[extropy-chat] Best place to live in USA

[David Lubkin]

At 11:31 AM 12/31/2003 +0000, BillK wrote:

>Money Magazine's Hottest Towns
>         :
>Now the question is: Why no places in New Hampshire in the top 81?
>Too much snow? ;)

I'm not sure how much their assessment criteria vary year-to-year but 
Nashua, New Hampshire was chosen twice by Money Magazine as the best town 
in America, in 1987 and 1997.  And, as I recall, other towns in Southern NH 
appeared in the top list in those years.  I can't speak to other years; 
those I remember because I drive past the "Welcome to Nashua" sign every day.

As far as I can tell, the only reason why Southern NH towns don't appear 
this year is that the area has a lot of residents who work in high-tech, 
and the recession hit hard.  I suspect that NH will be back in the top list 
next year.

Personally, I like the Places Rated Almanac better as a first step in 
assessing where to live.  A lot more factors considered and tables of data, 
raw or synopsized for your cerebral pleasure.  (Which reminds me:  Nashua 
has two great sushi restaurants -- one we have used to take visiting 
Japanese VIPs to, the other has French bistro desserts.)

>So it looks as though you have to be hardy to live in NH.
>Not suitable for Florida retiree types!  :)

After 16 years here, winters are my only gripe.  If you like to ski, 
however, winter is good.  And a lot of the storms largely miss us -- Boston 
and the Cape get the worst; we get the outer edge.

I'm not particularly hardy, though.  You just need to be adequately 
prepared.  Good jacket, boots, vehicle, snow blower, and a job that lets 
you work from home when you don't feel like braving the snow.


-- David Lubkin.