|
Corrode posted:We were talking about "urban" which is "built-on land." Vast swathes of most countries are of course developed for agriculture, but that doesn't make them urban. In fact it's pretty much the definition of rural. As the North Dakotan above or any american from the intermountain west can tell you, there is a vast, vast difference between agricultural areas and the great wide nothingness that the US, Canada, Australia, and many other countries still have in swathes compared to the UK. There are places where you can drive for drat near a full day and not see anything but two-lane highways and the occasional small town with a gas station. Signs reading "NEXT FOOD: 160 miles" and so on are not uncommon. Drive from Utah or Idaho across the breadth of Oregon and you can quite literally traverse one UK's worth of distance without seeing much of anything beyond wilderness. Edgar Allen Ho fucked around with this message at 04:05 on May 6, 2017 |
#
?
May 6, 2017 04:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 23:28 |
|
|
Sandwich Anarchist posted:Yeah, the huge spaces actually cause lots of issues sometimes, things you wouldn't even think. For instance, large portions of the country are considered "food deserts", where it is so far in any direction to a supermarket or outlet, that food options are insanely limited. You can be in the middle of farm country and never see fresh produce. Which is your own fault for not setting aside space for seasonal produce on your land.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2017 04:01
|
|
|
America being big has basically nothing to do with its road and urban design being so sprawly. It's sprawly and spread out because we collectively decided to make it that way via various government regulations once cars started being really common. And yes, it makes almost all of the country incredibly hostile to walking, biking, and transit, which hurts poor people even more than they would be otherwise, plus makes us even fatter.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2017 14:05
|
|
|
Cicero posted:America being big has basically nothing to do with its road and urban design being so sprawly. It's sprawly and spread out because we collectively decided to make it that way via various government regulations once cars started being really common. People also tend to forget that America is also an extremely young country. Before European colonization, the modern United States and Canada had little in the way of large settlements and roads (they had a few, like the Cahokia Mounds, but they were relatively rare). The first European colonies were obviously on the side right across from the ocean, so the largest urban centers are mostly concentrated on the East Coast. The West Coast expanded thanks to natural resources and the ability to establish huge trading ports. But the United States has only been home heavy urbanization for about 300 years, and the most recent city to be founded was Anchorage in 1914. Compare this to London, which has been in constant expansion since the time of Ancient Rome and had a population around 60,000 by the 2nd century. This means you have a dense clustering of cities and urban sprawl on each coast, followed by vast stretches of emptiness in between. 
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 01:28
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:People also tend to forget that America is also an extremely young country. Before European colonization, the modern United States and Canada had little in the way of large settlements and roads (they had a few, like the Cahokia Mounds, but they were relatively rare). The first European colonies were obviously on the side right across from the ocean, so the largest urban centers are mostly concentrated on the East Coast. The West Coast expanded thanks to natural resources and the ability to establish huge trading ports. But the United States has only been home heavy urbanization for about 300 years, and the most recent city to be founded was Anchorage in 1914. Compare this to London, which has been in constant expansion since the time of Ancient Rome and had a population around 60,000 by the 2nd century. Another side-effect of this is that huge parts of the US were developed with cars in mind, where Europe already was extensively developed before the invention of the automobile. You can often tell the older parts of the US from the street layout. I'm from the red county in west Texas (the panhandle) that's between the two clusters of other red counties, between Dallas and Albuqerque. Even out there there's a few areas of the city that are walkable and many small or abandoned towns have charming little downtown cores of a few blocks, but since the region boomed only when oil moved in, these areas are dwarfed by auto-focused roads. As much as the auto-focused transit sucks, as an american I've had the privilege of driving highways and interstates and backroads and byways around 41 of the 50 states and man, taking a road trip through americana is something special. Last year I experienced the road from NYC to Nebraska to SLC mostly on smaller highways and it is not an experience I'd want to lose. I think renting a car and seeing some of the country by road is worth it if you ever want to visit. Edgar Allen Ho fucked around with this message at 08:30 on May 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 01:42
