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Thread: No way that many people live there

  1. #1
    Posting in Dynarama M2's Avatar
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    No way that many people live there

    I was just reviewing some population numbers for something I'm working on, and there's some places where the numbers just don't seem right. Like, I'll take their work for it, but I've been to these and they're ghost towns. According to census numbers they've got 100,000+ people who call them home and that feels like propaganda. I'll mention the two near me that got me onto this kick, but I figure we've got a national spread on this board and there's got to be plenty of places that feel more like Hollywood sets than places where real people live.

    Worcester, MA - population 185,000

    I've been to Worcester plenty of times and I know people from Worcester. So I know some people live there, but good luck finding people mulling around its downtown areas at any time of the day. Maybe there's a tunnel system. Maybe they've been social distancing for the past 35 years. And I've never heard of a festival there. They have venues which host events. Many years ago I went to a massive march to honor a group of firefighters who died (and ended up hanging around with Bob Backlund). Yet that all involved people coming in from elsewhere. When you're just travelling through the heart of Worcester, there's nobody. Even in my college days, the college campuses there (Holy Cross, Clark, WPI) were eerily silent. Never been caught in traffic in Worcester either. Feels like a quiet little burg.

    And the downtown is distinctly unimpressive. Providence, Springfield (MA) and Hartford all feel like much bigger cities. Yet Worcester apparently is filled with snarks and grumpkins.

    Stamford, CT - population 130,000

    My dad used to work in Stamford. Lots of people work in Stamford. It's got office buildings and offices parks. In fact, it's all office buildings and office parks. Yet I've never met anyone who's lived in Stamford. Cos Cob (which is right next door)? Hell yeah I've met people from Cos Cob. And it's not just a case of maybe my middle class life didn't intersect with the working class folk of Stamford. I've met plenty of people from Bridgeport, Waterbury and Danbury. That's because people live in those places. I don't know anyone who's even been out to dinner in Stamford. I'm not sure you can do that there because it would involve people being around after standard working hours. Even Worcester has some restaurants. I think they're counting cubicles as people or something.
    Last edited by M2; 07-22-2020 at 01:29 AM.
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  3. #2
    Member 757690's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    I think more people would live in Worcester if the people from there knew how to pronounce it.
    Hoping to change my username to 75769023

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    Re: No way that many people live there

    I went to see Holy Cross play Dayton at the Centrum once as I had a buddy at my law firm who played for Holy Cross. Pretty sure I ate an an Uno's right outside the Centrum. Pretty underwhelming experience overall. Good game played in front of dozens, though.

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  7. #4
    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    First few times I travelled to Boston, people kept talking about “Wooster”. I looked and looked on maps and couldn’t find it. I finally got clued in when someone asked how I pronounced Worcestershire sauce. I was like oooohhhh.
    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning

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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Quote Originally Posted by Roy Tucker View Post
    First few times I travelled to Boston, people kept talking about “Wooster”.
    False, they kept talking about Woostah.

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  11. #6
    Posting in Dynarama M2's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Quote Originally Posted by 757690 View Post
    I think more people would live in Worcester if the people from there knew how to pronounce it.
    Wustah.
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  13. #7
    Member marcshoe's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    They're counting the people in cars passing through on their way to such exciting places as Lowell and Tewksbury. When I went through there last year, I wanted to stop and get some of that famous Shire Sauce they make. Then I was going to go on up to Salisbury and order a steak to put it on.
    Last edited by marcshoe; 07-21-2020 at 05:57 PM.
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Fresno has a half-a-million but it's downtown is a ghost town. Stockton's kind of like that too.

    These kind of towns always feature shirtless white men riding bikes at night.

  15. #9
    Member BernieCarbo's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Quote Originally Posted by Roy Tucker View Post
    First few times I travelled to Boston, people kept talking about “Wooster”. I looked and looked on maps and couldn’t find it. I finally got clued in when someone asked how I pronounced Worcestershire sauce. I was like oooohhhh.
    Good thing you weren’t going to Gloucester.

  16. #10
    They call me "chef"
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    I never developed the part of my brain that can visualize or remember city/state populations. They are just random numbers that people say after “I came from a small/large town whose population was...”

  17. #11
    Member Kingspoint's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Harris County, TX has more people (4.7M) in it than 26 States ( https://www.infoplease.com/us/states...lation-by-rank ).

    https://www.google.com/search?as_q=H...filetype=&tbs=

    This is why there is an electoral college system, so densely populated areas can't mob-rule over non-dense populations.

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=585427284986149 (by the way, he's not "the smartest college student ever" as the title states, he's just not an idiot like so many are who have attended college and think that they are smart)
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."

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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Quote Originally Posted by Rojo View Post
    Fresno has a half-a-million but it's downtown is a ghost town. Stockton's kind of like that too.

    These kind of towns always feature shirtless white men riding bikes at night.
    Stockton is one scary place. It is a ghost town because no one is willing to come out of their homes.

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  20. #13
    Posting in Dynarama M2's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingspoint View Post
    Harris County, TX has more people (4.7M) in it than 26 States ( https://www.infoplease.com/us/states...lation-by-rank ).

    https://www.google.com/search?as_q=H...filetype=&tbs=

    This is why there is an electoral college system, so densely populated areas can't mob-rule over non-dense populations.

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=585427284986149 (by the way, he's not "the smartest college student ever" as the title states, he's just not an idiot like so many are who have attended college and think that they are smart)
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  21. #14
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Quote Originally Posted by jup View Post
    Stockton is one scary place. It is a ghost town because no one is willing to come out of their homes.
    You are very likely to see a shirtless man in jeans riding a children's bike to 7-11 at 2:30 AM though, even during non pandemic times

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Rojo View Post
    Fresno has a half-a-million but it's downtown is a ghost town. Stockton's kind of like that too.

    These kind of towns always feature shirtless white men riding bikes at night.
    Posted mine before I read this!!

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  23. #15
    Posting in Dynarama M2's Avatar
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    Re: No way that many people live there

    Clearly, Stockton has a vibe.
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