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[–]Valendr0s 70 points71 points ago

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I saw this article, and worked for the engineering firm that designed this. It's Sun City Anthem in Henderson Nevada (suburb of Las Vegas - south side of town). This specific area is age restricted 55+ only community.

My mom lives toward the right edge of your screen.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=las+vegas&aq=&sll=45.049715,-93.454654&sspn=0.012643,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Las+Vegas,+Clark,+Nevada&ll=35.946275,-115.090284&spn=0.014488,0.01929&t=h&z=16

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]Valendr0s 63 points64 points ago

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LOL - actually its very quiet, and pretty private. Everybody keeps to themselves. The houses are pretty funny too, air tight and has a flashing porch light so the ambulances can find the house easier to cart your lifeless corpse straight to the on-site cremitorium...

[–]Defonos 6 points7 points ago

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Ah, engineers and their morbid sense of humor...

[–][deleted] 183 points184 points ago

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Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V

[–]chadillac83 65 points66 points ago

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Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+V

FTFY

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]dmsuperman 16 points17 points ago

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C-v y1000p

FTFY

[–]echodelima 11 points12 points ago

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That took me three seconds, two and a half too many.

[–][deleted] 681 points682 points ago*

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And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the sammmmeeeeee

Edit: Dammit I've had this song stuck in my head all day...

[–]yumwafflez 152 points153 points ago

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There's a green one, and a pink one, and a blue one and a YELLLLOW one

[–]crazydaze 85 points86 points ago

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And the people in the houses all went to the university

[–]Thunderclops 69 points70 points ago

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And they'll all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same

[–]holidayfromreal 39 points40 points ago

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and there's doctors and lawyers and business executives.

[–]narpas 34 points35 points ago

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And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the sammmmeeeeee.

And they all idle on the reddit...

[–]moins 6 points7 points ago

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saw picture and searched for "little boxes" you guys beat me to it. bravo.

[–]jjplain 6 points7 points ago

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And they are all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

[–]sierrabravo1984 91 points92 points ago

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Then some guy with scissors on his hands comes along and fucks it up.

[–]NotTheDude 72 points73 points ago

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I really do miss Weeds, after Agrestic burned it was all over for the show too.

[–]LeroyJenkem 16 points17 points ago

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Couldn't agree more. I kept watching, but I don't really know why

[–]confoundedvariable 26 points27 points ago

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Andy.

[–]lordlicorice 18 points19 points ago

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Move your feet from hot pavement
and into the grass

[–]ShitLipsMcGee 8 points9 points ago

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[–]Nhilius 8 points9 points ago

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And they're like 8 ft away from each other so you can hear your neighbor shit!

[–]kyleisagod 4 points5 points ago

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See picture, think song, scroll, see comment.

Damnit, now I have to go rewatch that show :-p

[–]khrak 2 points3 points ago

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It became stuck in my head the second I clicked the link... Then I go to the comments to find the easy karma is already taken. ಠ_ಠ

[–]olllie 28 points29 points ago

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needs more zombies

[–]wizardfacemcradstar 3 points4 points ago

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If there's one thing I noticed about this photo, it's the lack of dinosaurs.

[–]redditFTW1 177 points178 points ago

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I see your suburb and raise you Markham, ON

[–]TheCodeJanitor 132 points133 points ago

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For the life of me I've never understood the draw of these types of houses/neighborhoods/etc. I grew up in a pretty developed area, with lots of houses (most were cookie-cutter, 2 or 3 different models per neighborhood). But we still had trees, bushes, and some semblance of distance between houses.

Why not just make big townhouses if you're going to put them that close together?

[–]PfionaBW 58 points59 points ago

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The masses demand giant houses. It's horrible. The last county I lived in, they allowed crap like this to go in in farmland. You'd see this giant outcropping of houses, surrounded by farmland. It was disgusting. The suburbs need to die.

[–]hairyfro 32 points33 points ago

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They are dying in some areas. In places where the housing boom resulted in instant suburbs in farmland far from urban centers and jobs, many of these McMansions are becoming neo-slums. As energy prices rise, it becomes less and less attractive to live far from where you work...

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/the-next-slum/6653/

[–]niftycake 3 points4 points ago

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This article was written three years ago, im curious how their predictions are turning out. The mortgage crises isn't getting any better and many properties built during the bubble are still far below their initial value.

[–]NonSarcasticMan 127 points128 points ago*

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People like to say cities have a big environmental impact, but the truth is that cities are way greener than suburbs. Federal incentives that encourage people to buy homes are stupid, we should be growing vertically in the hearth of cities, this way everything would be at walking distance so no need to drive for hours wasting energy and polluting the environment, also green areas would remain untouched.

Cities FTW! End the suburb madness!

