Since 2002. Published Wednesdays and Saturdays
Submit anything of a positive nature, unless it’s breakthrough stuff to island@bigpinekey.com
(Ed: Although all advertisers’ contracts have expired I’m still going to display their ads for free until they get used to the new CT. Hopefully they will all want to keep advertising.)
(Click here)
| [Windows 10] I was leery of upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 Pro because some of my programs are old and I feared they wouldn’t work. I was wrong. The upgrade installation was the easiest I’ve ever experienced. All my old programs worked even Photoshop 10 and Word 2003. At the end of it Microsoft asks if it was easy. Yes. And if there were any improvements I might suggest. No. That’s right — no — there wasn’t a thing I could think of to improve the new, free Windows 10. I know that’s unbelievable, but it’s true. Don’t hesitate, install it now! |
 [Health Food] For every 1300 calorie Blizzard sold, Dairy Queen is going do donate something to children ‘s hospitals. Is this their way of assuaging guilt for the crap that puts these obese kids in hospitals in the first place? |
| [Surprise] A St. Pete Polls survey released on Wednesday shows the New York businessman with 26 percent support, with Jeb Bush in second place with 20 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is in third place with 12 percent, and Marco Rubio is in fourth place with 10 percent. He’s followed by Dr. Ben Carson at 5 percent, Ted Cruz and John Kasich at 4 percent, and Rand Paul at 3. |
 Who knew? PDF becomes worlds 4th most popular religion. |
| Deer Ed, If your new policy is based on positive only, why are you posting Sloan? |
 [“Leashes”] Weather the leash law is 4 or 6 feet doesn’t matter to me, I would like to know where I can find a legal copy of that county law. |
| How Tupperware’s inventor left a legacy that’s anything but airtight. Link |
 I’ve told everyone who I thought might listen that vitamin B-12 supplements have kept my fingers from crimping up (“trigger finger”), for the past 20 years. Some of my best friends will not try B-12, as their doctors will not recommend it. Below is a Harvard health column reporting on the importance of B-12. LinkVitamin B-12 deficiency can be fatal. This video contains discussions of doctors, and their patients, one of whom is a doctor, who would not believe this could be his problem. Treatment for an entire year is about $36.00. Video |
| [Gardening In The Keys] A Cudjoe Key man accused of growing more than 130 marijuana plants in trailers on Big Pine Key was sentenced to 60 days in jail and a year of house arrest that will include drug court followed by four years probation. Robert Blake, 51, was growing 132 plants in two separate trailers as part of a large grow operation, according to sheriff’s office reports. |
Caffeine takes about 45 minutes to achieve maximum effect. |
| [The Real Lobster Season] Divers and commercial fishermen will take to the waters Aug. 6 for the start of regular spiny lobster season. Citing preliminary surveys of known lobster congregations, commercial fishermen are cautiously optimistic about the season, they said. “It doesn’t look quite as good as last year.” |
 [Currents] It was interesting to read the account of the surviving diver in the recent dive fatality involving two divers becoming separated from their boat due to currents. My thought, as I read, was “they did everything right”. However, one additional small item would might very well have saved a life: a surface signaling buoy or “safety sausage.” Rolled up and clipped to the diver’s BC, it is very easy to carry (no drag or extra weight.) If the diver surfaces away from the boat, it is easily deployed by inflating it. Inflated, it is visible for a mile or more, even in 3-4 foot seas. Much better than a whistle (which is better than nothing, but difficult to hear if down wind or if the engine is running.) The sausage can even be lighted by a dive light so it can be seen in the dark. My condolences to the family and friends of the deceased diver. Please divers, consider buying and carrying a safety sausage on every dive. It’s the best $15 investment you hope you never need to use. |
| Ever wonder where the phrase came from? “When the shit hits the fan“. Video |
Missouri man shoots 14-foot python, larger 18-footer captured in Florida. Link |
| [Bad Drivers] I want to say that I have never seen so many bad drivers down here in the Keys as I have this year. Lobster week I went to the supermarket. I have a handicap sticker and was finished getting my groceries in the car. I had my lights on and my motor running and as I started to back up a tourist pulled behind me and knowingly blocked me in as they unloaded their basket of groceries that the people with them had rolled out of the store. I could not believe this rudeness. I held my tongue and they mumbled, “thanks a lot” when they were ready to drive on. |
 |
| [“KW Terrorist”] Maybe I’m not the only one who’s really glad the FBI has been flying around Key West over the past few months. Score one for the good guys to get that nut off the streets. |
[“Leash law”] To the person posting that Monroe county requires all pet owners have a 4′ leash: Wow do you sound mean? You need a hug. |
| [“Pass the buck“] The Buck knife company started in 1902 – hardly the “early west”. What was ‘passed’ was any old buck antler knife. |
