Ram23

Democrats' propaganda arm has been treating January 6th like the Reichstag fire, and Tim "holy cow!" Ryan is among the worst of the lot in terms of pushing propaganda. His little rant a few days ago was yet another example that the guy is nowhere near "moderate." Much like the Republicans are all attempting to appear more right-wing, Ryan has been doing all he can to fit into the radical progressive crowd. You see a lot of liberals on this forum, and others, pushing for their candidates to give up trying to appeal to the middle - and I suppose Ryan has aligned with that logic. I don't think it's going to work out well in Ohio, though. J.D. Vance is probably the most neutral/moderate candidate realistically in the running right now.

Maintenance issues are almost always the reason buildings need to be torn down, and water infiltration is typically the cause. But the same will be true for anything built in the 1970s and on. A 2x4 framed suburban house built in the 70s can last over 100 years with routine and preventative maintenance. If water is kept out and moisture/vapor is somewhat controlled, 2x4 framed house isn't going to fall apart just because it gets old. For comparison sake, the first house I owned was an 1870s wood framed, wood clapboard clad house. The majority of homes like that in Cincinnati have been torn town, usually because they go without maintenance for some time and water infiltration and unconditioned interior air lead to rot and structural failure. These homes fail a little bit faster than masonry supported buildings because the envelope needs more frequent maintenance and is more prone to leakage than brick. Mine and a few like it survived because they are perched on a hillside with a great view and have been continuously lived in and properly maintained since they were built. But even grandiose masonry buildings of the same age will eventually fail without maintenance. Water rots the roof and floor joists, the floor joists fail, and the masonry walls they laterally brace fail with them. I live in a 1990s house now. It's a 2x6 framed house entirely clad in brick. So long as this house is maintained and kept weather-tight, there's no reason it won't last as long as that 1870s house.

I lived on a hill in Cincinnati, overlooking downtown and the west end. The car/truck sound was a white noise; always there but subconsciously tuned out because it was so constant. The sounds that are perceived as "loud" are disruptive ones. In my experience that was loud talkers (it was always crazy to me how I could hear some conversation from 1000 feet away at times - probably echos off buildings?), the streetcar chime, metro bus station announcements/chime/air suspensions, and gunshots, which woke me up once or twice a week. In my opinion it's buses that are the worst offenders in terms of noise pollution. They make so many different noises between the diesel engines, tires on the asphalt, air suspensions, announcements, and beeps - they hit almost every audible pitch and frequency simultaneously.

The mistrust of government really creates one of the biggest divides between the left and right - the left wants the government to do more to solve problems, the right wants them to do less - i.e. get out of the way so people can solve their own problems. I think all people inherently lean towards one of these two extremes: yearning to be taken care of vs. yearning to be free. These drives are what lead to the feelings of trust/mistrust you bring up, and the desire for the government to do more/do less.

^ Did any of you actually watch the whole thing? He makes some magnificent points, some of which are concerns many in urbanist circles share. For example, he says "accountants are doing our exterior design." I'm pretty sure many posters here agree with that one most of the time. On density, he says that cities are loud, chaotic, and crowded. They are, and some people prefer that. His theory is that we're being misled into thinking that is desirable, in terms of human nature. It's almost an old school environmentalist hippie perspective. And re: supertalls, I know I've read on this very site many suggestions that the sweet spot for density is ~5 stories of mixed use. 50 story condo towers can be just as impersonal as the worst exurbs.

I think Mike Gibbons is taller than Ryan, no? He's a big guy and his "Gridiron grit" commercials have pretty much cornered the market on the football tough approach. And Mandel was in the marines for 8 years, so I wouldn't be one to call him weakly-built. JD does look a bit like a chunky teenager, I'll give you that one. Also, our very popular governor is like 5'-6" so you might be overestimating the importance of height in general here.

Progressive do dominate the leadership and direction of Senate Democrats. Fortunately for the country, there are one or two actual moderate Democratic Senators who have, on some issues, kept the radical elements of the progressive agenda at bay. Despite all the talk about Ryan being a "moderate," he would be much further to the left than someone like Manchin or even Sinema. That hurts his chances in Ohio - a state Trump won, twice, by ~8% (the largest margins of any presidential candidate since 1992).

If Kansas City wins Saturday, the Bengals probably won't play many starters against the Browns. So the NFL removed a preseason game and added a 17th regular season game... and this 17th game will feature a bunch of backups and effectively have as much importance as a preseason game.

I think Ryan made it easy for his Republican challenger to run against the big name progressives when he called for the Senate to end the filibuster. IMO that invalidates whatever moderate views he may have. He may not be seen as a radical progressive, but his desire to eliminate the filibuster demonstrates his willingness to be a rubber stamp for their agenda nevertheless.

That's an old picture, if I remember correctly those are custom made vehicles used to give offroad sightseeing tours in Iceland. Notice how they have six doors in the middle and then a covered truck bed. They certainly aren't just a normal, jacked-up pickup. They're that big because they hold 10 people and drive up glaciers.

Here's an early aerial from 1961: The outdoor promenade had been enclosed and the mall expanded by 1972:

Ohio would be the 22nd state to adopt Constitutional Carry policy. That's about where one would expect a politically moderate state like Ohio to get on the bandwagon.

I'm more concerned about those 3 windows above the patio doors.

