Tell me something cool about where you live:

[liberalitch]

First your city
Then your State capital
Lastly your state

I'll go first... Norfolk Va.... one of the few US cities with its original mace
Story:
http://www.nps.k12.va.us/news/mace/mace.htm
See mace below

Richmond Va. Capitol of the Confederacy now the Mayor is the grandson of an ex-slave (Doug Wilder)... HOW'S THAT FOR KARMA!

Virginia: Mark Warner is our governor... and he's cool and kinds cute


Mace:

Cute Governor:

[patdem]

1. HEY!, I too am in Norfolk! I just copied and pasted and changed two words

I'll go second... Norfolk Va.... one of the few US cities with its original mace
Story:
http://www.nps.k12.va.us/news/mace/mace.htm
See mace above

Richmond Va. Capitol of the Confederacy now the Mayor is the grandson of an ex-slave (Doug Wilder)... HOW'S THAT FOR KARMA!

Virginia: Mark Warner is our governor... and he's cool and kinds cute

I was born and raised in Norfolk. Went to Old Dominion and Norfolk State! Have lived in Rhode Island, Florida and California. I LOVED Rhode Island - the other two were okay. Good old Norfolk! I have always said Norfolk has not changed much since I was a kid (many years ago) because it was 'finished' before I was born, unlike Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, which people do not recognize because of all the changes!

[dryan]

2. Orlando/Orange County, Florida....

weather is great...lots of sparkling lakes...went for both Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004.

[Heidi]

44. I love Florida!

Gainesville, St. Augustine, Key West, in particular. I envy you, dryan.

[rainy]

6. What year and where did you graduate?

[patdem]

14. It was 25 years ago!

I started school at Providence College, then moved back to Norfolk and attended Old Domiminion full time nights while raising my son. It got SO difficult I did not graduate :cry: Full time nights while working full time...Monday 4 hours of school, then homework till 2:00 am...from Monday class to be turned in on Weds...Tues 4 hours of school, then homework till 2:00 am from Tues class to be turned in Thurs...Wed 4 hours of class...home to bed-homework can be put off till weekend..Thurs 4 hours of class..home to bed. Of course working 40 hours per week at the same time! My junior year was so difficult I had to drop out. I just did not have time to do all the work required.

[liberalitch]

23. 1989..... ODU

and another idiot president

[liberalitch]

18. Born and raised here too....

I think that there are maybe 10 of us.... everyone else is navy.

I graduated ODU and teach at Phoebus High in Hampton
(Go Phantoms!)

[patdem]

28. 'Eat dirt cheap'...I remember that place in Hampton!

Was it 'at Joe's'? The first exit from the tunnel out of Norfolk! I used to say the tunnel was under water so we could not see the 'time warp' we passed through before comming out the other end. I said Hampton was North and South and Left and Right, because it was long but VERY narrow! I used to be an oil sales person with my territory being Hampton! I loved Hampton!

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Tokyo, Japan

(or thereabouts)-- the largest metro area (population-wise) in the world (30 million people-- and they all seem to be cramming into the train at rush hour!)

[Demit]

4. Philadelphia PA. We booed the Easter Bunny and threw snowballs at Santa

We're a tough crowd. Oh, and we put ketchup on scrapple, not that maple syrup crap. We used to have a famous ad slogan for our city in the 70s: "Philadelphia is not as bad as Philadelphians say it is."

[Clark2008]

19. I'll tell you what grits are if you tell me scrapple is!

Seriously, what's scrapple? Is it kind of like a funnel cake?

[RebelOne]

27. You really don't want to know what's in it.

When I was a kid and lived in Philadelphia, my mother would fix it all the time. It's really a bunch of animal scraps all mushed up in a roll. You slice it and fry it.

[Demit]

30. Scrapple is a pork product that uses "everything but the squeal"

It's mixed with corn meal and spices and you fry it in little rectangles in a pan. I love it, of course, but there are people who run screaming from the very idea.

I have had grits, unfortunately grits from a MacDonald's off of Interstate 95 in Georgia, when I was driving back north from Florida. I am game for most things, but I didn't much like em, so I gave them to my dog who was traveling with me and sorry to say he wasn't interested either. But then we had just escaped a mound of fire ants in the Mickey D parking lot so maybe he was a little distracted. :)

[rainy]

5. Why haven't we gotten together yet? I live in Va. Beach

I grew up in Norfolk. I live near sandbridge, need I say more. I'm close to farms and the ocean. It is great here.
Did you two grow up in Norfolk?
I graduated in 76,Washington High. I was bussed.

