OT: The Thread About Nothing

[OmNomNom]

i got a bad feeling about the carolina coasts

 

[New Jersey]

i got a bad feeling about the carolina coasts

this one's gonna be bad

 

[Davegarri]

Well, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Arizona (albeit not "traditionally Southern") are all quite low in that ranking. Michigan, as well. (edit: I put Ohio. That was false.)

I didn't learn anything new about New Jersey or California.

Since you included Arizona as a "non-traditional southern state" why did you not include New Mexico, ranked 41st, as a "non-traditional southern state"? Or does that not go with your narrative that states with tendencies to vote Republican are not fiscally healthy?

 

[New Jersey]

Since you included Arizona as a "non-traditional southern state" why did you not include New Mexico, ranked 41st, as a "non-traditional southern state"? Or does that not go with your narrative that states with tendencies to vote Republican are not fiscally healthy?

Um, well, I was building upon a specific point I made, where I referenced "states that tend to vote Republican."

I literally acknowledged New Jersey and California.

You should probably read my entire post before insinuating I'm being a partisan hack.

 

[JimEIV]

Well, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Arizona (albeit not "traditionally Southern") are all quite low in that ranking. Michigan, as well. (edit: I put Ohio. That was false.)

I didn't learn anything new about New Jersey or California.



I question the conclusiveness here, considering we've possessed Puerto Rico since 1898. It's really hard to say just how much of the corruption is influenced by internalized norms vs. externalities. I find it hard to believe that there is a sociopolitical landscape installed in Puerto Rico that makes it any more or less susceptible to government corruption just by virtue of the surrounding region. (e.g. New Jersey and New York in the mid 20th century)

Fraud, waste, and abuse exist throughout this entire country. I'm not of the view that our federal government installed in Washington can claim a high ground in regards to corruption.

Corruption is never exclusive to a region or group...Acceptance on the other hand is a completely different story.

 

[New Jersey]

Corruption is never exclusive to a region or group...Acceptance on the other hand is a completely different story.

ok that's completely accurate.

Me being reticent to agree that Puerto Ricans "accept" corruption is where my personal bias lays, which I hope you understand stems from my maternal grandparents relocating to Hoboken from Puerto Rico in the 1950s. I wouldn't say we're the type of family to condone corruption.

 

[Davegarri]

Um, well, I was building upon a specific point I made, where I referenced "states that tend to vote Republican."

I literally acknowledged New Jersey and California.

You should probably read my entire post before insinuating I'm being a partisan hack.

I'm just pointing out it was convenient NM was left out is all

That state fiscal ranking study isn't all that surprising though. It is no surprise the Northeast, Appalachia, Illinois, Michigan, and California are all in bad fiscal positions.

 

[BenedictGomez]

i got a bad feeling about the carolina coasts

Pedro is still in the crosshairs.

 

[New Jersey]

I'm just pointing out it was convenient NM was left out is all

That state fiscal ranking study isn't all that surprising though. It is no surprise the Northeast, Appalachia, Illinois, Michigan, and California are all in bad fiscal positions.

I left it out because New Mexico tends to vote Democrat. It was totally intentional.

If "narrative" applies to me backing up a [somewhat] carefully-worded statement I made with chosen examples, then sure, ok.

 

[New Jersey]

To pivot the discussion, Michigan totally makes sense.

Whenever I visit family friends out in Battle Creek, I'm always left with "holy shit how can they POSSIBLY have worse roads than Jersey?" It's almost impressive. (I don't have statistics here, this is anecdotal.)

Granted, they have brutal winters, but so can/do we.

EDIT: Glad stats back up my anecdote, somewhat. We rank above Michigan in bridge quality, which, while you're more likely to wreck a wheel on a pothole in Jersey, at least our bridges are deemed less likely to suddenly fail. But really nitpicking which states have better roads is kinda pointless, the whole country is kinda f***ed.

MAPPED: The sorry state of America's roads

 

[New Jersey]

Triple post because I found this perspective interesting, had it open alongside that BI/USNews stuff: Maybe America's roads aren't crumbling when you factor in data of actual infrastructure failure?

America’s Infrastructure Isn’t Crumbling

All interesting stuff if you like driving/cars/infrastructure/whatever.

 

[Davegarri]

To pivot the discussion, Michigan totally makes sense.

Whenever I visit family friends out in Battle Creek, I'm always left with "holy **** how can they POSSIBLY have worse roads than Jersey?" It's almost impressive. (I don't have statistics here, this is anecdotal.)

Granted, they have brutal winters, but so can/do we.

EDIT: Glad stats back up my anecdote, somewhat. We rank above Michigan in bridge quality, which, while you're more likely to wreck a wheel on a pothole in Jersey, at least our bridges are deemed less likely to suddenly fail. But really nitpicking which states have better roads is kinda pointless, the whole country is kinda ****ed.

MAPPED: The sorry state of America's roads

I have not been to Michigan so I cannot comment on their roads, although from that link they must be awful.

I had a funny encounter with a woman in Denver collecting signatures this past Summer. Her petition was titled, "Fix the damn roads!". I just laughed at her and said, honey, if you think the roads are bad here you should try driving in New Jersey. I wasn't a Colorado resident anyway so she didn't want my signature, my brother signed it though just for shits and giggles since he lives there.

