Portland "unhappiest city" (Phoenix: tornadoes, earthquakes, living)

[lilypad]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Oh my.

Your friendly neighborhood "jingoist".

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by lilypad

Your friendly neighborhood "jingoist".

Yes; that's quite clear. Perhaps you should consider Northern Idaho rather than the PDX area.

[EnricoV]

Yeah, the criteria they use seems a little suspect for a number of reasons. I'll give them the suicide rate. That's a pretty exact statistic. But the rest ...

Cloudy days do not equate to unhappiness. Why don't cold days. Or humid days. Or sunny days. And I love that image they dug up, of low-hanging fog over the city. As though that's what a cloudy day is like. Fog like that happens, what, a couple times a year?

Drug sales statistics on anti-depressants. Does that mean people are unhappy? Maybe they would be if they weren't taking their medication, but the fact that they're selling the medication, wouldn't that mean that they're being treated, and not then depressed? I mean, the number of people enrolled in school doesn't equate to the number of stupid people there are.

Simply using divorce rates? What about counting the unmarried, wanna-be-married people. Why isn't that a better determination of unhappiness? Or the unhappily married? Does divorced equal unhappiness? Or does it mean you got yourself out of an unhappy situation?

I've got an idea of how they can determine it. How about they do a sample survey of people, and actually ask them if they're happy or not, rather than using a set of arbitrary "statistics" to claim they equal unhappiness.

[subsound]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

Drug sales statistics on anti-depressants. Does that mean people are unhappy? Maybe they would be if they weren't taking their medication, but the fact that they're selling the medication, wouldn't that mean that they're being treated, and not then depressed? I mean, the number of people enrolled in school doesn't equate to the number of stupid people there are.

Simply using divorce rates? What about counting the unmarried, wanna-be-married people. Why isn't that a better determination of unhappiness? Or the unhappily married? Does divorced equal unhappiness? Or does it mean you got yourself out of an unhappy situation?

Agreed, there's a good number of people I know that are happily not married to their partner, are very young, or would be even less happy with their old wife/husband. Not a good stat there.

Neither is antidepressants, there's a big difference between clinical depression and being unhappy.

[John Shaft]

Originally Posted by hymalaia

our mayor is a pedophile? He screwed an 18 year old. Last I checked, that's over the age of consent. Even if he was younger than legal, 17 is still an adult, physically. When we catch Adams with a 10 year old, then we can discuss pedophilia. In the meantime maybe you should refrain from tossing out such loaded words. I'm not saying his behavior was "right", but let's take it for what it is, an error of judgment.

If you really believe that these are the facts/truth about the situation ("Well, Sam said so, so it must be the case"), then you deserve the guy as your mayor.

The law says 18. 17 is legally underage. Jail bait still = pedophilia.

Bottom line, the mayor shouldn't be scoping 17/18 yr old kids while on his employer's dime. Where else would something like this just be an "error of judgment." I'd be fired from my job; you'd be fired from your job.

[lilypad]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Yes; that's quite clear. Perhaps you should consider Northern Idaho rather than the PDX area.

There is enough work here to keep me busy for a long time.....

[karlsch]

Enough of the “unhappiest place to live” threads. How about some publicity for the happiest place, Portland without the cloudy weather, suicides and unemployment problems:

YouTube - The Big Rock Candy Mountain

[Foreverking]

Seriously folks, I think you all are trying to justify BS. Dont the majority of you feel better when its sunny out. all I heard while I was there on the 90 sunny days a year were "wow, its a beautiful day, too bad I gotta work" .

Just admit it, there is nothing wrong with admitting that 9 months of mostly cloudy weather year after year starts to get to you.

[Lilly12103]

My issue is that anecdotally, yes, you can say that when it is sunny and beautiful you are happier than when it is cloudy. But the methodology of this survey is what many of us are taking issue with.

Although maybe now the "stay the hell away from my city" preachers will have something to combat the articles about how Portand is the greenest/best for biking/walking/most awesome city in the world studies!

[Élan vital]

I've only lived in the area a few months but so far the weather is awesome to me.
I moved from an area known for sunshine and warm weather and I can tell you this--there is such a thing as too much sunshine!! I hate hot sunny days. Humidity+sunshine+heat= me very unhappy
One thing I notice here(and those of you who are from here may not even notice) there is little to no road rage here what a pleasant surprise. In Mobile,where I lived; there is SO much road rage. It's unbelievable! I think so much anger and hostility comes from the damn heat and humidity there. It's miserable. People b***h and moan about it from April-November
The weather here is is a welcome relief!

Originally Posted by Foreverking

Seriously folks, I think you all are trying to justify BS. Dont the majority of you feel better when its sunny out. all I heard while I was there on the 90 sunny days a year were "wow, its a beautiful day, too bad I gotta work" .

Just admit it, there is nothing wrong with admitting that 9 months of mostly cloudy weather year after year starts to get to you.