The 10,000 Post thread V3

[The Pennsylvania Turnpike 252]

2371

 

The first video game i played was Need for Speed II on my dad's computer. I also had RCT 1, 2, and 3 growing up. I started playing SimCity 4 in 2007.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

2372

 

I'll be on the road for hours today, driving from my in-laws' back home.  This is the best part of the weekend.

[Duke87 1,070]

(2373)

 

I was on the road for two hours today for a trip that normally takes 50 minutes.

 

Why? Because snow.

[Larks2242 251]

2374.

 

It delays more then traffic?

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

2375

 

I'm planning on calling off work when it snows here.  I haven't bought winter tires for my car and I'd rather not risk wrecking it and losing my license because the driving laws in Japan are as backwards as you can get.

[astronelson 339]

2376.

 

The average traffic jam moves back up the road at 12 miles per hour, regardless of country or speed limit.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

2377: Sometimes I wonder how I'll cope with the occasional snowfall in Melbourne and getting to work. If there's one place it snows, it's outside my work (because it's on a mountain).

[Duke87 1,070]

(2378)

 

Winter tires are an enigma to me. I can't fathom why you'd replace your tires every six months when under normal usage they will last for several years. If you live somewhere where winters are harsh enough for your regular tires to not cut it (I hadn't imagined any significant part of Japan might be described that way), then you can put removable studs or chains on them when it snows.

[Larks2242 251]

2379.

 

Or you could just move

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

2380

 

The problem here in Izu is that it only snows in the not-highly-traveled mountains and there is no snow removal system since the snow doesn't tend to stick around for more than a day or two after it falls.  No plow trucks.  No sand or salt on the roads.  Also, they way things are here is that if everyone does something, in this case buy winter tires, then you're going to do it, too.  Don't question it.  Plus they use summer tires here, they're not 'all-season' like you get in the States.  Other parts of the Kanto plain and non-mountain areas are similar.  Mountain areas where people live year-round and the west coast are major snow zones and snow tires are necessary from everything I've heard.  And even in those places, snow removal leaves something to be desired.  Kinda makes me appreciate how good we are at it in the Midwest by comparison.

[Duke87 1,070]

(2381)

 

Also, they way things are here is that if everyone does something, in this case buy winter tires, then you're going to do it, too.  Don't question it.

 

Well. The Japanese would hate me, then.

[astronelson 339]

2382.

 

Of course, the winter tyres point is moot here seeing as a) it's summer and b) it doesn't snow anyway.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

2383: I haven't seen snow since Christmas Day, 2008 (where it snowed outside mine at 400m altitude).

[Muck308 55]

2384

 

I stick with all season tires.

 

There are a few inches outside in my neck of the woods.

[Duke87 1,070]

(2385)

 

The fact that it never snows in most of Australia tends to seem odd to me... but then, when you realize that the southern end of the continent is about the same distance from the equator as the southern US, it starts to make sense. A decent chunk of Australia is within the tropics.

 

It just doesn't seem like this should be the case because the "middle" of all the earth's land mass is not at the equator, it's significantly north of it. The extremes of North America and Eurasia are above the Arctic Circle. The southern tip of South America is only at about 55 degrees south, still more than 10 degrees away from the Antarctic Circle.

 

This imbalanced distribution of land can make things in the southern hemisphere seem further south than they actually are. Damn you, Southern Ocean!

The prevalence of the Mercator projection in mapping (which is dumb because it's one of the worse projections out there in terms of giving an accurate picture of things) doesn't help, either

[astronelson 339]

2386.

 

In terms of latitude, I'm currently about as far from the Equator as Tampa, Florida; Corpus Christi, Texas; the Canary Islands, Spain (off the coast of Africa); and Kathmandu, Nepal.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

2387

 

I'm going to Kathmandu.  That's what I'm gonna do.  I actually hate Bob Seger, though, he disses Toledo too much.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

2386.

 

In terms of latitude, I'm currently about as far from the Equator as Tampa, Florida; Corpus Christi, Texas; the Canary Islands, Spain (off the coast of Africa); and Kathmandu, Nepal.

