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 [Paid Votes] A campaign finance report entered this week reveals that Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez accepted $11,000 in contributions from Pier B Cruiseport operator Mark Walsh, his family members, and his partners in Pier B and other business ventures. The large sum accounts for 80% of Henriquez’s total fundraising for the P1 reporting period.The recent funds are in addition to $6,000 the mayor accepted in the previous Q2 reporting period from Pier B’s attorney Bart Smith, his law firm, and his other business ventures. All together, the contributions from Walsh, Smith, and their partners make up 14% of Mayor Henriquez’s fundraising total. Mayor Henriquez has been a steady supporter of Walsh and Smith’s successful efforts to halt testing for pollution around large cruise ships. |
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| [Friday Joke] Me: What’s the wifi password? Bartender: You need to buy a drink first. Me: Well, okay, I’ll have a coke. Bartender: Is Pepsi okay? Me: Sure. How much is that? Bartender: $3. Me: There you go. So, what’s the wifi password? Bartender: ‘youneedtobuyadrinkfirst” – No spaces, all lowercase. |
 [Re-keying Door Lock] Kwikset door locksets can easily be re-keyed ending the expense and hassle of having a locksmith do it. It took me just 5-minutes to do. |
| The belief that we are living in an alternate reality is not just the idea portrayed in the Matrix. Simulation of reality has been around for centuries and is a popular theme in fiction. Hindu: Maya, Plato: the cave. Wachowskis: the Matrix. Book: A Voice In The Dark. |
 [Comcast Sux] This is my second call to Comcast (the bastards) to get my promised credit. My modem died and I was without service for 3 weeks and 1 day. The first phone guy said the $78.05 credit would appear on my next bill. It didn’t. I called again the next month when I received the unchanged bill. Conveniently, there was no record of my conversation and his promise to credit my account. On this call, the agent would only give me $60. I raised a fuss and the agent miraculouusly found where they promised me a credit. I asked to cancel my service (I hate Comcast) and was connected to the Retention Dept who immediately approved the issuance of two separate credits: $60 and $18.05 and a long explanation why 2 credits. He also lowered my bill by $10 a month and told me never to call the 800 number with a problem, but to ask for the Retention Dept where they will always satisfy you..
I was still pissed that I had to waste an hour and a half arguing for something that I had no control over. It was their equipment and lack of support that caused the problem, not me (how many times can I restart the modem?) I told the guy that I’ve spent over $15,000 with Comcast over the years and there should be no reason that I have to spend so much time arguing with them over $78.05. I’ll see what happens next month with my bill, if they credit me the $78.05. |
 Harley riders as they see themselves vs reality. When you see someone on a Harley he is probably old and fat with a homely, overweight woman on the back and trying to relive his ‘glory days’. In his mind he’s Marlon Brando in the Wild One and the head of a motorcycle gang and to be feared, but in reality he’s old and fat and living in the past. |
| Deepfake detection has lost the race. Well, this is disturbing. UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid, one of the founding figures of deepfake-detection research and the most-cited name in the field, told the New York Times on June 14, 2026 that the detection-vs-generation race is over. Generative tools have crossed a threshold where detection lags by 6 to 12 months. Link |
 [Book Club] The group’s book for July is Cemetery Of Untold Stories. Full Menu > Book Club |
| David Clayton-Thomas, lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears, dies aged 84. The Canadian musician, who achieved major hits such as Spinning Wheel and You’ve Made Me So Very Happy, died peacefully at a Toronto hospital. You’ve Made Me So Very Happy |
 Summer in the Keys. |
| Whitney Houston estate denies Oprah’s ‘inaccurate and unfair’ claim singer fell off stage due to drug use. Late singer ‘absolutely not high’ when she fell on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009, says estate after Winfrey claimed she had relapsed. Link |
 [Torture] A teenage girl was bound and locked in a dryer by a man who had been sexually abusing her for two years. The teen had known Veit for two years, having met him through an online dating site called Seeking. Deputies went to the Key Largo home of Christopher Veit, 53, and asked him about the girl. They found her in the clothes dryer. Link |