I have been feeding a damaged pelican at Munson Island, his pouch has been slit. If you see someone, anyone mistreating these birds please call 911 & report it. This is my 2nd mutilated bird in that area. Munson is next to Little Palm. I was able to catch the first bird and take it to Maya the bird lady on Big Pine Key. It lived & was released back into the wild. |
| I was counting the American Presidents I have lived through, A bunch. It started with Eisenhower in the 50’s. With this insight I have come to the this. American would do much better if it had a business man or woman at the helm that a life long politician. |
 |
| When I asked why the FKAA won’t put the grinder pumps in the street where they put the rest of their equipment, I was advised that the nuevo gangsters of three don’t want their grinder pumps in the streets. Since when does the county have the authority to dictate what happens to private roads? They don’t own them, they won’t do maintenance on them, they won’t tree trim along them, they won’t supply gravel to fill in the potholes, they have been excluded from them when the subdivider recorded his plat. The subdivider gave permission to use the road to police, fire, utilities, and other governmental agencies and services (garbage). After hurricane Georges the FKAA didn’t try and extort an easement to put their equipment on my property, just one day the inhouse construction crew showed up and started digging and installing their equipment in the road including the meter box. Then while vacationing in Sevilla those sneaky bastards, now the running dog lackeys of the nuevo gangsters of three, came in and totally f**ked up my private road, dumping all kinds of crappy p-rock over the surface making it hazardous to ride my motorcycle on. Now I am being told by the that I have to give up my property because they don’t want their grinder pump in my private road, but it has to be on my private land. Is this America or someplace like Cuba where private citizens have no rights. Who does this nuevo gangsters of three think they are. Castro, Putin, Obama? Did we vote to give them Executive Order privileges? Common folks, wake up before it’s too late. If they can do it to me you might be next. |
Yum! Bacon seeds. |
| 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic trailer. 500 people dancing in the sky. Video |
 [Dump] Getting to Know the Dragon – It was interesting to learn the Cudjoe Key Landfill Site (Facility ID 79485) is identified in the EPA’s National List of Asbestos Landfills (page 33) as an asbestos landfill. Reviewing the Cudjoe groundwater sampling data found at the FDEP’s Oculus site, going back to 1977 the following hazardous materials and carcinogens are found in the groundwater at the landfill:
Arsenic, Chloride, Copper, Cyanide, Iron, Fluoride, Magnesium, Nitrate, Phenols, Sulfate, Dissolved Solids, Zinc, Hexane, Barium, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Selenium, Silver, Ammonia, Phosphate, Titanium, Aluminum, Sodium, Mercury In a May 24, 1989 letter regarding landfill groundwater sampling, the letter stated “ … repeated violations of the MCL standards for the past 15 months in both lead and mercury concentrations have exceeded maximum threshold values.” Other groundwater samples identified high levels of cadmium. In another groundwater sampling report, May 1989, the report states “The concentrations for lead, mercury and nickel exceeded the MCL limits. In 1989 Monroe County was cited for 42 violations of air and solid waste permit conditions for the Cudjoe Landfill. Among the violations included improperly disposing of asbestos, failing to control fugitive dust, excessive emissions and improper operations of incinerator. Monroe County refused to correct the violations from February 1983 through March of 1988 despite receiving 14 warning letters for permit violations. As a result, legal action was taken against Monroe County by the state of Florida, A civil penalty (Consent Order 88-0554) was levied against Monroe County. The civil penalty, in the amount of $106,540.00, was paid by Monroe County on November 2, 1989. An Interoffice Memo from Philip Edwards, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of Environmental Regulation to Dale Twachtmann, Secretary of Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, dated 9/17/1988, Mr. Edwards stated ““Management (Monroe County) seems to have decided that their interpretation of the rules and permit conditions is the correct one.” |
| Kurt Vonnegut on the shapes of stories. Video |
1934 Packard Myth |
| [Crook] Marathon estate lawyer Richard Warner is accused of operating an illegal embezzlement scheme that siphoned money from rightful heirs, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit claims Warner, as well as his wife Nancy Warner and the other co-defendants — Pamela Steadman, a notary and legal secretary for Warner, Joy Tatgenhorst, who Warner described as a friend of Buehler, Dr. Emma Stoll and the non-profit Forgotten Felines operated by the Warners — operated the alleged scheme to defraud in collusion. The suit further alleges Steadman and Tatgenhorst unlawfully notarize estate documents and that the Forgotten Felines non-profit receives illegally gained gifts or money from “victim-clients of the enterprise.” |
That American spirit! |