[–]brandoncoal 12 points13 points ago

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Hopefully the complete fucking up of our country by suburban expansion will make somebody in government regret using taxes to fund the development of highways and suburbs rather than cities and trains.

[–]faptothis 8 points9 points ago

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Only after oil is $500/barrel and we're beyond fucked.

[–]chronographer 10 points11 points ago

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But, in these particular types of neighbourhood, they are very reliant on private transport. What happens when, in a few (10?) years petrol (gas) is expensive? Will the fringe suburbs shrivel and die?

[–]Zorbotron 6 points7 points ago

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People say this every 10 years. I would hope that in 10yrs 60mpg+ family cars are not few and far between.

[–]buba1243 6 points7 points ago

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You do realize as long as population is increasing exponentially increases in efficiency will not matter, only delay the pain.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points ago

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The government likes home ownership, because it means that there is a much lower likelihood of revolt and social unrest. When people have a home they have to worry about, they have everything to lose in unrest -- living in cities in rented homes confers much greater mobility and thus a much greater threat of social unrest.

[–]pokie6 2 points3 points ago

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But it's hard to find a place to play drums in the city :(.

[–]NonSarcasticMan 7 points8 points ago*

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Maybe not in your house, but with the population density found in cities you surely would find a community that play drums all day long, they will have a place to rock on and you wouldn't only play drums but also share ideas on how these should be played increasing the chances of innovation.

Examples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cavern_Club

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyville

[–]ChronicLair 16 points17 points ago

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The masses demand giant houses.

And the developers want to squeeze as many lots as possible to increase profit. Unless you want to live in an older neighbourhood or the country, the days of having a real backyard with a tree are pretty much over.

Personally, I can't stand the thought of looking out my kitchen window and seeing my neighbour waving at me from four feet away in his own kitchen.

[–]PfionaBW 10 points11 points ago

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It's horrifying to me. Such a huge, huge, waste. I'd like to see the whole country restored to cities and farms - nothing in between. A person ought to be able to go to the edge of the city and bicycle through the countryside.

[–]UnsubstantiatedClaim 2 points3 points ago

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Typically a developer has the land plowed and graded before building a subdivision. In most cases the land is farm land so there are already not many trees, but any trees that do exist are removed.

People who buy these houses demand they move in as soon as possible, and in an effort to save time, trees, bushes, fences, etc are not put in. Also, this can increase the developer's margin (or reduce the cost of the house). The new homeowners are expected to plant trees and bushes (many municipalities have bylaws that require at least one tree on the property) after moving in. Neighbors will work together and erect fences. This usually involves hiring a single fence maker and devising some sort of cost sharing plan where the neighbors pay a share in proportion to the amount of fence that borders their property (neighbors on either fence split the cost).

A fully mature tree can add at least $10,000 to the value of the house when it comes time to sell it again, so to anyone who finds them a nuisance or chooses to keep them off their property, they are throwing money away.

I agree that if you're going to live this close together, you may as well have a townhouse or a duplex or something. Separate houses do afford reduced noise pollution (you can't hear your neighbors fighting or music through the walls) and decrease the chance of your house catching fire when your neighbor leaves a pot of boiling oil on the stove when they go to work. Personally I would never buy a house that was so close to my neighbor's that I couldn't fit my lawn mower between them.

[–]tricityboy 8 points9 points ago

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we have forests around the suburb im from

coquitlam, bc (~1 hour outside vancouver)

from what i know, creeks and trails and other stuff run through those patches in between

BC suburbs > Ontario suburbs

[–]coffeesippingbastard 89 points90 points ago

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I don't believe you. That is actually a screenshot from sim city.

[–]thedjgibson 48 points49 points ago

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Sim City would at least have more diversity in the type of house

[–]rainman18 30 points31 points ago

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and better music.

[–]kelloh 18 points19 points ago

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and Godzilla.

[–]zer0man 16 points17 points ago

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actually this shot that I took is much more SimCity-like.

It was taken on a plane approaching Beijing Airport.

[–]StudntDrivr 7 points8 points ago

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You liar. There is no way that's not SimCity.

[–]MixMasterMadge 26 points27 points ago

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Did Canada outlaw trees?

[–]Wanhope 11 points12 points ago

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Yes, if you have heard of the great Chicago Fire?

The only reason we shipped all that wood after is because trees were outlawed.

I'm something of a rebel myself, I have been sheltering illegal trees in my back yard for years.

[–]miraclemanmorris 2 points3 points ago

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Tundra is hard to grow trees on

[–]multiplegeorges 13 points14 points ago*

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A friend of mine lived in Markham.

He visited another friend in Mississauga.

He didn't need to be told where the washroom was.

Exactly the same houses. shudder

[–]uptwolait 22 points23 points ago

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[–]tkingsbu 3 points4 points ago

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thank you sir. I'm a canuck and lifelong Rush fan and while everyone here was writing ticky-tacky, my first thoughts were 'dum dum dum...dum dum dum....Subdivisions......'

