Charles Murray’s “Do You Live in a Bubble?” Quiz
I’m sick of politics right now, so here’s something different. It’s a variant of a quiz Charles Murray had in a book of his. It’s designed to see whether you live in a bubble or are part of mainstream America. (I’m a fan of Charles Murray’s and I found it linked on his Facebook page.) Scores are 1-100; the lower your score, the more of a bubble you’re in. I got a 27, which makes me fairly but not ridiculously bubbilicious. It puts me in about this category, according to the results:
11–80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33.
That’s about right, I think.
Things that took me out of the “bubble” were things like having worked jobs for months that made my body ache; knowing and being close to evangelical Christians; attending Kiwanis club meetings; and eating and Chili’s or T.G.I. Friday’s. Most of these things (not the last) are from my younger years: for example, I would go on occasion to my dad’s Kiwanis club meetings as a child — but went only once as an adult, at his urging, and didn’t really like it.
Things that put me inside the bubble include things like living in large metropolitan areas; not caring much for television or most movies; or not having ridden long-distance buses or hitchhiked (though this is a bit unfair, since the family regularly engaged in days-long car trips when I was young, and we never flew anywhere).
It would be interesting to see where you folks fall. I have a feeling most readers’ numbers will be higher than mine. Many of you don’t live in big cities, and I think you probably watch more television and movies than I do (though I could be wrong). Take the quiz at this link and let me know!
I hope a lot of people take this.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 3/25/2016 @ 7:57 ami got a 24 it’s my fault I don’t watch enough tv and movies apparently
and i think the cigarette question was unfair I’m totally willing to hang out with smokers I just don’t know them ones anymore
if you can afford cigarettes in chicago you’re either a one-percenter or a criminal
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:04 amplus seriously those restaurants are like not even
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:05 amfull disclosure yesterday I had to google why gary shandling was famous
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:10 am*garry*
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:10 amI scored 40. Probably could have scored higher if I drank beer or watched tv.
Chuck Bartowski (8489f0) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:13 amI make my own cigarettes. Cannot tell them apart from a Marlboro Light unless you read the little blue letters by the filter. Cost me about $1.10 a pack. The little injector to make them with was around $6.00. I carry them in a shiny silver case and light them with an IMCO lighter like my father had.
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:24 am$1.10 a pack is 5.5 cents per cigarette versus 65 cents per Chicago cigarette.
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:26 am62, Patterico.
Simon Jester (2708f4) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:27 ami would for sure do that if I smoked still but i quit when Nancy passed that tax for to slop execrable freeloader piggy Graeme Frost
i just wanted no part of it
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:28 amI hope to do the quiz later.
A timely OT comment:
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:29 amAnybody find it curious, as I do, that after a big terrorist attack and a kerfuffle over Obama’s response,
that
“Oh surprise, we found the Isis #2 person and took him out!!”??
I don’t know if it is cynicism,
or intelligence and insight guided by experience,
that makes me think Obama is milking the terrorism situation, like all situations,
for political gain as his primary concern and objective.
Wicked and evil so many of these people are.
I swung by today to see if you mentioned the Enquirer story.
My score was 55 without TV and only one movie. No beer either.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:31 am28
vfm (f8b858) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:33 amGood to see you, Mike K.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:33 amlater
remember what malone said in the untouchables,
https://twitter.com/afneil/status/713340026898219008
everyone knows where the booze is,
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:36 am53
Golden Eagle (552ded) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:37 am47
though I have probably spent about 3-4 years cumulative living in a town under 15,000
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:42 amand for job causing me to ache all over for more than a year I counted internship and residency.
No movies, no TV.
54
NJRob (a07d2e) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:44 am34
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:48 am52.
Rodney King's Spirit (a089dc) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:01 am37
A.S. (23bc66) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:02 am52, and I was raised in the middle class, might be drifting to low end just now.
DNF (ffe548) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:03 amWhat the heck, I got 67. Why am I so high? Cause I like Rolling Rock and was in the Army? At least Simon Jester is normal. Where do you guys live, Manhattan and LA? I want to see Steve57’s score. I’m flabbergasted! I knew you guys were a bunch of lawyers and aristocrats but I didn’t realize I’m only a lowly pleb comparatively.
Rev. Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:05 am55
ThOR (a52560) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:08 am44
Leviticus (efada1) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:11 amI took the liberty of taking the old test and got a 64. I don’t get it.
Rev. Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:12 am54 – some of those questions could be changed slightly and scores would increase – for example, I’ve never taken a bus but regularly took Amtrak (as bad as greyhound i think), that should have increased my score…
Carlos (a7abf8) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:14 am30 here, which seems a little low. I’d like to check my dad’s work salary when I was growing up. That may be throwing it.
Funny side note about cigarettes: One of the questions asked about hanging out with people who smoke. I don’t, mostly because I also don’t know people who smoke and I tend to go on coughing jags if I’m around it. But, yesterday I visited my 89-year old friend at her convalescent home. She’s been a smoker for 70 years and sure isn’t going to be quitting anytime soon. It remains one of the very few comforts she has left. I took her for a long walk and then she wanted a cigarette. We sat outside and I positioned myself away from the smoke, but sadly when she tried to take a draw, her left hand no longer reached her mouth. It was right below her chin and she was trying to draw. In a moment of irony, there I was holding the hand of an invalid old woman which held a lit cigarette and pushing it up to reach her mouth Take a puff, Mary, it’s in your mouth now. Good Lord. I felt both simultaneously horrible and glad that I could help her out.
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:16 am29. Never watch TV or go to movies. No problem with smokers (so long as I can bum one), but nobody I know smokes much anymore.
roy in nipomo (933f87) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:16 am31.
So I’m about the same as Patterico.
Patricia (5fc097) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:27 amDana the place in heaven for you is special times a thousand
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:29 am60
bald01 (f38852) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:32 amThank you for sharing. I got a 23. This also falls into the range of “an upper class person who gets out a lot”. Related to this I came upon this segment that best summarizes the Trump phenomenon and why so many people in the bubble just don’t get it. For the record, I am no fan of Trump (by a long shot).
Tony (ff2fe4) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:40 amI pulled a 43. If I watched more TV shows and new movies I would have scored much higher.
