BigPineKey.com

[Sharks] After seeing the video of the young men catching and releasing the large hammer head shark I felt compelled to write about a great loss in our little bay between Big Pine and Little Torch Key. For several years we have had the great joy of being able to interact with several very big bull sharks. They would come by our dock as we returned from fishing trips to enjoy the scraps from the filleted fish. They were tame enough to take the fish from my hand. The folks from the new restaurant on the bay here would send their patrons out to enjoy seeing these magnificent animals. Retired neighbors would gather on their dock to feed and enjoy the fish when they cleaned their fish too.

Unfortunately a group of young men who heard about the great fish living in our waters took it upon themselves to destroy these great animals. Catching them and dispatching them with explosive power heads, all to bring them home for a photo op with the dead sharks then throw them away. I am still sick to my stomach just thinking of the loss. I hope their moment of glory was worth the destruction of these beloved creatures.

[Old Seven Mile Bridge] The deal has apparently been approved to rehab and maintain the Old Seven Mile Bridge for the next thirty years.  The price tag? — $77.71 million dollars — a number that is basically pretty meaningless to the average person.  To give it some perspective, let’s break it down in a way we can all understand.

$77.71 million for thirty years works out to $2,590,333.33 per year.  Assuming that 40,000 people a year partake of the bridge (something over 100 per day every day, 365 days a year), that works out to $64.76 per person.  That’s taxpayer money people — your money. Our illustrious county manager, Roman “iPhone” Gestasi, puts the number at more than 100,000 users a years, but that seems totally unrealistic to me.  Even using that inflated figure, though, it costs you, the taxpayer more than $25 per person!

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love the old bridge and think it would be most unfortunate for it to be closed down, But let’s face it.  It’s time to turn Mother’s picture to the wall and go ahead and do it.  I for one am not willing to take that much money out of my pocket every time someone wants to take a stroll on the old bridge. Are we crazy or what?

[Vacation Rental Crooks] This is happening with my friend’s vacation rental in the Keys. A scammer has copied their pictures and description of their home than posted them on Craigslist. Please beware. It was such a shock when they found out.

When I rent a vacation home I use sites the owners have paid to be on. I also insist on speaking directly with the home owner or realtor representing the property. Never wire money to some idiot scammer. If it sounds to good to be true, run the other way.

My friends notified Craigslist and others, but this type of scam is growing.

[Lost Cat] Calico mixed cat named “Spell”. Was wearing a black break-away collar with moons. Missing from Journey’s End subdivision area, down Ships Way. She is microchipped. Reward offered. Please call Classified Ads > Lost and Found

Happy Wednesday from Springer’s Bar & Grill!

Don’t miss Comfort Food Day. Today’s Special is homemade Seafood Shepherds Pie served with a side salad. This is our version of a traditional Irish dish with an Island Twist … Shrimp, Crab Meat and lots of Veggies. Simply delicious.

[Junk Science] There is a troubling new trend in which junk science is becom­ing harder to distinguish from rigorous research. It is an example of activists using the trappings of science to influ­ence public opinion and policy. Today there are cottage industries that produce and disseminate skewed research in publications that masquerade as legitimate science journals. Celebrities and mainstream media outlets then tout the results, so that even retracted or clearly biased research can reach larger audiences than ever before. These studies cause real harm—for instance, by denounc­ing lifesaving vaccines and vilifying foods that could ease famine in developing countries.

In 2013 scientist-turned-journalist John Bohannon con­ducted a sting operation to determine Just how easy It is to publish bogus research in open-access journals. Under a false name, he wrote a flawed paper about a fake drug and sent It to 304 open-access journals. Of the 255 journals that responded. 98 rejected the article and 157 accepted it

What if your ideology is simply not supported by the evidence?” he says. “You can change your mind or you can hijack the system.”

They’re drawing conclusions that support thier bias. Have you ever heard of the Texas sharpshooter? It’s where a guy goes out in the field, shoots bullet holes in a barn, and then paints the target around the bullet holes. 

Stop grinder pumps with mass civil disobedience. Don’t allow anyone on your property that you don’t want. It is your right. Together we stand divided we fall. Send the aqueduct forms back to them blank or throw them in the garbage. They will have to listen then.

[Mystery Project Approved] Florida will award nearly $21 million to a mystery eco­nomic development project planned at the Melbourne International Airport. A state legislative panel Tuesday approved a request by Gov. Rick Scott to spend the money for “Project Magellan.” The approval of the project marks one of the largest single economic development proj­ects approved during Scott’s tenure as governor.

One group critical of the state’s economic development efforts said the state should at least identify the company before approving such a large amount of money. Duh!

[Spies like US] Sorry Jimmy Carter, the government is monitoring your snail mail too, and for good reason. Link

[Grinder Pumps] The Observer (March 2014, Vol. 12, No. 1) newspaper’s front-page article on ongoing grinder pump woes in High Springs, FL. was yet another wake-up call for Keys homeowners slated for grinder pumps: “The grinder pumps that were installed system-wide during the construction of Phases 1 to 3 are the cause of continued problems and costs according to Booth. They are failure prone and of the approximately 900 pumps in the system, 425 have failed from 2013 to date.”

