Category: Opinion

January 5, 2023 – Happy New Years… You Deserve What You Get

January 5, 2023 /

These 20 new Oregon laws are going into effect in 2023 (msn.com)

I don’t know why I get suckered into paying attention to this stuff. It doesn’t change the water temperature in my pool. On the other hand, it is really revealing and annoying the things that our government finds important and spends our money on. Here is a summary of the nonsense.

LawGrade (-/0/+)Analysis
Newborn Home Visits to be Reimbursed–Forces insurers to include up to three home visits in plans. Read: Spend more of other’s money
Lower the cost of one day fishing license0I am all for making fishing more accessible but that money goes for conservation.
Restitution payments to victims first +Victims are paid before court costs. Sounds like the intent of restitution
Department of Education composition matches state demographics–Like all affirmative action, I am not in favor quotas. Let’s focus on feeling better rather than results.
Workers compensation cannot be suspended without prior notification0Seems fair. I am sure most of this was used on people that probably milked the system
School board members must provide any conflict of interest, source of income, etc.–I am all for transparency, when equally applied. Why are we picking on one group specifically? What about all politicians?
Red light tickets can be issued by a clerk, not just an officer–I don’t believe in cameras. I don’t believe in lowering standards.
Department of Education will use standardized testing to develop future plans and measure effectiveness–So, they weren’t doing this already? And what have they been doing?
Dental coverage offed to members of COFA and do not qualify for the Oregon Health plan–These are non-US citizens that are earning less than 138% of the US poverty rate. What the…?
Evidence collected in a sexual assault investigation must contain a medical examination form0So, we were collecting samples without any associated information? Seems like we shouldn’t but a law was necessary?
The word Alien is now replaced with non-citizen0I guess this is so we can tell the difference of intent between space aliens and non-citizens if future law.
New position of Child Support Referee created. Can have adjudication powers0I don’t know enough about this or the system to know if this is good or bad. Presumably this adjust the judicial system burden.
Unlicensed real estate agent fines increase–I am not in favor of enforcing cartels. From my experience real estate agents don’t deserve what they get and there is no legal requirement to use one.
Voter registration can use Social Security Cards to verify identity–What a great idea. Let’s add more uncertainty into the process. Do you know how many people I know that have had their identity stolen?
Defines benefit year as Jan 1 with 52 contiguous weeks0Fine. We need to have common definitions for all of our entitlements.
Employers will require five days notice to force employees to work overtime–It is a wonder that there are any employers in this state.
Expands the list of occupational diseases for firefighters+This includes volunteer firefighters. I think first responders deserve some respect. It would be better to not have a list at all.
Restricts the amount of regulation local government can place on alarm systems and electric fences+Finally, something that actually restricts government.
Expands workers comp beneficiary list0In these days of gender/identity crisis, why not. My man servant deserves to be taken care of if I depart this earth. If we are going to sanctify this nonsense, we need to support it.

Generally speaking, there is really nothing that is actually important here. I suppose legal clarity reduces loopholes and things but it is really amazing how many people really don’t understand the phrase ‘shall not be infringed’. For some reason, they interpret that to mean shall not be infringed in gerrymandered set of parameters like except if it is fully automatic or has a magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds or it is black or whatever.

My point is we can say something is that we can make a law that the sky is blue but then we will still have people that want to argue all of the fringe elements. Like, well it is actually black at night or gray when it rains or red at sunset. It is a never ending series of definition/loophole/denial or whatever process happens. So, while I ranked all clarification laws as neutral, they really should get a futile ranking.

There is something about incompetent’s ‘fixing their mistakes’. Have you ever observed this in real time? I have. The first thing is that they don’t actually understand the problem(s). But, like the Dutch Boy plugging the leaks, once they stick their finger in the hole, the other hand is high fiving anyone who walks by. The people walking by have spent the last hour staring at their phone and only look up to see our hero has plugged the leak while there are twenty five leaks behind them and a hundred ahead. After the high five, they go back to their phones and walk right through the mess.

End Your Programming Routine: I have to apologize. I think I got triggered when I read the list of laws that were going into effect. I shouldn’t be surprised or upset that idiots do idiotic things, it is their nature. I should have never looked at the list, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know what new fun I was in store for. And now you do too.

