Ego's Journal

[zbigi]

A good start would be to stop with the romanticism for whatever you thought a previous generation or current population possessed/possesses. Poor people stick together because they have no other choice and sometimes a positive side effect is that it brings them closer together and they protect one another. But the highest murder rates are also in poor populations. Also crime in general.

I doubt that crime is a matter of poverty. Rather, it's something else, that manifests as both poverty and crime (and addiction etc.). For example, if you have a community that was devastated when an entire industry they relied on (e.g. manufacturing, coal mining) died, you're going to have a lot of societal turmoil, that will cause both poverty (people don't have jobs) as well as breakdown of families (children see their parents as useless and don't listen to them, parents are depressed or addicted and don't take care of their children), which will lead to young generation turning to crime.

"Pure" poverty, on the other hand, such as one that can for example be seen in least developed regions of rural India, does not cause crime. Anyone who's been in regions that are "just" poor (and not also victims of wars, communism or other terrible dictatorships or other factors which break down communities) will tell you that they're relatively safe and free of crime.

[chenda]

A bit of a rant (those types of articles irk me) but I want to say yes, if one is realistic and grounded, then you can have portions of both freedom and strong social ties. Absolutely. Look around you, it's everywhere already if you'll stop and notice. There is no reason one can't cultivate strong relationships while simultaneously enjoying probably the most free life ever experienced in human history.

+1. It got me a bit rilled up too. Its based on an ahistorical narrative romanticising a past which for the most part should not to be romanticised, and an implied condemnation that people today don't care about their neighbours and relatives, which is just nonsense. She should read about life in the Victorian slums, which were certainly not populated by hard working housewives who 'carefully guarded their reputations' by scrubbing the front step every day. They were far worse than the worse sink estates today, and not just because of less material affluence. The boomers have made our society much more civilised, and we should thank them for it.

[ffj]

@zbigi

Not a simple problem to solve for certain and I'm sure root causes aren't black or white either. My issue is ignoring the whole picture for the sake of a story, no matter why the negatives exist in the first place.

@chenda

Yes! I'm convinced too many historical writers literally make stuff up to fill in the blanks anyway. Research aside, how can they know some of these details? Anecdotes only carry so much weight. They can surmise, but they don't conclusively know. Every now and then someone will write about a time period in which I was alive and I'll just scratch my head.

The reality is that when people are given a choice for more personal freedom they will almost always take it because the cost of inclusivity has a steep price many times. If one possesses a personality type that is highly independent then the price can become stifling. This shouldn't be some great revelation or condemned.

[AxelHeyst]

You cannot buy solitude when it suits you, and then try and buy back company when it does not, because company of the sincere and intimate kind cannot be bought.

Is she saying we can't have both, or is she implicitly saying that we can't have both if money is how we solve our problems? Is her point relevant to people who don't rely on money as the only way they solve their problems, e.g. people who invest in, possess, and exercise multiple dimensions of 'capital'/skills/ways of engaging in the world/competencies? Is she talking to individuals or to society under the bell curve?

[Ego]

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that ERE types should be trying desperately to integrate themselves into established groups full of ERE-adjacent or even non-ERE types.

I agree. This is a large part of why we return to the same area over and over again. OTOH, I also agree with what you said in the other post. When the Boomers took over the Y, I quit.

Mrs. Ego and I are fortunate that we are good at making friends and building community. We often limit - or completely eliminate - spending time with those who demand too much effort on our part and those who pull the group in directions we do not wish to go. I can imagine a time in the future when we will have to work harder at it and will need to be less choosey.

I live close to many Amish. They exhibit wonderful community but it is all held together by becoming insular and a religion that dominates every aspect of their lives.

Our current place and previous gigs have given us views into the lives of people living at the other end of the spectrum. They are alone with no one who cares about them. It is hard to imagine just how bad it can get until it is seen in person.

And can we give the poor Baby Boomers a break?

Absolutely not. Never.

Is she saying we can't have both, or is she implicitly saying that we can't have both if money is how we solve our problems? Is her point relevant to people who don't rely on money as the only way they solve their problems, e.g. people who invest in, possess, and exercise multiple dimensions of 'capital'/skills/ways of engaging in the world/competencies? Is she talking to individuals or to society under the bell curve?

Yes! Thank you! This is the nuance I was hoping for.

