Refugee from New York

[gamekeeper]

Larry, as an unofficial PR man for NewYork you're doing a wonderful job......

[7.62 Precision]

So back to the College, no degree right?
No ? Thought so!

Reading comprehension is also important.

Get educated, I can even get you a job and you can move back here.

Not a chance. Why would I live in a place like NY? I have no reason to.

Second, are you talking about your really high-paying teaching jobs? I found this interesting report from Cornell University on NYS teaching salaries:

In the median or typical New York State contract (i.e. half the contracts pay more and half less than this level), a starting teacher with a Master’s degree is paid $43,928. With experience this goes up, so that after 20 years that same teacher working under the median contract would be paid $69,460. Teachers with only a Bachelor’s degree tend to be paid a few thousand dollars less, so that a starting teacher without a Master’s under the median contract would only make $40,083.

Average salary for teachers in NY is $64,583.

Not so impressive, especially in a state with high taxes and cost of living.

As far as your stated $300 per day, that is what I made many years ago when I first started working as an explosives engineer. Except I could work all year long if I wanted to. So if you can provide a job that pays $6,110 per week, you would only just be hitting what I can average working as an explosives engineer. If you found a job that doubled that, I still would not move to NY.

At the end of my life, how much money I made will mean little, while the quality of my life will be what counts. Living in New York is like being in prison to me.

Unfortunately, my combat injuries limit how much I can work, so a least I live in Alaska where I can have a great life and do things people pay a lot to do even when I am broke.

[7.62 Precision]

Average Teacher in our region retires at $5000 a month with almost free medical for family.
Laugh all you want.
Got to pick lot's of fish for that.

Again, you really have no concept of what Alaska is, do you? NY teachers make pennies compared to what can be made in commercial fishing in AK.

Guess though trying to prove because of being minimally educated in today's world possibly one might worry about that.

What?! In English, please?

[7.62 Precision]

Actually, I have found 7.62's reasoning of everyone leaving NY backwards.
Those not adequately educated cannot compete and must migrate where SOME type work might be found.

NY has plenty of dead-end jobs, just like everywhere else in the country. Everyone I went to high school with are still there, working those types of jobs, or on welfare, except the most motivated, most of whom left the state.

[madman4570]

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[7.62 Precision]

Larry, as an unofficial PR man for NewYork you're doing a wonderful job......

In NY, from kindergarten through high school, it is drilled into kids' heads that NY is the best, the most, the biggest, the richest, in every way better than any other state. The curriculums are skewed to focus on NY. It is repeated over and over to the kids that the NY school system is the best in the country, while criteria is changed to make the test score look higher.

Maybe it is more obvious to someone from out of state, but there really is a noticeable undercurrent of brainwashing throughout the curriculums intended to instill in New York children the idea that NY and the people in it are better than any other sate or any other people. If you learn history in NY schools, you would pretty much think NY was at the center of everything important in the world. The better teachers do what they can to diminish this.

[gamekeeper]

Larry, as an unofficial PR man for NewYork you're doing a wonderful job......

In NY, from kindergarten through high school, it is drilled into kids' heads that NY is the best, the most, the biggest, the richest, in every way better than any other state. The curriculums are skewed to focus on NY. It is repeated over and over to the kids that the NY school system is the best in the country, while criteria is changed to make the test score look higher.

Maybe it is more obvious to someone from out of state, but there really is a noticeable undercurrent of brainwashing throughout the curriculums intended to instill in New York children the idea that NY and the people in it are better than any other sate or any other people. If you learn history in NY schools, you would pretty much think NY was at the center of everything important in the world. The better teachers do what they can to diminish this.

Sounds like a lot of Londoners I have met....
I guess a lot of folks feel proud of where they come from but when they think that alone makes them better than the rest they should stay put in their own little paradise and not try to change other peoples paradise.

[7.62 Precision]

Guys,
I want you guys to understand many places in NYS are as nice as anywhere.
NYS is my state where I live. It is a fine place to live.
Myself ask my wife about Alaska.
Constant rain,black flies,cold,no sun, and many people just drank and couldn't understand most.
Bottom line trashing my state calling people a bunch of imbreds. I don't like it as you all would not I am sure.

