florida-to whom may live there
Posted on: June 27, 2010 - 8:04am
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florida-to whom may live there
im not sure what to say just that im new to this sight and hail from the most boring town of fort myers, florida .unfortunately we are way too religious down here, as in most of the country, there are like thirty six churches in fort myers alone with the same amount in the adjoining city of cape coral. most people to their credit are religious moderates but we are far from the secular society the states were founded on. dont want to expand on that issue too much since this is an introduction. anyways glad to be on the site that supports rational thought and logical discourse.
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Welcome to the forums, post early and often.
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
Welcome Godlessliberalcommie.
I too live in Florida, Orlando area. Here we have multiple mega churches, such as the nationally known Northland Church in Longwood the pastor Joel Hunter resigned as the President of the Christian Coalition after a short time as apparently his methods were in contrast to their more militant positions. Though I have been harassed by members of his church even in 7-11 so I'm not sure they are very moderate at all. He's also the one who closed the Dem convention in 2008 apparently a buddy of Obama. There's also the famous "Eyesore on I-4", a half built high rise started in 2000 on I-4 in Altamonte Springs owned by the Orlando Christian TV station Super Channel funded entirely by selling bullshit to suckers. It's a monument to their failures not a monument to Christian charity. I think I remember they were selling some sort of holy healing water or something like that.
On the other hand, Orlando has many party places, Pleasure Island at Disney now just Downtown Disney opened in 1990 as a place for adults to get drunk and get laid. City Walk at Universal many clubs all with the same purpose, to allow adults a place to party.
I agree with you Fort Meyers & Cape Coral is far too religious for my taste. Not all that far from you however is Tampa and St Pete where you can go party out at Ybor City. Or you can trek across Gator Alley to Ft Lauderdale and South Beach. Your area is also nearby to the Dominos Pizza founder Tom Monaghan's Catholic town of Ave Maria where he wanted to repress the Bill of Rights and ban condoms, pornography and all things anti-Catholic. The ACLU made it clear they would sue so he backed off.
There are far worse places, you should drive through Kansas sometime.
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"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
I lived in Kansas for a year. Salina. (sah-lai-nah) Took me most of the year to stop saying sah-lee-nah, like Salinas, CA. It's pretty in the spring as people have planted a lot of the flowering trees and shrubs. But winter is really miserable.
I've had business trips to the Deerfield Beach/Ft. Lauderdale area. Nice enough place, I guess. Always glad to come home to the Pacific Northwest.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
A-fucking-men.
I miss the NW. I lived in Alaska most of my life. Spent a few years on Oregon, and then later I spent summers with my mom in Oregon and the Imperial Valley. The I did basic/AIT in Oklahoma. After that, I was happy enough to be back in AK for good.
Until I moved here to Ohio. I fucking hate it. It's miserable in both the summer and winter. All I want is to be back in Fairbanks, or to move to Seattle or Portland. This midwest living just ain't for me.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
I lived in Kansas back in the early 1960s in Larned, south of Great Bend, most famous for its fort. The river going through town was the Arkansas prounouced R-Cans-Zis there. Later I moved to Southern Colorado where the river was called Arkansas (R-Can -saw)
I drive through Kansas every few months going from Florida to Denver and the worst part is all the Jesus Saves and Abortion Kills Billboards all along I-70.
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"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Lucky it's not 1960 or you'd have the church, McCarthy and the rednecks at your throat.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
I was there in 1975-76. I don't remember any billboards with religious messages. I am not all surprised there are lots now, however. Funny, the Kansans weren't very pushy religious back in the 70s either.
You pass Salina on your trip, then. Junction of I-70 and I-135.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
Kansas has become extremely fundie, what with killing abortion doctors and the dispicable Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka with their evil leader Fred Phillips.
Yes, I go through Salina, I usually stop there for lunch. It has grown immensely around the 2 Interstates.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Strange, I have never had any desire to go back and visit.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
Hey CJ, isn't there a federal law that once you reach a certain age you have to move to Florida.(Waits for slap from rolled up newspaper)
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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I mildly identify with Florida, since it is the only part of mainland US which is at the same distance from the equator as my home town of Brisbane in Australia, and is on the same side of the main land-mass ( the eastern side ) as so has a roughly comparable climate...