[Ego]

Completely unrelated..... Last week I was running on the beach, on the military base, with my Boomer friend when I saw a Garmin watch in about a foot of water at the edge of the surf. I tried to figure out who owned it by looking at the data on the watch, but all of the tracking features were turned off. The battery on these things can last for 80 days in that state and it was dead, so I believe it was in the water for a long time. The strap was broken, the charging port was clogged with sand and the MENU button does not work. I got a new band and figured workarounds for the MENU button. I am kind of happy the button does not work because it makes the watch unsellable. I was able to recharge it and have been using it over the weekend. I gave my friend my old Suunto. Win-win.

[Ego]

Thirty years ago today. Within a few weeks those knuckleheads had quit their jobs, booked one-way tickets to London and moved into a 1975 VW campervan to play the ultimate sink-or-swim newlywed game.

[jennypenny]

Wow! Congrats!!

You guys look so traditional in that photo. It was probably the last traditional photo ever taken of you lol.

[shaz]

Congratulations! That sounds like a great start to a marriage.

[Western Red Cedar]

Congratulations! That is a big milestone. The ultimate adventure keeps rolling on...

[loutfard]

Congratulations!

[chenda]

Awww congratulations:) I like the vintage feel of that photo.

You must have some great stories of 90s road tripping.

[Ego]

Thanks folks! The adventure keeps rolling!

@JP, traditional costume was appropriate that day, so we tried our best to appear as if we were sent from Central Casting. That ability to be chameleons has paid dividends over the years.

[mathiverse]

Congratulations! That's inspiring.

[Ego]

We returned to van life like ducks to water. In the ideal climate, we could easily do this forever.

Ljubljana is an incredibly beautiful city. While looking for second-hand souvenir t-shirts we found a thrift store that was selling everything for €2. Scored some very nice outfits for our last few days in Venice.

Before leaving, I called Garmin to ask if there was a simple fix I could perform on the watch. I told the Garmin rep that it spent a lot of time in salt water. Without hesitating the rep said, "It is just barely out of warranty. I will email a UPS label. Send it back and we will send you a refurbished model." The new one arrived the day before we left. Seems brand new to me. I am surprised how much I am enjoying all of the data.

[fiby41]

Great adaptability switching to van life. I don't have a trained eye but looks as good as new to me!

[chenda]

Ljubljana is an incredibly beautiful city.

It sure is, it feels like a delicate wedding cake. Will you be going to Lake Bled ? I believe you can swim across to the island but it might be getting too cold in October.

[theanimal]

Thirty years ago today. Within a few weeks those knuckleheads had quit their jobs, booked one-way tickets to London and moved into a 1975 VW campervan to play the ultimate sink-or-swim newlywed game.

Not sure how I missed this. A belated congratulations to both of you! Here's to another thirty plus years. Enjoy your travels!

[Ego]

@fiby41, thanks. The transition has been rather easy because the van is so damn nice. We have been surprised by how much easier traveling in a vehicle has gotten. The van has navigation, cruise control, air conditioning, collision detection, an automatic pop-top, a refrigerator, a heater, and a million other luxuries that our previous vehicles did not have. Other than a short trip in Jordan, this is the first time we've used navigation internationally. Prior to that we would have four maps piled on the dashboard and we would ask everyone advice on the best way to get from x to y. Now.... I didn't even think about the route this morning until I got into the driver's seat.

We ran into this couple from German who have driven their Toyota 78 series Land Cruiser across Russia to Siberia and the Arctic Circle twice, from Cape Town to Cairo, and Germany to Bangkok. He laughed about how they were constantly lost on their pre-navigation trips and now it is impossible to get lost.



@Chenda, we did not make it to Lake Bled. Perhaps next time. We have a friend who has a family homestead in Northern Slovenia so we may visit that as well the next time we are there.

@theanimal, Thank you. I thought of you three this morning when we ran into a Swiss couple cycling on two Hase Pino combination touring bikes with the kids in the tandem seats in front. They are headed to Southeast Asia next.

[delay]

Daily intermittent fasting eating window 10am-3pm (past 4pm is fail) (>6hrs is fail)

Interesting, so you have an 18 hour block where you don't eat. On my fasting days, my eating window is 18pm-20pm, so I have an even larger block. This works wonders for weight loss. I'm starting to think that non-eating periods of 16+ hours are good for your health.

The post above is years old, I'd be curious to learn how intermittent fasting worked out for you.