Free Republic

Climate can shape character. As anyone who's driven west past the 98th meridian knows. That's where the rains stop, as the first wave of settlers discovered. After a deceptively wet season or two, they beat a hasty retreat. Out there creek beds run dry, except when a flash flood turns them into a raging menace. The trees grow stunted, the people tall, and the conversation as sparse as the vegetation. People may not use many words, but what they say you can usually trust. I've known a few Texans like that. They were rare even by the time we used...