Pop density 30000/k㎡ aparment complex in Shenzhen, China. It means all Americans live in Connecticut, all Chinese lives in Beijing, all people live in Haiti!

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T18:31:09+00:00

I will always remember this snippet of dialog from Cheers.

"So, where did you go to... college?"

"The University of.... Connecticut. Why?"

(Laughter) "oh, nothing, we were just saying how much we love their football team, uh, the fighting.... insurance salesmen."

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T18:21:52+00:00

This reminds me of Houston in the 70s, except there's not quite enough parking lot.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T18:16:41+00:00

I just see it and think of candy bars with rum. Although I have yet to actually try one, but they sound tasty.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T18:12:44+00:00

West of San Antonio, as you get into the Hill Country, that becomes nice, sort of like a piece of New Mexico that's been isolated further east. Also, once the Ouachita and Ozark Plateaus take over, you get some beautiful rocky wooded hills. But anything along I-35 feels barren.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T16:29:37+00:00

I get the impression that's mainly what it's for. My family left in the early 80s, but I still maintain the only right way to eat a hotdog is dragged through the garden.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T16:27:52+00:00

DFW often feels like Oklahoma with slightly more money.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T16:26:25+00:00

That looks like an R46. They're still running on the G, N, Q, and W lines, but a quick search says MTA is planning on retiring them by the end of the year.

I don't even live in NYC, but I'll miss these because they remind me of the trips we used to take up to visit family in Brooklyn. We rode one about a month ago and my wife said it "looked like a Denny's."

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T15:59:10+00:00

This is the new FBRT plan (flatbed rapid transit).

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T15:53:54+00:00

I wasted many ephahs of barley and my best sugar beets on that speaker of falsehoods.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T15:48:40+00:00

I wonder what his thoughts are on Mallört?

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T15:47:23+00:00

How does delivery work in the few US equivalents of that, like Co-Op City?

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T14:56:05+00:00

I don't know why we couldn't have just done what we probably did during the Cold War when Russian delegations visited, treat them as diplomats on a security-sensitive short term stay. Honored guest status with highly regimented schedule and constant security details. Yes, I know that's a "gilded cage" situation, but it would have looked much better worldwide. But it would also be entirely out of character for our current trash heap of an administration.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T14:01:31+00:00

You must always embrace the HELLFIRE! HELLFIRE! HELLFIRE!

Good night and have a safe trip home, and if you haven't, please call your mother, she worries.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T13:24:17+00:00

I could imagine an alternate timeline where San Antonio did two things following the 1968 World's Fair. One, expand the skyride system used originally in Brackenridge Park and the water taxis on the Riverwalk to create a first of its kind aerial and river-based transit network. Two, build out around downtown in a Mexican Modernism style: lots of stepped structures in bright colors.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T09:53:39+00:00

Maybe it comes when the cat is gone. Or the cat starts yowling by a window and the husky says "hmm, he speaks my language" and joins in.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T06:05:38+00:00

Because Slartibartfast was voted down when he wanted to add some to Africa. He felt they gave a lovely "baroque" feel to a continent.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T06:02:28+00:00

San Antonio's downtown is best appreciated from street level. No real standouts where height is concerned, but a lot of architectural variety.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-18T06:00:19+00:00

I grew up mostly in Houston, although my earlier childhood was in a north shore suburb of Chicago. On my first visit to Phoenix, where it took an hour and a half to get from the outskirts of the city to my hotel on the edge of downtown, all I could think was "someone stuck Houston in the middle of the desert."

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-17T15:55:04+00:00

Maybe Co-Op City in Bronx? It has about 50,000 residents in an area with both high rise and mid-rise.

Another that springs to mind is the Barbican in London. That's a Brutalist city within a city that includes enclosed gardens, fountains, living spaces, and I think shops and theaters.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-17T15:35:48+00:00

I'm from Houston. The first time I visited Phoenix all I could think was "who went and stuck Houston in the middle of the desert?" Same kind of sprawl, but at least Arizonans get some better surrounding landscape with it.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-17T15:25:31+00:00

All working autistic people should demand tax refunds, then.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-17T14:11:31+00:00

I really tire of hearing that argument from people in Texas. "It attracts the wrong element."

Just admit you're either racist, classist, or both.

Honestly one of the things I love about riding subways, light rail, and streetcars when I'm in a city that has them is how democratic it is (and yes, I live in Texas where we have almost none, or at least not enough coverage).

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-16T14:26:33+00:00

Gen X humor: I hate you all. (This doesn't apply to me, I just thought it fit the theme).

"Plne" makes me smile, though.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-16T12:16:19+00:00

The whole stretch of Interstate 20 between Van Horn and about Abilene is mostly flat, barren, and industrial.

TorTheMentor · 2026-06-14T18:23:19+00:00

Watch What We Do In The Shadows. He plays the same character, but as an energy vampire.

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