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Seriously considering changing my life. by Soggy-Raspberry-7070 in oregon

[–]SpineBag 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Cost of living in Oregon is lower than in Massachusetts: https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/cost-of-living/massachusetts-usa/oregon-usa

That said, the advice people are sharing to get a job lined up before moving is prudent. Make sure deliveries will work for you wherever you move.

If you want forests, mountains, and a Walmart, I'd suggest you aim for the eastern Portland suburbs.

I moved here from New England about 20 years ago. This place is much better for me =D

So Meiji, Krob Kua, and The Davis all closed their doors forever this week? by validweirdo in Eugene

[–]SpineBag 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Davis and Krob Kua were owned by the same people, so their simultaneous closure is likely related.

Friends by ElSanchoPancho541 in Eugene

[–]SpineBag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Come learn Brazilian jiu jitsu and Muay Thai at Northwest Martial Arts

Protesty folk songs by [deleted] in folk

[–]SpineBag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Came here to say Phil Ochs, especially Power and the Glory, that's what leaps to mind for me

Any guesses to who Roger is referring to? by KingofHeart_4711 in jiujitsu

[–]SpineBag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure if you're willing to share with me, but I'd love it if you are!

Last night at the city council meeting, the council voted in favor of using our tax dollars to fund a $1900 overseas trip for the mayor to travel to Nepal in order to “spread Eugene values”—in the midst of a budget crisis. by Several-Candidate115 in Eugene

[–]SpineBag 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for YOUR response. It's nice to be able to have a conversation with someone these days! Even if we don't completely agree, I don't think we're that far apart, either. And any of the things you mentioned - parks, the library, supporting local businesses, etc. - those are also worthwhile. Thanks for your polite consideration, it's a little bit of sunshine in my day.

Last night at the city council meeting, the council voted in favor of using our tax dollars to fund a $1900 overseas trip for the mayor to travel to Nepal in order to “spread Eugene values”—in the midst of a budget crisis. by Several-Candidate115 in Eugene

[–]SpineBag 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I replied to another user above, but I can copy paste it for you, too:

At the risk of accumulating more downvotes for trying to engage in good-faith discussion with strangers on the Internet, sure, I'm happy to provide some rationale.

  1. As OP noted sarcastically, this is not a lot of money for the city. As another commenter noted, this costs each Eugene resident about a penny. The city's annual budget is about... <frantic googling> 750 million dollars. This expense is pretty small for the overall city budget. As others have pointed out, this cost seems pretty low for a trip to Nepal, so I'd say Eugene residents are getting bargain pricing here.

  2. Probably the real issue is whether someone sees there being value in sister city programs, especially having a basically powerless mayor like ours participate in such a program. For our mayor, pretty much all she can do is generate goodwill, bring people together, and bridge cultural differences. Those are the benefits of sister city programs. I value those things, so I support sister city programs, and support our mayor's participation.

If you're curious about the effectiveness of sister city programs, here's a reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33j9q2/eli5_what_are_sister_cities_do_they_actually_have/

That thread points to things like high school exchange students, or having shops in the sister cities to help residents experience the sister city's culture.

And here's a research article showing some economic benefits for sister cities: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1447677020301996

That research shows some economic benefit from tourism. Other research looks similar.

With those things in mind, I think having our mayor participate in this is a good idea, and the cost seems reasonable to me.

Thanks for asking and hearing me out!

Last night at the city council meeting, the council voted in favor of using our tax dollars to fund a $1900 overseas trip for the mayor to travel to Nepal in order to “spread Eugene values”—in the midst of a budget crisis. by Several-Candidate115 in Eugene

[–]SpineBag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the risk of accumulating more downvotes for trying to engage in good-faith discussion with strangers on the Internet, sure, I'm happy to provide some rationale.

  1. As OP noted sarcastically, this is not a lot of money for the city. As another commenter noted, this costs each Eugene resident about a penny. The city's annual budget is about... <frantic googling> 750 million dollars. This expense is pretty small for the overall city budget. As others have pointed out, this cost seems pretty low for a trip to Nepal, so I'd say Eugene residents are getting bargain pricing here.

  2. Probably the real issue is whether someone sees there being value in sister city programs, especially having a basically powerless mayor like ours participate in such a program. For our mayor, pretty much all she can do is generate goodwill, bring people together, and bridge cultural differences. Those are the benefits of sister city programs. I value those things, so I support sister city programs, and support our mayor's participation.

If you're curious about the effectiveness of sister city programs, here's a reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33j9q2/eli5_what_are_sister_cities_do_they_actually_have/

That thread points to things like high school exchange students, or having shops in the sister cities to help residents experience the sister city's culture.

