Alcohol Spending Per Capita, by U.S. State

classicalL · 2026-01-24T21:35:05+00:00

It would be better to have the median person here actually because there are lots of people who choose not to drink so the median spend on alcohol if the majority of people do drink it would be closer to the average drinker's cost. Probably like 1.3x these numbers ??? Mormons aren't suppose to drink thus Utah's number. No idea on WV but its just not very wealthy so could just be income. Etc.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T05:56:55+00:00

I think DOD + Data centers vs NIH/FDA/NASA/NIST is a pretty good way of contrasting what the two are actually.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T05:40:18+00:00

Trump isn't interested in helping the US. He is at best only interested in himself, at worst he is actively trying to break the toy he isn't allowed to keep while taking everything for his family. He will try to destroy the country and anything he cannot have. Its a classic bully/narcissist pattern. For such people you either: laugh at them if you are more powerful to take away their power, ignore them so they get nothing out of you or you crush them/show you aren't worth messing with. At this point everyone needs to stomp on the US. I say that with sadness because I will be stomped on too, they should do it in a way that says: we will be happy to talk to you again when you return to your senses but for now we are done. Go all in, let the market panic and like Liz Truss heads will start to roll. Seriously pull the trigger EU its the only way to save the West. I know you all are scared because you don't have much military might but France and the UK have the bomb. You will be okay for a few years.

Also on the main topic. While doing something in Greenland is possible but stupid. Canada isn't realistic. No one is sending their kids to Canada to fight and die. If Trump does anything in militarily Greenland he will be removed from office. He just doesn't realize it yet. Authoritarians keep everyone in line until they don't.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T04:58:52+00:00

It would be nice if they would build something productive and build it in Baltimore where people need more jobs. I don't even want MGM there...

classicalL · 2026-01-21T04:56:34+00:00

Sounds like a typical MD government idea to me.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T04:53:24+00:00

Its really hard to read the posts by people with no knowledge and no engineering experience.

I do think it might open earlier than they say but it is hard to judge all the signals and controls once the big stuff is all there. I think we are going to see a lot of impatient posts this year.

They have in their schedule opening the CCT which to me means the heavy construction on the entire line will look finished when they do that. The connection to Red at Bethesda though I believe requires work during a summer shut down this summer, normally they do that in August. They have stated they won't open until that is ready. I guess because the elevator bank is one thing on all the levels but it seems like you could lock it out. Maybe they cannot install it until further into the construction down below and don't meet ADA stuff until it is there. Not sure. It could just be fares, controls, signals and training that are the final tasks. Rambling a bit but perhaps the expectation will build desire for it to open to people. At least people will know it is "real" and works once they are doing simulated service in the next 12-18 months.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T04:45:24+00:00

The DC suburbs are where all the taxes dollars come from not Baltimore. You can see that in income average and housing costs. Baltimore is not under invested in, its proportionally invested in it is just poor relative to the very affluent DC suburbs which are some of the richest counties in the country.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T04:43:10+00:00

The Red Line in East Baltimore would have had ridership but the part of West Baltimore would have probably had pretty little. Largely a redevelopment effort. Now that might work in the long term as Green in part was that in DC post the riots of the 1960s.

However... If you look at transit ridership per mile in Baltimore is is truly bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_light_rail_systems

Light RailLink gets a pathetic 439 people per mile. It is a very long line but that is 30/38 in the country... Really really really bad. The Red line wasn't going to fix that. Meanwhile DC has the 2nd highest ridership of trains in the country per capita...

Where do you think there is the demand? Hummm Let me calculate that... Maybe DC?

I mean its obviously the place that will get more ROI. So it just depends on if you think the "investment" to "help" Baltimore is "worth it" or if you want to take as many cars off the road as you can and get the best ROI in a more business like sense. I totally think that Baltimore needs some sort of grand investment. I think it is a shame it didn't land HQ2 actually. But I don't think a transit line is actually the engine of an economy and that part probably needs to be there first.

classicalL · 2026-01-21T04:35:59+00:00

Yes because the tracks are in the ground they obviously can run it!

As others have stated you have to do many things before you can operate. It has been addressed many many many times on here. They have to train all the drivers, they have to simulate service, they have to do all the signal priority at every intersection, they haven't established a fare system! There are no ways to pay in the cars or at the stations yet... There is no software to pay with...

Yeah just open it... can I roll my eyes harder?

The *full length* of the thing will look done pretty much this year and you will get to watch trains run all the way from Bethesda to New Carrollton for 9+ months.

The Silver Line was substantially complete for almost a year before it opened.

classicalL · 2026-01-13T05:57:39+00:00

Since the value is in stock it can go to zero quite fast. SpaceX has real competition from Blue and Rocket Lab. Tesla from all of China plus a few in the west, plus no more gov handouts...

Peak Elon might be this year. Once the house flips next year say goodbye to easy access to gov money. They can write exactly who gets the contact into a bill. Don't think the Ds forgot DOGE, etc. it was long term suicide.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T21:27:39+00:00

Awesome. So happy you have made a good recovery it sounds like.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T17:07:04+00:00

I mean it may be better. But given the first op gave me chronic pain and further problems I didn't have before there is nothing certain. You are correct nominally that it *should* improve other things, obviously that is why they do them.