No, many places in NY are not as nice as anywhere. Not to me, or anyone else who knows what liberty can taste like. Some places are much nicer than others. Some places have people that are on average much better people than other places. NY is not all the same, and the people are not all the same. There is no place there that I would live, however.

Again, you have no understanding of Alaska. I lived in NY.

I would not tell you to leave NY, though. If you like it there, great. There are a lot of considerations that people have; family, jobs, history, all kinds of things that keep them in a place like NY. Much of the country is beautiful country.

Besides, if you left, it would be one less person in NY standing for what is right, and those pushing for what is wrong would be that much more powerful.

[madman4570]

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[madman4570]

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[gamekeeper]

Larry, as an unofficial PR man for NewYork you're doing a wonderful job......

In NY, from kindergarten through high school, it is drilled into kids' heads that NY is the best, the most, the biggest, the richest, in every way better than any other state. The curriculums are skewed to focus on NY. It is repeated over and over to the kids that the NY school system is the best in the country, while criteria is changed to make the test score look higher.

Maybe it is more obvious to someone from out of state, but there really is a noticeable undercurrent of brainwashing throughout the curriculums intended to instill in New York children the idea that NY and the people in it are better than any other sate or any other people. If you learn history in NY schools, you would pretty much think NY was at the center of everything important in the world. The better teachers do what they can to diminish this.

Sounds like a lot of Londoners I look l have met....

Careful he will get your phrasing?

Darn 7" I pad, it makes up it's own phrases......

[madman4570]

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[7.62 Precision]

Because of only having a HS education,finding any type of employment is a concern.

Again reading comprehension is important.

So while you may struggle to comprehend what I wrote, let me see if i can make sense of what you have taught me about myself:

I came from Alaska where it is always raining, full of black flies, no sun, where everyone just sits in the rain drinking and cannot be understood. The education system in Alaska is very bad, except for the one school I attended. I moved to the wonderful state of NY where the education system is better than in other states where I was taught by teachers who are more highly qualified than those in other states.
Unfortunately, even with all of the advantages of the NYS educational system, I was only minimally educated, having only a high school diploma and was forced to leave the state of NY to find employment, since all the jobs in NY require a higher level of education and since i could not compete, I was forced to migrate to a place where some type of work could be found for someone so minimally educated and poorly qualified as myself. So I found myself back in Alaska where I struggle to make ends meet by fishing while wishing I had a degree so that I could ask madman4570 to find me a job, maybe as a teacher, in the wonderful state of NY, where the restrictive laws and loss of freedom are really not that big a deal if you just stick with neutered rifles and 10 round magazines. Besides, property is cheap so you can sort of afford the property taxes.

Does that sound like me? Must be.

Hold, on, I've got to pull this salmon out of the net, and the black flies are driving me nuts in this rain, and it's hard to type drunk with fish slime on my hands, but I guess you can't understand what I am saying anyway, since I am from Alaska anyway and don't talk American.

[hayabusa]

Can't help it. I must give a big ol atta boy for the education ? I am getting in economics, etc. Neighbors will be neighbors. lol lol

From Louisiana
hayabusa

[AJMD429]

Average Teacher in our region retires at $5000 a month with almost free medical for family.
Laugh all you want. Got to pick lot's of fish for that.l:

That must make their unemployed pupils feel better.......

Everyone makes their way in the world. If you aren't you are not doing enough.
Excuses, give me a break. Actually, I have found 7.62's reasoning of everyone leaving NY backwards.
Those not adequately educated cannot compete and must migrate where SOME type work might be found.

Well it seems to me that 'retiring at $5,000/month with almost free medical' isn't exactly 'work'...

Once again, lest we get all puffy in the chest, I want to state that a degree is a piece of paper that generally says little about the person who holds it. While it can prove a certain level of education, the benefit gained from that education can vary greatly from person to person. It is a standard that can be used for many purposes, but I consider many other criteria to be more valuable in judging a person. As I said in the last post, some of the smartest, most capable people I have ever met, some who I respect most, do not have degrees and have no need for one. Some of the most educated people I have met do not have the degrees that much more ignorant people hold.

Yep. That's for sure; I've long since quit being impressed by someone in proportion to the degrees, titles, and number of initials after their name - the men and women who make me feel humble are ones who have integrity and solid moral character. Intelligence is a plus, but you don't have to go to school for that.

[92&94]

Because of only having a HS education,finding any type of employment is a concern.

