Camping at the Finger Lakes National Forest – July 30, 2024
Down to Watkins Glen in a bit after a quiet day yesterday down in Ithaca and a night time bike ride. Fun times, thoughts on many things from homesteading to Cannabis to freedom!
Your House Smells Like Cat Pee?
That’s what one of the advertisers on my blog is pushing. I don’t particularly like cats, but then again I see little value in keeping animals that you won’t eat or beneficially use such as an outside dog or donkey for livestock protection.
Independence Day Comes and Goes 🦅
I guess nothing is left except government dependency at this point. And tax cuts for billionaires.
Another cold start to the day. 🥶 I’m wearing a hoodie and jeans this morning and it’s still cold. I did go for a float on the East Canada Creek for a few hours yesterday evening ⭕ but with the breeze as soon as I got out of the water it was pretty cold. Rode over to the Potholers and hung out there until dusk, 🚲 but even then was pretty cool.
Buggy like usual this time of year, 🪰 though the cold weather kind of helped with that. Went to House Pond for a while and spent a lot of time reading 📖 and some smoking pot and listening to audio books. Also several videos and audios about off-grid solar and raising livestock. Spent some time writing down my thoughts on things. It’s so nice having the hammock though with the bugs I’ve been using the hammock screen which I don’t love that much. By later in July the bugs should be mostly done.
Independence Day 🇺🇸 I spent down at the Potholers until 9 pm, came back to camp and had a fire, lit some sparklers 🧨 and ground fountains and had a fire, 🔥 a good one, burnt up that broken falling apart milk carton that I stored waste paper in which was pretty much falling apart at this time. Giggled 🤭 a bit and went to bed early as my eyes 👀 were rather irritated.
I was going to go for a bike ride 🚲 up to Stratford but the hills kind of pushed me back and I realized I probably need to swap out and lubricate he front cable for the derailuer before that shifts well. Maybe today I’ll ride up that way but I almost just prefer a short hike and swimming 🏊 and more reading and thinking. Maybe today tide up that way but I also think today will be warmer and better for more swimming.
The Trump Alternative is David Hogg and Gretchen Witmer?
That is what is in the news today, at least in the pages of the Gray Lady, the New York Times. Apparently, if we don’t like Trump the alternative is no better. A sign of the times.
The New York Times writes about how conservatives point out Hogg’s more outlandish views like a 100% tax on all wealth beyond $1 billion and his making the case that all drugs should be legal. But I’m more concerned about his radical left views on gun control and taking away people’s rights to keep and bear and arms. Gretchen Witmer, the other alternative put forward by the Gray Lady doesn’t seem much more attractive in my mind either.
But on the other hand, I don’t like Trump’s turn against science and reality. Things like climate change and international trade are a reality, economists and scientists have studied such things to death and it’s advisable not to turn on our backs on what the evidence says. I also don’t like the idea of slashing and burning of federal government – federal employees do a lot of important tasks and produce a lot of important data – even if maybe the defense and federal law enforcement agencies are bloated and are prosecuting too many people.
Indeed, after listening to the news last night I awoke to a dream that the FBI was knocking at my door. They wouldn’t tell me where they were taking me or why they were there, except to say you know. They said it was part of President’s enforcement targeted actions against his political opponents. You know the ones the federal government is upholding, further delegitimizing the federal government. I’ve always thought government workers, especially the police and military are held into much too high of esteem for their highly compensated and honored government positions, when there are many jobs in the private sector just as dangerous and difficult but without the Memorial Day Parades. I did not comply, I was put down by a government enforcer with a bullet to my heart by the brave government workers, as the news reported. “He was crazy, we are not guilty, it’s been going on for 10,000 years,” goes the Great Mandela.
Truth is I agree that there ought to be more balance in academia, but the way to do that is not to stop funding colleges. I was listening to Elza Klein’s interview of Tom Friedman last night and he was pointing out the absurdity of how Trump is approaching China. Cutting funds to research institutions and blocking innovation in solar and wind power in favor of old dirty coal and oil power plants is setting our country so far beyond, as the European Union and especially China invest in their educational institutions and advanced technology. The idea that society can move forward on dubious Artificial Intelligence powered by coal and people driving in dirty gasoline and diesel automobiles seems absurd when we know the realities of climate change, which certainly anybody who has ever gone outside knows.
I do think federal priorities should encourage more study in economics and business – along with hard sciences – it’s true the liberal social sciences have gotten a lot of intention, and too often researchers mix politics in what they do. Often scientists are compelled to speak out based on their results, when the truth is they should be focused on the research and not the politics. Bias is an enormous problem in academia and scientific research more generally – but if anything we need to attract more voices by funding a wide variety of topics and people with different perspectives rather then cutting funding.
