Prompted by the air conditioner thread. During the summer in Houston it is so hot and sticky that people go outside as little as possible during the day and you couldn't survive without air conditioning. So I'm vaguely wondering why there are people living there at all? 100 years ago there was no air conditioning, so were people crazy?

Maybe they like the mild weather the rest of the year.

You couldn't pay me to live anywhere in Texas.  I know that there are isolated bunches of liberals, like in Austin, but in general that state is WAY too far to the right.

mean center of population has headed south with advent of a/c.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_U.S._population

I think 100 years ago people were like 2-3 times less productive and so a siesta or a long afternoon ice tea didnt impact work as much as it would today.

It's not the politics, it's the ignorance of the population. Texas is the center of the universe, the sun orbits Texas, so why bother learning about anything else?

Dallas is worse than Houston, no? But both are... not nice places to live. Just zoom in on google maps and save the bus fare. It's just flat dirt everywhere. Gross.

Dallas was one of the most soulless places I have ever been.  Not the people so much as the architecture.  Straight roads at perfect right angles, houses all earth colored and identical for blocks and blocks, strip malls, huge highways and intersections ... and they kept calling the area "the Metroplex".  Ugh.

Yes, I thought the same when I was waiting an afternoon there for a bus transfer on my coast to coast bus trip on 9/12/01 or so (planes were grounded and I had to get across country). Not a single person walking the streets, all big glass buildings at right angles and no trees or greenery anywhere. It was like the introduction to "The Meaning of Life" with the Mutual Assurance Indemnity Corporation.

My funny story about Dallas was when I was there one year in early May.  It was blisteringly hot and sunny, probably 95 degrees or so, and we were going to a Rangers game the next day.  I went into a convenience store and looked high and low for sunscreen, but there wasn't any.

Went up to the clerk and asked.  Her reply:  "Well, it ain't summer yet."

Oooookay.

LOL.

Hmm

http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/baptist.gif

Probably totally irrelevant.

No way man, very relevant to a lot. That's an amazing map. Also check out this one there:

http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/church_bodies.gif