So what is nice about your State/Province/County?


Sunday21
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What's nice about Nebraska? The people, Winter Quarters temple, and open fields. Carhenge and the College World Series are fun, too. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo gets voted Number 1 zoo on a regular basis, both on national and international lists.

Fun fact: the third largest city in Nebraska is Memorial Stadium on Husker game day. The college football stadium seats 90,000 (and has something like 65 years of sellouts) and the only cities in the state with larger population are Omaha and Lincoln (which is where the stadium is). Mission presidents counsel missionaries not to knock doors during the games, as it will do more harm than good. 

Edited by seashmore
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TEXAS IS BIG!!!   You can drive for 4 hours and still be considered in the same metro area.  Then you have to drive another several hours to get to another metro area.

LOTS of water.  I used to live in Colorado where it was so dry you wondered why it wasn't a desert.  Texas has lots of vegetation.  Gardens grow SO easily (as long as you can get enough sun through all the trees.  Of, course, this is more true near the coast (such as Houston) than other areas.  Soil is really fertile.  You hardly have to do anything once you plant a tree.  Native grapes grow without the annual trimming requirement.

No income tax.  Unfortunately, high property tax.

It's still a conservative state.

Guns! Guns! Guns!

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! 

People are really friendly.  And I'll say something favorable about racial integration.  Normally I try not to notice anything because I like to be color blind.  But everywhere I go, there is always something about race in the air.  But my experience in Houston has been that it is a fully integrated culture.  So many different races and national origins.  But no one really thinks about it, worries about it, or makes a big deal about it.  

Example: Everywhere else people ask me if I'm Chinese or Japanese or ??? as if it will make some difference.  But here, I don't think anyone has ever asked me.

With racial integration comes Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Food! Seriously, if you can think of a nation on earth, there is a restaurant that has that kind of food here in Houston.  So, that restaurant that went out of business in Portland ought to come here.

Terrain.  We've got everything but mountains.  We've got beaches, ports, and harbors.  We've got forests, lakes and rivers.  We've got deserts, praries, and pastures.  Such a variety.

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6 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

@Carborendum. What do you mean? Guns, guns, guns? No gun control? So you can carry concealed to..the supermarket? The movie theatre? The library? 

If a state allows concealed carry (by permit or without), you can carry in the vast majority of places, including the supermarket, movies, and library.  This isn't unique to Texas.  You can also decline to patronize places who stupidly put up "no gun" signs.  (In Utah, if you disobey such a sign, and the company figures it out all they can do is ask you to leave, and only if you refuse are you guilty of a crime, and the only crime of which you are guilty is trespass.  Your gun possession isn't a crime at all.)

I had a coworker from Texas.  He said his bank had a sign on the door that read "Guns Welcome". :)  That's my kind of bank.  Bet they've never, ever been robbed, and never will be.

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On 5/25/2017 at 0:58 AM, Sunday21 said:

@Carborendum. What do you mean? Guns, guns, guns? No gun control? So you can carry concealed to..the supermarket? The movie theatre? The library? 

I'm going to tell you a story.

I was talking with my boss about the gun I just bought.  He'd never heard of the model.  But I was really excited about it.  So, I invited him over to my desk to see it.

He was curious and a little disturbed that I'd bring a gun to work.  He was relieved to find that I'd only had a brochure on the gun.  So as we were talking about it and I was explaining the features, the Canadian lady in the office had to come ask me a question.  We shut up immediately and tried to look uncomfortably innocent.

Noticing this, she asked what was up and why I was hiding something behind my back.  We darted eyes back and forth.  I showed her the brochure.  She rolled her eyes and declared,"You Americans!"

Yes, we have fairly open gun laws here in Texas.  It still isn't as open as some other states.  But we're working on it. 

If you have a concealed carry permit, you can carry anywhere except for a few general locations and where the owners post signs stating that they are not allowed.  Many businesses will allow concealed carry, but not open carry.  I perfectly understand this.  They don't want to take away your rights, and appreciate the added security.  But you really shouldn't make a spectacle of it.  It's just bad OPSEC.

