AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by nixcity

How is it that the US is in its' weakest position in a generation when we've been faaaaaar outspending other nations on our military during said generation?
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s...ion%20combined.

That's a dangerously wrong assumption that the American weakness was all about its military.

Additionally, I wouldn't trust some Stockholm Peace Institute's number gathering prowess especially with countries like Russia and China. Are you certain that they are truthful and forthcoming with their expenditures? I think not.

[nixcity]

Lol, and you think we are?
https://www.yahoo.com/video/pentagon...s9kjfz3tAUwNZm

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by nixcity

Lol, and you think we are?
https://www.yahoo.com/video/pentagon...s9kjfz3tAUwNZm

OK...you still don't get it.

Good luck to you.

[We vs us]

We can't -- and never could -- project non-nuclear power into all corners of the earth. One of the probs with Ukraine is it's so close to the old Soviet sphere of influence. Literally on Russia's doorstep. It would be impossible in so many different ways to support Ukraine militarily. It's not about US weakness -- it's just practical limitations.

[zx14]

Seems like this will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality. However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by zx14

Seems like this [98 Red River] will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality. However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

Well, there you go.

[shoreditch]

Originally Posted by zx14

Seems like this will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality. However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

You sort of fail here to capture Austin's unique essence though, and that is its vibrant economy, which I don't think anyone would argue is better positioned than San Antonio's. Austin also occupies a larger part of the zeitgeist than Houston or Dallas (whether that's deserved is another question), but I certainly think it counts as a 'major' city these days, and it certainly contains all the contours of a city that will have enormous economic importance for a generation.

[Strayone]

It would be very hard to add any of the big 4 sports in Austin. 1st and foremost the Longhorns are Austin! They have their own cable Network. And no way Jerrah would let an NFL team expand anywhere in Tx. NBA fans here are big Spurs fans...maybe if they hadn't been so successful during their semi Dynasty of 2 decades, there might be some consideration. And Hockey won't cut it in Austin, and we have a triple A team as is. But none the less I'll be fine with a near world class skyline. BTW has anyone come up with a nickname for this building? I'm stumped as to a fitting nomer for it.

Originally Posted by zx14

Seems like this will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality. However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by zx14

Seems like this will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality. However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

Your definition of 'major city' and characterization of Austin is very 1970s. Soccer and F1 are major international sports. Austin is way more of a global player than any city in Ohio or Kentucky.

[migol24]

What Strayone said is true. If Austin had an NBA team I probably wouldn't support them. Go Spurs Go!

[Lobotomizer]

So many points to counter, but I just can't get motivated to do so.

The proof is in the pudding, though. Austin is most certainly a "major city" now. It is however a characterization which only quite recently would be accurate, unlike some which already would've been considered as such a century or more ago.

[clubtokyo]

I don’t even know how to respond to that gibberish. Austin already has two major league teams MLS and MLR plus F1 and they are doing just fine. We can certainly support Major Sports.

[Atom_Mirny]

Originally Posted by zx14

Seems like this will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality. However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

ok boomer.

The entire reason Austin is growing the way it is is that it DOESN'T have the baggage of those cities.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by masonh2479

Unfortunately true, if only Ukraine could’ve became a NATO member but everyone was too afraid of what Russia would do. It’s a sad time we live in, peace never seems to come.

I think the issue is had we extended NATO privledges to Ukraine after the Crimean invasion it would have forced NATO action which would have escalated.

I think the sad reality is no one was willing to risk war with Russia over Ukraine and Putin new it. It was better for NATO to not look weak by failing to protect Ukraine which would have softened NATO resolve.

For better or worse, Ukraine wound up being the acceptable sacrifice to keep NATO in a position of strength. It looks like Finland and Sweeden may finally want in as a result of this, so in the long-run it may have been the "correct" move, but tell that to the Ukranian's whose very Western democracy is about to not exist.

[myBrain]

Major league sports teams are just private businesses. Their association with a city is literally just marketing used to build up a fan base and secure economic incentives from local governments. At least in some parts of Europe the clubs can be part-owned by local fan clubs or municipalities that makes their association with the city more concrete. Here, it's a rich guy (or a gaggle of them) who can move the team pretty much whenever they please.

I'm a big fan of Austin FC, namely for the experience of actually going to a game (completely counter to MOST major league sports fans who are generally lucky to make it to one of their team's games once a season or even once every few years, and who are largely experiencing the team that nominally represents their city through the TV), it's just silly to think that a sports team represents a city's identity.

[StoOgE]

What the hell is going on in here?

Austin's skyline is not the only thing "Major" about the city - our GDP increased by 50% from 2010 to 2018 and while we don't have stats yet I would not be shocked to find that we've come close to doubling our GDP since 2010.

Our population growth is off the charts. Our per capita income is in the top 20 nationally.

The idea that Austin is an outgrown college town is a though stuck in the late 90s. It's simply ceased to be the case and pointing to legacy institutions like the Spurs (who only exist because of a merger of a minor basketball league) or museums which are a function of how long a city has been large are silly.

Yes, Austin has improvements the city needs to make to catch up to the sort of cultural and social institutions you expect of a city of our size and importance but acting as though we aren't a "major" city because you have arbitrarily set "has a zoo" or "has an MLB team" as the metrics that you measure a city by is extremely silly.

Also, I guarantee you hosting an F1 race and SXSW make Austin a much more "known" city internationally than Columbus, OH with a "big 4" sports team.

Austin will wind up with a major sports team (I would argue MLS' growth over the next decade will supplant the NHL nationally - though the NHL will regionally be dominant in parts of the country) in the next 20 years. I would bet anything on it, but it won't mean that Austin is finally a "big city". Austin will have already been a big city. Pro sports teams are a scarce resource - there are limited numbers of them and moving legacy teams to new locations is not easy and expansions are not common in the "big 4" sports.

[lonewolf]

since zelensky became president (2019) they have made significant strides towards nato membership. eg conducting military drills together and Ukraine while not a member ukraine is like an "enhanced partner" or something with nato. both of those started within last 2 years. this conflict makes a lot of people look bad. russia, ukraine, nato, US, EU. many mistakes brought us here.

[nixcity]

OK...you still don't get it.

Good luck to you.

Awesome, so please, please enlighten me. Explain to us all here why you think the US is weaker now than it was a generation ago, CAN'T WAIT!

[mercury6]

this thread belongs in a dumpster

[enragedcamel]

Originally Posted by zx14

Seems like this will really happen. Amazing considering Austin is not a major city but a college town with good night life and a quirky unique personality.

Austin has not been this since at least 2010, if not much earlier. We are the 11th largest city in the US, and will probably become the 10th in the next couple of years. Among cities with over half a million people, we're the second fastest growing city.

Originally Posted by zx14

However those who have said Austin is in the big leagues now seem to base this on our growing quite impressive skyline. But Austin has no major league sports (soccer is not a major sport just the big 4). We are over shadowed by Dallas and Houston and maybe San Antonio though that one is more of a large tourist town with a basketball team though it does over shadow Austin a bit. We have no major zoo or amusement parks. Austin needs a real sports team to establish its identity among the rest of the country also something for all Austinites to rally around. But until then cities with a smaller population such as Cincinnati near to me seem to be much more professional looking at the stadiums it gives you a felling you are in a major city. A major city can not be dominated by a college such as UT does to Austin. So again we are the least (major) city on Earth with a super tall.

You're right about zoos and amusement parks, but I couldn't care less about major league sports, and I resent that you're using that as the criteria to determine if a city feels like it's a "major" city. It's a completely subjective evaluation.

Bottom line:

Originally Posted by Atom_Mirny

ok boomer.