[liberalitch]

21. Maury here....

I grew up over by the vepco building on Cromwell drive
I live in Ghent now.
And I was unaware that there were so many of us in the immediate area.... I suspect we're all afraid of being lynched in pat robertson territory

[salin]

7. requisite reminder....

some folks might want to be wary of giving enough info across various threads that can be used by crazy "readers" (not participants) of the forums for identificaton purposes...

[liberalitch]

22. remember norfolk is starting to have gun shows again...

so there might be someone out there "fixin' to hunt him (or her) some liberals"

[phaseolus]

8. Brown Deer, Wisconsin

Maybe it's not as cool a place as our capital, Madison... but the Village of Brown Deer gives you free mulch!!

So do I win a prize??

[oldlady]

15. nope

cuz we get free mulch here in Madison, too *heehee*

Madison, Wisconsin: we gave monkeys wire mothers and built an isthmus out of a swamp--

[sendero]

9. Texas....

... gets a lot of flak around here, but folks should try to remember that there are only a few percent more wingnuts here than in any other place.

Dallas - Dallas is a plastic city driven by money and the appearance of having it. So in that regard it sucks. On the other hand, Dallas is quite the cultural melting pot. We have large numbers of folks from all over the world, for reasons I understand and reasons I don't. There is a lot a good ethnic food in Dallas, and that is something :)

Austin - easily the coolest city in the state. Culturally, more like something from the northwest than Texas. Great cultural/music scene, great food, great people, and those timed traffic lights in the city - wonderful!

Texas - show me another state with deserts, mountains, forests, lakes, prairies, a huge diversity of flora and fauna. Ok, the mountains are not much but still :)

[wtbymark]

20. Im glad you described Austin as cool

im playing there for 3 nights at the end of May, and im commin from Vermont lol

[luvLLB]

25. i would have to say the same thing, but from San Antonio

[Warpy]

32. "Texas! We're not as nuts as Kansas!"

There's your new state motto for you.

I'm next door in NM, where you have to believe 17,000 people stood in line on 11/2 to vote for a judge to believe Bush won.

The sunsets here are probably the coolest thing about this state, completely unlike anything you see in humider climates, and certainly unlike anything you see at sea level.

[ihaveaquestion]

10. Tampa, Florida

Tampa is the lightening Capital of the Western Hemisphere, but not the world - there's a spot in Africa gets more lightening than we do! But we're number 2, so we try harder and boy, do we get lightening!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

34. I hate lightning....

We get a lot of lightning in Orlando too.

[CO Liberal]

11. Pueblo, Colorado

Damon Runyon (the playwright who gave us "Guys & Dolls" and others) was born here. So was David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.

Denver is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.

There are still several drive-in movies in business here in Colorado. Including a three-screen theater just outside Pueblo, and one next to a motel in Alamosa, where you can watch the movie through your room, picture window.

[prodigal_green]

12. New York City (and sometimes Norfolk!)

Albany
New York

First bar was built 13 years before the first church.

Other cool things about my city:
Brooklyn Brewery on Friday nights,
Jackson Heights Indian buffets,
Rooftop sculpture garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Prospect Park
Seeing people from every continent squished together on the subway.
Dog runs
Elliot Spitzer

Most of my family lives in the Norfolk/Tidewater area. We are the Yankee branch of the family. Some of my most debauched times, ironically, were in Norfolk, not New York.

[liberalitch]

26. Sailors, dogs and irishmen stay off the grass

Sign in downtown norfolk circa 1918.

People have always said about Norfolk (kind of as a method of teaching someone how to properly pronounce it)
No Smoke
No Drink
Nor Fuck
(Never had this problem as all three are always in bountiful supply.... GO NAVY!)

[davidwhite0570]

13. Las Cruces, NM capital Santa Fe

my city voted for Kerry not Bush.

I am originally frm Cincinnati Ohio moved here after I got out of the Navy

[skeptikal]

17. Alabama..........................

beautiful southern women with southern accents. I have been all over the world and the US. The south truly has a higher per capita rate of beautifully stunning women.

[Clark2008]

24. Thank you!

[trof]

51. Welcome to DU from a fellow Alabamian.

There are several of us here.
:hi:

[RagingInMiami]

41. Las Cruces is a nice town

What's the name of that restaurant, Nellies or something, that's pretty good?

[Clark2008]

16. Knoxville, TN

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful (as long as you stay off the never-ending Interstate road construction). On clear days, I can even see the Great Smoky Mountains from certain places within the city limits.
The leaves in the fall are as pretty as anything I've seen in New England and there are four distinct seasons.
And, while there are an awful lot of hateful fundies in the area, within the city limits, there are the kindest, warmest and friendliest people on earth.


