39 replies to this topic

[to_be_announced]

Welcome.  Really wish we had some Myrmecocystus where I live.  You got a lot of awesome ants there.

[CheetoLord02]

Ayyyy fellow southwesterner! If you ever need advice anting in the southwest I'm your guy, although with over 60 queens, 16 of them being M. mexicanus.... you might not need my help at all! That's a great haul already and the main flight  season in the desert has barely even started.

[Mikasa]

I've got pretty good luck in where I'm at. Those are all just around my house. And I missed the first P. barbatus flights. Rained again before I could dig any up too and erased all sign of their newly dug chambers.

[ConcordAntman]

Hey Mikasa, welcome! Looks like you’ve gotten off to an amazing anting season. Artesia is in southeastern New Mexico isn’t it? What do you mean the Land of Entrapment? You've got all the excitement of aliens in Roswell, nuclear history at Alamogordo and Los Alamos National Labs, the dunes of White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, the Very Large Array, Spaceport America, Bosque Del Apache… All that and ants too! New Mexico is one of my favorite places! From Georgia O’Keefe’s Abiquiu, to horseback riding in Cerrillos and the high road to Taos, glider flights in Moriarty, or stargazing in the Santa Fe ski basin, it really is the Land of Enchantment!

[ConcordAntman]

Browser didn’t close when I hit post. I hit it again and duplicated my post. Sorry (but I still think it’s the Land of Enchantment  )!

Edited by ConcordAntman, July 26 2021 - 5:46 PM.

[Kaelwizard]

Browser didn’t close when I hit post. I hit it again and duplicated my post. Sorry (but I still think it’s the Land of Enchantment )!

According to the internet it is “Entrapment” because of high poverty rates or something so people aren’t able to leave the state.

[ConcordAntman]

I lived in Albuquerque in the late 80’s. Life could be tough there but no worse than parts of Detroit or LA. I’ve lived in all three of them and New Mexico is the only one I’d consider moving back to. Two acres in Galisteo with a place for my telescopes near a stable so I could ride.

[mantisgal]

Hello, I also like anime. I started watching it in the 80s with Voltron and The Wind Warriors (early US cut of Nausicaa). I still watch anime. Next person who sh**-talks anime is getting blocked by me. Like, WTAF, you insecure [censored].

So, Excel Saga: Good Idea or Best Idea for a series?

[Mikasa]

Lol well, Land of Entrapment for a few reasons. Once you live here for any length of time, your almost guaranteed to come back or stay. If you get in trouble here you're permanently stuck thanks to our legal system (and that's only half a joke), and if you're born here well, it never seems anyone leaves for long. Not because of poverty either. For whatever reason people love the stifling heat and the sea of brown. I'm among those few but it's still fun to make fun of it. And yes, we have a lot of beauty and life but that's mostly for tourists. So it's a trap lol. Plus, no one knows we're actually a part of the US. Now that's fun. Geography and US history skips over New Mexico if you're from another state apparently.

[Mikasa]

Never watched the Excel Saga but looks interesting. I've watched several others. Some popular some not. I prefer dubbed versions of them though. I have a mostly hate relationship with both subtitles and abhorrently high pitched squeaky female voiced characters.

[Kaelwizard]

Lol well, Land of Entrapment for a few reasons. Once you live here for any length of time, your almost guaranteed to come back or stay. If you get in trouble here you're permanently stuck thanks to our legal system (and that's only half a joke), and if you're born here well, it never seems anyone leaves for long. Not because of poverty either. For whatever reason people love the stifling heat and the sea of brown. I'm among those few but it's still fun to make fun of it. And yes, we have a lot of beauty and life but that's mostly for tourists. So it's a trap lol. Plus, no one knows we're actually a part of the US. Now that's fun. Geography and US history skips over New Mexico if you're from another state apparently.

To be fair, I’m pretty sure some other states weren’t mentioned in my classes 😂

[Mikasa]

Lol sure but I don't think any other state has an entire column in their state magazine dedicated to incidences where people honestly didn't know we are a part of the US or out and out refused to believe it. There are even US based companies that legitimately give us hell for being "out of country" even though we aren't. Even the US postal system screws up our stuff over it and they're a government based entity that absolutely should know. Look up NM magazine and find the page of stories about times people didn't know we are a state in the US. It's hilarious and in some instances, kinda sad.

Edited by Mikasa, August 26 2021 - 7:12 AM.

[ConcordAntman]

Lol well, Land of Entrapment for a few reasons. Once you live here for any length of time, your almost guaranteed to come back or stay. If you get in trouble here you're permanently stuck thanks to our legal system (and that's only half a joke), and if you're born here well, it never seems anyone leaves for long. Not because of poverty either. For whatever reason people love the stifling heat and the sea of brown. I'm among those few but it's still fun to make fun of it. And yes, we have a lot of beauty and life but that's mostly for tourists. So it's a trap lol. Plus, no one knows we're actually a part of the US. Now that's fun. Geography and US history skips over New Mexico if you're from another state apparently.

I guess I can see your point about entrapment in that once you’ve been there, you want to get back. Before living in NM, I’d never lived more than 20 minutes from an ocean. Getting out of the plane (before the Sunport was called that, you deplaned to the tarmac and had to walk to the terminal) and driving from the airport, to the foothills of the Sandias, then the North Valley, I was smitten! It’s not hard to find parts of New Mexico that look like the west did over 100 years ago. It seems the secret is out though. Real estate prices from ABQ to Chama have gone through the roof (I’m more a northern NM guy than southern. A bit more green, a tad less sweltering)! That’s gotta be more than tourists (hopefully not too many investors). 

I agree about our general geography fail. When we moved there in the 80’s many of our friends didn’t know it was a state

Anyway, going forward I’ll take “Land of Entrapment” in its best interpretation! You’ve got an impressive collection of colonies. Best of luck with them. 

Edited by ConcordAntman, August 26 2021 - 10:45 AM.

[ConcordAntman]

Lol sure but I don't think any other state has an entire column in their state magazine dedicated to incidences where people honestly didn't know we are a part of the US or out and out refused to believe it. There are even US based companies that legitimately give us hell for being "out of country" even though we aren't. Even the US postal system screws up our stuff over it and they're a government based entity that absolutely should know. Look up NM magazine and find the page of stories about times people didn't know we are a state in the US. It's hilarious and in some instances, kinda sad.

Yep, that mail mix-up happened to us many times when we lived there! But there are few places in the US you could work where one office window looks out on row of inactive volcanoes with petroglyphs and the other on a 11,000+ foot mountain range! Entrapment or Enchantment!?!?

[Mikasa]

All very true. There's talk of ABQ becoming the new Hollywood. Not too many of us are really pleased by that. For being a "blue" state, the majority of us are of a different opinion and only in the cities does blue reign. It's incredibly unfair that our ways of life are in danger because of people who have never lived our way think it appropriate that they get to dictate how we should conduct ourselves and live. Most of us have our fingers crossed that as people move in things get to stay the same or get better but a lot of us have set our eyes to Texas or similar states just in case. People move away from failing states and cities and think that if they keep the same mind set that the new place will be better, failing to realize those mind sets (and thus those votes) are what ruined the places they came from. NM may not be all that great but for those of us that live here, it's home and we don't want it stolen away by failed ideologies.

[futurebird]

entrapment? more like ANTrapment!! Am I right!? ha ha

 

(don't worry I'm already showing myself out)

[NickAnter]

The big city effect is sadly going to be a driving force in politics for a long time... I must say, California certainly does not have any of the same entrapment effects. I want to get out of here as soon as possible haha.

Edited by NickAnter, August 27 2021 - 7:53 AM.

[ConcordAntman]

I’m originally from the New York metropolitan area and lived until my mid 30’s in the northeast. New Mexico was exhilarating. Different cultures, amazing vistas. Stretches of north and south central NM are changing. The people that worked hard to live there are being priced out. The vistas and peace that I’d found there seems a bit harder to come by. I’m not sure I’d call New Mexico a failing state but without question, it faces challenges. I probably lean more toward the “blue” side of things but I loved what I experienced in New Mexico while we lived there. I got to know people I never would’ve met on the east coast and I watch now as parts of the state becomes a pricey playground. Uncomfortable to think that’s the price of progress. I’d be happy just to have a plot with dark skies. A place to feel at ease, park my telescopes, keep my ants, and occasionally ride a horse. I’m too old for changing folk’s mindset. The best I can do is to support my family, friends, and community, lead by example, and hope that we collectively have the sense to do what’s necessary to make things better for us all. 

[Mikasa]

I think balance is best and an empathy for other ways of life and other ways of thinking. I believe it leads to understanding and appreciation. I love living in the middle of nowhere but it comes with its own set of challenges and rules to life that living in town or in a city doesn't and the reverse is the same as well. What works in the city won't work in the country and what works in the country doesn't necessarily work in the city. One should not be able to make rules for the other in the same state or even the same county. Everyone thinks they're right and no one is willing to budge or use logic instead of emotion. True logic as well not logic driven by emotion. It would be an interesting world if reason ruled not politics and emotional driven ideologies.

[mantisgal]

Never watched the Excel Saga but looks interesting. I've watched several others. Some popular some not. I prefer dubbed versions of them though. I have a mostly hate relationship with both subtitles and abhorrently high pitched squeaky female voiced characters.

Given that's how Japanese women are taught to speak Japanese, that seems harsh. Plus, localization for American audiences robs the material of a lot of nuance. I just read faster and learned to recognize certain words after the 3 decades I been exposed to the stuff

Edited by mantisgal, August 29 2021 - 2:05 PM.