Today in "so much winning"!

[jfish26]

if I may ask you a yes or no question:

have you ever been to San Francisco or Seattle?

Yes to both.

Also have past and current students from those areas who plan to remain in Kansas after graduation because of the homelessness, crime, and ridiculous cost of living.

At least I understand LA's insane cost of living. San Francisco and Seattle have terrible weather.

[ousdahl]

Yes to SF. Several times. My little brother lives there and I get out about once a year.

Also visited Seattle last winter. Admittedly didn't do much in the city proper. Just flew in and drove through town to bored a ferry on our way out to the coast.

Without offering further opinions about either, I'll just mention that if immigrants wanna live there I dunno how it affects me, or affects anyone who otherwise dismisses the places as shitholes.

[ousdahl]

re: LA, weather is definitely a factor. (though count me among that strange minority who doesn't mind mild drizzly weather for most of the year)

I visited LA once and remember it being so sprawly. SF, at least, has a certain more intimate feel, like you could actually manage to bike commute in most parts...assuming you can dodge all the immigrants and bums, lulz

[ousdahl]

if I may ask you a yes or no question:

have you ever been to San Francisco or Seattle?

Yes to both.

Also have past and current students from those areas who plan to remain in Kansas after graduation because of the homelessness, crime, and ridiculous cost of living.

that's interesting, thanks.

I wonder what the statistics are of folks are who move from CA (eta: slash the west coast) to KS, vs. the other way around.

[ousdahl]

also what did you think of SF and Seattle?

[TDub]

if I may ask you a yes or no question:

have you ever been to San Francisco or Seattle?

If i worked in downtown seattle for a decade (though i didnt live there, because id rather drive 2 hrs to and from work than live in that goddamn awful city) do i win something?


To psychs point. It was a daily occurence to have human shit and needles at the entrance to our jobsites. Daily, fucking, occurence.

[jhawks99]

I worked at 36th and Main in KC for most of the 90s. All of those things existed there at the time.

[Shirley]

re: LA, weather is definitely a factor. (though count me among that strange minority who doesn't mind mild drizzly weather for most of the year)

I visited LA once and remember it being so sprawly. SF, at least, has a certain more intimate feel, like you could actually manage to bike commute in most parts...assuming you can dodge all the immigrants and bums, lulz. And handle the hills.

fyp

[HouseDivided]

also what did you think of SF and Seattle?

Seattle was beautiful, but I would blow out my brains inside a year living there because it is so rainy and dark much of the time. The trees and the mountains are spectacular.

I was in San Francisco in May, and I remember thinking that it was as cold as December in Kansas. Loved the old architecture and the wharf area, but it was stupid expensive and smelled like a Port-a-Potty, which is pretty much my lingering impression from when I was in New York the last time.

I will admit my bias, as I am somewhat agoraphobic. Crowds and cities set me on edge, and I find myself counting the minutes until I can get back to my small town, my big yard, and the ability to walk around without strangers bumping into me and/or asking me for money.

[Shirley]

Well, isn't that interesting. The party that gets indignant and complains endlessly about being called "racist" was trying to do what, to whom?

...court finds GOP voting law discriminated against American Indian, Hispanic, and African American voters in AZ...

But, don't fret, republicans! There are still millions of Americans who don't plan to vote for you whose right to vote is just waiting for you to suppress and deny it:

[DCHawk1]

sounds like another "no" for DC.

can psych chime in and make it 0 fer 3?

Wrong!

[Mjl]

was gonna post this in response to the drug tested convo, but i’ve read a number of times that even though the US has some of the best programmers/hackers, we’re often steps behind others because the feds require drug testing and many of the best in business partake

The government drug tests programmers? That's really really dumb, like national security hole dumb.

[DCHawk1]

sounds like another "no" for DC.

can psych chime in and make it 0 fer 3?

Wrong!

In fact, we used to rent a place on Alki Beach for a couple of weeks every summer. Kids loved it and loved Seattle.

Not so much any more.

[defixione]

Ever go to Vashon Island on the ferry?

[DrPepper]

I’d be happy to move to Toronto.
I have no intention of ever going to LA or SF again except when work requires it.
Yes, losing tech investments to Toronto, since Trump became Pres, is the new normal. Likewise, losing higher ed students too. The best (students, companies, immigrants) want to go where opportunity exists.

[zsn]

Toronto is like the LA of Canada - sprawling, very cosmopolitan and bad traffic. I used to travel to Toronto a lot during 2015-16. No homeless people (at least not that I have seen) because Canada knows how to take care of their people, and perhaps because it's too darn cold to live outside! I don't know that I would necessarily move there. Just too cold for me.

The SF Bay Area (where I live) is not as bad as is being reported in the media. Yes, we have our problems with homelessness and bad traffic but that's not significantly different from any other major US metropolis. I have not seen streets strewn with feces or other such things. Yes, there are places with major homeless encampments (one not too far from where I live in San Jose) but I believe that the cities and law enforcement are doing their best. There are underlying structural issues to deal with. Most homeless are people with mental health issues and solutions are not easy.

BTW, don't forget that it's not just losing tech investments and graduate students*. It's also tourists who would rather take their tourism $$$ elsewhere (Canada, for example) rather than deal with visas and other BS.

*If anyone is wondering why the decreasing enrollment of international graduate students is a US problem just remember that a bulk of core classes in US universities are taught by grad TAs and decreased number of TAs mean crowded classrooms and fewer resources. Also many advanced research projects in US are conducted by international grad students (e.g. me, 35+ years ago). These labs are fertile training ground for US industry.

[defixione]

I lived in SF for 20 years--1973-1993--and thought it one of the most magnificent cities in the world. Coming from the Kansas heat it was liberating and refreshing to not sweat 24/7. The homeless weren't as prevalent prior to a major state proposition that was passed that literally shut down the mental health facilities in the state. After that, Market Street was shoulder to shoulder with head cases. My friends who still live there tell me the homelessness now is caused by unconscionable rents and property values. People who previously could make ends meet can now not afford rent nor afford to leave.

[ousdahl]

also what did you think of SF and Seattle?

Seattle was beautiful, but I would blow out my brains inside a year living there because it is so rainy and dark much of the time. The trees and the mountains are spectacular.

I was in San Francisco in May, and I remember thinking that it was as cold as December in Kansas. Loved the old architecture and the wharf area, but it was stupid expensive and smelled like a Port-a-Potty, which is pretty much my lingering impression from when I was in New York the last time.

I will admit my bias, as I am somewhat agoraphobic. Crowds and cities set me on edge, and I find myself counting the minutes until I can get back to my small town, my big yard, and the ability to walk around without strangers bumping into me and/or asking me for money.

One of your best and most thoughtful posts in a while

[zsn]

BTW, May, June and July are the worst months to visit SF. If you are in the area during that time venture out about 25+ miles radius in any direction except West, of course, and you will encounter the most gorgeous climactic conditions. The best months in SF are Sept and Oct. Aug and April are iffy....can have great days and horrible days.

[DrPepper]

mind-blowing factoids:

in the 2016 census, immigrants made up 47% of the Toronto population. So I’d guess that most Toronto citizens were not born in Canada.

The fastest growing city in the US is Phoenix, AZ. Toronto has recently been adding 3x more than Phoenix.

For comparison, Toronto is a bit bigger than Chicago.