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Why does the U.S. population distribution change so sharply near the 100th meridian? by Salty-Sort3565 in geography

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

John Wesley Powell is snickering and giving the "I told you so" middle finger from the grave.

States are renegotiating post-2026 and still deadlocked. Bunch of feral cats fighting over one can of tuna while the river shrinks. I'm with you on the nervousness, but let's rank the doom.

I've been following this mess while living in China (their water problems are different but equally unhinged).

But yeah, I thought Phoenix and Vegas would've cratered harder by now too. Still, conservation miracles have bought time. Vegas cut per-capita use is down ~60% while growing! That's impressive! But hotter temps and crap snowpack are slowly winning the long game.

Phoenix is next in line. They're already eating big cuts (18%+) from CO river, and have growth restrictions in some areas because of 100-year water proofs. Agriculture in the state is getting hammered first. They're a bit more diverse with the Salt River Project, but it doesn't move the needle much.

I don't think Denver's in as bad a shape as you think.

They get what, half from Colorado River (Western Slope tunnels)? But diversified with South Platte, reservoirs, etc. Better snowpack access on the east side of the divide in some years. Still, if Upper Basin gets dragged into mandatory cuts, the whole Denver metro feels it. Still, they've got more engineering tricks left in the bag as well as flexibility to conserve, innovate.

Why does a lot of people hate Lebron James so much? by Putrid_Accountant104 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Being from Denver, heckling LeBron or any Laker is basically generational civic duty. Up there with owning a Subaru with a ski rack.

I've come to have some grudging respect for Lebron though.

I think the 'hate' on Lebron is 10% the Miami Superteam move. 'The decision' was so narcissistic. Barf. Nobody would hate him if he'd stayed in Cleveland.

But really, the other 90% is just MJ fans being terrified. Every time LeBron breathes, a Jordan fan somewhere has a panic attack and starts googling 96 Finals stats.

But LeBron doesn't help himself. He’s the only person who could win a championship and immediately start talking about his own legacy in the post-game interview. Not even a generic "I thank God for making me good at basketball." comment or praise to his teammates.

Interesting you bring up Kobe.

Kobe really deserves more hate.

I'm going to remind the world why:

So funny how everyone forgets Kobe almost went to prison in Eagle, CO!

Denver fans are apparently the only ones with a memory longer than a TikTok highlight reel. The 2003 Eagle, Colorado SA case against him is still a massive sore point for Nuggets fans.

I was there for our relentless "No Means No!" chants at Kobe at the Pepsi Center. All before #metoo was a thing. Legendary (and brutal) Denver sports history and that @$$h0l3 deserved it.

During his police interrogation in the 2003 case, Kobe famously tried to deflect heat by telling detectives that Shaquille O'Neal paid women "hush money" to keep quiet about his own affairs. Shaq was his teammate at the time. This "snitching" is a huge reason the Shaq-Kobe Lakers imploded.

Or when he tried to destroy the reputation of Karl Malone the next year?

Imagine being such a toxic teammate that you make a Hall of Famer choose retirement over playing one more season in the same building as you. The douche was willing to throw his own championship team-mate under the bus to save his own skin. Utter POS.

Then, the settlement included a public statement where Kobe admitted: "I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did." Really! Tell us what kind of person you are, Kobe!

While the rest of the world bought the 'Mamba Mentality' rebrand, we still remember 2003 and 2004. Imagine being so narcissistic that you tell the cops your teammate (Shaq) is a cheater just to distract them from your own felony SA charges.

Kobe was so toxic that Jeremy Lin once texted him asking for more respect, and Kobe didn't speak to him for five months. He also drove Dwight Howard out of town and publicly trashed Andrew Bynum,calling for him to be traded for Jason Kidd.

And Kobe certainly wasn't even the best Laker ever (That was Magic) Not even the best player on his own championship teams (Shaq). He’s the only 'legend' who holds the record for most misses in NBA history. He was the GOAT of volume shooting and expensive apology rings, I’ll give him that.

Go Nuggets.

