Colorado Should...

Denver has good Public Transportation

Best reasons to agree: +3

Denver has a good bike system, with bike lanes, and bikes you can borrow. +1-1=0

Reasons to Agree +1

This image is proof that Denver has a "borrow a bike system"

Reasons to disagree:

Every big city has public bike rentals, and the Denver ones are too expensive

There is a lot of good low cost parking down town Denver, which is cool.
Denver has a good bus system +0

Reasons to Agree

The hybrid electric buses are cool.

Reasons to disagree

The buses that let more than one person out at a time are cool.
The Denver bus and train stops could easily be improved.

Reasons to agree:

Going to Denver buss stop is a free learn to smoke clinic. I'm surprised that they are not directly sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes.
I have been riding the train for about a year. I have been checked for a train ticket 3 times. When you don't check for train tickets, you get a lot of homeless people riding the trains. For this to work as a reason to support the belief that the trains should be improved, you have to first assume that they should be improved for those who are not homeless, and that the trains should not be free. Lets assume that we believe the trains should be payed for by those people that ride them, and that there should not be exceptions for the homeless. Lets assume that we all agree that the homeless are a subgroup of the very poor that are too poor to keep it together even a little bit, because most anyone should be able to keep it together for enough to live on government assistance with a little bit of help, and all those people who have mental health problems so bad that they can't keep it that much together, should be assisted in a facility where there needs should be met, and they shouldn't be riding public transportation as a way to pass the time, unless they have somewhere important to go, between care facilities, but even then people should probably be supervising them. I have only seen people having to talk a crazy drunk and high person 3 times in the last 9 months of riding the train, but that is too many times.

Reasons to disagree:

The convention center train stop is nice

Reasons to agree: +1

See the photos below, showing that the Convention Center train stop is pretty nice, has nice view, low ratio of homeless people, etc.

Best reasons to disagree: -

The outdoor mall on 16th street seems like sort of a bad idea. You have to get off your bike when your bike lane crosses it. But that is only because their are a lot of pedestrians going the other way, which is a good thing.

Reasons to Disagree

The lengths of 16th street mall are long enough that the buses are nice.

Homeless people make the 16th street outdoor mall feel less safe.

Outdoor malls in the suburbs, that are too far to walk to, are more resistant to the homeless. You have only two choices Denver: 1) Make a space welcoming to the homeless or 2) Make a space welcoming to Women and Children. You can't have it both ways. If you want to be welcoming to the homeless, you shouldn't do it in the middle of your city.

Denver could be more accommodating of pedestrians and bicyclist.

Reasons to Agree

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +1

# of reasons to disagree: -2

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -3/2=-1.5

Total Idea Score: +-2.5

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Best webpages that agree: +

http://www.rtd-denver.com/ Good info, but biased
https://www.facebook.com/RideRTD Good info, less controlled

Interest of those who agree: +

Promoting Denver, if they like it.
Patting themselves on the back, if they work for RTD

Interest of those who disagree: -

Criticizing Denver, if they don't like it.

Best Videos that agree: +

Images that agree:

There is a lot of good low cost parking down town Denver, which is cool

Images that agree:

$5/day, $10 evenings

It is very hard to find $4 parking in Chicago (except for the $1/hr at Northerly Island)

Best reasons to agree: +

It shouldn't cost you tons to just get to a city. Until public transportation is much better, cities that don't want to exclude young or middle class individuals, should try to make parking affordable.

Best reasons to disagree: -

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +1

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +1

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

Interest of those who agree: +

Saving money, getting around, and figuring out a town, without having a very specific plan, and needing the flexibility of a car.

Interest of those who disagree: -

Not paying for parking.
Not having to deal with a lot of other cars down town.

Podcast that disagree: -

Parking is Hell

We should allow some development in our beautiful places +5

Best reasons to agree: +6

Buildings don't always ruin a place's aesthetic beauty.
We shouldn't build if there is a delicate echo system, but it is OK if the echo system is strong.
It is better to build in beautiful places, so that people can enjoy them, than to build in productive farm land.
People who want to protect our beautiful places for future generations, should not try to keep them as prim-eval forest, but well cared for gardens. They can regulate the heck out of development, and only allow LEED certified, well thought out beautiful buildings. But a place's beauty should not automatically disqualify development, as long as the development is well thought out and managed, and public spaces are preserved for the poor to also enjoy the beauty.
Echo-tourism can be a sustainable way for us to fund wild-life habitat.
Our country needs, and will make money. We have choices. You can't make decisions in a vacuum. If we make more money from tourism, we won't have to make as much money from Natural Gas and Oil exploration.

