r/geography • u/Bright_Look_8921 • 28d ago
I refuse to believe Florida is a real place Discussion
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u/KIUKPR 28d ago edited 28d ago
Thats no place, it's a motherboard you dummy👍
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u/garibaldi18 28d ago
Someone needs to upload a microscopic photo of a microchip and label it “Florida” and see if anyone notices.
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u/HighlanderAbruzzese 28d ago
I like this take because it has deep connections to both the virtual and prime worlds.
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u/Breakin7 28d ago
The Romans had a whole part of a book about urbanism dedicated to explain how any swamp is fucking poison to build cities.
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u/loptopandbingo 28d ago
But those lead pipes though, yummy 😋
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u/Breakin7 28d ago
They also knew (some of them) that lead was bad for your health. They used ceramic for some pipes but lead was better in so many ways.
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u/underroad01 28d ago
The water was untreated and therefore calcium rich. Calcium would adhere to the lead piping relatively quickly, creating a barrier between the water and lead
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u/UniqueIndividual3579 28d ago
And then they would flavor the wine with lead to make it sweeter.
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u/BlakeWheelersLeftNut 28d ago
They also tied strings around their left nut because that’s were girl sperm comes from
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u/Waveofspring 28d ago
I wonder if any of these “historical facts” were just 2000 year old jokes
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u/BlakeWheelersLeftNut 28d ago
The word testify’s origin either comes from holding one’s testicles while making a promise to a god during a sacrifice or someone else holding your testicles while you made an oath.
Jokes or it was just a nut based society
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u/Yofi 28d ago
Sorry, friend, Etymonline says for testis:
"a testicle," 1704, from Latin testis (plural testes) "testicle," a word usually regarded as a special application of testis "witness" (see testament) on the notion of what "bears witness to male virility" [Barnhart]. Stories that trace the Latin word to some supposed swearing-in ceremony are groundless modern inventions.
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u/BlakeWheelersLeftNut 28d ago edited 28d ago
The world is not ready to accept Joshua T. Katz hard work on testicles yet. One day the nut historians will be accepted into society.
I ask even in today’s time is one’s nuts not connected to their honour to this day? Do you not have the balls to admit the gatekeepers of etymology could be mistaken? I argue a man’s family jewel’s have been subconsciously or openly been tied honour since the dawn of time. It is not so far fetched to believe one would have a ceremony placing one’s honour in the hands of the gatekeeper of truth and reconciliation or witness to sanctification. One would be representing one’s commitment with their honour in telling the truth. I believe this more than the testis homonyms. That origin has not satisfied me.
Katz bolsters his argument by citing evidence closer to home. He quotes a passage from the Iguvine Tables, a document written in an ancient Italic language called Umbrian (a sister language of Latin). This passage describes the sacrifice of a bull-calf to Jupiter. In order to dedicate the victim to Jupiter, the sacrificer should “hold urfeta in his hand,” while saying “Jupiter Sancius, to thee I dedicate this votive bull-calf.” The Umbrian word urfeta is etymologically related to the Latin word orbis, which usually means a disk. Katz argues that the original meaning of the Latin orbis and the Umbrian urfeta was not a disk, but a three-dimensional disk, in other words a ball, and that this passage describes a gesture similar to the one in the quotation from Genesis: instead of holding the genitals of his father, the sacrificer should hold either his own genitals or the genitals of the sacrificial animal. Together the Umbrian text and the dual meaning of the Latin word testis provide evidence for the existence of an Italic rite in which the participant held his own testicles or those of a sacrificial animal while making some kind of “solemn pronouncement” (whether intoning a sacrificial formula or offering testimony in a court of law).
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u/future_old 28d ago
Mary Beard’s book SPQR has some very interesting and silly facts about Rome. One of my favorites is from a section about Roman graffiti, which was very common supposedly. A foreign city had been sacked by the legion, and the soldiers inscribed on the entrance to the city walls: Your mother couldn’t fit through this gate.
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u/ISLAndBreezESTeve10 28d ago
Lead would leech into the water way better than ceramics.
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u/runningoutofwords 28d ago
Nit necessarily.
It depends upon the water chemistry and pH.
That's what happened in Flint. The lead pipes were always there, but the contamination problem blew up when the state changed their water source. Different water chemistry.
