confused04

I wish the "study" would have shared its methodology instead of just a handful of the 40 criteria... some of which I find difficult to measure. For example... "culture". The only way to quantify this is to account for attendance figures for museums and such which inflates certain cities as it focuses on what I call "classical culture". Many cities, such as Minneapolis may be underestimated because there are many non-traditional "culture" institutions that can't be measured such as spoken word and private art shows in the Uptown neighborhood. I imagine there are other criteria that are poorly quantified adding to my doubt to this survey. Regarding infrastructure, I hate this perception that ONLY the US has dangerous bridges. Many Canadian cities have bridge problems as well. Bridge collapses aren't the norm in the US. Suddenly once I-35 W collapsed, we have been labeled as irresponsible and "living dangerously". Infrastructure dangers exist ACROSS Europe and North America. Statistically its not surprising that we had a bridge collapse since we have more bridges than anyone else, over half a million I believe (if 17% = 78,000 ; you can figure out how many bridges there are). Perception of our bridge problem is heightened by news outlets who latched on to the bridge disaster. I've read international responses to the disaster in foreign media outlets and few seriously address their own infrastructure and all claim "We take better care of our bridges" with little to know factual basis on this. The US is far more open with this type of information making us far easier to criticize though it is hardly an indication that we purposely neglect our infrastructure. The definition of "structurally deficient" is not to mean "imminent collapse" or even "high risk of death" but that ONE... ONE criteria out of I believe 9 is not up to optimal standards. Thats like calling your computer "deficient" if 10% of your hard drive is used. Not to say we don't have bridge problems... my own city has proven that, but I don't think US cities failed to make the list because of bridge concerns. Regarding "health care not being free" in the US, if that was criteria for this survey, then I find it absurd. Health care is not "free" in the social sense, but we don't turn you away if you need medical attention. Distribution of living costs is different in the US. We pay less in many areas you pay more. Its like saying "gas prices in Canada are higher, its should rank low in 'transportation". Its clearly an absurd statement. The study should not rank how costs are distributed in "livability". If that is the case, then I would personally rank Toronto lower due to astronomical housing costs. I want to know what cities were listed in the survey because 132 is a very small number of cities from across the world (with some countries being entirely skipped). Many of the worlds "medium" sized cities are in fact the best places to live so I wonder how many of these were entirely skipped.

Originally posted by: IDS2 Finally! So that makes 11 dead...oh man...that took a while. I suppose finding the last victim is good for the families, but sad because they're dead. As new information comes in I thank everyone for keeping this thraed updated.quote> That actually makes the final death toll at 13, assuming there are no victims remaining that were not included in the missing which the Hennepin County sheriff's department says "is unlikely but a real possibility." Not only did we lose 13 people that day, but 111 people were injured, some severely. They are now ramping up the speed of removing debris and opening the 10th Avenue Bridge that was closed to keep pedestrians away. Many of the river walking paths will be open to some extent. The bridge collapse is currently causing businesses to lose an estimated $400,000 per day and if we don't have a bridge for 18 months, that is about $216 million in loses on top of the $330 million price tag for a new bridge. The cause of the collapse is still unknown but there are three things that the NTSB have been looking at, two of which are serious and the other is just because they are grabbing on to any possible explanation. The first is the connecting pieces of metal that held the trusses together. They were of obsolete design and were in poor condition with some missing bolts. The second is the automatic de-icing system that can be corrosive. Finally, they are examining whether pigeon feces... yes... pigeon feces deposited enough ammonia to cause the structure to rust abnormally fast. Minnesota has not been having a good month as floods affected 4,600 homes and killed at least 7 people. This is following a severe drought that had already plunged much of the state into agricultural ruin. Local municipalities are struggling with these disasters and have requested national guard troops. Thats about all I know.... Edit: My grandma knows the lady who was driving behind the bus on the day the bridge collapsed. She luckily made it out alive.

My favorite is the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport which also ranks as the United States' best airport according to Forbes. It is clean, efficient, comfortable and has a huge shopping selection as well. If you have a long lay over, you can visit the Mall of America by taking a short light rail ride. Its pretty neat.

wow... the images I'm getting... I might use the corkscrew to manually remove my brain to get these images out!

Make Damn Sure - Taking Back Sunday This one's been played a lot recently as some people in chat would now ilikehotdogsalot- I love that song!

A Friend and I celebrating a friends party. I know its not a pic of me, but this is a pic I took and I like it.

An 8.0 earthquake shook Peru yesterday causing extreme damage and a mounting death toll. The quake lasted 2 minutes and was followed by tremendous aftershocks, one registering 6.0. Pisco, a city 160 miles to the southeast of Lima with 68,000 people suffered catastrophic damage with over 70% of the homes destroyed. 450 people are confirmed dead and 1500 were injured according to CNN.