Again reading comprehension is important.

Absolutely unbelievable, isn't he?

The funny part is how he keeps calling attention to the fact that he didn't even read your post way back there....

[madman4570]

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[piller]

Mme4570, I have a college degree. My degree is in Pharmacy. During the length of my career, I have worked with 2 Pharmacists whom were from New York City. Both of them were, in my opinion, severely lacking in education. Before you start running down my education, did you obtain scores above the cumulative 1528 which I obtained on the SAT test for college?

When my Uncle Jesse went to Boston for his degree at Harvard, he met and married a local woman. My Aunt's family asked him if there were still wild Indians in Oklahoma. This was in 1935. He had his bachelors of science in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma A&M University. In only 9 months he had a Masters Degree from Harvard in mechanical engineering. According to Uncle Jesse, the Harvard degree opened doors for him, but it was not an education. The education which designed the Trident and was part of the team on everything but the guidance system of the Tomahawk Cruise Missile was from Oklahoma A&M. Yes, I know that Harvard is not in New York State. However, my point is to show that education is not what many think it is. In my experience, the more Ivy League your education is, the less time you have actually spent learning your area of study, and the more time you have spent networking.

The Pharmacy School I went to has had more than 250 discoveries of new medicines and new delivery systems in the last 40 years. Can all the Pharmacy Schools in New York State combined even come up with more than one-tenth of that?

[SteveR]

SteveR is one of the ones I talked about in my post, capable of independent thought.
He understands his enviroment has changed, and not to his liking.
Unable to change that more to his liking, he must change his location.
Come out west Steve, I will show you how to find gold.

You got my attention!! Gold!!!

I haven't decided yet where, but it will be a state low in taxes levied, warm winters, not unbearable summer humidity.

How is the mine doing? Hope to get out there to see it soon.

Steve

[SteveR]

Always makes me wonder... If things were so great where they came from, and their system worked so well, why did they feel the need to leave..?

If I wanted to live the way Eastern big-city folks live, I'd move to an eastern big city. Actually, we get pressure from both coasts, as refugees flee the things they instinctively hate, only to drag that same mentality with them, because that is what they know.. Sad.

Try living with them moving in everyday, destroying small towns, most of the dairy farms are gone that I grew up with. They come here like the plague, swamp all local boards, then they try to make all of NY like their utopia NYC. It is sad how they have a lot of money and time, most people here work long hours for what looks like good pay, but taxes and sky high prices on food, fuel, electric, ect., end up making less than other states that pay less. But the plague have the means, to work the system, rig elections, and further their agenda.

So Buck, be happy they are few and between, once they get a toe hold, you and all your tough talk won't hold for long. Trust me, it took them less than 20 years here.

Steve

[madman4570]

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[Mescalero]

I would not buy it.

[gamekeeper]

I can just see it now, hundreds of white topped prairie schooners all travelling East...........

[harry]

Again, I am not saying a guy with a college degree is better than a guy without one.
However, it does give a person in todays world a huge advantage in the career market place.

In my opinion take Watkins Glenn or Ithaca NY I have yet to find property more beautiful.
And I have been all over the US.
The taxes lets look at that. The average school and property taxes generally runs aprox. $1500 per $50,000 of assessed value.(for the year) combined.
So, your home that is assessed at $125,000 will run around $3750 yearly. Sure there are states that have no state tax but they have other problems too.

I suppose if that amount of cost breaks your bank then maybe living in the desert or in a swamp or uninhabited area works for you?

I can tell you with certainty Pa taxes on a home are just as bad.

Here, beat this house for $100K on 2 acres
Oh, that's right you think its NYC
http://www.cabinstocastlesre.com/Web/AR ... id=8286118

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgr6x56KH8s

Taxes on 125,000 property here would be less than 1000.00 a year. And you think the state is paying those "almost free insurance" for the teachers. Why everyone has been trying to get you to re-read the topic is you missed the part about 7.62 having a degree.

