The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXIV

[bhsup]

Also, genuine questions, do Nebraska and the Dakotas count as the "Midwest", or are they just "the West"? And is Kansas viewed as a Western state or a Southern one?

Nebraska and the Dakotas are also grouped as the northern plains in addition to getting to be included in the "midwest" designation. Although to be honest I don't really think of the Dakotas as midwest as much as I do northern plains, though I don't begrudge their inclusion in the midwest.

Kansas is midwest, but as the geographical center of the lower 48 is actually in Kansas, I would say it's ONLY midwestern.

 

[Farm Boy]

I detected somebody maligning the corn expanses. Frankly, the birds alone make that ground possess more interesting features than wandering around in say, Wrigleyville, watching all the "I'm not a hipster" hipsters try to out-hipster each other.

 

[CKS]

Nonsense. To be in the midwest, you must be east of the Mississippi river and west of the Appalachian mountains. Anything west of the Mississippi is "out west". Minneapolis is a western city (like the gateway to the west, St. Louis). St. Paul is a midwestern city.

 

[Traitorfish]

I detected somebody maligning the corn expanses. Frankly, the birds alone make that ground possess more interesting features than wandering around in say, Wrigleyville, watching all the "I'm not a hipster" hipsters try to out-hipster each other.

I'm sure it's grand if it's what you're used to, but for somebody who's always lived in a world bounded by the sea on one side and hills on the other, that endless expanse of featureless un-geography is deeply unnerving. It's like some sort of self-enclosed prison-dimension for minor offenders.

 

[Farm Boy]

I'm sure it's grand if it's what you're used to, but for somebody who's always lived in a world bounded by the sea on one side and hills on the other, that endless expanse of featureless un-geography is deeply unnerving. It's like some sort of self-enclosed prison-dimension for minor offenders.

Would it help if we used Temple Grandin's hug box to transport you around?

It doesn't take that long to get used to, but yea, I've noticed that people in visiting are disturbed by having too much sky. The geography isn't featureless though, there is actually a ton of stuff you can see at any given time, it's just that you can see for 2-10 miles at a time, so you actually have to look. If you only see it from the window of a car at 75mph on the interstate though, I could see where that comes from. Plus, saltwater oceans are yukky, but still better than the hipsters and urbanites interested in "fashion."

 

[_random_]

For reference, here is a map of the Midwest as defined by the US Census Bureau:

 

[Borachio]

I have a (somewhat) related question. Whereabouts does the mid-Atlantic accent originate? Atlantis, maybe?

 

[cardgame]

Nonsense. To be in the midwest, you must be east of the Mississippi river and west of the Appalachian mountains. Anything west of the Mississippi is "out west". Minneapolis is a western city (like the gateway to the west, St. Louis). St. Paul is a midwestern city.

Equal nonsense. Those were "Gates to the West" in the mid-1800s, and are no longer relevant outside historical significance.

If you're using the Mississippi as a reference, anything east of the Mississippi is the Rust Belt/Great Lakes region or The South.

 

[timtofly]

The west has always started at the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. The Midwest starts around the Mississippi.

If anything changes, then we would have to take out the word west altogether.

This sounds... Fantastic. What's the catch? You say that you keep the games even when you delete them (so something like Steam?), that you have unlimited access to the selection and can pick whatever you want... So you can go beyond the initial 12? How many can you select from each month's selection? One? Two?

... All of them?

I can't believe I haven't heard of this before.

I just read the answers to the FAQ on their website. Having a membership seems to be like having a cell phone with unlimited minutes. The games do not belong to you. You just have free access to them. If you do purchase one, it is yours to keep, like any other online site. I would prefer to pay for games singularly. I do not play a big enough variety to pay a fee each month.

 

[Synobun]

I just read the answers to the FAQ on their website. Having a membership seems to be like having a cell phone with unlimited minutes. The games do not belong to you. You just have free access to them. If you do purchase one, it is yours to keep, like any other online site. I would prefer to pay for games singularly. I do not play a big enough variety to pay a fee each month.

Ah. Figured there'd be a catch. Is that access just for the month with that current selection or until you stop paying for the subscription?

 

[timtofly]

When you stop paying for the subscription.

 

[Zelig]

Games never belong to you.

 

[timtofly]

Nothing does, what is your point?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I would have thought it was Minneapolis-St.Paul. More provincial, full of Germans, surrounded by six billion miles of featureless corn-field, etc. Chicago is too cosmopolitan and has too much geography to be iconically Midwestern.

I'm sure it's grand if it's what you're used to, but for somebody who's always lived in a world bounded by the sea on one side and hills on the other, that endless expanse of featureless un-geography is deeply unnerving. It's like some sort of self-enclosed prison-dimension for minor offenders.

Not ALL of rural Minnesota is that bad.

The arrowhead and about a full quadrant(?) of the state has heavy forest, not to mention actual hills in the arrowhead.

 

[Synobun]

When you stop paying for the subscription.

Huh. Well, that's still a great deal for me. I might do that when 2014 comes around.

 

[timtofly]

As long as you keep up your subscription, you will always have access to all the games. It would seem that the limiting factor would be the storage factor. Eventually games will be deleted to make room for new ones. I have no idea how many games will fit at any given time.

 

[caketastydelish]

For reference, here is a map of the Midwest as defined by the US Census Bureau:

Well that's a stupid 'definition' of the midwest. The mid'west' is actually closer to the atlantic than the pacific.

 

[Zelig]

Nothing does, what is your point?

No, lots of stuff belongs to you, games specifically don't.

 

[timtofly]

So that is your point?

You can also say that a game does not exist. That makes as much sense as your point.

 

[Farm Boy]

Well that's a stupid 'definition' of the midwest. The mid'west' is actually closer to the atlantic than the pacific.

It's stupid from a geographic sense. It's actually not west far enough from a demographic one. Much less a demographic one 100 years ago.