# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 194
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3862 "2024-10-13T03:21:43Z")
2012 was the last normal U.S. presidential election. I remember thinking, at the time, that it was an unusually mean-spirited election. Then again, I hadn’t seen many (2008 was the first election in which I was old enough to vote.) Looking back, 2012 was sublime calm Xanax politics compared to the insanity of today. Romney was an absolute statesman compared to Trump. The presidential debates consisted of two mature adults. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3863 "2024-10-13T04:01:18Z")
> [@Jegpeg](#): > > I do remember seeing a sign like this more recently in Shetland but didn’t stop for a photo. Of course not, those ponies are mean! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3864 "2024-10-13T18:36:22Z")
I can’t imagine wanting to read a book knowing nothing but the title, especially with titles as generic as the ones in the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3865 "2024-10-13T20:43:44Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I can’t imagine wanting to read a book knowing nothing but the title Well, in the poll, we also “know” that the books are parts of a fantasy series. And the poll doesn’t ask about wanting to read them, strictly speaking, but about which title “most catches your interest.” I don’t think a book title has ever singlehandedly made me want to read a book, but it has made me want to know more about it (such as inspiring me to read the description or the reviews). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3866 "2024-10-13T21:33:27Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think a book title has ever singlehandedly made me want to read a book, It has with me. Well, the title plus the atom on the spine. “The Skylark of Space” I think I was 8 or 9 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3867 "2024-10-13T22:01:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “The Skylark of Space” That title just makes me picture someone launching a Buick into space. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3868 "2024-10-13T22:06:39Z")
I like E. E. Smith. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3869 "2024-10-14T16:08:26Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I can’t imagine wanting to read a book knowing nothing but the title, especially with titles as generic as the ones in the poll. Luckily for you, those weren’t book titles. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3870 "2024-10-14T17:15:20Z")
Would have been nice to know that, not sure why you withheld the medium, but I’d feel the same way about films, TV shows, comics, concept albums, or Indonesian shadow puppet theater. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3871 "2024-10-14T20:49:21Z")
The Florida poll: I would not be inclined to nitpick or get fussy. Any settlement of several hundred thousand dollars would do it for me, regardless of how it was arrived at - with land, minus land, whatever. I’d take the cash and high-tail it out of town and out of state. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3872 "2024-10-14T21:04:18Z")
Slightly fighting the hypothetical, I’d have sold my house and land _before_ it was wiped out to get the highest value I could. Then, I’d high-tail it out of state. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3873 "2024-10-14T21:14:32Z")
Not sure if it’s fighting the hypothetical, but i don’t want to live in Florida, of course I’ll take the liquidation value and move. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3874 "2024-10-14T21:28:21Z")
Well, there’s that, too! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3875 "2024-10-14T21:31:20Z")
Yep. There isn’t enough money around to make me live in Florida for any appreciable amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3876 "2024-10-14T21:38:16Z")
You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself in an ugly part of the world And you may find yourself with two bad events And you may find yourself in a destroyed house, with a code update, And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?” Personally fighting that hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3877 "2024-10-15T04:18:32Z")
I won’t chide you all for fighting the hypothetical, it’s probably the board’s cardinal sin! I was trying though to look at how people were evaluating the risk vs. possible profit/loss equation. I did try to specify that this hypothetical would represent the _first_ loss of the property, and as such if it would affect how much risk (thus the abandonment, or the restructuring of the property) people would endure. I wanted it as something of a contrast to ongoing reporting of people who’ve had their homes lost _multiple times_ (ie they’ve just finishing rebuilding from 4+ years ago and it’s a total loss all over again). But I fully and without blame grant that Florida, politically and environmentally is an epic disaster with few signs of recovery on the way. So again, I understand the fighting of the hypo, and maybe one day I’ll put together another poll or thread that’ll dig into the evaluation of risk. 🙇‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3878 "2024-10-15T05:22:18Z")
There is a small neighborhood of very expensive houses smack in the middle of Walt Disney World. They come with free entry, and lots of other perks. If I had to move to Florida, and they were buying- I’d take one of those. Sure, I would be happier here in SoCal, but yeah if I had to move there, that would be my requirement. Going along with the hypothetical, I would cash out and sell the lot, and move to the coast of Maine or someplace. Gotta be near the ocean, and lower natural disasters. Delaware and Mich are the least hit by disasters, but Maine is on the list also. [https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3900281-most-least-disaster-prone-states-us/](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3900281-most-least-disaster-prone-states-us/) And yeah, CA is on the list of high disasters, due to fires. Not ideal. However, great weather, etc. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3879 "2024-10-15T14:08:38Z")
I wouldn’t be moving near the coast of anything. Though admittedly I seem to feel that close to a mile from a large lake, and several hundred feet uphill from it, is relatively safe. I first started to vote other, on the grounds that while I’d be relocating it whether to do so in or out of the state would depend on a whole batch of factors; then I realized that the state in question is Florida, and switched to ‘relocate out of state’. I’ve spent enough time in Florida to know that I don’t remotely fit with either the climate, or the pesticide load anywhere inhabited. But I’m not sure I’m not kind of fighting the hypothetical, because the hypothetical seems to require assuming that I’m a person who would have bought a place in Florida to start with (or stayed there if inheriting one); so voting partly on the grounds that I’m not such a person feels flawed. I could claim it has to do with Florida not really having any high ground to speak of, but I’m not sure that they don’t anywhere in the state. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3880 "2024-10-16T00:20:23Z")
What’s the point in panicking? If they are planning on executing me, there’s nothing I can do about it. Enjoy the meal. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3881 "2024-10-16T00:24:35Z")
I voted “delicious is delicious and chow down”. In that sort of unpredictable regime, it could be as easy as the Leader-For-Life deciding to show his benevolence, as it is that you’re the next person to be shot out of a canon. Heck, it might be just as likely that someone just managed to arrange your release and they want you to speak well of them when they ask about how you were fed. When you’re that screwed, take the wins, even if it’s little. Plenty of time to start panicking after the foods gone, or they tell you, with a smirk, that it was your last/poisoned/etc. * * * For the eat when panicked, I voted other. If I’m _stressed_ I’ll absolutely stress eat. If I’m out and out panicked, no, I probably won’t, my stomach is generally tied in nots. But I can’t sustain panic for all that long, and normally drop back into highly stressed where the stress-eating will begin again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=193) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=195)