I live in Trinidad, CO, just north of the New Mexico state line. Several years ago there was a major brush fire up near Colorado Springs, about 124 miles away. The wind was from the north and strong enough that the smoke from that fire came past us and kept going south over Raton Pass into New Mexico. The particulates from the smoke were bad enough that it was impossible to take a deep, full breath without coughing. You don't need to be near a fire to be affected by it, just down wind, and how far away depends on how strong that wind is.

I've seen claims that using seawater on inland fires would salt the Earth and kill the plants. Well, if the plant is on fire then it is already dead, or will be soon if the fire isn't extinguished quickly.

That's not the main way that salt water kills the plants. When you use salt water to put out a fire, part of that water soaks into the ground and makes it more salty than it was. Then, when the fire's out and seeds in the ground start to sprout, they may find that the soil's too salty for them and die and the only way to get ground cover back is to plant a different species that's more salt tolerant, changing the ecology of the burnt area permanently. Most people consider this a Bad Thing, which is why it's not done even in coastal areas where it would be easy. Please note that in California, those tanker aircraft that drop tons of water at a time on a fire fill up from lakes and reservoirs, even where it would be quicker to use the ocean.

Geographical mobility used to be much easier. In the age of credit scores and limited housing, it is extremely difficult to find a landlord who will admit you without a job, and much harder to find a job that will hire you without already being local.

Well, credit scores as we know them have been around since the 60's...so, not really that new.

There's PLENTY of housing....just depends on what part of the US you are in.

I see houses for sale all the time where I live (New Orleans area)....it may be scarce in NYC or west coast urban areas....but that is not the whole US.

In other parts of the US, there are homes...GOOD jobs, and cost of living is much less.

And those are regular W2 jobs.....if you jump into 1099 contracting....you can work wherever and very much often....remote.

I've done both....and if you have any job experience, you can get jobs before you moved.

I've never moved before having a job in that area....

Not so easy once your kids have friends and school in Seattle.

As a child, I had to move with my parents a number of times as Dad progressed through his career....

Hell,, military brats do it all the time still....but it wasn't that long ago this was pretty common....grow up, leave the nest....it's ok and natural....

I guess you must be single or young....Reasons not to leave your area: owning a house, family, friends, not wanting to pull kids from school during critical times (or mid year), established connections, and a lot more tech jobs in Seattle than 99% of the rest of america, outside silicon valley? "Sell your house" and then you pick up a house that is also overpriced but pay much higher property taxes. Income tax is *zero* in Washington...Also, this is actually Redmond, not Seattle proper.

When did people get to be such pussies about moving?

Hell, when I grew up, this was a common thing....you moved to where the best job or new opportunity was.

Fun? No.

PITA? Yes

But families did it as a matter of how life is/was....

I remember as a kid moving a number of times

...as my Dad career progressed.

I myself have moved....

Do people today believe that as grown adults they STILL have to live near Mommy and Daddy?

Friends? Well hell, there's a TON of ways to stay in touch that weren't there when I was young....you only had phone calls and snail mail growing up and if they were real friends....you stayed in touch.

Today it's a piece of cake to keep in touch.

When I grew up, most people I knew hit the road at 18yrs or so and often it was to a different state for college and jobs....no one had to stay in same town as Mommy....but then again, we never too "Mommy" out on job interviews like they apparently do today...

So....I know this sounds strange this day in age..BUT you could do what they did in the "olden days" of say 20+ years ago and...

...MOVE TO WHERE THE JOBS ARE....

Simple really.....believe it or not, people used to do this type thing without a 2nd thought....

I guess if this is true....

Then I regularly shorten my neighbors lives (and mine) whenever I fire up my log burning offset smoker for BBQ.

I don't generally have any complaints....quite the opposite reaction in general (I share and offer to throw things on for them too, since it is large and I often have extra room).

Speaking as a layman, I think you're a bit confused by the differences in copyright and trademark and how they apply. Steamboat Willie is now in the Public Domain, meaning that you can show it, or even sell copies of it and Disney can't do anything to stop you. However, the characters are still trademarked by Disney meaning that you can't use them to make new cartoons without Disney's permission. The question here seems to be can you use parts of Steamboat Willie in an advertisement for your law firm, or do you still have to ask Disney's permission to use the characters.

That npm is a steaming pile of shit

Anyone remember dBase?

Quite well, TYVM. And, I know why its name was so short; do you? Hint: CP/M.

And if the person I asked had answered that he'd helped create wealth for the nation, I would have thanked him for a job well done. Military service isn't the only way to do something for your country, it's just the most obvious one.

Well, there's that too, but I prefer to think of it of deciding for myself which branch to serve in.

No, there are many ways to do things for your country other than military service. I was just showing how I served to avoid a "put up or shut up" situation.

You certainly have a right to your opinion, and I respect your right to follow your beliefs. However, I'd like to ask you what, if anything, you've ever done for your country or have you just held out your hand hoping your government would drop money into it?

And before you try turning the table on me and asking me the same question, let me tell you that I'm a Nam vet (Not, mind you, a "Viet Nam era veteran") who served in Uncle Sam's Navy and can proudly claim to be a member of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht club, having watched 6" shells hitting the water about 30 yards off my ship's fantail.

Any attempts to stop this by legislation will have to be at the Federal level and enforcement will need to go through the FTC, and possibly the FCC. This is clearly an Interstate Commerce issue, and trying to deal with it one state at a time is simply a waste of time and money.