JVW (9e3c77) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:43 amI got 53, even though I don’t watch any network TV and buy only expensive German beer. I think it’s because I served in the military and my dad was a blue-collar worker (we even owned our own printing shop for a while). Oh, and I’m an evangelical Christian.
MD in Philly, to answer your question, there’s no chance the hit on ISIS #2 guy and Brussels attack are related. It took weeks or months of careful intel to find the guy and determine his POL (pattern of life), so there’s no way they did all this in a day or two. I’m in the biz, so I know.
Gene (7de75d) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:46 amWith the end of Justified, and now both Downton Abbey and Good Wife (in April), is there any real reason to turn on the T.V. other than Big Bang reruns?
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:46 amWhat I don’t get is this association that somehow unless you hunt and fish and hang out with HS drop outs you live in a “bubble.” But whatever.
I could argue the Country Boy lives in much more a bubble than I do given their limited access to the rest of the world.
Rodney King's Spirit (a089dc) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:49 amyes yes yes
The Magicians is a real surprise i think
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:49 ambut reminder me again Dana
what’s The Good Wife about?
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:57 amgene,
I didn’t make myself clear and you made my point,
the question is, how long have we had that info but did not act on it until Obama had a secondary gain reason to? Could we have taken him out 2 weeks ago but didn’t until there was a political reason to?
“See, I can too go to baseball games and tango and still be an effective CIC”.
But they criticized Bush for finishing reading one story to children in a classroom. that’s what I really hate, the duplicity.
Don’t many of us think Obama is fighting ISIS just enough so he can say he is doing something, rather than being serious about it?
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:59 amRodney King’s Spirit, in todays world with TV, internet, iPhones etc., your Country Boy is far less limited than a snooty patrician who couldn’t bait a hook and pees at the report of a rifle. He may not know pate de foie gras but he’s not fooled into thinking Sanders is a “socialist” when the man’s a commie. And to him a “trigger warning” is the sound of a slide being racked.
Rev. Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:02 am67
labcatcher (4495c9) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:03 amI got a 23.
I haven’t heard of most of the movies or about half of the TV shows that they asked about.
Dave (in MA) (037445) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:05 amCause I like Rolling Rock and was in the Army?
yes,
I (think) I knew only 1 military insignia (that was a corporal, wasn’t it), even though I had an uncle in the marines, a cousin in the Army, friends who were in the navy. Children of friends who were/are in Army and Marines.
I’m up to 49 if you count Yeungling as mass market…
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:07 am47 here.
Diffus (7b30f9) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:15 am55 – I suppose my lifelong distaste for the madding crowd has saved me from bubble life, just as a DSL connection has saved me from having to wallow in media effluent to find the occasional nugget. I’m fortunate though – visits to 40 countries on five continents has probably had a beneficial impact upon my innate parochialism.
Rick Ballard (9cd867) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:16 amScored 50 for what its worth, which I’m not sure is much.
mark johnson (d30efb) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:19 am44. I dont watch any series TV but I drink “common man beer” and have slummed with regard to my neighbors.
HappyFeet, nice burn at response 39.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:20 amurbanleftbehind and happyfeet,
Heh, I missed the burn. I was just getting ready to write a detailed description about the smart and witty writing that makes The Good Wife such a compelling show following a governor’s scorned wife who climbs her way out of despair to becoming a successful lawyer facing all manner of trial and tribulation while surrounded by some nicely developed characters that are really far more compelling than the main character herself, but I’ll hold off since I was being messed with.
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:32 ami’m sold I might binge on it one day once i set up my actual tv
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:34 am67
Douglas2 (247692) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:36 amI’m not sure that the tuxedo I wore playing in the opera orchestra is really what he meant as a uniform.
No movies or domestic beers.
Lots of cumulative time in low-population US zip-codes even though I’ve spent more time than that living in foreign capital cities.
Friends on all quadrants of the political spectra,
sought out houses where neighbors were useful types like plumbers, mechanics, and police — I’ve never had an emergency where immediate help from the hands of a philosophy professor, actuary, or company director was all that useful.
I must have disappeared into the bubble, getting a private communication from Sec. State Kerry:
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dated: 24th March 2016
Letter from the office of U.S Department of State, this is to inform you about the outcome of my meeting with the White House Board of Director in conjunction with European Union (EN),United nation (UN), World Bank Group and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It quite immensely believe that it will please you to know that your overdue payment in Africa/Europe & Middle East was brought to book for positive grant during the meet.
With our investigation, you have been dealing with imposter in Africa and Middle East who claimed the origin of other countries with promises to complete their duty with so much confident and trust you must have fixed you on them to release your funds to you. After proper investigation, …
I am writing you this massage to inform you that US$ 30 Million United States Dollars has been approved by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Middle East to be paid to you as compensation, with lot of apologies for what you must have face to extract such amount of money from you. I have been appointed by By the Present of United States Of America Mr. Barack Obama and U.S attorney general, to monitor every move in this transaction…
I want to further inform you that Mr. Michael Corbat of United States Of America, has been assigned to be in charge of transferring the compensated total amount of US$ 30 Million United States Dollars to your nominate bank account….. For immediate release of the funds you are advice to contact Mr. Michael Corbat with the details below.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:44 am…
My E-mail is open for information’s from you that will be so helpful.
Yours Sincerely
Mr. John Kerry
U.S. Secretary of State
it’s a pretty good show, all told, of course nearly everyone is a democrat, but they don’t jump to the obvious conclusion,
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:46 amShould I really bother to send that email info to somebody? Who? AC of my home state of PA?
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (3fd36a) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:46 amOr are “they” aware of such things already.
49, i live in a less demographically dense neighborhood now,
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:47 amI scored 39. It would have been higher if I actually lived in Arizona instead of just vacation there.
AZ Bob (7d2a2c) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:48 amit’s a trap,
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:48 am52 for me.
Beldar (fa637a) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:50 amGood old 409 scam. I used to get them on my fax. Just trash it, MD.