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u/SomeGuythatownesaCat 27d ago
Yall acting smug, while there was lead in your fuel zill like the 50s
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u/pm-me_10m-fireflies 28d ago
Hold up, is there actually a book from Rome about their thoughts on urbanism that’s been translated for modern audiences? Would absolutely love to read that.
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u/Breakin7 28d ago
Vitruvio is the author cant remember the name of the book i can look for ir. But i warn you it is dense and quite boring.
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u/pm-me_10m-fireflies 28d ago
Is it ‘De architectura’, published today as ‘Ten Books on Architecture’?
If so, it’s available here to all who want to peruse! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I might not read it from beginning to end, but it’s definitely a cool rabbit hole.
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u/Breakin7 28d ago
Yes it is. Vitruvio was an excellent builder he focused in what he and the legion needed at the moment so its mostly about civilian and military buildings.
He made some religious buildings too but mostly bridges, cities, walls, defense systems in general and so on.
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u/CrabyDicks 28d ago
Great, another boring book to tickle my tism. Can't wait to share it with my gf
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u/AnalystofSurgery 28d ago
We sure showed them. Stupid Romans.
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u/piousidol 28d ago
If they were so great they wouldn’t have collapsed due to structural weaknesses such as political corruption, inflation, reliance on slave labour, wealth inequality, and reduced social cohesion. Dumbasses
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u/cranberrycactus 28d ago
I'd be interested to know how they prevent all those channels from becoming stagnant. IIRC Dubai's new islands have caused problems with water becoming stagnant on some areas
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u/DoobsMgGoobs 28d ago
Those waters are tidal. Combine that with regular damage and stagnant is generally not an issue.
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u/KrisKrossJump1992 28d ago
do they silt up? and if so who pays to dredge them? HOA or something?
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u/abcoolefg 28d ago
For most of the canals, the tides bring the water in and out twice a day. The further inland you go the more stagnant, but its not really a problem in South Florida.
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u/cjlewis7892 28d ago
There are a few sections that stagnate pretty quick. Dry season between December through May, you’ll see algae blooms in the freshwater sections. They’re typically not widespread and only regularly occur in a couple canals
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u/Interestingcathouse 28d ago
Every Sunday everyone goes out to their beach and paddles their feet in the water for 10 minutes to mix it up.
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u/ThresherGDI 28d ago
There are springs all over the state that eventually flow into the Everglades and other parts of South Florida. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings called it the "river of grass". Even if all those canals got blocked off, eventually they would fill with water. That part of Florida has such a high water table, it would not take as long as you might think.
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u/jackMFprice 27d ago
About half the canals are tidal (so no stagnation), the other half (towards the northern end) are freshwater. Plants, lily pads, tons of fish. Great bass fishing up there actually.
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u/stellacampus 28d ago
My brother retired from the military about 5 years ago and bought a place in Viera. When I visited him, this is exactly what it looked like - entire planned communities organized around man made lakes/golf courses, as far as the eye can see, and at least in his specific area, almost 100% retired military/NASA.
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u/Chester_A_Arthuritis 28d ago
It also takes 10 minutes to get to the house behind yours if traveling by car.
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u/stellacampus 28d ago
That's correct except when an alligator comes crawling up your back lawn and you do a superhuman jump over your neighbor's fence! It's like traveling through a wormhole.
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u/sonic_dick 28d ago
Viera and all these planned shitty towns made for retirees that have popped up in the last 20 years suck so fucking much. 0 sense of community or culture. Ugly, bad for the environment, I will never understand why anyone would want to live in one.
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u/keiths31 28d ago
Visited Florida earlier this year from Canada. It is such a different place geography wise than anywhere else I have visited in Canada or the US. Obviously weather is the main factor, but was still a culture shock.
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u/coke_and_coffee 28d ago
Florida gets a lot of shit on Reddit but it’s an extremely unique place. One of a kind on this earth. I always have tons of fun there.
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u/keiths31 28d ago
Had a great time. It's my new favourite vacation spot. The people were very friendly and accommodating. And so much to do.
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u/ineptorganicmatter 28d ago
I’m glad you enjoyed Florida. It’s nice when I see positive things written about where I live.
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u/i_write_ok 28d ago
As a native Floridian:
I’ve since moved away because it got pretty crazy for me, and lost the ‘old weird Florida’ that I grew up with in the 90s.
