Spyke

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309 replies

startrek.website

Man in a few million years that tweet is gonna look hella dumb

202
sh.itjust.works

The Appalachians have been mountains longer than North America has been a continent

175
gigastasioreply
sh.itjust.works

To the extent that a portion of the mountain chain that formed the Appalachian Mountains is in Europe. The Appalachians were a part of the Central Pangean mountain system, which makes them older than the Atlantic Ocean.

They’ve seen some shit.

124
sopuli.xyz

That's kind of awesome to think about.

I'm picturing myself on Pangea. The mountains in front of me are taller than the Himalayas today. These are the Appalachians. Oh no, a dinosaur! Look out, duck! Huh, that's not a duck that's a QUETZALCOATLUS! Everybody run! How can we outrun a QUETZALCOATLUS?!?!?! AAAHHHHHH.

Isn't it beautiful?

38
lemmy.world

Wikipedia says they date back 480 million years, during the Ordovician period. I think the atmosphere would have been pretty breathable, but plants wouldn't conquer the land in a serious way for at least another 60 million years or so, with bugs following them. Nothing saw those mountains. If you time-traveled to the Pangean mountains, you would be the only being to ever observe them in their formative years. Eons would pass before the first plant set root at their feet. The sterile and desolate emptiness would be beyond human experience.

24
lemmy.world

I think the atmosphere would have been pretty breathable

HELLA breathable bruh..

13
Zwiebelreply
feddit.org

Did you just snap a pic in your uni's hallway

5
lemmy.world

Wdym?

You don't keep a correlated history of earth at your desk? What do you do if you forget which stage is the latest stage of the upper Devonian, Frasnian or Famennian?

6

That's intense. Must feel good when you get to whip it out

3

WTH? There's no ham radio bands on that glossy desk side chart!

3

The couple of people who've been on the moon have seen that kind of emptiness

7

but plants wouldn't conquer the land in a serious way for at least another 60 million years or so
...
Eons would pass before the first plant set root at their feet.

Pretty sure the mountains will still be there. Spoiler alert. I started at the end of the book.

you would be the only being to ever observe them in their formative years.
...
The sterile and desolate emptiness would be beyond human experience.

That's badass though. Except that we might be returning to that sterile and desolate emptiness here shortly.

Also, don't forget that fungi, algae, and lichen colonized dry land before the plants arrived, paving the way for them by eating rocks and pooping dirt.

6

And through it all, the mountains can all agree.......trump is the biggest piece of shit they've ever heard of.

23
ChicoSuavereply
lemmy.world

And as old as that is, sharks are older than the mountains.

17

Sharks are older than the North Star. Not as in Polaris wasn't pointing north yet when the sharks evolved, but as in it hadn't formed yet.

21
lemmy.world

They're the bones of the world dawg. It's why there's so much spooky scary shit here (I live in Appalachia.)

29
Spitefirereply
lemmy.world

Not just the bones of the world, they're older than bones.

22
sudoshakesreply
reddthat.com

Older than trees.

Older than bones.

Drones from land masses that don’t exist anymore.

There is rock in the Appalachian mountains without coal seams, because many formed in places before the land biomass that made coal and oil existed.

They contain layers of fossils from ancient whales back to small crustaceans.

480 million years ago trilobites were being heft out of the sea by the Appalachians.

The Appalachians existed for 20 million years before bearing witness to a million year long meteor shower from the L-chondrite debris that gave the earth temporary rings.

34

This is th e best comment I've read on lemmy for a long time. Fascinating info and well written. Thanks for taking the time.

9

And prominence of many is still impressive. And there's Mount Washington, where it's so crazy you can't predict the weather 15 minutes out.

3
lemmy.world

And the white man brought inbreeding to those hallowed peaks and expects it to be celebrated

1
lemmy.world

Its not the height, it's the age. Thar be eldritch monsters in the Appalachians. Rockies is just aliens and (Gay) Bigfoot

74
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Hey now, do you really think all the eldritch monsters just stayed in the appalachians? No.

Thats why there are skinwalkers in the rockies; they’re just wendigo that heard there were taller mountains forming in the west and decided to migrate over.

/s

6
sh.itjust.works

Western trails: Ascend on nicely-graded switchbacks.

Eastern trails: Ascend straight up a seasonal creek bed.

65
mbpreply
slrpnk.net

That's actually incredibly real

I about died on old butt knob in NC at my peak fitness

17
lemmy.world

If you like that one, check out Beaver Lick and Big Bone Lick.

4

Thats cute.

