Why is Bitcoin so popular in Oregon?

[tvbcof]

I got to thinking about this a little more.

I've been in a number of environments where I was around people from all over the country and all over the world.  I believe that I do sense an observable difference, as a statistical trend, between people from the Pacific Northwest and other areas.  We do seem a little bit more willing to form our own opinions about things and speak our minds.  Wayne Morse voting against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was a classic example of this.

One thing may have to do with education.  While it is a single observation, my mother had a high school teacher in the late 50's or early 60's who made the students read a variety of media from different sources.  Then the class would discuss the origin of the media and the messages contained within the articles and analyze things from that perspective.  This quality of analysis was probably not typical even for Oregon standards of the time, but it strikes me as reminiscent of the analytic style of a lot of my older and more intellectual friends in the area.

We are also a young part of a young country.  A fair number of my recent ancestors can be traced back to having come here from both Europe and other parts of the country within recent memory, and at a time when it was a pretty raw area.  It is said that settling populations exhibit a noticeable amount of vigor, and it make perfect sense.  It is also said that regression to the mean dampens this within a few generations.  We may have a little more of that left than average.  I dunno.

Lastly, I know a fair number of people who have moved out here within their lifetimes and they exhibit the same sorts of mentalities.  I attribute it to the fact that they are happy to be among others who are of a similar attitude and it may have something to do with their choosing to move here in the first place.

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[agaumoney]

And yes, not pumping your own gas is pretty nice, especially in a rainy state like ours. I wish when I visited non-pumping states that the gas stations would take a little extra money to come pump my gas for me.

Interesting.

Most areas have a few stations that you can pay for the attendant to pump your gas.  I usually avoid those lanes or pushing the attendant button.

In fact, when I used to commute thru the Willamette valley I had a membership to an unmanned station just so I could pump my own.    I've never banged the pump handle into my vehicle nor broken the filler door by bumping into it...

I found that for as much as the folks around and just north of Corvallis like to tell other people what to do and how to live, they sure don't like it when somebody tells them.  Maybe they are the ones getting into bitcoin.

[tvbcof]

And yes, not pumping your own gas is pretty nice, especially in a rainy state like ours. I wish when I visited non-pumping states that the gas stations would take a little extra money to come pump my gas for me.

Interesting.

Most areas have a few stations that you can pay for the attendant to pump your gas.  I usually avoid those lanes or pushing the attendant button.

In fact, when I used to commute thru the Willamette valley I had a membership to an unmanned station just so I could pump my own.    I've never banged the pump handle into my vehicle nor broken the filler door by bumping into it...

I found that for as much as the folks around and just north of Corvallis like to tell other people what to do and how to live, they sure don't like it when somebody tells them.  Maybe they are the ones getting into bitcoin.

You can pump your own gas at the Seven Feather's station on I-5 South of Roseburg.  It's got some sort of Indian tribal rights deal going.  But who wants to?  Gas is cheaper in Oregon even with someone else pumping it than it is down the road in California.

I very much like the regulation about having needing an attendant.  It's probably cut the amount of property crime in half by providing some semblance of a job for certain of the borderline retarded inhabitants in the poverty stricken towns.  Of which there are many.  The other thing which makes in possible to service the 1500 square mile county I live in with two or three on-duty sheriff's deputies is that it is rare indeed that a rural home does not have a ready supply of weapons of different calibers handy.  My personal go-to piece is a shotgun.

[RSantana]

Forget Oregon, we need to work on Wyoming.

[moni3z]

Just saw that out of all the states in the US, Oregon is #1 in search volume for Bitcoin right now.  Any good reason for that?

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=bitcoin&geo=US&cmpt=geo

anarchists, loads of them in Oregon. i used to go down there in highschool to see Poison Idea play and hung out in many an anarchist flop house. they're all still operating surprisingly last time i checked the mailing list on riseup.

Oregon also chock full of enviro extremists, hippies, redneck militias, and generally people who hate the fed government and control. First day in Portland I was in a cafe and some rednecks were burning money simply because they hated the feds. "It's illegal to deface money.. fuck the government" <burns his money>. Lol, oregon

[RSantana]

Sorry Oregon, but you were just unseated by Utah.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252721.0

[SgtSpike]

Sorry Oregon, but you were just unseated by Utah.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=252721.0

Dang Mormons.

But Oregon is back in the lead now!

[dirtscience]

Because Orgeon is a smart state

[romerun]

if tipping is no require for letting folks pumping my gas, I'm fine with it. Most other countries have staffs to pump gas for customers and the gas station is responsible for paying them.

[SgtSpike]

if tipping is no require for letting folks pumping my gas, I'm fine with it. Most other countries have staffs to pump gas for customers and the gas station is responsible for paying them.

No tipping required (or ever given in my experience).  Gas pumpers just make the minimum wage, $8.95/hr.

