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Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

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Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#421

Post by _8j50 »

adrianN wrote: post #198
_8j50 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be a lot of ICBMs. The city center is not residential. Most people that work in the city center for city's like houston or LA commute from one of many different cities. Just to wipe out half of houston you would need to simultaneously strike at least a dozen different locations. The idea was, if there is a missile on the way or if other cities are being attacked, the sprawl would allow evacuating a lot of…

MAD did not allow for "surrender". You either wipe out your enemies military completely before they manage to launch most of their rockets, or you both die. There is no targeting of symbolic locations and then calling it quits.

MAD is worse case scenario right? I think in reality if nukes are used both sides will be aware of MAD and it will be to compliment conventional warfare.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#422

Post by _8j50 »

gpderetta wrote: post #156
_8j50 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be a lot of ICBMs. The city center is not residential. Most people that work in the city center for city's like houston or LA commute from one of many different cities. Just to wipe out half of houston you would need to simultaneously strike at least a dozen different locations. The idea was, if there is a missile on the way or if other cities are being attacked, the sprawl would allow evacuating a lot of…

> That would be a lot of ICBMs That's what MIRVs are for. The strategy, if it existed at all and it isn't just a post-hoc explaination, was probably designed around the time the strategic bomber was the primary, and only, method of delivery of atomic bombs.

Good point, I think rockets that re-enter from space were not a thing prior to the 60's and even then I bet they didn't expect thousands of them owned by multiple nations.

I did not know about MIRVs, this comment thread has been educational.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#423

Post by _8j50 »

birdyrooster wrote: post #178
_8j50 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be a lot of ICBMs. The city center is not residential. Most people that work in the city center for city's like houston or LA commute from one of many different cities. Just to wipe out half of houston you would need to simultaneously strike at least a dozen different locations. The idea was, if there is a missile on the way or if other cities are being attacked, the sprawl would allow evacuating a lot of…

Have you ever seen East Tokyo? The destruction from the firebombing in WW2 is still quite obvious even today even looking at a map.

I did not know the extent but I was aware they were bombed like berlin and london. I meant when they planned the nuke attack Tokyo and Kyoto were on the list but they were removed for different reasons.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#424

Post by Daishiman »

mixedCase wrote: post #101
kaesar14 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America is the richest country on earth. It's such a kneejerk reaction of our countrymen to defend our insane way of life by bringing up GDP numbers instead of stuff like life expectancy, quality of life, access to equitable transportation. America being rich is known fact already. Edit: From your own happiness survey link - "The U.S. GNI per capita income is actually higher than in most of the countries ahead of the…

> It's such a kneejerk reaction of our countrymen to defend our insane way of life by bringing up GDP numbers I'm not from the US. I live in latin america where people think like you do and feel everyone is entitled to a bunch of "essential" things by the state using public money, and here I am watching Argentina from the other side of the river as it beats its poverty high score every day right after Venezuela did t…

Dude, they didn't socialize. If you're going to complain about the country then get the facts straight.

FYI, if you're a porteño from Av Rivadavia or further up north in the city, your infrastructure is just as good as, if not better, than most American cities. And I've lived in quite a few.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#425

Post by perl4ever »

hannasanarion wrote: post #392
bluGill wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, like most small stores they paid their staff less than the big supermarket, had worse selection and charged a lot more. The supermarket took over because they had better prices on better selection. It was nice to walk to the store for something you were missing that was common, but if you wanted to cook something exotic odds are they didn't have it, and so you switched most of your shopping elsewhere and mostly…

Smaller groceries means more selection, not less, because each store can specialize instead of needing to suit the average expectation of everybody in a 5 mile radius. I live in one of America's few dense cities, and there are three stores I visit often, one Kroger chain with the selection you'd expect, one latin grocery, and one asian grocery where I can get all kinds of stuff that most people in the suburbs who sho…

Come on, you don't have to be in one of the "few dense cities" to find an Indian, Asian, Latin, etc. grocery.

