A two state solution?
I’ve sat on the Canada – United States border marker at the Gulf Unique Area in the Town of Mooers, many years ago. I mean, who hasn’t sat in two countries at once?
Shed-to-Homes and Cabins
I often read a lot about alternative living arrangements from the modern suburbanite way of living. I don’t want a 3,000 square feet home with vinyl siding, I’d be quite happy with a small floor plan structure that is easy to clean. I’ve been reading a lot about cabins, tiny homes, shed-to-home and off-grid-living to see what kind of options are available today. Lots of land, tiny house is what I would prefer. Shelter is important,
The Shed-to-Homes, which are popping up like daisies in the rural south are quite interesting. They are a little more problematic in the north due to concerns over snow-loading, insulation, and zoning codes due to size of the beams they’re built with — below the 6 inches state code requires. They can be done, and I’ve seen them done in a few places of Rural New York but they’re a bit challenging to get approved with state and local codes, especially if they are a permanent foundation. That said, I’m not really interested in setting down roots in New York State. Too expensive, too many regulations, too anti-second amendment and too opposed to self-reliance. It’s fine living in an apartment in New York, but it’s not my future.
Some of the smaller cabins I’ve seen are quite nice too. I was very impressed with the Thomas Mountain Cabin that the DEC recently burnt to the ground and hauled off to thel andfill. Cabins are typically much more robust structure, and free of some of the formaldehyde treated wood that is commonly used to build the shed-to-homes. They are somewhat more expensive, and pre-built you are a lot more limited to customizing the building. I want to go totally off-grid and minimalist. A so complicated, full-featured cabin is not something I’m really interested in. I would rather have something I could do the wiring myself on, primarily focused on 12 volt, low voltage, low amperage design primarily for LED-based lighting and a few higher amperage drawing things like an energy-efficient refrigerator/freezer, water pump, and a laptop charger.
Tiny homes more generally are interesting too. The smaller the home, the easier to heat with wood or maybe anthracite coal. Well insulated building, they will use a lot less fuel and can be heated with smaller fires. Less area to clean and maintain, less area to collect stuff that becomes clutter. I’m not into all of the fancy artsy designs, I’m more concerned with what is durable, inexpensive, and easy to clean. My truck camper is nice, but it’s not insulated, it’s unheated and it’s a bit to small to really spend much time in except for bedtime.
Whatever I end up doing, once I have the money, knowledge and technical capacity, it’s not going to be the boring conventional way of living. I want to have my freedom, not be dependent on the fossil-fuel grid or all of the modern ways that people take for granted. I want to be able to have money for nice toys like four wheelers and guns, be able to burn wood and trash, shoot guns and ride four wheelers in my backyard, and just be left alone by the government.
A Hofsteader Quote
“Any historian of warfare knows it is in good part a comedy of errors and a museum of incompetence; but if for every error and every act of incompetence one can substitute an act of treason, many points of fascinating interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination.”
— Richard Hofsteader, The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Ride Sharing Should Be Carpooling
I hate the euthanasism of ride sharing – which is a limousine service that is dispatched by a phone app.
Real ride sharing is called carpooling. Already many government agencies offer hotlines and provide park and ride lots for carpooling. There should be better apps for carpooling because apps would be a great way for people to meet who are heading the same direction and could share a ride. Meet new friends, save gas, reduce traffic and pollution.
Ideally a carpool app would be linked into government databases at the DMV to ensure people are meeting up with safe drivers and that passengers and drivers aren’t violent criminals. While administering such a database and credentialing drivers and passengers wouldn’t be free, it would be in the public’s interest to make such a service free for the public to use.
A publicly run app based carpooling service, using GPS tracking and with proper credentialing of drivers and riders would be a very good step forward for every state to adapt.
I am bored with Facebook ads.
That’s why my house was robbed that I am thinking about buying a house and a new car, which I will need car insurance for and a better home security system for my elderly parents looking for assisted living as they recover from the theft of COVID-19 in the local nursing home by the young men who recently bought motorcycles. I am also thinking about saving money in an IRA after eating lunch at McDonald’s after discussing my retirement options after the breaking and entering of my Occupus television set which I can’t decide whether FIOS or Spectrum cable is better for watching ESPN or cellphone service. My plumbing is bad but I want solar energy so I can be green and recycle my trash for less.
Are savings bonds a good investment? I don’t know I have want to wealthy so I can buy a Cadillac or Tesla after my car is totalled and needs a lot of body work. I was driving drunk after having too much bottled water from Aquifina and Coca Cola. It’s fought to get my children into catholic pre-kindergarten but I’m worried about pedophile priests educating the impoverished children about the tea party. I got overcharged at my oil change – I was told it was a felony to have my brakes serviced and coated with nalaxone and overcome my opiod addiction for Cyber Monday deals. My glasses are fogged up but I don’t have any contact lens left and need to reorder with Verizon.
How about clean coal and good paying jobs in oil and gas industry, so I can fill up my Chevy Bolt for less money as long as I can afford the repairs but I’m hoping my Section 8 voucher and Medicaid insurance will pay for the mortgage a luxury condeminum in Clifton Park. Assuming my Cadillac doesn’t die and I’m injured in a car crash with a Ford, I will be buying more organic foods from leading almond milk producers to go with my high technology Apple iPhone that is being shipped via FedEx and the USPS through the Amazon website, which they are providing me with cloud analytics for less than what it costs to watch two hours of news with Joe Biden who plans to Make America Great Again after many years of Donald Trump’s banking services and hotels.
Thanks for reading. I am sure this is a very meaningful post to the Facebook algorithms.
Socially Defined Context of Smell
It’s often funny how much of our world is defined by socially learned context of smell. 👃🏽 A lot of babies eat poop, they aren’t all horrified by smell of their own poop — at least until they’re yelled out by the mom and told gross.
Non-farm people think honeywagons spreading manure really stink, 💩 mainly because their parents told them poop is nasty, and hydrogen sulfide tickles their nose in the wrong way. Farm people might instead joke, it’s the smell of money — maybe pungent but it’s the best stuff to make the crops grow really well and provide the chance of passing a profit or at least surviving. After a while, manure becomes almost unnoticeable or at least not very pungent to those who live out in the country.
Smell is very much part of our lives, 🌽 and so much of it is based on what we think is good or bad. Silage smells wonderful to farmers, as they know it will make for healthy cows and livestock that produce a lot of milk and meat. As does fresh cut hay and other crops. Non-farm people might smell the same thing and either have a negative impression or a neutral impression.
Whether it’s sewage treatment plant, the landfill, the barnyard, 🐄 so much of it based on our context and our experience. When you learn that smell isn’t natural but based on the context you give to things, it will give you a totally different way of looking at things — not based on whether or not something is pungent but what the real impacts of human activity are.