And the news was… No service changes! 🚍

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And the news was… No service changes! 🚍

With remote work ending for most state employees, myself included, and schools going fully back to inperson, I was sure that they would restore full bus service during rush hours, bringing back the 15 or 20 minutes service to CDTA Route 18 and restoring the express Route 719.

But it didn’t happen.

Maybe the authority is taking a wait and see approach come next week and see how truly much passengers return come September. Some customers after all might be uncomfortable riding the bus at this point with Delta, and are driving to work. Other riders might have tragically secumb to the virus. A few might still have the remote option although that seems few and far apart for students and state workers.

Its hard to say. They did bring back the school and college shuttles but no other changes to service levels. So I guess there were some changes but no big ones for sure.

R language

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I can’t decide if R language is really that much better then Python data science packages, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to learn R. People certainly have their strong opinions on R but it’s quite popular these days. Many people like 538 use both, as each have their strengths.

Citizen enforcement and the Texas Abortion Laws 🤱

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Citizen enforcement and the Texas Abortion Law 🤱

I never understood the controversy over abortion, after all its not a tax or a mandate. It’s actually a relatively inexpensive and simple outpatient procedure, costing less than $500, which is virtually nothing in the world of over inflated healthcare bills due to negotiated rates of insurers. It is the ending of a life but a rather meaningless one as personal not born has yet to experience all the sounds, colors and feelings of the world around them.

That said, at one level I kind of like the Texas Abortion Law – namely its citizen enforcement procedures. People and organizations should have the right to go to court and enforce the law when the government workers – the police, the District Attorney, the Attorney General or agency lawyers fail to enforce the law. Often government workers aren’t motivated to enforce the law due to political considerations. That’s when the public should have the right to step in.

On the other hand, there is a big problem with the Texas Abortion Law. It is an end run around the constitution – an attempt to use the lower standards applied to civil cases to enforce an otherwise unconstitutional law if implemented by the state. The government shouldn’t be in the business of violating peoples rights by devious ways.

When Is The Best Time To Start Your Agricultural Journey | Mara Fielder | Checkered Acres Farm

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OFI 1155: When Is The Best Time To Start Your Agricultural Journey | Mara Fielder | Checkered Acres Farm

8/20/21

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/127372723
Episode: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/offincome/Off_Farm_Income–Episode_1155_Mara_Fielder-071721.mp3?dest-id=215568

If you are seeking an agricultural/farming lifestyle, and you know it from a young age what is the best way to go about achieving it? One school of thought would suggest that you take a job, save your money and buy your farm when it is economically feasible for you to do so. This is what I did. I knew that I wanted to have my own farm when I was about 18 years old, and twenty years later my wife and I finally bought one. There is the other school of thought however, and that way of thinking about it says to get started right now and build slowly over time. My guest today, Mara Fielder, and her husband Brandon are subscribing to that school of thought, and they are thinking outside of the box to get this done. Mara and Brandon are currently leasing sixteen acres from Mara’s grandparents where they had been raising bees, boarding horses and providing riding lessons. However, a series of unexpected events derailed that process. Mara’s step-father is allergic to bees, and this led to some conflict in the family and the loss of the bee hives. Then Covid struck, and Mara lost her clients who were concerned about their horses being infected because she was still working in the community as a teacher. This kind of left Mara and Brandon back at square one, wondering how they would move to the next step. They didn’t allow this to get them down however. They are young, have energy and ideas and they are pushing forward. Currently they are living in town, looking for land that they can buy. In the meantime they have come up with an idea of a series of books for children that highlights the careers that a traditionally dominated by men but that women have found success in. The series is called “Girls Can Too” and they are in the process of being published right now. This original idea inspired a follow up idea of a book series profiling career choices normally dominated by women that men can succeed in. In this interview Mara and I speak about their goals, the setbacks they have already encountered and she and Brandon’s vision for the future. It is great to see the journey from this perspective and understand how they are planning to make this come true!

I am a big fan of the Off Farm Income podcast. I think he has a lot of insight on the rural and farming lifestyle and how to get there.