crazy memory ideas?

I don't think it's just snow. Lots of older folks move from the North to AZ because cold and humidity sets off rheumatism/joint pain. Arizona has lower pollen counts too, right? Sometimes we get pollen blooms so thick that even people not known for allergies start having allergic wheezing and runny noses. (Iowa)

Houses are built better than in California. Seriously: travertine floors,

10 to 12 foot ceiling heights, granite counters. Floor to ceiling glass looking out onto beautiful country. Temperature inside home is easy to maintain between 82 to 88 all year round.

And with tongue in cheek... As people age, they 'see the light' and become Republicans, so move to a gun-toting Republican state that's nearby.

I moved to Arizona when I was 22 years old ;-)

(Actually I interviewed Motorola in February of 1962, returned to Cambridge to find my car frozen to the ground... that's why I selected Motorola's offer versus those from Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia and El Segundo. Then I _drove_ into Arizona in June, without A/C... and first thought I had made a horrible mistake... downtown Scottsdale was at 124°F :-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

We have plenty of them here in the Coachella Valley, so his original hypothesis is supported in that. It gets plenty warm here, so much so that many of those retirees (we call them snowbirds!) leave from June till October and go back 'home' for the summer!

And lower property taxes.

The classic desert towns, where people used to be sent for respiratory ills, have been planted to the extent that many have pollen problems now.

I grew up in New Orleans, where the ragweed looks like a bumper corn crop and heaps of yellow pollen blow around on the streets. It was killing me, so I moved as close to the Pacific Ocean as I could. Things are better now, usually. Nasal steroids are a great invention.

I think there is a correlation between geeky skills and allergies.

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc 
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com    

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom timing and laser controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer 
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Coachella Valley has been in the news recently >:-}

Snowbirds do have a value... our house sold so fast we had to find temporary lodging while the new house was being built. We ended up staying at an Ohio snowbird's winter lodging for 5 months... for free! ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

A "little" snow isn't the issue, rather a *lot* of sun. I could stand a little snow but the year we packed up we had 36" on Valentines day and 24" more on St. Paddy's day.

But weather isn't the whole story. Retires simply can't afford the high property taxes that are ubiquitous in the North.

Oy, we are often in the news, just usually not for good things!

Like the bru-ha-ha over the 'Arabs' mascot. Oh my! He looks mean! (As if EVERY sports mascot isn't designed to look mean and theatening!)

The date industry here goes back a hundred years, after they imported various varieties from the middle east. That part of the valley is full of data farms, at least the one's not torn down to put in subdivisions!

I like dates... a really nice fruit. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I like snow that's not here, but driving distance. In a good year, Sugar Bowl gets 80 feet on Mt Disney.

Bear box in Truckee:

Icicles:

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com 

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom laser drivers and controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation

krw > But weather isn't the whole story. krw > Retires simply can't afford the

--- krw > high property taxes that are krw > ubiquitous in the North. Please explain second part.

It's simple enough for even Slowman to read, isn't it? Northern states = high taxes, particularly property taxes. Property tax is a tax on wealth, not on income.

krw > Northern states = high taxes, krw > particularly property taxes. I wasn't questioning your assertion, but the mechanism that makes it so. WHY are property taxes higher in Northern US states? Is there a reason?

OK. Was confused by the question.

Historical? Northern states tend to be the "rust" states (old decaying industry). More liberal. More unionized. Much higher proportion of government union workers. Religion and personal responsibility are much more important in the South, though many of the large cities are still liberal cesspools.

Probably a leftover of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The South more or less missed the entire "progressive" movement.

Southern states tend to be more "hands-on", around the throats of politicians >:-}

Northerners are blasé, vote for the guy who talks nice... but they are otherwise ignorant as a rock... sort of like Slowman >:-} ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I don't fit the mold ;) When I was in college one professor said I had an accent and thought that I was not from NY.

lol

Cheers

Maybe that's why I didn't notice your "accent". You must be a southerner at heart ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

krw > Probably a leftover of the Civil War and krw > Reconstruction. The South more or less krw > missed the entire "progressive" movement. Perhaps when Lincoln massively enlarged the Federal government the South didn't get as much of a share? JT > Southern states tend to be more JT > "hands-on", around the throats of JT > politicians >:-} Is it possible that Southerners still somehow remember how the Federal government turned on them? There really was NOT any law against states seceding from the Union. As far as I have ever seen, joining the Union never legally removed any right for a state to secede. Lincoln enlarged the Federal government in a way that the founders would have seen as treason. Our system was supposed to have a weak central government. Lincoln turned it into an Iron Fist. Did this make Southerners more aware that government itself can become the biggest enemy of the people? JT > Northerners are blasé, vote for JT > the guy who talks nice... but JT > they are otherwise ignorant as a JT > rock... sort of like Slowman >:-} Growing up in family small businesses in Minnesota, I certainly developed a strong disdain for bureaucracy and the "charmers" like Humphrey.

So I assume you avoided the 1% tax of 3.8% for income over $250k. ( which includes capital gains from a house sale ;)

Cheers