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Celebrating Big Pine Key’s Garbage Pick Up Days:
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 [Zoot Suits, Serials, and Heart Attack] When I was about 6 or 7 my father pointed out the last of the Zoot Suiters hanging out in front of the Castle Theater. They were tough guys with pegged pants, wide brimmed hats and extra-long suit jackets and everything very colorful. My father didn’t like them; the only reason he gave was that with their pegged cuffed pants they couldn’t put their pants on over their shoes.
The Castle theater was where we usually went to the Saturday matinees for ten cents. We’d watch the ‘cliff hangers’ of Tarzan, Sky King, Captain Midnight and other popular serials. We lived on a dead end street downtown and one time my friend came to me and said a man had a heart attack in front of the theater, so we hurried down the street to see if any blood was still there. We thought a heart attack was a knife in a bloody heart. That was years ago when small children could roam free. We did find an oil stain in the street and that was good enough for a child’s gruesome imagination |
| George Thorogood on Bad to the Bone] There was a lot of fighting and drinking at our shows. We played for bikers, for Hell’s Angels. We would break records for beer sales everywhere we played. Video |
 [Enroll In Vote By Mail] Reason #1 mail-in ballots win elections! A modest advantage in mailed-in ballots helped Emily Gregory win her historic HD87 special election. Reason #2 save time and money. No waiting in line. Drop off your ballot at any early voting location, or you can still vote in person if you prefer.Reason #3 convenient – quick & easy to enroll & vote click here to request your vote-by-mail ballot from the Monroe County Supervisor Of Elections. Sign up in two minutes! Reason #4 know your ballot is counted. Track the progress of your ballot from enrollment to when it is counted. Reason #5 insurance. Nothing can stop you from voting. The weather, job obligations, illnesses – nothing will stand in the way of your vote being counted when you mail in your ballot. Reason #6 activate your voting status. If your status is currently inactive, you are at risk of being removed from the voter roll. Vote-by-Mail enrollment will reactivate you. |
| [Diver Down] A North Carolina man died at a Florida Keys hospital after he was found unconscious while snorkeling near Key West Sunday afternoon. Benjamin Lee Millspaw, 56, was swimming off Cottrell Key, a mangrove island about nine miles northwest of Key West, around noon, and he was pulled from the water. He was with a commercial snorkeling company. |
 I hope this message finds you well. My partner and I are planning our wedding and we are looking for a venue and wedding planner for our wedding this year, and we are hoping to get a quote from you and some additional details if possible. Could you please provide us with the following information below that you offer. (Editor: Deer Idiot, we are a general interest website not wedding planners.) |
| [Guns] I have spent a lot of time and trouble assembling my grocery shopping ensemble so I would fit in with all the open-carry customers at Publix. Now the grocery chain has changed its mind and has posted notices that it would “kindly” prefer customers not show up dressed for gunfights. All this, after I special-ordered Publix-green Jimmy Choos with matching holster and ammo belt. Now what am I supposed to do? |
 Join the Florida Keys Southernmost Car Club on Sunday, May 17th from 12PM–3PM for an afternoon of classic cars, custom rides, waterfront views, and good times at Tonio’s Seafood Shack & Tiki Bar! Bring out your hot rods, muscle cars, classics, trucks, motorcycles, Jeeps, and custom builds for one of the best car gatherings in the Florida Keys. Enjoy amazing food, tiki bar drinks, music, raffles, and a laid-back island atmosphere right on the waterfront. |
| I am against influencers. I just am. I am not influenced by these charming no-nothings. |
 The Milky Way photographer of the year awards. Link |
| What your flaws make possible. A beautiful story. Video |
 Florida is a hotbed for UFO sightings, but so far, no little green men. I’m not even sure flying saucers would make the top five list what with Skunk Ape sightings, crocodiles breeding at our nuclear reactors, the world’s largest collection of fossilized poop, Sopchoppy’s white squirrels, dead fish tosses, poisonous stinging caterpillars, and Rick Scott. But, yeah, we’re famous for UFOs, too, it seems. Link |
| [“ICE evil”] Maybe the immigration lawyers who claim to care so much should start lowering their fees and actually help these immigrants instead of charging thousands of dollars that most working people can barely afford. If someone is truly here legally, competent legal representation should be stepping up immediately, not cashing checks while families get dragged through the system. |
 [Getting Screwed] New gas pump scam. They’re using a single screw to steal your money. Video |
| [Diver Down] A Key West woman was struck and killed by a boat while she was scuba diving in the Florida Keys on Friday morning. Jocelyn Brown, 27, was diving in the water near Big Pine Key around 11 a.m. when the boat hit her, according to the FWC. Based on preliminary information, Brown had a dive flag displayed. The boat operator stopped, and along with the passengers, recovered Brown from the water and rushed her to shore. Brown, however, died from her injuries, according to the FWC. Link |
 [Nazi Germany Revisited] My friend was snatched from her job helping people in the Keys, right from work even though she carried her valid work permit. She was sent to Everglades Alcatraz then when at her court appearance the judge could not find the charge for which she was arrested, instead of letting her go home to her family on Big Pine Key, he sent her to Louisiana where she rots while ICE tries to think up some phony crime to charge her with. |
| [“Regret, One of the saddest emotions”] Damm, I’ve always wondered what the word “regret” meant. Woe is me. |
 [Brain Fix] UCLA discovers first stroke rehabilitation drug to repair brain damage. Researchers identified a loss of brain connections that stroke produces that are remote from the site of the stroke damage. The team found that some of the connections lost after stroke occur in a cell called a parvalbumin neuron, which helps a brain rhythm function. The researchers found that a drug called DDL-920, developed in the UCLA lab of Varghese John, produced significant recovery in movement control in mice. |
| [Screens in School] Does pen and paper beat a Chromebook? Los Angeles just became the first major school district to restrict screens in schools, said Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times. The city’s Board of Education voted unanimously last week to keep students “entirely away from screens”—including tablets, laptops, and phones—until the second grade. After that, “screen time will be tracked and limited.” The landmark resolution reverses years of promoting “digital literacy” as a pillar of modern pedagogy. Link |
 I Hate Soldering -a poemI hate soldering oh so much. I hate the thick grey smoke from solder and flux. I hate the sticky goop on all I touch. I hate the VOCs and particulates. With lead that spreads, I’m fed up. But man is oh so great and wise. Why should he ever compromise In his humble, mighty strides? Advancement towards what I wonder. Where will we be, when it all goes under? Of course, melt the metals to serve our needs Stop this progress? Gosh, oh please! I hate soldering, oh so much. I hate the thick grey smoke and yellow muck. Please go away. Please cease to be. I say goodbye. I will flee |
| [AI’s First Evil] Google says criminal hackers used A.I. to find a major software flaw. The company said that it had identified, for the first time, hackers using artificial intelligence to discover an unknown bug. The attempted attack represents a taste of what’s to come. Link |
 [Kids and Social Media] The EU is clamping down on social media firms and plans to target “addictive design” features on TikTok and Instagram as governments worldwide look to protect children from the harms of social media. They are taking action against TikTok and its addictive design – endless scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications. The same applies to Meta, because we believe Instagram and Facebook are failing to enforce their own minimum age of 13. Link |
| The current Coconut Telegraph was published on 5/12/26 at 9:28 am. |