[–]Maniacal 4 points5 points ago

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Gahhh! Though at least the backyards aren't fenced in, that is neat.

[–]chrs_1979 18 points19 points ago

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But there isn't anything in any of them!

[–]heurrgh 32 points33 points ago

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In the UK it's a legal requirement to have a 6"x4" shed, a rusty bar-b-cue, and an Argos circular trampoline in your back garden.

[–]tizz66 25 points26 points ago

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You aren't kidding. I've taken an area and helpfully highlighted all of the trampolines.

https://img.skitch.com/20110309-87dsfhngr3cch999i73g2bkk23.jpg

Brits really love trampolines.

[–]frosty122 5 points6 points ago

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That's a tiny ass-shed.

[–]Maniacal 4 points5 points ago

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Nope :(

But at least there is room for children to run and play in.

[–]camefromthetrees 6 points7 points ago

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not even a single swingset or trampoline they must have one fierce home owners association

[–]redditFTW1 5 points6 points ago

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I believe this picture was taken when those house were just built, hence the reason why no fences have been put up.

[–]dundreggen 2 points3 points ago

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Not yet, I bet they are are fairly new.

[–]thegooglesdonothing 3 points4 points ago

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I grew up there. These are some of the new (last ten years) developments. Farmers sell off their property, and developers pack as many houses as possible into the area. They sacrifice your personal land space and instead provide larger community areas which you don't own.

Driving through these new developments is like watching the background of an old cartoon (Flintstone, Jetsons, etc) - same house with minor feature changes and colours, and then repeats. Over. And Over.

[–]lvl9troll 8 points9 points ago

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The houses look like CG.

[–]dontlookatmynameok 4 points5 points ago

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Funny, I am typing this from one of these houses in Markham. I used to live in a 3-bedroom, 600-sqft box in Hong Kong with a family of 5.

I know reddit praises the efficient use of space in a high-density area. But after personally living in both environments for over a decade each, there's no question which one I prefer.

[–]ReverendDizzle 2 points3 points ago

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Every time I see a neighborhood like this I think "I hope the builder at least staggered the window placement so all those barely-10-feet-apart windows aren't lined up dead center to each other..."

[–]love_xtc 2 points3 points ago

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LOL! I LIVE THERE! and yes i hate it since it has become the suburbia nightmare of the GTA

by the way i think that is the government housing area.

[–]Mordisquitos 8 points9 points ago

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For the love of God, where are you supposed to walk if there is no pavement*?

\ sidewalk, whatever*

[–]dontlookatmynameok 3 points4 points ago

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There is. On one side of the streets.

[–]TomorrowPlusX 136 points137 points ago

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I live in a 100-year-old row-house in DC, and I think I actually have more yard than any of these houses.

That being said, while I'm ridiculously pro-urban, and fairly anti-suburban... most city life is just as regimented as this. My row-house is one of thousands, neatly laid out in a grid. City apartments are the same, just with an added z-axis.

At least the streets are curved in the pic.

[–][deleted] 137 points138 points ago

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The blandness does suck in both row-houses and the suburbs, but what really blows my mind in the OP's picture is just how inefficient and inconvenient it must be to live there. I just couldn't imagine not living in walking distance to a grocery store or some other commercial zoning.

[–][deleted] 98 points99 points ago*

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That describes the vast majority of the US. Only in very few non-urban settings can you walk pretty much anywhere.

From the suburb I grew up in, we were a 5-10 minute drive from the grocery store, and 20 minutes, minimum, from pretty much anything else. Now I live in a city, and a 20 minute drive is about as far I ever have to go for anything. Most places, I walk. I love it.

[–]bibs 54 points55 points ago

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I can't even imagine this. Everywhere I've lived in England I've been able to walk everywhere I need to go for daily life, or be 2mins away from a bus stop which will take me there. Hell, my brother never even learned to drive and has never needed to.

[–]random314 8 points9 points ago

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I also live in 100-year old English Tudor House in Queens, NY. We have a crest on our fireplace and I have no idea what it means, but it's got something to do with the original family that built the place. I gotta say, the quality of the materials put into those homes is something you won't find today.

[–]BasicDesignAdvice 51 points52 points ago

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but cities have actual activities, cultural events, mom & pop stores etc.

the burbs have Target.

[–]barryicide 17 points18 points ago

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I live in a suburb of Chicago (albeit a very rural one) and we have activities, cultural events, and mom & pop stores. We also have very low crime, great schools, and affordable housing. And, where-as Chicago is terrible about infringing on peoples' constitutional rights, I couldn't fire air guns on my property (don't even get me started on how they would treat my arsenal of weapons), but out where I live, I can set up targets in my yard and practice.

