What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[BoneSnapDeez]

I have a beard most all of the time. My facial hair comes in so fast and furious that shaving is futile. Fortunately, I prefer to have facial hair so it's never been an issue.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I wish mine grew in more thickly right now. I can only really grow sideburns and a neckbeard, everything else doesn't have enough substance yet. And my sideburns are pretty sparse really.

[samsonlonghair]

Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia are related and associated, but not really Southern in my opinion.

I'm going to have to call BS on this statement. I have lived in or visited all four of these states. All four are definitely southern states.

This reminds me of the time that a I informed a lady in West Virginia that I do not eat catfish. She responded by calling me a yankee because all "real" southerners eat catfish. I informed her that I come from Florida. She told me that Florida is not the south, and I offered to buy her a map.

Just for the record, Florida was a Confederate state and West Virginia was a Union state, but that's no litmus test either.

On the other hand, when I return to Florida to visit family, they ask me what it's like "up north" in West Virginia.

The point is that we cannot exclude certain states from being the "real" southern states.

[o.pwuaioc]

Florida depends. Orlando is usually the border. North of Orlando is the South, south of Orlando is Latin America. Missouri and Kentucky are definitely the south, and West Virginia is part-south, but mostly Appalachian, which is different from "southern" culture, but very related.

[samsonlonghair]

This kind of statement makes me wonder where you get all these ideas. I have spent more than a decade in both southern Florida and West (by god) Virginia. I have also traveled all through the southern US. The Hispanic influence in southern Florida does not negate the fact that Florida is a southern state any more than the Appalachian mountains negate the fact that West Virginia is a southern state.

Southern culture persists in both of these places.

[Luke]

Frown: Changes in NC's Consumer Finance Act

"For a loan up to $10,000, 30% (per annum) on the first $4,000, 24% (per annum) on the amount of principal that is between $4,000 and $8,000, and 18% (per annum) on the remainder of the unpaid principal balance. (However, the consumer finance lender must enter into an agreement with a consumer for interest at the single simple interest rate that would earn the same amount of interest as allowed by this provision.)"

Jaw dropping.

[samsonlonghair]

Is that Usury?

[Luke]

Is that Usury?

Yup. This legislation undid over 50 years of protection from usury.

[samsonlonghair]

Mr. Burns: Oh, it's a hobby. I'm not in this for any personal gain, heavens no! By the way, are you acquainted with our state's stringent usury laws?
Homer: Us-ury?
Mr. Burns: Oh, silly me! I must have just made up a word that doesn't exist. Now, what is the purpose of this loan?

[o.pwuaioc]

This kind of statement makes me wonder where you get all these ideas. I have spent more than a decade in both southern Florida and West (by god) Virginia. I have also traveled all through the southern US. The Hispanic influence in southern Florida does not negate the fact that Florida is a southern state any more than the Appalachian mountains negate the fact that West Virginia is a southern state.

Southern culture persists in both of these places.

Oh, I dunno, I was born in Florida, have lived there for a while, and still visit all the time as I have family there, both in, around, and south of Orlando. I was even married in Daytona.

I'll take your word about West Virginia, as it was only my experience from traveling through, and from extrapolating from surrounding areas like eastern Tennessee and Pennsylvania and how, despite both being conservative places, they felt different culturally. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention does not have a stronghold in West Virginia nor in southern Florida like they do everywhere else in the south. I know religion isn't the only determining factor of cultural identity, but it is a strong indication.

My years in Tennessee, Indiana, and Florida, along with numerous studies I've examined ever since I've taken up an academic interest in the subject, lead me to believe that the culture is unique. I'm interested in what makes you think they're all alike, apart from "hating Yankees" or conservative beliefs, which aren't really indicative of southern-ness, but rurality.