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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:52 am Post subject: |
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John derbyshire offers his opinion (on a similar survey):
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Some magazine named International Living � no, I never heard of it, either � has published a list of the best places in the world to live. This strikes me as being based on some loaded assumptions.
Best places for who to live? Best place for a couch potato government worker running out the clock to his retirement package? Best place for an imaginative entrepreneur with a great idea for a business start-up? Best place for a research scientist? Best place for a conservative political commentator? Best place for a career criminal? Best place for a radical Islamist looking to organize an Al Qaeda cell? Best place for who?
...
No, I'm taking the whole thing with a pinch of salt. I've been around magazine journalism a bit, and let me tell you, there's an awful lot of magazines run by 23-year-old journo-school graduates with pony tails, Birkenstocks, mountain bikes, and the collected works of Leon Trotsky on their bookshelf at home. |
http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/RadioDerb/2010-01-08.html
That's the question, right? Best place for who? |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Vancouver. Prostitutes? Hobos? I've heard there is a large population of Asians. Are these the prostitutes and hobos ? |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| travel zen wrote: |
| Vancouver. Prostitutes? Hobos? I've heard there is a large population of Asians. Are these the prostitutes and hobos ? |
I don't think I've ever seen an Asian bum in North America. Mostly native Indians and whites are the hobos. Prostitutes are a mixed bag though. |
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Stalin84
Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| BaldTeacher wrote: |
Halifax has the highest violent crime rate in Canada. For murders it's usually Winnipeg or Regina.
Halifax is bad. I almost got killed a month after I got back and I have the scar on my neck to prove it. Two people have been murdered in the past week. While I was gone there was a shootout in the childrens hospital lobby. Besides the crime, it's boring as hell. People just walk around smoking Captain Blacks, bumming cigarettes and talking about the weather and Sidney Crosby. Plus there are fat girls everywhere and I heard one of them fart at the mall today. I can't wait to get back to Korea next month because I've had it up to here with this place.
If Seoul is #58 then Halifax must be around #5000 because I'd rather be in Seoul than here any day of the week. |
Well, for international standards I don't think Halifax is even considered a city. It's not a world city, anyway. It wouldn't have even been a candidate for the list.
But yes, I agree with everything else. I'm from Halifax too and while I didn't grow up there I did go to Halifax for University and I spent my entire life within an hour's drive of it. I loved it during University as it was my first time living in a city. After awhile I started to have all the same problems with it that you do.
Halifax is really only a good place to live if you're under 22 years old or over 40 and locked into a good job. It's good if you're University student age because the whole city is overloaded with students. I never had a hard time meeting 19 year olds in Halifax. Last time I was home though, last summer, I got dragged to Gus' Tavern in the North End by my sister and I was really bored so I started talking to a random girl. She asked me how old I was after I told her I just came back from teaching in Korea and I was 24 at the time. "Wow, dude that's old! Wow... you're soooo oolllldddddd..."
It's because everyone who goes out and does anything in Halifax is under 22 years old. The rest are working crappy jobs and can't afford to go out. Everyone my age in the city is working at __________ call centre, Superstore, Tim Horton's, etc. This is including people with specialized MA degrees and relevant experience elsewhere.
Halifax sucks. |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting debate between Chicago and New York.
I lived in Chicago for a year and loved almost everything about it except the winter weather and the flat topography.
I personally have a strong dislike for New York culture, I lived there for about a month and hated it.
I'm from Seattle which is awesome except for too-expensive real estate and too much cloudy weather, but I'll take mild and cloudy/rainy temperate weather most of the year over the Midwest's extreme winter blizzards and humid summers.
Seattle has a LOT to offer culture-wise, and tons of white collar jobs, but there is stiff competition for those jobs. It's a bit less expensive and more "livable" than most Californian cities, with less suburban sprawl. Overall I can't really think of a place in the US I'd rather live. |
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SeoulMan99
Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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| redaxe wrote: |
Interesting debate between Chicago and New York.