Best reasons to agree: +6

We should have people live in our cities that we already have. We don't need to make new cities in our beautiful places.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +6

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +5

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

Images that agree:

Buildings don't always ruin a place's aesthetic beauty

Images that agree:

Songs that agree: +

Nothing but Flowers by the Taking Heads

Songs that disagree: -

They paved paradise to put in a parking lot

Best books that agree: +

Best books that disagree: -

Best webpages that agree: +

Best webpages that agree: -

Interest of those who agree: +

Interest of those who disagree: -

Best Videos that agree: +

Best videos that disagree: -

Poems that agree: +

Poems that disagree: -

Podcast that agree: +

Podcast that disagree: -

Denver's weather is *better than Chicago's +3

Background, Context, and Assumptions

*Better will be different to different people. You can see my assumptions below. Obviously, employment opportunities, cultural events, and other opportunities are better in Chicago. But if your just a kids and don't care about anything in the summer time, but having nice weather to ride your bike around in, consider the discussion points below.

I got my info from here: http://www.bestplaces.net/climate/ or http://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/denver_co/chicago_il/climate

Best reasons to agree: +5

The comfort index (with higher numbers being better) is 68 in Boise, 57 in Denver, but only 47 in Chicago.

I attribute that to how windy it is in the winter, and how the humidity will really get you in the summer, which everyone knows, but also gets you (I assert) in the winter. Places that get lots of rain are nice to look at in the summer, with all the green plants, but they aren't as comfortable outside if your kids just want to be outside doing stuff...

Chicago has 189 sunny days, Boise Idaho has 206, only 17 more than Chicago.

While Denver has 246. The average in the USA is 205, but 17 days a year is 1/2 a month each year of sunny weather...

Boise only has 11.7" of rain, but Chicago has 35.9" of rain, or 3.1 tunes the amount of rain of Boise.

Of course if you are a farmer you might like the rain. However, if you have a back yard and are a kid, usually rain is not so great. Especially if your parents don't have a concrete floor that can be hosed off periodically. Denver gets 12.6".

Chicago gets 27.5". Boise gets about 70% as much with 19.5". Denver gets 54".

will say less is better. Especially because Boise is in the foothills and is much closer to world class skiing, snow mobiling, and anything that might make snow good. Boise does get enough to let you go sledding once a year, and gets many feet of snow in the mountains.

The Average high in July in Chicago is 83 and 90 in Boise. 86 in Denver. But it is a dry heat, and because of the high elevation it gets much cooler at night time, which makes sleeping comfortable. Megan hates (I think) summers in Chicago. Average January low is 22 in Boise and 18 in Chicago. So I guess Boise is 7 degrees hotter in summer and 4 degrees hotter in winter. Denver actually has a higher temperature in the Winter than Chicago, which surprises my friends from Chicago.
The springs are so rainy and short that you can't really enjoy them... It seems that you go strait from bitter cold to unbearable heat... The spring time is very painful, because you are dying to get outside after a long winter, but it is soo freakin rainy... No I'm not just talking about a little Seattle drizzle... it is a freakin torrential downpour. Rivers over-run their bounds, peoples basements get flooded... that just doesn't happen in Boise... Maybe it is because Lucky Peak dam stops the river from flooding. Maybe people in Boise are just smarter, and don't build their homes in flood planes, but every spring you hear about homes around the Chicago area getting flooded, so that the 1st level is almost completely under water. Maybe I just didn't pay attention when I was a kid, but I don't think that hardly ever happens in Idaho. Flash floods can kill campers who are near creeks... at least in the scouts that was a fear, but the girl who cleans my teeth's parents and aunt had their house totally covered with water with the stop sign out in-front of their street totally submerged...

Best reasons to disagree: -

Sure, if you live somewhere that gets lots of rain, you might get flooding. However, if you live in the West, your whole state might burn down each summer. So pick your poison: too much or not enough rain.
Denver get more snow than Chicago, which can be bad for traffic, but is good for skiing and sledding and stuff.
Because Chicago gets more rain, you see less places that are just left to go to weeds in Chicago. Everything is green, and generally people mow their grass in Chicago. In Denver, people don't water that grass, it dies, goes to weeds, and sometimes looks crappier than Chicago.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +6

# of reasons to disagree: -3

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +3

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

Images that agree:

Our back yard turns to a pond every summer.

Bolingbrook is a bit like Venice Italy

Its kind of hard to see, but through the aches you can see the bleacher that are mostly covered.

Best Videos that agree: +1

Dan Price is a good artistic role model +1

Reasons to agree:

Cameras can re-create images perfectly. Photo-realism can be achieved with very little money.
Its cool how Dan writes stuff with images.