Edited by Guest
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5 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

@zil. Holy Cow! What really? Oh my! Wow! Okay, Texas is off the list. I am off to Oregon this summer. I wonder if I should check out the gun laws or if I would rather not know? Oh man! I had no idea! So if someone has a bad day...Yikes! I find that really scary! 

I think you missed the part about Utah being even more open with their gun laws than Texas.  I guess you'll have to avoid Utah as well.

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Just now, Sunday21 said:

@zil. Holy Cow! What really? Oh my! Wow! Okay, Texas is off the list. I am off to Oregon this summer. I wonder if I should check out the gun laws or if I would rather not know? Oh man! I had no idea! So if someone has a bad day...Yikes! I find that really scary! 

I hate to break it to you, but you're in more danger in a place where no one is allowed to defend you than in a place where someone is allowed to defend you.  Oregon does have concealed carry permits.

You're limited to very few places if you want to go somewhere in the US where people aren't allowed to carry guns - it's in our constitution, you know.  Try NYC, Chicago, or DC...

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Just now, Sunday21 said:

@Carborendum. Thank you for telling me...My. Gee, I find that scary. I have had bad days in my life. I am glad that I did not have a gun at those times. Just looked up us states where you can carry guns...long list. Some of my favorite places....sad now! ?

Sunday,

The laws don't make any difference at all.  Simple ownership or even secondary ownership is what allows it.  So, if you really want to avoid getting shot with a gun, you'll have to somehow completely ban guns for any purpose (like Japan).

If my wife owns the gun, I have access to it.  I have a bad day to the point of insanity/criminal behavior, I'll pick up the gun and carry concealed (legal or not).  If my intent is to kill some people do you really think some legislator's paper is going to stop me?  What kind of sense does that make?

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Just now, Sunday21 said:

No way!?

Way.  And seriously, you should get some real, live, in-person education about the truth.  Guns and law-abiding citizens carrying guns are nothing to be afraid of.  You can't stop people who don't obey the law from getting guns, so do the logic.

2 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

I have had bad days in my life. I am glad that I did not have a gun at those times.

If you are really capable of ending a life in cold blood just because you've had a bad day, you've got MUCH bigger problems than US gun laws.  Get help.

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Just now, zil said:

I hate to break it to you, but you're in more danger in a place where no one is allowed to defend you than in a place where someone is allowed to defend you.  Oregon does have concealed carry permits.

You're limited to very few places if you want to go somewhere in the US where people aren't allowed to carry guns - it's in our constitution, you know.  Try NYC, Chicago, or DC...

Dear @zil

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2001011-eng.pdf

Be fair! In which country are you more likely to be killed? ??

In which country are you more likely to have your house broken into? ??

I suspect that house breaking can be fatal where you live. In C, if you hurt the burgalar, you probably have some explaining to do.

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3 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

So, if you really want to avoid getting shot with a gun, you'll have to somehow completely ban guns for any purpose (like Japan).

And then you can look forward to getting stabbed or beaten to death - so much better (not).

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4 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Sunday,

The laws don't make any difference at all.  Simple ownership or even secondary ownership is what allows it.  So, if you really want to avoid getting shot with a gun, you'll have to somehow completely ban guns for any purpose (like Japan).

If my wife owns the gun, I have access to it.  I have a bad day to the point of insanity/criminal behavior, I'll pick up the gun and carry concealed (legal or not).  If my intent is to kill some people do you really think some legislator's paper is going to stop me?  What kind of sense does that make?

Um, but in C, finding a gun is more difficult so if you have a bad day, you have to plan to get a gun so by the time, you get a gun, the bad day is likely over! 

1 minute ago, zil said:

And then you can look forward to getting stabbed or beaten to death - so much better (not).

ok but think this through. Take Sunday as an example. She goes postal! How many people can I harm before I am subdued? Probably none if I don't have a gun. Let's meet in say North Dakota and try this out! (Let me check out the gun laws first).

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9 minutes ago, zil said:

Way.  And seriously, you should get some real, live, in-person education about the truth.  Guns and law-abiding citizens carrying guns are nothing to be afraid of.  You can't stop people who don't obey the law from getting guns, so do the logic.

