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"I'm going to do my best to live without being a consumer of gasoline, just as I did in Chicago." Good luck with this. I don't think he realizes how pedestrian

"I'm going to do my best to live without being a consumer of gasoline, just as I did in Chicago." Good luck with this. I don't think he realizes how pedestrian unfriendly cities in the Southwest are. He'll quickly realize a trip to pick up groceries will take 2 hours via bus, and he'll be forced to walk without sidewalks in 105 degree heat to the bus stop while everyone else drives by in airconditioned cars looking upon him like he is homeless.

mlinksva 15y ago
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tyler,_Texas https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tyler,_Texas is in east Texas. Big stretch to call that Southwest. Also at 100k people it isn't exactly "small town America" as the article claims.
- kd0amg 15y ago
  Also at 100k people it isn't exactly "small town America" as the article claims. I started to wonder about the actual size when he mentioned "reasonably extensive" bus service and then four colleges. And maybe my estimation is skewed from having grown up in the suburbs instead of Chicago itself, but I would expect living in an actual small town to be a lot cheaper than just 30% under.
- techsupporter 15y ago
  Tyler is the county seat of Smith County; that's why it has 100,000 people. For comparison, the Tyler/Longview (nearest city of size that isn't a suburb of the other) area has about 415,000 people. The population of the next-nearest major area in Texas? Dallas/Fort Worth at 6.6 million people. The question of what makes up "small town America" is somewhat fuzzy, but Tyler, compared to an 70 minute drive (not at all unreasonable for a state the size of Texas) west, fits the bill. The other point from anamax about the city slicker teaching the yokels how it should be done is very apt. There is a reason why hackers gravitate towards Silicon Valley: people like to be with other people who are doing the same thing. Tyler is by no means dumb. As the author--who admittedly also posted here that he didn't want to debate the article--points out, there are two universities (University of Texas-affiliated, I might add) and two junior colleges. The area is also home to pipe and robotics companies. It is also very insular, especially when it comes to "being shown how things are done" because the Dallas area has been the older, wiser brother to Tyler for decades. Oh, and "nothing about local politics?" I guess the reporting from KLTV, the oldest television station in Tyler, doesn't count.[1] 1 - http://www.kltv.com/category/74361/politics http://www.kltv.com/category/74361/politics
  - pnathan 15y ago
    Erm, 100K is not small town America. I grew up outside of a town with 5K people; it was the largest town in a 50-mile radius. Small towns have under 1K people, at least where I come from.
    - semanticist 15y ago
      I live in Scotland, where the entire country has less people than Dallas/Fort-Worth - and even here 1k people isn't a 'small town', it's a village. The town I grew up in had a population of ~35k, and it was definitely a 'small town'. These things are all relative to your local norms, but I think demanding that 'small towns' have at most four people and a lame horse is excessive.
      - somabc 15y ago
        It has an urban population of 96,900 that is fairly large by Scottish Standards. Inverness and Stirling have ~70,000 each and they are cities.
        thingie 15y ago
        In Europe (at least continental), there is a clear distinction between "village" and "town", because historically, "town" was a legal status granted by the king or church (city would be perhaps the town where the archbishop would have his seat), but it wasn't necessarily distinguished so much by its size, they'd be all very small. Personally, I'd but the line between "town" and "city" to having some kind of rapid rail transit. (That'd mean, for example, that in the country where I live is just one city.)
        semanticist 15y ago
        Yes, but it's not in Scotland. My point was that the size of a 'small town' varies by context, and that a town of 1,000 would be tiny even in the context of a place that doesn't have many people. Also, 'city' in the UK is to do with a special government/crown-granted status, not really the population per se.
- lhnn 15y ago
  I lived in Lubbock for four years. It's not tiny, but when you're isolated like that, 200k is nothing.
derleth 15y ago
> "I'm going to do my best to live without being a consumer of gasoline, just as I did in Chicago." Try doing this in north-eastern Montana. (Or, better yet, don't. You'll die.)

mlinksva 15y ago

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tyler,_Texas https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Tyler,_Texas is in east Texas. Big stretch to call that Southwest. Also at 100k people it isn't exactly "small town America" as the article claims.

kd0amg 15y ago
Also at 100k people it isn't exactly "small town America" as the article claims. I started to wonder about the actual size when he mentioned "reasonably extensive" bus service and then four colleges. And maybe my estimation is skewed from having grown up in the suburbs instead of Chicago itself, but I would expect living in an actual small town to be a lot cheaper than just 30% under.
techsupporter 15y ago
Tyler is the county seat of Smith County; that's why it has 100,000 people. For comparison, the Tyler/Longview (nearest city of size that isn't a suburb of the other) area has about 415,000 people. The population of the next-nearest major area in Texas? Dallas/Fort Worth at 6.6 million people. The question of what makes up "small town America" is somewhat fuzzy, but Tyler, compared to an 70 minute drive (not at all unreasonable for a state the size of Texas) west, fits the bill. The other point from anamax about the city slicker teaching the yokels how it should be done is very apt. There is a reason why hackers gravitate towards Silicon Valley: people like to be with other people who are doing the same thing. Tyler is by no means dumb. As the author--who admittedly also posted here that he didn't want to debate the article--points out, there are two universities (University of Texas-affiliated, I might add) and two junior colleges. The area is also home to pipe and robotics companies. It is also very insular, especially when it comes to "being shown how things are done" because the Dallas area has been the older, wiser brother to Tyler for decades. Oh, and "nothing about local politics?" I guess the reporting from KLTV, the oldest television station in Tyler, doesn't count.[1] 1 - http://www.kltv.com/category/74361/politics http://www.kltv.com/category/74361/politics
- pnathan 15y ago
  Erm, 100K is not small town America. I grew up outside of a town with 5K people; it was the largest town in a 50-mile radius. Small towns have under 1K people, at least where I come from.
  - semanticist 15y ago
    I live in Scotland, where the entire country has less people than Dallas/Fort-Worth - and even here 1k people isn't a 'small town', it's a village. The town I grew up in had a population of ~35k, and it was definitely a 'small town'. These things are all relative to your local norms, but I think demanding that 'small towns' have at most four people and a lame horse is excessive.
    - somabc 15y ago
      It has an urban population of 96,900 that is fairly large by Scottish Standards. Inverness and Stirling have ~70,000 each and they are cities.
      - thingie 15y ago
        In Europe (at least continental), there is a clear distinction between "village" and "town", because historically, "town" was a legal status granted by the king or church (city would be perhaps the town where the archbishop would have his seat), but it wasn't necessarily distinguished so much by its size, they'd be all very small. Personally, I'd but the line between "town" and "city" to having some kind of rapid rail transit. (That'd mean, for example, that in the country where I live is just one city.)
      - semanticist 15y ago
        Yes, but it's not in Scotland. My point was that the size of a 'small town' varies by context, and that a town of 1,000 would be tiny even in the context of a place that doesn't have many people. Also, 'city' in the UK is to do with a special government/crown-granted status, not really the population per se.
lhnn 15y ago
I lived in Lubbock for four years. It's not tiny, but when you're isolated like that, 200k is nothing.

derleth 15y ago

> "I'm going to do my best to live without being a consumer of gasoline, just as I did in Chicago." Try doing this in north-eastern Montana. (Or, better yet, don't. You'll die.)