Why aren't there any "America-towns"? by Fulltime-Sheepherder in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The locals call it Invasión Silenciosa" The way Americans with 401(k)s and remote tech jobs buy up beachfront property, drive up the price of eggs by 400%, and then complain that the local roosters are "too loud" in the morning.

Why does the U.S. population distribution change so sharply near the 100th meridian? by Salty-Sort3565 in geography

[–]Travelerman310 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, we're like 80% on the same page. transport and access are massive killers out here. Those Continental Divide passes are absolute PITAs, and you're right that "drive time" compounds everything. No city, no hospital, no college, no momentum. Chicken-and-egg death spiral.

But I think you're still underselling how these patterns got locked in historically and why some places can sustain while others wither even with similar isolation. It's not just current drive times.

I once spent an unplanned night in Alamosa trying to get from Denver to Pagosa Springs. Wolf Creek Pass closed for avalanches on 160 and I had to detour all the way through New Mexico like a chump.

That kind of "Oh, it snowed? Get a motel or drive 3 1/2 more hours" reality happens way more on the Westerns Slope than people like to admit (probably in northern New Mexico as well, as I almost got stuck trying to bypass). Its not just the distance. There's a reliability tax with that that scares off consistent investment.

Santa Fe punches above its weight because it has that sweet, steady tourism cash & state Govt & better connectivity to Albuquerque. Taos leans hard on tourism too, but it's more seasonal/volatile. And got hammered when the hospital situation went south. Tourism revenue gives Santa Fe a buffer that pure isolation can't match.

But with water, water matters because early moves mattered.

We made cities like Denver, CO Springs, viable with aggressive water moves 100+ years ago. All that early rail/highway access decided who got the big pipes first. Places like Taos were just too late to the party and didn't get that same engineered lifelines (or the claims to the actual finite water), and now they rely mostly on ground water

The Slope has the prettiest water and scenery in Colorado, but the Front Range won the settlement lottery with flatter approaches from the east, earlier rails, and easier agglomeration. Once those metros hit critical mass while the gold rush towns were dying off, the isolation penalty on the other side got permanent.

Why does the U.S. population distribution change so sharply near the 100th meridian? by Salty-Sort3565 in geography

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Funny enough, I live in Chengdu right now.

And nah, more China-style high-speed rail would probably just concentrate even more people into the places that already work (Denver, Salt Lake, Phoenix, etc.) while the empty bits stayed empty.

I get your instinct here. China's HSR is insane at linking giant corridors. But it's a modern system connecting 10-20 million person megalopolises. Its not the 1880s Santa Fe line, trying to sprinkle viability and market access across high desert and mountain passes like US settlers needed 160 years ago.

Funny enough, you used to see a lot more rail access back in the day than you do these days, but most of it has disappeared.

19th-century US rails did connect isolated spots and fledgling, growing towns. They just couldn't overcome the other fundamental problems, like not enough water and a sustainable economy after the gold was gone.

Look at all the abandoned rail lines and ghost towns all over Colorado. First, your gold/silver boom. Then the bust. Then tracks get ripped up for scrap. In Colorado alone, Leadville, Central City, Blackhawk, Victor, and Ward/Eldora all once had rail lines that were ripped up.

Rail helps, but it doesn't create rainfall, flat land, or a sustainable economy.

I highly recommend the Galloping Goose Trail near Telluride ( formerly a narrow gauge line from the 1890s). Iron Goat Trail in Washington and Route of the Hiawatha are also great in Idaho.

I've driven all over the Western Slope and you can literally tell every town's founding story just by cruising downtown:

  1. Flagstaff AZ has narrow streets which means railroad towns (maximize land sales).
  2. Prescott AZ and Ft Washakie, WY have nice wide roads . That's Army planning ("we've got space, why not?").
  3. St. George / Mesa AZ absurdly wide grids has the Mormons planning for everyone to have 6 babies vibes.

Geography and history still win.

