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'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

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Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#131

Post by tartoran »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #36

Can anecdotally confirm. Sometimes it quite annoys me that those personality traits are so embedded in myself though, because it seems to constantly be a headbutting of cultures that so many Americans on the coastal big cities just don't get or approve of, and love to condescendingly talk about that kind of personality as lesser or barbarous in some way. I love the mountains and freedom they offered me, the lessons t…

> said, I doubt it will last. There is a huge influx of people (not just retirees, but refugees from the coastal cities) who would be considered rich into mountain communities, driving out the locals by prices and changing the demographic hugely. I keep a close eye on land for sale and land parcels that used to be huge are starting to be divided into 5 acre parcels and sold off... I can already see the distant future of this, turning mountain towns into you have to be rich towns like Aspen, and it makes me very sad.

I wouldn't worry too much about a large influx of people, there's more than enough land to accommodate the little influx - there aren't quite so many people who move up into the mountains and those can make a decent community and a healthy local economy. You can even migrate further into the wilderness, yes it sucks that you are forced to but there's a silver lining to all this.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#132

Post by noir_lord »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #95
phobosanomaly wrote: post #51

In many parts of the United States when you call 911, you're lucky if anyone shows up within an hour. It's a couple hours to get to a Wal-Mart or a store. It's difficult to get anyone to drive 40 minutes outside the nearest town and navigate unmarked dirt roads to do basic plumbing or home repairs. As a result, people have to learn to repair things, make things, use a gun, do first aid, lay shingles, hang drywall, po…

The funny thing is that I grew up in London, then lived in Cambridge, Heidelberg, Seattle and Philadelphia - 55+ years of thoroughly urban living. 18 months ago I moved to a place where your opening sentence applies broadly. Yet somehow, I still learned how to do most of the things you list in your second paragraph before I got here. And I have neighbors here who are completely clueless about most of those things. Th…

Pretty much the same, I can re-wire a house (factory actually though it's been a long time since I trained as an industrial sparks), plaster, do basic joinery, plumbing, tiling, engine/motorcycle maintenance (I do my motorcycle and rebuilt scramblers when I was a kid), weld (not done it for a long time but it'd come back), sheet metal work etc all to a reasonable or better standard.

I've never lived out in the country, always in or on the edges of towns, 80% of anything is been willing to give it a go, the other 20% is been willing to learn from fucking it up the first time.

I genuinely don't understand people who aren't willing to learn this stuff even if they pay someone else to do it down the line (which makes sense sometimes).

I know people my age who can't rewire a plug which is frankly embarrassing.

> A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. (Time enough for Love - Heinlein)

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#133

Post by tartoran »

brandmeyer wrote: post #126
vb6sp6 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sometimes it quite annoys me that those personality traits are so embedded in myself though, because it seems to constantly be a headbutting of cultures that so many Americans on the coastal big cities just don't get or approve of, and love to condescendingly talk about that kind of personality as lesser or barbarous in some way. "rugged individualists" always seem to care a lot about how they are viewed by "coasta…

Flip side of the coin: we'd all be a lot happier if we didn't view others with disrespect.

Disrespect comes form ignorance so that's another one we should ought to look out for

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#134

Post by subsubzero »

kilroy123 wrote: post #116
2Xheadpalm wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although the story and your account are United States centric, I live pretty remote British Columbia, Canada and the same mentality, personalty types exists here as well. As the crow flies, I am less then 300KM to downtown Vancouver yet a trip to the closest town center for supplies is a 10 hour round trip in the truck and that is on a good day. I do not leave the house without chainsaw, firearm and various other sun…

How do you use the internet? Do you have a phone signal?

My guess and not to answer for OP, but hughesnet or some type of satellite based internet. I know people who live far from broadband and cable and they all use hughesnet or something similar.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#135

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

noir_lord wrote: post #132
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that I grew up in London, then lived in Cambridge, Heidelberg, Seattle and Philadelphia - 55+ years of thoroughly urban living. 18 months ago I moved to a place where your opening sentence applies broadly. Yet somehow, I still learned how to do most of the things you list in your second paragraph before I got here. And I have neighbors here who are completely clueless about most of those things. Th…

Pretty much the same, I can re-wire a house (factory actually though it's been a long time since I trained as an industrial sparks), plaster, do basic joinery, plumbing, tiling, engine/motorcycle maintenance (I do my motorcycle and rebuilt scramblers when I was a kid), weld (not done it for a long time but it'd come back), sheet metal work etc all to a reasonable or better standard. I've never lived out in the countr…

>80% of anything is been willing to give it a go, the other 20% is been willing to learn from fucking it up the first time.

