Wow!! Getting all worked up because some people ride around naked on their bicycles? Get a life is a phrase that comes to mind. I envy people who apparently have enough discretionary time in their lives to get upset about the small stuff.

And what's with criticizing the hippies all the time Salmonella? Sheesh! I grew up in the south end of my county among hillbilly rednecks - Irish Malamphy lived down the road and was the best moonshiner in the county - and I was taught to be judgemental about everyone and everything - different from us. Fortunately I came of age during the 60s and became a hippy. Long hair, sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll; no era has had something better to offer yet. We hippies, latter day dudes now 60 and older have more than average education, higher than average income, satisfying careers, and we tend not to judge others by the length of their hair, their overly rigid lifestyles and protocols for damn near everything, wearing too many or the wrong clothes for every occasion, or even their narrow-mindedness. When we judge, we try to judge behaviors and not the people engaging in them. We figured out long ago that if people want to get naked, it doesn't hurt us, and if we get naked, it doesn't hurt them. Maybe not always easy on the eyes, but hardly qualifies as hurting other people.

We native Washingtonians however, allow ourselves a bit of judgement when it comes to Californians though. The stereotypical Californian who moves to Washington comes here with a small California home equity and then pays cash for a local McMansion, helping drive up real estate prices, then he complains about how low wages are here relative to his former California job, and then has the idiocy to complain about the crummy weather. For these simple reasons, Emmett Watson (reference earlier in this thread) invited all immigrant Californians to move the hell back there, or at least away from here.

Personally, I don't restrict my criticism to immigrants from California. I wish all immigrants would move the hell out of Washington. I thought it was getting too crowded here when the population passed 2.6 million, and that was 40 years ago.

Remember the saying, "don't sweat the small stuff?" Also remember, practically everything that people get uptight about is small stuff. Oh so many really need to get a life. Focus on what matters.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.