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:57 amI got a 56. Seems about right.
ropelight (73d366) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:02 am30, seems about right. But who is still watching Grey’s Anatomy? I stopped when Denny Duquette came back from the dead.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:08 am52, a little more ‘country’ than it really should have been. Military experience probably puts a thumb on the scale.
jasmer (34f4c5) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:11 amIt was only three years off on my age, but not so close about my situation. I got a 44, which had me from a working class family (my dad was a civil engineer, and my mom a college grad R.N.) with average tv and movie watching record- I haven’t watched t.v. for years and tend to see movies mostly on the plane to and from the States. I live in South America and whole television series and personalities have come and gone without my knowledge. I have lived abroad for more than 20 years in a situation where I pass from crime-ridden port friends and activities to upper-class activities all the time. Maybe the quiz was designed this way, but it seems to me that living abroad is a more common occurrence all the time, and was not accounted for in this quiz.
dbrugs (9b309b) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:14 amHow do you all feel about the premise of the survey and criteria used? (Military, generic beer drinkers, lots of television, etc.)
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:18 am55 Very middle.
Wyguy (5e063c) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:19 amyou have to apply this to a large and representative population and see if it produces a meaningful segmentation of that population
there’s just no way to know without applying some methodology
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:22 amthe bigger bubble is those who ignore this,
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-clinton-documents-raise-questions-on-benghazi-clinton-foundation/
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:24 am37… but I’m uncertain what the test is worth.
I like elitism. I want my politicians to be elites. I want them to be elitely competent at their jobs. I want my doctor to be elite. I want my dentist to be elite. I’m not drinking crappy beer – my fridge has Founder’s and Stone in it. I read slatestarcodex.com.
(I scored middlingly because I worked my way through law school and like movies.)
See, I think you can get bubbled the other way, too – it’s just a bigger bubble. Do you have ethnically diverse friends (at all)? Do you have any close friends who are of a different religion than you? Do you have any close friends who vote for the other party regularly? (I have several friends who can only say yes to that because of me; I’m their go-to for Official Republican Response, which would make many of you cry.) Are you willing to drink a beer made by someone other than the big manufacturers?
In short, I’m uncertain that the test’s majoritarian impulses are a good thing.
JRM (c80289) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:25 amDana, I don’t know what kind of “bubble” this purports to be measuring. They asked about a strange set of things, some of which made a certain sort of sense to me, but others that didn’t. And even the questions that seemed to make sense to me also seemed to be taking curiously narrow samplings, based in turn on extremely broad stereotypes.
For instance: I’ve watched less than an hour a week of network television for at least the last dozen years, for example, so I zeroed out all of those shows (without even recognizing more than one or two names). But over that same period of time, I’ve watched a ton of made-for-cable TV from “The Sopranos” through “Deadwood” through “Boardwalk Empire”; I’ve watched some of those series more than once, in fact. However, the one made-for-cable show I recognized on this quiz’s list is one I’ve never been interested in watching; so this seems to me to be a fairly random dismissal of a nontrivial time investment by me.
If this quiz puts me on one side or the other of some cultural bubble, I’m not really sure where all the margins of the bubble are. If the authors of the quiz believe my results are meaningful, I confess that I don’t grasp why that’s so.
Beldar (fa637a) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:31 amDo you have ethnically diverse friends (at all)?
I would think the quiz would first ask if the participant themselves are ethnically diverse. Wouldn’t that count for something?
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:35 amjust to start you wanna get a bunch of people and collect a set of demographics you can use to more or less say these people are a representative subset of a larger pop – say voters – but you want a buig enough sample that you can drill down to look at women, college grads, non-grads, different income levels, ethnicity
then you take all their scores and see what kind of distribution curve you see
you really want a normal distribution for something like this, but you look at your curve and then look at the curves generated by isolating different demographic cohorts – ideally those would be normal too, or at least you wanna be able to explain any weirdness you see
you identify where the midpoint is – are people who score higher than the midpoint really more bubbled than average when measured against other variables that measure bubbledness that you did not include in your typing tool?
then you run some basic smoke tests just to see if you have data here or noise and what the ratio is between the data and noise
then there’s probably an iterative process where you tweak the tool based on different cluster analyses you run against different variables what correlate with bubbledness
it’s a lot of work and very tedious but fortunately there’s people what really like doing that sort of thing
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:37 amWith the end of Justified, and now both Downton Abbey and Good Wife (in April), is there any real reason to turn on the T.V. other than Big Bang reruns
Well, Big Bang isn’t over, exactly. But there are a lot of series that you may have missed.
The Wire exploring the underside of a failing American city. Any number of breakout performances starting with Idris Elba and Michael Kenneth Williams. Streaming.
Fringe, a bit of a slow start but constantly reinventing itself, which gets easier with multiple universes and time travelers. Streaming.
The Americans (ongoing) Mom and Dad are deep-cover KGB agents in Reagan’s first term. Kids are happy American children. Both funny and grim. Streaming.
Fargo (ongoing) Each season is loosely based on the movie. First season someone found the money that Buscemi buried, while Billy Bob Thornton turns Martin Freeman’s life upside down.
Homeland (ongoing) First two seasons anyway. War hero escapes from al qaeda. Did he turn? Streaming.
Poirot The entire, complete Agatha Christie canon performed by the incomparable David Suchet. Some 70 productions from TV hours to movies. A life-work. Streaming.
Defying Gravity 13 episodes and cancelled, but with a powerful ending. ABC marketed this as “Grey’s Anatomy in Space”. It is in space. A character study of 8 people on a long duration mission who have been BADLY lied to.
Caprica One season and done. Prequel to BattleStar Galactica, regarding the creation of the Cylons, but don’t let that fool you. It’s about AI, VR, “what is human?”, terrorism, religion and the meaning of heaven. Again, it has a strong ending.
You might also like Dickensian, which is a mashup of Dicken’s London where all of his characters live and interact.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:38 am*big* enough sample i mean
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:38 amloved Caprica so sad it got canceled
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:39 amHomeland had an interesting take this season, quinn just has the worst luck
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:39 am42. I suspect my military service got me a few points. Plus living in a working class suburb while in grad school. But his inferences about my background are nonsense.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:48 amJR, I don’t think that’s the type of elites nor the kind of elitism they’re referring to. I think they’re taking about the type of condescending b^stards who look down on regular people all while making a living off them. The ones who think they should make the rules and be exempt from them at the same time because….elite. You said you want your politicians to be competent. What does that even mean, they know how to pass bills before they know what’s in them? Pelosi’s and elitist but hardly competent. Sure you want your doctor or dentist or lawyer to be competent but does it bring anything of value to the table if they’re elites also? Would you rather have a lawyer from Harvard who loses the case or a guy from Penn State who kicks butt?