[perry owens]

I lived on Long Island, NYS, from 2003 to 2008, on secondment from my home in England. During that time my work took me to 47 of the other states but I never once thought "Wow, I wish I lived here instead of in New York". Sure, other states have better hunting and easier gun laws but for me there's more to life than just that.NYS has beautiful beaches, boating on the ocean,not a lake, skiing, nice shooting ranges and the most exciting, vibrant city in the world.
When the wife and I arrived we resolved to try to integrate as well as possible and never denigrate our host country. We learned the language, drove our SUV's like madmen on the Expressway and ate far too much but we never quite fitted into the gated community we lived in(the company's choice, not ours) Our neighbours were horrified when we said we rode the bus into town because only poor people did that, and when we gave the Mexican gardeners cold beers we were nearly thrown off the estate.The tendency to judge people by how much money they have and not by personality and attitude was to us the downside of NY living, but apart from that we loved every minute.
We're going back for a vacation next month - one week in NYC, one week in a rented cabin on Lake George and one week back in Long Island visiting the friends we made there.

[Blaine]

I can just see it now, hundreds of white topped prairie schooners all travelling East...........

A wonderful breath of fresh air in a dreary thread

(When a conversation degrades to cracking on someone's edumacation, or how much money they make....well )

[7.62 Precision]

Try living with them moving in everyday, destroying small towns, most of the dairy farms are gone that I grew up with. They come here like the plague, swamp all local boards, then they try to make all of NY like their utopia NYC. It is sad how they have a lot of money and time, most people here work long hours for what looks like good pay, but taxes and sky high prices on food, fuel, electric, ect., end up making less than other states that pay less. But the plague have the means, to work the system, rig elections, and further their agenda.

Yeah, I've seen it. In the area my parents lived, you could not give land away. Then at some point, all the people from NYC realized they could retire on 300 acres for pennies instead of a million dollar condo in the city and they descended like locusts. At the same time, the politicians from the cities make laws that keep the price paid for milk at rock bottom, so the dairy farmers can't stay in business, can't afford to buy more land and equipment, and their kids can't compete with the big city dollars to buy land to start new farms.

The laws passed by the NYC politicians in Albany are bad enough for the farmers and normal people living in rural NYS, but then the people flood in from NYC and feel it is their duty to make sure they are enforced.

So Buck, be happy they are few and between, once they get a toe hold, you and all your tough talk won't hold for long. Trust me, it took them less than 20 years here.

Yeah, look what they did to Colorado.

[madman4570]

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[Blaine]

Washington?? We're all dirty scumbag liberals

[madman4570]

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[Mescalero]

I am really having trouble making sense out of this one.

[7.62 Precision]

Again, I am not saying a guy with a college degree is better than a guy without one.
However, it does give a person in todays world a huge advantage in the career market place.

I won't disagree with this. The best state inspector I have worked with in Alaska, a guy who really went out of his way to learn everything about blasting when he was working with us, and any other part of a job he was responsible for, was at the top pay grade he could reach without a degree.

This was a guy that had such a good reputation that younger or newly-hired inspectors would tell me how elated they were to work with hims so they could learn from him, or how hard they were trying to get on a job with him so they could learn from him.

On a certain job that he was responsible for, a newly-hired inspector came on. This was a kid who had spent a few years in the army and got a degree in creative writing at the same time. Once he got the degree, he got out and was hired by the state as an inspector. He had no previous experience or training, knew nothing about any type of construction, and his starting pay grade was one pay grade higher than the highest pay grade the guy who was about to retire could reach, simply because he had that degree.

It depends on the career, though. In the graphic design world, a degree can often hinder being hired more than help. I have fired more college-trained designers than I have been able to retrain, and many of the best design agencies will not hire a college-trained designer, unless the designer is very experienced with a proven record. Other agencies want degrees, it depends on the agency.

In my opinion take Watkins Glenn or Ithaca NY I have yet to find property more beautiful.
And I have been all over the US.

There are places in NY that are quite incredible, especially as you go further north. Most of NY is not very pretty in the winter, though, and compared to places like Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, etc., it is much harder to find really spectacular property. Some pretty cool places in the desert, too, like Arizona, Utah, Nevada, etc.

Being all over the US and actually living there are different. I have spent considerable time in Alaska, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas/New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Florida, Oregon, New Zealand, and visited a lot of other places. While I have a good feel for what each of those places are like, and the people who live there, I only truly know what it is like to live in AK, NY, KY, TN, AZ and NZ.

If I had grown up in NY, I would probably be used to it and have a different perspective.

I don't care how beautiful NY is in places, after living in places like the bush in Alaska, NY makes me feel like a caged bird.