[–]zerton 11 points12 points ago

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You're forgetting a major difference between urban life and suburban. Walkability. You can walk anywhere! That places your amenities and entertainment so much closer to your home. It's also why I'll never live in the suburbs again.

[–]Bluntzelstiltskin 4 points5 points ago

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A paraphrased point from Christopher Alexander "A Pattern Language."

An often unnoticed effect of automobile addiction is the the amount of physical space in the landscape we devote to them. If the average person needs about 10 square feet of personal space when walking, compare that with the personal automobile which requires about 350 square feet (including access) when it's sitting still. More than 75% of automobile trips are single occupant trips, and as cars need about 3 car lengths in front of and behind at the average rate of 30 mph, automobiles therefore need about 1000 square feet = 100 times more space required to move a single person. Whatever the case for suburban or urban living, when we depend on the personal automobile for our transportation to and from everywhere (and in fact when our communities are designed to utilize that kind of transportation mode), it has the effect of moving people further apart.
The effects on the environment are nonnegotiable, but even when we develop a car that has a zero carbon footprint or whatever, we'll still be living in communities that force people to live overly private, separated lives.

[–]llort_gnik 7 points8 points ago

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Came here to say this. This is actually extremely dense for a suburban development. Most of the stuff built today (well pre-recession, not so much any more) consists of 3000+ square foot homes on at least 1/2 acre lots.

[–]anttirt 2 points3 points ago

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I think living in a block of flats is (somewhat paradoxically) actually better than what the OP's picture has. I feel like in those suburbs one would desperately try to maintain a semblance of identity tied to one's castle (home) whereas in the city, it's futile and one's identity is instead tied to one's person, not the particular box that one happens to go to sleep in every night.

Then again I'm a city-person born and bred and couldn't ever imagine living in a place where the streets are completely empty at night.

[–]78fivealive 2 points3 points ago

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I love living in the city but I also fantasize of living where the streets are completely empty at night.

[–]random686 3 points4 points ago

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It's bliss, especially for kids. Being a kid and running around the neighborhood with your friends late at night during summer when no one is around. All the little mischief you can get into made better by knowing most of the people. It's fucking sweet.

[–]Valcgo 22 points23 points ago

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The first thing that came to mind: Weeds

[–]mikeyros484 10 points11 points ago

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and Edward Scissorhands

[–]EorrFU 9 points10 points ago

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Little Boxes on the hillside...

[–]ScottyNuttz 4 points5 points ago

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They're all made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

[–]youAreHere 68 points69 points ago

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In the near future, those will be the forests where we harvest our materials...

[–]mtranda 17 points18 points ago

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I suddenly have a craving to rewatch Soylent Green.

[–]sherlocktheholmes 11 points12 points ago*

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|craving

Worst possible verb you could have picked.

Edit: 'have' is the verb and 'craving' is a gerund. grumbles Grammar Nazi bastards...

[–]sleepingdragon 7 points8 points ago

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Craving is a gerund, not a verb.

[–]sherlocktheholmes 5 points6 points ago

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does quick Google search

Dammit, you're right. shame

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points ago

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A gerund is a verb that acts as an noun.

If it's a gerund it can be both a noun or verb.

I like camping trips.

He is camping all night.

knowledge is power, save the world become an intellect :D

[–]TheEzEzz 2 points3 points ago

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I think in the case "He is camping" the word 'camping' is not a gerund, it's the present participle (which always has the exact same form as the gerund but is a strictly different part of speech).

[–][deleted] ago*

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[deleted]

[–]buber88 10 points11 points ago

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I feel like this is every suburban kid: The suburbs are so lame, I'm going to move to the city where it's cool and there is ton of stuff to do. Then a couple of years pass: The city is expensive, noisy, and cramped, I'm going to move back to the suburbs to have kids in suburbia. And the cycle repeats...

[–]faggatron 21 points22 points ago

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I think it has to do with shifting priorities as you grow older. When you're a teenager/young adult, you want to be somewhere exciting, with lots of stuff to do and see, lots of job opportunities, etc.

When you're older and planning on having kids of your own, you want somewhere quiet, peaceful, and safe.

[–]noobasaur 19 points20 points ago

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well put, faggatron

[–]florinandrei 11 points12 points ago

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Welcome to the desert of the real.

[–]nothing_of_value 13 points14 points ago

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[–]Shieya 113 points114 points ago

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How many people do you think live in each house? And for all those people, there is a unique set of experiences; every person has their own name, interests, activities. The adults all went to school somewhere different and have their own jobs. Everyone's cried, laughed, loved, and lost. It's a little mind-blowing thinking of the huge collection of human consciousness in one tiny area. At the same time, it's a stark reminder of how insignificant one person is. But pretty neat, nonetheless.

