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2020 March

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Letters to the editor with pictures since 2002. Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.

 

[On A Lighter Note] I just made breakfast the way my grandfather liked it: Eggs fried, swimming in bacon grease. To keep it healthy, I used pasture raised organic eggs and uncured bacon. That was a highly satisfying breakfast and if I drop dead today, at least my last meal was great! Ideally, you live until you die, and as my old dive buddy used to say, “I’d rather die six months too soon than six months too late. I’ve watched too many friends die six months too late.”

[Coronavirus] Where are all the conspiracy theorists on this vulnerable topic?

 

 

 

[Flu] How to keep from  touching your face?  Your local dog store has the answer for you.

Tis the times plague when madmen lead the blind.  ~Shakespeare

 

 

[Flu Face Masks] Last week someone asked which face masks were the best for protection from the Coronavirus, according to the experts, none of them. But I did find a website that are selling anti-Coronavirus face mask, they also look really comfortable too.

The lady who owns Shelter Bay Marina in Cocoplum is selling her control this month for health reasons. My buddy in the  service department just quit unexpectedly and is a bummer. He took good care of me.
[New Key Deer Population Survey] Interesting fact from Save Our Key Deer: Starting 3/7/2020 the USFW service has announced a new Key Deer population survey being done by researchers from Texas A & M University. The survey will be done in part by using the standard “drive-by” sighting techniques (which are known to have very large error margins), but also a variation of the “Capture-Mark-Recapture” (CMR) survey method. We thought you may be interested what a CMR survey (which is currently the most popular technique to estimate wild animal populations) actually entails: The CMR method involves marking a number of individuals in a natural population, returning them to that population, and subsequently recapturing some of them as a basis for estimating the size of the population at the time of marking and release. It is based on the principle that if a proportion of the population was captured and marked in some way, returned to the original population and then, after complete mixing, a second sample was taken, the proportion of marked individuals in the second sample would be the same as was marked initially in the total population. Hence, the total population estimate (N) equals: # of animals initially captured and marked (M) times total # of animals caught the second time (T) divided by # of marked animals caught the second time (R). Here’s an example:

Suppose you took 200 mice out of a forest having an unknown number of mice, put leg bands on them, return them to the forest and let them mix thoroughly. If you then take 250 mice from the forest and find 50 of them to be have leg bands, then M = 200, T = 250, R = 50, and the unknown total number of mice (N) could be estimated as: N = M*T/R = (200)(250)/50 = 1000 mice.
The method’s accuracy success is greatly affected by several main assumptions: 1) the population must be “closed” – i.e. no new animals are entering the study area or leaving it, and there are no births or deaths. 2) The chances for each individual in the population to be caught are equal and constant for both the initial marking period and the recapture period. That is, marked animals must not be either easier to catch/mark initially, or more difficult to catch/mark the second time. One problem with this, especially when bait is used to lure the animals to the traps or mark sites (which is most common) deals with ‘trap shy’ or ‘trap happy’ individuals: some animals may be traumatized by the trapping/marking incident and/or location and, after being marked, will avoid being caught again. Conversely, some individuals will consider the food reward worthy enough to be caught again, and will thus bias the second sampling round toward marked animals. 3) Sufficient time must be allowed between captures to allow the marked animals to adequately disperse through the rest of the population. This presents a problem with animal populations like Key deer which have a large portion of semi-domesticated individuals that are more likely to be attracted to bait or be less weary of being caught and marked.
As usual, the Refuge provided next to no technical information about how the present deer survey will be conducted, but SOKD has been able to get some info from various sources in the past few days: First, no deer will be actually captured for the initial marking or the secondary survey. Instead, deer that are domicile enough to get near-enough will be marked with animal marker spray paint. Sighting of marked/unmarked deer in various locations will be used for the second survey. This variation of CMR is sometimes referred to as just “Mark-Resight” – although, as you can imagine, in most cases the animals don’t just walk up to you to be painted, so paintball guns are often used in more truly wild locations. SOKD does not know at this time the locations chosen for the CMS work, but they will play an extremely important role in view of the problems with Assumption 3 above: In areas where the deer are semi-domesticated they often travel together as a group, and will likely stay that way after being marked, and not disperse into the rest of the population as dictated by the methodology. A number of models have been developed to analyze CMR data results and adjust them for various possible biases, however the existing unique behavioral adaptations and geographical distribution trends of the Key deer (especially after Irma) likely offer very unique conditions that may significantly affect the survey accuracies and should be carefully considered in the data analyses.

