Abortion protection was proposed as a constitutional amendment because the backwards -ass gerrymandered legislature here is much more conservative than the population. A majority of us voted for freedom of choice even though the amendment on the ballot had bold text added by the governor, including the dubious claim that it would “increase the number of abortions performed in the state”. They only added these annotations to the two amendments DeSantis opposed.

I was born here, my kids were born here, I am progressive, my kids are progressive, all y’all dehumanizing us, why? We are just people, like you!

That sucks. If you want an adoptive mom, I have lots of kids, what’s one more?

Also this 53% number is fucking with me. I know so many white women and only one (70 years old) would vote for trump.

What are you on about? Why should people who don’t want kids be forced to forgo sex?

If someone anticipates birth control being outlawed, stockpiling it is a reasonable response.

I would recommend an IUD though.

Not sure. For me, I have a large family, and do yoga classes in person, work at the office, not from home, go to get coffee always at the same place so see the same people, and have need for more alone time than I ever get, so it hasn’t been an issue yet. Transportation would help a lot here. I used to see old people at aerobics classes downtown when I did those, so group exercise I do think is valuable.

Not to get political but not sure what will happen now with the large family, as Florida gets ever more backwards the kids may get more distributed in other places. We have a house I love in a neighborhood I love, in a blue-leaning city, and don’t want to abandon it. They are second generation but instead of the progress I saw during my adulthood and their childhood, but as they reached adulthood now the pendulum is swinging back.

Having seen my mom, and now the mom of my ex, devolve into dangerous drivers, I will trust my kids on this. If they say I am not driving well, I will not drive. Luckily everything is nearby, I haven’t needed to drive much since we moved close to my work.

Walking distance to hospital, doctor, restaurants, dentist, bank is online, driving has become a convenience not a need, thankfully.

We need to give road tests every 5 years or so, to everyone who holds a driving license. My road test was literally more than 40 years ago, how do they even know I can still drive safely?

Good thing we have lots of kids, so I as usual cancel out my husband’s vote (if he even bothers this time, R but not enthusiastic about Trump) and all the kids align with me. It may not matter here, with the influx of racist northerners, but who knows?

ETA I have at least one who was not going to vote when it was the two old guys but will vote for Harris.

I sit on the porch with the bowl, it’s nice to see them walking around. It’s easier for both parties, and I can dress up too.

I think it’s because fewer houses are doing it, mostly. But I don’t understand skipping very decorated houses, and honestly wouldn’t leave out a bowl of candy here.

The sitting on the porch thing is traditional here now (my mom sat inside but I’m over 50 now and since being old enough to be on the treating side have always sat out with the candy and that’s more usual as far as I can tell) Though my kids always did go up and try if a light was on outside.

Maybe they are also a little more sensible too, lol - a princess last night looked in the bowl and said, nah there’s nothing I like, happy Halloween. My kids would have taken some anyway and traded it around, but it is always too much by the time they are done.

Overall I agree, they should yell TRICK OR TREAT but am glad nobody is, like egging your house if you don’t have a treat for them.

I miss when my gay friends all called their partners “lovers”.

As in literally if they were introducing their boyfriend, it was never “this is my boyfriend Chris” it was “this is Chris, my lover.”

No idea if it was just a local thing but it was just so, well, lovely.

Better to leave your phone at home (or better, in the pocket of someone who lives in your house and takes the same daily path as you do) if you are doing something that’s currently illegal. Or in any situation where you are doing something legal that the cops are likely to break up.

The juror going home thing is terrifying but I don’t think the government would be after you for fulfilling your civic duty.

Florida is talking about a state windstorm pool (risk pooling, not gambling pool) like the national flood insurance. I guess that would be the compromise, but the insurance industry here really is plagued with fraud. The companies keep folding then coming back, I can only assume they are lining the pockets of the legislature with our money.

In the years I’ve owned a house (about 30) I have paid them enough that if I’d banked it instead at a reasonable rate of return I could buy another house. But have made no claims. So they are charging like every house will be knocked down once every 30 years, I guess, but again, my previous house and that whole neighborhood from 1925 is still standing.