[–]Backstop 73 points74 points ago

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That's not true at all. The horrible sheep that live in those houses all look exactly the same, have the same hobbies, play the same games, have the same kids, drive the same cars to the same jobs while listening to the same music and all slowly dying inside wishing they lived the exciting city life.

/s

[–]SillyDisco 72 points73 points ago

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Eh, different strokes for different folks.

I grew up in the endless suburban wasteland known as central new jersey. Wished my whole life I could get the hell out of there. Went to college in DC, then moved to Boston, where I have lived for the last 7 years. And it was great. But now that I'm getting a little older, ALL I want is to move out to the burbs. I'm sick of drunks puking all over my stoop because I live on the same block as a few bars. I'm sick of the noises at night. I'm sick of the streetlights shining through my windows, so bright that I could read a book with all the lights turned off (even though I own black-out drapes). I love living on the same block as a supermarket, but I hate the noises of the supermarket trucks waking me up at 5am every morning. I hate that I can hear my neighbor's alarm clock through the wall every morning. I hate it more when he forgets to turn it off on weekends when he's out of town, and I'm woken up at 6am on a saturday or sunday to the sound of beeping that I can't shut off. I hate hearing them have sex, or fight, through the wall. I hate it that my car's bumpers are ruined due to people's inept parallel parking. I hate it that the only green in my neighborhood are the sidewalk trees. I hate it that I can't get a dog, and that the only apartments that allow dogs charge a ridiculous premium for that ability.

Now that I'm almost 30... all I want is a garden and a dog. I'd love to wake up on a weekend morning, read the paper, play with the dog, and spend a few hours in the garden. That's my idea of heaven. Since I work in a city, the only likely way for me to have that garden and that dog is to get a house in the burbs and commute. But it would still all be worth it, to me, to be able to have that garden and that dog.

[–]raziphel 7 points8 points ago

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I want a neighborhood where people won't break into my car every 6 months and where I can see the stars.

Sadly, I won't get this without an unpalatable commute.

[–]jbacon 4 points5 points ago

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What the hell, are you me from the future? No - you couldn't be, I want cats :3

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points ago

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That's if you can afford a single family home in burbs. I live in the burbs in a townhouse because it's all we can afford, but it has many of the same problems you mentioned about living in the city... with none of the benefits.

While there are no drunks vomiting on my stoop, none of my neighbors will pick up their dog shit. I am a dog owner and take that responsibility very seriously but, if you walk outside of my home on a warm day, the smell of putrifying dog shit is overpowering. Just imagine trying to walk your dog in common areas. I have to keep my eyes looking down to ensure I don't step in shit.

The problem with suburbs is that there is a ton of common area, yet no one resident feels responsible for it, so -- even with paid maintenance -- it often becomes full of trash, used condoms (you'd be surprised how common these are), beer cans, dog shit, and more.

Oh and noise: our neighbors' kids regularly go fucking nuts and throw tantrums. I can hear them quite plainly. And since we share floors with neighbors, the thumping from walking around transfers into our house. And we are surrounded by a sea of cars. Cars as far as the eye can see. Parking lot, parking lot, parking lot. Noise, noise, noise.

And, out in the burbs, I can't walk to anything even though there are sidewalks everywhere. Honestly, I fucking hate the suburbs. It isn't this glorious single family home on an acre lot. It's a poorly built, drafty piece of junk, thrown up for a quick profit, on an eighth-of-an-acre, living next to people who don't give a shit about you or your community.

Good luck with that move. Having a dog makes it worth it -- I wouldn't give up my baby girl for anything -- but I would move to the city in a heartbeat if I could.

[–]DaveTroll 42 points43 points ago

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This is an outstanding photograph. It makes me think and feel many things.

My first reaction is "gawd, I certainly wouldn't want to live there, I have a soul and some uniqueness. I am a 1 in a million person!"

My second reaction is: oh wait, that means that there are six thousand people just like me. And frankly, I'm really not that much different than my neighbor. We all need a roof, food, and a yard for our dog. We're a communal animal. This is a community. I then find myself putting my foot in a judgement landmine. Who lives in a place like this? Soul-less douches? Probably not. Are they really any different from me? No, not really, when you get down to it. I might feel some ego that I know who Les Savy Fav is, I have a bunch of science degrees that make me capable of discussing at great length things that nobody really cares about. But so does Bill, the guy i the fifth house from the left.

And at least this division has a little shape to it. I live in the city which is miles and miles of 90 degree squares. I like my neighborhood, but I sacrificed some square footage for "charm," which by another persons estimate is "shittyness."

Anyhow, thanks for posting. This was an interesting introspection and reflection on what it means to be a person in a community and where I sit in said community.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]12yawaworht 2 points3 points ago

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Gasoline is so cheap already that going up to $6 a gallon would only be a small cost of living increase. Maybe if it were at $15, but by then I think there would be huge demand for ultra fuel-efficient cars.