I think the city closest in absolute Latitude is Tampa.
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
This only applies to Northerners and Canadians. CJ lives in the NW and is exempt. This law applies only to New England, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio and all eastern provinces of Canada with the exception of Newfoundland & Nova Scotia.
Upon reaching retirement age they must buy or rent a condo on the beach. A 2nd acceptable choice is a trailer in either a Hurricane zone or in an area given to flooding or tornadoes.
They must drive 55 or less in the fast lane of all Florida freeways.
They must venture out only during rush hour driving as slow as possible in any random lane. Turn signals should never be used. To prevent use for newbies, remove the bulbs.
Regardless of past views, one must be appalled at the wanton display of sexuality by anyone under 50. In some areas this is under 30, such as Naples, Fort Meyers, Palm Bay, Vero Beach.
Relocation to the Panhandle is not recommended unless one only watches Fox News, CBN, PTL etc.
____________________________________________________________
"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Around here, people go to Phoenix or Yuma for the winter - or they move there.
You go down in your RV, stay in your second home, then drive back. In addition to all the other stuff pauljohn mentions, on 4 lane roads, you must lean out your window and carry on a conversation with the people in the RV going in the same direction in the lane next to you. (True story. Saw it with my own eyes.)
Another neat trick is a lot of them vote twice. They get mailed ballots from their home state. Arizona only has a 30 day residency requirement, so if you get down there in late September, you have plenty of time to register to vote there, too. If you have a second home there, you only have to register once, and then you can continue to vote twice without the hassle of reregistering each year. I've been told this by a lot of people, and I don't have a clue as to why someone official hasn't figured it out. Maybe that is why a lot of winter visitors are against a federal id card.
"Adult only" communities and RV parks don't have to pay property taxes which is how Arizona largely funds their public schools. Then they get to sit around and gripe about how stupid kids are these days and why aren't there any truant officers?
Nah, I refuse to do it. I know very well what Yuma is like in the winter. And my business trips have included trips to the SE in the winter and summer. I'd rather be in dark, rainy beautiful Portland.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
What in the hell? When it comes to election integrity, USA is truly in the dark ages. I maintain that the EU/UN should send election observers.
I'm with you. Voting is managed by the local registrar. Usually this is at the county level, not even the state level. The state often has an office - Secretary of State in Oregon - that oversees the counties and they do some auditing. SOS in OR has a lot of other responsibilities and are as short of money as the rest of OR as well. At the fed level? Very little. An occasional law.
So the states don't talk to each other about who voted. Realistically, the only candidates who get two votes would be federal positions - most likely only president and vice president.
A federal ID card maintained in a searchable database (with some heavy security) would at least cut down on the multiple state voter registrations. Especially if "state registered to vote in" were a field in the database.
I also think it should be law that everyone vote. England seems to be having some positive outcomes with their law. It seems to have cut down the partisan BS amazingly. If the middle of the roaders have to vote, they vote for the less extreme candidate or write someone in they can stomach. Gradually pushing all politicians more to center.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
I think 'compulsory voting' works reasonably well for us here in Australia as well.
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
Thanks for the info. I didn't know about Australia.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
Another good reason not to buy Dominos, though I imagine I'd hardly be able to buy anything if I looked too deeply into its provenance.
The UK didn't have compulsory voting when I lived there and I don't remember reading that it had changed.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2123.html
You are right, I was wrong. I confused it with this story:
http://www.politics.co.uk/News/domestic-policy/local-government/voting-should-be-mandatory-$416528.htm
Where they are discussing the possibility of mandatory voting in the UK.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
Yeah, on balance I agree with compulsory voting. I feel it is a civic duty.
One can always vote informal (spoil the ballot paper) if one likes.
I truly make the attempt to check my facts. But if I forget the facts and I neglect to check, then wrong may happen.
What I do remember clearly is that having everyone vote pulls the politicians more towards the center where most voters reside. Giving less voice to the nutcases on either extreme.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.