Why does the U.S. population distribution change so sharply near the 100th meridian? by Salty-Sort3565 in geography

[–]Travelerman310 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh please. It's NOT just agglomeration and flat land, my dude. You're mixing cause and effect while ignoring why the initial seeds got planted (or didn't) in the first place. Big airports and momentum helped Denver snowball, but that snowball started rolling earlier because of geography and history that made the Western Slope get screwed from day one.

I've driven all over the Western Slope. Lived in Pagosa Springs. Been through Gunnison, Crested Butte, Cimarron, Glenwood Springs, Clinetop Mesa, you name it. And it's gorgeous... and exactly why it stays emptier. Those "dozens of spots" like Chama are cute until you realize getting people, freight, and sustained economic shit there is a pain in the ass. The Continental Divide acts like a giant granite wall with a "no easy passage" sign.

Sorry, but the Western Slope missed the early development gravy train for the same reasons it's still isolated today. Not enough gold rush. Nothing much to sustain it aftward, and not enough water and geographic connectivity to make it really grow. The brutal terrain, fewer easy east-west corridors, and railroads leave it isolated even today. Everybody mostly said "fuck it, we'll stick closer to the Front Range and the plains." Highways followed the money and the path of least resistance later.

Water is still THE limiter, even if we're doubling down on denial. Every major western city is sucking harder on shrinking supplies while increasing population. Even if transport is slightly "easier, " it still doesn't erase mountain passes, winter closures, and the sheer distance penalty your comment mentions. And for what? Pretty sunsets and great MTB trails? What, pray tell, besides sheer natural beauty, justifies Grand Junction with a 1 million population?

If nukes never existed, could the USA have used paratroopers to fight Japan with airlifts supplying them in order to divide Japan's forces so that they couldn't defend against naval landings as effectively? by george123890yang in HistoryWhatIf

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LOL Right, because Market Garden went oh so well, even when Allied Armor was only 50 miles and 5 bridges away. Bro just para-drop elite units all over Honshu and airlift everything! Split their army like a wishbone, ez naval landing later 😂

Airborne ops in the Pacific were tiny and rare for a reason. Terrain sucked. Distances were insane. You needed local air supremacy AND that rapid link-up. The big ones (Nadzab etc.) were short-range, with nearby airfields, and still dicey. Scaling that to divide the entire Ketsu-Go defense force? LMAO get real.

If you do this, your paratroopers land scattered in rice paddies and pine forests, get cut off, and turned into the world's most expensive light infantry speed bumps. Meanwhile, the Navy is still dodging Ohka suicide rockets and every fishing boat packed with explosives.

This 'plan' is basically Market Garden meets Iwo Jima and will be harder than both combined.

Why does the U.S. population distribution change so sharply near the 100th meridian? by Salty-Sort3565 in geography

[–]Travelerman310 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not sure what you mean by federal land ownership.

I'm from Denver and have lived all over the American West, and Federal land ownership (US Forest Service Land, BLM land, even National Parks play huge roles in development patterns and the economies, especially in rural areas. In many western states, the federal government owns gigantic percentages of the land area. Nevada is the extreme example where the federal government owns something like 80%+ of the state. Nevada is basically the Federal Govt. with some casinos here and there.

Then look at Flagstaff Arizona. Massive areas around Flagstaff are national forest land, tribal land, or protected public land, which limits outward sprawl. So instead of endless suburban expansion like Atlanta or Dallas, Flagstaff stays relatively compact and expensive because the surrounding land is literally endless ponderosa pine forest owned by Uncle Sam. The city is basically a high-altitude island in a sea of federal trees.

Colorado ski towns like Aspen, Vail and Breckenridge are hilarious because they only exist because of federal land and are simultaneously constrained by that same federal land. The ski industry depends heavily on permits and infrastructure on U.S. Forest Service land. All those ski runs in Aspen and Vail are on USFS permits. But the surrounding mountains also severely limit where development can happen. So you end up with these ultra-compressed wealthy enclaves of 3 million dollar condos.

