Heh - it’s funny when we vacation down in the States, and every hotel we stay at wants our address. It goes more or less well until they get to zip code, then the wheels just fall off. There are one or two major hotel chains that can accommodate postal codes, but not many. I understand that we’re in a different country, and things are different in a different country, but this happens all the time in border states - at hotels in border states. You get Canadians staying there ALL THE FRICKIN’ TIME!
And they’re provinces, not providences. I don’t usually correct strangers, but I’ll correct that.
No, it’s not clear. Is there a bridge from Florida to Mexico? I’d like a picture of it. Why do you persist on stating that people can drive to Mexico to get gas? Of course they can-if they live in a border state, which Florida is not. The pt and the visitor were talking about the free gas event in Florida and the visitor said they’d drive (from Florida) to Mexico for free gas. She thought that Mexico and Florida were connected geographically. I used her as an example of clueless folk. What error do you perceive in any of my posts?
I am willing to clear this up but feel that is has gone beyond ridiculous, which is why I asked if your post was a whoosh. You can continue to quote me all you like but apparently what I posted and what you understood are two very different things… Why is this so important to you?
no, there is no bridge. however , people can, indeed drive from Florida to Mexico. do you not understand that? they can’t drive to Cuba. or France. but they can, indeed drive to Mexico.
and that’s what I said. you appeared to believe that w/o a bridge, one could not. and that’s simply not true. I found it ironic that you were making fun of some one’s stupidity, but then seemed to claim that w/o a bridge, one couldn’t drive from Florida to Mexico (not that it was a good idea, but that it wasn’t possible)>
and, frankly, if you don’t get it from this, I don’t give a shit anymore. you can go on to pat yourself on the back about the non existant bridge, making fun of your patient or whoever it was.
Yes, you CAN drive from Florida to Mexico–anyone can, given a car and enough gas to get there. I know that. You know that. That is NOT the point of my story. The point is that no one of sound mind would do so, just for ONE tank of free gas, since they would use up all the gas before they got through Texas. Doing so, if you happen to live in Florida, (like the people who were getting free gas were), is idiotic (unless they were indeed headed for Mexico and just happened to stop at the free giveaway on their way, which is not what the visitor meant at all). Last time: she meant that Mexico was just over the border from Florida–she was mixed up geographically (I hope).
You well and truly missed the point of my story. I cannot help you.
your ‘story’ was ‘how stupid is this person?, there’s no bridge linking Florida and Mexico’
you didnt actually say ‘how stupid is it to want to drive from Florida to Mexico for a free tank of gas’, you went for the non existant bridge which didn’t make the point you wanted.
I’ve had similar experiences with my US credit-card companies. As with many Thai addreses, mine is a bit lengthy, and the entire address usually must be truncated for their computers. It’s a tribute to the Thai postal system that the stuff gets to me at all. Assuming it makes it out of the US, as Bangkok postal codes are similar to New York ZIP codes, so a lot of my mail goes there first.
Just a word in defense of some of the people who are comppulsive shoppers. They pay be very aware of how their purchases are messing up their lives but still have the compulsion.
I had a minor problem with compulsive shopping. It could have gotten out of hand, but hadn’t. I did have problems with smoking and compulsive eating. My shrink put me on a medication which drastically changed the way I relate to food. I just forgot to eat. The big surprise was that I lost interest in shopping too.
I haven’t used a credit card in four years and three months except for special sales. Then I pay it off in full immediately. I’ve consolidated my debt into a lower interest, no credit card account which I am paying off with over-payments each month. I still shop, but not compulsively. I rarely go to the mall or shop online or at eBay.
So what may appear to be “stupid” spending may actually be a malfunctioning part of the brain.
(I quit smoking too. That was harder.)
Canadians may appreciate this gem from a former SIL: The weather forecast had a slight chance for snow in it. But here in Middle Tennessee, we get all excited about it because snow is not very common. Schools close is there is a coating on the roads.
The temperature was unusually cold for this part of the country with a low expected to be somewhere in the single digits farenheit. I asked my SIL if she thought it would snow. She said, “It’s too cold to snow.” I suggested to her that it was much colder than this at the poles and she said, “That doesn’t matter. It’s too cold to snow.”
Why would someone drive from Florida to Mexico to get free gas that will be given out in Florida? Why would they even leave Florida? How does Mexico fit in at all?
Actually, I would often hear this when I was growing up, that it was too cold to snow, but have no idea if it has any basis in fact. I have read, though, that it only snows 6 inches a year in the Antarctic; it’s just that it never melts and so has built up over time.
(That’s what I’ve read. Hope that doesn’t turn out to make me clueless. )
Other people think something just as hilarious: Voting for a third-party candidate in the current system is capable of electing that candidate to office, as opposed to spoiling one of the major candidates’ races. Mentioning Duverger’s law or, indeed, the very idea that elections and election strategies can be rationally analyzed makes them very, very angry, and they accuse you of not respecting their rights to vote for WHOEVER THEY CHOOSE SO THERE!!!
Because on that basis no-one would ever vote for anyone.
If ALL elections boil down to picking the lesser of two evils and you should NEVER vote for evil, even the lesser one, then by that logic you shouldn’t vote. If you can demonstrate some way that that strategy would effect positive change then by all means please do so.
I assumed the problem was with the not voting part. Having to pick the lesser of two evils in an election is a commonly-held notion as far as I’ve seen.
Your SIL is right that it can be too cold to snow, but I don’t remember why or how cold that is.
Maybe very cold air just can’t hold enough water for precipitation?
I do know that in New England those beautiful bright cloudless winter days are the coldest; no cloud cover (or moisture in the air) to hold in the heat.
I didn’t read it to mean you should never vote for evil. It may be that you can in good conscience vote for the lesser evil at least in some cases. But it also may be that in some cases you can’t in good conscience vote for either candidate. In such a case, it doesn’t seem insanely clueless to me to think that one shouldn’t vote.
Did the person you quoted claim that this was a way to effect positive political change?
Regarding Mexico and free gas; I obviously wasn’t there, but I would interpret the statement to mean that people are acting so crazy over free gas that they would do something as stupid as driving to Mexico from Florida just to get it even though it doesn’t make sense. I have an uncle that’ll drive an hour out of his way to save $0.10 a gallon. It doesn’t make any sense economically, but he’ll still do it.
Why is this so important to you?
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