The Off Topic Topic

[Camerus]

Huh. I've been to a wide number of cities in North America, Europe, and Asia in the past ten years, and can't say I didn't feel safe in SF when I was there in August of 2017. In fact, my hotel was right around Union Square and went out often after dark. Overall I did find SF way overhyped though, and have little interest in returning.

[PDH]

Geez, first Garbon drives by my house at 85 miles per hour on I-80, now Iorm is in my area and completely disses me.  Sure, sure, I got Katmai'd in a drive by, but something tells me I need to polish up my presentation.

[katmai]

No one calls it San Fran.

[Admiral Yi]

Squeeze is a yanqui?

[Monoriu]

No one calls it San Fran.

I think a lot of people call it San Fran in Hong Kong 

[Josquius]

One of The Chuckle Brothers has died

[garbon]

What is "Outdated infrastructure everywhere"?

Also, sounds like you managed to walk yourself over to the Tenderloin.

[garbon]

Overall I did find SF way overhyped though, and have little interest in returning.

To be honest, I think it is for a certain type of tourist (those who want to see things like Fisherman's Wharf, ride a cable car, etc.). Though perhaps untrue now with the rise of rents, I think SF is more a city for living in than visiting as a tourist (unless say you are revisiting as a former resident). Doesn't really have the same sort of monumental attractions that you can get from other American cities.  With SF, it is more about the immediate environs with the Marin headlands, going up to Napa or down to Monterrey.

[The Larch]

Just arrived from my first trip to the US.

The first impression was downright terrible. Our first day we walked around San Fran Union Square. Outdated infrastructure everywhere. Everything reeked of piss and weed, and I lost count of the homeless within the first five minutes. Quite a few were shockingly young. Many had clear mental problems. Lots of shady folk and barely any police presence at all.
I've been all over Europe, and nowhere have I felt unsafe downtown at 2 pm. It was hard to make a mental connection between what I was seeing and the most powerful country on Earth. My girlfriend just shrugged and said I'm too "European" and take some things for granted.

The next day we biked to Sausalito and it was like we had stepped into another dimension.

Vegas was kind of shitty as well, but expectations were low since it's not my kind of city. Was pleasantly surprised with the Cirque du Soleil MJ show at Mandalay, though.

In between we went to Yosemite, just as the fires grew in strength. Our very nice B&B (thanks Amy!) was being covered in ash as we arrived. So, trying to salvage that part of the trip, we went down to Sequoia. Amazing place. Many people told me I should have rented a muscle car, but what I would have really enjoyed was a small two-seater (with ceramic brakes!) to drive for hours between those majestic forests.

We also visited the Grand Canyon (ok I guess) and spent some time in Monterey and the surrounding area, which while nice, was unremarkable.

I tuned into some conservative radio stations while we were cruising the Californian countryside. Having enjoyed Languish for so many years, I was forewarned, but all that talk about socialist infiltration and baby murdering was quite amusing.

Hope you had a great time.

As for SF, I also stayed close to Union Square back in 2012, and it didn't look that seedy to me, although some parts of Market street nearby undoubtly were seedy, as well as the areas close to the BART stations. I did like SF myself, and would love to go back, but I have the impression that it's an acquired taste. Also, I don't think that it's a representative city for the USA as a whole.

Cool that you were able to visit Sequoia/King's Canyon NP, I really loved that one. Yosemite is iconic as well, but I had the feeling that Sequoia/King's Canyon was wilder, which is a feeling that you don't get almost anywhere in Europe. Yosemite is too overun with tourists for that.

Did you get to visit Death Valley or was it simply impossible because of the heat at this time of the year?

Our radio station of choice in the backwoods of California was Radio Lobo, a hillarious chicano station with the most awesome comercials ever. 

[Syt]

I'd watch this.

[grumbler]

I'd watch this.
(snip)

Lots of people did watch this, and you can watch it on reruns.

[Iormlund]

What is "Outdated infrastructure everywhere"?

Also, sounds like you managed to walk yourself over to the Tenderloin.

The F line, for example. Also piping, electrical equipment, etc.

And yes, we did. We were down at Civic Center (and got our car at Ellis St).

Hope you had a great time.

As for SF, I also stayed close to Union Square back in 2012, and it didn't look that seedy to me, although some parts of Market street nearby undoubtly were seedy, as well as the areas close to the BART stations. I did like SF myself, and would love to go back, but I have the impression that it's an acquired taste. Also, I don't think that it's a representative city for the USA as a whole.

Cool that you were able to visit Sequoia/King's Canyon NP, I really loved that one. Yosemite is iconic as well, but I had the feeling that Sequoia/King's Canyon was wilder, which is a feeling that you don't get almost anywhere in Europe. Yosemite is too overun with tourists for that.

Did you get to visit Death Valley or was it simply impossible because of the heat at this time of the year?

Our radio station of choice in the backwoods of California was Radio Lobo, a hillarious chicano station with the most awesome comercials ever. 

Death Valley was on the original plan, but since we couldn't cross Sierra Nevada up north we cut that part. Sequoia/King's Canyon was by far my favorite part of the trip. There were plenty of people (many refugees from Yosemite like us) but the sheer size of it meant there were plenty of tranquil moments.

[garbon]

What is "Outdated infrastructure everywhere"?

Also, sounds like you managed to walk yourself over to the Tenderloin.

The F line, for example. Also piping, electrical equipment, etc.

Well the F line is like that as a novelty thing, not because they never updated the cars.   In fact, they use a mix of previously retired ones from SF and from other cities around the world.

Are you talking about piping/electrical equipment in your hotel? Perhaps it was a budget one?

And yes, we did. We were down at Civic Center (and got our car at Ellis St).

Ah, I thought as much. That, during my residency in the bay area, was always the place for the seriously drugged out.

[Syt]

Iorm, did you travel with Tomi Lahren?

[Duque de Bragança]

This brave new world we have started building is well on its way to glory everywhere.

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2018/07/30/attacked-because-im-black-osakue_1cef039b-2844-4409-9258-7aa671f3ff9d.html

This lady, a Youth Olympics athlete for Italy, born in Italy, almost lost her eye when she was attacked while running. Apparently she was running in a neighbouring with lots of black migrant prostitutes, for what she was mistaken for and attacked.

Add this to the US immigration thread, and you can see that fairly soon all these native patriots will not have to worry about the migrants destroying their culture: they will have done it for them.

Guess what, early reports were misleading. It was a stupid student prank by three bored youths, including a son of PD (centre-left) local politician.
So now it backfires badly, Salvini says Grazie to all who jumped to conclusions.

Youths who attacked Osakue identified (2)
Son of PD councillor one of three assailants

(ANSA) - Turin, August 3 - Carabinieri police have said that they have tracked down three youths suspected of attacking Italian athlete Daisy Osakue by hurling an egg at her face near Turin earlier this week, causing an eye injury.
    The three, residents of Vinovo, La Loggia and Moncalieri, have been reported to prosecutors for bodily harm and failure to provide assistance.
    The youths said the attack on the discus thrower, who was born in Italy to Nigerian parents, was a prank and was not motivated by racism. One of the youths is the son of local councillor for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
    The attack on Osakue was associated to a series of recent incidents of xenophobia in Italy.
    The opposition PD has linked these episodes to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's tough talk on migrants.
    Salvini, who is also deputy premier and leader of the rightwing League party, has dismissed talk of a racism emergency in Italy as nonsense.

http://www.ansa.it/english/newswire/english_service/2018/08/03/youths-who-attacked-osakue-identified-2_74ff6b0e-8652-47bc-8c39-12fe22fdb1c0.html