[jnyork]

I can just see it now, hundreds of white topped prairie schooners all travelling East...........

A wonderful breath of fresh air in a dreary thread

(When a conversation degrades to cracking on someone's edumacation, or how much money they make....well )

You're absolutely right, Blaine, I'm beginning to be sorry I started it.

[7.62 Precision]

Actually I kind of took it personal since my Daughter has just begun being a Teacher so I guess though that don't like my comments tough.
By the way, my daughter was top in her HS class, and all four years earned a 4.0 in Science Education from one of the top Education Universities in the United States.

Good, NY desperately needs good teachers. Don't let her get discouraged, and don't let her just become part of the system. She has the opportunity to make a huge difference. When I was in HS there, I was incredibly discouraged. I came from Alaska where education is really pushed, from a HS in the closest town to me that had one, that was a beautiful campus with all kinds of opportunities and cool classes, and was an open campus - I could come and go as I wanted, so long as my attendance stayed up, and it was just a fun place to be with really great teachers.
I stepped into a school in NY where most of the teachers did not care too much, the students didn't care at all, for the most part, I was told if I wanted to go to college I would need a regents degree and would have to start over in junior high to take all the regents classes. The pregnancy rate for teen girls in that county was over 70% would have a child or at least one abortion while in HS (the school I came from made front page news when three students out of 400 were pregnant over two school years; it was considered an epidemic). Students sat in class and ignored the teachers and only cared about gossip and looking like everyone else. Pretty much none of the students were the type of people I could ever make friends with. I was very discouraged and lost my motivation. I did not even want to go to school anymore. But I had one teacher who saw what I was going through and he made all of the difference for me. He gave me extra work and shared the books he was reading with me. He used me to encourage other students to take an interest in the work, and he totally turned things around for me. He was one of the greatest influences in my life.

My niece has been a English Teacher for 4 years here and makes $50,000 also. Math and Science Teachers typically run about $3,000 a year higher.

I guess that is pretty good for the area. It seems low to me because I am used to much higher wages here. That is not considered good wages here, so I have to reset my thinking for other states. To me it seems that teaching is one of those professions that is not as much about the wages, anyway.

Totally different deal trashing supposedly ones forum members States in which they live.

Not saying you need to move, only explaining why I cannot live there.

My state causes one of two main reactions in people; they love it and cannot bear to leave, or they hate it and cannot bear to stay.

Now we have a third reaction that is increasing, though. They come to Alaska to live in the cities and hate our laws and freedoms, so they work as hard as possible to turn AK into LA or NYC or Chicago.

[Sixgun]

My turn.

You guys know I play around a lot but yes, I can be serious.

Since when does anybody feel the state in which they live is "theirs" and anybody who thinks differently gets ostracized? I thought this country was founded on freedom. Some here say "that generations of their kin made the West what it is and they don't like others messin' it up".......or words to that effect).

I wonder how the American Indian felt when "whitey's kin" started building ranches.

New York is a big state. I know plenty of people from that state and they are just as honorable as others I have met. On this board, I was duped into sending a thousand dollar rifle to a well known guy in Texas with the claim, "a check will be in the mail tomorrow." Two months later, I still did not have the check. Does that make everyone from Texas an AH? (Yes, a call from the ATF to this guy got my money sent overnight)

A guy from Wyoming still owes me $100 from two years ago. He is probably reading this and laughing....after a changed handle...oh well......I still do business with guys from Wyoming.

For someone to seriously condescend (not just playing around) on someone else's grammar shows me
what they are truly thinking......I'm a better person than you, you low life.

I know Madman 4570 personally and he is honorable in every way and as you Westerners like to say, "one to ride the river with". One thing for sure, even collectively as a group, those words would not be spoken to him to his face.----6

[madman4570]

I guess all we can do is our best and make the most of it.
For sure every place has it's issues.

6,
Thank you for your very kind words friend.

[ollogger]

Well SixGun you nailed the heck out of that!!!!!!!!!!!
im in agreement on what you said bout Madman if you don't have the guts to say it to ones
face THEN????????????? The French side of my family came over & fought in the revolution
we know the out come of that, they settled in NYS, so 7 generations later I can look back & say
im fortunate that old Louis came over!!!!




ollogger

[Blaine]

Know how to keep Jets out of your driveway?? Put up goalposts....

