[Ren]

My toughest decision was whether to vote for Johnson or not to vote for president at all. I decided to go with Johnson, in an attempt to get others to notice a third party, for the sake of future elections. Of course he doesn’t stand a chance.

Emken as many times as I can, which unfortunately is only once. She won’t win either. We’ll have to eagerly await Feinstein’s death of natural causes. I’m kidding, people. But wow, do I dislike that woman.

No on 30, yes on 32, no on 38.

[Ren]

[quote=CDMA ENG]I am an athetist these days… With the small hope thier is a higher power but don’t believe it.
[/quote]

This is a little contradictory. If you have hope, that means you don’t know, which means you’re agnostic. If you believe there is no God, you’re an atheist, which is a form of religion in itself – you don’t know that there is no God. There is no incontrovertible proof either way.

I usually describe myself as an agnostic theist, and you might think on similar lines. I don’t know, but I think there might be.

[Ren]

The self-imposed ignorance of the religious continues to astonish me. Much of the time it also involves stupidity (your own planet? A lake of fire? Really??), but I’ve known a couple of very intelligent JW’s. They also had fairly obvious psychological issues, which I believe are a result of the constant battle of their superior brainpower against extremely thorough (from childhood) brainwashing.

My favorite quote this month is…

“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”

– Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Ren]

Just in case anyone ever wonders why the volume of data available on the Internet is somewhere north of a trillion gigabytes…

[Ren]

Yeah I love so-cal. If I need seasons, I’ll buy a vacation rental in the mountains.

I think everyone has a threshold, past which they’ll be forced out by the state government. That threshold may involve cost of living, CARB rules, crime, taxes, etc. Individuals can take more abuse than businesses. I haven’t approached my threshold yet – but $2/gallon higher than any other state might do it, for the insult factor alone.

[Ren]

[quote=ocrenter]So what should we do if CARB is too strict? let loose since we’re going to have smog no matter what? what would be the alternative?[/quote]

There is a happy medium. Rules that aren’t unreasonable, that’s all. As they are now, CARB happily enacts rules that clean the air an immeasurably small amount, but also force a thousand small businesses out of state. (A number I pulled out of thin air, but you get the idea, and it’s not far from the truth.)

Besides, all some of these unreasonable rules do is inconvenience car enthusiasts – it doesn’t prevent them from modifying their cars, and the vast majority (like me) go unnoticed. Worst case, a cop or judge forces them to see a state referee, so they have to spend a weekend of wrenching to stock out before the appointment. Then it all goes back on.

[Ren]

The problem with CARB is they are unnecessarily strict. Why should it be illegal to slap a bigger turbo on a motor if I can still pass a sniff test?

Edit: i.e., I should have as much right to power as a Corvette if the emissions are just as clean.

[Ren]

All our friends and most of our family are in CA, and they are more important to us than money, so moving is a last-resort option (a great job offer isn’t enough). However, I hate the legislature, and I despise CARB, so if friends and family were out of the picture, we would likely escape to a small town in another state.

Part of me does feel trapped – but on the coast, the schools are good, it’s really not unreasonably expensive for a white collar professional to live modestly, and the weather is unbeatable. If this is prison, I can do life.

[Ren]

[quote=Jazzman]You could buy 2-3 properties out is state for $300k, and if your investment is to be managed there’s another reason to look elsewhere. Why settle for 3% when you could get 10%?[/quote]

Agreed – and in fact you can do much better than 3% in Riverside county.

I’d look at cities around Phoenix. Sure, the rental market is saturated and the weather sucks, but the rents reflect that. $100k will get you a 4-bedroom in a nice area that rents for $1,100. $1,000 if you want it occupied fast with a better quality tenant. That’s great cash flow for $30k down.

[Ren]

I almost stopped my refi (in progress) after seeing Absolute Mortgage’s rates. Then I read their reviews.

[Ren]

I’m a little confused – why would anyone NOT want to spend enormous amounts on a pool?? I have mine designed in my head. Grotto behind a waterfall, beach entry, and recently mentally added a swim-up bar. I’ll work an extra year or two if necessary.

My kids (2 and 4) would live in the water if they could, but the fact that it would keep them entertained is just icing on the cake. I’d be in it every weekend.

Gunnite/salt water all the way.

[Ren]

[quote=no_such_reality]
The first, what are we going to do with the unfortunate children whose parents, don’t, can’t or are too busy trying to put food on the table to do anything?
[/quote]

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do, short of hiring 14 hour per day teacher/baby sitters for all of them. I’m sure the other benefactors of such a system would love that (democratic politicians and unions), but obviously it can’t happen.

In some inner city areas, I think we can safely guess that more kids have parental issues than don’t. Single parents, addictions, money problems, long work hours, etc. They wouldn’t be in the inner city if they were in an ideal position. Throw puberty and gangs into that mix and the very last thing a kid will do is improve his grades.

[Ren]

Student test result changes over time should definitely be a part of teacher evaluations, but not the whole picture. A lot can change in a student’s life over a year. Parent issues too numerous to mention, puberty, crushes, bullies, etc.

[Ren]

DAMN IT!!

[Ren]

As of this year, for the first time in ~20 years, I won’t be voting for any politicians, only propositions. I am far too disgusted with our system of government. A vote for any career politician is a vote for the system, which is a vote for corruption.

[Author]

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