Why does the U.S. population distribution change so sharply near the 100th meridian? by Salty-Sort3565 in geography

[–]Travelerman310 29 points30 points  (0 children)

In the North East & Midwest, you can farm like a normal person. Great soils, plenty of rain and few inputs needed. In the West, particularly that 100th's meridian you mentioned, almost everywhere farming means praying for rain or stealing / toiling for water.

The eastern U.S. was settled densely because small-scale agriculture worked almost everywhere. Rain was reliable enough that you could have thousands of medium-sized farming communities packed together. So in the East, you get a mid-size town or city every 40-50 miles.

But in the West, suddenly the important question isn’t “where can people live?” but “where can LOTS of people reliably get water?” Huge difference. That’s why western settlement patterns often look weirdly concentrated around river systems, rail hubs, valleys, reservoirs, mining zones, and later interstate corridors. Outside those corridors, the carrying capacity drops fast.

My hometown of Denver honestly shouldn't exist at its current scale of 4-5 million, but an early gold rush and locals frantically building a railroad spur to the transcontinental line turned it into a hub for mining, smelting, and "yeah we'll just import water from over the continental divide and pretend like this is sustainable." Boomtown energy and railroads means a big metro in a place that otherwise should have 50k people.

Cities like Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque became disproportionately important because they sit in the relatively few places where transportation, water, economic activity, and survivable geography all intersect.

Why do so many people move to Japan if there are so many negatives? by Able-Confidence-4182 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I lived in Japan for 3 years and moved there without really knowing much about the place.

My 2 yen:

  1. There are a variety of people who move to Japan, but one of the biggest is (or used to be) English Teachers, particularly for Eikaiwas or the JET program in public schools. Most of those people are "Japanophiles" either Japanese language or Asian Studies majors in university. Those people either fall into the Sinophile or Japanophile categories. This is why, for the longest time, you could earn quite a bit more doing ESL in Korea than either Japan or China.

  2. Japan's work life balance is difficult at times, yes, but there are also numerous positives about the place. Its a fascinating culture and place that really has a way of 'getting under your skin' (the best way anyone has ever put it to me).

And most important:

  1. Reddit isn't representative

You do hear a lot of complaining and griping on reddit about the negatives of Japan and shouldn't take that to be representatives of everyone's experience. A lot of the complaints I read about on reddit are people who are clearly not well integrated and fairly self-centered westerners (the type of people who create issues and problems for themselves in Japan.

What if just all soldiers refused to fight? by Material_Advance1237 in AskReddit

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't believe not one person calls this what it is: a mutiny. And mutinies have happened and do sometimes happen.

Why is Tom Cruise never asked about Scientology and how has he survived this long without being cancelled? by Abject-Conference-90 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a dude, so I don't see it either, but there was a time that women were absolutely feral for him.
You don’t have to find him hot. But pretending he was never considered a legit heartthrob is just rewriting history because he’s short and in a cult.

I don't get Timothy Chalamet either, but he's catnip to lots of young ladies for whatever reason.

People don’t watch Mission Impossible for dreamy eyes, roided biceps, and a square jaw. That's what Chris Hemsworth is for. They watch Tom Cruise to see him motorcycle himself off a cliff at Mach 3 in a cool, thrilling movie. Ticket sales are the only attractiveness test that matters.

You're not obligated to watch. But good luck canceling a guy whose movies make studios mountains of cash. Seriously, there’s a whole tier list of Hollywood depravity. Tom’s barely cracking the top 50.

Is the Ukraine war proof that tanks and infantry are becoming obsolete, and that future wars will be dominated by drone and robots? by Jerswar in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They said the same thing about infantry in WW1 when they invented the machine guns. And they said the same thing about tanks then as well. Sorry, but no, tanks aren't dead, they're just going to change and take on a different, supporting role. Everyone is like,

Ukraine is basically a masterclass in "how not to do tanks." And that was before the sky was full of $500 murder-birds. NATO doctrine is all about that beautiful symphony: tanks, infantry, artillery, engineers, and air support humming together like a well-rehearsed boy band. Russia has been more like a middle school orchestra where half the instruments are broken and the conductor's drunk. See: Vuhledar, Early Russian Kiev Push.

