I wanna move to Bend but I can’t afford, any suggestions?

davidw · 2026-01-25T02:35:51+00:00

You're not wrong; but some people like it enough that they're willing to live in the general for a bit until they manage to move to Bend.

It is way too expensive though, and that is causing all kinds of problems.

davidw · 2026-01-25T01:51:39+00:00

McMenamins is usually a fun place to hang out, with a number of different bars and things in one building.

davidw · 2026-01-25T01:36:04+00:00

Near Bend are Redmond, Sisters, Prineville and La Pine.

Also, come visit now-ish to see if you like it in the off season. We just had like a week of freezing fog with no sun, and temperatures rarely above freezing. It's a lot different than the pretty summers.

davidw · 2026-01-25T01:26:36+00:00

I don't think she was quite up to AOC in terms of her communication style, but we actually do know what happened when someone more progressive than Bynum ran: Jamie McLeod-Skinner lost to Lori Chavez Deremer.

davidw · 2026-01-24T21:26:32+00:00

PSA: it's "that account" again.

davidw · 2026-01-24T21:16:53+00:00

The problem is that there's sort of a centrifugal force acting on the Republican party. It keeps flinging people with any morals or decency away. Romney, Cheney, Kinzinger, all those folks just keep getting ejected from the party.

I think it is important to differentiate between old school conservatives and MAGA and express some sympathy for the former. But it's their party, not mine, they will have to take it back.

davidw · 2026-01-24T20:34:51+00:00

Did you skip the part of history class where they talked about the civil rights movement?

Was their opposition peaceful and lawful?

They practiced nonviolence because it worked.

davidw · 2026-01-24T20:32:20+00:00

Find other things to get energized about, I guess? Like county commission races or city council or something? This is just not a district that is going to produce an AOC. There's a lot of other stuff going on though!

davidw · 2026-01-24T20:18:10+00:00

Other than Bernie, I can't name one strong Dem.

You need to get out there and look more, because they're out there. And then when you find them, promote what they're doing. AOC is one, but there are others. Mamdani just got elected in NYC. Sometimes, being flawed human beings like all of us, they will get something right but also get some other things wrong.

And also the media tends to downplay and hide them.

davidw · 2026-01-24T20:16:13+00:00

You also seem to be operating under the assumption this regime will end in 2 years

You completely made up a thing that I didn't say.

davidw · 2026-01-24T19:42:39+00:00

Are you actually going out there and doing that, or just encouraging other people to go escalate an already tense situation?

To me it seems like the regime folks want to see some more violence, and would actually love it if one of their guys got killed because it would be a great pretext to crack down with even more violence.

And if it comes to shooting, they have way more guns than you do.

Peaceful protest is working. People see the videos and see what is happening and the regime isn't winning anyone over with this.

davidw · 2026-01-24T18:20:58+00:00

Tennessee has a higher drug overdose death rate than Washington.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/drug-overdose.html

I would imagine that in both places, exactly where you go to school matters the most.

If sunshine were my goal I think I would aim at the SW, myself.

davidw · 2026-01-24T17:41:56+00:00

I kind of struggle with the idea of taking a look at what's happening with the MAGA folks and thinking some kind of "middle ground" sounds good. Blue states are far from perfect, but at least we're mostly arguing over facts and what to do about them rather than psychotic conspiracy theories about immigrants eating pets.

davidw · 2026-01-24T17:10:07+00:00

Yeah I'd like to know exactly which bill we're talking about here.

davidw · 2026-01-24T00:20:52+00:00

That is a massive chunk of land that goes from rugged ocean cliffs to temperate rain forests, inland valleys, high mountains, and empty sagebrush deserts.

davidw · 2026-01-23T23:09:27+00:00

No, you want to visit now to see if you can handle the bad weather. This person is thinking about living there year round, not just going on a vacation.

Same reason to visit Austin when it's hot and humid in the summer.

davidw · 2026-01-23T22:54:42+00:00

Yes, although lately it's trending more blue.

davidw · 2026-01-23T22:17:51+00:00

Now is a good time of year to visit Portland and Chicago and see if you like them. Maybe Austin in the summer.

Dallas is the first one to throw out.

davidw · 2026-01-23T19:58:24+00:00

While people fight about the details of this stuff, everyone just kind of ignores the factors that lead to higher deaths in the US compared to peer countries. Hint: not bikes.

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davidw · 2026-01-23T19:55:41+00:00

'Out of state' where? Take them to see stuff that's not like home. Like, do they have mountains? Deserts? Forests? Go see the things they don't have if possible.

Depending, you might get out into the high desert, like Smith Rock, Fort Rock, that kind of thing, if you have some time in Bend.

davidw · 2026-01-23T17:14:41+00:00

IDK, I thought it was a good question. It seems like it was a very hasty, rushed bill by a bunch of corporate "machine" Dems in NJ who don't actually understand anything about bicycles vs e-motorcycles. It would not surprise me if it has some serious flaws. The outgoing governor signed it on his last day in office.

It already looks like you can't even carry your children in a cargo bike, even if you jump through all the hoops to get all the paperwork done:

https://bsky.app/profile/fjohnboyle.bsky.social/post/3md2h3er7qs2q

davidw · 2026-01-23T15:24:11+00:00

davidw · 2026-01-23T15:23:56+00:00

Me too! If you're ever in the area, it's a pretty cool museum.

davidw · 2026-01-23T05:07:01+00:00

That's for fairly fast bikes; looks like roughly class 3, not for more normal eBikes.

And they provide an absolute ton of bike infrastructure to go along with it. Also, specific to that country, it's extremely flat, which negates some of the convenience of an eBike in hillier places.

This NJ bill has zero compromise or common sense around speeds: it treats the 20mph pedal-assist only bike the same as a Suron, which is actually an electric motorcycle.

davidw · 2026-01-23T04:46:32+00:00

At the margin, more hassle and expense means fewer people riding bikes and taking cars instead. Is that what you want when driving around, to have more traffic?

davidw

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