I lived in Chicago for a year and loved almost everything about it except the winter weather and the flat topography.
I personally have a strong dislike for New York culture, I lived there for about a month and hated it.
I'm from Seattle which is awesome except for too-expensive real estate and too much cloudy weather, but I'll take mild and cloudy/rainy temperate weather most of the year over the Midwest's extreme winter blizzards and humid summers.
Seattle has a LOT to offer culture-wise, and tons of white collar jobs, but there is stiff competition for those jobs. It's a bit less expensive and more "livable" than most Californian cities, with less suburban sprawl. Overall I can't really think of a place in the US I'd rather live. |
Seattle is a nice city, which unfortunately doesn't get enough praise nationally or internationally. The Midwest certainly does have variable weather which seems to shift on a dime. I think the harhness of Chicago winters isn't as bad as people might think. There is a solid three months which I think are rather bad, another two which aren't so-so, and then the other seven months are rather tolerable and nice, imo. However, if you dislike the heat then I can understand that. Humidity doesn't bother me though. To get beyond the flatness I suppose you'd have to head up to Wisconsin, which is a beautiful state, but obviously it's not going to have mountains such as you have in Washington.
I don't know why Seattle doesn't get more attention. Maybe it's all those damn vampires up there?  |
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SeoulMan99
Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:12 pm Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
LA sucks. Not sure how a person can like that city. Traffic is awful, there is no center to the city, all sprawl. That being said, I come from NorCal, so I'm obligated to rip on the place.
For you two saying NY kinda sucks outside Manhattan, I guess you haven't really explored Broolyn or Queens at all. Sure, they're not as flashy, but there are some really cool neighborhoods in both. I'd choose Astoria over a big chunk of Manhattan any day.
And price wise, NY isn't THAT bad. Food is about the same as it is in SF (and cheaper than DC). Housing can be decent if you know where to look (ie the periphary of Manhattan and beyond). SF is just as pricey (if not more so in the past couple years).
Chicago is the one place I'd live in the Midwest but:
1. The weather DOES suck. Even compared to NYC.
2. It's flat
3. Not exactly a bastion of hot looking women. 
And only NY compares to Chicago in culture? Please... Appaently you aren't THAT familiar with the San Francisco region. SF also has pretty good public transportation, and I'd argue that Boston's public transit is equal that to of Chicago. DC has a pretty good system too (especially in DC-proper). |
I wouldn't compare Chi to Miami where you see unbelievably hot women in basically nothing, but Chicago is full of young people, and very good looking women. Any big city has a lot of attractive women, and Chi is no exception. I've said it before but I just don't think the weather is that bad outside of a roughly 3 month period where it is really bad. Outside of that it is tolerable unless you're comparing it to L.A. or Florida/Texas, etc.
I spent a month in Boston and didn't find the 'T' to be as good as the El', and I'm not sure about their suburban commuter rail, so I can't comment on that. It's just a smaller city, so it's hard to compare. D.C. on the other hand has a rather extensive metro and I think their train system is pretty good. I never meant to imply, if I did, that there is no culture outside of NY or Chicago. I am well aware that SF has an amazing culture, which imo, blows L.A. out of the water. I agree with you about L.A. To me, it is one large sururban strip mall, while SF is a classier location overall. Hell, there are quite a few really nice cities in the States, some of which truly surprise people: Minneapolis, SF, Seattle, Madison (WI), Austin, Miami, NY, Boston, Chi, Portland, Milwaukee, Denver, Columbus...some of the Midwest cities like Milwauke, Minneapolis and Madison, and Columbus don't get that much attention, but they are some very nice places to live, and in the case of Milwaukee, Madison and Minneapolis they have good employment, great nightlife, and they are quite progressive. |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| SeoulMan99 wrote: |
| redaxe wrote: |
Interesting debate between Chicago and New York.
I lived in Chicago for a year and loved almost everything about it except the winter weather and the flat topography.
