I went to Rapid City for a week and seeing South Dakota was one of the most awesome experiences I've ever had. And I've lived in numerous places both in the US and abroad.

No place I've ever visited has touched me more. The Dakota's are one of America's best kept secrets! The people I met were wonderful.

Superman might be in for a rude awakening if he were to spend any time in NC for example. Of course, he generalizes and looks at things like "red states" vs. "blue states" but that's typical GIGO stuff. NC is a prime example of why statistics distort... both extremely rural and extremely well educated depending on where you are...no single "color" will work. NC University system, second to none... NC illiteracy rate, second to Mississippi :). NC has education, salaries, intellectual snobbery, etc. all covered at both extremes... just like most states I would assume. Why does everyone flock to my state? ...to get away from Superman's unions?

+1

Have to agree with the Dakotas - everyone I've ever met from there is super-nice, down-to-earth and genuinely a decent person. One of my neighbors is from N.D. and is one of the most grounded guys I've ever met.

Of course I could never, ever live there - the absence of terrain and frigid winters makes that a distinct impossibility, but I'd certainly visit again during the summer months.

-Adding to the generalizations

I'll add Wisconsin in there too, for nice places- Many Scandinavian descendants in that area.

I think the Carolina's (good or bad) were heavily populated with Scots.

[QUOTE=72doug2,2S;3462170...I think the Carolina's (good or bad) were heavily populated with Scots.[/QUOTE]

I didn't know that about NC...my lineage is Dutch, German, & redneck :)

As for generalizations - bad weather makes good people. All that snow and wind and ice builds character or something... I am sure even Florida pre air-conditioning was a better place.

I disagree. Coming from New England (home of some of the worst weather imaginable) I can personally attest to what a large number of *********s there are from that area. Some nice people too (like anywhere) but as a general statement, New Englanders LOVE to define themselves through their misery and suffering, and look down upon anyone that doesn't embrace a difficult way of living. It's ridiculous - sort of like one might think of residents of Siberia, just with less vodka.

Some of the biggest jackasses I've ever met were from back there - one of the reasons I'll likely never return. Sure there are jackasses everywhere, but I certainly saw no evidence of "bad weather creating good people" - it tended to just create miserable, wallowing, self-pitying people that did nothing for six months a year other than complain and get fat porking up on Dunkin' Donuts. . . Chicago wasn't much better when I lived there (three years). Some great people, but lots of miserable, complaining gripers.

Almost every New York family has the cousins who moved to Florida. You see them 10 years later at a wedding and are like:eek:

I would like to add that living in a state that hands out free money every October seems to really bring em out of the wood work. Eventually, it seems, all the wierdos and wackos some if not most with some kind of criminal background make their way to Alaska. Isn't there something you guys can do to keep them from leaving?

While I'm not sure it's the weather that makes people good, I do think the frigid winters keep a certain element out. Let's face it, you gotta love it to live there. Spring and Autumn are just incredibly beautiful in the Red River Valley separating ND and MN. Some of the best farm land in the world right there. But, summers are muggy, thunderstorms are common, tornadoes are possible, and winter can provide the coldest spot on the map for months at a time.


rattlsnak, ND is a great place to be from! ;)

Terry makes a good point. You can be a criminal/bum anywhere, would you rather do it in MN at -30, or FL at 75 on the beach?

You know that is true. I do phone sales in the automotive parts buisness. The further east and north towards boston you go, the more arrogant and belligerant the people get...till Boston.(off the scale there)
basically most places east of where I am and then north are high ashhole concentrated areas:eek:
I am the only guy where i live who clears the snow from the elderly neighbors..you'd think that they would thank me...nope, they expect it.

Our daughter moved to Rapid City with her then USAF hubby. He's out of the USAF now, but she says S. Dakota is "home" now, doesn't want to leave. I figure it must be the people. Can't be the weather...

http://www.albanach.org/ulster.html

If you are from the Carolinas, you might find the link above interesting.

Is there any good Scotch Whiskey made there?

NO! There won't be any Scotch Whiskey made there. For a start the Scot's make whisky not whiskey, and you can only call it Scotch if it was made and bottled in Scotland. A small detail, but important - especially to a Scotsman.

All generalizations are false. I love that one. Do you think that I imagine that all red state people are dense and all blue state people are brilliant? It would cerainly be important information for the rest of us to know about you, if you really think stuff like that.

BTW, statistics don't distort. At least, the math involved is pretty objective. The data used can be biased. That fuks up results. Or.....legitimate results can be improperly interpreted. Like when folks see that liberalism has a positive correlation to level of education, and then conclude that all liberals are smarter than all conservatives. That conclusion, of course, is incorrect. But statistical brute facts remain, and one of them is this relationship between education and political orientation. I have always found excellent entertainment in conservatives' conclusion that educators and media professionals, the professional information traffickers in our society........are ignorant. That's ALWAYS funny.