You noticed as did I that no question was included about family or friends having a diversity of either race or religion or handicapped or gay or millionaires or unemployed. It would seem to me these enter distinctly into one’s “bubble”. How about: do you smoke, do you own firearms, do you go to church and have you ever been to a Jewish service?
The idea that Charles Murray came up with this Bubble Test is both interesting and fun but I bet the guys here could come up with one a lot better. Why? We’re diverse, just look at our scores!
Rev. Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:53 am25
Eric Wilner (3936fd) — 3/25/2016 @ 11:57 amSays I’m upper middle class. Um. I don’t theeenk so.
My score would presumably have been higher if I could afford to eat at restaurants and go to the movies. Maybe living within one’s means is an upper-middle-class trait now? (OK, so I blew last year’s entertainment budget on capital equipment, so maybe that’s fair.)
But my plan for the year does call for moving to a small town and buying a pickup truck. Presumably also finding new friends, in the small-town context. Ought to bring my score up a fair bit.
I don’t plan to start drinking beer, though, mass-market nor otherwise; alcohol doesn’t agree with me. And tobacco smoke is firmly on the “keep it downwind” list, along with scented laundry products and many other things that set off my sinuses.
Oh, well. Not like I should be taking on-line quizzes seriously anyway. That F-scale quiz a while back called me a liberal sissy or some such.
Charles Murray is a man who gets more and more “Strange New Respect” (a Kaus-ian term) as time passes. Remember he had a big bull-eye on his back with The Bell Curve. Perhaps a Trump presidency would be analagous to Murray’s career from 1994 onward.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:05 pmKevin M,
I tried The Wire but was put off by the gritty reality.
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:09 pmI tried The Americans but got bored.
I gave up on Homeland a few seasons ago because I found myself hoping someone would just kill Carrie already.
I also gave up on House of Cards because I need at least one redeeming character to root on but the writers just don’t seem to want to provide me with one.
81
Robert (d30dd8) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:11 pmRaised as child of career enlisted man.
21 years as enlisted man.
BS Degree and 15 years civil service IT guy.
Lots of really weird friends. 🙂
With the end of Justified, and now both Downton Abbey and Good Wife (in April), is there any real reason to turn on the T.V. other than Big Bang reruns?
Uh, yeah: baseball!
JVW (05e1e2) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:17 pmI would think the quiz would first ask if the participant themselves are ethnically diverse. Wouldn’t that count for something?
Not really. Do you think Barack and Michelle Obama would score higher than single-digits on this test? Yet they no doubt have friends of all skin tones and hues (but monochromatic opinions and beliefs).
JVW (05e1e2) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:19 pmno such luck, there was actually one character more self involved then carrie, the station chief,
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:22 pmFor fun, I took this quiz again and tried to guess how Barack Obama would answer the questions. I got a 30. I’m sure he got points for living in small-town Kansas and hanging out with smokers, and I assumed that he has seen half of the movies list (but none of the TV shows). I also gave him the benefit of the doubt that he would recognize at least some of the military insignia, and I guessed that he won a letter for basketball in high school even if he didn’t get much playing time. If anyone else wants to take a guess and gets a different result, let me know.
JVW (05e1e2) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:27 pmWhoops! Just discovered that Obama didn’t ever live in Kansas with his grandparents (I thought he had). And when he lived in Hawaii and Indonesia he always lived in urban areas, so he shouldn’t get any small-town living points. That probably drops him down to the 20s.
JVW (05e1e2) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:31 pmI got a 64, but I’m my grandparents worked into the middle class, parents were always in it. The problem seems to be Murray posits a static analysis, where there is still upward income mobility.
42–100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits.
Steven Malynn (4bc33a) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:38 pmI don’t understand why this question is included: “Do you now have a close friend with whom you have strong and wide-ranging political disagreements?”
ThOR (a52560) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:39 pmI don’t understand why this question is included: “Do you now have a close friend with whom you have strong and wide-ranging political disagreements?”
Well, the whole idea is whether or not you live in a bubble, so if your social circle consists entirely of people with whom you completely agree on almost all political topics then I think you have some pretty solid bubble qualities about you. Think of Obama in the faculty lounge.
JVW (05e1e2) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:54 pm53
I’d say the test itself is its own bubble.
WTP (094b61) — 3/25/2016 @ 12:55 pmSeems to be a floating bubble test with margins that airy. 55 with plenty of zeros.
mg (31009b) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:05 pmMy wife and I started watching “Justified”, again.
65, I reject Murrays theory and substitute my own.
gbear (35fafe) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:07 pmBTW my body still aches.
Dana- Watching the old black and white movies on a local station has been great. Glenn Ford in “The Gazebo” was on last night. Funny movie, mystery.
mg (31009b) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:11 pmYes, this that Charles Murray. This set of questions seems like one of his lesser efforts. I did find this article by Murray at the American Enterprise Institute website which I found interesting:
This article nicely complements Lecture 5 in the Hillsdale online course in Public Policy from a Constitutional Viewpoint. He has a lot to say. I particularly liked this summary of the Obama years:
For every action there is a reaction. If D. C. hectors us, we will search for someone, virtually anyone, who will “Make America Great Again”. And for every inaction, the feckless foreign policy under this administration for example, there will be an action, call it ISIS.
BobStewartatHome (a52abe) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:13 pmScored 62- Only one of those eateries within 40 miles. Same for movie theaters. I miss neither.
Gramps (6a37e4) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:14 pmI have no idea of childhood family income: we owned a house, ate regularly but with “seconds” only occasionally. This is not a complaint.
House of Cards
The Brit original is better. The politics in the US version are moronic (that’s what a liberal friend calls them and who am I to argue?).
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:15 pm0–43: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Typical: 9
Actually we weren’t upper-middle-class, just middle class. I took a few years off from college and knocked around on my own for a bit, that part is accurate, and I’ve changed careers which puts me around a lot more mainstream people from those I used to work with.