[–]merbeetoo 11 points12 points ago

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I've lived in the suburbs my whole life. Really it's only enjoyable if you actually engage with your neighbors and visit them often enough, otherwise the house just becomes one giant cabin fever factory. There's one kid on my street who was my age growing up and he's borderline autistic(and that's not an insult, the kid literally got along with almost nobody besides me and a couple others and was diagnosed with aspergers). Unless you're like me and you played video games for your entire youth because your schoolfriends were too busy to hang out then it's a great place to get lost in solipsism. Someone once said the suburbs were a good place for serial killers to hide because of all the anonymity. I just think it's a good place to go be forgotten.

[–]StoneTheAvenger 10 points11 points ago

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Need to throw some mixed use up in there!

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points ago

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Seriously. You have to drive through a shitty row of boring houses just to get some damn milk.

[–][deleted] 99 points100 points ago

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Unpopular opinion of the day: I loved living in the suburbs as a kid and teenager. Friends were close, had a pool, plenty of room for street hockey, a 711 just up the street, several parks and a forest within walking/biking distance, my school was a 10 minute walk away.

Fuck the haters, the burbs kick ass.

[–]imphatic 22 points23 points ago

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If you haven't already, I would recommend trying the other two forms of life: Urban and Rural. I grew up on a farm, lived in the burbs and now live in the city (Nashville). I would take the city any day.

To me the burbs had all the negatives and lacked all the positives of both the city and country. The burbs were loud, traffic ridden and yet not within walking distance to anything and the burbs lacked proximity to out door activities or cheaper lifestyles.

I think everyone has their tastes, but if you haven't tried out other places then I would strongly recommend giving it a go.

[–]aixelsdi 10 points11 points ago

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Old suburbs are the best. I live in a very old neighborhood (by California standards), where all the houses are different, lots of trees etc. That's the best suburb, not these cookie-cutter eyesores.

[–]Maniacal 28 points29 points ago

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I don't see any of that in this picture (except street hockey (if its even allowed) and closeness to others).

[–]coolstorybroham 7 points8 points ago

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It's in Nevada, so I doubt there's a forest nearby, but yeah I see pools and schools are usually built in to these places.

[–]12yawaworht 2 points3 points ago

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Thank you... the reddit hivemind is way too utilitarian sometimes. I don't want to live in a 8' x 6' cubicle stacked to the 132nd floor. Oh, and if everyone lived in a heavily urban area it would take far longer before we demanded alternative fuel sources.

[–]rockeh 10 points11 points ago

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1st step to burbclaves.

[–]eternalkerri 8 points9 points ago

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I swore a long time ago, I would not buy a house who's floor plan I can find in a catalog and see twenty times repeated in a neighborhood.

My dream house is a house built before 1950, preferably before 1940. Large windows and not designed around air conditioning and TV's. I want a home, a comfortable relaxed place. Not a cubicle domicile repeated ad nauseum all across America.

[–]erbi 8 points9 points ago

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That picture made me feel claustrophobic.

[–]estacado 8 points9 points ago

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The traffic jam in the morning must be terrible.

[–]StealthLurker 8 points9 points ago

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You're just now noticing this? Rush wrote a song about it back in 1982 Subdivisions

[–]50missioncap 3 points4 points ago

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I came here to post the lyric "Conform or be cast out."

[–]ropers 7 points8 points ago*

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The entire point of living in a small individual house as opposed to a flat in a multi-unit residential block is that it's supposed to be less anonymous, and more suited to a human scale and a sense of individuality. That's the entire appeal.

But seeing this -- congratulations developers. You've managed to make individual house living even more soulless and dehumanising than city living in the average urban block of flats.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points ago

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And I'll bet their HOA enforces that conformity with an iron fist.

[–]jerklin 5 points6 points ago

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I wonder how many people were pooping while this photo was being taken.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points ago

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Can I be the millionth to make a Little Boxes reference?

[–]mylerdude 7 points8 points ago

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Even more surreal -- check out this 'hood in Mexico City: http://covblogs.com/eatingbark/archives/CasitasGeo.jpg

[–]ricky149 6 points7 points ago

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am i the only one who would be depressed living there

[–]landaaan 16 points17 points ago

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"Suburb of Las Vegas, Henderson. Nevada, USA"

[–]gallowglass10191 4 points5 points ago

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That explains the desolation, I remember reading the housing glut was greater there than average. I remember visiting relatives in Henderson ~13 years ago and seeing all the roads and streetlights stretching out miles into the desert, but before any housing units had been built. It was surreal.

[–]LiveStalk 12 points13 points ago

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I'm in Vegas and a conservative estimate would be 1/3rd of the houses on my street are empty.