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u/sonic_dick 28d ago
I grew up in small town florida in the 90s. Everything I loved about it is gone, the wildlife, the lightning bugs, being able to walk to the river and catch a fish with a piece of a hotdog, wondering around in the long leaf pine woods looking for shit to blow up, and the folks who came to florida pre A/C who were all running from something or looking for a slice of weird freedom.
It's all replaced with strip malls, concrete, ugly gated communities and all the cast offs from other states that want to and have turned this place into their own boomer playground.
I'll always love florida, but it's like an ex that you loved in high school but then got into drugs and is in jail now. Just like my ex I had in florida that got into drugs and is in jail now.
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u/Aegon_the_Conquerer 28d ago
Floridians are by and large very friendly and welcoming. Semi-southern culture combined with an economic dependence on tourism means we just kinda default to niceness and hospitality. Well, that and batshit insane aggressiveness, but you encounter that less often.
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u/the_bio 28d ago
You should read The Gulf: The Making of an America Sea, by Jack Davis. It goes into quite a bit of detail about how Florida, is in fact, not quite real when it comes to how they've had to build that place up, especially coastal cities along the Gulf.
I'm sure there are other books that go into better detail, but this one gives you a pretty good idea.
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u/aGiantRedskinCowboy 28d ago
This has to be Cape Coral
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u/theboxfriend 28d ago
yep, used to live there and i can spot the street my family lived on. That's pine island rd (diagonal near top) to cape pkwy (near bottom)
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u/XDog_Dick_AfternoonX 28d ago
If you think this place is comical, check out the "rotunda"
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u/keb5501 28d ago
I have this picture too from airplane window!
Southwest Florida near tampa
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u/Bright_Look_8921 28d ago edited 28d ago
Thought about posting that one too but I think this sub only allows one image per post?
I wanted to post this one also because it looks pretty silly from space.
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u/ramblingclam 28d ago
Check out the Picayune Strand. This was a swampland is Florida scam development that went bankrupt due to several fraud lawsuits. It’s now a state forest but the roads, stop signs, and some street lights are all still there through the woods. The state has been filling in the canals they dug to drain the swamp, and hopefully restore the swamp sheet flow. Crazy, post-apocalyptic looking place.
Edit: I left the weather icon in the corner because it’s hot there right now haha
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u/Mr_Goldfish0 28d ago
Wow I'm actually impressed Florida did a cool thing with the land.
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u/ArtisticRegardedCrak 28d ago
Florida has some large and great national parks. A crazy contrast is looking at the southern half of the state to contrast the urban centers of Miami, Orlando, and Tampa with the massive number of national/state forests
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u/ramblingclam 28d ago
There are huge areas of Florida that are under rated, particularly natural areas. I love the Cayo Costa State Park, Ten Thousand Islands, Ocala National Park, and pretty much anywhere in the Keys.
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u/i_write_ok 28d ago
Literally born and raised in the Estates (now the ‘Rural Estates’ for some reason) and used to go shooting out here with my dad and uncles.
They’d throw 1/4 sticks of dynamite into the canals and stuff. We had a lot of fun. We called them “The Blocks”
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u/JusticarX 27d ago
There are actually a few houses that were built out there. And a school bus goes out to pick up the kids.
The dirt road is so rough it'll knock your fillings out lol
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u/CoL_ZicK 28d ago
I live right by rotonda it’s not that bad to drive where as Cape Coral is a mess
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u/stmcvallin2 28d ago edited 27d ago
Soon to be completely uninsurable. In a decade or two they’ll be begging for a federal (tax payer) bailout. While simultaneously trying to defund social programs and bjtxhing about paying taxes.
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u/stmcvallin2 26d ago
Insurers use actuarial data to predict the likelihood of future claims and associated costs. When the projected cost of payouts outweigh revenue collected from from premiums, the property is not statistically likely to generate profit, and as such, is deemed uninsurable.
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u/Solid_Function839 28d ago
That's why I love Americans. Most people see a desert and think "uhm, that's not a good place to build a large city". Americans see a desert and think "let's build a 5 million people suburb here"
Most people see a tropical mangrove and think "uhm, I wouldn't build a city here". Americans see it and build a 8 million people suburb there
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u/Beegee244 28d ago
When heavy rain, or hurricane, is expected, there is an expansive canal system that pumps water into the Everglades in anticipation of heavy rainfall. The canals systems were designed for this purpose. The extra waterfront is a bonus.