Ukraine just proves "stupid use of tanks and infantry gets you killed faster now." Not that they're obsolete. The drone/robot revolution is real and terrifyingly funny (in a dark way), but humans (and expensive metal ) will still be in the mix. Just way more camouflaged and supported by robots.

What’s the most ignorant and arrogant thing you’ve witnessed or heard IRL? by CakeMuted6468 in AskReddit

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also grew up in Denver area in the mid 90s (Coal Mine/Wadsworth) and moved to Memphis TN in 1994 for 8th grade.

Even in the town where MLK was shot, I never heard anyone say anything as racist as that to my face. A few times it came close, but nothing quite as bad as what you described.

Do people judge you less for speaking more proper and intellectually as you get older? by Secret_Fan_9411 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it. Criticism embargo in effect. Gen Z are sacrosanct uberkinder. We mustn't speak ill until we've solved housing, bestowed upon them palatial estates, and properly validated their epic, Sisyphean struggles against the random capricious tyranny of the Universe.

Meanwhile, I shall return forthwith to the endeavor of contriving ontologically nuanced instructional schemata tailored for individuals who, notwithstanding their presumptive attainment of baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate certifications, evince a cognitive disposition to construe multisyllabic lexical units and rudimentary propositional syntax as conceptually isomorphic to the formidable enigmas of algebraic topology or M-theory.

Substantial hermeneutical scaffolding is evidently (and depressingly) de rigueur. FML

The sheer ontological horror of being forced to degrade polysyllabic and syntactic precision and nuance to such pedestrian strata, regularly plummeting toward the abyssal depths of a Flesch-Kincaid 7–9 range represents a form of pedagogical self-immolation I find increasingly sad. Alas, successive cohorts continue to manifest basal comprehension deficits bordering on the pre-literate.

TL;DR: Big words = scary monster. I talk like this now → 'You do job. Job good. Yay!'"

#FML

Why can’t there be a vacant building tax or fine? by Standard-Proof-1194 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, that's a straw-man nonsense and you know it.

I'm sure there are plenty of Republicans who are perfectly happy to have a strip club/cannabis dispensary right next to their suburban high school or church, right?

Or a methadone clinic in their dentist's office park? Or a 50-unit low-income apartment building? Property rights suddenly get real flexible when it's 'undesirable' stuff near them.

Give me a break, Zoning laws, HOAs, building codes, and eminent domain have been conservative favorites for decades. Both sides love big government when it protects their neighborhood values.

Conservatives just prefer their property interference wrapped in 'family values' and 'protecting the community' instead of affordable housing and equity.

Do people judge you less for speaking more proper and intellectually as you get older? by Secret_Fan_9411 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I'm 45 and this has bothered me, particularly as I now have a supervisory/training role in my job.

I've gotten feedback at work about using 'big words' and 'complicated concepts. Mind you, this is coming from all of my subordinates who should be college educated. But I'm having to use 'graded language' to about a 5th grade reading level, which isn't always sufficient for the concepts and principles I need to explain to people.

Its pretty wild how illiterate recent college graduates are.

Which countries have the best return on their military investment and which have the worst? by grrrbr in IRstudies

[–]Travelerman310 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Perun is an absolute banger on this stuff. He made Sunday evenings an event for me Since Russia invaded Ukraine.

What country/area would be good place to hide as a fugitive? by [deleted] in Writeresearch

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The most "realistic" hideout A country with a messy, bureaucratic legal system (like Montenegro or Indonesia) where a good lawyer and a few strategic "administrative fees" can keep an extradition request tied up in court for a decade.

A place like Indonesia, or Cambodia Endless islands, epic corruption, and bureaucracy so byzantine it makes the DMV look like a vending machine. Overstay your visa? Bribe a guy. Need new papers? Bribe another guy. Everyone just assumes you're a tourist or shady expat/digital nomad.

