[e-mail]'s definitions

Houston

A bigger version of Dallas. The 4th largest single city in the United States and largest city in Texas. America’s 7th largest metro area. As big as the Houston area is, it isn't even the largest in Texas. Dallas-Ft. Worth is the largest. It’s economy has a broad industrial base in energy, manufacturing of chemicals and petrochemicals, aeronautics (NASA is headquartered in the city), technology, biotechnology and healthcare and research institutions. It is home to the most Fortune 500 companies outside New York City. It’s numerous high-paying jobs followed by a low cost of liviing makes Houston a very easy city to live in. It is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country and is a classic example of urban sprawl gone ammock, like many Sun Belt cities including its rival, Dallas. Houston saw a surge of New Orleans refugees in September of 2005, after Hurricane Katrina. It is believed that its crime rate (already among the highest in the country) escalated rapidly after receiving the evacuees. Houston is almost an urban hell to live in because it has no zoning regulations whatsoever, thanks to its voters. Not suprisingly, it has the second-worst air pollution in the country after Los Angeles. For a city of such large size, Houston has very abysmal public transportation and just about everybody drives everywhere. The roads are overused, overcrowded, underfunded and in need of repair. Houston has among the youngest populations in the nation,partly due to an influx of immigrants (both legal and illegal) into Texas. It has the third-largest Hispanic and third-largest Mexican population in the United States. An estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants reside in Houston if you can believe it or not. That’s perhaps why the city has such a high crime rate. Houston, although not with a profile like the crowded East Coast cities, has just about everything: professional sports teams from every sport except hockey, museums, a theme park, tons of bars and nightclubs, an active nightlife, and ranks high in the arts. Houston is just damb big all over the place and an urban nightmare if you want to live there. It’s a nice place to visit or conduct business, but you don’t want to live there. Houston, we have a problem.

Houston is just too dam big and crime-ridden to be good for anything.

by [e-mail] December 28, 2007

Dirty Jobs

A show on the Discovery Channel, hosted by Mike Rowe, that shows the ins and outs of dirty and tedious jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. Each week Rowe does the job on location with a team of experts, and often utilizes sarcasm and humor to cover his frustration and disgust. And you can tell when Rowe hates what he's doing. One of the most disgusting jobs he did was being a sewer cleaner, making molds from sharks and artificially enseminating horses.

Dirty Jobs is disgusting, but very entertaining, and shows me the jobs to actually avoid in this life.

by [e-mail] November 14, 2009

Rust Belt

An area of the United States stretching from the Great Lakes to New England that has seen numerous plant closings and job losses in heavy manufacturing over the past several decades. It includes the states of Michigan, far NW Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and perhaps parts of New England. The demise of the steel and auto industries has caused the biggest headaches for the area. The steel industry has been faced with tough competition from overseas markets. The situation is similar for the auto industry, except labor unions and foreign competition in auto sales have been the reason for the job losses at the "Big 3," as plants close or layoff numerous workers for cheaper labor in Mexico. The state of Michigan, especially the Detroit area has seen the most job losses in the country, thanks to the challenges of the auto industry. Much of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Western New York State have been hit especially hard. Detroit and Pittsburgh are the epitomes of the Rust Belt.

I used to live in the Rust Belt, but had to move out because I found a decent job.

by [e-mail] November 24, 2007

Fishers

A fast growing “town” in Hamilton County, Indiana with a population of some 66,000 in 2007 and a nice, upper middle-class suburb of Indianapolis. Many Hoosiers mistakingly believe Fishers and its neighbor, Carmel are rich and envy their residents for some reason. It is no doubt a very nice and growing community, but the truth is that there are tons of similar-sized communities around the country with way more money than Fishers could ever dream about, making it only an upper middle-class community. It’s not even the richest community in the Midwest by a long shot. I have lived in Indiana most of my life and don't undertsand all the animosity towards Fishers and its neighbor of Carmel.