If you are really capable of ending a life in cold blood just because you've had a bad day, you've got MUCH bigger problems than US gun laws.  Get help.

I've been 14. I had an abusive Father so yeah! I've had bad days. 

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32 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Dear @zil

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2001011-eng.pdf

Be fair! In which country are you more likely to be killed? ??

In which country are you more likely to have your house broken into? ??

I suspect that house breaking can be fatal where you live. In C, if you hurt the burgalar, you probably have some explaining to do.

This is really frustrating.

In the US, you are just as likely to get killed by a car as you are by a gun.  So, I guess you shouldn't come to the US because there is no place here - nowhere at all - where Cars are illegal.

Do you know that a doctor with a bad day can kill you with his scalpel?

Do you know that a jiujitsu practitioner with a bad day can kill you with a rear naked choke?

Do you know that a driver with a bad day can kill you with his car?

And Manchester should tell you a terrorists can kill you with shrapnel.

If somebody wants to kill you, gun or not, they're going to kill you.  Nobody wants to kill Canadians.  So make sure when you come to America you stamp Canadian on your forehead. :rolleyes:

Do you know that the most number of gun-related deaths in the US is suicide?  So, unless you want to kill yourself, you should be fine.

 

This is really a case of naivete.  It's like people having a fear of snakes.  It is illogical but people think it is just fine to be scared of it.  But dogs, nah, they'll stick their hands right in my dog's mouth, pull at his tail, and sue me if they get bit.  Silly people.  Americans don't have aversion to guns because in America, guns, like a doctor's scalpel, is a utility.  Many people buy it for sport, many people buy it for collecting, many people buy it for homestead defense (like from bears and coyotes, etc.), many people buy it for hunting food, and then many people buy it to defend themselves from bad people.

Whereas, in your mind, just like many people think all snakes will kill you, you think my 13-year-old who owns 4 guns, is out there to kill you.

Edited by anatess2
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1 minute ago, anatess2 said:

In the US, you are just as likely to get killed by a car as you are by a gun. 

Far more likely.

2 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

If somebody wants to kill you, gun or not, they're going to kill you.  Nobody wants to kill Canadians.  So make sure when you come to America you stamp Canadian on your forehead. :rolleyes:

:crackup:

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1 minute ago, Sunday21 said:

I suspect that house breaking can be fatal where you live.

For the intruder.

2 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

In C, if you hurt the burgalar, you probably have some explaining to do.

Wrong as all get-out.  What guarantee do you have that he's a burglar?  And what gives him the right to safely steal your belongings and damage your home?  What guarantee do you have that he's not a rapist?  What guarantee do you have that he's not a murderer?  This attitude that a person breaking into another's house is somehow deserving of the benefit of the doubt is wrong.

IMO, the stats alone are pretty much irrelevant because they don't tell a sufficient story in relation to causation / correlation.  And we could go on and on about the much larger risks that no one wants to look at because they value their cars, alcohol, 5-gallon buckets, fast food, etc. too much.

PS: I am as safe in my home, neighborhood, and workplace as any person in Canada ever wanted to be.  If I lived in a place where I didn't feel safe, I would leave it and find a new place to live, work, etc.

1 minute ago, Sunday21 said:

Um, but in C, finding a gun is more difficult so if you have a bad day, you have to plan to get a gun so by the time, you get a gun, the bad day is likely over! 

I reject the notion that someone who has that bad of a day only has it once, and hasn't been stewing and fantasizing about revenge for quite some time.  The notion that they'll be stopped by the difficulty of legally obtaining a gun in an hour or a day is delusion.

2 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

How many people can I harm before I am subdued?

I reckon that depends on how many people are prepared to stop you before you do more harm and the means they have available to do it.  If everyone else is unarmed, you could kill a lot of people.  If someone else has a gun and is willing to use it to stop you, you're not going to get far.

Does anyone remember that mass murder in Asia (China? Japan?) where the guy used a knife?  21? people killed before he was stopped?  Something like that - if I try googling that at work it'll block me, so we'll just have to go by my memory unless someone else can find it - few years back, I think.  Not that it matters, numbers and anecdotes are irrelevant to me and to any specific situation.