Look at the danish mountains and despair!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmelbjerget

Sky Mountain! a whopping peak height of 140m elevation. A hike so deadly that it is a time honored tradition to let our kindergarten aged children 'climb' it. Takes an afternoon (barely) and theres a small giftshop selling icecream and knick knacks on top of it.

Try and best that yanks! 😎

47
Techno-ratreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

the dutch and the danish, united in having a flat as fuck country and a love for pastries ✊

7
lemmy.world

Just love the first sentence

Himmelbjerget ("The Sky Mountain" or "The Mountain of Heaven") is a hill

9

My hometown has a "mountain" almost twice as tall as this. And it’s nowhere near the Alps or Rocky Mountains.

4

Sky Mountain? Then it's basically the same as the Tian Shan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3
lemmy.world

I love my Cascades and the Rockies are majestic and impressive, but the Appalachians are basically the wizened old crones of mountains. They're weird and mysterious. They're full of forests and traditions and stories. They demand respect.

Also, listen, folks from the eastern Midwest are barely used to hills then having to drive through them is scary.

44

I'm in Minnesota and I get super carsick just driving in Wisconsin. I've gone up the mountain on Orcas island in Washington and it was very beautiful but I actually thought I was gonna hurl. It feels just like those pirate ship carnival rides. I really don't know how people ride those without getting sick.

However the small mountains (more like big hills tbh) along the north shore of Lake Superior are fine and don't make sick at all for some reason.

7

Pallisade head! I love the north shore. Moved away and miss it quite a bit

4
Bluefalconreply
discuss.tchncs.de

Don't forget, they are older and LOCATED IN THE RIGHT SPOT! Fucking Rockies just decide to pop up wherever they feel like.

Edit: spelling is hard

4
JcbAzPxreply
lemmy.world

I don't know. The Appalachians technically span an ocean. Though, they have a different name on the other side.

4
lemmy.zip

if "my mountains can beat up your mountains" is some element of the conversation, i'm not talking at all, i'm walking the other direction

43
lemmy.world

What if it's a titty fight, but nobody wants to say the word titty?

22

I've found they're a double edged sword, they do great until your bar is stuck in her ring…

2
The_vreply
lemmy.world

South America looks at both and snorts... "You call those mountains!!" These babies are started with the breakup of Pangea and are still growing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes

First time I was flying into Santiago, I was amazed when we hit 3,000m and looked way up at the mountains out the window.

10

They also have the only empire we know of that used mountains as its imperial core rather than as internal boundaries. Even Rome which was located in the famously mountainous Italy and was a land power treated the mountains as an inconvenience. But the Inca were just like "fuck you, we're mountain people"

4
sh.itjust.works

They're both gorgeous. Why do we have to pit two queens against one another?

41
rabberreply
lemmy.ca

Because one is prettier and it's not even close

-6
lemmy.world

Not everyone likes huge Mountains, smaller ones are perfectly fine, even preferred!

4

Yeah that's why the Olympics are the crown jewel of the US

1
rumbareply
lemmy.zip

A decent number of the Appalachians have roads that go near the top.

4
Speltrongreply
feddit.org

That just means they have better engineers and braver drivers, or the mountains are older and they had more time

2

braver drivers,

I used to joke that there were no bad drivers in WV, you either learned how to drive or you fell twenty feet off the road and got impaled by a tree. Unfortunately, since I was a kid we've put guard rails on a lot of those places.

8

We get it, people from the west coast, you're better than us, we fucking get it.

Y'all can find something else to jack off about now.

29
Warl0k3reply
lemmy.world

Hey, while you might not win on education, healthcare, quality of life or cultural attitudes towards racism, you can always come at the west coast over this BS:

"It'S tHe IcE tHaTs ThE pRoBlEm" sure, and the fact there's eight whole plows in the entire state and nobody even understands the concept of winter tires is just totally unrelated...

(/j ❤️)

17
sp3ctr4lreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Seattle, just the city limits of Seattle, has hills taller than things I've heard people in the midwest call mountains.

That being said, yeah, you are absolutely correct that almost fucking nobody in the PNW knows jack shit about driving in the snow.

They also know jack shit about driving in the rain, which is... baffling for hopefully obvious reasons.

7
lemmy.world

Yeah the elevation makes driving in snow scary. People in the PNW also can't fucking drive on flat snow, but I get it, I learned to drive under the lake effect. But yeah this is easy mode rain driving. The wind isn't pushing you, there's no surprise rivers, it's just wet ground with your wipers on and it's like that for half the year. You don't bother using an umbrella, why can't you drive in this rain

3

I learned how to drive in the snow because I grew up in the foothills, the boonies. Snow and inclines, flash floods, windstorms take down so many trees that all the routes to ... fucking anywhere are blocked for days to a week, along with the power grid.