[Raize]

You are not even allowed to pump your own gas because the government is so into protecting you from yourself.

This is correct, the only states where you can't pump your own gas are Oregon and New Jersey. Talk about a nanny state. The reason gas rates are cheaper is because of lower gas taxes, not because of people pumping gas for you.

Course in Oregon you are allowed to kill yourself medically, so I guess they get points for that.

[cowanjeffrey93]

Just saw that out of all the states in the US, Oregon is #1 in search volume for Bitcoin right now.  Any good reason for that?

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=bitcoin&geo=US&cmpt=geo

Orgeon people like freedom

[SgtSpike]

You are not even allowed to pump your own gas because the government is so into protecting you from yourself.

This is correct, the only states where you can't pump your own gas are Oregon and New Jersey. Talk about a nanny state. The reason gas rates are cheaper is because of lower gas taxes, not because of people pumping gas for you.

Course in Oregon you are allowed to kill yourself medically, so I guess they get points for that.

It might be a nanny state, but it's one part of the nanny state I appreciate!  I like being able to stay warm/cool/dry in my car while someone else does the dirty work.

[KeyserSoze]

This thread is hilarious! Oregon "rebels" glowing over the "freedom" to NOT be allowed to pump gas. Amazing...

[soniq]

I have been promoting bitcoin in Portland full time for the last year. I have left bitcoin info cards at hundreds of stores and restaurants that I have gone to. I have a handful of merchants locally accepting bitcoin including Harp vegan cafe, Mirador community store, Thirst PDX health store, FloatOn float tanks, and others that are soon coming online. Ive gotten dozens of Etsy merchants based out of Portland to accept bitcoin, such as  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tarabrisbine , or you can get hypnosis sessions locally for bitcoin from  http://jillianbrownhypnosis.com/. Ive given talks to the bitcoin group that Ive organized over facebook with over 100 members now. We had a meeting last month with 25 people, and have our coming meetup this sunday. I gave a talk on bitcoins to the Business Technology class at the local community college, as well as the local Silver and Gold club, and at the Occupy Portland events.  I have sold bitcoin to many dozen people via localbitcoins.com, got them setup and showed them how to use it. I am scheduled to be on a currency panel being interviewed on KBOO radio in two weeks.  I also love my city, I think its a great place.

Kudos osmosis

We need more of this in every city around the world

I am also interested in sharing what you have done with our local meetup, PM sent

[wdmw]

I was looking for maps where Oregon is in the top ranking, to correlate with Bitcoin use. Besides Bigfoot sightings and breast feeding, I came up with two:

State income tax rates:

Is this fake?  I live in TN, and we certainly have no Income tax.

[Trongersoll]

We can't pump our own gas in NJ either, I hate getting gas out of state. I don't know how to use those machines and don't like smelling like gas.

As for why Bitcoin in Oregon, they don't corrode in the rain.

[bitcoiner49er]

... and cheap electrics too!

[SgtSpike]

This thread is hilarious! Oregon "rebels" glowing over the "freedom" to NOT be allowed to pump gas. Amazing...

I never said it was freedom.  I just enjoy the pump service.

I was looking for maps where Oregon is in the top ranking, to correlate with Bitcoin use. Besides Bigfoot sightings and breast feeding, I came up with two:

State income tax rates:

Is this fake?  I live in TN, and we certainly have no Income tax.

Well, TN is odd... it has striped green and white.  Not sure what that means, since the legend doesn't say.  But I know that for Oregon, it is accurate.  We have income tax instead of sales tax.

[tvbcof]

This thread is hilarious! Oregon "rebels" glowing over the "freedom" to NOT be allowed to pump gas. Amazing...

From a practical perspective, I pay less for gasoline than in CA.  I usually go into the store and buy something since I don't have to stand at the pump.  In the store, I pay no sales tax.  I own a great deal of property in Oregon and pay less in property tax per year than one month of rent on a crappy apartment in silicon valley.

Operating the pumps provides some economic opportunity for more rural communities lessening the pressure for urbanization.  It also reduces the propensity for crime when more people have something which passes for a job and that reduces the law enforcement expenditures.

We also send legislators to Washington who actively fight against the 'turn-key tyranny' of the federal surveillance state which basically exists mainly to support bankers and war profiteers at this point.  DeFazio, Wyden, Merkley.  I think it no coincidence that the same people who vote for these types of people are also especially interested in constructs such as distributed crypto-currencies.

It is worth note that as a state we are not financially well off since we are at or very close to the bottom of the money we extract from the military industrial complex and probably from the banking infrastructure.  We cannot afford to implement counter-productive policies on some vague assertion that they align with some libertarian principle or whatever.  Since the rest of you don't seem to be saving much money for exercising your God-given right to pump your own gas, I would say that it is a fair guess that your money is going straight into the pockets of your politicians, corporate executive's bonuses, and lobbying firms.