List is here: https://archive.ph/fF4ct or https://web.archive.org/web/20240611152445/https://happy-city-index.com/ (data tables might not fully display properly)
Note: this is not a "are you happy here" survey, but rather calculations using factors that "research says" make city folk happier.
A few highlights:
Top 3 overall are 1. Aarhus, Denmark 2. Zurich, Switzerland and 3. Berlin, Germany.
Top 3 from America are 18. Minneapolis, MN 38. Boston, MA and 57. Baltimore, MD.
Tops from some Commonwealth countries (I know some of you are out there, frens): 7. Bristol, GBR 21. Brisbane, AUS 25. Cork, IRL 37. Ottawa, CAN.
Obviously, you'll want to know what criteria they used in their assessment.
https://archive.ph/Sclj3 or https://web.archive.org/web/20240516041602/https://happy-city-index.com/HCI/happycityindex.html
Their explanation has a bunch of word salad, but they do give a somewhat concise listing of their intended dimensions towards the end. 24 "areas" sorted into 5 seemingly weighted categories. Each factor is very easily quantifiable and definitely all contribute to a functional and comfortable living environment.
[Please pardon the formatting]
AREA CATEGORY
- educational system CITIZENS
- social inclusion of residents CITIZENS
- Gross Domestic Product and Productivity ECONOMY
- involvement of residents in decision-making processes GOVERNANCE
- transparency in operation and openness of data GOVERNANCE
- accessibility of public e-services GOVERNANCE
- management of natural resources, including renewable energy sources ENVIRONMENT
- innovation and creativity of residents CITIZENS
- conscious strategies GOVERNANCE
- use of information and communication technologies in transport MOBILITY
- innovation and creativity of enterprises ECONOMY
- anti-pollution ENVIRONMENT
- waste, wastewater management and recycling ENVIRONMENT
- accessibility and efficiency of public transport MOBILITY
- availability of green areas ENVIRONMENT
- access to culture, including libraries CITIZENS
- entrepreneurship ECONOMY
- safety of the transport system MOBILITY
- labour market flexibility and unemployment ECONOMY
- ICT [information and communication technology] area as a sphere of activity and its availability in enterprises ECONOMY
- protection of biodiversity ENVIRONMENT
- openness of transport data MOBILITY
- availability of multimodal transport MOBILITY
- internationalisation of enterprises ECONOMY
Direct link
Dot today
Dot org
Thursday afternoon, a Somali man shot two people in an apartment building (one died). In attempting to flee the scene, he tried to commandeer a moped at gunpoint. Another driver saw this and rammed the Somali (and then, I guess, left the scene). The cop arrived at the scene and saw the downed Somali. Cop reportedly attempted to render aid to Somali.
Officer down.
The Somali then lost a shootout with other police officers.
The cop was a 36-year-old black man in his second year on the job. He had previously been honored for rescuing an elderly couple from a burning house. This makes for 4 murdered first responders (3 police, 1 fire) in 4 months in this middling metropolitan area.
In completely unrelated news, Sunday night, the local County Attorney suddenly decided to drop her criminal charges against a state trooper for shooting (and ultimately killing) a black man who was driving off with another officer partially in the car last year.
Content advisory: Lots of dot today links to Outkick, a Fox News owned sports and culture blog a little similar to Barstool.
Harrison Butker is a placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. He was apparently chosen to give a commencement speech at a Catholic school in the area near Kansas City (of note, he went to school in Georgia). The speech was politically charged.
https://archive.ph/pKCoQ
Butker ripped President Biden and his hypocritical stance on abortion, took an unveiled shot at Pride Month, unmasked some of the lies born during the Covid crisis, addressed the "tyranny" of diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and lifted women as mothers, wives and homemakers to counter the "diabolical lies" they've been fed by society.
He also discussed men's and women's roles in the household. Notably, he encouraged embracing the role of a homemaker.
This set off a firestorm in the press and online.
Several thousand signatures have been collected in multiple petitions on change.org to have him fired from his team.
https://archive.ph/vK03a
Numerous news outlets have published stories on the "controversial" speech, many misrepresenting it.
https://archive.ph/Jf6ZO
https://archive.ph/OjaMy
The NFL has decried the views expressed in the speech.
https://archive.ph/hbcyw
The current cherry on top is that the Twitter account for the city of Kansas City tweeted out the city that Butker lives in.
https://archive.ph/pB8Bd
Whether that is really a doxx is questionable (at least to me), but the point remains that a city publicly singled out a person for his views to at least distance itself from him. The twxtter account also apparently liked some approving responses before deleting the tweet and apologies-ing for it being 'shared.'
And people aren't necessarily that interested.
https://thatparkplace.com/disneys-lion-king-prequel-faces-big-trouble-mufasa-trailer-hit-with-enormous-number-of-dislikes/
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