I personally have a strong dislike for New York culture, I lived there for about a month and hated it.
I'm from Seattle which is awesome except for too-expensive real estate and too much cloudy weather, but I'll take mild and cloudy/rainy temperate weather most of the year over the Midwest's extreme winter blizzards and humid summers.
Seattle has a LOT to offer culture-wise, and tons of white collar jobs, but there is stiff competition for those jobs. It's a bit less expensive and more "livable" than most Californian cities, with less suburban sprawl. Overall I can't really think of a place in the US I'd rather live. |
Seattle is a nice city, which unfortunately doesn't get enough praise nationally or internationally. The Midwest certainly does have variable weather which seems to shift on a dime. I think the harhness of Chicago winters isn't as bad as people might think. There is a solid three months which I think are rather bad, another two which aren't so-so, and then the other seven months are rather tolerable and nice, imo. However, if you dislike the heat then I can understand that. Humidity doesn't bother me though. To get beyond the flatness I suppose you'd have to head up to Wisconsin, which is a beautiful state, but obviously it's not going to have mountains such as you have in Washington.
I don't know why Seattle doesn't get more attention. Maybe it's all those damn vampires up there? |
Well, Seattle is pretty small in terms of population. It's only the 25th largest city in the US, about the same size as Denver. It is very diverse and has a lot of cultural attractions and activities for a city of its size, so in that regard I feel it is a little underrated. It also has a great natural environment and almost every conceivable outdoor activity is possible within a two-hour drive or less.
But Seattle is very strongly represented in the business world because of Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon, Adobe, Expeditors, etc. And it's definitely the economic center of the US Northwest, with Portland a very distant 2nd. So although Seattle tends to fall between the cracks when people discuss the major cities of the U.S., it is completely dominant on a regional level.
P.S.: Chicago is a great city but I wouldn't use the "L" or any other part of CTA as an example to boast about. I think Chicago should be embarrassed of its train system. It is old and falling apart (not to mention dangerous enough to scare most white people away) because CTA is out of money, and last I heard they had to jack the ticket prices up to $4 a pop. Chicago is definitely the type of city where you need a car. |
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SeoulMan99
Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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| redaxe wrote: |
| SeoulMan99 wrote: |
| redaxe wrote: |
Interesting debate between Chicago and New York.
I lived in Chicago for a year and loved almost everything about it except the winter weather and the flat topography.
I personally have a strong dislike for New York culture, I lived there for about a month and hated it.
I'm from Seattle which is awesome except for too-expensive real estate and too much cloudy weather, but I'll take mild and cloudy/rainy temperate weather most of the year over the Midwest's extreme winter blizzards and humid summers.
Seattle has a LOT to offer culture-wise, and tons of white collar jobs, but there is stiff competition for those jobs. It's a bit less expensive and more "livable" than most Californian cities, with less suburban sprawl. Overall I can't really think of a place in the US I'd rather live. |
Seattle is a nice city, which unfortunately doesn't get enough praise nationally or internationally. The Midwest certainly does have variable weather which seems to shift on a dime. I think the harhness of Chicago winters isn't as bad as people might think. There is a solid three months which I think are rather bad, another two which aren't so-so, and then the other seven months are rather tolerable and nice, imo. However, if you dislike the heat then I can understand that. Humidity doesn't bother me though. To get beyond the flatness I suppose you'd have to head up to Wisconsin, which is a beautiful state, but obviously it's not going to have mountains such as you have in Washington.
I don't know why Seattle doesn't get more attention. Maybe it's all those damn vampires up there? |
Well, Seattle is pretty small in terms of population. It's only the 25th largest city in the US, about the same size as Denver. It is very diverse and has a lot of cultural attractions and activities for a city of its size, so in that regard I feel it is a little underrated. It also has a great natural environment and almost every conceivable outdoor activity is possible within a two-hour drive or less.
