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Discuss culture, living, traveling, relocating, dating or anything related to North America. For those looking to relocate within the US or Canada, discuss your experiences and pros/cons of each domestic region.
Honestly, what is about that state produces so many lunatics, psychos, and crazy people in that state? Every time I read the news, something crazy is happening in that state: case-in-point:
A horrifying crime scene in South Miami hit Facebook Thursday when a man posted a photo of his dead wife -- and a confession that he had killed her.
Derek Medina posted the photo some time around noon Thursday, with the words "Rip Jennifer Alfonso." The image shows his wife's body slumped backwards from her knees on the floor in what appears to be the couple's kitchen. Her face and arms are covered in blood.
"You will see me in the news," reads a confessional status update posted minutes before the photo:
I don't know, but Mr. Darcy wants to go. He'll learn like another HA poster has learned when he had gone to Iceland.
I know I have been keeping him in my mouth alot lately, but his actions as of late have been coinciding with what's been addressed.
I had not lived in Florida in 10 years. I was there for a year, and I had to break north to Chicago, which was cool-as-hell at the
time.
Don't you know that in central Florida that they only cook good food at all fast-food restaurants only on Friday's through Sunday's
with boiled water? They don't boil the water during the week and the food spoils faster at these restaurants.
I heard it's because Florida has one of the worse water-filtration systems in the country....and because a lot of the lawn
fertilizer actually got into the drinking-water supply from so many people fertilizing their lawns down there (e.g. the retiree phe-
nomenon of "I have nothing to do today, let me fertilize the lawn because I don't have anything else to do") which seeps massively
downward into the water pipelines underground. Florida has very hard water on the skin too.
As a Florida domiciled resident when I'm not abroad, I can cite a couple of reasons.
Florida is a demographic powder keg with many different peoples packed closely into one another. Caribbeans, various Latins, Canadians, Europeans, Northern Snowbirds etc. make for a combustible mix.
Also, Florida seems to be a predominately working class state where small elites live in their small cloistered areas and everyone else has to deal with the frustrations and problems of working class life.
Also, huge swaths of Florida cater to tourists which means debauchery is tolerated to a huge extent.
Contrarian Expatriate wrote:As a Florida domiciled resident when I'm not abroad, I can cite a couple of reasons.
Florida is a demographic powder keg with many different peoples packed closely into one another. Caribbeans, various Latins, Canadians, Europeans, Northern Snowbirds etc. make for a combustible mix.
Also, Florida seems to be a predominately working class state where small elites live in their small cloistered areas and everyone else has to deal with the frustrations and problems of working class life.
Also, huge swaths of Florida cater to tourists which means debauchery is tolerated to a huge extent.
Good post, Contrarian. I'm afraid what you described in your post about Florida will spread to other States throughout the country. Soon...the rest of the country will resemble Florida to a large degree...
Contrarian Expatriate wrote:As a Florida domiciled resident when I'm not abroad, I can cite a couple of reasons.
Florida is a demographic powder keg with many different peoples packed closely into one another. Caribbeans, various Latins, Canadians, Europeans, Northern Snowbirds etc. make for a combustible mix.
Also, Florida seems to be a predominately working class state where small elites live in their small cloistered areas and everyone else has to deal with the frustrations and problems of working class life.
Also, huge swaths of Florida cater to tourists which means debauchery is tolerated to a huge extent.
I was thinking of moving to Miami or another city in south Florida in the near future. Maybe I will think twice about that now. I was on City Data Discussion Forum and some of the people there were saying how unfriendly and anti-social the people in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are.
Great, now I either continue to live in the city that has the highest murder rate in the country (and has horrible winters) or try and do more research and find a nice area to move to where the cost of living is low, the crime rate is low and where it does not snow or get cold in the winter time.
"When I think about the idea of getting involved with an American woman, I don't know if I should laugh .............. or vomit!"
"Trying to meet women in America is like trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics."
