Since these are going on the front page now, I guess I’ll start having to add more than just the picture.
I had two pictures while in Sangamon. One with the truck, and one without it. Given that the truck is perhaps the most interesting thing in the picture, I decided to go with the one with the truck. Most of Sangamon is very, very boring. The interesting part – that huge city – we bypassed.
Real-state observations in comments.
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on Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024Ah, the multi-year essay-based tantrum.
on Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024In his Free Press article, he pointedly repeats the multi-year time line of seeking management actio…
on Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024The recent Google protest, in which a bunch of people sat on the floor of an executive's office, cha…
on Weekend Plans Post: The Aftermath of Catching UpIt's been an entire month since I've been out of town. This might seem like a minor thing to some of…
on Embassies, Attacks, and IranIt was never going to start ww3. At worst they attack one of our war ships (or whatever) and we shut… on Embassies, Attacks, and IranIt has been reported as the embassy and Iran seemed to be treating it as such. If people wanted to m…
on Weekend Plans Post: The Aftermath of Catching UpYes. I missed it. My plan is to watch it while doing laundry. I have been told it's among the best e… on Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024I should have had more faith in "Nothing Ever Happens", I guess. Looks like this is already behind u…
on Weekend Plans Post: The Aftermath of Catching UpNothing too exciting this weekend. Boardgame meetup tomorrow, but nothing pressing to do around the… on Open Mic for the week of 4/15/2024They probably domesticated staple food grains because the cannabis gave them the munchies.
Planning The Annual Trip Around The World
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Some states have big signs letting you know that you’re coming into the state. If Real-life Illinois had one, I missed it. If they had a visitors center, I missed that, too. But they did have their own welcome party in the form of a toll booth. They were immediate and plentiful.
Serious question: Is it a coincidence that Indiana did that toll system privatization and they have the best, most convenient collection system I have ever seen? I can’t believe every state doesn’t do it like Indiana does it.
Real-life Minnesota (and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin) has some of the worst roads I’ve seen. Which comes as a surprise because I sort of expect their roads to be generally superior since it’s one of those good government states. Maybe they need toll booths.
Thank you to those who gave me the 411 on real-life Chicago. I avoided the worst of it all.Report
My experience on Wisconsin roads has been generally quite good. While not up to European standards, I’ve had less fear for my suspension there than almost anywhere else.
Maybe I-90 north of Madison just really sucks. I wouldn’t know. But you should be glad that Lain is too young to have bugged you incessantly from the Minnesota state line about stopping at the Dells.Report
Minnesota roads are indeed terrible. In Wisconsin, it seems like in recent years construction projects linger on for almost full years so that driving over what used to be shoulders and other surfaces that are meant to be temporary becomes somewhat routine. You may have run into that – or you may just have run into a stretch of highway in need of attention. I’m surprised, though, to hear you report that they’re actually among the worst. That leads me to believe you came across some stretch that was an outlier in some way. Generally, road construction interests are among the more powerful lobbies in Wisconsin, so the money does get spent. It’s what Walker said he wanted to use the money that would have been matched 10:1 by the feds for the Madison-Milwaukee (and eventually Mpls-Madison) train line for.Report
…I should say, in the Twin Cities area roads are terrible. Going further north or west, it seems to me they get quite good on main routes, such as 94 to St Cloud or 35 to Duluth. But you were coming from further west than that. Was 94 not in good shape out there, or were you on state highways?Report
I think there is a general sense that Indiana’s government performs better than Illinois’, though (and possibly because) there appears to be less government in Indiana. I think Illinois historically has had a more diverse population, including going back to original WASP settlement, through late-nineteenth century ethnic European settlement that still is not entirely assimilated, and post-War African-American migration from the South. The political response, particularly attractive to poorer groups from the South, as well as from Eastern Europe was machine politics or other means by which money or jobs were distributed to groups in exchange for their support. The Illinois tollway commission has long been associated with political corruption (it was in the background of one of Blagojevich’s scandals).Report