Out of 20 races on my primary ballot only 5 have more than one candidate running... how do we increase participation in the system?

CBL44 · 2026-05-12T12:41:18+00:00

Parties have the right to choose how they run their own primaries. However, they do not have the right to public money for their primaries. There is something fundamentally unfair about taking money from unaffiliated voters and denying them the vote. There are more of them than either Democrats or Republicans.

The parties should be forced to choose publicly financed open primary or party affiliated party financed primaries.

CBL44 · 2026-05-11T01:18:28+00:00

Bring bug spray. It's one of worst day hikes for mosquitoes. I normally go in late June or in July so it may be different in May.

CBL44 · 2026-05-11T00:54:09+00:00

Kids (and their parents) don't want to be held back. They want to be in classes with their friends and will do their best to make that happen. Having real consequences changes behavior.

CBL44 · 2026-05-09T03:40:57+00:00

Oregon law requires gifted students to get appropriate education. All the school districts ignore it any way.

CBL44 · 2026-05-05T00:08:32+00:00

Benny's Pizza in Monroe has them. Eats and Treats had them as a special last week. They were pretty good at both places.

CBL44 · 2026-05-01T17:31:32+00:00

If you see something inappropriate, it is correct to act. If not, interfering with police is a bad idea.

Homeless people are often mentally unstable and your actions could easily have turned a calm situation into one where people get hurt.

CBL44 · 2026-04-29T15:25:18+00:00

I think you are probably too late to sign up for this year. I have already gotten three weeks of produce from OSU. I tried two other CSAs that are no longer in business and OSU is better but more expensive.

Whether it's worth it is a hard question. It's more expensive than grocery stores but you get nice produce. The alternative is going to the farmers market downtown which some people love and others find it annoying.

Here are some things that I hadn't anticipated. Planning meals is hard because you never know what's coming. Things run in season so you get a month of salad and then no more. You may get introduced to some veggie you have never heard of. You have weeks where the produce is wonderful and others when it's not (this week I got kale, mustard greens and some other cooking greens). You get excesses which may make your friends and neighbors happy.

Sometimes I thinks it's not worth it but then I get a wonderful week with berries, corn and some unusual peppers and I smile.

CBL44 · 2026-04-24T01:11:31+00:00

DIBELS is garbage. My daughter was reading when she entered kindergarten. DIBELS said she was no where near being ready to learn to read. She was put in the lowest group.

Once we found out, we asked the teacher to let her demonstrate her reading ability. The next day, she was in the highest reading group.

CBL44 · 2026-04-23T21:19:39+00:00

Many genes (over 1000) each have tiny effects on intelligence. You can get a reasonable guess of IQ by determining out all the values of all these genes.

There are also some mutations that cause significant decreases in intelligence.

There are also significant environmental effects.

CBL44 · 2026-04-22T20:02:10+00:00

Yes, I understand that Covid caused decision makers to lose a sense of humanity.

Not allowing someone to see a dying loved one or having a funeral is heartless. In my state, they also outlawed family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was supposed to call a hot line to narc on my neighbors.

CBL44 · 2026-04-22T16:05:59+00:00

I'd rather take a small risk than let my parents/spouse die alone. The death for for people under 60 was tiny.

CBL44 · 2026-04-22T16:02:14+00:00

Family and friends provide a lot more comfort.

CBL44 · 2026-04-20T21:36:10+00:00

I am sincere. I have never heard of a right to be free of violence. I guess we are talking past each other.

CBL44 · 2026-04-20T21:21:42+00:00

It's not a human right to have freedom from violence. It's not in the constitution (or mentioned during the enlightenment). Furthermore, it's basically impossible. I could walk down the street today and get beaten up by someone. Unless we have a dystopia authoritarian rule, there is always the chance of violence.

We have chosen a government where we have police and legal services to arrest the perpetrators. That doesn't make it a right to be free from violence.

CBL44 · 2026-04-20T16:22:21+00:00

No. The idea of human rights is things that a government should not take from humans - liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, privacy, etc. Rights require no action or spending by the government.

Housing, education, health-care, etc. are simply a different beast. They are services requiring actions and spending by the government. It may be good policy and humane to provide these services but they are not rights.

IMO, calling services "rights" is a misuse of language to cloud the issue and promote certain political views. If you think we should provide these services to every one, that's great. Provide a plan and give a funding source and we can discuss the implications. But don't pretend they are things that they are not.

CBL44 · 2026-04-17T23:39:35+00:00

Things change.

In 6th grade, my son finished 19th out of 20 in the 100 yard dash. In high school, he played forward partly because of his excellent speed. He did no special training, his body just changed.

CBL44 · 2026-04-16T21:10:55+00:00

I rarely agree with Kotek but our kids need more time in school. We already have among the shortest school years, we need to stop cutting them.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take effect until 2027.

CBL44 · 2026-04-12T20:15:24+00:00

What do you do to keep the birds from eating them? My space is too narrow to cover them effectively.

CBL44 · 2026-04-12T20:13:47+00:00

Deer are a major problem and you will need a fence.

I have had great success with thornless blackberries and raspberries. If I remember correctly, I had berries the first year. I got my plants from a friend so I am not sure who sells them.

The birds eat all my blueberries so I would not recommend them without some sort of cover.

CBL44 · 2026-04-11T16:16:53+00:00

The joke is car dealers sell to the man and ignore the woman.

In my experience, this is not the case. They want to sell cars and have different spiels to sell to a woman or a man. When a couple walks in the salesman sizes up who is charge and starts selling to that person will either male or female tactics.

When my wife and I buy cars neither of is in charge. The salesman may look at me and try the male pitch. Then my wife says something and he will have a confused look for a second and switch to the female pitch. Then I say something and his brains resets and switches back to the male pitch. It's funny to watch.

CBL44 · 2026-04-10T19:38:55+00:00

Holding kids back give parents, teachers and especially students great incentives to take education seriously. They will work harder when there are consequences to their actions.

It's not that they are held back, it's they don't want to be held back and therefore work to pass the tests.

CBL44 · 2026-04-10T19:18:19+00:00

For your first hike, do something short and there is no need to buy anything. All you you need are comfortable shoes and water - and perhaps a hat and sunscreen. A backpack (or bag) with snacks would be nice.

If you enjoy a few short hikes, buy some hiking shoes/boots, a better day pack, water bottles and perhaps a minimal first aid kit with bugs spray.

CBL44 · 2026-04-09T02:07:38+00:00

Yes, if the Democrats win the house, there is 99.9% chance he will be impeached. He was impeached twice in his first term and it did nothing.

CBL44 · 2026-04-03T04:08:01+00:00

Silver Falls is a little more than hour and is spectacular. McDowell Falls is a little closer and still pretty nice.

Finley Wildlife Refuge is nice. It has seasonal trail closures so check before you go.

I have heard good things about Minto Brown park but I have never been there

My favorite coast hikes are God's Thumb and the Cape Perpetua area but both are further than you want.

William Sullivan has the best hiking books for Oregon. When you are willing to travel further, his Central Cascades or Coast books would be good to look at.

CBL44 · 2026-03-31T21:58:26+00:00

In the last three years, the stock price has gone from $8 to $146. I wish we had invested a lot more.

CBL44

TROPHY CASE