Contrarian Expatriate wrote:As a Florida domiciled resident when I'm not abroad, I can cite a couple of reasons.
Florida is a demographic powder keg with many different peoples packed closely into one another. Caribbeans, various Latins, Canadians, Europeans, Northern Snowbirds etc. make for a combustible mix.
Also, Florida seems to be a predominately working class state where small elites live in their small cloistered areas and everyone else has to deal with the frustrations and problems of working class life.
Also, huge swaths of Florida cater to tourists which means debauchery is tolerated to a huge extent.
I was thinking of moving to Miami or another city in south Florida in the near future. Maybe I will think twice about that now. I was on City Data Discussion Forum and some of the people there were saying how unfriendly and anti-social the people in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are.
Great, now I either continue to live in the city that has the highest murder rate in the country (and has horrible winters) or try and do more research and find a nice area to move to where the cost of living is low, the crime rate is low and where it does not snow or get cold in the winter time.
There is a book called Strategic Relocation written by a guy who's father wrote the Naked Capitalist, he only gave 3 states a 0 for relocation and FL was one. He claims when all hell breaks lose and there are no more groceries on the shelf in this country everybody will stamped out of FL north because there is nowhere to go South East or West and it will be a super mess.
Contrarian Expatriate wrote:As a Florida domiciled resident when I'm not abroad, I can cite a couple of reasons.
Florida is a demographic powder keg with many different peoples packed closely into one another. Caribbeans, various Latins, Canadians, Europeans, Northern Snowbirds etc. make for a combustible mix.
Also, Florida seems to be a predominately working class state where small elites live in their small cloistered areas and everyone else has to deal with the frustrations and problems of working class life.
Also, huge swaths of Florida cater to tourists which means debauchery is tolerated to a huge extent.
I was thinking of moving to Miami or another city in south Florida in the near future. Maybe I will think twice about that now. I was on City Data Discussion Forum and some of the people there were saying how unfriendly and anti-social the people in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are.
Great, now I either continue to live in the city that has the highest murder rate in the country (and has horrible winters) or try and do more research and find a nice area to move to where the cost of living is low, the crime rate is low and where it does not snow or get cold in the winter time.
There is a book called Strategic Relocation written by a guy who's father wrote the Naked Capitalist, he only gave 3 states a 0 for relocation and FL was one. He claims when all hell breaks lose and there are no more groceries on the shelf in this country everybody will stamped out of FL north because there is nowhere to go South East or West and it will be a super mess.
All these points are excellent.
Florida is like previously stated is a powder keg, with too many contrasting types in one state. In Florida there are lots of homeless people that were previously middle class there and gave up, many others have moved to Houston because of money/job reasons. It can cost alot to live there and many have lost out big time in the mortgage crisis. There are huge wealth gaps there. Florida also has lax regulation on prescription drugs too. Lots of shady clinics.
Florida historically has had a huge crime problem. Drug cartels have always had a strong grip on Florida. Movies like the Cocaine Cowboys and Italian mafia activity showed that gangsters came to Florida or expanded operations there for the many reasons why it was easier. Lack of competition, New York and Chicago turf was already taken, easy routes to the Gulf and S. America, etc.
I don't know, but Mr. Darcy wants to go. He'll learn like another HA poster has learned when he had gone to Iceland.
I know I have been keeping him in my mouth alot lately, but his actions as of late have been coinciding with what's been addressed.
I had not lived in Florida in 10 years. I was there for a year, and I had to break north to Chicago, which was cool-as-hell at the
time.
Don't you know that in central Florida that they only cook good food at all fast-food restaurants only on Friday's through Sunday's
with boiled water? They don't boil the water during the week and the food spoils faster at these restaurants.
I heard it's because Florida has one of the worse water-filtration systems in the country....and because a lot of the lawn
fertilizer actually got into the drinking-water supply from so many people fertilizing their lawns down there (e.g. the retiree phe-
nomenon of "I have nothing to do today, let me fertilize the lawn because I don't have anything else to do") which seeps massively
downward into the water pipelines underground. Florida has very hard water on the skin too.