| [Library of Herculaneum] We read an entire scroll — without ever opening it. 1667, sealed since the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been virtually unwrapped and read from beginning to end. Link |
 [Mozart’s Notebook Found] The notebook was confiscated during the French Revolution and has now been found in Paris. 22-year-old Mozart’s handwritten notebook unearthed in ‘major discovery. Consisting of 44 pages, the notebook was kept by the young composer between May and July 1778, while he was staying in Paris, employed as a music tutor for Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnieres de Guines. |
| [Privacy] Imagine your favorite team just scored an incredible, last-second goal at the World Cup. So you log online to celebrate with other fans. But, using data it’s already collected on you, the social media platform you like to post on wrongly guesses that you’re under 16 so it forces you to go to a third-party verification app and provide images of your face or your government-issued ID. You don’t really know much about the verification app, what country it’s based out of, what happens with your information, and whether you’re protected from hackers or data breaches. You’re not happy about it, but you hand over a photo of your passport and hope it doesn’t come back to haunt you. Link |
 [Doorman Fallacy ] In his 2019 book Alchemy, Sutherland coined the term “doorman fallacy”. The doorman fallacy refers to the error of reducing a person’s job to its most basic function and replacing it with a cost-effective automation while disregarding the broader, not directly visible, value they provide.
The example provided in the book is about a hotel that decides to replace its doorman. One may consider their singular function to be opening and closing the door which is easily replaceable by an automated door. This overlooks the doorman’s indirect functions, such as guest-recognition, security and status signaling. Not replacing the doorman might end up allowing the hotel to charge more, meaning the potential cost-saving measure might end up costing the hotel more than it saves. Link |
 Computer Club free tech help this Saturday at 10:30 in the Community Center across from the library. (Bring your passwords and device) Full Menu > Computer Club |
| Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads as memory costs skyrocket. The move does not affect Apple’s main cash cow, the iPhone. But it would take starting price of the Neo – its lowest priced laptop aimed at winning marketshare from affordable Windows and Chromebook laptops – from $599 to $699 just months after launch. Link |
 [Triangle Factory Fire] Near closing time on March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Factory in New York City. Within 18 minutes, 146 people were dead as a result. of the fire. Link |
| [Welfare] Black people are 13% of the population. They pay 6% of taxes but collect 32% of welfare. We’ve been paying reparations already, its time to cut it off. |
 [The Hidden Costs Of Restaurant Dishes] It’s easy to assume vegetable dishes should be cheaper than meat,” says chef-patron Chantelle Nicholson. “Vegetables usually are, but vegetable dishes are more labour-intensive. It’s simple to slap a steak on the grill, but you can’t just plate up a carrot. Link |
| [Alternative Truths] Medical students are using a popular research tool to pump out misleading studies. Critics say TriNetX’s easy analyses of electronic medical records fuel quick-and-dirty publications from inexperienced authors. Link |
 [Data Centers] It’s time for everyone to realize that the fight against data centers has nothing to do with data centers. They have become a proxy for the hate towards AI and the concentration and accumulation of wealth it’s creating. Link |
| [Friday Joke] For those of you who could care less about the FIFA World Cup, here’s some news that might be of interest. A Brooklyn escort service is charging World Cup soccer players up to $10,000 an hour. Why so steep a price? Because it takes them two hours to score. That’s what happens when you can’t use your hands. |
| The current Coconut Telegraph was published on 6/26/26 at 8:52 am. |
 [Free Kid’s Pool] Amazon sent 2 and I can’t return the 2d one because they said I didn’t order it. So free kids pool. Still in box. Pick up on Big Pine Key b33043@outlook.comPeteast Foldable Dog Pool with Sturdy Round Design, Extra Large Portable Pet Bathtub, Durable 64″ Diameter Portable Design for Backyard & Indoor Use (Includes 2 Flying Disks) $54.99. |
| Snapshots taken from Big Pine Key looking North between Annette Key and Mayo Key every Friday evening since 2023. You may hover to view a photo, see the date of the photo, or use the left or right arrows on the images. |