But I don’t watch TV or go to movies, and that’s most of my low score right there.
Now those restaurants they named, Waffle House and IHOP and Chili’s and such, we go to places a lot less tony than that, but they are local places and not chains. They’re not obscure hole-in-the-wall places you brag about to your hipster friends, it’s the same clientele. (Just at lunch at Burgermaster which I bet Bob Stewart knows.)
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:19 pmOh, I got 43 points. I see that’s why I got three descriptions. (A little slow to get it.)
11–80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33.
That’s more right.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:21 pm31.
Interesting exercise. Thanks for the link.
Tim McGarry (be9b88) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:38 pm@urbanleftbehind:Remember he had a big bull-eye on his back with The Bell Curve.
There are days I wonder if I’m the only one I know who read it, because a lot of people tell out-and-out lies about what’s in that book.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:50 pmI got 31. I’d have got more if I hadn’t stopped watching TV about two years ago, and if I had got off my rear and and seen The Martian, which I totally intended to see since I loved the book. Also if I didn’t keep kosher, which is why I’ve never eaten at any of the named restaurants, though I have eaten at some of their kosher equivalents.
Milhouse (87c499) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:51 pmAlso I couldn’t remember any close friends who are evangelical Christians. I used to have one who was seriously Greek Orthodox, but I don’t think that counts. Generally my close friends tend to be seriously religious but not Christian.
Milhouse (87c499) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:53 pmSeventy-two (72). What a collection of bubble-dwellers here, eh?
Ike (55db8e) — 3/25/2016 @ 1:55 pm46
Richard Aubrey (472a6f) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:04 pmI think the restaurant question presumes that you’re eating in the upscale places rather than not doing much restauranting in the first place.
As to not getting more than a C even though trying hard….that person would be special needs. I don’t think that would occur to people.
Watch NCIS two or three times a week. Wife watches Castle. Just got the Downton video. Not much else, so the television question probably assumes some other reason for not seeing all those series.
Growing up, I didn’t think we had a lot of money. Decades later, I discovered my folks were Depression-traumatized savers. Hard to say what that does to my bubble. Grew up in one of those post-war subdivisions with forty-foot lots and everybody’s dad and uncles were WW II vets. That’s a concentrated version of non-bubble.
There was a tile-setter across the street both of whose kids ended up with PhD level schooling, although they weren’t actually bad kids. He was in the First Marine Division. Guy next to us had been a Marine anti-aircraft gunner on the New Mexico,iirc. They were talking about regiments. The tile setter reached for his wallet. His wife said, “Oh, George, not that horrible death picture.” His regiment was represented by a cemetery. Hard to lose that by hanging out with philosophy majors–not that I did. I notified Next of Kin and dis Survivor Assistance. That would pierce any bubble,presuming I was in one in the first place.
All of which is to say that the test is probably not particularly accurate because so many people had experiences putting them outside the areas addressed by the questions.
Re Murray:
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:05 pmhttps://www.aei.org/publication/an-open-letter-to-the-virginia-tech-community/
45
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:12 pmWell, Milhouse, some of us don’t qualify as close friends, but you are exposed to our ideas, so that counts for 1/2, maybe.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:16 pm@Richard Aubrey:As to not getting more than a C even though trying hard….that person would be special needs.
C was, before grade inflation, an “average” score so about 25% of people should have been getting no better than C.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:24 pmin the published results the average score was 40, and the median score was 40.
so far in our sample here (55 scores through Mr. SFV), the mean is 46.9 and the median is 49.
This means pattericos are 17.25% less bubbly on average than the PBS sample.
Dave (in MA) and Tony tie at 23 as our most bubbly pattericos.
Robert at 81 is the least bubbly – by a good amount. Second least bubbly is Ike at 72.
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:30 pm53, with no mass market beer, no TV except for news and sports, and only one movie (the Martian). Surprised no questions about sports watching, for example been to a college or pro game in past year.
Roscoe (d9df47) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:33 pm74 Navy brat. We bounced around a lot in my early years.
So do any of you get that many comments I make are lifted directly from movie quotes?
Should I caption in the future?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 2:59 pmyou are now the second least bebubbled Mr. tiger
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:00 pmIn the middle of the road. – Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:11 pm#41, so reading things in the internet take you out of your bubble? Yeah, don’t buy that either.
I don’t live in a bubble b/c not only do I engage intellectually but I have varied life experience including tons of travel and living abroad. Living in Manhattan. Midwest. South American West Coast Southeast and Western Europe. I have owned a Hyundai and own a Bentley. So ….for someone to imply I live in a bubble b/c I don’t hunt nor drive a pick up nor like guns nor live in a home without air conditioning …. yeah, OK.
Fact is I have deep respect for rural Americans regardless of their education. They do the hard work. They work the Armed Forces. They don’t sit around waiting for handouts NORMALLY. But I also have tremendous respect for the mid-mgmt IT grunts who also do the hard work and get their Disney Dream Vacation once every 10 years.
But there is NFW that I take some dude who is 46 from the Shenandoah Valley, juxtapose him next me, and come up with the conclusion “I live in a bubble.” He is much more in a bubble than I am, just that his bubble has more economic uncertainty and material well being. And maybe (just maybe) part of the reason my situation is “more blessed” than his — is that I left the bubble of my childhood and worked really hard to adjust, change, grow, learn, and have a better existence than my forebearers.
But I could be misreading the survey completely. Willing to accept that.
Rodney King's Spirit (a089dc) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:14 pmScore – 74
JD (fe890c) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:18 pmThat quiz was useless. I don’t fit into any of its categories. But my bubble is in the middle.
SarahW (67599f) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:25 pmI got a 35 by the way. Let me tell you my amazing life sto…or maybe not.
SarahW (67599f) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:26 pm50
kaf (ba6093) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:28 pm@RKS:But I could be misreading the survey completely.
Yeah, you are. These are traits of populations. That you don’t have all the traits does not mean that you can’t be part of that population. It means that people like you are relatively rare in that population and relatively more common outside it.
Men are taller than women on the average, but that doesn’t mean no women are 6′ 6″. It’s just that if you are told nothing about a person other than that they are 6′ 6″ you are far more likely to be right if you guess they are a man.
