Topics

A variety of maps, writings, and photos on a various topics that can’t easily be categorized into a county or place.

Should kids be allowed cell phones in schools? 🚸 🔕

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I don’t think so but I also don’t think children should be allowed to have cell phones at all. I get that’s a hard sell these days when every other child has a phone – and I would have been cranky had cell phones been a thing when I was child and I wasn’t allowed to have one.

But I think technology is harmful to children and I think it best that kids grow up with as little as possible. I’m not convinced that home internet or television is healthy for anyone, though I see the benefit of at least parents having access to the outside world via the internet. But it should be in a controlled fashion with the youth finding other ways to entertain themselves like playing outdoors.

Forked Mountain – 1907/1910

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Prior to the 1920s, there was no road developed along the east side of the Scanadaga River north of wells heading up to Speculator, just a foot path. What would become NY 8 would run along the south-east side of East Branch of the Scanadaga River, and Gilmantown Road was the main route from Wells to Spectulator.

Does smoking pot make you more creative?

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That’s the answer I’ve been trying to get a consensus on by searching the internet, reading books and watching YouTube. I’ve also been experimenting myself, trying to take in the experience and see when and when it does not make me more creative.

People are very opinionated on this matter. My experience with getting high is the experience is what you make of it and ensuring you consume the right amount of a good satvia strain. Some strains are marketed towards creativity but with all things getting high, it’s what you put into it. Getting high amplifies and distorts the signals slightly in your brain but it doesn’t on its own create new, creative ideas or put you in the mood to be extra creative.

The truth is when you are high, it’s really hard to think clearly enough and to write down your thoughts. But as the high wears off – and you have consumed the cannabis in moderation – you do get a feeling of creativity, unburdened by fears of the past and future which too often put a clamp on the creative mind. Pot doesn’t make the world colorful or sparkle but it does enhance the colors and details including the glistening leaves and water. It frees you of the baggage of all you carry in the mind allowing you to tune into the now.

Zen Buddhism

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Zen Buddhism is rooted in several core principles that guide its practice and philosophy. Here are some of the key principles:

1. **Mindfulness and Presence**: Zen emphasizes being fully present in the moment, focusing on immediate experience without distraction or attachment to past or future concerns.

2. **Simplicity**: Zen values simplicity in thought and action. This principle is reflected in its minimalistic approach to life and practices, aiming to strip away complexities and distractions.

3. **Direct Experience**: Zen teaches that enlightenment and understanding come from direct, personal experience rather than theoretical knowledge or scholarly study.

4. **Meditation (Zazen)**: Central to Zen practice is zazen, or seated meditation, which involves sitting in a specific posture and focusing on the breath or a koan (a paradoxical question or statement used to provoke insight).

5. **Non-Duality**: Zen promotes the understanding that dualistic concepts like self and other, or good and bad, are illusory. It emphasizes the interconnectedness and unity of all things.

6. **Self-Discovery**: The path to enlightenment is seen as a journey of self-discovery and self-realization. Zen encourages individuals to look within themselves to understand their true nature.

7. **Non-Attachment**: Zen teaches the importance of non-attachment to desires, outcomes, or personal ego. Letting go of attachments is seen as a way to achieve inner peace and clarity.

These principles collectively guide practitioners towards a direct, experiential understanding of reality and a life of mindfulness and simplicity.

What is happiness?

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You know that’s a really profound question that I really yet to find the answer to. While I didn’t view my dream of what is a good life – the off-grid homestead – as materialistic now I’m coming to the sad realization that it mostly is. Happiness is ultimately not what you buy – be it a big screen TV, pigs and cattle or a tractor with a manure spreader – but your ability to find Zen and meaning in the now.

For too often I’ve been consumed with the thoughts of tomorrow, planning for that house on the hill with that burn barrel out back and cows mooing in the field with the big jacked up truck and four wheelers in the front yard. Maybe not the glamorous homesteads you see in the magazine but some working land. All the thinking of the accrued benefits of hardwork and saving. I was concerned about the memories of the past. But maybe those things don’t matter as much as I used to think they once did.

There is no time but the present. It’s not to say that the past has no impact on the present or that today’s actions won’t impact tomorrow. But in many ways those things are meaningless as the only thing that exists is the present. That said, I still continue to work for the future even while I try to find more of now.

What would my dream homestead look like? 🐐

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As I continue to look at properties that is a question that remains top of mind.

I have a really two things that remain top priority – wood heat and land that is largely unrestricted for ordinary rural things like homesteading and bonfires. If I’m not going to be traveling and spending time in the wilderness, I want to be able to have fires all the time and not be cold in the winter. I’m tired of freezing my ass off all winter in my apartment but I’m also not interested in making the fossil fuel companies and richer. I don’t want neighbors nearby bitching me out or calling the jack booted thugs because I’m making a little bit of smoke, I’m butchering an animal for meat, livestock smells like livestock or something in my yard isn’t there idea of pretty. I’d love to produce more of my own food and get away from all this packaging and put as much of the fertility from food scraps and manure back into my own land.

I really hate fancy yuppie looking shit, I’d much rather have things that are practical and serve my needs. Ideally the house I own would be as small and simple as possible so I don’t accumulate stuff. A single room with a stove, utility sink, small table, rocking chair, and a bed. Maybe a small bathroom and shower, mostly for compliance with health department regulations, as I’m more than fine with an outhouse and an heated outdoor shower even in the winter for a sauna like experience. Cold is fine if the shower is hot and you can retreat to warm cabin. I’d like to be fully off grid with small solar too but that adds another layer of complexity to finding the right property and getting all relevant government approvals.

And obviously I have to be with 30 miles or 45 minutes of where I work in Menands. That alone is a big constraint, but I need my good paying job to pay for life, especially now that I’m the director and my team depends on me. While a lot can change in the coming weeks and even years, I believe my position is likely to be my final position in the company but if I work hard and deliver results to my clients, the company will continue to provide for my needs.

The thing is so many of the houses and properties that I’ve looked at have involved compromises, many too far from where I work. I am continuing to evaluate both what’s on the market and might be abandoned or the owner would be willing to sell and obtainable – along with land and having a small and emphasize simple cabin built to my specifications. Yet I have a lot of reservations about developing previously wild lands, even if I rip out invasive species and emphasize native species and livestock that work with the land rather than against it. That’s why I would much prefer to restore an existing property, especially one that has been damaged through dumping, abandonment, invasive species or excessive grazing and tillage.

I’m Not High, I’m High on life

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This is one of the stupidist phrases created by the drug warriors, most of which have never been high before. As if being high was some kind of fakery and that the real didn’t exist while you were high. That the altered perspective isn’t reality. But it is – just a different view of reality.

I see nothing wrong with getting high after work or when you are settled down on vacation. Indeed if it gives you more clarity in life, a chance to reflect without anxious fears of your past and future, it’s better. Zen is an essential part of living and planning for a better tomorrow.