05-20-2016, 07:39 AM
As I recall I put much value on high levels of educational achievement (better conversation) and a low rate of violent crime (I can see no positive in being in danger, or having loved ones in danger, of violent crime). Those two dovetail well. Climate? I have found that I do better in the absence of a high heat index; I might cope with a dry heat by drinking huge amounts of water, but there is nothing that one can do about high heat and humidity except to retreat to air conditioning.
I had little concern for taxes (you generally get what you pay for), so bad schools are a poor compensation for low property, sales, or income taxes.
Massachusetts and Washington are at the top. So do I go to Boston or Seattle? I would probably find Connecticut and Massachusetts similar except that Massachusetts has Boston (a delight!) and Connecticut has Hartford and New Haven (dumps). Hawaii? Maybe I fit some Asian-American cultural pattern very well, and didn't know it. Oregon is likely very similar to Washington.
Pennsylvania is a surprise. Southeastern Pennsylvania is hot and humid in the summer. But winters are mild in contrast to those of the Midwest. Colorado... Denver or Boulder, I guess. Virginia? Must be becoming more like New England and less like the South. Vermont? Sure, it's cold and rural, and not very prosperous. But it seems to do much well. #10 is California. Maybe I did leave my heart in San Francisco... but much of California is awful, especially the Central Valley.
...OK. The bottom.
The bottom nine states are Mountain or Deep South. Low educational achievement, high crime rates, and high summer heat and humidity make them poor matches for me. #42 is Kansas. Nasty politics? High summer heat and humidity? New Mexico would be OK except for its poverty, Nevada? Any place that relies heavily upon gambling for economic survival must have too little to offer.
I had little concern for taxes (you generally get what you pay for), so bad schools are a poor compensation for low property, sales, or income taxes.
Massachusetts and Washington are at the top. So do I go to Boston or Seattle? I would probably find Connecticut and Massachusetts similar except that Massachusetts has Boston (a delight!) and Connecticut has Hartford and New Haven (dumps). Hawaii? Maybe I fit some Asian-American cultural pattern very well, and didn't know it. Oregon is likely very similar to Washington.
Pennsylvania is a surprise. Southeastern Pennsylvania is hot and humid in the summer. But winters are mild in contrast to those of the Midwest. Colorado... Denver or Boulder, I guess. Virginia? Must be becoming more like New England and less like the South. Vermont? Sure, it's cold and rural, and not very prosperous. But it seems to do much well. #10 is California. Maybe I did leave my heart in San Francisco... but much of California is awful, especially the Central Valley.
...OK. The bottom.
The bottom nine states are Mountain or Deep South. Low educational achievement, high crime rates, and high summer heat and humidity make them poor matches for me. #42 is Kansas. Nasty politics? High summer heat and humidity? New Mexico would be OK except for its poverty, Nevada? Any place that relies heavily upon gambling for economic survival must have too little to offer.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.