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Leisher wrote: Did all the people who should be in mental institutions just move to Florida?

I mean, it's not the worst idea the other 49 states could have.

Where we live is decently affluent, lots of tech jobs, etc. So you see Teslas ALL the freaking time.

Florida: Not so much. But, I haven't seen this many Porsches in my life... ever.

Ok, here's a thing I saw in Florida that blew me away.... but I kind of need to paint a picture.

I-4 Westbound, from Orlando to Tampa. For some reason the 1.5 hour drive was going to take 3 hours, according to Google Maps. I don't know the area well enough to go around, and Maps isn't offering alternates.

Anyway.... 3 lanes going in my direction, traffic crawling. I notice peeps are starting to hit the exit ahead of us using the breakdown lane/shoulder. Ok, whatever. But eventually I realize it isn't an exit... it's like a little mini-highway, two lanes, that peeled off the main Interstate. On this little side-artery there's a few exits, and a few on-ramps... I'm guessing the idea is that cars can enter and exit without interrupting the flow of traffic on the main 3 lanes, and then a couple miles down it gently merges the roads, again. All in all, this little side-highway seemed to be 3 or 4 miles long.

And peeps were using it as a passing lane, or at least trying to. Cars were getting off the jammed I-4, and trying to use that "off ramp" to get ahead of the traffic and then merge back in.

Except.... a couple miles in, traffic got backed up and stopped on the little side-highway, too.

Now, there were no barriers between these roads, maybe 25-30 yards of grass, and a shallow ditch, separated them.

These Florida drivers saw it as a challenge. When those who were trying to cheat hit the traffic over there, too, they simply started to drive through the grass to merge back into the 3 main lanes, when they saw there was nowhere else to go. The first time a lifted pickup truck did it, it was like, "Wow." And then another car followed. And then another. Four or five cars cut through the grass there... and then traffic moved a quarter mile, and more cars started cutting through the grass and ditch there, too.

And then I saw a tractor-trailer do it, just plowing through the grass and ditch. I hate truckers so I was really hoping he'd get stuck, get fired, and become homeless, but no luck.

No cops patrolling any of this that I ever saw, and I saw that there were dirt trails of people doing this, so it isn't a new phenomenon. Cops too busy killing minorities probably (hi leisher) to regulate traffic. Cop budgets grow every year, hundreds of millions spent, and they can't keep people from off-roading through Interstate medians. Amazing.

Floridians simply don't give a shit about anything.

I have no idea where else to put this...

School superintendent arrested for perjury.

Why is this interesting? His school district is the one with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where a former student killed 17 kids. He was lying about where millions of dollars of federal funds were spent. That money was supposed to go to secure the schools to prevent such incidents like that shooting, but it didn't.

People like this need to not only be jailed, but barred from ever holding any job in the public sector with authority.

Here's one of those spots I was telling you about, where people just yeet through the median in order to change roads. The grass is worn into a trail in that spot.

https://www.google.com/maps/@28.309462, ... a=!3m1!1e3

Head south and you can see a couple other spots. This may be the exact stretch I saw it happening on.

Many gas stations in Central Florida ran out of gas.

Colonial Pipeline does not serve Central Florida. People just panicked.

I'm in Florida right now. My kid told me about the tegu yesterday

I think Florida is the only state I've visited every decade of my life (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s)...

TheCatt wrote: ↑Wed Dec 15, 2021 10:47 am I think Florida is the only state I've visited every decade of my life (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s)...

You made me consider this, and I think it might be true for me as well. (Besides Ohio and Michigan, of course.)

Yes.... I crossed the border briefly in the 90s, partying on the Gulf Coast during a hurricane.

So #metoo

Leisher wrote: ↑Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:44 am

TheCatt wrote: ↑Wed Dec 15, 2021 10:47 am I think Florida is the only state I've visited every decade of my life (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s)...

You made me consider this, and I think it might be true for me as well. (Besides Ohio and Michigan, of course.)

I guess I was thinking outside of family. IL and MO might be on that list, except I haven't been there in the 20s, but mostly from visiting family.

Probably Michigan since I live close to the border and the big regional airport is up there.

We went to Florida last month and stayed on International Drive, which has a fair number of gimmicky fair rides on steroids.

On of the rides my wife + youngest went on was called Free Fall, where you go up 400+ feet, and then fall to the ground in circular seating thingy that wraps around a giant pole. My wife was concerned about it "It's only 2 months old, maybe it hasn't been tested enough to be safe."

She was right

First thought I had while reading this was that you were going to make a joke about her going down a similarly sized giant pole.

After seeing the story, it's honestly why I don't ride most rides anymore. Age is a factor, sure. However, I've lived long enough and seen enough to know these things are built as cheaply as possible because every penny they save is a penny more in profit. There are rides at Cedar Point, which has a fantastic safety record, that I've seen fail on videos taken at other places.

Life is scary enough. Why do I need to get up into something and pretend I'm in danger?

Leisher wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:55 am Life is scary enough. Why do I need to get up into something and pretend I'm in danger?

Different kind of scary?

We did do the swings together. Your feet are literally 350 feet off the ground. I realized that I do, eventually, have a fear of heights. Somewhere around "If I fall I'm dead"

TheCatt wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:10 am We did do the swings together. Your feet are literally 350 feet off the ground. I realized that I do, eventually, have a fear of heights. Somewhere around "If I fall I'm dead"

Cedar Point has one. No thanks.

And don't get me started on people who ride dangerous shit at fairs and carnivals. Insanity. You're just playing with fire.

U of Florida renames room named for Karl Marx after Russian invasion.

Although, it appears this was not connected to the Russian invasion.