• frankpsy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 day ago

    I’m glad it’s Florida winter here finally. There’s plenty of nature and trails where I’m at but none of it is enjoyable when it’s boiling outside with a 118F heat index with mosquitoes from the swamps that are 5x larger than normal and attacking from all angles.

  • brem@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    2 days ago

    Go outside.

    No McDonald’s to freeze next to.

    Nothing, for miles.

    Just red dirt.

    It’s cold, and all I can grow is

    P O T A T O

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        34
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        I lived in a suburban cul-de-sac for years while fighting depression. It’s seriously soul-crushing staring out at a sea of rooftops.

        I still recommend walks every day though. It doesn’t matter if you have pretty views or not, you were designed to move around and walk, we are all descended from hunter-gatherers and people who walked huge distances for survival. Walking resets your current rumination session and reframes your present moment.

        Part of surviving in the modern world is learning how to create your own mental states and perceptions of your environment so you don’t end up wallowing in a sense of hopelessness or feel trapped every day.

        • luciferofastora@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          2 days ago

          We’ve been dominantly settled farmers for millenia now, but that doesn’t change the equation: walking to the fields, walking to fetch water, walking around the house and attached vegetable gardens, going outside to chat with neighbours to keep up with local news and maintain social relationships as a fundamental part of survival.

          The elites also weren’t spared the obligation to survey their holdings, visit their vassals or patrons/liege, participate in visible displays of wealth, influence and leisure to maintain legitimacy…

          Particularly (but not only) post-industrial literature is teeming with works on the depressing alienation in cities.

          Just walking through the neighborhood on the way to work, home or to the grocery store and greeting people I meet – strangers, for all intents – helps my mood.

          Humanity thrived on activity and interaction. Let’s try to keep that.

      • Zwiebel@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 days ago

        Tbf we do have spots like this too in Europe, not everywhere is some picturesque scenery

    • Barbecue Cowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      2 days ago

      This is every town in the US right next to where you get off the Interstate (Highway).

      This looks like South Carolina, but think it’s out of date. I don’t think there are any Grinder locations left.

      • dditty@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        What kind of food did they serve? I’ve never heard of them before. I googled it and got a few results about Italian-American food and sandwiches?

        • Barbecue Cowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 days ago

          It’s in the name, they served grinders.

          Seriously though, it’s just a sub with an extra focus on having a ton of meat. I remember them being good, but I was also pretty young last time I had it and I wouldn’t trust my opinion.

      • MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        Yes, I still want to throw shade.

        That’s Piccadilly Circus, in the middle of London. Don’t like it? Hop on one of those buses and go somewhere else. Or use the Underground - there’s a station right there. Direct route to Cockfosters, and the station there is right next to Trent country park. http://trentcountrypark.com/Welcome.html

      • Kairos@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        This is like sending a picture of LA when someone says they’re American

        • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          21
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          Which is exactly what the commenter is doing by referring to the one picture as representing the USA. Thanks for explaining my comment.

            • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              1 day ago

              What an absurd thing to claim. You do know that the US is significantly larger than the entire continent of Europe, right? We’ve got national parks larger than some European countries.

            • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              9
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              2 days ago

              It absolutely isn’t and all that comment shows is ignorance about rural America

                • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  5
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  2 days ago

                  Likewise, and I really disagree. Sure urban and suburban areas are like that, but so much more of the country is rural. If you only traveled to cities in 40/50 states I’m sure that’s the impression you might get. But surely some of those states were in the West, and you can’t deny that once you pass the sprawl it’s open range. Same here in Maine minus the open. After Portland communities are very localized, same in New Hampshire, same in Vermont, same in Upstate New York. Now, Maine and Vermont both have anti billboard legislation so that has a big effect but regardless, once you’re off the highway, outside of the East Coast megalopolis, things get real sparce real quick. I would argue that semi remote quasi wilderness is significantly more common in the US by population/land area than all but a few similarly sized countries, like Russia, Canada, and Australia.