Hoosiers have no reason to be envious of Fishers because it is only an upper middle-class community. Many Hoosiers including the other yahoo on here posting derogatory definitions of Fishers are jealous of its perceived wealth because they have no life of their own, but yet enough time on their hands to insult those who have worked for a living to obtain what they have. How jealous and childish. If your life sucks, then change it.

by [e-mail] March 27, 2008

California

The overall attitude is haughtiness with hypocritical and epitomous social abuse. Many of the people are generally good-looking with well kept bodies (thanks to the miracles of plastic surgery) and are active in the outdoors. The people are fake: bodies are more important than the person‘s spirit and character because they believe you are what you look like, as if you were a character in the movies. The people are fake with fake boobs, fake lips, fake cheeks and fake eye lashes. L.A is the “plastic surgery capital” of the world. Making money, partying and sex is the meaning of life. If you are shallow, arrogant, superficial, materialistic, and have a good body (even if a fake one), think that life is meaningless other than partying (just look at the corrupt Hollywood culture), you'll do well here. If you are looking for a meaningful life filled with good relationships and want to raise a family like me, forget about it. Moving from the Midwest to California may be very difficult for you, due to the culture shock.

The social structure is extrmely corrupt despite their belief of progress and openess: the government is corrupt, schools are corrupt and the police are corrupt. Californians like to think they are progressive and compassionate, but California is not compassionate by any means. The homeless situation is the worst of any state and even being homeless is almost a crime. If you are a Republican or Conservative and appreciate family values, you will be outcast from much of the population, except in Orange County. You can thank the extreme liberalism coming from Hollywood and the Bay Area for that. They think they are progressive, when in fact all they like to do is put in their ignorant two cents. They talk the talk, but can’t walk the walk. You cannot find a more hypocritical culture anywhere.

Californians think their state is the most beautiful in the world (and there is plenty of serenity in the state) and that no other place of natural beauty exists on this planet, and that they are crime-free. What hogwash. Yes, California is very beautiful state with deserts, mountains, beaches and forests. But between all that, California leads the nation in almost everything bad: violent crime, illegal immigration, a growing prison population, drugs, air pollution and an out of control cost of living. So much so that many of its residents are starting to jump ship and move to other states.

California is NOT what it's cracked up to be. I always wanted to live here as a child. I moved here last year and am ready to return to the Midwest because I don’t fit in here: I am Conservative, a registered Republican (even though I vote for the person and not the party), a family man, don’t care about material wealth, have only an average car and an average physique (God forbid). This place sucks for me. I will NEVER bitch about Chicago again and can’t wait to return. CALIFORNIA SUCKS!!

by [e-mail] September 14, 2007

Civil War

the war that occurred in the United States during the 1860s under President Abraham Lincoln that caused the highest number of casualties than any American war. It was a war between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) that centered around slavery—the North wanted it abolished while the South permitted it for economic reasons. The central issue of slavery began to divide the country in the 1840s as members of Congress bickered over the issue and as new states entered the Union. When a new “free” state entered the union, a new slave state was required do the same to create a balance. It even divided certain states themselves-- Missouri and Virginia, by which West Virginia seceeded from it after the war.

The war began shortly after Abe Lincoln became President in 1861 when the Confederacy attacked the Union's Fort Sumter, South Carolina—allegedly by mistake--and didn’t end until 1865 when Confederacy General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The Battle of Anteitem was the deadliest battle of the War. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis should have all been hung afterwards for being a traitor to the United States, in my opinion.

The Civil war was the bloodiest war in American history and a very sad chapter in American history.

by [e-mail] May 26, 2008

al capone

A mobster and the real man who ran Chicago in the 1920s. Perhaps the best known gangster in American history. He was guilty of prostitution, illegal gambling, racketeering and ultimately, tax evasion, which led to his incarceration in Alcatraz. He died in prison of syphilis.

If Al Capone would have stuck it out a little longer, he would made a good politician.

by [e-mail] November 25, 2007