2388: I'm equivalent to Athens. Melbourne temperature is pretty similar too, with it being 10:15pm and 21 degrees, expecting to hit 40 over the next two days.

Fun fact! They've cancelled half the trains due to the extremely hot weather, fearing that the tracks will buckle and melt.

[Bipin 3,403]

 

2386.

 

In terms of latitude, I'm currently about as far from the Equator as Tampa, Florida; Corpus Christi, Texas; the Canary Islands, Spain (off the coast of Africa); and Kathmandu, Nepal.

2388: I'm equivalent to Athens. Melbourne temperature is pretty similar too, with it being 10:15pm and 21 degrees, expecting to hit 40 over the next two days.

Fun fact! They've cancelled half the trains due to the extremely hot weather, fearing that the tracks will buckle and melt.

 

2389:

 

Fun Fact #2: Yesterday right around where I live, a Search And Rescue helicopter rescued a crane operator by lowering a SARTECH onto the boom of the crane, seeing as the building below the crane was on fire, and that fire was slowly crawling up the crane, this was the only viable method. They hovered a few meters above the crane amidst smoke rising from below, lowered the SARTECH onto the metre-wide boom, who then harnessed the injured man and hoisted him to safety before the fire could spread and consume the crane. Canada isn't all "Rob Ford", believe it or not. Let's continue with these interesting, local, and random facts!

[astronelson 339]

2390.

 

Fun Fact 3: Until 1995, quite a lot of the suburbs around the Gold Coast that weren't part of Gold Coast City but rather a separate local government area, the Shire of Albert. Any businesses that operated in those suburbs and said they were on the Gold Coast were technically falsely advertising, although to my knowledge none were ever charged.

 

In 1995 the Shire of Albert ceased to exist when it was finally merged with Gold Coast City.

[Muck308 55]

2391

 

Fun Fact #4: Albany NY's polar opposite is a point in the ocean about 200 miles off the coast of Albany, Australia. I may have mentioned this before.

 

I broke the damn refrigerator at work today while I was defrosting it. I got impatient waiting for the ice block to melt so I start going at it with an icepick (Okay, it was a flat head screwdriver that I bludgeoned with the handle of another flat head screwdriver. We were fresh out of hammers.). Anyway, I punctured the freon chamber. That stuff smells funny. The fridge is useless now. Oh joyous day!

[Duke87 1,070]

(2392)

 

It seems to me that in Australia it is normal for a city's municipal boundaries to encompass most of the developed suburban area surrounding the city.

 

This is true for some US cities (for example, Houston), but typically is not. Often it cannot be - a lot of major US cities are situated near a state line and the metropolitan area thus cannot all be one municipality, since you cannot have a municipality that is in more than one state. And even without that, some US cities sprawl so much that putting the entire metro area in one municipality would be unwieldy. Also at times politically infeasible since very often part of the allure of living in the suburbs is living near the city so that you may commute to it for work without living in it and having to deal with its inferior government services (extreme example: Detroit).

 

Related: since public schools are usually operated on the municpal level in urban and suburban parts of the US, the quality of the schools from one town to the next can often vary a lot (they tend to be very good in towns with wealthy residents but suck in towns that are largely poor - surprise, surprise). This means that for parents of young children or people who expect to become parents of young children, the quality of the local schools is often a major factor in deciding where exactly to live.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

(2392)

It seems to me that in Australia it is normal for a city's municipal boundaries to encompass most of the developed suburban area surrounding the city.

This is true for some US cities (for example, Houston), but typically is not. Often it cannot be - a lot of major US cities are situated near a state line and the metropolitan area thus cannot all be one municipality, since you cannot have a municipality that is in more than one state. And even without that, some US cities sprawl so much that putting the entire metro area in one municipality would be unwieldy. Also at times politically infeasible since very often part of the allure of living in the suburbs is living near the city so that you may commute to it for work without living in it and having to deal with its inferior government services (extreme example: Detroit).