I, foolishly, expected that that was normal, that everybody learned how treacherous weather can be on driving.

All these damn city slickers just be fucking playing bumper cars, watchin their tiktoks, gorramit!

Ptooie!

2

Oh yeah folks out here can barely handle snow unless it's on a mountain, even up north where it snows. Meanwhile my Ohioan ass can't deal with ice + elevation, but I kinda love driving on ice about once or twice a year. Give me a blizzard that cuts the power out over a heat wave with no AC.

I also miss windstorms, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. The sky should try to kill you from time to time. It keeps you sharp. Fuck noreasters and hurricanes though, that's too much.

2
lemmy.world

Nah, this is more fun to jack off to. Speaking of, have y'all heard how terrible the Cali Burritos are out east?

17
Th3D3k0yreply
lemmy.world

I've never even heard of a Cali Burrito. Is it made of acid rain and somehow simultaneously water shortages?

13

It's a Pittsburgh sandwich but burrito form and with guac. I had to look it up and am not impressed, just like the Pittsburghers failed to impress me. The fries are better on the side dang it

3
lemmy.world

You'd think if it were true they wouldn't spend so much time trying to prove it. They doth protest too much

11

Right?

It legitimately just leaves a bad taste in my mouth regarding the west coast and particularly California

And I don't want to feel like that! Like I know those places are cool and have beautiful natural settings and intelligent people and awesome culture.

You don't have to trash talk the entire other half of the country to convince me that you guys have merit.

It's low-key what someone with incredibly low self esteem does.

7

I think it's similar to how the US as a whole is. We're a young country so we felt we had to prove ourselves for a long time, but eventually everyone got the message and we held prestige, but we were still insecure and bragging which wound up making us look worse.

Within the country, the west coast had a similar experience. California had to prove it's worth against established and respected places like Philadelphia and New York. But we all get it now. Everyone knows it's awesome out here, and the Eastern prestige largely just remains in the coastal cities, and it's not like people are moving to Hartford to make it big anymore. And it feels like rubbing it in when you've got places like the Rust Belt that continue to struggle.

4
lemmy.zip

whatever you do, just don't live down there

27

Sometimes it's not the moutains that get you, it's the smaller hills and valleys surrounding them because there are actually people and roads there.

Sometimes if you make a wrong turn in Pittsburgh, you are not just going the wrong direction but are also at the wrong elevation or on the wrong layer, and there's no looping around the block to get back to where you started.

Disclaimer: This thread led me to read the Wikipedia article about Appalachia. Some definitions of the region do not include Pittsburgh or even parts of Pennsylvania, but at the same time there's a photo of downtown Pittsburgh at the top of the article, so I went with it.

19
lemmy.world

The highest wind speed ever recorded on Earth until 1996 was on Mt. Washington, NH. That's gotta count for some cool points.

17

They could just put some spoilers on there for downforce

8

I'm pretty sure Galehead and Lake of the Clouds are also chained down.

2
lemmy.today

The geographical feature that you have no control over is for losers.

17
lemmy.world

What's that? Can't hear you, I'm a mile above sea level and breathing the freshest god damn air on Earth.

4
qarbonereply
lemmy.world

Up? Where all my smog goes?

Nice try, skylanders. I'm going underground, where the real fresh air is hiding.

4

How do you know our Deep Anthems?! Reveal your treasonous source, skylander!

2
JoeBigelowreply
lemmy.ca

Going crazy trying to figure out where you're standing for that angle. From the south west?

3
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Pretty sure I'm at the top of Jackson slide on colden looking at Algonquin.

Actually maybe cruciflyer

3

Oh shit, I thought I was looking at Washington from a funny angle. I always forget about the 'Dacks, typical Maine behavior.

2
lemmy.world

I mean that's a nice hill, I guess. I can see taller ones in every cardinal direction from my house.

-3

The Sierra Nevadas are no joke. If you drive through them in wintertime you are absolutely taking a risk, not only because you're driving on windy (if well-maintained) mountain highways, but you may get stuck in snow despite your chains and will freeze to death.

If you are lucky, a CHP or forest ranger may see you and help you out.

Heaven forbid you have engine trouble or run out of fuel.

16
nullspacereply
lemmy.world

DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS THROUGH THE SIERRAS!

STICK TO ESTABLISHED TRAILS!

10

Nah, me and my elephants will cross it, and they shall not expect it!

4

But that Hastings guy said this route would save like 2 weeks!