That said, I am not very political at this point. Honestly, we all have to live through the Trump administration, to get all riled up about it just means we are double sufferers – both our angst over the policies and what it’s actually doing to our lives. I’d rather just say the course, focus on my life and my career, save and invest in hope of eventually owning my own land and that off-grid cabin. Living out in the country, having pigs, goats, or even cattle, and a burn barrel for trash isn’t a super controversial thing, especially in a true rural place in a non-woke state where people just let you live how you want to live and own whatever guns you want without asking government permission. I can’t change Washington, much less Albany or the Town of Bethlehem but I can change my own life, and I can choose to eventually move somewhere that suits my values with less governmental overreach, lower taxes and more freedom. But for now it’s off to work, make money and invest it to a better tomorrow.
How I got so hooked on caffeine ☕
As the extreme jitters and heart palpitations got underway last week when I was stressed at work, I realized I really need to cut back on the amount of caffeine I’m consuming. It’s part of reason I often wake up in the middle of the night, why I find myself having to poop and pee so much. And I end up dehydrated and can even have cramps despite drinking so much coffee, especially at camp where there is also some beer drinking going on.
For years I’ve had coffee in the morning. Indeed, when I got the percolator that I use on my stove top 10 or 15 years ago, I ended up getting the smaller one as I though the big one was too large. Often even with the small one, I would have left over coffee that I would either reheat or drink cold the next day, especially in the summer heat. I enjoyed a cup or maybe too, but rarely more then that.
Then I got to point in life when I wanted to cut back on calories, and coffee seemed like a low calorie to start one’s morning without orange juice. It also meant less plastic garbage to burn, or when I buying the concentrated stuff, not having to deal with recycling the metal ends. Coffee seemed like a fairly guilt-free, healthy way to get morning started. Yes, I’d use a 1/8th or 1/4 cup of skim milk in it, but relatively few calories there, compared to orange juice or milk. I like to have a beverage to wash down breakfast.
Which was fine, but it started my journey down drinking more and more coffee each day. Then with COVID and remote work, I started getting up, especially on days when I would work from camp. I would leave often at 6 or 7 in the morning, to head up early to camp so I could get set up before work hours started. Then I started getting up early, as I found I woke up early and wanted more time to do cooking before work, getting up most days at 5 AM. At that early hour, I was tired, so I turned to more coffee.
For a while when traveling, I started to get those 5-hour energy shots, as a way to get my jolt for driving without having to find so many restrooms along the way. But they were expensive, and a lot of plastic trash I was trying to avoid in my life. Then I discovered Jet Alert caffeine pills. Not only do they give you a good jolt without excessive pissing for road trips, they are a lot of fun to mix with marijuana up at camp, so you have a giggly good time, without falling asleep and feeling so tired while getting high up in wilderness. Cannabis and coffee really can improve your high, if your looking for a europhic experience.
Then I moved up to the suburban office with the free, unlimited coffee provided by the agency. It had been years since I worked in a corporate-style office with free, unlimited coffee, and that was good way to get in another one or two or three cups in each morning, because well my employer was paying for it. And after riding to work, the caffeine started to wear off. Likewise, when I worked up at campaign committee, they also had a steady supply free of Red Bull, Kureig and sometimes just old fashioned drip coffee flowing. I stay away from the Red Bull unless it’s the sugar free stuff, but it’s still more coffee. Some mornings when I want more to get moving, I’ll open up some of those Jet Alert pills. They’re so cheap and caffeinated.
Truth is though I need to cut back. I started doing caffeine-free Sundays, choosing to skip making coffee on Sunday mornings for better sleep to start off the work week. I don’t always stay with that now, as it can be miserable for a coffee addict like me, but most mornings I do try to do a few less cups of coffee – often just one at home and work – but it’s tough. I also try to drink more water in the morning and a work, to avoid drinking so much coffee. But if it’s keeping me up at night, and giving me severe jitters, I really should be cutting back. But caffeine is fun.
Truth is that the US tax system is going to need a revamp before 2030s 💰
There is a lot of talk about the Trump tax code being made permanent but nothing is permanent in the law, even if there is no set out, explicit sunset date in the tax code. But it’s not permanent or necessarily long lasting.
Social security needs more money to keep paying out the promised benefits with more people retiring and costs going up in the program. While Congress can do a year by year transfer from the General Fund to cover the gap, that is not a sustainable option. They need to consider tax collections and how to get more revenue into the system.
There are many ways they could address the shortfall. Benefit cuts are possible but likely very unpopular as people have paid into the system their whole lives. A carbon tax is an option as is boosting taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations. Or they might choose a broader tax that taxes workers more though that would likely be the second least popular option after benefit cuts.
We know what’s in the tax levels are today. But all tax laws are subject to change based on the party in power and ultimately public opinion and the voters who elects these leaders.