| [Summertime Blues] It’s that time of Summer when it’s 90+/90+ here in Jersey and of course,the A/C compressor in my car kicked the rods out. No problem,just throw some money at it and we’re back in business, right? Wrong! The shop can’t even take it in until Tuesday and it looks like a $700 hit. Ouch! So we might as well kick back with a cold one and have a couple of laughs. |
Iguana head. |
| My wife and kids wanted to see The Bubble House so we drove into Cudjoe Gardens and found it at the end of the street. Are you kidding me? How the hell did they allow a monstrously like that in a conservative development like Cudjoe Gardens? |
Hotel room rates in the Florida Keys have increased every month for the past 64 months. That’s more than five years of constantly increasing hotel costs. 47 percent of Keys visitors said yes, their price of their accommodations was reasonable. |
| Holding the Winter Olympics in Beijing probably makes the most sense since they already have all of our credit card information. |
 [Shopping Carts And Paint Jobs] In NJ parking lots are tight and some uncaring people drive a shopping cart between tightly parked cars and scratch the hell out expensive paint jobs. They don’t care either. One guy got even when he saw who ruined his brand new car. He followed the culprit to the next stop. Let that person enter the store then gathered a bunch of shopping carts and put them on the roof, hood, trunk and all around the car, making sure her rubbed them in to get effect. Payback is a bitch in NJ! |
| Florida Muslim who plotted WMD beach plot had been cleared for Key West airport job with direct access to secure areas. Link |
| The link I gave you for Lt. Clay Higgins Crimestoppers is broken. Here it is fixed: Link |
 [Who?] If you told a wide-eyed mod from 1965 that not only would the Who still be together 50 years later, they’d be headlining something called a festival (for the second time, no less), you would get quite the wide-eyed snort in response. That’s because bands like The Who weren’t built with longevity in mind: too snotty, too loud, too violent, too full of explosive ideas.
Their early run of singles – including rock anthems My Generation, Substitute and I Can See For Miles – were experimental blasts of youthful spite, their latter concept albums – such as Tommy and Quadrophenia – stretched the format of rock music and demanded that it be treated as serious art. And despite the body blows of losing key members John Entwistle and Keith Moon, the band, now resting on the relationship between Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, remains a creative concern. And they’re still snotty, loud and violent too. Video |
| I’m finally realizing that “Hotel California” is about Facebook. “You can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave…” Video |
| In life, choosing the right “road” is more often than not, a matter of picking the path of least resistance. But, there are times when choice is a matter of conscience. When that choice scores near the top of your personal moral barometer, it is considered “high”. All other choices are tempered by indulgenge, denial, or lack of courage — those are the low roads. I’ve taken more of those than the former. |
 |
| [Audio book] A young girl undertakes an unthinkable quest to avenge her father’s death and bring the killer to justice. Read by Nancy Crane. Audio |
 [Crosswalks] Dear Monroe County Sheriff; I am getting sick and tired of people walking right out in from on my vehicle in cross walks and at intersections and making me stop for their dumb assess. Florida Right of Way law lets vehicles have the ROW, not the pedestrian. Vehicles pollute with stopping and starting for idiots who think they are impervious to 4000+ pounds of moving metal. Please get on the TV and Radio and make them listen. Tell them to look both ways and wait for the traffic to pass. California has the Pedestrian Right of Way and their pollution and dangers anywhere a dimwit steps off a curb, makes that state a disaster. Sneakers, shoes, sandals and feet do not pollute. |
| I knew it! Research uncovers creative benefits — yes, benefits — in using sarcasm when people trust each other. Link |
[Jellyfish] Don’t take the poster’s advise if you are stung by a jellyfish. Urine can, in most cases, make the pain worse. This is one of those myths that won’t go away. Don’t takes my word for it, a few seconds on the Internet will confirm this. |
| Sloan, The Readers Digest version: Went to church to see some guy who wasn’t there. Saw kid get disciplined by her mother, didn’t like it. Left him a message then went on the CT to spread rumor about pedophiles and used way too many commas. |
 [Treasure] The Schmitts of Sanford, Fla., talk about their $1 million sunken treasure find of the 1715 Fleet. Video posted July 28, 2015, by Jennifer Sangalang, Florida Today. Video |
| [Doubting Thomas] I have heard it said that, “If you put a glass full of red molecules in the ocean at any point – in time you could find at least one red molecule in any of the seven seas” Maybe that is true. What isn’t true is that Big Sugar is polluting the reef in front of the Keys. That phosphates coming down from way up there and ending up polluting a reef way down here – is scientifically impossible and every scientist that is not on the government tit – and some that are will tell you that it is impossible. |
| Submit anything of a positive nature, unless it’s breakthrough stuff to island@bigpinekey.com |