December 27, 2022 – Test Post From Rumble

December 27, 2022 /

I got a chuckle out of this… very creative. I thought that I would see if I could embed this for fun. So I did and it works. I also like the fact that it plays natively in my feed rather than moving to another site.

December 8, 2022 – D-Day is Here and We Are on the Ledge

December 8, 2022 /

Today is the day that Oregon Measure 114 is supposed to go into effect. Boy, has it been a ride. Most of this I have written as time elapsed through this process. As the calendar neared the end of November, the instant background checks were backed up as high as a 20,000 person waiting list. Things were so congested that gun stores started crumbling by mid-November. I saw posts as early as November 17 that stores were no longer accepting orders as they had more than they could fill before this date.

In my local store, there are no firearms for sale. Everything that was on the walls and in the display cabinet is gone. They also are not taking online orders due to volume at this time. Some stores are choosing to follow the letter of the law and release firearms after three days of back-up. That is assuming that they have inventory to sell.

On December 5, we now have 42,000 background checks waiting with Oregon State Police (OSP). They are predicting that many of these will not be cleared before December 8. Once the measure goes into effect, applicants will have to start over with the new process. This means that any person wishing to purchase a firearm will have to be licensed by the county sheriff.

There are at least four lawsuits filed waiting to be heard The first one that had an initial hearing December 2 was sponsored by Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF). National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) along with National Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) has filed another. The 2nd Amendment Foundation in conjunction with two county Sheriffs have filed a third. Even Sportsman’s Warehouse and Yamhill County Sheriff have filed a lawsuit.

Each lawsuit has a different bend to it. We have the constitutionality of the premise in the first place, questions about magazine capacity being banned while in ‘common use’ and effectively a defacto ban on firearms because there is no such permitting process in place. We are waiting to see if a temporary injunction will be issued by December 8 until a full hearing is in place.

I am going to make a prediction here. I think that the law is eventually going to stand. As long as the criteria is uniformly understood and applied, it is going to hold up. The reason that Bruen lost in the supreme court was that there was no practical way of exercising 2nd amendment rights. I don’t see regulating to a large extent as removing the right. I hope I am wrong, but that is my prediction.

I have been taking some temperatures on local forums. The overwhelming attitude (90%) is non-compliance. Or said another way, most people are not standing in line to get training to purchase another firearm. This is one slice and one look, but I really don’t see how this is going to work out for them. The talk has been get what you can get now and forget the rest. I am not going to share much in the way of strategy because people can look that up for themselves. I am not going to be the one that spoils the dish so to speak.

Given that most of the forum members are not signing up for ‘training’ there have been several discussions about moving. Again, the prevailing opinion is that this is going to go everywhere. I am afraid that they are right. While I do believe that the ‘Red’ states are going to be the last to fall, the overall trend is freedom is not valued. If it were, how could we even have half of the national debates that we actually have?

To make matters more complicated, the Secretary of State is saying that Measure 114 is legitimate from a vote count an legal standpoint while the Attorney General is saying that the measure is currently unenforceable. The Secretary of State is asking for a two month extension while all signs point to the measure going into effect.

As of December 7, at least two preliminary injections have been ruled. The first was dismissed; this was the lawsuit brought by OFF. The second was approved for a one month stay. The purpose of this delay is because the state is not ready to enact the measure at this point. Once again, we are marching toward enactment.

End Your Programming Routine: Maybe I should have read the measure more closely. I have now come to realize that there is no provision for confiscation or outright barring of magazines which I previously believed (this is akin to bumpstocks, once deemed illegal they were forbidden, period). That being said, I have plenty of range work to do in the next couple of years where I don’t have the desire to purchase a new firearm until I get done gathering data with what I currently have. I do have some desires to trade up but that can also wait. This leaves me in a position that I can probably wait out my kids final couple years in school before moving. So, I am taking everything day by day at this point.