[–]miss_frizzle 11 points12 points ago

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this much uniformity actually scares me.

[–]The_Siward 5 points6 points ago

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Remember what they told you as a child. "You are very special and unique."

My wife just doesn't grasp why shit like this bothers me. (Both the pic and the expression)

[–]sherlocktheholmes 6 points7 points ago

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I am so glad I grew up in the country. Woods, fields, creeks, trees to climb; best childhood ever.

[–]Czin 2 points3 points ago

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Having lived in a city and later moved to the country in the 6th grade; I agree.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points ago

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Should have a lot more green

[–]SwirlStick 5 points6 points ago

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With street names like Orange Grove, Appletree, Walnut Way...

[–]sohcaht0a 5 points6 points ago

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Sometimes I can't believe it... I'm moving past the feeling...

[–]PinusPondo[S] 15 points16 points ago

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here is the photographers hompage.....its very interactive and has crazy music playing in the background

[–]dude187 24 points25 points ago

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Why does every artist insist on making a flash applet instead of a real website. The worst are "web designers" who do the same thing.

[–]DiomedesTydeus 8 points9 points ago

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Probably because it's much harder to steal the images from a flash app. I have some degree of sympathy for this. I'm not an artist but I've definitely had some of my photos stolen from my blog and republished elsewhere. A flash app still won't stop a screen shot, but it's at least harder than right click->save as....

[–]omnomtom 3 points4 points ago

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Sprawling on the fringes of the city in geometric order...

[–]YouEssay 1 point2 points ago

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This gives me a headache.

[–]no_splattering 3 points4 points ago

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Just like cancer.

[–]AggieDem 5 points6 points ago

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If there is a hell, I imagine it would look alot like this.

[–]SuchAsItEnds 9 points10 points ago

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ah, the american dream. the only thing wrong with it is when everyone gets there

[–]w2tpmf 13 points14 points ago

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[–]fantasticjon 40 points41 points ago

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I actually think its kinda pretty. It looks like it would be an okay place to bike and run too.

[–]eatsox117 26 points27 points ago

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It is kick ass for trick or treating.

[–]EmceCocks 9 points10 points ago

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[–]traxxas 63 points64 points ago

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Flat, slightly curved and confusingly repetitive landscape is the last I want to run or ride a bike through.

[–]Backstop 21 points22 points ago

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Street names.

[–]djscsi 129 points130 points ago

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Yeah, once you get to the Cherrywood Path Estates subdivision, just take your first right at Cherry Creek Parkway Blvd, then go down 3 streets and take a left at Creekway Park Trail, then your first right at Creek Trail Run. Once you get to the end of the street, go left at Cherry Blossom Trail Road until it dead-ends into Cherry Orchard Creek. Go right until you pass Orchard Creek Trail and make a left at Creek Ranch Blvd. Careful, don't turn at Creek Ranch Trail or Trail Creek Lane, and if you hit Creek Path Parkway you went too far. Take your sixth right at Ranch Trail Road (next street after Cherry Branch Trail) and a quick right at Cherry Branch Creek Way, and my house is the third on the left. It's pretty easy to find.

[–]beager 16 points17 points ago

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You are a little too good at this. Have you considered urban planning?

[–]BlackLeatherRain 11 points12 points ago

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Replace the Cherries with Peachtrees and I think I'd know that neighborhood in Atlanta.

[–]Vertigo666 13 points14 points ago

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This is like some sort of Xhibit-fueled nightmare.

[–]castellammare 11 points12 points ago

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WHAT THE FUCK, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE I LIVE?

[–]hiphophippopotamus 10 points11 points ago

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OBEY.

[–]confoundedvariable 6 points7 points ago

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What the fuck are they gonna do when we run out of gas?

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

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Fucking creepy!

[–]theroguesstash 2 points3 points ago

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nothankyou

[–]mulligrubs 2 points3 points ago

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I got a baaaad feeling about this.

[–]saturninus 2 points3 points ago

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They are perhaps conformist, but they look less so if I'm living here.

[–]yeddyinspain 4 points5 points ago

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those look like the tenements on GTA IV where dwayne lives

[–]KousKous 2 points3 points ago

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If you need me

I'll be downstairs

with the Shop Vac

you can call, but I probably won't hear you

because it's loud with the Shop Vac on

[–]el_guapo_malo 2 points3 points ago

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I think it's interesting to think of how many truly unique stories accompany these houses that all look basically the same. I like to think that the people in them are not nearly as homogeneous.

[–]walrus0 2 points3 points ago

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[–]The_Phoenician779 15 points16 points ago

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Which circle of hell is that?

[–]Bloodysneeze 9 points10 points ago

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Slightly higher than this one http://www.ideels.uni-bremen.de/monrovia.html

First world problems...

