'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by tylerjwilk00 » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 2:02 PM UTC

objectivetruth wrote: post #183

tylerjwilk00 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is happening where I live. Previously huge tracks of mountain and forest are slowly being cut up. However, it's the rich newcomers that are selfish with their land. When we were children we had ATVs/dirtbikes and could put in hundred miles a day of riding. Now many trails have gates and no trespassing signs. Used to be a sense of shared commonwealth amongst connected properties. Now, it's the "privatization" of…

Counter-point: ATVs and dirtbikes are noisy and tear up terrain and don't belong in "nature" aka the private property of people that don't want to hear them or see their tracks.

My eyes are wide open. I agree with private property. But we're not talking backyards and prestine grasslands. These are remote rocky old mining trails, logging trails, and train tracks. I ain't saying there is any easy solution. I just miss riding like I used to be able.

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

#282

Post by scruple » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 2:29 PM UTC

hoot wrote: post #278

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of pine, it's harder and harder to find decent firewood that isn't mixed with pine. We mostly cut our own from felled trees on the lot, of which there is no shortage, but sometimes it's handy to buy the odd cord and boy has the quality gone downhill.

Yep, I live in the Rockies and it's all we have here. Everybody in the mountains are burning pine. Just season it the best you can. Burning wood is also the main way to go because gas is too cost prohibitive up here.

I'm curious to understand why gas is prohibitive in the Rockies, if you don't mind. It's (at least, it seems to be) so ubiquitous in the Sierra's (where I am right now) that I kind of assumed it was like this every where in the mountains today.

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

#283

Post by 2Xheadpalm » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

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?

There is no cell reception, we have satellite, the ISP here in Canada is called Xplornet, which I believe uses Hughesnet. Download speed is pretty good, streaming services typically work fine with SD, voice comms. can be a bit of pain with the 700ms latency. Since covid-19 with many more people working from home etc. I have noticed a significant drop in bandwidth and how spikey latency can get at times.

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

#284

Post by 2Xheadpalm » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #257

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…

Where are you? Gold Bridge?

Close! We a fair bit further North. I would consider Gold Bridge the southern most parts of the Chilcotin, whereas we live more in the middle of Chilcotin. Without giving it away, if you look up Chilko Lake it is a reasonably short drive away.

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

#285

Post by srtjstjsj » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 4:15 PM UTC

spenczar5 wrote: post #238

01100011 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only we didn't live in a world of property taxes... Wealth should not be sneered at. Wealth buys a new well for your farm. Wealth buys you tools to expand your capabilities. Wealth allows you to exploit the capabilities of society to accomplish things beyond yourself. Do you want to preserve gun or property rights so you can continue to live a self-reliant lifestyle? That takes wealth(or you can cop-out and let ot…

> Most HN readers time is far more valuable than a plumber or carpenter. Are you sure about that? A good plumber, here in Seattle, can cost $300/hour.

That's extremely rare in Seattle, maybe for overnight emergency, and that "hour" includes drive/admin time and overhead costs.

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

#286

Post by srtjstjsj » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 4:17 PM UTC

s5300 wrote: post #215

01100011 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only we didn't live in a world of property taxes... Wealth should not be sneered at. Wealth buys a new well for your farm. Wealth buys you tools to expand your capabilities. Wealth allows you to exploit the capabilities of society to accomplish things beyond yourself. Do you want to preserve gun or property rights so you can continue to live a self-reliant lifestyle? That takes wealth(or you can cop-out and let ot…

"Most HN readers time is far more valuable than a plumber or carpenter." I think, in the words of today's youth, the response to this is something along the lines of "Big Yikes" That's quite a staunch outlook on society. Do you like playing around in literal shit so that literal shit doesn't back up in your house? Have you automated a system to be able to do this robotically? If not, I'd suggest valuing your plumbers…

Is it your position that plumbers charge low rates just to be nice

You seem to be protecting a lot into a simple price comparison.

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

#287

Post by srtjstjsj » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #274

war1025 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you wouldn't see much of a need for those do-it-yourself types to accumulate wealth just for the sake of doing so. Exactly this. Money is a way to get other people to do things for you. If you are happier doing the things yourself, the money doesn't have much use. At a certain point, gaining more wealth just doesn't matter.

Yeah I noticed this. There are lots of kids or people who feel redundant and empty because whatever they want to do they can just buy it or hire someone else to do it for them. No need to do anything yourself but it also means nobody needs you which means people don't see anything in you other than your money. The only way you can liberate yourself from this is by getting your hands dirty yourself.

Or by taking pride in the work you do to earn the money.

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

#288

Post by srtjstjsj » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 4:20 PM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #139

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Parent knows that

That's why it takes 110% of the time.

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

#289

Post by srtjstjsj » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

ramchip wrote: post #277

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting a new plug on your kettle is allowed in all 50 states and most if not all of western Europe.

I misunderstood then - I interpreted the parent as being about the wall socket, because I wasn't aware that rewiring the actual plug was a thing you could do (or that these things ever failed, in fact). I guess I'm a double embarrassment then!

You're not an embarrassment. Different people know different things.

Rewiring a plug is an extremely rare need..2

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

#290

Post by bluGill » Wed, Sep 09, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

johndevor wrote: post #166

bluGill wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can trace the famines and wars in Europe between 1700 and 1900 by going to any town and finding the "X national historic center" and looking when the town was founded. People didn't just leave their family and friends in Europe for the fun of it. Most left because life was downright deadly back home and so staying was not an option no matter what they went into. Getting to America was no easy. Families of 5 kids…

> if you got a cold on board the sailors would throw you overboard to ensure it didn't spread) Curious, do you have a source for this?

Great question, no.

We know that a large number of families left Europe with more kids than they arrived with, and disease was a problem. But I'm not enough of a historian to know how to find a source for any of that.