November 30, 2022 – The Case For an Outdoor Cat

November 30, 2022 /

I have written about the fact that I grew up rurally. It was also the case that no animals lived inside the house. We had a dog that we would let in on a rug by the door, but she went back outside before bed. All cats were outside cats. They were kind of pets and mostly feral.

I am a big believer that cats have a job around the home. Their job is to keep vermin at bay outside the house. In the picture above, you can see Leo got himself a rat.

Growing up, we had mice and moles. I never remember having them inside the house. Here is seems like we have rats and squirrels (as well as skunks, possum and raccoon). Both like to think that they have the right to come in from time to time. I can say that our one outside cat is a pathetic excuse for a hunter. In the ten years that we have had her, we have had very little production like maybe 5 mice total. I have eliminated more than that myself.

Leo is about a year and a half. He has recently decided that he would like to spend more time outside than inside, which is fine by me. Our only true worry is that we live on a very busy road and we have had more than one cat hit by a car. At this point, it is very difficult to stop him from going out, so I guess we will leave things up to fate.

When we first got married, we got a kitten we named Spunky. Spunky was one tough dude. I one time observed him chasing a fox when we lived in South Carolina. He was a true defender of the home and he saw snakes, lizards, rabbits and bugs as well as mice as his prey. Unfortunately, he got hit by a car about fifteen years ago. Every since then, we have been searching for a cat that would take his job seriously.

I don’t know how to pick them and I don’t know the secret to getting a good cat. I will say both Spunky and Leo were obtained as kittens. But so were others that have done little to nothing. Our one shelter cat was a wreck that peed everywhere and ran off and died after about six months. He had some serious disease issues as we spent hundreds trying to get him right. I guess the secret is to keep trying.

We pay for pest service. I have followed all the advice including eliminating the compost pile. The experts say that vermin can get into a building with a whole the size of a quarter. Part of the problem is animals like squirrels create their own holes. I don’t believe that a cat is going to kill a squirrel, but I do believe that they will chase and hunt them and reduce their presence.

The best cats are the ones that go in and out in my opinion. They have confidence to have some affection like a pet and security that they are going to be OK around humans. The feral cats tend to be extremely skittish around people and will never allow themselves to be caught for things like vet care. They also seem to be relatively low on the pest elimination scale. I don’t know if it is the desire to please the owner or survival instinct that makes them behave that way.

End Your Programming Routine: I have heard that cats outside devastate the bird population as the prime argument for keeping them inside. I have seen birds killed, but I find that to be rare compared to the other animals. Around my house, there are a lot of starlings that I would also like to see killed so I am hoping to see more birds quite frankly. I guess I am not saying that they don’t have a negative impact but I think their overall good outweighs the bad. I am all for keeping the pest control outside, that is worth having a good cat.

October 19, 2022 – Electric Yard Tools

October 19, 2022 /

I will be honest, I have had a long held prejudice against yard tools that are powered with a cord. Things I have used would be things like chainsaws, hedge trimmers, string trimmers and leaf blowers. I can now add rototiller to the list.

It’s not that these items don’t work, they do. And quite frankly they are often times significantly, more inexpensive then the cordless relatives. I guess my opinion stems originally from a Black & Decker hedge trimmer that my dad has owned my entire life. This was something we usually had to deal with once a year as kids. And multiple times the cord was cut because you are thrashing around in the brush and the cord gets tangled in the brush and around other plants.

With the advent of battery powered yard tools and my older age, I am starting to change my opinion. For one, I don’t own enough property or do enough work to justify gas powered tools. The truth is, I don’t do enough yard work to replace my gas tools with battery tools (or even own either type of them). My Stihl chainsaw has been really good but other things like lawnmowers and trimmers gum up, crack up or fail due to lack of use.

The nice thing about electric is that there is very little maintenance required, so it is ready to go when you want it. Whereas, I am often wondering if my gas powered equipment will start or run every time I go to use it.

Last year, when I was cleaning out my father-in-laws stuff, I took his electric cultivator. I forgot that I even had it until I was trying to figure out how to get some ground worked up quickly to do some overseeding. I have to say that I was pretty impressed at how it did. My mom has had Mantis tiller for years and I really thought it was worthless from what I have used.

