Question for Cain...and other more IR savvy folk.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Let them go. None of us like them anyway. They're just rich retirees from the Midwest with too many guns who don't want to pay taxes. Maybe if we're extra lucky, Quebec will absorb them, and we can REALLY hate the motherfuckers.


-Suu
Old Man in the Mountain was a warning shot.

[geekdad]

Let them go. None of us like them anyway. They're just rich retirees from the Midwest with too many guns who don't want to pay taxes. Maybe if we're extra lucky, Quebec will absorb them, and we can REALLY hate the motherfuckers.


-Suu
Old Man in the Mountain was a warning shot.

Not empty quoting.

[Suu]

Let them go. None of us like them anyway. They're just rich retirees from the Midwest with too many guns who don't want to pay taxes. Maybe if we're extra lucky, Quebec will absorb them, and we can REALLY hate the motherfuckers.


-Suu
Old Man in the Mountain was a warning shot.

I "officially" became a RI resident in April 2003. Rocks fell in May.  Stupid topography...

[East Coast Hustle]

Let them go. None of us like them anyway. They're just rich retirees from the Midwest with too many guns who don't want to pay taxes. Maybe if we're extra lucky, Quebec will absorb them, and we can REALLY hate the motherfuckers.


-Suu
Old Man in the Mountain was a warning shot.

What is this "too many guns" that you speak of?

ECH,
no such thing

[Suu]

Let them go. None of us like them anyway. They're just rich retirees from the Midwest with too many guns who don't want to pay taxes. Maybe if we're extra lucky, Quebec will absorb them, and we can REALLY hate the motherfuckers.


-Suu
Old Man in the Mountain was a warning shot.

What is this "too many guns" that you speak of?

ECH,
no such thing

It doesn't matter in Maine...I'd side with Downeasters in a bar before I would a Free-stater.

[East Coast Hustle]

Shit, I'd want even MORE guns if I had to be stuck in RI or Mass.

And of COURSE you would, you're smart enough to pick the winning horse.

[Suu]

No Southern New England state would ally themselves with fucking New Hampshire.  In fact, the Federal government once threatened both CT and RI with merging them with NH if they never settled the border dispute by the 1830s or some such bullshit.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

There is a HUGE secessionist movement on the islands, mostly with the native population. But on the bottomline, it's more about how much it costs them to be citizens (Not so much as taxes as importing from the mainland) and how little the people truly have in common with most Americans. Hawai'ians have more in common with the rest of the Pacific than the Walmart Nation, so they want out.

True, I know about their secessionist movement, but I'm not convinced it's all that powerful or that Hawaiians are willing enough to removing themselves from the US. I get the sense that most modern secessionist movements are more of a half-hearted means of asserting regional identity and building political cred. I like the New England secessionist movement because I don't have a lot in common with most Americans. Most Americans don't have much in common with most Americans, but they're still ok with being American.

It might be interesting, however, to add a 3rd, middle layer of American government, creating regional dominions. Messy as hell, but an interesting thought experiment.

http://www.metro-region.org/

[Lies]

With all this theorising going on, I have 2 things to say:

Black Swan

We just *can't* predict.

[Cain]

Uh, no.

[Lies]

Care to elaborate?

[Cain]

You're wrong and we can.

Secession and state-breakdown are actually very well studied phenomena with rigorous models of analysis which could easily be used for predictive purposes if most places where they would be of use did not routinely withold accurate data.

[Lies]

So you're saying Nassim Nicholas Taleb is wrong, or that I have no idea what hes talking about?

[Payne]

So you're saying Nassim Nicholas Taleb is wrong, or that I have no idea what hes talking about?

You're applying what he says to the wrong things.

[Lies]

So you're saying Nassim Nicholas Taleb is wrong, or that I have no idea what hes talking about?

You're applying what he says to the wrong things.

hmm.

*whips out copy of black swan*