Even making it a state plan would work better in Florida than what we currently have. They let private insurers cherry pick the less risky houses, and cover whoever is left with the state plan. Then those private for profit insurers take the premiums, pay big bonuses to themselves, dissolve the company and leave, rinse and repeat. It’s a scam.

New houses are required to be built to code for hurricane force wind here, the “post-Andrew” building code is good. Most of us don’t have new houses though, my house is from the 1940s, and the one I moved from is 100 years old this year.

We do have building code, what we don’t have is anyone willing to say no to developers. Sprawl, less land to absorb water. I see houses being built on seasonal wetlands, they fill them and raise 'em then the rest of the neighborhood floods in the rainy season. Nobody should be able to do that.

It’s the dental of home insurance.

We carry flood insurance, it’s cheap if you are not in a flood zone.

But the home insurance in Florida is mostly just a scam to suck money out of the state. Company is incorporated, funnels money from policies into the pockets of the rich, then they go bust and fail to pay claims. Then the same people start all over with a different name. While cherry picking policies and leaving the riskier for the state to insure.

If Florida would kick all the insurers out and put everyone on Citizens it would be better. I really only feel “insured” when we fall onto the state plan; and if I had a spare half million you bet I’d self insure and get an umbrella policy for liability, not keep paying those assholes for nothing.

I agree, but it is possible to prep ingredients without cooking them ahead of time, that can help. Soup is different because it’s literally better tasting reheated, portion it and freeze it! But for other foods, you can (for example ) make chicken one day and quesadillas with chicken the next day and a quick soup or stir fry with the rest of it the following day, planning like that can save both time & money.

I do work, exercise, and cook supper every day, and yeah it is sometimes exhausting, I just like to eat things that I like, so I do the cooking.

Honestly my image was of some Italian village posted yesterday on Lemmy that looked like it was made of stone. Or Osgiliath.

I do also remember houses with thatched roofs in England though, those don’t seem like they would survive a storm.

Obesity tracks with this. Maybe not the direct cause, there might be some underlying cause for both, but excess fat absolutely does increase your risk of cancer. I’m pretty sure being big in any way does - if there is more of you, more cells, more chance of mutation.

That’s a good question. We do, now. But most of us can’t buy a new house, so we live in an older house. We don’t have a stone quarry anywhere nearby, so no tradition of stone houses, more frame houses because it’s hot and there wasn’t air conditioning so we built ventilated lighter houses that were cooler in the summer, there are still a lot of them around.

Yes, home hardening is one factor and even here in Florida, the building codes have been updated and the state provides matching funds for making improvements to existing houses (you apply, it can take some years to get to the front of the line) we got storm windows this way, and we got a strong metal roof when we needed to replace the roof covering. It just takes a really long time to change out or update the stock of houses.

And also, even though it seems like houses are getting knocked down every 5 minutes, there are still houses in Tampa built around 1900, it’s not that common in most cities. I was born here, am over 50 and haven’t even had to evacuate yet, assume it’s coming eventually but is not a frequent event here. Last direct hit around 1925.

People are so flippant about “just move” but I was born here, have seen the city get better, love it, have a good job, most of our kids still live nearby, its really expensive to move anywhere and pretty nice here most of the time still, and as a climatologist told my kid when they asked, probably will be ok through their lifetime.

I honestly cannot imagine a competent employee being demoted. I can imagine positions in Youth Services that might (might) be better filled by someone gay, like gay youth programs, the “it gets better” is more convincing from someone for whom it actually got better, for instance.

In Ohio, though?

New College WAS a school where kids sort of designed their own major, did a project or thesis and defended it. The Veggie Bus that ran on used oil from McDonald’s fryers was a New College project. It was good for hyper achievers who didn’t fit into a canned curriculum. I don’t know that I’d call it “liberal” but it was progressive and challenging.

This apparently annoyed the fuck out of the governor for some reason. Maybe he just doesn’t like the idea of smart weirdos. But it’s those people who move us forward, the smart ones who don’t fit in.

I’m shocked it was not Grady Judd (the sheriff). He is a piece of work.