But Seattle is very strongly represented in the business world because of Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon, Adobe, Expeditors, etc. And it's definitely the economic center of the US Northwest, with Portland a very distant 2nd. So although Seattle tends to fall between the cracks when people discuss the major cities of the U.S., it is completely dominant on a regional level.
P.S.: Chicago is a great city but I wouldn't use the "L" or any other part of CTA as an example to boast about. I think Chicago should be embarrassed of its train system. It is old and falling apart (not to mention dangerous enough to scare most white people away) because CTA is out of money, and last I heard they had to jack the ticket prices up to $4 a pop. Chicago is definitely the type of city where you need a car. |
Though Boeing is based in Chicago now, I know it is still a Seattle company and I believe they still run logistics from there? The L definitely needs to be updated, but I think it is vast enough that you don't need a car. I used it recently and it was $2.50, which is sitll ridiculous. I was just saying I don't think Boston's metro is better, nor SF's. In fact, I find most American metro systems rather pathetic. Chicago's metra system, which is the suburban-city-suburban train system is rather good though.
* I see white people on the L all the time. I don't think it's that dangerous. It definitely depends which line you're on and where you are though. |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:14 am Post subject: |
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Chicago's women are very mediocre when compared to NYC, much less Miami. Of course there are a lot of them so there will be some lookers but competition for those will be beyond fierce.
What Chicago is famous for are a lot of 5's and 6's thinkin they're 8's and 9's On the other hand, considering the sexual desperation of most of the male species, they can get away with it. It's not as if though the city is crawling with male models either.
Chicago's winter not only sucks, it never ends. Marches and Aprils tend to be full of grey, cold and dour days in the thirties. Enjoy.
Seattle needs a Latin infusion. A very yuppy lilly white/asian city. |
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SeoulMan99
Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:14 am Post subject: |
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| Cerberus wrote: |
Chicago's women are very mediocre when compared to NYC, much less Miami. Of course there are a lot of them so there will be some lookers but competition for those will be beyond fierce.
What Chicago is famous for are a lot of 5's and 6's thinkin they're 8's and 9's On the other hand, considering the sexual desperation of most of the male species, they can get away with it. It's not as if though the city is crawling with male models either.
Chicago's winter not only sucks, it never ends. Marches and Aprils tend to be full of grey, cold and dour days in the thirties. Enjoy.
Seattle needs a Latin infusion. A very yuppy lilly white/asian city. |
Oh Cerberus..this is going to be my last post on this subject as you seem to be a complete NY homer. Regarding women you may think what you want, but I see a lot of beautiful women in Chicago, and there is no empirical evidence on this subject so let's just call it a truce on that topic.
Regarding weather, well I can bring some empirical data to squash your anecdotal perceptions. This is only in comparison to NY, and not to say that Chicago is a warm city, as I am not claiming this. You will see that NY has a warmer high than Chicago for each month from November - March, though the average difference is only 2.8 degrees (2.3 if till April), which is not much. April - October Chicago has an average higher temperature, though the difference is relatively small. If you just take Nov - Jan NY has on average +4 degrees for a low, which can be felt, but it is not significant.
Average temp by month (November - April)
NY: Nov: 52/38, Dec: 42/28, Jan 36/23, Feb: 40/24, Mar 48/32, Apr 58/42
Ch: Nov: 49/35, Dec:37/24, Jan 32/18, Feb: 38/24, Mar 47/32 Apr 59/42
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USIL0225
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USNY0996
Last edited by SeoulMan99 on Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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not really a homer.... I just think if you had the money to live there, then NYC smokes Chicago in almost every aspect, especially because having money in NYC would make up for the biggest deficiency it has, which is affordable and semi spacious living.