                  Edit: let’s call “semi remote quasi wilderness” anything 5 miles or more from road access.

              • Zombie@feddit.uk
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                7
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                2 days ago

                Everywhere has rural areas and farmland. That’s not unique to America.

                Built up areas however tend to be car-centric, billboard clad hellscapes in America in a far larger proportion than most of the rest of the world.

            • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              9
              arrow-down
              6
              ·
              2 days ago

              It absolutely is NOT.

              I’d say the majority of America is farmland.

              We have a little bit of every terrain. You forget how MASSIVE this country is. One common thing Europeans have difficulty grasping is how varied and vast this land is. I hear every now and again Europeans say they’ll start the day in NYC, then drive to Disney World by night, and then drive to California the next day.

              WRONG!

              Not gonna happen. The trip from NYC to Orlando would be AT LEAST 12 hours alone. If not longer. And the drive from Orlando to California would be measured in days, not hours.

              You think this whole country is one massive condensed urban deadlock? If that were true, we would have population in the hundreds of billions. For reference, all of earth has about 8 billion total.

              • Carrot@lemmy.today
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                11
                arrow-down
                5
                ·
                2 days ago

                I’ve road tripped through most of America. This is definitely in the majority of places near a freeway. Yeah, there’s a boatload of other stuff too, but if you were to pick a town right off a freeway, it’s very likely it’d look like this

                • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  6
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  2 days ago

                  So you took a tour of freeways, and conclude that’s what the whole US looks like? I don’t think anyone’s arguing there aren’t a huge number of places like the above, but those places make up a minuscule percentage of the whole US. It’d be like driving the Autobahn and concluding the whole of Europe looks like that.

            • Jimmybander@champserver.net
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              1 day ago

              That’s simply not a fair assessment. Have you ever seen America? Sedona, Estes Park, Mackinac Island, Grand Prismatic Spring, Ponce De Leon Springs, etc., etc.

  • swicano@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    42
    ·
    2 days ago

    Wow, what year is that picture from, McDonald’s with a playplace?! We wish things were as nice as they were then

    • OR3X@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      42
      ·
      2 days ago

      Kids these days will never get to experience the bliss of wading through a pit of plastic balls that all smell vaguely of piss.

    • Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      2 days ago

      I make floor pads for the company that builds the playlands. They still exist, in Canada at least. I sent a whole bunch to Puerto Rico after the hurricane, but they were for Burger King.

    • taiyang@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 days ago

      I’ve heard of these things from a documentary from that era called Mac and Me. I think they also routinely held something called a “birthday party” at them. Unfortunately there are no physical records to confirm that I am aware of.

      • Zwiebel@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        2 days ago

        Heard the police stops and asks you what your’re doing/ if you need a ride when you walk in the US

        • ch00f@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          I wouldn’t say it’s that bad. At least not where I live.

          Mostly I see completely half-assed attempts at walkable infrastructure such as:

          • Sidewalks that just end
          • Bike lanes that say “lane ends, merge with traffic” on a 45mph (72km/h) road right before an underpass with no shoulder.
          • Crosswalks only ever mile or so, so you either have to walk a mile out of your way, or get yelled at for “jaywalking.”
          • Bike lockup outside a furniture store that’s surrounded by 10 acres of parking lot where the nearest residence is like 10 miles away.
          • 3ft wide lanes with person figures painted on them on the side of the road because a white line is enough to protect pedestrians.
          • 3ft wide bike lanes on the inside curve of an uphill 45mph road with sharp turns and a steep concrete embankment on the side.
  • coherent_domain@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    I wish america was this dense, going outside means either I get to see my speedometer for 2/3 of the trip or endless lawns, endless car noise and emission, with endless political signage that all looks the same.

  • ruuster13@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    2 days ago

    My favorite game to play on river walks near my home (it’s really a canal) is to count syringes and naked body parts.