Now add in “can bench press 250 pounds, likes to watch sports, and doesn’t know the difference between cream and eggshell”. A person who has those traits and is 6′ 6″ could be a woman, but very very few women would have that combination. It would not be the way to bet.
And if you were that woman, you might feel like the quiz had no predictive value; you might think it was marginalizing your experience.
What the test is trying to do is show the Pauline Kael types that they are not the norm.
I had that experience once when I mentioned that Donald Trump’s time on the Apprentice might have something to do with what’s going on now. A surprising number of people said so what, I never heard of the Apprentice. Sure, YOU didn’t, but it was on TV for 15 seasons and watched by a couple dozen million people ever week in that time–your lack of knowledge about TV makes you atypical.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:28 pm57
spokanebob (c5547a) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:29 pmJD – brother!
Here’s a travel tip for you bubble dwellers. On the Greyhound if you happen to find yourself sitting next to a rodeo cowboy, change seats. They are surly and feel entitled. If the only other seat available is next to a Mexican migrant farm worker, don’t worry. Have a seat.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:29 pmThey won’t bother you while you’re reading.
very very unbubbled Mr. JD you tie for second with Mr. tiger
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:29 pm@papertiger:On the Greyhound if you happen to find yourself sitting next to a rodeo cowboy, change seats.
If you find yourself next to someone who is going to Seattle to be a bum, talk to him. You will not be bored.
Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:34 pmI think the questions are geared for a group that happens to be reading a Charles Murray survey.
For example, as mentioned, not having eaten in any of those restaurants could mean one eats in more expensive places,
or that one rarely eats in a restaurant at all
or that one eats in the local diner.
(Perhaps, have you eaten in a restaurant where the tip has been less than $3 a person).
How about ever bought things from a thrift store (not a consignment shop), put a towel on a chair to cover up a threadbare spot instead of having it reupholstered. Eat beans and cornbread for dinner.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:37 pmDon’t know what to do with 2 forks…
going to Seattle to be a bum
Like a life style choice? People do that on purpose? Maybe I’m the one in the bubble.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:38 pmhow often you get a new car is a good one i think
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:39 pmtalking to people on a bus is a good way to get tuberculosis
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:41 pmThe rodeo cowboys I’ve known are very polite and not surly at all, just quiet.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:50 pm#119, Gabriel, I understand what you are saying. I am simply saying there are much simpler ways of getting better answers. This is like statistics where guys keep throwing in variable to get “a better R2” when in fact less is much more accurate It impresses folks who don’t appreciate simplicity when forecasting. They just keep layering on more complexity to make themselves seem smarter.
Rodney King's Spirit (a089dc) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:51 pmIt’s not eating in restaurants that matters, it’s eating in those restaurants. The questions are geared to seeing who you are and aren’t around.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:51 pmDone all of those things. I do know what to do with any number of forks and strange implements, though, because I have read the 19th-century etiquette guides for the working-class types who now found themselves dining with the gentry and didn’t want to embarrass themselves.
Milhouse (87c499) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:52 pmI have never owned a new car in my life, and right now don’t own any car (the difficulty of parking in NYC makes car ownership not worth it for me).
Milhouse (87c499) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:53 pmRKS, people will answer these questions because it’s interesting. Other methods may not interest people.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:54 pmI didn’t see a question about a new car. Do the questions vary depending on the answers? Or am I a careless reader?
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:55 pmI think the questions are geared for a group that happens to be reading a Charles Murray survey.
Yes, but also, this particular one is linked at PBS. How many commenters here regularly visit that site?
Dana (0ee61a) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:57 pmThe old WarEagle scored a 53.
WarEagle82 (5bf75f) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:58 pmWell, perhaps what I wasn’t thinking is that it is not “one bubble” vs main stream America, but many different bubbles, and main stream America.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:59 pmOh, I’m exposed to all kinds of ideas, because I read a lot, and talk to a lot of people. My extended circle of friends includes a United Methodist minister with whom I’ve discussed religion a time or two, but I guess I took “close friends” literally.
Milhouse (87c499) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:59 pmAlso, United Methodist is not exactly evangelical, I don’t think.
Milhouse (87c499) — 3/25/2016 @ 3:59 pmI didn’t see a question about a new car.
sorry sorry i was adding to Mr. Dr.’s suggestions
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:02 pmA United Methodist minister could potentially be evangelical, but many (most?) are not, by the definition given on the questionnaire.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:02 pmI think his criteria were pretty good, Dana. Not perfect–like a handicap for those in California who live in really expensive housing and thus have to commute to their upper middle class restaurants and hobbies. I would have gained points there. But yes, very good, and probably the type of thing Google sends to marketers with the info on our searches. 🙂
For TV, try The Walking Dead, but only if you start from the beginning; Royal Pains, it it comes back, Blue Bloods, and I like Scorpion and NCIS-LA for “cute” crime with conservative overtones.
Patricia (5fc097) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:05 pmI’m evangelical by the definition given, but I never thought of myself that way.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:06 pmDRJ I’ll defer to your observation. You have a wider selection of cowboys on buses to sample.
Here we drawn from a small and brackish pool.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:15 pmMD in Philly
No, they would not have waited. Once they had his POL established and knew exactly where he was at a given moment, they’d take him out, especially in a raid like this. They did not zap him with a Hellfire but tried to capture him alive with actual boots on the ground. (They drop MH-60 helicopters on the road on each side of his moving vehicle, cutting him off and come out, guns ready.) A raid such as that is INCREDIBLY hard to plan, time, and actually pull off. No way they waited for political considerations.
Gene (d1a42c) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:16 pmSarah is correct, the test is worthless. I imagined myself to be poverty stricken, too poor to go to the movies or eat out. That person scored 18.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:23 pmPerhaps you are right, Gene, I certainly have no personal experience to say otherwise,
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:28 pmbut still, I guess I have too much doubt in Obama, well earned.