[–]pppjurac 2 points3 points ago

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Dante didn't imagine that kind of hell ...

[–]rebel 22 points23 points ago

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Now that's soul sucking.

[–]AvidWikipedian 67 points68 points ago

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I don't know, if I was younger I'd certainly enjoy it I think. In that area there would probably be 50+ kids my age, summer would be so much fun, riding bikes, street baseball, manhunt at night. Maybe I'm biased though, I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania in the country.

[–]jamesneysmith 47 points48 points ago

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I grew up in the suburbs and everything you described is why I loved growing up there. The neighborhood bloomed around the time my family moved there and I was born so most of the kids were around my age. We would have epic games of manhunt every weekend. And it was an incredibly safe neighborhood where the kids could run around and the parents never really cared where they were. Also, our neighborhood was directly next to miles and miles of forest so there was plenty of space to get out of the sprawl and get muddy.

[–][deleted] 15 points16 points ago

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There's a story about a kid who grew under severe repression in east Berlin. He said he had a great childhood.

Point is, everybody loves being a kid, no matter where they are.

[–]jamesneysmith 11 points12 points ago

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More or less. I still don't see how that means the suburbs are bad.

[–]KousKous 4 points5 points ago

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I grew up in an objectively nice New Jersey suburb and I hated much of my childhood.

Your statement is a huge generalization.

[–]Nationof1 12 points13 points ago

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"our neighborhood was directly next to miles and miles of forest"

You mean it was until 25 years later that forest is now more endless houses where you have to drive to go anywhere in society. Either that or if the forest is there you did not grow up in a community like in the original post.

[–]jamesneysmith 5 points6 points ago

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Nope, the forest is still there. Our area has since taken up an extra hundred acres or two maybe since I was a teen. I grew up near a reasonably small city so the sprawl wasn't comparable to many of these neighborhoods but internally it was very likely the same. And there has to be an end to a suburban area. Sometimes that is near a city or plain or sometimes that is surrounded by forest.

[–]dick_long_wigwam 4 points5 points ago

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Not necessarily. I lived in Sugar Land, TX in a suburban neighborhood that backed up on forests. Every few blocks there'd be a little mini-forest. They were protected by law, but also by nature: those forests were actually wetlands that, combined with a levee system, protected us from flash floods.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

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The forest I went out and played in as a little kid is now row after row of identical houses. It still looks like there's a forest there from my old house, but if you go 20 feet in, you walk into someone else's backyard. They kept just enough trees to block any view, which I suppose is better than the alternative.

It used to be at least half a mile of forest, then you'd end up on a farm, and in another direction, you'd have a couple miles of trails and trees.

[–]jktstance 3 points4 points ago

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I grew up in the middle of nowhere, which, while looking back on it, was a great place to run around in. However, I also realized that I had no friends and everything I did was solitary. At least in this setting kids have plenty of neighbors to cause ruckus with.

[–]AvidWikipedian 2 points3 points ago

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I feel your pain. My only friends lived ~30 minutes away. In a way, I feel like that actually helped me, because I was always excited for school as it was my only real social interaction outside of a trip to a friend's house every month or so. By association, this made me enjoy things like reading and math, which shaped me into the (moderately) intelligent and well educated person I am today.

[–]heteroskedasticity 6 points7 points ago*

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I suppose this is one of those things in which beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I grew up in London but study in the U.S (uni student). In my eyes, the suburbs are the very materialization of the American dream, and I can't imagine living anywhere else (when I start my own family).

Don't get me wrong, living in the city made me who I am today - there's a lot of cultural stuff, excellent transport, etc. Yet, I would give it all away to have grown up in the American suburbs - the place where it seems the horn of plenty sounds all day and everything is beautiful (even if it is all uniform).

[–]olllie 1 point2 points ago

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I can't be the only one who immediately thought the big shadow was an UFO

[–]Omgpolly 1 point2 points ago

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Can't find my house? It's the one to the left.

[–]Robo-boogie 1 point2 points ago

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ugh not enough back yard

[–]JumpStreet 1 point2 points ago

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If the suburbs are so horribly mundane and generic, you'll all be happy to know each year less and less people can afford to live there. Low wages and invisible opportunity will make us all originals. We'll all be crammed into apartments with extended family and decades from now, as the economy turns, people will take advantage and flee the congested lifestyle of the past generations to celebrate their prosperity with life in the suburbs.

[–]benrr101 1 point2 points ago

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This is why I will never live in the suburbs. It's apartments in high rises for me!

[–]nosradom 1 point2 points ago

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what are these houses for ants!!??

[–]thatiswizard 1 point2 points ago

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don't you mean arcade fire?

[–]fourfrequency 1 point2 points ago

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For some reason this picture disgusts me.

[–]ubunt2007 1 point2 points ago

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people farm

[–]ropers 1 point2 points ago

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