[Griff]

I can just see it now, hundreds of white topped prairie schooners all travelling East...........

A wonderful breath of fresh air in a dreary thread
(When a conversation degrades to cracking on someone's edumacation, or how much money they make....well )

You're absolutely right, Blaine, I'm beginning to be sorry I started it.

Not I. But a bowl of popcorn and a cold "pop" have gone well with this entertaining and relatively unproductive thread.

I can identify with your ex-Yankee, as I moved from CA to TX as much due to their Legislative stupidity as a job opportunity 20+ years ago. And even tho' I truly love CA, at the time, I feared it had become a victim to its own hype. And that fear over-rode my perceived notions of Texas. And while both my fears and notions have been borne out, CA progressed far more slowly than I anticipated; and Texans' prejudices against "darn" Yankees and CA "fruits, flakes & nuts" are alive & well, I've found they're far more discriminating with their rancor than it appeared from CA.

With that in mind, a coupla thoughts: Formal schooling is sometimes the antithesis of education. And, while we all have prejudices, the trick is not to let them drive us into bigotry. For every rule, there IS an exception. Why, I even had a driver w/NY plates slow and signal that I could merge into "his" lane!

[Mescalero]

It has been an education.
goodbye.

[7.62 Precision]

Know how to keep Jets out of your driveway?? Put up goalposts....

I don't understand what you are saying. What does this mean?

[Malamute]

Know how to keep Jets out of your driveway?? Put up goalposts....

I don't understand what you are saying. What does this mean?

I believe its a sports reference/jab/humour, and I'm guessing the Jets (NY) don't make it past the goal posts too often. Just a guess. Last time I paid much attention to football was in the 70's.

[Blaine]

Know how to keep Jets out of your driveway?? Put up goalposts....

I don't understand what you are saying. What does this mean?

The NY Jets football team?

[7.62 Precision]

OK, I get it. I grew up without any real exposure to sports apart from what we played ourselves, so I still am completely ignorant about that kind of thing. As much as people try, with hockey, especially, Alaska still really has no real sports culture and lacks any really professional sports teams. Nothing that really pulls people together in support of their teams like other states have.

When I was in TN I used to tell people I finally figured out why UT chose orange as their color.
It was so you could wear your clothes to the game on Saturday to support the football team.
You could wear the same clothes Sunday in the tree stand.
And you could wear the same clothes all week picking up trash on the side of the road!

[shooter]

My turn.

You guys know I play around a lot but yes, I can be serious.

Since when does anybody feel the state in which they live is "theirs" and anybody who thinks differently gets ostracized? I thought this country was founded on freedom. Some here say "that generations of their kin made the West what it is and they don't like others messin' it up".......or words to that effect).

I wonder how the American Indian felt when "whitey's kin" started building ranches.

New York is a big state. I know plenty of people from that state and they are just as honorable as others I have met. On this board, I was duped into sending a thousand dollar rifle to a well known guy in Texas with the claim, "a check will be in the mail tomorrow." Two months later, I still did not have the check. Does that make everyone from Texas an AH? (Yes, a call from the ATF to this guy got my money sent overnight)

A guy from Wyoming still owes me $100 from two years ago. He is probably reading this and laughing....after a changed handle...oh well......I still do business with guys from Wyoming.

For someone to seriously condescend (not just playing around) on someone else's grammar shows me
what they are truly thinking......I'm a better person than you, you low life.

I know Madman 4570 personally and he is honorable in every way and as you Westerners like to say, "one to ride the river with". One thing for sure, even collectively as a group, those words would not be spoken to him to his face.----6

I get what you're saying, and agree, as I usually do with you. There are honorable people and scumbags from all parts. Even though Texas is a great state for the most part, it has it's fair share of the scum. I've chatted with Madman a bit in PM's when he was considering a move to TX not too far away from me, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy, and we would probably get along fine face to face. However, in some of his posts he comes across a little brash and pompous. I certainly don't agree with all of his political or social views, but that's neither here nor there. While condescending on one's grammar may not be the best course of action, neither is knocking one's education, and that's how madman came across, at least to me.

