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Another half-baked and misleading list from another site desperate to attract readers. U.S. News recently released a list of The 10 Worst Places to Retire. Wow, I thought, these places must be awful to be chosen as “the worst”. They must have deadly air and water pollution, rampant crime, unchecked disease, unsafe nursing homes, no [...] 
One explanation why different states think the way they do I’ve looked for explanations why there are geographic pockets of behavior or thinking. I’ve looked for reasons to explain why some attributes, conditions, traits, behaviors, qualities and characteristics seem to cluster in certain areas, while residents of other places tend towards the opposite. Why do certain [...] 
What the numbers tell us about firearm legislation In the wake of the terrible mass murder at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, there is a great deal of solemn intoning that Something Must Be Done. Click to view – Firearm Deaths by State and Motive As you listen to the discussion, it’s important to remember [...] Forbes has released a new slideshow, “America’s 20 Dirtiest Cities“, which is based mostly on data readily available on our Sperling’s BestPlaces website (www.bestplaces.net). The Forbes list and the story is pretty straightforward; a call out of the large U.S. metro areas with the worst scores for air and water quality, plus measures of toxic releases and Superfund [...] As parents we tend to fret about children and every Halloween there are stories about hazards such as tainted candy and “stranger danger.” These stories often prove to be overblown but the real danger on Halloween is that it is the most deadly day of the year for young pedestrians. That’s a fact we uncovered in a [...] I was reminded that I promised to do a follow-up to my blog post about Stephen Bloom’s article in The Atlantic, which lambasted his home state of Iowa, its residents and its way of life. If it sounds like I’m exaggerating, read the original article here. Mr. Bloom justifies his criticism variously as “unspeakable truths,” [...] 
Texas will soon have the highest posted speed limit in the United States (heck, in the Western Hemisphere. Take that, Honduras.) – 85 miles per hour. In November, Texas will open a new toll road on a heavily-used corridor between Austin and San Antonio, where the current highway (I-35) has a speed limit of 65 [...] 
“Coming Apart – The State of White America 1960-2010″ by Charles Murray focuses on the increasing divergence of upper and lower classes in the United States. Besides the economic inequality, the two classes are actually becoming different cultures. There, I just summarized the first half of the book, and saved you untold hours of wading [...] Charitable Giving in the United States Who tops our “Shame Score”? A report was released today by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, titled “How America Gives.” The report maps charitable giving by state, city and neighborhood, by analyzing IRS personal income tax data at the zip code level. Using the amount of charitable deductions, The Chronicle’s [...] 
There have been a number of news stories over the last two years about how the wealthy are fleeing states which have increased taxes on the highest tax brackets. I’ll show you this line of thinking is not borne out by the facts, and is irrational to boot. Here’s an example; a new story from [...] |
Some call me "the Best Places Guy".
For nearly three decades, I've worked to find what makes a livable city or community. My work finds its way into popular culture on a regular basis. I've written books on the subject and have a popular web site - bestplaces.net. I currently live in Oregon, USA, my own best place.
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Copyright © 2013 Bert Sperling - All Rights Reserved |
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