Reasons to disagree:

Dan Price draws things he sees. Everyone's life is important. It is important to value your life, and to really look at the stuff around you. Sketching it force you to really see it, but sometimes art should do more... you can say important, powerful things visually... You can create something that makes people think, and act differently. Dan does this, but maybe it is more important to focus on doing a few really awesome paintings, or creations, instead of a exploring a whole bunch of new places... Its not like their is a right or a wrong... Every artist should do what their attention to detail, and boredom push them to do, but you shouldn't do all your art like Dan's.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 2

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: 1

The current price to buy stock in this belief is $0.95 per share

The Idea Stock Exchange score for this idea is: +3-1=2

The percent that agree is: 92%

I am trying to brainstorm reasons to agree and disagree. Please help me!

Join the debate! Just leave a comment, and I’ll add it to the correct location. Once I get some programmers to help me, this will be automatic.

Evaluate the above conclusion (also known as a belief or thesis).

____________________________

Images That agree

The Chicago Botanic Garden is a good place to take your kids +2

Best reasons to agree: +4

You can take pictures of your kids in a pretty places. For the cost of going to a professional studio, your kids can walk around and you can take pictures of them.
You can people watch at the gardens, which you can't do in the wilderness.
You can get gardening ideas, and find plants you want in your yard at the botanic garden.
They have paths, which is good if you have kids in strollers.

Best reasons to disagree: -2

You can walk around and look at nature for free.
You don't have to be around people if you just go out into nature.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to disagree: -2

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +2

Videos that agree:

Going to the zoo is worth your families time and money +0

Reasons to Agree: +3

It is worth it to have animals be part of your life
You should take your kids outside where they can walk around, see different people, and explore their surroundings. Kids get to see all different types of people at the zoo.
You should teach your kids about Animals. Kids learn about Animals by going to the zoo. You can't learn to appreciate animals unless you see them. When kids learn about animals, they learn about biology which may result in medical interest. Medical interest can result in an interest in many different jobs, from pharmacy to being a doctor. Learning about animals also teaches about geography. At least it did for our kid, as he learned what animals lived where.

Reasons to disagree: -2

Usually people don't spend much time studying animals at the zoo. People tend to look at the animal, watch it for a few minutes, and move on...
Kids will learn more about animals by having a pet than going to a zoo. Letting your kids have a pet teaches your kids. Having a long time responsibility for an animal can teach you a lot.
Kids are taught that animal rights can be ignored when going to the zoo.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +3

# of reasons to disagree: -3

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +0

Images that agree:

Related Links:

Near Chicago Tourism

Videos that agree:

This movie supports the conclusion because it shows that:
1. Kids can have authentic experiences with animals at zoos.

Dolphin show

Daughter dancing

Wolves

Youngest watching the giraffe.

My oldest son doesn't know how to wear a hat...

Some zoos give animals lots of room

It is interesting watching kids learn to speak. +2

Best Videos that agree: +

Best reasons to agree: +

Kids come into this world knowing nothing. Without knowing any rules, just hearing other people speak, they are able to learn perhaps one of the most complex things they will ever do, in only a few years...
Watching kids learn to speak, can remind you of your kids when they were doing that.
Just because you understand how mankind was able to learn how to speak, doesn't mean that it is less amazing, interesting, or that you should appreciate the miracle of life, and knowledge, and the ability to communicate less.
in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court Mark Twain spoke of the "darling mispronunciations of childhood".

Best reasons to disagree: -

Animals don't have really complex words, but they are able to make noises, and have the begining of languages... Give them a few million years, and this could develop in non-spectacular ways, if you watched the slow progress.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +3

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +2

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

Best webpages that agree: +

http://www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word.html

It is hard work but can be humorous teaching kids manners and hygiene

Best Videos that agree: +2

Best reasons to agree: +

Kids eat things they should not eat.

Kids lick bird poop off sliding glass windows.
When you find brown stuff in their bed, and say it looks like poop, they just might tell you, "Don't worry, it doesn't taste like poop." When you ask why they tested it, they might say, "don't worry I didn't eat it, I just put my teeth on it". PS: it was, against all assurances, poop. We told her she needs to wash her hands, because she might get sick, she tells us, "I'm already sick" (she had a runny nose).
Kids eat dirt.
Kids eat rolly pollies (not ours, yet)

Kids eat things that shouldn't be eaten, but won't eat anything you try to feed them.
It is funny seeing a little brain that has not yet learned that it is impolite to suck your toes in public...