I don't have a college degree, even though I attended for a little while. I decided it wasn't for me and pursued other ventures. It may have taken me a little longer, but I make more money than a lot of people, and I'm equally as miserable at my job I also have a decently high I.Q. But in the end, what does having or not having a degree matter? If that's what you wanted and you worked to get it, great! If not, no big deal. I know plenty of people that have a degree that are some of the dumbest, most ignorant people I've ever met. It's just a piece of paper that you get for paying money, and most people spend at least half the rest of their lives paying back that money. Just food for thought.

[Streetstar]

I'm from Oklahoma -- born elsewhere, but raised here since a small boy

We're considered a "laid back friendly state" i guess ---

I had a great time when i was on Long Island last year (well, was there for hurricane Sandy --- so it was business first) --- there was a pizzeria there that adopted me as a "Regular" for a couple of months -- was in Medford, so it was way out there towards the Hampty Hams --- It was a local place and they always watched either the Knicks or the Giants every night, and had a lot of fun ribbing me for being a Thunder fan ----
-- just after 2 visits, the guys had my pattern down -- they knew i only ate pizza once a week, so on game nights , they'd keep a plate of grilled chicken breast with rosemary and some pasta in olive oil back for me --- after a couple of visits , they just called me "Oklahoma City" , --- and those guys' kept the place open until the games were over

It was unusual for me to meet great folks like that --- If i ever make it back there, it will be worth the drive across Long Island to go in and catch a game again
------ As somebody else said --
"Lots of good folks hampered by questionable politics"

I do admit , i meet good people everywhere i go, (and jerks too - also everywhere)

[7.62 Precision]

I had a great time when i was on Long Island last year . . .

One of the greatest mistakes people all over the country make is in assuming NY City is NY, All of NY is NYC, and all New Yorkers live in the city.

NY is a large state as far as the East Coast goes, and the terrain varies greatly, the people vary greatly, culture varies greatly, and even accents are quite different from region to region. NYC has its own culture that is very different from the rest of the state. One of the curses that people in NY have to deal with is the fact that the city, whose politicians and people generally have no understanding of the rest of the state, can easily outvote the rest of the state.

You can see the difference in the attitudes of law enforcement, too. I have little use for the NYPD, knowing something of their politics, training, and SOPs, and the two times I have been approached by a state trooper there, it has been hand on weapon and yelling at me, even though I did not act threatening in any way. Yet the local law enforcement that I have known or met in the small towns and rural areas have mostly been genuinely on the side of the people and willing to do what they could to make life less restrictive.

Areawise, much of NY state leans solidly toward conservatism, but a few wildly liberal cities control the state.

Long Island, right next door to the city, is culturally like being in a different part of the world; the difference is that great.

[madman4570]

+

[Sixgun]

Well said Madman/Maddog 20-20! (Sorry guys, I'm the only guy allowed to call Larry that)

College.....big deal. Our boss at work has Penn State stickers and license plates all over his $60,000 van. I have yet to hear anybody say anything good about him. One good punch would knock that skinny s.h. 20 feet.

My father in law could not read or write...(born 1909) raised 7 kids, owned a dairy farm, butcher shop and 100 acres of prime land of which 4 acres is now my wife's and mine......yea...he made me pay for it......no free lunch here. When he died in '79, there was not a dry eye at the funeral.

My father had an 8th grade education. He did well, raised a fine family, (especially me, his masterpiece) bought a new truck every other year and like my father in law, not a dry eye at the funeral.

Then there's the uncle, a cousin, two unmarried aunts....all with big deal educations.......nobody could stand them......they thought their feces did not stink. When they died, it was good riddance.


I'm sure we all have lots of stories but more often than not, people with big educations think they are something special. That's why Stalin liquidated everyone with more than an 8th grade education.

In today's world, if you don't have a degree, your not going too many places, but why does arrogance come with the degree? I guess I'm just blowing smoke out my azz....after all I only finished high school.......but.....I have owned everything since I was 40 and it's not exactly a tool shed in the Appalachians. I believe that it's not how much money you make but how you manage what you have.

My best bud Tommy, who owns Targetmaster never went to college and he got into a business that was well established around here and he put them all out of business.......he never got any help to start his business from anybody......he was a truck driver for WaWa dairies. He laughs when someone tells him they got a degree from the Wharton School of Business.

There's something to be said for good old "common sense"----6

[92&94]

Funny thing sixgun, if you were talking about people's home state rather than their level of education, you would be directly contradicting your earlier words.

Attitude is never consistent, but always amusing