I am now on another bicycle trip across Washington State

I will post photos after I get back. Meanwhile a few updates on Facebook. Back sometime in September. My 2017 trip.

Photo Album

Link added 9/17/2017.

Pot shops in Washington State could help retail landlords

Legalizing pot, here in Washington State, has been good for a lot of landlords of commercial property. Pot shops are appearing in formerly empty storefronts in strip malls and so forth. I hear that many cities have an oversupply of retail space available; especially now with the advent of on-line shopping. Pot comes to the rescue. Good for the economy? Just what the Republicans want to hear?

Money addiction like sex addiction only more accepted

One of the friends, I bump into every once in a while for conversation, talks about the problem of addiction. Addiction to money, addiction to sexuality and so forth. He's attended quite a few Twelve Step groups such as Alcoholics Autonomous. I also think he's been to a few sex addicts groups. He believes that sexuality should not be done for just pleasure. It's meant for procreation. He's not a conservative, however. He also believes that money would not exist in an ideal society. People would share without the need for money. Folks would give what they could and take what they need. Some of our human passions are destroying ourselves and the planet, for sure.

My own belief is quite different, however. I tend to think moderation. Personally, I've never felt the need to go to a Twelve Step group. Years ago, I did attend one Twelve Step meeting; a birthday party for another friend. Seemed like a good community. My friend talks of the human need for community while also avoiding the addictions that can tarnish community. My views are less austere in some ways. I think sexuality can be good even for just pleasure, but it can be addicting and destructive as well. Moderation is needed.

Money is the same way. Money is a tool to help us keep track of how much people give and receive. It allows us to enumerate things to maintain fairness. It's a tool, but it can also be an addiction.

In mainstream society, sex addiction has a bad connotation while money addiction tends to be more overlooked; especially in conservative circles.

This friend, who tends to circulate in fairly liberal circles, is critical of both conservative and liberal circles. As climate change becomes more alarmingly evident, he says we need to do more than just petition the government and corporations to do something. Both liberals and conservatives, who do things like drive cars and travel by jet, need to change. Cut back on these things at least. Become less consumptive and driven by our hungers.

I tend to agree, but it's an austere way of thinking. I point out that new technology, such as solar power, hydrogen fuel and so forth, can allow some of these things to continue and even flourish.

Just then this friend introduced me to another person who had just sat down at the table. The new person talked about driving an electric car and (I think) solar panels on her home that charge her car.

Another day at the Swan Cafe "Think Tank." We solved all the world's problems. Not really, but at least they got discussed.

Bellingham, WA. similar in size of land area to San Francisco.

While discussing housing during our Sunday LGBTQ walk, Betty Desire, brought up an interesting perspective. The cities of San Francisco and Bellingham both have the same land area. Around 700,000 people live in San Francisco while only around 80,000 live in Bellingham. We can build more housing, smaller footprint housing and so forth. There just has to be the will.

Of course overpopulation is a big problem, world wide, but that's yet another story. I don't know if the world can (or should) go past 7 billion current residents. World population is still growing tho slowing. Bellingham isn't likely to go to 700,000 anytime soon, but we can accommodate more people. Seems like quite a few people want to live in Bellingham. There are quite a few apartment and condo complexes under construction. This might ease the shortage.

I feel very fortunate as I still have affordable rent, myself, but several friends of mine are literally being pushed out of this area. People who's lives aren't necessarily about money.

It isn't just a simple matter of people and space. Economics, in this country, isn't working either. I think low interest rates have worked against us, rather than in our favor. Low interest rates were designed to stimulate job growth, which has happened to some extent, but at the same time, low interest rates can lead to what economists call "asset bubbles."

Property, as a commodity, has gone up so far in value that it's outstripped most of the rest of the economy and its the whole economy that creates the jobs, not just the value of assets.

The gap between property inflation and jobs is especially evident, here in Bellingham, where most of the residential money seems to come from retirement. Bellingham is ranked among the worse metro areas, in USA, for affordability of housing compared to the local job market. Other cities may have even more expensive housing, but many of their jobs tend to pay more. More depressed areas have cheaper housing. This is a nationwide problem, but it seems to afflict Bellingham particularly bad.

The whole situation could change for the better if we had the will to make it work. I'm hoping some of the construction that I see around town can ease the shortage a bit. It will take more than just that to solve this; like a new mindset for lower footprint lifestyles. Density as a way to curb sprawl and so forth. Good planning. I know, everyone has their own definition of good planning, but we can do better.

Tip for a low sugar drink. Unsweetened ice tea with a dab of Pepsi to reduce bitterness of the tea.

I've been drinking a lot. Not alcohol, but unsweetened ice tea.

My low sugar hydration trick is totally unsweetened ice tea with just a dab of regular Pepsi, or Coke. I make up a big batch for the refrigerator and then put the dab of Pepsi in each glass. The Pepsi (or Coke) takes away the bitterness of totally sugar free ice tea.

Water, by itself, is still a bit too boring for my (possibly) spoiled tastes. I do drink lots of that also, but mostly while biking.

I thought up the "tad of Pepsi" idea at Rudy's Pizza where I had them make the mix from the pop fountain taps. Then it donned on me I can do the same thing at home.

Still keeping to only one quart chocolate milk per day, diluted with regular milk.

A church that doesn't require one to believe in so called "truths" without scientific evidence is good

I like the liberal church of my upbringing even though I don't currently work "church" into my schedule. I like not being required to believe in anything that doesn't have strong scientific evidence supporting it. I don't consider myself an atheist, however, as I still hold out some hope for things that may transcend this limited life.

Personally, I put ideas about what are called "super natural" things into a category of speculations, hopes and unknowns. Seems like most humans need these hopes for getting through this life. That need may come from our survival instincts, if nothing else, but that need is evident to me. No wonder religions remain popular tho their popularity is declining in the west. The alternative; a world of nothing that we think of as spirit, seems rather bleak.

There seems to always be plenty of room for speculations and these glimmers of hope as we haven't yet run out of new things to learn. I think of many ideas as being interesting speculations, rather than hard facts. That's where fundamentalist religions get into trouble. It's easy for people to fight over what they think are rigid facts; especially if there's no scientific way to verify those facts.

Ancient peoples would have thought of electricity as being magic. Now we are getting better at understanding electricity. Similar to learning more about electricity, something as fundamental as time, itself, is not understood. I like thinking about big questions like what is time? I like wondering about what causes the universe to exist and what causes our biological bodies to create self awareness. I still think there are a lot of truths that are beyond what we are currently able to conceptualize, given the way our minds have evolved. This gives me hope about some meaning beyond just our short lives, but hope and speculation is different than solid fact.

I'm also thinking about the concept of rigid fact versus ideas of Relativity Theory where things like the length of a yardstick become fluid. Then there's the weirdness of the quantum realm. That weirdness and fluidity is part of science also, not just imagination. My mind goes to many tangents.

Only the upper middle class and above will be able to afford insurance if there is no subsidy

It seems like only the upper middle class and the wealthy can afford health insurance without it being subsidized. Healthcare costs are just too high and the income gap is too wide in USA. That's why Republican plans don't work. Republicans hate subsidizing people from taxes that other people have to pay.