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +3

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +3+4/2=5

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Interest of those who agree: +

Sanity
Cleanliness
Sanitation
Control

Interest of those who disagree: -

Variety
Legacy

It is difficult to go out to eat with kids

Best Videos that agree: +

http://youtu.be/2gNrvIQARc8

Best reasons to agree: +3

Kids love to explore new places they go to.
Kids don't enjoy talking, and so they entertain them selves by messing around with stuff.
Kids can't hold still very well.

Best reasons to disagree: -3

When they are really young they mostly just sleep
If you bring stuff for kids to play with, they are OK.
Most restaurants accommodate kids.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +3

# of reasons to disagree: -3

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +0

You should back up your family videos on youtube

Reasons to agree: +6

All hard drives crash unexpectedly. You can trust that YouTube will not delete you videos.
If you put you videos on YouTube grandparents and other relatives could watch them. Google search now includes personalized search, which means that potentially if any of your relatives are searching for "Yellowstone" because they want to use a video of Yellowstone in their school project, Google will tell show them your video of Yellowstone, with their grandparents in it... In other words Google has made it very easy for related people and friends to automatically find interesting stuff from each other...
It might be boring now, but ever little thing your kid did when they were babies will be interesting when they have moved out.
If you don't remember much from your childhood, videos can be a great way to jog your memory.
If you don't put names and locations and other private information in the video, there shouldn't be much that weirdos can do to harm you from watching you sing happy birthday to your kid at Olive Garden, or seeing them play soccer... They could make their own recordings of people at olive garden, or playing soccer. If you go out in public you are not private. You are being video taped. There are drones and cameras everywhere. If you have anti virus for your computer (which we do) that will do more to protect identify theft, than not sharing videos with your family.
It is not narcissistic to believe that your life is important: it is the most important thing that you have. It might not be important to others, but it is very important that you value your own life, because you only live once. When you die, your kids and perhaps grand kids will remember you. Maybe they will keep thumb drives with your pictures or videos on it. But if Google is going to value you enough to try to remember anything from your life, it won't matter in the end, but if it makes you feel like you won't be forgotten, that is OK. And if you have anything of value to say to grand kids or great grand kids it could help you connect with them. It would have been great if we could have seen family life from 1000 years ago, why won't Google still have these videos 1000 years from now?

Reasons to disagree: -2

Putting videos of yourself can make others wonder if you are a narcissistic.
Weirdos could get information from your videos to harm your family, somehow.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +6

# of reasons to disagree: -2

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +4

The National Parks are well ran and enjoyable -2

Best reasons to agree: +

The government has to keep people from feeding bears, to prevent bears from becoming dependent on people.

Best reasons to disagree: -

There is no reason to have government owned gas stations within the park.
More buildings could be built within the state park in such a way that doesn't detract from the natural features You could require the buildings be LEED certified, to appease the environmentalist. The could be designed so as not to interfere with wildlife.
The government should be more capitalistic with our state parks, in a smart way. When I say capitalism you think Wal-Mart. Don't. Think Apple, Whole Food, Trader Joe, or Costco. We can combine the best of capitalism and scientific preservation of a wildlife. Charging rich people to have a premium experience can fund wildlife preservation, and fund improvements that poor people can also experience. For instance, Indian Reservations that are not controlled by the federal government build glass bottom deck floors over the grand canyon. This does not hurt anything. Of course if too many people are driving on roads, than it might disrupt migration and stuff, but we can figure this stuff out...

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +1

# of reasons to disagree: -3

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: +2

Yellowstone, 1978ish. Me getting pushed around Yellowstone
like Royalty

Summer 2011. Wild Bison! James getting carried around like royalty.

Old Faithful, Summer 2011. Sunsets really are better in the west, when
surrounded by wild elements.

2011. A cool bike we saw in Yellowstone

2011. Megan and I will cruse the country on bikes like this

Background and Context:

I've been to Yellowstone a couple times as a kid, once with Just Megan, and now once with our 3 kids.

I really like seeing the wild life. I remember the bison surrounding our car when I was little, seeing Bald Eagles, Elk with Megan.

Megan also went to Yellowstone as a kid, but she wouldn't get out of the car because of the smell!

Images that agree:

My parents. Grotto Geyser.

My Mom. I think this is Old Faithful.

You could get a lot closer to the geysers back then.

You would see more wildlife in the olden days.

My parents.

My mom and I at Mesa Falls (near Yellowstone)

In Jr. High my parents took BJ Morris and I to Yellowstone. I remember buying these shorts at Fred Meyers.

In Jr. High my parents took BJ Morris and I to Yellowstone. I think this is a place called Big Springs, where you can see a whole bunch of fish, and the water comes right out of a mountain... or this might be fishing bridge...

Those shorts were awsome. BJ had a max headroom shirt.

The Yellowstone Canyon

My dad at Old Faithful