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Old 10-22-2017, 02:45 AM
 
Location: Austin,TX.
144 posts, read 194,228 times
Reputation: 162

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Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise View Post
The gridlock IS ridiculous.
Yep... And it is getting worse by the day. Literally.

 
Old 10-22-2017, 07:37 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,777,798 times
Reputation: 7256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trainwreck20 View Post
My relatives up north (MN) snowmobile, xcountry ski, ice fish, and hike pretty much all winter. And it is a damn-sight colder up there than CO. It is all about what you would rather deal with. I know people that won't grill/picnic in the summer when it is 100+ degrees. And many sports are not doable in the heat of summer unless you are young and/or in peak shape, or only for short periods of time per day. You can dress warmer in the winter, but you can only dress so much cooler in the summer.

The weather in Denver is not really that extreme. The coldest months (Dec-Feb), the average high is in the mid 40s. Average, of course, so there are some warmer and cooler days. A day with a high in the 50s is not uncommon for the winter, and occasionally in the 60s. That allows for some nice days mixed in throughout the winter. In Texas, you can go three months and never have a high below 95.

Anyway, to each their own. I actually deal with the heat better myself, but just know to many people that the reverse is true.

And hasn't someone told you a million time to dress in layers?
Northern European countries are great examples of where you can have a thriving culture in a cold environment with very short summers and long winters. Heating has been around for thousands of years and they are really good at keeping places heated. If you dress for the weather you can be out in almost any weather conditions.

I've always found it curious why northern Canada isn't developed. At the same latitude with the same conditions many parts of Russia have large cities.

That being said, cold climates always have their detriments but modern technology overcomes most of them. For instance, it was always problematic to get fresh fruit and vegetables to a place like a remote village in Switzerland in the middle of the winter. They were snowed in until spring and all they had was wine, hard cheese, and stale bread. Fondue is born. The reality is that while fondue is good, the diet was very poor in the winter for a lot of these places.

Now, produce from the Central Valley of California can be trucked to MN in a few days so you always have fresh produce so that problem was solved. However ... there was one problem that couldn't be solved.

In the north, the sunlight levels are so low in the winter that anyone with a non pale white complexion basically receives little to no sunlight in the winter months. At the surface this appears to not be a problem, but since our whole circadian rhythms are based on constant sunlight patterns what this produces is a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that affects a great portion of the population.

SAD affects a large number of people up north. The suicide rate in Alaska (North America), Finland, and other northern European countries is much higher than their southern European
(or South American) counterparts, even though they rank higher in most categories and thus "should" be happier.

Because of this biological induced depression, people seek out sun drenched territories but they are unaware of the risks in those territories: skin cancer and heat stroke. The real truth is that the body is made for a mild Mediterranean style climate like California but with some adaptation a climate like Texas can be adjusted to. The good news about heat is that you can acclimate to it. If your body produces melatonin then you can resist most of the effects of skin cancer but not all. So while not ideal, a warm climate is preferable to most. The problem is that people come here for the sunlight levels but can't take the heat so spend a lot of time indoors addicted to A/C. Most indoor NFL stadiums are in hot cities.

As climate changes I hope humans can evolve to take a higher range of temperatures or we will eventually be toast (literally).
 
Old 10-22-2017, 10:17 AM
 
Location: Finland
24,205 posts, read 24,646,382 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach View Post
SAD affects a large number of people up north. The suicide rate in Alaska (North America), Finland, and other northern European countries is much higher than their southern European
(or South American) counterparts, even though they rank higher in most categories and thus "should" be happier.
SAD is a real thing, its correlation with suicide is not.

Finland has the same suicide rate as Argentina, Denmark as Portugal.
 
Old 10-22-2017, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,777,798 times
Reputation: 7256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
SAD is a real thing, its correlation with suicide is not.

Finland has the same suicide rate as Argentina, Denmark as Portugal.
It's difficult to compare a very wealthy country in Europe with a South American country or a northern European country with a southern.

It's easier to compare states though. Alaska has one of the highest rates of suicide. Texas has one of the lowest.
 
Old 10-23-2017, 07:54 AM
 
Location: Finland
24,205 posts, read 24,646,382 times
Reputation: 11103
Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach View Post
It's difficult to compare a very wealthy country in Europe with a South American country or a northern European country with a southern.

It's easier to compare states though. Alaska has one of the highest rates of suicide. Texas has one of the lowest.
Maybe, but it proves that climatological factors aren't a prime reason for suicide. And maybe suicides in Alaska are for other reasons too. Of the top of my head I could guess that alcoholic Native Americans have very high suicide rates.

Come on, nobody in Finland is gonna kill him/herself if it happens to be 0F one day.
 