I was genuinely surprised at the quality of their roads though, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming too. I figured with the rough winters they get that the roads would be bad, but I did not see a single pot hole in any of those states.

 

[New Jersey]

I was genuinely surprised at the quality of their roads though, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming too. I figured with the rough winters they get that the roads would be bad, but I did not see a single pot hole in any of those states.

I have to imagine that route redundancy and quality of substructures are a factor.

Our roads may not have many lanes in New Jersey, but one thing we do have is multiple ways from Point A to Point B without adding significant mileage.

I have like three options for my normal daily commute. I tend to take the same one every day, but having alternatives is a good thing.

I also can take the train, but I choose not to because my car payment came before my current place of employment and the train would be a three seat ride everyday. Although once my car is paid off I'll probably do the train twice a week.

 

[OmNomNom]

always found it amazing that majority of these jobs go to sexy men and women. like being attractive is a requirement. maybe it was 20/30 years ago but now? not so much needed imo

(moving this to the thread about nothing)

Regarding biases:

two words: human nature

we don't like to admit it, but basal instincts are going to push us to do that, because we all like to see attractive things. one could argue that, all else equal, if a broadcaster selected the less attractive reporter just on looks, that's biased in itself. the same with hiring a minority for minorities' sake - it totally disregards any credentials they have, and pulls a hard left into an counter reaction

 

[BenedictGomez]

I cant believe there are people on TWTR who believe this.

 

[OmNomNom]

I cant believe there are people on TWTR who believe this.

HAHAHA sharknado sequel: sharkicane

 

[BenedictGomez]

I was genuinely surprised at the quality of their roads though, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming too. I figured with the rough winters they get that the roads would be bad, but I did not see a single pot hole in any of those states.

Everywhere I've been in Utah the roads are fantastic.

What's more, they've planned them with an eye to the future and with growth in mind. There are places where there are 4 or even 5 lanes that clearly only need 3 (or probably 2 in some places), but they're built with the knowledge that the population will eventually increase.

We dont do that in New Jersey. We build a road today that we know will be obsolete in a few years so the construction & contracting fiefdom gets more $ in a few years (SEE: Corruption discussion in this thread a handful of posts above).

 

[New Jersey]

We dont do that in New Jersey. We build a road today that we know will be obsolete in a few years so the construction & contracting fiefdom gets more $ in a few years (SEE: Corruption discussion in this thread a handful of posts above).

Every f***ing day I traverse the stretch of Route 17 that drops to two lanes between 80 and 4. Don't get me started.

In addition to what you just said, we also have some of the worst physical constraints in how developers have been allowed to build right up to major highways, thereby negating potential for expansion.

 

[JimEIV]

Everywhere I've been in Utah the roads are fantastic.

What's more, they've planned them with an eye to the future and with growth in mind. There are places where there are 4 or even 5 lanes that clearly only need 3 (or probably 2 in some places), but they're built with the knowledge that the population will eventually increase.

We dont do that in New Jersey. We build a road today that we know will be obsolete in a few years so the construction & contracting fiefdom gets more $ in a few years (SEE: Corruption discussion in this thread a handful of posts above).

Relatively speaking...Most of the West is "New" compared to the east...We have Water Mains older than they have been States.

 

[Missionhockey]

I thought roads were bad in NJ, until I moved to Long Island. Let me just say that anything driving related is about fifty times worse in Long Island, whether it's the roads or the driving from the residents.

Also, a bit of personal news. Seems like I made the hockey team at my school. I don't know if I will be in the line up every night, but last night I got to pick my number and got my socks.

 

[Darkauron]

Also when roads like jersey and other places have sooo much drivers on the road every year, compared to places out west with less overall traffic, it is harder to compare roads.

Edit: Also congrats Mission on getting on the team!!

 

[Devils731]

Since we were talking about it, I saw this today and it’s sad. FEMA saying they don’t know why it’s there but they should not have put it there if they did and PR saying FEMA put it there but can’t say how they know that.

 

[OmNomNom]

Since we were talking about it, I saw this today and it’s sad. FEMA saying they don’t know why it’s there but they should not have put it there if they did and PR saying FEMA put it there but can’t say how they know that.

i remember hearing that the infrastructure in PR is totally crap. there was a story about food rotting in storage containers

Donations for Puerto Rico hurricane victims found rotting in parking lot

 

[BenedictGomez]

Now tennis umps are considering unionizing, due to "fear" from how both the WTA & USTA backed Williams instead of them.

ROFL.

This is like the story that will never end.....

Report: Tennis Umps Consider Union After Serena Williams-Carlos Ramos Incident

 

[Wingman77]

A pretty big reason as to why the roads around this area of the country are worse than others has to do with winter weather and the population. I would also imagine other areas that experience a fair amount to significant winter weather face similar issues. Money and state budgeting to fix said roads also plays in.

This is one of the most densely populated areas in the country and when winter weather comes along, the roads have to be in decent enough shape to accommodate for travel which leads to a lot more salt and other forms of road treatment being used. That stuff eats away at the roads which goes without saying and contributes to the roads being in lousier shape.

Some areas in those western states do not have that winter weather issue and even those that do at higher elevations, there isn't enough population to warrant as much use and more often than not for big storms, roads are just closed off entirely because they can do that without having to worry about impacting as many people getting from one place to another.