So RKS, you are not too far off of the mark, since the impoverished, too, may live in a bubble, but upper middle class? This test says more about the tester than the tested.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:28 pmA first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits… huh my score would be better if instead of the greyhound they’d have asked about riding freight trains
steveg (fed1c9) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:30 pmfelipe,
that’s what I mean about there being multiple bubbles, but one mainstream.
being dirt poor is not in the mainstream, though definitely not in “the bubble” as we usually think of it,
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:31 pmwhich is why I also said it worked for people who read Charles Murray, few dirt poor people would.
you’re right to be skeptical, they went after some low hanging fruit in yemen and syria, after both paris attacks, that had little effect,
narciso (732bc0) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:34 pmQuite right, doc, quite right.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:38 pmI think people are finding things in their scores that were not tested for. The bubble concept seems to be a way of describing the people you hang with… the variety of ideas you are exposed to. By some of the work and economic based questions Murray may be establishing a baseline, and other questions might seek to find how much you deviate from that base.
I watch television.. but not the listed shows. I go to Lions meetings regularly; why is Rotary or Kiwanis different, if it is? I got to say I had been to a union meeting based on the manual labor (shipyard, which I called a factory for that question) that left me sore.
I guess what is sought is how broad a spectrum one has from which to draw experience for making life decisions. But what do I know… driving my pickup truck in rural CA, miles from chain restaurants… and after the first 50 yrs in hard-core urban area, is that I have a reasonably broad range of exposures to things. And I still have to pay $2 for what used to be a 10-cent cup of coffee.
Gramps (6a37e4) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:39 pm121
rode a freight into a town and went to the bar. I was dirty and stunk and so I was directed to the seat next to the only black guy in the rodeo.
He was from Watts but had grandparents who had a ranch in Texas.
I’d ridden an open top empty coal car through Wyoming and slept in a refrigerator box to avoid freezing and looked like hell.
I thought he was great.
Didn’t seem to care.
I also took the free gamblers bus from Oakland to Reno. I was the only white person on the bus. Fell asleep on the shoulder of a nice woman who patted her large shoulder and let me sleep there all the way to Reno where I walked to Sparks and caught a freight to Cheyenne
steveg (fed1c9) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:44 pmTinfoil hat on:
Not unlike Cook’s 97% “consensus” survey that was designed as device to change people’s perception of AGW, this survey (and maybe it is just a trial balloon) is designed to make the respondent more receptive of the “goodthink” that will be offered as way to atone for (or as a tonic to)living in a “bubble.”
You want to sell a fake cure? Convince your patients that they have a fake disease.
Tinfoil hat off.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:52 pm“I watch television.. but not the listed shows.”
Gramps, as DRJ perceptively noted;”It’s not eating in restaurants that matters, it’s eating in those restaurants.”
“I’m evangelical by the definition given, but I never thought of myself that way.”
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:06 pm
Good thing they (re)defined it for you, yes?
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 4:56 pmIt’s for entertainment purposes only, you guys. It’s less meaningful than breaking wind after eating asparagus — just the affectation of some guy on Facebook.
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:00 pmnk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:00 pm
Well of course, nk. After all, the clown nose is obviously on (the survey). It is nothing more than a symptom, not the disease itself.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:02 pmA suggested read; in 1989 Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox penned an incredibly absorbing and stellar book titled, ‘Apollo – The Race To The Moon.’ In it, they accurately detail the stories, decisions and challenges facing the flight control teams, managers and engineers who made it possible to put Americans on the moon in 1969. You will learn much you did not know about just how Americans accomplished it. It is not dry or boring. Rather, it reveals much of just how decisions were made and how well government can work with private industry and academia to accomplish a seemingly impossible task– ahead of schedule and under budget.
DCSCA (a343d5) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:11 pmI scored an 80.
John Hitchcock (2cd7fb) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:21 pmAn 80 is a middling C. I was hoping for an A, oh well.
John Hitchcock (2cd7fb) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:22 pmDCSCA score: 54.
Moderation Patterico? ‘Still crazy after all these years.’
DCSCA (a343d5) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:24 pm47
Zoltan (c8e27b) — 3/25/2016 @ 5:49 pmWell. The “some guy on Facebook” is Charles Murray, author of many excellent books. He’s not just some guy.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:10 pmMy score was 11.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:15 pmAnd not above some light-hearted fluff?
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:18 pmThat’s the record low here, I think, James B. Shearer. John Hitchcock has the record high, I think.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:32 pmnk,
I think he’s trying to make a serious point, however imperfectly, about the way the white upper class has been removed from much of American culture.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:33 pmOk, now I’m taking the quiz seriously. That is exactly the score I’d expect James to get.
I’m joking, James. 😉
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:34 pmThat silver spoon Donald Trump guy probably scored a negative integer.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:34 pmWith emphasis on the word, “negative.”
Robert scored a point higher than Mr. Hitchcock (81)
happyfeet (831175) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:34 pmThere was an 81. So I’m a point shy of the high. Only caught a few of the recent TV series on YouTube. But I do purposely hang around me, a smoker, and eat at a couple of those restaurants, since every meal I eat is restaurant food. I counted TGIFridays, even though I only ate there when in Manila.
John Hitchcock (2cd7fb) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:35 pmOk, Patterico. I take my comment back.
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:37 pmI’m tempted to set forth all my answers. It might be interesting.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:43 pmBubble. mine just burst. badgers up by 1 with the ball with less than 20 seconds left,
“It’s Wisconsin’s to lose”, I said.
And they did.
badgerheaded loons
But wife says she and #2 son had a good time at the game, so that’s good.
Painted Jaguar (a sockpuppet) (1b400a) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:44 pmCue Happyfeet:”I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:44 pmHopping a freight train sounds romantic. What a neat way to go. Hobo has a panache that bum … um not have way?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:45 pmI’m taking Gonzaga tonight.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:46 pmThey were robbed, MD.
DRJ (15874d) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:52 pmIs it an indication that I live in a bubble because I know that Pier Luigi Farnese, the putative son of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Fanese), was killed by the Gonzagas when they overthrew him as Duke of Parma with the help of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and have no clue about the Gonzaga that felipe mentioned? (I assume it’s a college and it plays NCAA basketball?)
