rest. And there are plenty of nice places all over the state that are less than 100K, if I don’t want a fixerupper.
There are reasons why it wouldn’t be practical for us, but it’s very tempting. Very tempting indeed.
Although I’ve been very interested in it, there are lots of people who know a lot more about it than I do.
lol, see what happens when I actually get proper sleep. I write a whole novel on the wheel!!!
Yup, I got church today, I think I’ll make it no problem.
Too bad I already had breakfast. I’m pretty restless, so I’d be inclined to go out early, have breakfast at the grocery store, and then go to church, but I guess, I’ll just go when it’s time. I’ve got about an hour until I really have to get ready, but maybe I’ll do that now.
Made it to church, yay! I’m so much more alert today owning to last nights sleep going pretty well, all things considered.