3
lgmjon64reply
lemmy.world

I live in the Sierras and always keep a change of clothes, 72 hours of food and water (plus filter), a small pack, fishing gear and a radio in my car. You never know what could happen. I've had quick fishing trips turn into unplanned overnighters and had snow or fallen trees or wildfires block roads at all times of the year. We have exactly 2 roads into and out of our little valley.

9
lemmy.world

Can we get a map of mountain deaths? Mt Washington would run up the scoreboard.

15
quokk.au

Do murders on mountains count? Then there are definitely mountains with way higher kill counts than anything in the Rockies, in the Appalachian mountains.

3
quokk.au

also plenty of historically bad neighborhoods, and towns, with long histories of violent crime.

2
lemmy.world

Also the genocide and wars, though idk how much of that was on mountains rather than in valleys

1

Yeah, there really isn't any recorded history for that, unfortunately. From what I am to understand most of the natives in Appalachia died after DeSoto tore through the place looking for precious metals as he basically was just a bio-weapon.

2

Right? Just cuz your mountains are tall doesnt mean theyre spooky smh

1
lemmy.world

As someone from the west coast and now living on the east coast, the number one thing I can say is.... the food sucks. All of it.

East coast food culture sucks.

Its either bland or some unholy pairing of bullshit (that also sucks). And I also think they go out of their way to make things wrong.

Try to order a "California Burrito" (if you dont know, Google it, pretty common), so what does Virginia think goes in it? Chicken, steak and shrimp and beans... thats not "choice of meat", that all 3 together. None of which is what is a California Burrito is...

Here in Viriginia they just fuck up everything. Order a Philly Cheesesteak... what do they put in it? Fucking lettuce and tomatoes.... what's not in it, fucking cheese. You get more authentic subs from big chains like Subway. Like these people dont have the internet to search.

Oh, and sit down at a Mexican restaurant, theyll bring you chips with white sauce. Everyone else is thinking "oh cool queso". No, not queso.... its mayo with some onion powder.... these mf serve tortilla chips with mayonnaise.....

15
lemmy.world

I had "chili" in Virginia once, and it was literally beans and tomatoes in water and salt.

I'm not gonna tell you what date this happened because I don't want the murders traced back to me.

22
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

No man.

Just grabbed some dinner with the kid at a Mexican restaurant in town.. all I wanted was a burrito and they wouldn't give it to me. Just one Cali burrito and they wouldn't give it to me.....

12
LemmyFeedreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I'm not crazy. INSTITUTION!
You're the one that's crazy. INSTITUTION!
You're driving me crazy. INSTITUTION!

8
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

I'm glad someone got that, cuz I was gonna feel real fucking old.

3
lemmy.world

I'm further North and we have great Mexican. I'm not sure about a California Burrito but I'll check it out!

5
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

Just tell them how to make it, or make sure they look it up. Don't let "get creative" with it. If it doesnt have fries IN the burrito, its not a california burrito.

2

Did you move from a more densely populated area to a less densely populated area? Because if I moved from my bigger city with amazing food to a nearby smaller city, my food options would immediately suck

4
lemmy.world

California Burrito

Carne asada, guacomole salsa, pico de gallo, french fries, a bit of cheese. A BIT like a tiny bit.

Its not a fucking delicacy, its a drunken fools only hope at 4 AM. Its not meant for a plate. Burritos are not meant for church. Its not high fucking art. Its fucking food and its meant to be a way.

these mf serve tortilla chips with mayonnaise…

27
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

My man, my fucking man, let me show you this shit.

Restuarant 1

WITH fries. Like, as a side. Not in the burrito, neverminding everything else wrong.

Heres a different restaurant also nearby

Beans and rice? Wheres the fries??

Fucking google that shit.... its like everyone out here heard that California burritos are popular and did literally NO further looking into it. Just made some shit up.

And look at this shit... you see that white "dipping sauce" there? Thats not queso...

16
Pudutr0nreply
lemmy.world

Your burrito is now their burrito. This is what it feels like, btw.

Beat regards,

A hispanic

16

Finally, I, a white man, knows what gentrification and cultural appropriation feels like. And it feels bad man.

6
lemmy.world

I mean. Somewhat.

Like its kind of bullshit to make a claim that this isn't appropriation/ gentrification/ whatever your proffered framing is. At the same time, Lola's 7 up in barrio Carlsbad has been around almost a hundred years. Some place in El Cajon, Escondido, spots in LA, all over southern California.. its not like the people living there stopped being Mexican when the border moved. And its truly injust to "make invisible" the people who have lived in some of these areas since it wasn't even Mexico, but Spain, and dismiss their cooking traditions because especially on the west coast of alta and baja california, the cultural centers weren't in modern Mexico. They were LA, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco (the mission, hello).

