Rants

[XxMisfitxX]

ok

[SportsMaster]

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wacky1980 wrote:

i'm not saying anything about indiana, really. "illinois without chicago" would be more like missouri than indiana, imo.

gas prices are localized to an extent, but state taxes per gallon of gas are quite different from state to state. the il motor fuel excise tax is 40.6 cents per gallon. in missouri, it's 17.6 cents per gallon. i can hop across the river to missouri to fill up and save five bucks on taxes alone, each fillup. average gas prices in missouri are about $3.10, compared to $3.40 in illinois. sales tax in illinois is over 2% higher. cigarette taxes are five times higher in illinois. property tax in missouri is about 19%, compared to illinois' average of 33.3% (excluding farmground). 

yes, some of illinois resembles indiana's plains, but a good portion of downstate il is hilly, (originally) forested ground, with plenty of parks and recreation. most communities in the mississippi river valley basin more closely resemble rural missouri than rural indiana, and are polar opposites of nw il.

bottom line, i'd rather live in a state like missouri than in a one city-dominated state like illinois. 

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HAHA! I WIN!

(Oh, and STL dominates the General Assembly, the Sprint Center was nearly killed because those pricks in STL tried to call the GE out of recess to vote it down, it didn't work)

Really, Missouri has KC and STL, their suburbs, Jeff City and Columbia and then...nothing.

[myrAdamWest]

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SportsMaster wrote:

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wacky1980 wrote:

i'm not saying anything about indiana, really. "illinois without chicago" would be more like missouri than indiana, imo.

gas prices are localized to an extent, but state taxes per gallon of gas are quite different from state to state. the il motor fuel excise tax is 40.6 cents per gallon. in missouri, it's 17.6 cents per gallon. i can hop across the river to missouri to fill up and save five bucks on taxes alone, each fillup. average gas prices in missouri are about $3.10, compared to $3.40 in illinois. sales tax in illinois is over 2% higher. cigarette taxes are five times higher in illinois. property tax in missouri is about 19%, compared to illinois' average of 33.3% (excluding farmground). 

yes, some of illinois resembles indiana's plains, but a good portion of downstate il is hilly, (originally) forested ground, with plenty of parks and recreation. most communities in the mississippi river valley basin more closely resemble rural missouri than rural indiana, and are polar opposites of nw il.

bottom line, i'd rather live in a state like missouri than in a one city-dominated state like illinois. 

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HAHA! I WIN!

(Oh, and STL dominates the General Assembly, the Sprint Center was nearly killed because those pricks in STL tried to call the GE out of recess to vote it down, it didn't work)

Really, Missouri has KC and STL, their suburbs, Jeff City and Columbia and then...nothing.

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You have lots of Baptist Churches. LOTS of baptist churches.

Message Edited by myrAdamWest on 03-30-2008 01:39 PM

[some_clever_alias]

You wrote: "i'm not hating on chicagoans, i'm just saying a good portion of them kinda have an elitist thing going on, when they think of anyone below i-80." (I'd use the Quote Message button but it hasn't work for me since the board upgrade. Way to go, Lithium!)

Let's see... in my original post, I said: "(Pffft, I'm originally from Michigan. What Illinois calls forests and lakes—aside from the big one in Chicago's backyard—are a joke.)"

And you replied: "here's the thing. chicago+metro =/= illinois. there are plenty of large forests and lakes downstate that fit the bill just fine. of course, downstate can't compete against the great lakes, but i think your opinion of illinois is quite narrow."

I guess you mistook my Michigan/Illinois comparison for an elitist attitude about Chicago vs. downstate. You were wrong. If Lake Michigan was located downstate, then I'd have said "What Illinois calls forests and lakes—aside from the big one downstate—are a joke." But it's not; no big deal, right? Yet you assumed I had never been downstate, and that I was basing my opinion solely on Chicago & its suburbs. You were wrong there, too.

Yes, there are people in Chicago who thumb their noses at anything downstate, but there are many who don't. There are people downstate who think most Chicagoans are elitists, and there are others who don't. I understand the political anxiety, man. (Do you honestly think everyone in Chicago is happy with the way this city and county are run, let alone the entire state? Bah.) But it still seems to me that you've let that cloud your judgment about people who live north. I'm just sayin'.


Anyway, back to my original statement: Illinois < Michigan in terms of forests and lakes. C'mon, Illinois is the prairie state.

"Pffft, this is Rants! Where are your links?" Eh...

Illinois DNR: "IDNR 1996* Land Cover study using satellite imagery estimates 4.9 million acres of forest (14 percent of the state)."

Michigan DNR: "Michigan's forests are extensive, covering more than half of its land base. They are located predominately in the northern two thirds** of the state. Forestland acreage totals 19.3 million acres, a 5% increase since 1980."

Michigan ftw.

Oh, and both Illinois & Michigan are far less boring than Indiana.



* I didn't find more recent stats. I'd spend more time looking if I really thought Illinois had more forests than Michigan.

** This includes the UP and the section of the lower peninsula we Michigan folk call "Up North." I assume the MI stats come from the 1993 statewide forest inventory.

Message Edited by some_clever_alias on 03-30-2008 02:00 PM

[TVs_Frank]

Indiana has a crow hawking it's boring amusement park....  That's it.

[Punisher3]

You just live in the crappy part of Illinios

[SportsMaster]

We have a quota to meet.

Almost there.

[some_clever_alias]

And don't forget that one boring sporting event where people pay to sit and watch cars zoom round and round.

I'd rather watch televised dart throwing competitions or log rolling contests than go watch cars race. And this comes from a woman who loves to drive fast.

[wacky1980]

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SportsMaster wrote:

Really, Missouri has KC and STL, their suburbs, Jeff City and Columbia and then...nothing.

