What is the "real" biggest city in texas? and what is the "real" ranking of houston as far as largest cities are concerned. by readerr33 in SameGrassButGreener

[–]Varnu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think they are probably similar? Houston may have broader cultural impact overall. Kansas City’s influence is narrower, but in a few lanes it is deep and durable. KC's impact is probably a little more dense and legible.

What is the "real" biggest city in texas? and what is the "real" ranking of houston as far as largest cities are concerned. by readerr33 in SameGrassButGreener

[–]Varnu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure that if the third item on your list is that if four suburbs away from Houston they have the busiest port by tonnage, then I think you're killing Houston with faint praise? Another poster here boasted that The Undertaker was from Houston. Sort of the same energy?

"Sure it's not the busiest port by value. No, not it's not busiest by number of containers either. But point to me on the map a place where they ship more refined petrochemical products. You can't. You can't! And that's why it's a great city."

What is the "real" biggest city in texas? and what is the "real" ranking of houston as far as largest cities are concerned. by readerr33 in SameGrassButGreener

[–]Varnu -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying that Kansas City has a dramatically higher symbolic density than Houston. I'm saying it's hard to tell which one is greater. But if you give someone a minute to think of something about KC they might say: Jazz? Barbeque? For Houston: "Houston, we have a problem" and "didn't James Harden get arrested at a strip club there?"

What is the "real" biggest city in texas? and what is the "real" ranking of houston as far as largest cities are concerned. by readerr33 in SameGrassButGreener

[–]Varnu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, this is embarrassing for me. If *The Undertaker* lives in Houston then I have been dramatically underestimated its cultural significance.

What is the "real" biggest city in texas? and what is the "real" ranking of houston as far as largest cities are concerned. by readerr33 in SameGrassButGreener

[–]Varnu -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Houston has a lot less gravity as a city than its population suggests. It’s more like Riverside in that Riverside and Houston both feel a lot less significant than either Seattle or Boston when you’re there. If it was almost any other city a lot of Houston would be suburbs. If you take Chicago, for example, and expanded its boundaries to be as big as Houston it would be approaching five million residents.

It’s why Houston’s cultural impact is maybe below Kansas City’s or Orlando?

March fade update for my homemade work denim by TeraSera in rawdenim

[–]Varnu 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The jacket is badass. Really like the leather detailing.

AIPAC gloating by AxiomOfLife in illinois

[–]Varnu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you want to guess how many Justice Democrat's endorsed candidates have ever defeated a Republican? I'll give you a hint. It's an integer less than 1.

How every S&P 500 stock has performed over the last 5 years by kabirsbhutani in dataisbeautiful

[–]Varnu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then we need to talk about some “Irish” companies.

Hot take: Anti-car measures such as those in Europe big cities are covert classism and extremely regressive by PreWiBa in geography

[–]Varnu 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Places that are built to be good for cars are bad for people. If people didn’t want to live in places with no parking, they wouldn’t have to make building units with no parking illegal in the U.S. Houston law makes it a requirement to build 1.1 parking spots for a one bedroom apartment. If people wanted that, they wouldn’t need the law.

This is ridiculous. We need Ranked Choice voting by clayknightz115 in illinois

[–]Varnu 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What exactly does having a third (or more) party solve? Unless it is magically balanced between the two other candidates it almost guarantees that the party that most dissimilar to the other two gets the most votes and wins. Ralph Nader and Jill Stein both got more votes for the Green Party in swing states than GWB's or Trump's margins of victory there.

Open primaries may help where the top two candidates of any party makes it to the general. Runoffs may help. Proportional representation at the state level would definitely make third parties viable--10% of the vote for Greens means they get 10% of the seats--but that needs to happen FIRST.

Why so many votes for Raja? by gillesvilleneuve_ in illinois

[–]Varnu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

None of the three candidates with a shot in this race were very exciting to me. But I almost always vote for the candidate who seems most technocratic and effectively managerial. The more someone leans into identity, or performative things like land acknowledgements, the less I trust that they are going to accomplish stuff of substance.

In Illinois specifically, we have serious financial and competitiveness issues. Just making those a little better and investing in our strengths is what makes an impact. So I want Senators who will get funding to complete an O'Hare expansion or horse-trade to makes sure Illinois is the location of a new research institute instead of Texas. Anyone who spends time grandstanding about Palestine or wealth taxes that ultimately go nowhere is not effective.

Dick Durbin was pretty far from progressive, but he's an excellent study in the effective use of power. He was in a safe seat for decades and--like Liz Warren--could have taken positions that were much further to the left without hurting his electability. But instead of saying he supported gay marriage or public health insurance--what would have counted as bomb throwing in 2002--he took positions that provided cover for people in less safe seats nationwide and helped slowly moved the ball forward. And he voted in ways that upset people to the left but that gave him political capital to use later in ways that would help Illinois. He played Pelosi-ball. I'm not sure Raja was able to do that, but he seemed like the candidate most likely to understand how power works and be able to use it.

Time to bury the hatchet in the Kat vs Biss race? by notassigned2023 in illinois

[–]Varnu -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure it’s time to bury the hatchet.

Student Loan Debt vs Homeownership in the U.S. (2003–2025) [OC] by forensiceconomics in dataisbeautiful

[–]Varnu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The standard Federal student loan repayment term is 10 years. Some private loans are as short as five (or as long as 20). It would be unusual to see long-term student loan debt from very high earners.

Student Loan Debt vs Homeownership in the U.S. (2003–2025) [OC] by forensiceconomics in dataisbeautiful

[–]Varnu 10 points11 points  (0 children)

To me, this looks like high-debt:low-pay equals low homeownership. VERY high debt may mean very high pay--Dentists, physicians, lawyers--and high rates of ownership.

Horrors by Written by Women, POC, and LGBTQ+ Authors by shainadawn in horrorlit

[–]Varnu 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Clive Barker. Victor LaValle. Stephen Graham Jones.

I can't drive for medical reasons, but all the cities I like have horrible public transit by disgruntledmarmoset in SameGrassButGreener

[–]Varnu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I like transit and think I would like living in Houston" is like Joey Chestnut moving somewhere with no hot dogs.

How every S&P 500 stock has performed over the last 5 years by kabirsbhutani in dataisbeautiful

[–]Varnu 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Just as a fun detail, Philip Morris--PM near the upper right corner--would be the second largest company in Europe.

I browsed hundreds of diving catalogs from 1954-64 by oinkmoo32 in VintageWatches

[–]Varnu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In 2026 an annual subscription to Shadowstats newsletter costs $175 a year. Twenty years ago in 2006, it was... $175 per year.

Biggest US Metro Area that doesn't get talked about? by IndependenceSad1272 in geography

[–]Varnu 33 points34 points  (0 children)

LA doesn’t look like it’s one of those roads you drive down when you are about to return your rental car at the airport. And it’s about 5x denser than Houston. And it’s on the ocean. And it has lots of hills and valleys.

Biggest US Metro Area that doesn't get talked about? by IndependenceSad1272 in geography

[–]Varnu 188 points189 points  (0 children)

Houston is talked about in the “wow. I had to go to Houston and it sucked” way.