5
Pudutr0nreply
lemmy.world

Sir, I've been waiting for my burrito for more than 2 hours now.

9
protistreply
retrofed.com

That second California burrito is definitely a Texas burrito. We do beans and rice in ours. I've literally never heard of fries going in a burrito, and the concept makes me uncomfortable lmao

9
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

I got no qualms with rice and beans in a burrito. Love it, good stuff.... but don't call it a fucking california burrito.

1
protistreply
retrofed.com

This post is the first time I've ever even heard that a California burrito is a specific thing

3
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

I mean, you implied you live in Texas, right? No one in Texas is ever gonna try to present California as a good thing.....

But you owe it yourself to try it. Good California Burrito is simple. It has carne asada, french fries, pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream in a flour tortila. That's the minimum.

But, bump it up, substitute salsa cremosa for the sour cream and just slather it on. Or, fuck it, do both, I won't judge if you like your burritos dripping wet. Put some cheese in there if you want, stick to cheddar/colby/jack.

2

No one in Texas is ever gonna try to present California as a good thing…..

Why would you say that?! California is amazing in many ways. I just think french fries on a burrito sounds very strange...

Most of the time when I get a burrito here, it includes chopped smoked chicken, chorizo, or al pastor as the protein, with mexican rice, refried beans, avocado, lettuce, pico, and jack cheese. Sometimes I'll include sour cream or salsa, usually a roja for me but tomatillo is super popular. Cholula also

2
lemmy.world

Not sure what's going on here, but we had a different name for eating cum off a bland tortilla chip when I was a youth. We also didn't typically do it in restaurants.

8

Damn, you weren’t even exaggerating a little.

Thanks for bringing the receipts on these atrocities, they’re both hilarious and heartbreaking 🥲

7
BigDictionreply
lemmy.world

Not to be a pendejo but fries in burrito is a San Diego thing. Most everywhere else does not do that.

2
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

yea okay sure, but imagine this. You order al pastor and they put the pineapples on the side..... Like, they almost understood the assignment, they know pineapples are related to it.... but, if they're not together, you don't call that shit al pastor

2
lemmy.blahaj.zone

East coast food culture sucks

Order a Philly Cheesesteak

So, um, just curious, but which coast do you think those are from?

25
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

Listen, I know Philly is more east than west.... but Ive had a Philly cheesesteak on the west coast. It was awesome... now... explain this shit being served here in Virginia, on the east coast..

Is that a Philly? Do you wanna claim that?

6

To be fair... It says it is a Philly Steak Sub... Not a Cheesesteak. As a steak sub that's not a horrible combination.

But it is still clear what they're trying to sell and is an abomination.

11

That sandwich is a crime no matter what they're trying to call it

If you can't make it up to Philadelphia, DC has some good places for cheesesteaks. It's been a few years, but I'll see if I can find the name of the place I liked

10

The best cheesesteaks I've had were on the east coast, not west coast. I've also had shitty versions of food everywhere by places that have no idea what they're doing, you can't just use some garbage a specific place offers and define regional food quality. For you next fun experiment try ordering a Cuban sandwich essentially anywhere outside of FL and you're likely to get some embarrassing mutated ham sandwich bullshit.

2

Dude, come north. Jersey has it all. I get cheesesteaks. I get California cheesesteaks. We benefit from proximity to New York and Philadelphia without living in either one. And great beaches.

But when I read your first post that east coast food culture sucks, it only made sense when I realized where you lived, or where you didn't live is probably more accurate. Diversity makes for great eats and Jersey is diverse af. And diverse diverse, people from everywhere just end up here being like "This isn't new York. Ehh, fuck it, good enough."

1
valarreply
lemmy.ca

As someone from the southeast I had the opposite reaction when visiting Cali. I felt like there was no soul in that food at all. More healthy tho.

Edit: Rethinking it, I'm actually sure there's good and bad in both places.

15
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

If youre visiting, get away from the tourist shops. This is true when you're visiting anywhere. Don't eat the food made for tourists.

Ask a local, find some place that has a dude selling burritos out of an unmarked doorway counter. If you see an old mexican lady wandering around with a ice chest behind her, shes selling homemade tamales, get that shit.

Food near tourist areas is made bland af to appeal the widest visiting audience.

13

As another person from the southeast, similar is true down here and most places: a locally known and mildly sketchy situation is the best! (Usually..)

Gas station places with a packed parking lot, open church bbqs, the smoky old dark wood panel places serving the best burger you ever had.

That said, the first time I had a proper tamale when I moved to Texas, omgosh! Magic.

7
Pudutr0nreply
lemmy.world

please keep the convo on track. we're talking about burritos

17

That I have but one upvote to give!