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aww, don't be so hard on yourself over there. you guys also have kirksville (imo, one of the top 5 party places in mo), lake of the ozarks, current river, and one helluva lot of fun festivals and straight-up parties. i have a lot more fun in mo than il.

columbia... i wish i took that scholarship there back in the day.  

[SportsMaster]

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wacky1980 wrote:

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SportsMaster wrote:

Really, Missouri has KC and STL, their suburbs, Jeff City and Columbia and then...nothing.

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aww, don't be so hard on yourself over there. you guys also have kirksville (imo, one of the top 5 party places in mo), lake of the ozarks, current river, and one helluva lot of fun festivals and straight-up parties. i have a lot more fun in mo than il.

columbia... i wish i took that scholarship there back in the day.  

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Aww man, CoMo is going to be incredible. Srsly.

5 months untill classes start.

[The_Corpse_of_Dane]

Illinois is the schiz.

Quad Cities reprezentin'.

It seems like a lot of people on this board are from Illinois. 

[wacky1980]

i can't argue that michigan has more forests than illinois. that wasn't my intention. what i meant was that we have large forests downstate and along the illinois and ohio river vallies, as well as the prarielands in the northern and eastern ares of the state. also, much more of illinois was forested before the industrialized area (13.8 million acres, or 38% of the state) according to the illinois dnr. (here's my linkage...)

i'm glad you've not formed your opinions of illinois based solely on the northeast corner of the state. but i still think your opinion of illinois is less-informed than it should be, to be making such statements. 

i did incorrectly state that people in chicago could care less about downstate. what i should have said is that the people in power could care less about downstate.  

[wacky1980]

i remember when i took my campus tour there (all the way back in the 90's! ). my dumb arse scheduled it during their spring break, and in my ignorance, i was less than pleased with the community.

being a band guy, i pay attention to the bars and music halls. columbia has some awesome little venues for music (the blue note being my favorite). we haven't been able to book the place yet, so we settle for cody's. it's not great (it's primarily a cowboy bar) but it's effin' huge, and it's a pretty good time on a busy saturday night.

i'm sure you'll have a blast. best of luck! 

[wacky1980]

i have some friends up there. it always seemed like a fun place (i had some gooood nights in rock island) but i'm not familiar enough with it to elaborate much more than that.

[SportsMaster]

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wacky1980 wrote:

i remember when i took my campus tour there (all the way back in the 90's! ). my dumb arse scheduled it during their spring break, and in my ignorance, i was less than pleased with the community.

being a band guy, i pay attention to the bars and music halls. columbia has some awesome little venues for music (the blue note being my favorite). we haven't been able to book the place yet, so we settle for cody's. it's not great (it's primarily a cowboy bar) but it's effin' huge, and it's a pretty good time on a busy saturday night.

i'm sure you'll have a blast. best of luck! 

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I never took a campus tour, I went to a few camps there, and they have the best J-school, and that sealed it. I have heard fantastic things about the Blue Note, and I have heard alot about bars down there, I hope to do my comedy sets in some of them (I have about 20 min of material, but I think only 10 of it is really awesome).

And thanks, I hope I do.

[some_clever_alias]

How is my opinion of Illinois less informed than it should be? All I said was Michigan beats Illinois at forests and lakes. And I was right. So... what information do you think I'm missing? I mean, without you knowing me or anything, having no idea how vast my knowledge of this state may or may not be.

Enlighten me.

[wacky1980]

it stems from the whole "What Illinois calls forests and lakes—aside from the big one in Chicago's backyard—are a joke" statement. the fact that michigan has more acres of forests makes the forests in illinois no less legitimate, and not "a joke" by any stretch.

that is all. 

[some_clever_alias]

Sorry I insulted your Illinois forest, man.

But (again), I'm originally from Michigan. I grew up there. I spend my first 2 years of college there. I moved to Illinois for the rest of my college years and I've lived here the 10+ years since I got my BA. Illinois has forests, but not quite like Michigan has 'em, and I still think Michigan's are much better. Take that as a biased Michigan native's opinion if you want. That's fine. It's still my opinion and I stand by it.

I didn't mean to imply that Illinois has no forests, or that the forests in this state are not legitimate. I simply meant that they pale in comparison to what I grew up with in Michigan. And I base that opinion on the experience I've had with Illinois forests vs. Michigan forests. That, plus the fact that Michigan contains more forests than Illinois. That's not "less informed." But again, I apologize if you took offense.


Back on thread topic, to the OP: See how not-boring Illinois is? It's interesting enough for two strangers to debate forests, of all things. Think of all the other Illinois-related things we could be discussing. This state is full of nifty things to do and places to see. Hardly boring.

[wacky1980]

yeah, i guess i kinda took that one and ran with it. apologies. i guess i'm a little defensive when it comes to my stompin' grounds, but i'm not really sure why. i remember getting a little lost once in shawnee, and i thought to myself "seriously, am i really lost in a forest right now? amazing..."

i just get annoyed whenever people talk about illinois like it ends when you drive out of the suburbs. i think maybe i took your point incorrectly. on topic, it's pretty impressive how much diversity in culture can be found just by taking a two hour drive away from anywhere you are in illinois.

[ZOMBEET]

im from IL i say SC is worse XD

[Rorschach_Reborn]

This state is so horribly corrupt it needs to be destroyed for the good of the nation.

And that's just one of the things that bother me about this place.

[WaffleKingwSyrup]

you must not live near chicago.

[DeathysaurusRex]

CHICAGO FOOL!

[GroovyAtlas]

I like Chicago.

[stilgar]

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XxMisfitxX wrote:
yea but i live in the suburbs of chicago and its about a hour a away from the city so i dont go there much where do u live

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thats not far at all, just watch out for harry dresden