|
|
|
Interesting to note American sense of scale is much different. Many states are as big as countries. Yet traveling between them takes nothing more special than you need to drive a car. The sense of what is an appropriate amount to drive for common errands, or what it takes to visit a friend, are very different. Though that distance also is what makes politics in America so awkward. You could travel as little as one city over, and the same social/political issues simply don't exist. Even something as simple as the way people dress, or what advertisements are considered acceptable to have on street display, can shape the area. I'd venture to guess many Americans don't appreciate this fact either. It's hard to think of some place we consider so accessible as "some place else that isn't us". Leading to no amount of confusion when people from such different regions try to have dialogues.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 06:07
|
|
|
I've spent a lot of time in New York City over the past decade, and I typically drive up and down the coast instead of flying. I've also taken extended road trips where I've gone to NYC, Boston, Niagara Falls, Sandusky, and Detroit all in a single trip before driving back down to Florida via West Virginia. We share a common language and federal laws and the states have no proper "borders" between them so crossing over is a matter of seeing a sign indicating that you're entering a new state, but otherwise there's not a ton in common. The people you encounter in Atlanta and Boston are night and day in terms of similarity: sure, you're still on the same planet and technically in the same place, but put the two side by side and you're going to see some pretty big changes. The size of the country also means you travel through a lot of weather patterns. Florida remains hot most of the year, even when most of the country is suffering bitter cold or at least sweater weather. Driving up north from Orlando, it starts getting colder with practically every mile until you open the door on your next stop and get blasted with freezing air as you grab a jacket from your luggage. On the way back down, at a certain point you open the door and you're sweating until you start dressing down. I'm going to be taking an even bigger trip in October 2018, taking my first visit since I was a baby to the West Coast. We're going from the Florida panhandle to Los Angeles, from subtropical forests to swamps to scrubland to rocky desert in a single drive over several days.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 12:58
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I've spent a lot of time in New York City over the past decade, and I typically drive up and down the coast instead of flying. I've also taken extended road trips where I've gone to NYC, Boston, Niagara Falls, Sandusky, and Detroit all in a single trip before driving back down to Florida via West Virginia. In case it wasn't clear I was using a generic "you" when I quoted you, I figured you lived in the US  chitoryu12's trip reminds me about another bit of car culture here. Once you're a young adult and get to drive yourself around, alone, you get a pretty amazing feeling of freedom that I have always related to "the road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began..." from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books. You start driving and soon you realize that you and this vehicle could really go anywhere you want. For example the main route between Florida and LA, that I expect chitoryu12 will take, is Interstate 10. It just so happens to run a short drive south of where I'm from, intersecting a smaller highway. As a teenager it felt badass to drive around blowing off steam and suddenly find a route that, if I wanted to take it, would whisk me to El Paso or New Orleans or LA in a heartbeat, no questions asked, no ticket, no talking to anyone but maybe a gas station clerk. I imagine similar feelings and nostalgia for them are what encourage a lot of americans to keep supporting lovely transit infrastructure. The freedom of the open road is amazing as a young person, and still kinda cool today. Mass transit is way better for obligations but when you're traveling for pleasure, there's a lot of pleasure from taking your own vehicle over vast distances. Another cool side note, a road trip that brought us through Louisiana is the only place I've ever encountered someone who spoke a dialect of english so strange and archaic I couldn't understand they guy. Turned out he was trying to show us a baby gator they were raising in a watery ravine outside the service station but you could understand maybe one out every twenty words he spoke. That experience is probably more common overseas than in the US. Edgar Allen Ho fucked around with this message at 17:45 on May 8, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 17:41
|
|
|