Here, have some Lemmy gold 🥫 (it's a can of beans)

7
Lucky_777reply
lemmy.world

You need to hit up the south. Amazing food. Sure the weather is hot af, the politics are fucking terrible, and you'll probably get some odd looks of you're not white.

But boy....that food. Put some pounds on you quick but you'll leave fat and sassy

11

Correct, barbeque from the south, dessert from the Amish, Italian from New York and nearby Italian grandmother's. If you get a burrito from some place that's bad that doesn't mean there isn't top tier food there.

8
Dudewitbowreply
lemmy.zip

how do they fuck that up lol the main thing that separates a cali burrito and a burrito is the french fries being IN the burrito. thats like one of the lowest hanging fruits to fuck up.

6

Right? And it would be one thing if just one restaurant fucked it up. You'd be like "well that restaurant is just dumb".... but its like..ALL of them. All of them fuck it up in different ways.

Its baffling....

4

What part of Virginia? Hampton Roads is basically only good for seafood, but they are good at it. Northern Virginia has diverse and interesting ethnic food options, but you have to look for them. Richmond I assume is the same. Western Virginia is kind of rural sprawl but the southern food is great.

4
starikreply
lemmy.today

Yeah, only the West Coast knows how to make a Philly cheesesteak, made famous by the West Coast city of Phil Francisco.

4

I think Virginia food just sucks dude. Clam chowder, Maryland crab cakes, Old bay on anything, Philadelphia and their pretzels and cheesesteaks, DC's international food, Maine's lobster, New York's bagels, New Jersey's wafer thin crispy pizza (yeah I think it's better than an NYC slice), sub sandwiches in the northeast, atlantic lox, atlantic cod, new england aged cheddar… Also are we counting bourbon country to be east? Because internationally renowned whiskeys.

Also a California burrito just looks like it's basically a Pittsburgh sandwich but in burrito form, and I'll tell California what I told Pittsburgh, the fries are better on the side.

Tbh the food of the west coast has failed to impress me. Is it better than the Midwest? Of course (except for fried dairy), that's not a high bar. There's plenty good, especially in Asian and Latin cuisines, but there's not even much weird local foods like Cincinnati chili, it's just "ah yeah this is grown/caught nearby and so it's fresh and popular". It is much better as a pescatarian though.

3
mbpreply
slrpnk.net

People are clowning on ya but I get it.

I grew up in Florida and moved to Oregon, the food culture was shit back home. People here will like watch you take that first bite and gauge your reaction; it kinda freaked me out at first lol. People are passionate as fuck about food here.

That being said, New Orleans still had some of the best food I've ever had in my life and it is on the East. Consider it the exception that proves the rule.

3

Counterpoint: fresh lobster. Ordering lobster in a restaurant is crazy expensive for no reason. Cheap and delicious during peak season (nb it may not be cheap anymore since I left the area 10 years ago)

2
alsimoneaureply
lemmy.ca

Counter point:

Clam chowder, poutine, maple

2
SailorFuzzreply
lemmy.world

this is East v West. Not vs North. Canada food doesn't count because Canadians aren't real.

1

That's east coast though. You'll find none of that in BC (not genuine anyways)

1

Oh I feel this so much, grew up primarily on the west coast (with some time on the east coast and in the south) and now that I'm living on the east coast again the general quality of food here is abysmal compared to average places I could find anywhere in places like Arizona, California, or Washington.

1

Oh I feel this so much, grew up primarily on the west coast (with some time on the east coast and in the south) and now that I'm living on the east coast again the general quality of food here is abysmal compared to average places I could find anywhere in places like Arizona, California, or Washington.

0
lemmy.ca

I love love love listening to my Western friends complaining about how much more difficult Appalachian trails are. See this creek bed? That's the trail. No pansy switchbacks to keep the grade nice. If there's a headwall, we're going straight to the lip.

13

A triple crowner once told me the hardest of the three trails physically is by far the AT, but it is the easiest logistically. The easiest physically is the CDT but is the most dangerous because of the logistical difficulties. The PCT is the nice middle ground

3
lemmy.today

I've lived in several places, all FLAT. Whenever I visit a mountainous place like Denver, it always seems so weird that there are these mountains always looming over me. At least you always know which way is west.

13
lemmy.today

I grew up in hill country and I cannot for the life of me understand how people live in the flatlands. It makes me physically uncomfortable.

10
Toga77reply
lemmy.world

Flat lands are like the liminal spaces of lands

5

Oh god, same. I'm a mountain kid, the plains make me agoraphobic as hell. I tried living in the Midwest. I literally was slowly going insane, the landscape and the people were driving me crazy. I'm not kidding, I had to come home and restart my prescription.

