Is this a good time to move to the country?

Lancer · March 15, 2003, 18:54

I live in a city of 5000-6000. The breeze blows fairly constantly, it's a terrible target for terrorists as they couldn't kill many people here.

How about where you live? Have you thought about what you would do if a dirty bomb went off in your city? Or a large scale anthrax or small pox attack?

Have you thought at all about a nice quiet place in the country?

In the 60s some people put bomb shelters in their yards.

Recently I saw a show about 'panic rooms' that are basicly steel boxes that people could wait out danger in...selling like hotcakes. I wonder though, could a person wait out a dirty bomb? Aren't radioactive particles going to be around long term?

Strange feeling, kind of like those old cold war days, hiding under the desk at school.

Thoughts on how terrorism might figure in your decisions?

General Ludd · March 15, 2003, 18:56

No.

Lancer · March 15, 2003, 18:59

Can never get a straight answer outa you Osweld.

Buck Birdseed · March 15, 2003, 19:00

5-6000 is hardly a city, it's barely even a town! There are bigger villages out there. You already live in the country, man.

Jon Miller · March 15, 2003, 19:04

5000-6000 is Town

I have thought about it for a time

but I really don't ahve much of a choice, going to universities and all

I guess I just hope that it doesn't happend to me, or doesn't happend to me soon

Jon Miller

Lancer · March 15, 2003, 19:08

No, I'm not concerned for myself, I'm concerned for you guys.

Buck Birdseed · March 15, 2003, 19:08

Bah. Everything that's under 1 000 000 in population is just fields and farmyard animals as far as I'm concerned. I'm stuck in a 100 000 pop provincial hellhole, in constant fear of whippets and ricketts.

General Ludd · March 15, 2003, 19:09

I grew up in a village of 300-500.

Buck Birdseed · March 15, 2003, 19:15

Ick. The horror. I grew up in three cities, each with a population of 1.5-2 million.

Lancer · March 15, 2003, 19:16

Buck, 100,000? That's a mega ****ing lopolis to me! It takes me a hour driving to get anywhere near a city that size. (Way too close)

Osweld, that's a bit small. That size town and you're lucky to have a dusty little store.

Traianvs · March 15, 2003, 19:21

I haven't thought about it, as I have no reason to fear anything...
My home is in a 12000 town, and during weektime when I live near the university (numbering 28000 students!) I live in a small city, so moving is kind of stupid for me, as I don't live in one place anyway!

Besides, finding countryside in the region I live in is very difficult as it hardly exists anymore (there are a few "more rural" areas in northeast and southwest Flanders but the ppl that live there are spooks

), my town is almost part of the city, though still not suburban like in big (American) cities...

I just watched Bowling for Columbine... Moore sure gave me the impression Americans were kinda edgy and scared, especially with all the terrorist **** going on now, is that how you feel too...? I mean has anyone here bought basmasks, generators, stockpiled a nice amount of water, or even built a bomb shelter?? it's just mass hysteria, and "only in America" I must say..

In any case the absurdly high number of gunshootings (and deaths resulting from it) are quite freaky, you guys know why?

General Ludd · March 15, 2003, 19:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Lancer
Osweld, that's a bit small. That size town and you're lucky to have a dusty little store.

Just a general store.

Actually, there was also a wood stove shop that doubled as a general store when the other one wasn't around, and a nick-nack store. My mother also turned part of our house into an art store for a while. Every year there was a writer's festivel that drew alot of well known (and not-so) writers, and tons of people to the town.

Oh, and can't forget the small candy and ice-cream shop that was run out of a converted shed. That's where all my allowance would always go.

Zkribbler · March 15, 2003, 19:25

I think about it occasionally.

I work in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, which I figure is the terrorists' No. 3 target after New York and Washington D.C. I'm less that two blocks from city hall and just north of the financial district. If a dirty bombs goes off in L.A., I'm toast.

But there hasn't been a decent-sized terrorist attack in a year and a half.

I've been trying to figure out what happened to the supposed 100,000 trained terrorists that graduated from terrorist school in Afghanistan.

My best guess is that they went home, got jobs, started families, and their wives won't let them go out with the boys and commit international acts of terror.

Paul Hanson · March 15, 2003, 19:25

Never really considered the possibility of it, to be honest. I go to uni in a city with a population somewhere is the region of 3-4 hundred thousand (I think), and the idea that terrorists would want to attack it seems a tad unlikely.

At the weekend, I go home (because I can't think of a good reason to hang around Hull when I don't have to) to a village of about 2000 inhabitants. I doubt the terrorists would want to hit rural Scawby, so I don't worry about it.

Buck Birdseed · March 15, 2003, 19:30

Is, like, the tow-village distinction way different from country to country? My parents have a summer house in the village of Sülysáp in Hungary, which has a population of 7500, and no-one considers that a town! It's not even the largest village in the area by a good distance.

Al B. Sure! · March 15, 2003, 21:35

over one million here... i cant imagine living anywhere with a population less than that

DanS · March 15, 2003, 21:51

How about where you live? Have you thought about what you would do if a dirty bomb went off in your city? Or a large scale anthrax or small pox attack?