Edgar Allen Ho posted:In case it wasn't clear I was using a generic "you" when I quoted you, I figured you lived in the US I think Louisiana is the only place where you're guaranteed to encounter people speaking a dialect that's completely incomprehensible in most of the country. That area (New Orleans especially) was heavily settled by the French or colonists descended from French-speaking colonies, which has a resulted in a number of people speaking in a downright foreign dialect. Some areas of Appalachia will have thick accents and mealy-mouthed speakers that are difficult to understand, but Louisiana Creole is a mixture of several languages. There's also Cajun English, which has its own colloquialisms wrapped up in an unusual accent.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 19:45
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I think Louisiana is the only place where you're guaranteed to encounter people speaking a dialect that's completely incomprehensible in most of the country. That area (New Orleans especially) was heavily settled by the French or colonists descended from French-speaking colonies, which has a resulted in a number of people speaking in a downright foreign dialect. Some areas of Appalachia will have thick accents and mealy-mouthed speakers that are difficult to understand, but Louisiana Creole is a mixture of several languages. My dad was a french immigrant so I do speak modern french, which makes the Louisiana speech doubly weird to me. You think Québeckers talk weird? Hooooo boy
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 19:58
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I think Louisiana is the only place where you're guaranteed to encounter people speaking a dialect that's completely incomprehensible in most of the country. That area (New Orleans especially) was heavily settled by the French or colonists descended from French-speaking colonies, which has a resulted in a number of people speaking in a downright foreign dialect. Some areas of Appalachia will have thick accents and mealy-mouthed speakers that are difficult to understand, but Louisiana Creole is a mixture of several languages. Nah, just go out into the country here in NC, you've got people here whose accents are so ridiculously thick that unless you grew up in the area you will have literally no clue what they are saying. Think Boomhauer crossed with Slingblade and you have yourself a good idea. I've lived my entire life in this State, but since I'm a city boy when I meet these people I just kind of have to smile and derive from context clues of the people around me whether I should laugh, smile, look concerned or any other emote because I sure as gently caress wont be able to have a conversation.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 21:40
|
|
|
Madmarker posted:Nah, just go out into the country here in NC, you've got people here whose accents are so ridiculously thick that unless you grew up in the area you will have literally no clue what they are saying. Think Boomhauer crossed with Slingblade and you have yourself a good idea. I've lived my entire life in this State, but since I'm a city boy when I meet these people I just kind of have to smile and derive from context clues of the people around me whether I should laugh, smile, look concerned or any other emote because I sure as gently caress wont be able to have a conversation. I think Louisiana Cajuns and Creoles beat them because it's one of the few cases where English goes straight into an alternate dialect instead of just a thick accent and some different slang. Some Creoles speak a completely different language altogether despite being many generations born and raised in the United States!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2017 22:32
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I think Louisiana Cajuns and Creoles beat them because it's one of the few cases where English goes straight into an alternate dialect instead of just a thick accent and some different slang. Some Creoles speak a completely different language altogether despite being many generations born and raised in the United States! No disagreement that it is far more exaggerated in Louisiana, I'm just trying to point out that Louisiana is not the only place where you will encounter people whose accent is completely indecipherable to non-natives of that region.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2017 01:26
|
|
|
Madmarker posted:No disagreement that it is far more exaggerated in Louisiana, I'm just trying to point out that Louisiana is not the only place where you will encounter people whose accent is completely indecipherable to non-natives of that region. I think his point is that Creole and Cajun go beyond just a thick accent, but into a full on separate dialect or language.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2017 02:23
|
|
|
LogisticEarth posted:I think his point is that Creole and Cajun go beyond just a thick accent, but into a full on separate dialect or language. Yeah, that. Someone in the mountains in Kentucky is still speaking the same English as everyone else, just not the same. Cajun English is a different dialect altogether with its own quirks and differences from regular English and Louisiana Creole is a completely different language based on a mix of French, African, and Native American languages with about 10,000 native speakers.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2017 02:46
|
|
|
There's parts of Virginia, some of the more remote islands on the coast, where people still speak in a dialect/accent that's basically 17th century British English.