Related: since public schools are usually operated on the municpal level in urban and suburban parts of the US, the quality of the schools from one town to the next can often vary a lot (they tend to be very good in towns with wealthy residents but suck in towns that are largely poor - surprise, surprise). This means that for parents of young children or people who expect to become parents of young children, the quality of the local schools is often a major factor in deciding where exactly to live.

2393: Actually, Gold Coast along with Brisbane are the odd cases out. Ie. The City Of Melbourne only covers the CBD along with a few inner neighbourhoods like Carlton, Parkville etc. I live in the Melbourne metropolitan area, but my local council is the Yarra Ranges.

[astronelson 339]

2394.

 

The Gold Coast is also odd in that it actually is next to a border, and there is contiguous development across it. Across the border in New South Wales is Tweed Heads, which is part of Tweed Shire. New South Wales observes Daylight Saving Time, Queensland does not.

 

Goondiwindi and Boggabilla are also on opposite sides of the border (which follows a river at that point), but are a few kilometres upstream/downstream from each other.

 

Fun Fact 5: the southern corner of the Gold Coast Airport terminal and about half the runway are in New South Wales.

 

 

2391

 

Fun Fact #4: Albany NY's polar opposite is a point in the ocean about 200 miles off the coast of Albany, Australia. I may have mentioned this before.

 

It's closer to 800 miles, but still interesting.

 

Up the road from Albany is Denmark.

[Duke87 1,070]

(2395)

 

Vermont and Massachusetts refer to what most states would call a "county seat" (that is, where county government is located) as a "shire town".

As far as I am aware the word "shire" is not used to officially describe some sort of administrative entity anywhere else in the US.

[Larks2242 251]

2396.

 

I noticed many people don't pronounce New Hampshire as New HampShyer but I believe that is how it is supposed to be said.

 

I also have no idea what it means but it is clear it was taken from England just as York and Jersey were.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

2397

 

Michigan has two peninsulas, but those peninsulas have a TON of little ones on them.

[AkemiAzula 280]

2398

 

I pronounce Hampshire hamp-shyre

 

And I pronounce Melbourne Mel-bun

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

2398 2399 (sniped): Are we stating geography facts?
 

• Australia is home to the 2nd, 6th, 11th, 17th and 20th largest subdivisons by area.
• Until quite recently, Australia had the largest electoral division in the world. Kalgoorie was the size of the entire western Europe.
• Australia only has two natural state borders. The NSW-Victoria border follows the Murray River, and parts of the NSW-QLD border follow a group of rivers.
• Australia has no natural volcanoes on the mainland. They're just about the only thing not trying to kill you.

As for the people, 25% are immigrants (the highest percentage in a developed country), and 40% being the child of an immigrant (like me, and I can probably say most other Aussies on this site). 80% live within 100 kms of the coast.

[astronelson 339]

2400.

 

I also have no idea what it means but it is clear it was taken from England just as York and Jersey were.

 

Hampshire is a county in England.

 

New York was (re)named for James, Duke of York, who would later become James II of England, the last Catholic monarch of the United Kingdom and deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

 

New Jersey was named after the island of Jersey, which is a Crown Dependency just off the coast of France, the ancestral home of Sir George Carteret, who was given the land by James, Duke of York.

 

Delaware is indirectiy named for Virginia's first royal governor, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr.

 

Pennsylvania is named after Admiral Sir William Penn with the suffix "sylvania", meaning "forest land", and was granted to William Penn (the Admiral's son) by King Charles II.

 

Georgia was named for King George II.

 

Maryland was either named for Henrietta Maria of France, Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Wales or Mary, mother of Jesus. Officially it's the first, historians believe it may be the second. It also has my favourite US state flag.

 

North and South Carolina were split from Carolina, which was named for Charles I (Carolus being Latin for Charles).

 

Virginia was named by and for Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.

 

Connecticut is a French corruption of the Algonquian word quinetucket, which means "long tidal river", Massachusetts is named after the Massachusett, an Algonquian tribe.

 

No-one's entirely sure why Rhode Island is named such, but the second half of its name (and Providence Plantations) isn't named after anyone - it was named such by Roger Williams who believed God had brought him and his followers there.