Praire madness is so damn real. I thought it was made up. NO. I love my mountains, I can't live without them.

3
lemmy.world

You see that little bump in the middle, those are the Ozark Mountains. The East coast's seem perfectly fine from here

11

Those mountains to the east have endured much more bullshit than those young whippersnapper ranges in the west. Their story begins as part of the African continental plate.

10
lemmy.world

The east coast has some teeth, Mt. Washington will absolutely ruin your day.

10
fedia.io

Edit: Oh wait... there is a Mt. Washington on the east coast. That ain't right.

I will never forget the day I fell coming down a run and it was snowing so fast I lost both my skis under a foot of snow before I could get back up hill to them. Good times :)

4
jlai.lu

I don't know a single thing about USA elevation. Is this map real?

9
lemmy.world

Well, yes and no. It's describing the real differences between elevation, but of course it's exaggerated to make the point.

...

The colors are not real, either, btw.

20

Yeah, the difference is really stark. If we weren't being awful I'd recommend folks check both out because our three major mountain ranges (in the northwest we have the cascades which are volcanic and just kinda near the Rockies) are all super cool.

The Appalachians are over a billion years old and gorgeous, largely covered in deciduous forests and range from bumfuck nowhere (great for campers and stuff like whitewater rafting) to abutting major cities in the east coast that tourists wanted to see anyways, like a day trip from New York City or not that long from Washington DC. Ultimately though yeah they're very small mountains because of their age. If you'd like to visit them without coming to the US a bit of the Scottish Highlands are somewhat part of the same range

The Rocky Mountains were raised during the cenozoic and as such are really tall because they're pretty young, but also have a ton of dinosaur fossils. They're majestic purple mountains and home to a major city (Denver) located a mile above sea level. They're also home to the famous Yellowstone National Park, where we've got geysers, extremophilic archea mats, and wild bison and bears. If you like geology or paleontology they're a great range to check out. They also reach well into Canada for anyone interested in checking them out without visiting the US

8

No, the Earth looks smooth to the naked eye when viewed from that distance.

11

Here is a typical physical map of the US:

Source: gisgeography.com

9
lemmy.world

Mountains in East Coast are generally older while mountains in West Coast are generally taller

8

Appalanchians are over 500 million years old. They need to sit down and rest more.

6

I live in Idaho. And I’ve heard if you flattened out all the mountains in Idaho. The resulting area would take up an space the size of Texas.

7
gdog05reply
lemmy.world

Nice to see a fellow Idahoan on Lemmy. Also, we should never do that lest we get another Ted Cruz.

3
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Huh, is that also why the western half is relatively unpopulated? It's not quite the inverse of the population density, but not too far off either...

6
webpreply
mander.xyz

No, it's because dysintery is hiding around every corner.

18

the west coast was formed by an acient change of massive volcanic activities, thats why its also very fertile soil.

4
lemmy.world

Some sign in iowa somewhere also says, "welcome to mount pleasant"

Where is the mountain, Iowa?

4
fedia.io

...don't like quaint...soon leads to little shops selling jars of jam for one-half side of toast

4

You can take my single-serving novelty cinnamon pear jam from my cold dead hands

3
lemmy.ca

what is the name of the "hills" in the southern midwest? what states do they cover?

3

The Ozarks, or the Ozark Plateau, or sometimes (errantly) the Ozark Mountains. Compared to a proper mountain range, they're more like big foothills with the odd cliff face. Pleasant for hiking and mountain biking. Lots of nice rivers in the region.

3

I constantly hear people calling that tiny little blip just right of center "mountains" and its fucking ridiculous.

2
lemmy.world

The north east mountains are beautiful, old, wilderness. So crazy in places you can't even predict the weather. And if you're bragging about size, maybe try remembering the US is not the world.

2
Zexksreply
lemmy.world

Why is mauna kea measure from the bottom of the ocean but non of the ofhers are. Specifically everest

3

Mount Everest isnt near the ocean so there is no part of it below sea level. No idea what exactly defines the "base" of a mountain but I guess thats the crucial point.

1

Hadn't noticed that. Perhaps it's because it's the whole island?

1
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Lol at all the East Coasters in this thread.

Our mountains are old, show some respect!

Our mountains are haunted, oooo scaaaarrrry!!!

Hahahahah!

Nah, nah.

Scary is a semi truck with failed brakes barreling down a 14 degree grade with a 1000ft drop awaiting it if it can't maintain control untill it hits a designated crash zone 5 miles away.

Scary is a literal fucking volcano exploding with the force of many nuclear weapons.