 

If this Coronavirus was man made, what would stop them from making a special virus to wipe out certain groups of people, animals and bugs? It seems all they have to do is make the virus recognize specific DNA patterns.

[Herpes] The trampiest women I know seem to be the most terrified of getting genital herpes, yet they almost certainly are already carrying the virus. The CDC estimates about 1 in 3 people under 50 have been infected but 85% of them don’t show symptoms and think they are clear. The rate is even higher for people over 50, and the incidence of the cold sore herpes version HSV1 appearing genitally has dramatically increased. Guess why? Standard STD testing does not include herpes, and even a swab from an active sore may give a false negative result if it is not a fresh outbreak. So that clean STD report may be very misleading.
I know a woman who was treated for recurring yeast infections for 2 years before it was discovered to be herpes. I worked with a guy in his early thirties who got a very painful adult circumcision to reduce yeast infections only to discover it was herpes plaguing him–double bummer! I know a woman whose husband humped every tramp in town who does not think she is carrying because she got a clean STD test. It is not just your new flame whose history might worry you, it’s also every one of their past encounters’ history and the history of all of their partners’ partners. You are probably guessing that I’m a condom distributor trying to increase sales, but latex passes about 1/3 of viruses in contact, and most guys get their first exposure at the shaft base anyway. Yes, it’s a jungle out there. Since you are probably already infected or soon will be if you ever get lucky again, you might get some useful natural symptom remedy information from Dr. Axe. Link

 

 

[Campaign Contributions] It looks like most of the Democrats are dropping out of the 2020 race, but do they give back all the money they received? Where does the millions of dollars go?

[Flu Panic] Why is America so motivated to panic over anything? Could it be because they were driven by fake news? This year, so far, all the news has been about the Mexican beer virus. While 34 million Americans have gotten the common flu, 20,000 deaths of which 136 were children. Nothing has been reported about this, but the media has the public panicking, stocking up on survival supplies, clearing out the shelves in pharmacies, staying home from work, canceling vacations and doing anything that will save them from the killer Mexican beer virus. Remain calm. Life goes on. Don’t fall for the nonsense.

 

 

Researchers have found that the corona virus will not come near a Jersey girl. This means you can pick one of these Rubenesque ladies up in a local watering hole and be assured that you will not get this virus. Be aware that this does not mean she is germ free.

[Flu] Over 21 million people live in Florida.  It was reported over the weekend that 6 people in the state had the Corona flu virus.  Let the panic begin.

 

 

[New Store] There’s going to be a new home goods/beachy/nautical shop in Marathon across from Bealls soon.

[“Spying and your network router”] I noticed the internet light flashing when I’m not using the laptop too. So now whenever I am not using my computer, I unplug the Ethernet connection and unplug my PC from the electrical outlet. This also protects it from power surges not always due to bad weather, which is more prevalent in summer months. I also unplug my printer as I lost one from a surge. I do not use WiFi at all as password protection is not 100% safe. My neighbors’ WiFi got hacked by some guy sitting in a car outside their home and all their accounts were compromised. It pays to be paranoid these days with this stuff.
[Fluoridated Water] Multiple strong scientific studies, at exposures relevant to fluoridation, have been published after the NTP’s review. They link fluoridation in Canada to greatly lowered IQ in formula-fed infants (Till 2020) and 300% higher rates of ADHD (Ridell 2019); fluoridation in USA with sleep disturbances in adolescents (Malin 2020); and fluoride with lower IQ by thyroid disruption (Wang 2020).
If you continue drinking FKAA tap water, then I suppose you can always blame being stupid on drinking the water. Or the craft beers brewed with FKAA water. Especially if you have youngsters, get a reverse osmosis filtration system or a Berkey filter (at about twice the price but no installation at all.)
[Virus] What happens if a ship docks in Key West that has the virus? They can’t even fix a cold down here!

 

 

Research has determined that six out of seven dwarfs are not Happy.

Why is it that people always feel they have to answer rhetorical questions.
[Guns Helping God] For maximum effectiveness and minimal personal risk to the murderer, it only makes sense that they will choose defenseless victims. That explains why 94% of mass murderers since 1950 have chosen to commit their crimes in “gun-free zones”.
Do you really feel safer where a government regulation prevents a sane person with a weapon from protecting you from a madman?
In the recent live broadcast video that included the attempted mass murder in the West Freeway Church of Christ where the predator shot two of the congregation before he was shot dead by a parishioner with a handgun, it was all over in 6 seconds. An average 911 response time is 6 minutes, not counting the time it takes to call it in. How many innocent people might have been murdered while waiting for police to arrive and eventually stop the killing if Texas had not changed their laws to allowing guns in churches? If someone is intent on killing, a regulation will not stop them, but a defending bullet will. Only six seconds to a dead mass murderer. And 5 other parishioners were simultaneously looking for a clean pistol shot at the madman with his long hunting gun.