I live in a city of about 100K people, and there are plenty. Or a few miles away is a city of ~70K people with others. As well as non-chain organic markets, whatever. The suburbs are adjacent; that's what suburbs are.

I am in the northeast, are you a Californian or Texan?

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#426

Post by ctdonath »

exabrial wrote: post #7

The elephant in the room is the assumption that _everyone wants to be stacked on top of each other_. I do agree that designing cities around cars has ruined a lot of nice places though.

The old city was built when everyone walked everywhere. Stacked meant you didn't have to go far to get to anywhere in the city.

Automobile mobility results in sprawl: many/most people don't want to be stacked if they don't have to. What many here may not realize is how incredibly wide and flat Texas is; driving another mile takes less than a minute, and there's a whole lotta miles to get you some space from neighbors.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#427

Post by lfnoise »

S_A_P wrote: post #400
jcrawfordor wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a decidedly amateur historian with interest in this area, I think that claim is true on its own but also does not tell the entire story. It is true that decentralization was viewed as a major component of nuclear survivability, particularly in the earlier part of the cold war. This was the time period during which the FEMA (today's name) crisis relocation program was being devised, for example, and the high cost a…

This is a really great response. I think there are a ton of both selfish and altruistic reasons for the urban sprawl that is Houston. I grew up here (Alief area) and that was the burbs when I was young. (It’s about 15-20 minutes drive from downtown) there was a 10 or so mile gap between where I lived and Sugarland. Now it all runs together. I now live due south of Katy in an unincorporated area about 40 miles away fr…

I grew up in Alief too, back when you had to drive past miles of farm fields to get there. We moved there because my dad, a pilot, flew out of Andrau Airpark. (Also, seeing your post history, I am a friend of Roger Linn.)

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#428

Post by ctdonath »

crispyambulance wrote: post #113
exabrial wrote: post #7

The elephant in the room is the assumption that _everyone wants to be stacked on top of each other_. I do agree that designing cities around cars has ruined a lot of nice places though.

> assumption that _everyone wants to be stacked on top of each other_ It's also an assumption that everyone wants to begin and end every trip, no matter how trivial, with a parking spot. It's an assumption that people will want to drive in traffic for 20 minutes minimum to get to a supermarket, do anything with their kids, or anything outside their property line. The notion of "stacked on top of each other" has unple…

There's the catch: is everything you could possibly want really a short walk/transit away? or is the proliferation of top-end (for you) options in a sprawling city way beyond what can be crammed within walking distance of _your_ home?

Are you satisfied with a few arbitrary restaurants within walking distance? or, car enabled, would you rather go 30 miles for that REALLY good place that would never be so close in a compact city?

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#429

Post by MaximumYComb »

dylan604 wrote: post #415
hehebbssjj wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the problem is that Black people never had the opportunity to buy the properties they occupied, even at depressed prices when those properties were undesireable. So when gentrification occurs, rents go up and they're shut out. If there wasn't a massive wealth gap to begin with you'd see more Black homeowners in gentrifying areas making bank on their massively appreciated houses.

In some cases, it's worse. Some families that were able to buy properties have had them for so long they only owe taxes each year. Then some developers petition the city that those properties are vital, and they are granted eminent domain. Even if they are paid the amount of the suppressed values of their property, there's no way they can afford to do anything with that money. Plus, they are now forced out of the pro…

Does the US have a lot of eminent domain for development?

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#430

Post by ryanmarsh »

selimthegrim wrote: post #380
ryanmarsh wrote: post #239

The assertion that Houston’s layout is the result of Cold War nuke risk mitigation is a new one on me. The beltway opened in 1988. I grew up here and I’ve read many articles trying to explain why Houston is the way that it is. The truth is incredibly human and boring and wouldn’t sell display ads. Thus, the logical arguments that follow articles like this are complete nonsense. If you want to know why Houston is the…

May come by soon looking for jobs; any taco leads?

Tacos A Go Go, Original Ninfas location, El Rey, Velvet Taco, Torchy’s, Balderas, any food truck, hell just google “great tacos in Houston”.
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