Jamwad Hilder fucked around with this message at 15:00 on May 9, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 9, 2017 14:58
|
|
|
Accents are really regional, like my town has a sort of rural drawl going but lots of folks speak at least a little Spanish so you get kind of a pidgin going sometimes. But thanks to everyone knowing the Hollywood accent, its possible to not sound like a deranged redneck all the time. Also I wonder if Europeans realise how decentralized US government is. The way it works basically is los federales set a bunch of direct and even more vague requirements for the states, and typically the states do the same for their counties. For example my rural county has a comparatively large property tax to fund a lot of assistance programs and to keep our many rural roads driveable. But the county next door might only perform state required services and basically rely on their residents to form city government for everything else.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2017 07:48
|
|
|
Pewdiepie posted:Which is your own fault for not setting aside space for seasonal produce on your land.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2017 11:31
|
|
|
UltraRed posted:Very ignorant statement. In many (most?) areas, anything more than a small garden isn't all that feasible. It often costs them more in opportunity costs. Agreed. Just because folks live in rural areas doesn't mean they personally have enough land, resources, or time to grow a substantial amount of quality vegetables. Also, there's this thing called "winter" where plants don't grow so well. Sure, you can can or pickle your produce to get you through until the next growing season, but again, time, resources, money, etc. Gardening helps, certainly, but you can't rely on it.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2017 15:53
|
|
|
Larry Parrish posted:Accents are really regional, like my town has a sort of rural drawl going but lots of folks speak at least a little Spanish so you get kind of a pidgin going sometimes. But thanks to everyone knowing the Hollywood accent, its possible to not sound like a deranged redneck all the time. I just want to chime in that hearing someone say "los federales" outside of a Breaking Bad discussion really, really reminds me of home.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2017 21:42
|
|
|
Edgar Allen Ho posted:I just want to chime in that hearing someone say "los federales" outside of a Breaking Bad discussion really, really reminds me of home. The working class California mountain culture is pretty much the same as the southwest except we get more rain and snow
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2017 00:29
|
|
|
UltraRed posted:Very ignorant statement. In many (most?) areas, anything more than a small garden isn't all that feasible. It often costs them more in opportunity costs. Very ignorant statement. I am a farmer. No point in continuing this discussion with people who think they know better. Lmao at the guy explaining winter.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2017 17:50
|
|
|
Pewdiepie posted:Very ignorant statement. I am a farmer. No point in continuing this discussion with people who think they know better. Lmao at the guy explaining winter. What should people who don't own land do? You know, like most people in cities, who rent?
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2017 18:54
|
|
Tater Love 
|
zakharov posted:What should people who don't own land do? You know, like most people in cities, who rent? That wasn't the context.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2017 19:02
|
|
|
Pewdiepie posted:Very ignorant statement. I am a farmer. No point in continuing this discussion with people who think they know better. Lmao at the guy explaining winter. I actually work for a conservation district in Pennsylvania. Part of my job is to provide technical assistance to agricultural producers. I also work with master gardeners, and coincidentally I just submitted a grant application today to fund a program to help address food access issues in my county. Now, we have an urban food desert issue here, not a rural one, but the issues are similar. If you're on a tiny lot in a dying small town in the middle of large corn and soybean operations, and your work day is extended by a one-way hour commute because you live in bumfuck nowhere, it's not that easy. In good faith, I'm curious as to what kind of farmer you are, so I understand where you're coming from here. It's easy to say "set aside some land and grow your own veggies" when it's your job. LogisticEarth fucked around with this message at 19:42 on May 13, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 13, 2017 00:42
|
|
|
Wait, that wasn't a joke post? Seems to me that if you're gonna grow enough of your own stuff to live off cause grocery stores are too far away... that's borderline subsistence farming which is kinda a full time job, and not one that pays well.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2017 23:49
|
|
|
Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Is my occupation something I should better not mention to potential landlords and generic americans if asked what I do? What about outside of Austin? Will I be Hills Have Eyed there?