Oh, and my state capital is Nashville.

[Ravenseye]

29. Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh - Our favorite sandwich had cole slaw and french fries in it, not next to it.

Harrisburg - It's right next to Hershey, PA...home of chocolate.

Pennsylvania - Many of our schools have the first day of deer hunting season as a holiday.

[wtbymark]

31. Waterbury, Vermont

Waterbury was established in 1785, it's labeled the 'crossroads' of Vermont and there's a mix of all types of people there. Waterbury is home to Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

Capitol, Montpellier : The only capitol in the US NOT to have a McDonnalds, great cultural scene. All committee debates and hearings are open to the public and comment is encouraged.

Vermont: what a place, the winters can be brutal but thats what brings people together, in summer its gorgeous, the fall scene is legendary, and mud season (now) sucks lol. 2nd best place to live (behind Minn?), very, very liberal, best cheddar in the world - Cabot (yes,Wisc. we win again) some of the best microbrews on the planet, organic food pioneer who banned genetically modified food from state, and oh yea, we go 'sugaring' (thats maple syrup).

[foreigncorrespondent]

33. Melbourne,Victoria Australia!

Interesting facts:

Melbourne was Australia's first capital city from 1901 until 1927. (May 9th, 1901 was the first sitting of parliament.)

Melbourne has been voted worlds most livable city twice. Once in 2002 and again in 2004.

Like many of Australia's other cities, Melbourne was never settled as a penal colony, but rather as a Port city after the discovery of Gold in Central Victoria in the 1850's.

In the 1880's Melbourne was the second largest city in the British Empire. (It was also during this time that Melbourne became knowns as Marvelous Melbourne. A term still used today to describe our pleasant city.)

In 1956, Melbourne has the privilege of becoming the first city in the southern hemisphere to host the Olympic Games.

There is lots of other interesting historical facts about Melbourne, but given it is almost 1am, and I just got off work a little while ago, I pretty beat and can't think any more. I hope you enjoyed this little bit of info though. :)

[tjwmason]

35. Don't live in a city

My village produced mediaeval floor tiles used in Windsor Castle.

Don't have a state, but the (sort of) English equivalent is the county. The County Town is the new one (it moved from Buckingham to Aylesbury in the 13th century or thereabouts); it is famous for its ducks.

Buckinghamshire (the county) contains Pinewood Studios, which are the premier film studios in the U.K.


You're right about the governor looking kind of cute.

Did you know that the Mace originated because mediaeval canon law banned clergy from carrying weapons which drew blood (such as swords), but as Bishops gained territorial jurisdictions (such as the Palatinate of Durham) they had to lead armies into battle. It was ruled that smashing somebody's skull into little pieces did not count as drawing blood; thus the mace arose and became closely connected with authority.

[bigwillq]

36. New Haven

The capital is Hartford
The state is Connecticut


In New Haven, there's a place called Louie's Lunch and some reports say they invented the hamburger.

However, when you go there, they offer no condiments. They just put lettuce and tomato on the burger. If you ask for ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc. sometimes they get really pissed.

I think the burgers are overrated.

[Javaman]

37. Austin, Texas! Yehaaa!

The best thing about Austin is Barton Springs. Sweet cool water right in the heart of town.

[leftofthedial]

38. 65 degrees

[animuscitizen]

39. My town is stuck in a 60's time warp and Dylan used to live/record here

Woodstock, NY




This dude is a staple on the village green.

[ImpeachBush]

40. Something interesting about Dacula?

I'll have to look that one up!

OK - I live in Dacula (an extended suburb of Atlanta)

My city of residence - Dacula:
Incorporated: 1905
Population: 3,848
Total Area: 2.9 square miles

More useless info:
Dacula is located half-way between cosmopolitan Atlanta and academic Athens, home of the University of Georgia (why I live there). Try as I may, I could find little historical information for this town. I guess it is best known now as the home of the Hebron Baptist Church, what my friends and I call the "Country Club" - a religious "campus" with huge chapels, a large cemetery, and a vast parking lot that uses shuttle buses. During services on Sundays, the local law enforcement agencies direct traffic into, out of, and around this monstrosity. Ugh.