Yes, the cord was in the way but based on my usage pattern, the small inconvenience is worth not trying to do it by hand. This is definitely not something I would have ever purchased, however maybe this is the kick in the ass to get a proper garden in next year. It is getting my juices going.

End Your Programming Routine: For homeowners or occasional users that are close to a power source, having a corded tool is highly preferential to not having anything at all. For this category of user, I think the battery powered tool is probably the best compromise on most yard tools. Only serious, frequent users would benefit from gas tools. If that is you, then you probably already know all of this. But, reconsider the stigma corded tools, I know that I am.

September 21, 2022 – Is ‘Cutting the Cord’ Really Better?

September 21, 2022 /

We were early adopters of the concept, cutting the cord. That means that we don’t pay for cable. We did it for purely financial reasons, we couldn’t afford the service. At the time (2005), we owned a house in South Carolina, we were renting a house in Oregon, we had no furniture, I had just took a permanent 17% pay cut and my wife was unemployed. I am not saying that we were starving but we did make sacrifices.

It actually took a career change (four years) to get back to making the same amount of money that I was making. We did sell the house in six months and it took a few more years to recover from our move financially. By that time, we really didn’t feel the need to pay $50-70 a month for cable.

I liked to watch HGTV before it was all ridiculous makeover shows and property buying and I liked to watch TNN (Spike) for the auto programs on Saturdays. But, what I really liked was sports. That is the thing that I have always missed since we went cable-less. I watched Monday Night Football on ESPN, NASCAR on Fox Sports, baseball play-offs on TBS when I had the chance.

Free of the ability to watch sports, I started really not paying attention to that much. I still followed Beavers football, the NFL and watched the World Series. Since I was local to OSU, I could listen to the games on the radio, my first love. Racing was over along with bowl games and a lot of other time killers but life moved on.

In the last 10 years, my wife has been adding streaming services. It started with Netflix. Then, because we had Amazon Prime we got another service for free. In the last three years she has added Hulu. And the last two years, we have turned on Sling during football season.

Now, I have to say that I barely ever turn on the TV. I am not totally sure I even know the passwords to the services. My wife wanted to watch Yellowstone with me, I made it a couple of episodes into season 2. I wanted to like it but it took too much commitment and the ridiculous story line drove me crazy, so I quit. I really cannot get into any kind of ‘soap opera’ because no matter what, I don’t think that there is a compelling story line year over year that appeases my sense of logic and reason.

We turned on Sling again the other day. I was just checking out to see what was on and I left it on MotorTrend. The show All Girls Garage came on. I was cooking and I looked up and saw a knife on one of the host’s hip. I was asking myself was that a tool? Does she use the knife for repair work? I am just going to watch and see.

I didn’t see any use of the knife after an episode or so. So, I decided to look up the host Faye Hadley. It seems as though she is a certified mechanic that graduated from Harvard with a psychology degree. Despite the dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings, I think the knife is schtick. And here is where the rubber meets the road.

There is too much entertainment in the world. Sports is no longer TV and/or cable but now NFL network and Amazon Prime. In order to compete in personalities a capable mechanic needs to dress like a badass assassin. When it comes to cost, I don’t think I am saving any money by picking and choosing different services. In fact, to see what we want this method may very well cost more. At the very least, it is a lot more hassle.

The only reason we added Sling TV in the first place is that it is the only streaming service that has Pac12 Network. I guess I would describe the service as streaming cable. I really will never take the time to really watch what is available, but I do like to tune in every now and then to see what is there.

In the end, I will answer the question, is it worth it? For me, I will say no. I have enough income that that cost of cable would be insignificant. What isn’t worth it is the time. And that is the most valuable commodity to me. I am also getting to the place where I just want stuff to work. I don’t want to fiddle with a bunch of different ways of getting to the same end. I really don’t want to turn on and off services and deal with managing all these different subsriptions.

End Your Programming Routine: Ultimately, if it was up to me I would probably leave Sling TV on. I am much more likely to browse on any given day than binge watch a series or even watch a movie. That being said, I likely wouldn’t watch enough to justify the cost of $65/mo. In fact, I don’t even think that my current interest is worth the cost. It is nice to turn on and turn off when you are done. It is almost like a more mature pay per view.