Yes, I think about it.

A small scale anthrax attack nearly shut down some of the city in '01. I didn't receive mail for a couple of weeks. I can only imagine what a large scale attack would do.

A dirty bomb would put me up **** creek, considering that I live about half a mile from the WH.

ThePantaloonDog · March 16, 2003, 00:06

Not really, I mean if something like that did happen what could you possibly do? You still have to live your life.

Worthingtons · March 16, 2003, 00:53

I must admit seeing 'city' and then 5-6k was the biggest surpise for me in this thread. I have , for most of life life lived in a town of 250,000 . I now live in Derby, But i think it's safe from the terrorists here

GePap · March 16, 2003, 01:38

Living in what seem to be foreign terrorist's favorite target in the US, i can say I have no plans whatsoever to move. The thing about living in a city of 8 million is that it is big enough so that liekly, you will not be one of the dead. Now, in a small town....

Bosh · March 16, 2003, 01:43

Quote:

Buck, 100,000? That's a mega ****ing lopolis to me! It takes me a hour driving to get anywhere near a city that size. (Way too close)

Home in Maine I have to drive over an hour to hit 40K and that's the hell-hole of Bangor, which I tell all my friends at great length whenever they complain about how small our college town is

Timexwatch · March 16, 2003, 02:49

Dirty bomb? Oh well. I live withing a few blocks of the White House and intern of Capitol Hill. Of course I worry a bit, but then I really think about it...

The only thing one of those is likely to kill immediately is those in range of the blast. As long as I'm downwind/don't inhale many of the particles, I'll be allright.

cinch · March 16, 2003, 03:08

Quote:

I must admit seeing 'city' and then 5-6k was the biggest surpise for me in this thread. I have , for most of life life lived in a town of 250,000 . I now live in Derby, But i think it's safe from the terrorists here

Quote:

Is, like, the tow-village distinction way different from country to country? My parents have a summer house in the village of Sülysáp in Hungary, which has a population of 7500, and no-one considers that a town! It's not even the largest village in the area by a good distance.

I think it must vary from place to place. I live in a town of 5000, and generally, everything over 10 000 is considered a city.

Don't know exactly when a village becomes a town, though...

MichaeltheGreat · March 16, 2003, 04:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Lancer
I live in a city of 5000-6000. The breeze blows fairly constantly, it's a terrible target for terrorists as they couldn't kill many people here.

How about where you live? Have you thought about what you would do if a dirty bomb went off in your city? Or a large scale anthrax or small pox attack?

Have you thought at all about a nice quiet place in the country?

In the 60s some people put bomb shelters in their yards.

Recently I saw a show about 'panic rooms' that are basicly steel boxes that people could wait out danger in...selling like hotcakes. I wonder though, could a person wait out a dirty bomb? Aren't radioactive particles going to be around long term?

Strange feeling, kind of like those old cold war days, hiding under the desk at school.

Thoughts on how terrorism might figure in your decisions?

The more I hear the crap about various threat scenarios, the more I'm convinced that it is not a result of an immediate, bona-fide threat, but rather the governments desire to make people feel threatened, and feel the "need" for government policies.

We simply have to keep this "war" going against this ever-present but unseen enemy. And oh, trust in the good faith of your dedicated government servants, who only have America's interests at heart.

Don't pay attention to that little man behind the curtain.

Dis · March 16, 2003, 05:12

how many times do I have to say it.

You cannot go through life fearing terrorism

Many of these anti-war protestors say we shouldn't go to war because we would cause more terrorist attacks. They are a bunch of pussies. There I said it. Many of these anti-war people have nothing against violence. In fact many of them are violent themselves. They are just pussies who fear terrorism.

I live in a pretty good target city. And you don't see me scared. And I admit I do fear some things in life. But terrorism is not one of them.

Dis · March 16, 2003, 05:14

dirty bombs are not a serious threat btw.

There only purpose is to spread fear. They would spread very little radioactive material. Most terrorists would not know how to create a "good" dirty bomb. The best way to do it would be to ground up the radioactive material into very fine particles. But I doubt they would do this- unless they read this site

.

Harovan · March 16, 2003, 05:22

I lived my whole life in cities 500,000 and above. Now, two years ago, I moved to the country, to a village with 2,500 inhabitants. Not because I fear terrorists, but because I am sick of noise, smog and traffic jam. Life is so much better here, and if I want some action or night life, I have 5 cities within 30 minutes car drive.

Dis · March 16, 2003, 05:35

don't get me wrong, I would live in a small town if I could find a decent paying job.

But that is the hard part. The reason I live in the city I live in is because of job opportunities.

Sandman · March 16, 2003, 08:01

If the terrorists are wasting their time with chemical and biological weapons, then I'll sleep more soundly.

Buck Birdseed · March 16, 2003, 09:54

The reason I live (or would like to live) in a city is that I can just walk outside and be in a bustling, interesting, architecturally and culturally varied metropolis, buy anything I like when I like it, explore a new neighbourhood every day.