Yea... once, but I bled everywhere.... [/endsarcasm]

Today is the one week mark for the I 35 W bridge disaster. News hasn't been too common in the past few days with none of the missing recovered. So far, reports from the 1970's brings into question both state, federal, and outside inspection processes of American bridges. Cracks were reported in the superstructure as early as eight years after the bridge was built. Steel plates were recommended to bolster the steel structure, none were used and inspections continued. Plans for a new bridge are already in the works with funding guaranteed and political pressure at its highest, a bridge is expected to open in late 2008. Designs are going to be approved as early as September and construction beginning as soon as debris is cleared. New video released from MNDOT traffic cams shows the chaos on the roads just minutes after the collapse. I was wondering if the cams spotted anything since I routinely use them to see snow conditions during the winter. The cameras were not focused on the bridge which would have been quite helpful. Edit: 6th Body has been recovered from the collapse site. 11 Cars have been removed from the bridge with another 88 vehicles still in the wreckage.

Not to even indicate that sabotage is a possibility, but there is some logic to attacking a bridge like the I-35 W bridge. Fear. Everyone EXPECTS DC to be a huge target, and if there were a bridge attack in DC it would be horrific, but it wouldn't be AS terrifying as attacking something that everyone assumes is "safe from terrorism". If a statement were to be made, attacking a soft target in a somewhat lower profile city in "Middle America" would shake the country to the core. Right now people have the mentality of "I don't live in LA, DC, NYC or any of those cities. I'm safe". If you can obliterate that sense of isolation, that would be terror. So far, news has been sparse from the site. WCCO reported that many members of the public have had difficulty getting a view of the collapse site. Police have claimed that most of the best sites are being blocked to "help with the rescue effort by reducing foot traffic". The name for the fifth victim has been released. Cars are being pulled from the water. Bypassed red tape hopes to have a bridge open my 2009. What I've been wondering is how the 2008 Republican National Convention will be affected by this bridge collapse. The Twin Cities depends on hotels from across the metropolitan area and now that the northern half the the metro has significant alterations to traffic patterns. The RNC needed at least 30,000 hotel rooms, of which only a fraction are within downtown St. Paul (where Xcel Energy Center is located).

Minnesota has two seasons... winter and construction.... thats basically the answer. You have to resurface the road sometime and you can't do it any earlier because the baseball season starts when it still snows in Minnesota. You can't wait til the end of baseball season in October. You HAVE to repave during baseball season. It wasn't reduced to one lane in each direction, it was reduced to two lanes in each direction. They did it for 94 as well. It was not out of the ordinary. The best way to refer to the metro area is to call it the "Twin Cities" or "MSP" (Edit: If you want to say it shorter than Minneapolis - St. Paul) Edit: Just wanted to post a pic of the front page news of the Thursday copy of the Pioneer Press, St. Paul's primary newspaper. It speaks for itself.

I prefer Star Wars. Generally far more entertaining and creative. Despite the number of Star Trek episodes, most of them have very uncreative aliens with a simple crinkle in the nose. I don't find Star Trek that complicated (plot wise anyway). Star Wars is filled with geopolitical strife, especially if you read the book. Also, Star Wars is generally darker, with a more exposed underworld of smugglers and bounty hunters. Finally ... Jedi... I mean... JEDI! Woot! YODA! I do love Star Trek, especially Voyager. Deep Space 9 was totally the very lowest of lows for the series.

Its amazing how much information you can find on Facebook that CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Kare11, KSTP, or WCCO lack. Reading a local group on Facebook, suddenly stories and faces were attached to names and its very heart wrenching. Its one thing to hear a name, its another when you know what they meant to a community and you hear people on TV pleading for any information. The clip of the family who's wife/mother was among the confirmed dead is amongst the most depressing footage I've seen since September 11th, 3/11, and 7-7-05. For being the size that we are, Minneapolis-St.Paul is an amazingly tight community. If we don't know someone directly affected by the bridge incident, we all know of someone through a friend or family member that has been directly affected. I've never heard people say "I don't think I can go downtown, I'm not ready."

Update : 5 Dead, 111 injured, 8 missing

For those of you who say "there's been too much coverage." What else is there to talk about? I've been watching CNN and the coverage has not been solely on the Minneapolis tragedy. They have covered other stories such as the helicopter crash in Washington State. Its a slow news week. Nothing in the US has really come close to usurping the spotlight. I'm sure if something big were to happen, the media would jump on it. You go where the news is.