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 6:58 pmJust the view alone, if you’ve got some goggles and a bandanna.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 3/25/2016 @ 7:01 pmSome guy named Bing Crosby attended Gonzaga.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/25/2016 @ 7:02 pmnah, but it would be if you never heard of Notre Dame.
felipe (56556d) — 3/25/2016 @ 7:02 pmHopping a freight is great when you have the doors open and you are crossing Great Salt Lake and you see Promontory Point, or when you are dangling your feet out the door while you watch a great river roar through forest… not so romantic when you get stuck in a freight with a bunch of parolees trying to get home for free.
steveg (fed1c9) — 3/25/2016 @ 7:10 pmI jumped off a train that was going through a town at maybe 20mph to get away from a bunch of horny idiots. After that I learned to always get to the train first and spike the doors closed to about 8″ anytime the train was stopped… open when we were rolling. No one ever got in. Lots of really bad people ride the freights and you can be stuck alone with them for 8-10 hours and no one can hear you scream, which is not romantic at all
68
Marci (c7079f) — 3/25/2016 @ 7:33 pmI came from a rural background, raised on a ranch where my father didn’t have hired hands, he had children. 🙂 For most of our married lives we have lived in small town or rural communities working in the oil and gas industry. For the past 15 years I have lived in a city environment and our “social circle” mostly dictated by work position has been upper middle class. I find that the people we associate with through work relationships who have come from wealthy families are totally clueless as to the challenges faced by the working folks in rural and small town America. To them $100 is easy to drop on a dinner for 2 while in my extended family $100 is a week’s worth of groceries. On the other hand they think that we are “too common” in many ways. We call it “down to earth.” It is often an interesting position to be in as experience in both positions leads to great insight.
I gave all my answers in a new post, where I encourage people to elaborate on how they got the result they did.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 3/25/2016 @ 8:30 pm51 – I think my enlisted military service (blue collar, of course) shifted it up. By the descriptions, it should be around 20-30.
John Moore (8ad7da) — 3/25/2016 @ 9:44 pm53 … there seem to be a number of us in the comments …
Alastor (2e7f9f) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:41 pmI wonder how much being an Eastpondian ex-pat skews the survey ?
(innocent grin™)
Alastor (2e7f9f) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:42 pmYup. The first 11 years of my life were up on a mountain in a village with 57 houses, but the survey wanted American towns.
nk (dbc370) — 3/25/2016 @ 10:53 pm53
Mark Tillman (a95660) — 3/26/2016 @ 9:48 amI got a 28, in part because I scored zero on movies and TV. I live in a rural area, which IMHO reflects on my choices on the restaurant list; there are only two of those restaurants within 100 miles, and none within an hour’s drive.
The rest was pretty much spot on, and an eye opener.
Arizona CJ (da673d) — 3/26/2016 @ 1:18 pm64, fwiw.
J.P. (78aaf7) — 3/26/2016 @ 5:51 pmI note that interest in sports doesn’t count. Was that intentional? Does it indicate that even inside the “bubble”, sports fandom is rampant?
Rich Rostrom (d2c6fd) — 3/27/2016 @ 10:25 am66. Whaddya know.
Jerome (123204) — 3/27/2016 @ 8:43 pm49. Cleaning out horse stalls for a summer helped. Not drinking mass market beer did not.
Loren (66de82) — 3/28/2016 @ 9:34 amI got a 23.
I am just here to see a perspective from the right on the big NYT Trump story.
bordenl (2b9352) — 3/28/2016 @ 1:50 pmI did know who Jimmie Johnson is, and I have been to Branson 2 years ago. But I live in St. Louis so that almost doesn’t count. The chain restaurant question was unfair because my husband is a very picky eater in the first place and his doctor told him to minimize carbs in his diet.
bordenl (2b9352) — 3/28/2016 @ 1:51 pmAlso we are supposed to be keeping kosher.
bordenl (2b9352) — 3/28/2016 @ 1:54 pm55….I’m guessing that enlisting in the Marines is what pushed it up that high. I’d characterize myself as third generation middle-class – one blue collar grandfather, one who grew up poor and blue collar but worked his way up to middle class, a father who is a college graduate and successful salesman, a mother who never went to college and was a stay at home mom when we were young, and has worked as a flight attendant and office clerk since my sister and I were in high school. I myself am a state government office worker. Via my earlier stint as a Marine, I’ve lived for a while in smaller towns, worn uniforms, did my share of back-breaking physical labor. Don’t watch new movies anymore (they mostly suck and there are still a plethora of great older ones I’ve not yet seen), only current TV series I watch weren’t listed (Black Sails, The Middle, The Americans, Fargo), don’t eat at the chains because we rarely go out to eat (and as it’s rare we aim a bit higher when we do), and don’t drink mass-market beer.
The military is a great leveler. I grew up in the middle-class suburbs of a decent-sized city, and my first real experiences with poor kids, both poor country whites and inner-city blacks, came in the Marines.
radar (177444) — 3/29/2016 @ 12:53 pmKevin M: With the end of Justified, and now both Downton Abbey and Good Wife (in April), is there any real reason to turn on the T.V. other than Big Bang reruns
Yes. Decades.
http://decades.com
Almost half the time what’s on is something very good. And very few long drawn out dramas.
Right now there is the Dick Cavett Show.
Leo Durocher was saying something about being thrown out of a ballgame – several people being thrown out of the same game. I didn’t catch all the names. One name was Frisch. Did he say the name Bill Clinton? Must have been some other name. Or was there a “Bill Clinton” in baseball history?
I never watched the Dick Cavette Show when it was new. I didn’t really like it. MAybe Merv Griffin is better.
Sammy Finkelman (8c951a) — 4/1/2016 @ 3:25 pm199.Kevin M:
With the end of Justified, and now both Downton Abbey and Good Wife (in April), is there any real reason to turn on the T.V. other than Big Bang reruns
Yes. Decades.
http://decades.com
Almost half the time what’s on is something very good. And very few long drawn out dramas.
Right now there is the Dick Cavett Show.
Leo Durocher was saying something about being thrown out of a ballgame – several people being thrown out of the same game. I didn’t catch all the names. One name was Frisch. Did he say the name Bill Clinton? Must have been some other name. Or was there a “Bill Clinton” in baseball history?
I never watched the Dick Cavette Show when it was new. I didn’t really like it. Maybe Merv Griffin is better.
Sammy Finkelman (8c951a) — 4/1/2016 @ 3:28 pm