PPS: I respect your right to dislike US gun laws and prefer Canadian laws and culture. :)  Don't waste your time trying to get me to agree - never gonna happen as no law or statistic will ever alter my personal, underlying reason for wanting people to be allowed to carry a firearm.  And I expect no law or statistic will ever alter your personal reasons, and that's OK.

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45 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Dear @zil

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2001011-eng.pdf

Be fair! In which country are you more likely to be killed? ??

In which country are you more likely to have your house broken into? ??

I suspect that house breaking can be fatal where you live. In C, if you hurt the burgalar, you probably have some explaining to do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate this says that's wrong.

https://mises.org/blog/fbi-us-homicide-rate-51-year-low So does this.  (Most recent).

And you can reduce those numbers by 16% if you take out illegal immigrants from the equation.  Yes, 16% of violent crimes in the US are committed by illegal immigrants.

Not only that, but look at this:

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/expanded-homicide-data/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2010-2014.xls

This last one essentially says that your murder rate without guns is higher than the US rate without guns.

And people don't need guns to to a mass murder

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/07/france_truck_attack_death_toll.html

If you look at the numbers 1.5 vs 3.5, you think,"Why!  That's more than twice as much!" Yes, but when you look at other countries in the world with 50 or 60, you realize that we're in the same category of "fairly safe" countries.

Now look at these:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/06/zero-correlation-between-state-homicide-rate-and-state-gun-laws/?utm_term=.a3492cdff823

They really don't make much of a difference.  All open gun laws do is allow people to defend themselves should a someone go crazy.

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Guest MormonGator

I adore my adopted home state and I  really, really don't like my actual home state. That's something I love about America-you can always start over and you can construct your own life. IE-I see myself more as a southerner than a northerner, even though I grew up in the north. No one down here cares because we're all transplants and to some degree we all think the same on the issue. 

I love the politeness of the south. People don't look at me weird when I say "Sir/Ma'am". I can hold a door open for a woman and she doesn't glare at me. Up north, people have mammoth size chips on their shoulder and are much more rude. Blunt but true. 

It doesn't get dark at 5:00 PM during the "winter" here. The sunlight seems to last forever. 

Beaches, beaches, beaches, beaches, beaches, beaches.

It's generally cheaper to live down here than the north. 

It's a much more relaxed and laid back way of life. 

So many things to do. If you are bored living in Florida, that's on you-not Florida. 

I live in rural Florida, but it's near a medium size city (Ocala). If I want a big city, I can go to Miami/Tampa/Orlando. I love that aspect of the state as well. 

 

Edited by MormonGator
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52 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

In C, if you hurt the burgalar, you probably have some explaining to do.

47 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

How many people can I harm before I am subdued?

I think the first quote answers the first.  It simply makes no sense to tell the populace to not harm a person in the process of committing a felony and then expect them to stop you when you're in the process of committing a felony.

In Britain, a woman "brandished" a kitchen knife at a would be burglar also with a knife.  The burglar went to the police and told them that she brandished it at him.  She got arrested and was convicted of that crime even though the burglar went scott free.  He was not arrested for the burglary because he reported it first and was unsuccessful anyway.

You still don't think C is headed where GB is?

Edited by Guest
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I really enjoy the culture of Texas, especially West Texas (where I am from).

At the risk of blowing my anonymity on this site, I went to both the same middle school and high school as Buddy Holly while growing up!  How cool is that?  Waylon Jennings was born a 30-minute drive from my hometown.  Mac Davis, Cory Morrow, Terry Allen and Pat Green all sort of began their careers in my hometown, and the decidedly strong culture of my rather small hometown certainly had a lasting influence on their careers.  That kind of thing stays with you throughout life!  I don't just listen to Americana music - I live it!

I also like the open spaces, small towns, and all the stuff discussed by @Carborendum

That said, I think I like Idaho even more than Texas.  Idaho appears to be a lot like West Texas, but with Mormons!  

Edited by DoctorLemon
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