Even though there is indeed sensationalism about the fact that 70,000-80,000 bridges are deemed "deficient" and another 80,000 are"functionally obsolete", the media does highlight a problem that Americans can no longer ignore. Our infrastructure is aging and nothing would have ever been done if tragedies like this didn't occur. Our government is a reactionary institution acting exclusively in the "aftermath" mode of every problem. The reason why this is such a big deal is that major fatal bridge collapses in central business districts haven't really occurred in the US in recent memory. Most bridge disasters have been attributed to barges and earthquakes with the Silver Bridge and the one in Connecticut being the only analogous disasters (neither of which occurred in downtowns of major cities). This disaster was in the heart of Minneapolis. You really can't be any more in the center of a 3.5 million person metro area than that bridge. Don't worry guys, your soaps won't be interrupted tomorrow. Edit: Back to more news... The "missing" count is apparently in dispute with the Hennepin County Sheriff's office figure standing at 8, the Department of Public Safety still believes 20 - 30 is an accurate figure.

Thankfully the number of missing has been significantly reduced to 8. I hope this number can be reduced even further.

The Pioneer Press had just a huge picture and its just humbling. My friend who works in downtown Minneapolis knew someone on the bridge. Thankfully that person survived with a few bruised ribs. Hamline University has reported no missing students so far thankfully. According to this, they are going to reassemble the bridge like a plane investigation to figure out what went wrong.

Footage of the collapse can be found from a transit cam here . If you wish to look at it but it is very sobering and might not be appropriate for everyone. WCCO has noted a significant area of rust on the truss that was at a breaking point. None of us are experts but it is a theory.

Its a very sobering night especially when we still don't know the status of 20 victims. This is one of the worst disasters to strike Minnesota. Right now I have accounted for everyone but one person and I'm really worried that they haven't responded. I'll see if I can get in contact with them. The lines are still a bit in and out but she hasn't responded for four hours so I'm concerned. I am praying that any trapped survivors can be reached tomorrow and I also pray for the victims of this tragedy. Edit: Thankfully she has finally gotten back to me and she is okay.

Another good thing is that half the lanes were closed for resurfacing (doubtful that this had ANYTHING to do with the collapse) reducing the traffic flow. Had this happened a few weeks ago, the bridge could have had up to 200 vehicles on it.

http://www.kstp.com/kstpImages/Technical%20Report.pdf There is a report from the last inspection.

I'm in shock. My phone has been ringing off the hook to see if I'm okay and I just went through my contacts to make sure my family is okay. My brother came home over an hour late give us a huge scare. This is one of those events that you would never think it could happen to you. I take the bridge quote often in my college adventures and I can't believe that its gone and the number of casualties that could have occurred. So far the tally is up to three. I just saw that the train was freight (self diagnosed from live helicopter footage). So many helicopters flying around. I'm gonna head to Snelling and Energy Park and see what I can make out.

I guarantee that pizza delivery in some parts of the UK border on ludicrous speed. I mean, we sometimes got pizza in less than 12 minutes! There have been times its been quite long, but man some of them can pump out a pizza in amazing times. I'm not sure if thats true all across the UK, but I know it is in York. I hate having to wait 45 mins for my pizza.

Originally posted by: N_O_Body Originally posted by: DOXXP29 I've always thought a "breeding license" would be a nice idea. It takes no special skills or level of intelligence to breed, but anyone of a certain age can do it. You have people who are too stupid to realize that it's a good idea to wash one's hands after using the bathroom, yet they can merrily churn out the kiddies and raise them to their own "high standards" of living.quote> My, my, my! You would get along well with Adolf the Aryan, wouldn't you? What IQ would you suggest is low enough for this eugenic action? Originally posted by: GingerBlokey I think this would be a good idea but it takes away the fundamental idea that all people are equal. So I cant agree since it just seems wrong on a few levels.quote> Well, there is no doubt that people are not even born equal, except maybe at the instant of delivery, so I fear this argument falls. This idea is a politically correct theory, but not at all factual. Is that baby over there born with a congenital defect equal to that one there with a perfect physique, and a bright future? Hah!quote> Well, no, they are inherently not equal (and I do believe a certain level of mental retardation prevents you from voting, correct me if I'm wrong). But lets take two individuals that are not so glaringly different, but not equal either. You have "Bob," an inner city school teacher earning a meager 26,000 in starting wages (plus benefits) and "Steve" who is a financial consultant for HSBC's head haunchos earning around 250,000. You can't tell who's smarter, but one is more successful. They are not inherently equal, so who gets the right to vote? I could push the boundary further and make Bob a janitor instead, but you can't deny the right to vote over I.Q. or not because both are ruled and both have the right to determine how to be ruled. Even if its politically idealistic, it is by far the most appropriate view. You can't say "because I am smarter" I should have the right to vote because some may say "because I am more..." moral, religious, simple, rich, humble, idealistic, realistic, and so forth. The whole point of a democracy is to get everyone's view point so restricting anyone's right to vote due to particular "negative trait" is obviously undemocratic. The only reason why someone shouldn't have the right to vote is because they are too young or otherwise incapable of actually making a decision (informed or not).