I know you didn't ask for it, but here's some info on my county:

Gwinnett County
In 1818, the Georgia legislature created Gwinnett County from Creek and Cherokee Indian lands. The state's 42nd county was named for Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia's three signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Notorious "historical" events:
1. The 1960's brought Gwinnett in the national spotlight when millionaire heiress Barbara Mackle was buried alive in box not much bigger than a coffin. Federal and state agents, working closely with local authorities, found the grave before the heiress perished. She had been there for 83 hours, waiting for her family to pay a $500,000 ransom. Ruth Eiseman-Schier, one of Barbara Mackle's kidnappers (the other was Gary Steven Krist), was the first woman to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. She was captured on December 17, 1968.
2. On March 6, 1978, Larry Flynt was shot by Joseph Paul Franklin on his way back to the Lawrenceville Courthouse from a nearby cafeteria.
3. During the 1980s the county wrested the title of "Fastest Growing County in the United States" from Orange County, Florida.
4. In 2002, Former Olympic gymnist Olga Korbut, who won three gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany and shared one at the 1976 games in Montreal, paid a fine at the county courthouse instead of going to trial for stealing $19.00 of groceries.

Capital City (Atlanta):
Of course you've all heard about the Courthouse shooting that occurred a few weeks back, Summer Olympics not so many years ago. Home of CNN, the CDC, Ted Turner, Coke, Home Depot, Waffle House, Delta Airlines, Eastern Airlines. List of famous Atlantans include Martin Luther King, Margaret Mitchell, Hank Aaron, Ray Charles, Evander Holyfield, DeForest Kelley, Walt Frazier, and many others.

And Georgia, itself, of course. Many interesting facts, but I'll pick this one as it is one of the nice things about living here: Lowest state gasoline tax in the country, according to Andy Rooney.

[Heidi]

42. How about if I show you?

The view down


The view up

[RagingInMiami]

43. Miami, Florida

A city on the brink of bankruptcy just over a decade ago, whose downtown is going through one of the most revitalizing periods of its history.

In three years, this skyline will have doubled in size.

[Heidi]

45. You got me beat, hands down.

Florida's one of my favorite places in the world (except for the current regime). The Florida posts here are about to make me whine.

[RagingInMiami]

46. Most people on this board hate Florida

We will prevail. We will restore sanity back to our state. I moved back here a few months ago, after ten years of living away, just for that purpose.

[Heidi]

50. Go, RagingInMiami!

I lovelovelove your state, and I hope while you're busy changing things, you'll meet my little sister and convince her that she's _really_ a Democrat at heart.

[RagingInMiami]

54. she lives in florida?

What part?

[skygazer]

47. Well, I live in California

But I come from Vermont so that's what I'll do.

Brattleboro, Vermont - it's the only "Brattleboro" in the world. Wow. It also was home to Rudyard Kipling for a while and is home to one of the first hospitals specializing in the treatment of mental illness in the U.S. (the Brattleboro Retreat).

Montpelier, Vermont - is the smallest capital city in the U.S., little more than a village.

Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery in its Constitution. It was also the first state to offer troops to Lincoln for the Civil War and it is the home of the Morgan horse, the only horse breed to develop from a single stud and a uniquely American breed.

[bertha katzenengel]

48. Waldorf - Annapolis - Maryland

something cool about where I live:

Our house is somewhat secluded. No backyard neighbors and no immediate next-door neighbors on either side. On one side of us is the well house and on the other is a gully with a stream, dense with trees.

[The Great Escape]

49. Princeton, West Virginia...Home Of Bob Denver (Gilligan)...

who runs an oldies station from his home.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/03/10/tem_people10bobdenver.html

State Capital- Charleston

home of "Aqualung", ...allegedly Nick Nolte modeled his charachter in "Down and Out In Beverly Hills," on this Charleston, WV resident.

http://wvgazette.com/static/century/gz1004.html

West Virginia-Jennifer Garner

[crispini]

52. My city has a really cool lake right in the middle of it.

Yes, this is less than a mile from my house, about five miles from downtown.





Where dat? Dallas, Texas. :P

[Balbus]

53. Mesa, AZ

State capital is Phoenix. And the cool thing about Mesa AZ is we get a lot of sunshine! A LOT of sunshine! Sunny virtually every day! Hardly ever clouds, much less any rain. Just sun. Nothing but sun. Sun all the time. So much freakin' sun it about drives you crazy!!! Ugh!! :banghead:

[Kellanved]

55. hmm

2001: Facing the threat of getting outed as being gay, the Social Democratic Candidate, Klaus Wowereit, for the Office of the Lord Mayor changed his campaign slogan to : "I am gay and that's the way it should be". He won the election and became an extremely popular Lord Mayor - nearing the end of his first term, chances for re-election are looking good.

Sixty years after the Holocaust, Berlin is the home of the biggest Jewish community in Germany. It is one of the fastest growing in the world.

Berlin has more bars than any other European city - regardless of counting per capita or total.

...