That is VERY VERY interesting. Water infrastructure in the US is like a 2nd world country in most places. The pipes need to be replaced and lots of prescription drugs and chemicals cannot be cleansed out by dumping Chlorine into the water. I have a modest water filtration system in my house and the shit it filters is incredibly disgusting (lots of rust, mud, dirt, cysts, etc). I want to add additional treatment pieces, but this shit is so expensive as it is...might have no choice though.
Florida has a surprising amount of white trash type people too. Even in the 'burbs of Orlando there was a lot of hardcore white trash types when I went there in the past. The whole state also has some pretty ghetto crime rates if you look at city-data.com the U.S. average for all crime lies around 300 incidents per 100000 in Miami it averages like 1000 incidents. That's 3x the national average crime rate for all crime statistics! I looked at other large Florida cities and they were comparable to Miami. That's unbelievable.
The small CA city i'm staying at in right now only has 140 incidents and is half the national average of 300'ish. So think about how bad Florida must be.
I like the idea of Florida but in reality it seems pretty unlivable unless you're rich or live in one of those gated communities.
Repatriate wrote:
I like the idea of Florida but in reality it seems pretty unlivable unless you're rich or live in one of those gated communities.
For all the criticisms of Florida, I like it because there is no state income tax and the "affluent enclaves" tend to attract people from all over the world. It is not easy to meet people in Florida, but it is easy to be a "big fish in a little pond."
Contrarian Expatriate wrote:As a Florida domiciled resident when I'm not abroad, I can cite a couple of reasons.
Florida is a demographic powder keg with many different peoples packed closely into one another. Caribbeans, various Latins, Canadians, Europeans, Northern Snowbirds etc. make for a combustible mix.
Also, Florida seems to be a predominately working class state where small elites live in their small cloistered areas and everyone else has to deal with the frustrations and problems of working class life.
Also, huge swaths of Florida cater to tourists which means debauchery is tolerated to a huge extent.
I was thinking of moving to Miami or another city in south Florida in the near future. Maybe I will think twice about that now. I was on City Data Discussion Forum and some of the people there were saying how unfriendly and anti-social the people in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are.
Great, now I either continue to live in the city that has the highest murder rate in the country (and has horrible winters) or try and do more research and find a nice area to move to where the cost of living is low, the crime rate is low and where it does not snow or get cold in the winter time.
I know you are sick of the Chicagoland area. Phoenix, AZ is cheap, but the labor laws can crazy if you aren't squeaky-clean down here. E.g. they will disqualify you for sneezing on the job that's found on a background check from 2002. I'm exaggerating a tad, but they are that facetious most of the time.
I have a background check being down to get a job with a subcontractor through University of Phoenix, and it's still pending because they cannot find where I have been living for the last 7 years and 3 years I was abroad (I was in homeless shelters and abroad and that information typically doesn't go to Intelius/PeopleSmart/etc.) so who knows? If they were to ask me, I'd say I was living with friends but I had no bills in my name. Maybe they will disqualify me on that; no need to fret: I have Indian IT recruiters trying to hook me up with something back on the east coast that pays litearlly 3.5x's more so I have a new job either way.
You can try CO, UT, ID, TX and ND/SD to boot. They seem like the last financial sanctuaries of the US of Gay nowadays.
Moretorque wrote:There is a book called Strategic Relocation written by a guy who's father wrote the Naked Capitalist, he only gave 3 states a 0 for relocation and FL was one. He claims when all hell breaks lose and there are no more groceries on the shelf in this country everybody will stamped out of FL north because there is nowhere to go South East or West and it will be a super mess.
because of money/job reasons. It can cost alot to live there and many have lost out big time in the mortgage crisis. There are huge wealth gaps there. Florida also has lax regulation on prescription drugs too. Lots of shady clinics.