Them's the old rules. New rules: 45% of it is being willing to give it a go, 65% of it is knowing how to find the right YouTube video to watch so you don't fuck it up.

:)

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#136

Post by nerdponx »

noir_lord wrote: post #132
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is that I grew up in London, then lived in Cambridge, Heidelberg, Seattle and Philadelphia - 55+ years of thoroughly urban living. 18 months ago I moved to a place where your opening sentence applies broadly. Yet somehow, I still learned how to do most of the things you list in your second paragraph before I got here. And I have neighbors here who are completely clueless about most of those things. Th…

Pretty much the same, I can re-wire a house (factory actually though it's been a long time since I trained as an industrial sparks), plaster, do basic joinery, plumbing, tiling, engine/motorcycle maintenance (I do my motorcycle and rebuilt scramblers when I was a kid), weld (not done it for a long time but it'd come back), sheet metal work etc all to a reasonable or better standard. I've never lived out in the countr…

It's not always a matter of willingness. Many people didn't have opportunities early in life to learn these skills, and as older adults they probably don't have the free time.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#137

Post by briga »

sandworm101 wrote: post #45
briga wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving across the country ain't what it used to be--now pretty much anyone with money for an airplane ticket can do it with little to no risk. Calgary is a very cosmopolitan and modern city today, but I imagine it was pretty wild pre-1900. Alberta is still in its early stages of development, so you can definitely still find pockets of the Western mentality left

>> Alberta is still in its early stages of development WTF? Early stages? The highways have been paved. The electrical lines have been run. Modern military bases. Highspeed internet. Cellphone coverage. Universal healthcare. Universities. Alberta is well past the "early stages" of development.

Half the province is still uninhabited wilderness. The parts that are developed are rapidly expanding--certainly nowhere near what they will be 50 or 100 years from now. Compared to Europe or China there is still a lot of room for growth

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#138

Post by pessimizer »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #95
phobosanomaly wrote: post #51

In many parts of the United States when you call 911, you're lucky if anyone shows up within an hour. It's a couple hours to get to a Wal-Mart or a store. It's difficult to get anyone to drive 40 minutes outside the nearest town and navigate unmarked dirt roads to do basic plumbing or home repairs. As a result, people have to learn to repair things, make things, use a gun, do first aid, lay shingles, hang drywall, po…

The funny thing is that I grew up in London, then lived in Cambridge, Heidelberg, Seattle and Philadelphia - 55+ years of thoroughly urban living. 18 months ago I moved to a place where your opening sentence applies broadly. Yet somehow, I still learned how to do most of the things you list in your second paragraph before I got here. And I have neighbors here who are completely clueless about most of those things. Th…

> They survive, in some cases, by cultivating long term relationships with the right people.

This is also a survival skill. There's no necessity to cultivate this in a middle-class urban environment when you can just call somebody.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#139

Post by noir_lord »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #135
noir_lord wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much the same, I can re-wire a house (factory actually though it's been a long time since I trained as an industrial sparks), plaster, do basic joinery, plumbing, tiling, engine/motorcycle maintenance (I do my motorcycle and rebuilt scramblers when I was a kid), weld (not done it for a long time but it'd come back), sheet metal work etc all to a reasonable or better standard. I've never lived out in the countr…

>80% of anything is been willing to give it a go, the other 20% is been willing to learn from fucking it up the first time. Them's the old rules. New rules: 45% of it is being willing to give it a go, 65% of it is knowing how to find the right YouTube video to watch so you don't fuck it up. :)

Nah you look for the youtube video after you've fucked it up.

Honestly though YouTube and the patient people who set out to show you how to do something is great (particulary the creators), it is an amazing resource for that.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#140

Post by mbostleman »

hindsightbias wrote: post #113
mbostleman wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sure. I'm looking in to a WFR that can be done on nights and weekends instead of 2 weeks off work.

In Bay Area: https://readysf.com/course/wilderness-first-responder/ My memory is that there are classes with two all-day weekends and evenings during week. But I can't find the detailed schedule. So ~10 days.

Nice. Yes, it's 80 hours.
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