June 29, 2022 – Travel Anecdotes

June 29, 2022 /

A lot of my travel information I wrote and talked about was before the trip. Now having gotten back, some things have changed from what I knew (or thought) was true before hand. I thought I would throw some grab bag items out there.

  • Covid tests are no longer required to re-enter the US. This changed June 12, right before we left. After getting advice from other recent travelers, we were making plans on how to accomplish this on our trip.
  • Customs Forms are not used for entry – At least this is true for the US and the EU. This eliminates the ‘need a pen scramble’ on the airplane as you get ready to land. We did have some e-forms filled out for health screening which helped speed the process.
  • Air travel within the EU has pretty much the same restrictions – The only real difference I observed with security was I could leave my shoes on. There were still restrictions on liquids that needed to be in a 1L (1qt) bag. Electronics had to come out of the bag.
  • Security is not Safety- My son went through three different security checks with scissors in his bag before they were identified. Portland to Barcelona, Barcelona to Palma and finally Palma to Barcelona he was stopped in the bag scan. I don’t even know how that is possible to feel like this procedure is adequate.
  • Having friends at the airline has perks – We got priority parking and our own personal check-in when we flew to Mallorca. We also took advantage of sending a bunch of liquids back in order to not loose them.
  • Five fifty a gallon is a bargain- Our rental car was a diesel and the prices were in Euros per liter but the cost was roughly $7.75 a gallon. Fortunately, the cars are small and relatively efficient so it only cost about $30 to return the rental car.
  • Cash is still king- We got a 10% discount on fuel just by paying in cash. I really didn’t know what was going on when the price was different than registered but figured it out as I drove off.
  • Living/Travelling in Europe is expensive – Even thought the Dollar and Euro are near parity I would say items on average are probably 25-33% more. In one example, I paid 25 euros for a tube of sun block. For me, that was worth the price but I can’t imagine paying $25 for that, even if it was from France.
  • Spain is not Italy – I expected the people and experience to be very similar (if not the same). I found Spain to be orderly and law abiding compared to Italy. Traffic was not crazy and nobody got pickpocketed or had someone try to rip the watch off your wrist.
  • The world has become smaller- When I was in Italy in the 1990s, they siesta’d hard. Almost nothing was open between 1 and 6 pm. Siesta is still a practice in Spain, but I hardly noticed a change. Maybe it was where I was at but I think the world has changed to the point where this practice is not nearly as prevalent.
  • English is definitely universal- If my broken Spanish didn’t work there were no problems switching to English anywhere.
  • Spanish is not Catalan – The native language of the northeastern coast of Spain is not Spanish. While I can understand most simple Spanish, I had no idea what was happening when spoken to in Catalan. Many of the spellings are the similar but with the accent it is a different word. The tempo of Catalan sounds more like Italian but the words I could not understand.

I didn’t spend much time in the water. I am very susceptible to the sun and since it was literally 58 degrees as a mid-June high when we left, I didn’t have much time to toughen up. So, I limited my water time until after 6pm just to avoid massive sunburns. The kids went into the water here and it was a summertime high 80s. I wish I could, but the view was amazing.

Does this look like paradise or what?

End Your Programming Routine: I am wrapping up my week on vacation. There will be one more on Friday but I promise I am moving on. You cant exert that much money, time and effort and not have it play a factor in my work and opinions. I know that it is hard to enjoy someone else’s vacation, but hopefully there was at least some good information presented.

June 28, 2022 – Do You Have a Favorite Architect?

June 28, 2022 /

I sometimes tease my wife that she is the only person I know that has a favorite architect. There may be some competition with the previous title holder after our trip to Spain. The truth is, I am pretty much enamored as well.

Where we were both exposed to architecture as an art was in college. We both took Art History 101 and 102. From there, we learned about Frank Lloyd Wright. For Americans, his work is much more approachable since we can more easily travel and visit some of his buildings. Wright was prolific and there is even one of his houses here in Oregon. In 2002, we made a specific destination as “House of Falling Water” on an east coast road trip.