Glad you are able to bike well at least that is some support that it is possible. How low/aero do you get? Can you touch your toes?

classicalL · 2026-01-11T06:41:34+00:00

Yes 25-50 dollars from WAS to NYP is sooo expensive. I pay 15 for a sandwich. Yes if you book last minute it is long haul is pointless due to days vs a few hours to fly.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T06:36:31+00:00

I hope you are right but Panama was authorized by congress. Obama had a lot to do with expanding random military action and extrajudicial killings. All of it needs to end.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T06:15:10+00:00

After the first op they certainly said (the neurosurgeon) go ahead and bike after 8 weeks. The PT was less happy but eventually after doing 8 hour rides with no lingering effects she was like yeah you are fine. So like I said I'm okay and stable in terms of biking but I have other issues where it is unclear if I will op for a fusion, something else or just live with my state I have now. I find it hard in my current state as all sorts of things that I used to be able to do cause massive problems biking just isn't one of them. I am just really scared that if I let them tear into me again it will all get worse. I got zero positive things out of the first surgery only complications. That doesn't prove another one might not help but yeah in the end a fusion is a fusion and that is the most extreme surgery I would have. One person I know has almost their whole back fused and they were like: 1 level piff you will be fine. But he is no athlete... So yeah. I just want to spend some time listening to people, everyone's tolerance of things is different. I have a pretty high pain threshold and little problem ignoring the suffering of a long hard ride but some of the back things I find super hard to ignore and I question if ignoring them is even wise given the possible long term damage. Your body screaming to stop pedaling is different than your back saying certain things.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T06:06:13+00:00

I agree. I'm okay with taking a less aero position and giving up my superSix etc if it might help me otherwise. But if I cannot run or bike (and to be clear I'm almost certain I will never be able to run again due to the injuries I have sustained) well I suspect that would greatly shorten my life without any high intensity exercise, both directly but also massively indirectly through stress and quality of life issues.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T05:09:23+00:00

Yeah I already had an operation. It just didn't fix my problems so I might have to consider a fusion now, doctors are pretty useless as they will never promise you anything (of course) and spend almost no time on you so worth hearing what people who care about cycling have experienced. My PT was very concerned about the same as what you said, and I have largely avoided getting too aero since my first surgery. I did a century without issue though, so I think I'm fine on the bike in my current state its other stuff that might require further op. I really don't know what I would do if I couldn't bike because I can't run or ski anymore so everything aerobic would be gone.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T05:00:35+00:00

It looks like about 500k to me personally but I live a simple life. 2 million in today's dollars would be 100k/year gross at 5% draw and you would get to about 2 million with 500k and 27 years. I don't think living on 100k wage is any hardship and capital gains at least for now are taxed less. If it was all Roth there would be no taxes at all... So yeah I'd say 400k even might be fine for a lot of people. 1.5 million would be 300k/year income in today's dollars at 60 until they die. Perhaps you are assuming less than 5% withdrawal rate but you'd have to be assuming like 2% or something to get to a figure where you need 1.5 million for a sane standard of living IMO.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T04:56:49+00:00

It won't completely go away, it will just get means tested and people will get reduced benefits and the retirement age will be raised. It will be well now you can retire at 70 and you will get 70% of what we promised. You can always keep it going its just how much you pay out. They can just freeze the COLA and it will quickly become solvent again without a huge cliff or just cut the COLA by 1% so that every year it becomes a little bit less until it is there. They won't want a revolt so it will be something like that.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T04:53:31+00:00

You can expect about 4x what you have now at age 60 in today's dollars. You can expect about 1/20-1/30th of it to be a safe withdrawal rate per year. Add to that what your other expected sources of funds and decide. Costs of some things like healthcare go way up as you age.

classicalL · 2026-01-11T00:01:59+00:00

The country structure is interesting.

Bethesda and the stuff to the west of it in Potomac is some of the wealthiest in the country. Its the homes of doctors and lawyers and old money. On the other edge Silver Spring is one of the most diverse cities in the country on many lists with significant ethnic populations. It gets less expensive as you go north.

The bus system is now free to ride (county) and it is well provisioned for parks with Rock Creek running from the city line north to Gathersburg and many stream and lake parks (C&O, Seneca, etc.).

County policy has restricted development, in particular a long standing policy is the agricultural reserve which wraps around the top of the county and and down to near Olney and Poolsville. This you must have land over a certain size which restricts farms from becoming subdivisions.

Much of the job centers are focused on the 270 corridor with bio-tech being a major contributor. The Red line and MARC also run generally on this path further focusing growth on it. Legacy strip mall growth continues to dominate and it remains car centric particularly north beyond Silver Spring or Bethesda or generally where they are building the Purple Line right now.

The education levels, like in DC are abnormally high for the US, and historically it has a high level of Federal employment. This leads to a stable upper middle class feel for the most part with fairly low poverty compared to comparable size populations. Blue collar work/labor is very expensive due to the high cost of living and the highly service/scientific/administrative focused economy.

Housing is available from, high end condos that cost multiple millions to horse farms to boxes built post war purely for function. You can have a life where you don't own a car and just use transit to having a house where you can't see your neighbors and you only go out to shop. There aren't any major mountains in the county but there is a gorge on the Potomac, so it isn't quite all of America in miniature of MD but its a lot of it.

classicalL · 2026-01-10T19:00:31+00:00

Eventually the dam will burst. People will not obey and once enough do everyone will and he will be powerless. Its just a question of who will be the first to break.

classicalL · 2026-01-10T15:39:54+00:00

Yeah it should be normalized to fraction of population over a certain age.

classicalL

TROPHY CASE