Oh, and this thread. It's about statistical generalizations. Well, not even that. It's about perception.

I have been admonished by our local authority on Scotch. I stand corrected Sir.
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Do the Scots in the Carolinas make any Whisky? I don't like the spiced sweet stuff. If it's in America is it Whiskey and not Whisky? My spell check doesn't like that "ky" spelling.

I think the fact that you even use "red state" and "blue state" speaks for itself :).

Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. :D

I can't find a Single Malt Whisk(e)y distillery in the Carolinas. California on the other hand does quite well. Closest I found to the Carolinas was in Virgina...

Wasmund's
Copper Fox Distillery, Sperryville, Virginia.

St. George Single Malt Whiskey
St. George Spirits, Alameda, California.

Peregrine Rock California Pure Single Malt Whisky
St. James Spirits, Irwindale, California

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey
Denver, Colorado

McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt
Clear Creek Distillery, Portland, Oregon

Old Potrero,
Anchor Distilling Company, San Francisco, California

Woodstone Creek,
Woodstone creek Winery and Distillery, Cincinnati, Ohio

Templton Rye,
Templeton Rye Spirits LLC, Templeton, Iowa

Notch Whiskey,
Triple Eight Distillery, Nantucket, Massachusetts

Charbay Whiskey,
Domaine Charbay Winery and Distillery, Spring Mountian, Napa, California

Hogshead Whiskey,
Edgefield Distillery, Troutdale, Oregon

Obviously this is off topic for the thread, but if anyone can provide corrections or more additions to the list I would be grateful.

I can tell you that you're right about the 'e'. American whiskey, Irish whiskey, but Scotch whisky.

Ok - back on topic!

Clearly this is a sign for a quest. A quest to find the hidden Whisky makers of The Carolina Highlands.

.........meanwhile somewhere in the Carolina Highlands.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1189016342.jpg

Everybody from the Blue States are on one form of gubmit dole or another....Welfare, Civil Service or Union.

...which leads us back into the thread. I expected, with the 'Redneck' reputation of Georgia and South Carolina, to have been tripping over illicit stills before I moved here but, alas, that just isn't the case. But that is just the impression I was given before I moved here based on the opinion of other peoples who have probably never been here.
I suppose that the response to the original question is as much about opinion as it is about fact. But you could have guessed that the majority of the states that were going to get mentioned here were going to be Southern. Why is that?

The weather. Most of the folks who live in those places were designed for colder weather.

Also, the stills have been replaced by a certain "cash crop".

i am one generation removed from midwest dirt farmers. and am kind of tired of rednecks being considered the lowest of the low.

i have lived in college towns with city councils dominated by socialist-crystal healing-poet scum.

i have lived in upscale gated communitys with fascist ***** homeowner association presidents.

i live in hollywood, where i wish the illegal alien dealers would come back to my street and drive the homeless away.


a hicktown full of white trash would seem like a vacation paradise.

I too think the whole redneck thing is funny. There are worse things one could be called.

About two years ago, my company got a fair amount of work in New Jersey. We all learned about this on a conference call - surprise - I was going to be the first person to go (in 3 days...).

We had numerous people in our company call our boss after this conference call and REFUSE to go to New Jersey - dirty dangerous, vile you name it. Further, they tried to talk me into refusing the assignment. Filled my head with thoughts of horror, the Sopranos, ghettos, rude people, chemical dumps...

OK - Newark IS a dump, but the four weeks I spent working in Bergen County (northern NJ) were wonderful. I spent weekends hiking in Ramapo, Skyline manor etc. The people were were absolutely wonderful. Kind and well-mannered. Fabulous greek diners and terrific shopping!

In New Jersey - go north - you will be amazed - it is the Garden State.

But don't get me started on Prince Georges County Maryland.... That actually marks the first time in all of my travels that I have been genuinely frightened or completely grossed out 40 hours straight per week...
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angela

Taken at face value, the numbers are almost worthless. If a state has a higher per capita income but a much higher cost of living, what conclusions can you make from that? I know CA has a higher per capita income than KS, but housing costs are more than double. Who has more money in the bank?

You also cite education as a factor for a "good" state. Doesn't it go without saying that a state with a booming high-tech industry such as WA will have a more educated populous than an agrarian state such as KS or NE? Does that make for better friends or neighbors? Lower crime or unemployment rate?

Statistics are no better than the person interpreting them, and I think you've shown that they can say whatever you want them to.

I thought the thread topic was about which state is the most "trailer trashy?" How did you guys get so far off on a tangent? :)

This is still OT, right?;)

LOL! You're OT^2. :)