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u/Intrepid_Isopod_1524 28d ago
Canals in south Florida take water away from the Everglades to the ocean. Not the other way around.
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u/askmeifimacop 28d ago
They’re not talking about moving water from the ocean to the Everglades. I grew up in south Florida next to the Everglades and the canals do move excess water to the Everglades.
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u/Globalruler__ 28d ago
When I used to do Uber years ago, I once picked up a passenger from Nigeria. He asked me, “is there any reason why there are so many lakes in Florida?” I didn’t know how to answer him since it’s the only place I’ve known and didn’t realize that lakes aren’t a common feature in most regions that people populate.
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u/cjlewis7892 28d ago
The city of Crap. I mean. Cape Coral developed in 1957 by 2 brothers looking to get rich. They envisioned the Venice, Italy of the United States with a series of interconnected canals and lakes leading to the. A waterfront wonderland! In reality the interior portions of canals required weir structures to hold enough water, leaving landlocked canals. While the saltwater sections are connected to the gulf, they were unable to get permission to dredge a new canal through the mangroves so it takes about three hours to get out to the gulf in many places in the northern section. Residential housing was prioritized to maximize profit while City planning was not considered to the degree in which it should have been leading to an abundance of houses but nowhere for people to work or gather. What was once the most abundant and diverse peninsula in Florida, was turned into a housing nightmare. It is getting a little better now, though.
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u/Winter_Low4661 28d ago
That looks so cool. Imagine being a gator, just conveniently paddling around the neighborhood, snatching up people's dogs and kids.
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u/AnnoyedZenMaster 28d ago
As a creativity deficient individual, every city I make in Skylines ends up looking like Cape Coral.
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u/AffectEconomy6034 28d ago
if you would beleive it all of that intastructure and development of this land is able to house around 50 people! amazing what humans can accomplish
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u/prairie-logic 28d ago
Ngl.
This pleases me greatly. It’s so aesthetically pleasing to look at.
I also feel like it’s a nightmare to navigate for some reason, in spite of being built like a computer chip.
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u/TortelliniTheGoblin 28d ago
The entire state could be summed up by the sentence "You asked us if you could develop -not whether you should"
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u/HillbillyRawkid 28d ago
I just flew out of Fort Meyers, and I swear to God there was a neighborhood where one street was shaped like a unicorn and the other like a dolphin.
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u/broncobuckaneer 28d ago
Former swamp (endangered ecosystem). They created a bunch of canals to force the water into narrow channels to make building pads. Works great, unless you
1) care about the environment 2) have hurricanes
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u/davidmlewisjr 28d ago
My daughter lives in that picture, and that city was manufactured from the slime up…
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u/EternalAngst23 27d ago
“Hey Florida, what’s your favourite type of urban design?”
“Circuit board.”
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u/iDom2jz 28d ago
Nebraska is starting to look like this outside of Omaha lmao they’re building beach front homes with the sand from the Sandhills and yeah they pretty much look like this minus the weather and gators. There’s a cluster of them in Valley and sooner or later it’s going to turn into this. We also have the Oglala aquifer so there’s a literal ocean under the sand dunes and all you need to do Is dig out a shape of a lake and boom, you have a crystal clear lake with white sand beaches.
This is what they look like. Zoomed out it’s obviously not nearly as organized as the OP photo but yeah…
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u/biffbobfred 28d ago
The aquifer is being drained faster than it can be restored. I’ve known about this for about a decade or so.
Tapping the aquifer for waterfront property is just sooooo human.
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u/PlannerSean 28d ago
As a former planner in Florida, I can confirm that it is imaginary
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u/laberdog 28d ago
Well it won’t be for too much longer when global warming takes Miami
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u/combatant0812 28d ago
for the 1st second look at it, i can immediately tell it is Cape Coral
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u/Honey-and-Venom 27d ago
I'm in Florida right now visiting my in-laws, possibly for the last time, before they make my presence in the state a lynchable offense, and it's real in that it's really here, but it's all fake in that it's all processed and artificial and manufactured
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u/ScuffedBalata 28d ago
It’s so wet, you need extensive drainage in many areas.
This is overboard and designed to let every house be “waterfront”, but you DO need a ton of area set aside for surface water regardless.