“It is now unclear why a system using the pumps was originally recommended and designed. Some more recent housing developments in the city use a less expensive gravity system. Booth says all future development will use a gravity rather than the grinder pump system.” “We’re doing what we can to get through this year, but next year is going to be a problem,” he said.’

Any similarities between the above and what has (or will be) transpiring in the FL Keys is purely coincidental?

Thanks to all of our friends who shopped at the flea market. See you this weekend.

[Smart Cookie] Girl Scout sets up shop outside marijuana dispensary. Video

Another hammerhead shark fishing video, this time from a kayak! Video 

[Sexual Misconduct]The secretary of the Army said he will have the final say on whether a disgraced brigadier general at the center of a sexual misconduct case retires at a lower rank with sharply reduced retirement pay.

Facing outraged House Democrats, John McHugh said the case of Brig. Gen. Jeffley A. Sinclair remains open a week after he was spared prison and sentenced to a reprimand and a $20,000 fine. The military recently stressed that they were going to get tough on sexual misconduct cases, but, evidently, not in General Sinclair’s case. He is too high up in the chain of command.

[Service] I became confused when I heard the word ‘service’ used with these agencies:
Banking service
Postal service
Telephone service
Pay TV service
State & public service
Customer service
Government service

This is not what I thought service meant. Then I visited my uncle, he’s a farmer, and he hired a bull to service his cows. Suddenly, wow, it all came clear.  Now I understand what all those agencies are doing to us!

I remember seeing this when I was a kid, Johnny Carson as Ronald Reagan. Video

Some members of the CT community are convinced that the death penalty is an appropriate sentence for certain crimes. Some are equally convinced that the death penalty should be abolished. The posting concerning the execution of Robert Lavern Henry provided all who read it with an accurate recitation of the mechanics of the execution process.

Each camp will view the events in a different light. Those who support the death penalty will come away with the knowledge that the penalty is administered with strict adherence to protocol and that the prisoner is treated with dignity and care up until the moment that the deadly chemicals are introduced into his body.  They will see that the prisoner feels no pain.

Those who abhor the death penalty will see the entire process as being barbaric and inhumane.

You should be aware that state law requires that witnesses view the process. Those witnesses may include family members of victims, and criminal justice employees, the lawyers involved in the case, the family of the prisoner, the prisoners spiritual advisor, and other persons designated by the Governor’s office.  It also provides that the press shall be permitted to view the process.

At least one Pollyannaish poster commented that he/she wanted to read only “happy” things and that my attendance to the execution was a “sick obsession.” I wonder if that poster is even aware of the ghastly events that take place daily in our world. Ghastly human behavior has been with us as long as there have been humans. The death penalty is nothing more than an attempt to minimize that type of behavior so as to make society safer. I suggest that the poster should read only Archie comic books, and watch only game shows on TV so as to always “feel good” and be “happy”. Burying your head in the sand does not make reality go away, nor does covering your ears and singing “la la la la…”  

I worked long and hard of the investigation of the viciously brutal murders of Janet and Phyllis, I participated in the prosecution of Henry. It was the most brutal case I was ever involved in.  Henry is gone. Closure. I suggest that anyone who is discomforted by my musings, simply not read them.

Part 2) More and more people now believe that Mr. Obama is the most feckless president since Carter. They’re right. Carter gave away the Panama Cana, and now Obama is dead set on giving away any US oversight of the internet. The internet was an American development, it was a logical extension of a US military communications web, and since 1998 the management of domain names, etc., has been by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) under contract to the US Commerce Department.

Obama is determined that in the fall of 2015, when the U.S. Department of Commerce’s contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) expires, all remaining American authority over World Wide Web addresses and domain names will cease.  This will herald an end to U.S. influence over this world-changing American innovation.

The only possible American governmental control over ICANN in a little over a year and a half will be the fact that the non-profit is physically located in California, and thus subject to tax rules and other laws. Even though ICANN is now located in California, it is likely that it soon will become an adjunct of the United Nations. Taxing of the internet and censorship are certainly soon to follow.

The Obama Administration is making this radical move so as to try to appease critics of NSA spying and ease those with fears that the Obama Administration cannot be trusted to not abuse any authority it has over the Internet. Most of the world does not now trust us, and they have good reason. Obama has repeatedly proven that he is not a man of his word.

Freeing ICANN from U.S. control will ultimately result in less liberty, not more.

Like the Declaration of Independence, birthed in America and which acknowledged the God-given rights that every human deserves, the World Wide Web is a 21st century declaration of the importance of freedom and access to information — regardless of where people reside.

Permitting the people who oppose this freedom to gain the ability to silence free and unfettered discourse and the quest for knowledge on the internet is deplorable. Let’s hope that Congress can prevent Obama from bastardizing the web.