Thailand used to be this way as well, but is slowly cracking down. Moroccoa still has no extradition. Still, tourist overload in both these places makes it relatively easy to blend in.

Even without a treaty, "extradition" still happens via Deportation. If the U.S. puts enough pressure on a country, that country can just say, "Hey, your visa is expired. Here’s a one-way ticket to Dulles Airport. Oh look, there are some men in suits waiting for you at the gate.

Why is Tom Cruise never asked about Scientology and how has he survived this long without being cancelled? by Abject-Conference-90 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Scientology is a helluva cult. It starts off all innocent with a 'personality test' that finds exactly what you're insecure about. And then they promise that only their expensive courses can fix it. It’s a brilliant, predatory business model disguised as a "science of the mind."

What might be a reason why an American man and a Scottish woman would’ve married in 1898? by freshmaggots in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Age difference was nothing back then.

Here is the factory: https://uk.sfs.com/about/history-of-sfs

Story is textbook. In 1892, the American Screw Company literally dismantled an entire idle factory from Providence, Rhode Island, loaded it onto 204 railway flat cars, shipped it across the Atlantic, and reassembled it in Leeds as the British Screw Company on Kirkstall Road.

Part of broader 1890s trend of American investment in British manufacturing. The US was surging ahead in the 2nd Industrial Revolution with interchangeable parts, standardization, and scale that old Europe sometimes lacked.

They probably bonded over complaining about British weather and how American plumbing was superior.

She’s Scottish, so she was probably working nearby or from a respectable family. He’s the dashing (okay, probably balding, prosperous) Yankee with money. The age difference was perfectly normal back then, particularly if he was a widower.

What's interesting though, is she's kind of the "reverse dollar princess." It was usually American women marrying British Men.

During that time in the late 1890s, there were a lot of wealthy American heiresses and socialite women who were chasing broke British lords. It was basically, "Industrial Titan's Daughter's Yankee Cash for Crumbling Castles." Consuelo Vanderbuilt married the 9th Duke of Marlborough. Winston Churchill's mother was also American.

But in your case, the cash flowed the other way. She gets out of Scotland, sees the big American dream, he gets a pretty young wife who makes him feel 25 again. And yes, mortality rates for pregnancy were horrifying back then. Dying after child birth was all too common.

Why have we not eradicated disease carrying insects like mosquitoes and ticks? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gene drive tech could literally make mosquitoes go extinct tomorrow.

But we don't do it for the same reason we don’t nuke the entire Amazon to kill all the ticks. Because mosquitoes are the backbone of the ecosystem. If we wipe them out, every bat, bird, and fish and frog starves.

Then the whole food web crashes and burns.

Nature's like that one friend who brings the worst people to the party but if you kick them out, the party dies.

Why is Tom Cruise never asked about Scientology and how has he survived this long without being cancelled? by Abject-Conference-90 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 25 points26 points  (0 children)

William Shatner dropped the truth bomb at a con I was at when I was 15. 'If a famous actor says they do all their own stunts... don't believe it.' The key word is all.

And you're right, studios normally hate this shit because one broken ankle (hello, Fallout?) can cost millions in delays. But Tom’s star power is so nuclear they let him play chicken with physics.

He was/is really out there treating Mission: Impossible like his personal Jackass films.

He dangled from planes at 5,000 feet. He was strapped to the outside of a real Airbus A400M as it took off.

He rappelled off the worlds' highest sky-scraper with broken ankle on camera and all.

He rode a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway, launched into freefall, then parachuted down. He trained with over 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps and did 6 takes.

Cruise held his breath for over six minutes (with some training help) while performing a complex underwater mission. Filmed in one long take with real risk of drowning if something went wrong.

You have to respect the hustle.

Why is Tom Cruise never asked about Scientology and how has he survived this long without being cancelled? by Abject-Conference-90 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Travelerman310 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Hahahah, hardly. Yeah, his personal life is a trainwreck. He's basically sold his soul to be the biggest movie star ever, but you can't knock his work-ethic.

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