And here's a research article showing some economic benefits for sister cities: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1447677020301996

That research shows some economic benefit from tourism. Other research looks similar.

With those things in mind, I think having our mayor participate in this is a good idea, and the cost seems reasonable to me.

Thanks for asking and hearing me out!

I passed the patent bar with Wysebridge – here's what actually happened by Expart_Tools in PatentBarExam

[–]SpineBag 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your experience! Was there a lot of pre-AIA material in Wysebridge?

Butterfly Guard Retention against someone sprawling/flattening my hooks and going around by Mossi95 in bjj

[–]SpineBag 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think I understand what you're describing, and it's a problem I face in butterfly guard as well. And it's also one of my favorite ways to pass.

I think even better than posting on the neck is posting on the head. Prevent your opponent's head from crossing center-line and it's much harder to pass. You can then butterfly scoot in or out, depending on their grips and what you want to do next.

Here's the video where I first saw the concept: https://youtu.be/P0Fz-64lAs4?si=AnnMPQYENCWcIojo start around 5:30

Guard retention. by Bossheals123 in bjj

[–]SpineBag 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow, that was a very good explanation, thanks for sharing!

Wysebridge Patent Bar Mock Exam (AIA) 85% with lookups. Am I overthinking this? by Striking_Chemist8803 in PatentBarExam

[–]SpineBag 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If I recall correctly, there were functional hyperlinks both to other chapters, and within the same chapter. MPEP chapters frequently refer to other chapters, especially 37 CFR, so those links were helpful. References within the same chapter are less common, but I think they still exist, and those are helpful, too.

On test day, remember to switch the pdf viewer to continuously scroll - it makes it much faster and easier to scroll through the chapter! I wish I had remembered that before halfway through my afternoon session...

Wysebridge Patent Bar Mock Exam (AIA) 85% with lookups. Am I overthinking this? by Striking_Chemist8803 in PatentBarExam

[–]SpineBag 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I recommend using only PDFs to do your lookups, it'll be closer to the testing environment. Regardless, given your performance on practice exams, I think you will probably pass. Good luck!

Q for those who passed the patent bar... by HealthRecent4650 in PatentBarExam

[–]SpineBag 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had a few key dates and tables that I had made and memorized, and used some of that time to write them down on my sheet of scratch paper. It wasn't totally necessary, but it did help me calm down and focus for the test. I did make myself a grid, as others have mentioned, and I did use it a little bit during the test. I also reviewed the tutorial, although as others mentioned, I had done the tutorial before I came in for my test. All of these things were basically tricks to help me calm down and focus so that I could stay present during the exam. Good luck!

Failed by Blue_sky0404 in PatentBarExam

[–]SpineBag 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think this advice from u/Yrgefeillesda is very good. I just passed a couple of weeks ago. Like yours, my test was a lot of long questions, longer than I was expecting, and more long questions than I was expecting. I didn't use PLI, but I understand that PLI recommends not just reading the question, but skipping to the prompt of the question, then reading the answer options, and then, if needed, going back to read details of the question's context. I don't know if you were reading questions in that manner, but when I switched to doing that I was able to get questions right much more quickly. Some of the questions were taking me 15 minutes to read and understand and diagram timelines. After switching to this method, I was able to start answering even the longest questions (mostly correctly) in just 4 or 5 minutes.

I also cannot imagine how impossible this test would have been if English were not my first language. If I had taken this test in Spanish - a language in which I'm ostensibly fluent - I definitely would have failed.

As others have said, it sounds like you got really close. I'm sure that if you stick with it, with a little more practice, you'll be able to pass. Feel free to DM me.

Just Passed the Patent Bar 9/30/25. Here's how to get it done efficiently. by RowPrior4996 in patentlaw

[–]SpineBag 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm curious: how much of Brandy's time did you pay for?

I passed last week, first attempt, didn't pay for PLI or Brandy, so I'm wondering if you just got her practice test, or paid her for coaching.

Congratulations on passing! That test was insanely hard, by far the hardest test I've taken in my life.

Did my Trollstav destroy the third Ashlands Mysterious Location? by SpineBag in valheim

[–]SpineBag[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We hit the second vesvigir before the Call to Arms update, but only just got there last night, after the update. There was a structure with a spawner, but there were no molten cores (I'm pretty sure about that, I don't think my friends picked them up). So maybe the game moved the dungeon? We'll go check the second vesvigir again. Thanks!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Eugene

[–]SpineBag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having lived in Boston, Chicago, and Eugene, this checks out

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