 

 

I was scanning an old photo album over the weekend and came across some old pix of Key West from the late 70’s – god was it a peaceful place with no tourists or TDC.

[Election Tempering] An article posted by the USA Today newspaper network reports that 4 Florida counties had their voting systems hacked during the 2016 elections, but the 4 confirmed cases have had no information on the details released- including identification of the counties involved, citing security concerns. The hackers already know where they were successful and how they did it, so what is the security concern? Assuming that the hacker door has been closed, just tell us where our votes did not count. As it stands now, probably residents of every county think theirs was a hacked county. It is almost a given in Monroe, where somebody probably sold an administrator password so they could buy more coke. No Trojan Horse in an email required.

 

[Emergency Toilet Paper] Some people down here are stocking up on toilet paper in case the coronavirus gets real nasty. Here is a helpful hint that lets you avoid toilet paper entirely. When you are finished doing your business, simply raise the seat and stick your butt down in the water. Flush once and then dry off. This will not only clean you but will help the environment by using less trees. Do it for the children.

[“Restaurants come and go”] That was a pretty complete list. I’ve been here for all of them. You list brought back memories of the good times I had in all of them. I think you only  forgot the Big Pine Inn.
[Free Evening Presentation] Wednesday, March 18, Doors open at 6:30, talk starts at 7:00 pm.  Location: Refuge Nature Center at 30587 Overseas Hwy, Big Pine Key. Salinization, tree mortality, and ecosystem recovery in the National Key Deer Refuge following Hurricane Irma in 2017- by Dr. Danielle Ogurcak.

Hurricanes are a frequent disturbance in the western Atlantic, bringing both strong winds and storm surge impacts that can have long-lasting effects on coastal forests and freshwater resources. These impacts can be substantial on low-lying oceanic islands where lower density freshwater exists as a floating lens on underlying salt water. In the lower Florida Keys, plants and wildlife rely on a freshwater lens recharged by precipitation to meet their freshwater requirements. The interaction of hurricanes with rising seas can lead to large changes in these ecosystems and the freshwater resource they rely on.

Dr. Ogurcak will discuss the impacts of storm surge and wind damage from Hurricane Irma (2017) to the freshwater resources and pine forest on Big Pine Key. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 115 knots and storm surge water levels reached 2.4 m above Mean Higher High Water, flooding the low-elevation islands of the lower Keys with saltwater. This was the third storm surge event in 20 years, beginning with George in 1998, followed by Wilma in 2004.

 

 

[Slow Tourists] I often wish I could plow right over the slowbirds who stop in the middle of the road because they saw a deer.

[Stock Market] How I hate the stock market and the people who do nothing but make their fortunes on my hard work.

 

[Feeding Corn to Deer] Everywhere else outside the Keys feeds their dear cracked corn, why can’t we? I have a friend on Little Torch Key who has been feeding corn to his heard for 15 years and they are thriving. I would like the Save Our Key Deer folks to please explain why his deer are so healthy after 15 years’ diet of corn. The original deer died of old age, but their offspring and their offspring’s offspring have thrived. I have another friend on Big Pine Key who has been feeding corn to generations of Key deer and they all look very healthy. It’s hard to believe science when years of practical observation show different results.

(Ed: Friday I posted quotes from President Trump that were lies and misdirection about the coronavirus. They were his quotes not mine. They weren’t edited, they were His quotes that have all been verified as His quotes. Not mine. Since that post I’ve been accused of being a “libertard” “liar’ “jew” “commie” “liberal” “TDS” -whatever that is. And other insults, but no one denied His quotes. His apostles remind me of the line from the movie A Few Good Men, “You can’t handle the truth!” I will not accept Him playing politics with my health. It seems His followers don’t mind if he does and try to vilify anyone who speaks the truth about what he says.)
[Tourism] Wouldn’t it be nice if all the travel industry and all the stinking tourist industries shut down forever? Just think how nice and clean and quiet and paradisiac places would be and get back to their real worlds? This rock could do with a good culling I think–about 90% gone! A world full of natives would work well. Even better, a world full of naked chicks and run by the Amish! Ha

 

 

They should make a collapsible car to fit into narrow spaces.

The Peregrine, read by David Attenborough. An introduction to the Peregrine’s hunting life. Audio