Old 10-23-2017, 08:13 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,234 posts, read 35,417,009 times
Reputation: 8571
There are some studies that do seem to link SAD (and daylight hours) to suicide rate. The correlation is hard to really tie down (either in a positive or negative way). One complication is that people affected by depression (whether SAD or otherwise) often do move toward sunnier areas; this could result in a natural 'correction' of the statistics. Also, a local population that has been less migratory will have less of an affect from the natural climate than a more mobile population.

In any case, the suicide rate in the U.S. seems to be correlated to latitude. Now, correlation does not equal causation, and there are a ton of other factors in suicide; however, I have close family (in-laws) that left the north due to SAD and it has been a huge change for them. I wouldn't say they were on the verge of suicide, but you wouldn't know if from talking to them .

Back to the topic, though - Colorado has lots of sun, so not generally an issue I wouldn't think....
 
Old 10-24-2017, 08:46 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,777,798 times
Reputation: 7256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trainwreck20 View Post
There are some studies that do seem to link SAD (and daylight hours) to suicide rate. The correlation is hard to really tie down (either in a positive or negative way). One complication is that people affected by depression (whether SAD or otherwise) often do move toward sunnier areas; this could result in a natural 'correction' of the statistics. Also, a local population that has been less migratory will have less of an affect from the natural climate than a more mobile population.

In any case, the suicide rate in the U.S. seems to be correlated to latitude. Now, correlation does not equal causation, and there are a ton of other factors in suicide; however, I have close family (in-laws) that left the north due to SAD and it has been a huge change for them. I wouldn't say they were on the verge of suicide, but you wouldn't know if from talking to them .

Back to the topic, though - Colorado has lots of sun, so not generally an issue I wouldn't think....
Yes and the altitude makes the sun more intense = more UV rays so I don't think SAD is a factor in CO. I would imagine you'd have to go much further north to get the SAD effects.
 
Old 10-24-2017, 09:18 AM
 
2,094 posts, read 1,911,597 times
Reputation: 3639
Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin97 View Post
name some activities you cant do in the heat that you can do in temperate weather?

Here are some things you cant do in the cold/snow (or technically you could, it just wouldnt work well so no one actually does them)

picnic/bbq, swimming, boating, basketball, soccer, gardening, cycling, just sitting outside, tennis, painting your house, washing your car etc etc.


Any day of the week in the hottest days you can find hundreds of ppl doing those activities.


Here are the things that I would do regularly in the snow when I lived up north:

snowmobiling, skiing, ice skating, hockey, sledding, ice fishing, snowball fights, snow fort building. Yet you would typically find few to no people outside except walking from one place to another.

The problem is you dress warmly enough to not be cold when you are not moving and then when you move you sweat soaking your winter clothes, making you colder if you stop moving. Most of the activities you can only do for a short time because your face starts to freeze.
What are you talking about- there are all kinds of winter sports. And people do many of the things on your list in the winter or well into the late fall. People fish. People hunt. People wash their cars. People get those fat tired bikes and ride all winter. And yes, maybe you need a fire, but people sit outside too.

Its not like the winter is day in/day out, 100% blizzard.
 
Old 10-24-2017, 10:00 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,777,798 times
Reputation: 7256
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbsteel View Post
What are you talking about- there are all kinds of winter sports. And people do many of the things on your list in the winter or well into the late fall. People fish. People hunt. People wash their cars. People get those fat tired bikes and ride all winter. And yes, maybe you need a fire, but people sit outside too.

Its not like the winter is day in/day out, 100% blizzard.
You're right, you can do virtually anything in cold weather except swimming or water sports.

However, SAD and lack of sun is a real thing. It's not really a problem in CO.

Personally I dislike the intense dry air and high altitude of Colorado but that's just me.
 
Old 10-24-2017, 08:37 PM
 
Location: 78745
4,481 posts, read 4,532,378 times
Reputation: 7974
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrt1979 View Post
Lived in Corpus for years, but had to work in Austin every so often. I dreaded those weeks. I'm told that trafic wasn't that bad in the 90's, but it was hell when I worked there from about 2008-2012.
Whoever told you that traffic wasn't "that bad" in the 90's misinformed you.

Heavy traffic and traffic congestion has always been one of the top 3 main issues in Austin since at least the mid 70's. They are always building new roads or working to improve the roads we already got.

Houston, Dallas-Ft Worth, San Antonio and Austin have been in constant boom mode pretty much since the invention of the automobile and indoor air conditioning. People have been moving here quicker than they can build the roads, and it doesn't look like that's gonna change anytime soon.

I do believe since at least the mid 1970's the state has been constantly working somewhere along Interstate 35 between San Antonio and DFW. I doubt that 278 mile stretch of interstate has ever been totally free of road construction or road work for at least 40 years, and probably closer to 50.

I suppose there will come a day when Dallas to San Antonio along Interstate 35 will be 100% urban.
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