The genius of specific architects is that they are visionaries. For instance, Wright invented the Ranch style house. Arguably, that is the most popular American home style ever. It is simple to build, easy to maintain and infinitely adaptable.

Another architect that we learned about in Art History was Antoni Gaudi because Spain was out of sight, out of mind in 1995 so it got filed on the backburner. However, modern Barcelona is the city that Gaudi built (and is still building despite his death in 1926).

I am not going to go into all of the specifics of each work, but you can check the link for additional information. Above is Casa Batllo, a personal residence Gaudi remodeled in 1904. It is remarkable for the use of color as light direction, ventilation as a function of design and flexible spaces with movable room dividers.

Park Guell was originally envisioned as a housing development outside of the city. Only two houses were built but much of the infrastructure was and that is what has become the park. The dragon fountain is the symbol of Barcelona and it is in this park.

Gaudi’s real masterpiece in my mind, and I think much of the world’s is Sagrada Familia. This is a categorized as a Basilica not a Cathedral and it is still in progress. When it will be done, who really knows. Gaudi kicked it off knowing that he would not see it completed but laid out the master plan and then also left it open for future generations to make their particular personal stamps.

End Your Programming Routine: Barcelona is a top twenty-five world destination and Gaudi is part of that. As you know me, I am not all about collectivism or subjective interpretation but I can admire a future thinker and a reverent one at that. Gaudi is one of the founding voices in modernism. It has taken me a while to appreciate that type of expression but in many ways modernism is a more complex presentation. It may appear simpler or cruder even but there can be more behind the image.

June 24, 2022 – Podcast Episode 3, Dungeons and Dragons

June 24, 2022 /

I suppose game playing has become more acceptable, particularly role-playing games. Now that they can be played on the computer or game console and not had to be read out of a book, more people do it. Yes, I was one of those Dungeons and Dragons nerds in middle school and high school. Today, I make an argument for why I benefited from playing those games.

Anecdotally, we started watching Stranger Things recently. You know that the opening scene has the four characters playing Dungeons and Dragons. We are mostly through the first season, if you have seen it then you will see the undertones of Dungeons and Dragons keep popping up.

I actually wrote the outline of this podcast May 17, 2019. I was trying build up a library of show topics before actually starting to podcast. I remember what happened was that my wife was not totally into the name, then I kind of got put off and stopped working on the project all together (until December). I did keep them and I was looking for something non-temporal to talk about.

End Your Programming Routine: We should be on our way home by the time this is published. I am currently unable to predict the future, so we will see how things go for next week. For now, I am going to leave my point in the podcast and hope that I am able to get back in the groove Monday. Until then, enjoy your weekend.

June 17, 2022 – Looking for a Quick Win

June 17, 2022 /

I want to start building some rigor into podcasting and unfortunately, the timing is poor with me being in Spain. I thought maybe I would talk about some travel tips today since I have flown quite a bit. In addition, I have flown internationally many more times that I would like and this all fits into what I have up to lately.

At one time, I was a Delta Platinum frequent flyer (back when that was the highest tier) and I even got a Christmas card from a hotel one year. I know a bit about travelling. What I am trying to convey is not the nuts and bolts of travelling or packing tips or how to get the best deals or the most out of travel but best practices.

The Merriam Webster definition of best practices are as follows: a procedure that has been shown by research and experience to produce optimal results and that is established or proposed as a standard suitable for widespread adoption. To be clear, these are most typically opinions from subject matter experts (like myself in this case). There is nothing saying that there are not conflicting opinions labelled as best practices from different sources.

Travelling for business and travelling for vacation are not exactly the same thing but they share a lot in common. Primarily, they are both travel. I think most people in the business world pack and orient toward speed. Meaning ‘How can I get off the plane and get home as fast as possible’? This means no checking bags and keeping things as compact as possible. I am going to let the the podcast speak for itself for the rest of this.

End Your Programming Routine: Bear with me, this is the beginning. I have listened several times and heard the smacks and uh’s too. I mean, I don’t think it is too bad considering these are off the cuff and I don’t have much practice. I anticipate adding some bumper music and working on a more standard intro and exit. But overall, I am pretty happy with what I have here.