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 22:28
|
|
|
married but discreet posted:Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Is my occupation something I should better not mention to potential landlords and generic americans if asked what I do? What about outside of Austin? Will I be Hills Have Eyed there? Austin is an enclave of education, culture, and tolerance in the sea of poo poo that is Texas. You should be fine.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 23:20
|
|
|
Speaking as a country boy, nobody cares unless you go to a real small town and start talking about how lovely it is and how they oughta pack up and move.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 00:00
|
|
|
married but discreet posted:Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Is my occupation something I should better not mention to potential landlords and generic americans if asked what I do? What about outside of Austin? Will I be Hills Have Eyed there? You'll be fine. Most Americans, especially in cities, respect science. The only landlord scenario that I could imagine where your profession might cause friction is something like if you were proposing to rent a Jesus freak's basement. Otherwise, most landlords are capitalists and will be happy to take your rent money even if they are creationists.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 03:09
|
|
|
You can go ahead and mention your occupation, but you should also represent yourself as a wealthy copper heir, because Austin rent is high as hell.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 03:52
|
|
|
married but discreet posted:Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Why would you worry about this on that level at all when you can just say you're a biologist. Period. Like you're worried about landlords and this never occurred to you.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 12:00
|
|
|
married but discreet posted:Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Is my occupation something I should better not mention to potential landlords and generic americans if asked what I do? What about outside of Austin? Will I be Hills Have Eyed there? Austin is an educated, liberal, city. Out in the sticks I'd imagine the worst that would happen is people might make a snarky comment about evolution or god or whatever. Honestly if you have a non-American accent people are going to be more interested in where you're from than what you do.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 14:16
|
|
|
Thanks for the answers, sounds like I have no reason to be worried.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 17:39
|
|
|
married but discreet posted:Perhaps a stupid question, but I recently got my PhD and am moving to Austin to work as an evolutionary biologist at UTA. Is my occupation something I should better not mention to potential landlords and generic americans if asked what I do? What about outside of Austin? Will I be Hills Have Eyed there? I spent 5 weeks in small town texas a few months ago, and I have never seen so much casual racism in my entire life, and I'm from the loving south. If you stick to Austin, you'll be fine. Outside the cities, you're on your own.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 21:37
|
|
|
Edgar Allen Ho posted:Another side-effect of this is that huge parts of the US were developed with cars in mind, where Europe already was extensively developed before the invention of the automobile. You can often tell the older parts of the US from the street layout.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 15:27
|
|
|
Contrary to popular belief, there are other places in Texas that are good, and not Austin. In fact Austin is, while liberal, kind of a sweltering shithole. Hope you like traffic and californians, and remember, "keep Austin weird" means "keep Austin gentrified." You'll get more poo poo for treating small town people like toothless hillbillies than you will for being an evolutionary biologist. There will be racism though, especially in the rural east and southeast which is an extension of Louisiana and Arkansas. In any city other than my proud hometown of Lubbock and nearby west texan hellholes it isn't wildly different from any other city in any other state, racism-wise. However there is no reason to ever go to Lubbock, Amarillo, Odessa, Midland, or El Paso. Just don't do it, unless you're a petroleum engineer maybe. Edgar Allen Ho fucked around with this message at 22:14 on May 21, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 22:07
|
|
|
Oh another Austin question: I'm required to get renter's insurance and my landlord recommended a person from a legit looking insurance company. I emailed him for a quote etc., but now to set up the insurance he is asking for my credit card number, expiry date etc over email. I'm extremely hesitant to do that, is this normal?
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2017 20:13
|
|
|
married but discreet posted:Oh another Austin question: I'm required to get renter's insurance and my landlord recommended a person from a legit looking insurance company. I emailed him for a quote etc., but now to set up the insurance he is asking for my credit card number, expiry date etc over email. I'm extremely hesitant to do that, is this normal? Do you have car insurance? Most (all?) car insurance companies will also do renter's insurance and it will be cheaper typically since you're getting all the insurance through them, I'd look into doing that if possible. Also, that poo poo sounds shady as gently caress, I would definitely not work with people that want you to email CC numbers, SSN, or anything important.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2017 20:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 23:28 |
|
|
married but discreet posted:Oh another Austin question: I'm required to get renter's insurance and my landlord recommended a person from a legit looking insurance company. I emailed him for a quote etc., but now to set up the insurance he is asking for my credit card number, expiry date etc over email. I'm extremely hesitant to do that, is this normal? This sounds awful fishy to be honest. Send me the info and Ill deal with him for you and make sure you dont get hosed over
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2017 00:50
|
|