Scary is whenever the Cascadia superquake hits and maybe also triggers the San Andreas fault at the same time, and turns the West Coast into an actual 90s/00s disaster movie.

1

Eh, underestimating new England’s 4000 footers is how most people end up dying out there. The trees are way more dense, and all the same age because of re-forestation after the 1800s. So going off trail is a terrible idea.

Also as was said before, the puny 6000ft Mount Washington wind speed is actually the highest recorded on earth (not inside a tornado anyway). But it’s just a symptom of how fast the weather changes and that is most often what kills people.

Oh yeah, and for the skiers and boarders out there, if you learned to ski in New England, you can ski anywhere. “New England Packed powder” (blue ice with occasional groomer tracks in it) separates the pros from the joeys.

15
sh.itjust.works

the steepest road in America is in Pittsburgh and Tennessee also has 14° roads around Chattanooga.

Height of mountain does not neccessarily dictate steepness of roads

12

Yeah, there seems to be this idea that just because you have peaks at 14k that your mountain is 14k feet tall.

That being said, I took a very hungover drive up and through the Eisenhower Tunnel, and I could see it being a bit daunting in a truck for sure.

1
ButtDrugsreply
lemmy.zip

I've never even been near there (great lakes stan here) but even I know Mt Washington in NH is one of the deadliest places in the country. Besides, people trying to flex on other people based on where they live is small pp shit. You didn't build the mountains and have no right to try and get superiority over others because you live nearby.

6
lemmy.world

Of course a great lakes person would say that, nobody gets to compete with y'all on your lakes

1

Love the great lakes! I wouldn't live anywhere else because of that, but would never think myself better or worse than someone for that choice either. Its right for me you know. Plus ive had as much or more fun in some of the "nowhere" places as I have in the places everyone wants to be. People should live where its best for them and be proud of it, but not try to use it to one up others in different places in life.

1
sp3ctr4lreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Its not small pp shit, its intentionally being a troll and watching what bites, ahahahah!

Yeah, obviously I didn't build the mountains, I don't care about this that much, ahahah!

Its just funny watching people get mad over stupid shit.

Should we do sportsball next?

Ahahhah!

-2

That's such a sad way to interact with the world after growing past middle school.

1

As someone who's been in cascadia for over a year now, cascadia is almost as haunted as Appalachia. But the whole catastrophic end thing is just a catastrophic end. It's a slasher flick type of scary. Appalachia is more Gothic horror scary. Cascadia's got both, sure, but walking through a west Virginia mountain or driving across a few mountains in Kentucky and you feel like old gods slumber there.

The rockies are just majestic and dangerous. Yeah driving through them is terror, but it doesn't feel like something is there. Maybe it's just some folks, maybe it's your worst stereotype of hillbillies, and maybe it's someone or something from all the blood that keeps soaking those hills.

5
lemmy.world

There's a difference between scary and creepy.

Your mountains? That's scary. It's frightening in the moment, but at the end of the day, ok, you made it down the mountain.

These mountains? They're creepy. When you come down the mountain, something comes down with you.

5
Jaxreply
sh.itjust.works

Or, and hear me out, that's all bullshit carried over from a time when people still burned witches.

Just saying, it makes no sense for all the scary shit to be isolated in the most easily accessible mountain range in the U.S. yet you never hear people treat the Rocky's with the same mysticism.

1
Jaxreply
sh.itjust.works

Idk if that carries over to modern perception of the place - nobody every talks about Four Corners being spooky.

1

I haven't been all over that area, but at night when there's nearly nobody on the road it does have a feel to it.

1
lemmy.world

I'm just saying there's a different vibe to the fears people have of the region, and by saying the Rocky mountains don't have the same vibe you kinda proved my point.

3
Jaxreply
sh.itjust.works

No, I'm saying people who live in the Rocky mountains aren't as superstitious as those who live in the Appalachian mountains.

0
lemmy.world

Ah, the traditionally (and mildly classist and racist) assumption that people out west are somehow mentally superior and more educated, while the people in Appalachia are poor dumb hicks.

Funny how culture shapes our perspectives, innit

1
Jaxreply
sh.itjust.works

Superstition is superstition - you can try to paint this as a class thing but ultimately ghosts aren't fucking real. Seems like one part of the country gets that, the other doesn't.

Where does JD Vance come from, again?

0

Funny you say that when you have an entire state run by Mormons.

Oooo people who tell ghost stories and urban legends are stupid but we're smart with our magic underwear oooo

0
lemmy.world

That's nothing. Go camping in Appalachian. Random banjo music suddenly hits way different.

3

Hell, that's just people. There's people out west too, they just don't let you know they're coming.

1