Reasoned Responses ranjeet on 07 Jan 2008 08:38 pm
Rebuttals
Recently, Bruce outlined his reasons that we should all move to Portland. Frankly, it was a bit overwrought and, shall I say, biased. So I thought I would add my rebuttal, on the benefits of living in Champaign-Urbana.
- Home of one of the finest public universities in the land, UIUC
- Safer from cataclysmic disasters
- No nearby subduction faults, origin of the destructive megathrust earthquakes
- No giant tsunamis, most often caused by earthquakes on subduction zones
- No volcanoes
- Associated with this, no lahars or pyroclastic flows
- No bears
- C-U is nicely situated, being close to the metropolises of Chicago (140 mi), St. Louis (180 mi), and Indianapolis (120 mi). Not many cities can say that. For instance, Portland is 2100 mi, 2000 mi, and 2200 mi from those cities. Man!
- Site of the Morrow Plots, the nations oldest continuous crop experiment
- Home of the Krannert Arts Center, with one of the most acoustically perfect music halls in the nation
- The nation’s lowest incidence rates of altitude sickness
- Birthplace of HAL 9000 (that’s for all my readers who are also unbalanced AI’s)
- Wine Country is only 20 miles away
- America’s heartland evokes it’s own beauty
- We’re developing killer robots
- And self-healing materials
- The white knuckle action at Kickapoo State Park
- Lovely Allerton Park
- You can afford to live here
- You can get a beer for under $4
- Japan House
- The Danville Dans!
- Fantastic dive restaurants with unbelievable steaks, like the Moon Glo. You man up and cook your own steaks in the midwest.
- Midwestern winters give us great experience for when NASA starts searching for extraterrestrial life
- The Siberian Express Trail Run
- Sure, a lot of people have visited Bruce up at Portland. But Champaign can lay claim to something that still escapes Portland — Yusuke has visited Champaign!
- Who needs mountains? We have other things to climb.
- Like ethanol? This is where it’s made.
My list isn’t as long as Bruce’s. Of course, I could have just repeated one or two items a bunch of items. At any rate, you can clearly see that little ol’ C-U easily measures up to anything stinky Portland can throw at it.