You summed up the crux of the debate here when you said "They argued that compact districts would naturally favor Republicans. That's not true..." A map drawn by an algorithm to be as compact as possible while dismissing all other factors like political affiliation, race, poverty, city limits, etc. results in a 10R - 3D Ohio, with 3 competitive seats. My point was that is what would happen because of the nature of where people live, and that map demonstrates as much. Its only once you introduce other factors that Democrats start to see gains.

Thanks, I looked at it a bit deeper and it does really confirm the theory that the geographic reality of political affiliation does indeed hurt Democrats in pretty much any distracting scenario. Democrats will continue to have trouble in the House without more suburban/rural support (or unless they can get some states to give up districts altogether). Here's how a computer drew the most compact districts possible - there's no blue district in Hamilton County: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-maps/ohio/#algorithmic-compact There's another map that follows county/city borders and even that one results in a "highly competitive" district in Hamilton County.

I'd be curious to see what sort of map an AI would draw if you simply eliminated controversial topics as inputs. No income, racial, or political data as inputs. Just population and a goal of the most geographically concise maps possible. My gut instinct tells me that it would favor Republicans for the reasons mentioned above. And it would probably violate the Voting Rights Act, which is ironically amusing.

The problem Democrats face is a basic geographical one. It's harder for them to gerrymander because they need to slice up urban centers like a pizza to make the numbers work. Urban centers are often 70, 80, 90+ percent Democrat voters, while surrounding burbs may lean just slightly towards Republicans. Hence why there are often very blue districts in cities, surrounded by a handful of slightly red districts in suburban to rural area. Concise, geographically sensible districts are typically going to benefit Republicans. Districts are rarely ever going to align with the overall statewide party affiliation numbers, unless you gerrymander them to do so. There isn't an even distribution of political affiliated people throughout the state.

I'd also argue that roads/highways connecting urban centers to suburbs actually helped saved cities as much, if not more than they hurt them. It's probably an unpopular opinion around here, but if we accept the fact that suburbanization was inevitable because it was the preference of most Americans - downtowns in mid size cities very well may have stagnated entirely had there not been an easy way to commute their from the suburbs. The skyscraper boom of the 70s and 80s may never have happened as corporations would have opted for suburban campuses instead (like many have done and continue to do, anyway).

The BCS is/was 2/3 human polls (AP and Coaches). What we've seen over the last few years is that voters in those polls gradually fall in alignment with the committee as the weeks go on. So it makes sense that the BCS formula would match the committee rankings, since the polls mostly match them, too.

That's a 20 minute walk for the ~20% of the population that is in good enough shape to walk up Straight Street on a regular basis.

I hope you got your plane ticket early... it looks like direct flights from CVG to Dallas are $1500+ anywhere around New Years. It's normally a ~$250 or $300 flight! If the Bearcats get by Alabama, ticket prices in Indianapolis will be nuts. It's smaller than Jerry World and close to Cincy. I'll have a room reserved on the Cardinal in my cart if the game is even close.

I was actually hoping for an Ohio vs. the SEC playoffs, or better yet - an all-Ohio championship in Indy. As it stands, it's still pretty exciting just to see a couple of fresh faces in the playoffs. Of course both are underdogs - Michigan by a score and Cincy by two scores (which is actually better than Notre Dame's three score spread last year against Alabama). Should the favorites win and give us a Georgia - Alabama rematch for the championship, there's a near-zero percent chance I'll tune in to watch that. As for Fickell, there were a few Cincy naysayers around when he was named coach because of that one bad year. He struggled a bit in his first year at UC, primarily due to the dumpster fire that Senator Tommy Tuberville left. Once he was able to build and establish his culture with some of his recruits we've seen nothing but improvement. I can't help but think had he not been thrown into the fire in 2011, he wouldn't be the coach he is today. I'm sure he learned a ton there, an its an experience that almost no one gets to have.

A great article on UC's playoff run: Cincinnati, not OSU, making College Football Playoff is a sweet smirk for Ohio’s quirky corner | Jones https://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/2021/12/cincinnati-not-osu-making-college-football-playoff-is-a-sweet-smirk-for-ohios-quirky-corner-jones.html The reason I’m telling you all of this is to emphasize what an astounding occurrence it just was to see a crowd packed to the rafters of the newly expanded Nippert Stadium (now 40,000 seats) on Saturday night as the Cincinnati Bearcats defeated the Houston Cougars for the American Conference championship. At stake for UC was a berth in the 4-team College Football Playoff. Ohio State will not be playing in it. But Cincinnati will. You cannot fathom how mind-blowing this is to anyone who attended both schools four decades ago when I did. Or to pretty much anyone else from Ohio of any age at all. It’s difficult to even process. It’s also fabulous in every way.

Non story: "...the investigation does not mean that the SEC has concluded that anyone violated the law or that the SEC has a negative opinion of DWAC or any person, event, or security." DWAC was trending on social media ahead of its big gains, my guess is the SEC is looking into it like they looked into GameStop and other WSB shenanigans. If there's one thing they don't want, it's the everyman making too much money on the stock market. They want us to feel like we're winning, but not that much.

It would be nice to straighten Central Parkway so that it ran directly adjacent to I-75, and just abandon Hallmar entirely. If they build without realigning the street, they'll end up with some funky geometry. As mentioned, there aren't any subway tunnels here - they daylighted about 500 feet south of this area. The other set of remaining portals is about 1000 feet north of here. The Marshall Avenue "subway station" was above grade: