Why do people live in Florida?

My previous post was just a disaster of bad keying. Here is a better
version:

People live everywhere for every reason, and everyone has a good reason
for there decisions.

The big gripe I have is with bad weather insurance. The ticky-tacky
housing in Florida that blows away in even moderate breezes cause my
insurance costs to go up. AND, these kinds of crappy buildings will
just be built all over, paid in large part my my insurance payments.

My house is lift slab steel re-enforces concrete with post-tensioned
poured-in-place roof. It is guaranteed to withstand 200 mph winds, and
has. In 1976 is sailed through Typhoon Pamela with only a bit of water
under the front door. This is not unreasonable construction. As long
as Floridians continue to allow housing that will not stand up to any
hurricane-force winds, I think that insurance companies should refuse to
cover them, and bank refuse to loan money.


----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

On Sat, 04 Sep 2004 19:04:11 -0400, puzzled wrote:

A massive hurricane seems to hit Florida every few years. I really don't
understand why people continue to live there.

Hmmm. Because to many of them, it's not just a place to live ... it's
HOME. "Home" means more to a lot of folks than just a place to live,
that's convenient, has weather they like, beaches with scantily clad
pretty gals on it, etc.

Don't they get tired of having
to evacuate every summer, and having their houses destroyed? Someone explain
this to me.

Hmmm. You are perhaps mathematically challenged? G

Many people have trouble putting things into proper perspective,
especially when numbers are involved.

Fact is, MOST Floridians don't have to evacuate every summer. MOST
don't have their homes destroyed. Most will tell yah they've lived
thru MANY hurricane and tornado warnings, just to have nothing much
happen to them, personally. Or anyone close to em.

And, of those who have experienced damage and destruction, for most
.... it's a once in a lifetime event, with the odds of it happening to
them, personally, again ... being very small.

There are exceptions, of course. Heck, in my lifetime, and I've lived
a lot of places as I spent a career in the military, I've lived thru
tornado hits, hurricanes (and typhoons on the other side of the
world), multiple serious blizzards, floods, etc. Obviously, there are
other folks who've been thru the same. But they tend to be the
minority.

Shrug To me, it's a matter of reality. Reality is that there are
no perfect places to live. Every place has it's pro and cons.
Hazards and danger are simply part of life. And there are NO
guarantees in life. No matter where each of us lives. Except that
each and every one of us will die someday. From something. Some of
us sooner, some of us later.

Another thing to consider. It's human nature to fear most those
things one does not know, understand, or have personal experience
with. IOW, those things an individual finds strange or different from
one's personal experience. It's also human nature that when one has
faced a particular danger or hazard, and survived it ... that it's
likely that the next time the same is faced, there will be less fear
and panic.

I was born in tornado alley, for instance. Born in Oklahoma, lived
there and in Texas and in Louisiana for years, before I joined the
military service and spent a career living all over the country. And
various places overseas. By the time I was in high school, I'd
experienced strikes or near strikes by numerous tornadoes, and had
lived in places that'd been flooded out, and had been in a hurricane
hit on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Shrug Okay, to me, just a
fact of life. Things one had to face from time to time. Yah died, or
yah didn't. Best yah could do was keep wits about you, take prudent
precautions and actions when such occurred. Weather, bad weather, was
just a fact of life. To be dealt with.

In later years, when I married, I was much amused when my bride
paniced when tornado warnings were out this one day. And I stepped
outside and was watching the sky, as it is my habit to do at such
times. And I saw a funnel form and start dropping. Headed our way.
She and the kids were inside the house. She came out to see what I
was doing, and to ask whether or not I thought we ought to be worried,
and what more should she do? I answered, "Well, maybe yah ought to go
back in and take the kids to the basement. It's time." She stared at
me blankly. I pointed at what I was watching. In the distance yah
could see debris flying into the air where the funnel had touched
down. She got wide eyed, screeched, and durned near killed self in
hurrying to get inside. Screaming at kids to get into basement NOW,
yelling at me to get fool ass inside, etc. ROFLMAO !

At a later time, she'd learned. Same deal, tornado warnings out.
Things looking nasty outside. As before, I stepped outside so I could
see. I know the signs. Know what to look for. Occassionally the
wife stepped out, "How's it look, Honey?" I assured her that there
was nothing to worry about as yet. After a bit she came out, sipping
a glass of wine, and holding another she was bringing to me. She
scanned skies. "Anything to worry about yet?" This time I answered,
"Yep, maybe. Depends on how it tracks." And I pointed. I could
already see the signs of funnel forming. She did not see same at
first, til funnel was well formed. Then it started to drop. She
asked, "Think it's gonna touch down?" My reply was "I don't think so,
but I think that one will." And pointed in a slightly different
direction. There was another. And this one came all the way down.
We watched as tree branches, shingles, lumber, and what not leaped
into the air in the distance. This time, while wary, she didn't
panic. She asked, "Should I tell the kids to gather the dogs and head
for the basement?" And this time I said, "I think so. I'm gonna stay
and keep an eye on it. But she's looking like she's gonna come real
close, maybe even hit us. Best to get em down there, it'll save time
later if it keeps on the same track." She did that, but then came
back outside herself and we sipped wine and watched. Chatting. A
news helo happened to be in the area, and we waved at the crew.

LOL ... we lived in the Twin Cities of Minnesota at the time.
Brooklyn Park to be specific. On the local news, later, they made a
big deal of the film shot by that camera crew on the helo. First
time, far as they knew, that a news helo happened to be in just the
right place to film actual tornado strike as it happened. At at one
point in the film, camera pans to show 2 people down below, holding
glasses, waving "Hello" at the helo. That'd be us.

My wife, being older, and more experienced, now takes such things in
stride. It's part of life. Does she shake and quake, moan and
complain? Nope. She does, however, every tornado season make sure
our emergency storm supplies and preparations are all in place and
ready for use. Likewise, come winter, she helps me check over
emergency winter supplies. And check out emergency winter car kits
which we have made up and keep handy. We check em over, place em in
every vehicle we own.

It's part of life, guy. Life's dangerous. Get used to it. Take
suitable precautions, make suitable preparations, then get on with
life and don't sweat the small ****. Enjoy the day, because not a one
of us knows if we'll be alive tomorrow.

Nowadays, I live in western Minnesota. I'm about 60 miles from Fargo.
Tornado risk is somewhat less than other places I have lived. But
they still occur routinely. I didn't move here to avoid tornadoes.
Heck, we get some pretty damned bad weather time to time. And winter
can get viscious in these parts.

However, I like the area, I like the fishing, I like the people (most
of em). And it's the area my wife was born and raised in for the
first several years of her life. And she has many relatives and old
friends around these parts. Her ancestors having been her since
before Custer marched off to meet the Sioux. (They got along with the
Sioux)

It's not just a place to live. To me, or to her. It's HOME. And we
accept it, the good and the bad. Nor do we make the choice out of
ignorance or lack of alternatives. I've lived all over the friggin
world. And while I was on active duty service, and after we married,
she's lived in California (north and south), Texas, Illinois, and
Washington state. And has traveled thru and visited another couple
dozen places.

There are good things about living here, and bad things. We think the
good outweighs the bad. And know how to cope with the bad.

Same thing could be said about most any place. Gunner likes where he
lives, tho he's originally from Michigan. Myself, I'll take a pass on
his location. But to him, it's home. I'm quite familiar with
Florida. Haven't lived there long term. But have lived there for
months at a time, a few times. And have made several shorter visits.
Nice place to visit. But not the place I want to live full time.
Others like it. Oscar the Grouch, I mean ... Tim May ... likes where
he lives. I lived in the Bay area for years. It was okay. But not a
place I wanted to stay. So he can have it, far as I'm concerned.
Others in this newsgroup live in Arizona. Been there. In fact used
to own a small plot there, with a permanently fixed mobile home (it
was set upon a foundation). Bought as wife and I considered using it
as a winter getaway after I retired from the service and we'd moved to
Minnesota. But after she experienced how fierce the heat could get in
those parts, and saw the warnings that one could not drink the tap
water, and had experienced the idea of making the trek to those
drinking water dispensing stations they had there to fill drinking
water jugs ... she decided "No way". And we sold the place.

Some folks like Chicago, and New York City. Been there, to both. To
me, dirty, filthy, overcrowded, and I didn't care for the people. No
one has enough money to pay me to live in those places. But, I do
accept that there are folks who like it there.

Just some thoughts.

Bob

It goes against logic, but higher humidity less dense air

Willcox wrote:
Pete Platis wrote:


2. Staggering humidity ( well not all of florida but anything south of the
tropical line is brutal)


I think effect of high humidity is not only slower evaporation, but the
denser air too, it makes cold days colder and hot ones hotter (

Humm - why is Florida growing in population ? Because we do not have
BLIZZARDS ,

OLD TOO SOON SMART TOO LATE

Humm - why is Florida growing in population ? Because we do not have
BLIZZARDS ,

OLD TOO SOON SMART TOO LATE

Humm - why is Florida growing in population ? Because we do not have
BLIZZARDS ,

OLD TOO SOON SMART TOO LATE

"eüphemism" wrote in message
...

You forgot to mention the fire ants, the tourists and the 6 month anxiety
attack called "Hurricane Season" that results from the shrill and
unrelenting stream of warnings from the media. None of it does any good
either...

I first came into contact with fire ants in Louisiana in 1960. That's
another thing that's not just in FL.

I would say the NC has at least as much hurricane damage as Florida.

grandma Rosalie

Willcox wrote:
Pete Platis wrote:


2. Staggering humidity ( well not all of florida but anything south of the
tropical line is brutal)


I think effect of high humidity is not only slower evaporation, but the
denser air too, it makes cold days colder and hot ones hotter (


Only a technical note that moist air is less dense than dry air. H20 is
a lighter molecule than N2, O2, or CO2 which it displaces when the
humdity is high.

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 06:04:43 GMT, "Huricane Crocker"
wrote:

"eüphemism" If you have completed your manifesto, it's time to get out to
the cabin and start licking envelopes.

I will have to get a job so that I can buy the stamps and envelopes. Not
something like the electrical generator that I hooked up to the bicycle so
that I can generate electric by riding my bike. Just getting together the
$10. for my ISP takes all my time collecting aluminum cans for recycling.



Probably the only thing you haven't made up since you started posting.






The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity,
but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

On Sat, 04 Sep 2004 19:04:11 -0400, puzzled wrote:

A massive hurricane seems to hit Florida every few years. I really don't
understand why people continue to live there. Don't they get tired of having
to evacuate every summer, and having their houses destroyed? Someone explain
this to me.


Funny, I've lived in Florida for 41 years, and the 4 or 5 houses that
I've lived in are all still standing. The Carolinas have gotten hit
more than we have, and they still have to deal with winter. I'd like
to know where you live bozo.

You probably need a lot explained to you.






The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity,
but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?