I'm speaking as a single person. If married and domesticated a much stronger case can be made for Chicago (though the weather still blows)
maybe our tastes in women differ. Granted, Chicago is better than say Milwaukee but that's not really saying much now, is it?
the temperatures don't take into effect the so called "Hawk", Chicago's infamous winter wind which drops the temp you feel on your body by 10 degrees or more.
personally I'd still take Miami over Chicago and NYC anyways (if I had the money) and ultimately if I had a steady USD income I'd take about a hundred cities in the developing or developed world over any US city, period. |
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SeoulMan99
Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Cerberus wrote: |
not really a homer.... I just think if you had the money to live there, then NYC smokes Chicago in almost every aspect, especially because having money in NYC would make up for the biggest deficiency it has, which is affordable and semi spacious living.
I'm speaking as a single person. If married and domesticated a much stronger case can be made for Chicago (though the weather still blows)
maybe our tastes in women differ. Granted, Chicago is better than say Milwaukee but that's not really saying much now, is it?
the temperatures don't take into effect the so called "Hawk", Chicago's infamous winter wind which drops the temp you feel on your body by 10 degrees or more.
personally I'd still take Miami over Chicago and NYC anyways (if I had the money) and ultimately if I had a steady USD income I'd take about a hundred cities in the developing or developed world over any US city, period. |
We're a lot alike actually. I love the developing world and I could live in Latin America or certain Asian countries easily. I should clarify that I do not claim that Chicago is a better city than NY, as I love NY too and I think it is a great place, but I just prefer Chicago and I felt you were giving unfair descriptions of the place. I love Miami too, and I could definitely live there, though I would miss things like the theatre, etc of some of the nicer Northern cities. Regarding Milwaukee I was actually rather impressed by that city quite a bit. It's not on par with NY, Chi etc, but it is much more fun that I anticipated. I believe it has the highest concentration of restaurants and bars per capita in the States.
The difference between Chicago and NY for wind on average is only 1mph. I know what you mean about the wind chill effect though..it can be brutal when it's January/February, and welcoming when it's July/August.
Lets just call a truce on this as I'm a bit tired of arguing over something rather unimportant. Both are great cities and among the top places in the States. |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:50 am Post subject: |
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| SeoulMan99 wrote: |
| Cerberus wrote: |
not really a homer.... I just think if you had the money to live there, then NYC smokes Chicago in almost every aspect, especially because having money in NYC would make up for the biggest deficiency it has, which is affordable and semi spacious living.
I'm speaking as a single person. If married and domesticated a much stronger case can be made for Chicago (though the weather still blows)
maybe our tastes in women differ. Granted, Chicago is better than say Milwaukee but that's not really saying much now, is it?
the temperatures don't take into effect the so called "Hawk", Chicago's infamous winter wind which drops the temp you feel on your body by 10 degrees or more.
personally I'd still take Miami over Chicago and NYC anyways (if I had the money) and ultimately if I had a steady USD income I'd take about a hundred cities in the developing or developed world over any US city, period. |
We're a lot alike actually. I love the developing world and I could live in Latin America or certain Asian countries easily. I should clarify that I do not claim that Chicago is a better city than NY, as I love NY too and I think it is a great place, but I just prefer Chicago and I felt you were giving unfair descriptions of the place. I love Miami too, and I could definitely live there, though I would miss things like the theatre, etc of some of the nicer Northern cities. Regarding Milwaukee I was actually rather impressed by that city quite a bit. It's not on par with NY, Chi etc, but it is much more fun that I anticipated. I believe it has the highest concentration of restaurants and bars per capita in the States.
The difference between Chicago and NY for wind on average is only 1mph. I know what you mean about the wind chill effect though..it can be brutal when it's January/February, and welcoming when it's July/August.
Lets just call a truce on this as I'm a bit tired of arguing over something rather unimportant. Both are great cities and among the top places in the States. |
no prob. We probably are a lot alike.
My issues with Chicago are magnified by the fact I've lived there for so long and know it so intimately. Bores the beejeesus out of me. It's possible (though less likely) that I'd feel the same about NYC if I were from there.
imagine living in the backwoods of Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, etc  |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:36 am Post subject: |
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| Go Blackhawks Go! |
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