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 [Plant Status Change] Tropical Milkweed is now listed as a Category II Invasive. Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) was once a go to larval host plant for monarch butterflies. As of June 2025 the plant status has changed. It is now listed as invasive in the entire state of Florida. Tropical milkweed can host the Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) parasite, which infects monarch butterflies. If you currently have tropical milkweed, consider removing it and replacing it with native milkweed. Link |
| [US Healthcare] The Pitt continues to shine a light on the horrors of the US healthcare system. In its second season, the award-winning medical drama is a scarily reflective show for the many Americans who watch it. Video |
 [Fond Reminiscence] In 1979 Wrestling Coach Glenn Cummings from Hollywood Hills high school needed a heavyweight wrestler. I played on his football team, but I wasn’t a wrestler. He convinced me to wrestle. To wrestle heavyweight you had to weigh a minimum of 210 pounds. I weighed 204 pounds. How can I wrestle heavyweight if I only weigh 204 pounds and you have to be a minimum of 210 pounds?Coach Cummings had a brilliant idea. He melted down 6 pounds of lead fishing sinkers. 3 pounds would go under my left foot and 3 pounds would go under my right foot. He would then put a small pad and then tape up my ankles like my ankles were taped. Just so that I could make the minimum weight requirement. After the weigh-in I could go back to the locker room and cut the tape off my ankles and put on my wrestling shoes. It gets so much funnier than that. My very first wrestling match was against someone about 80 pounds more than me and when I got on the scale, Rufus Mosby, the person I was wrestling, laughed at me. Because of my small size. Coach Cummins looked at me and told me that , “It’s not the size of dog in the fight it’s the size of the fight in the dog” I have never forgotten that and I never will. I thought to myself, if I had the opportunity to go back and meet anyone that’s been an inspiration in my life it’s Coach Cummins, hands-down. |
 [“Uneducated versus ignorant? Are they the same?”] We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. ~Benjamin Franklin |
| The Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t just a floating trash pile. There are roughly 171 trillion pieces of plastic lurking in the world’s oceans. Link |
 [Bike Riders] Annoying clumps of bike riders in the middle of US1 heading to Key West today, so friggin’ risky and irritating and bothersome. Ride on the bike lane you aggravating and frustrating bike riders.Bike lane is there for a reason. It’s designed for visibility and predictable movement. Riding the gutter puts you in debris, broken glass, storm drains, and blind spots. Drivers cannot see you down there, especially on US1 with traffic moving fast. The bike lane keeps you upright, safer, and where drivers expect cyclists to be. If you want cars to respect cyclists, ride where the law and safety design intend. Gutter riding is dangerous for you and unpredictable for everyone else. |
| [Transparency] There are roughly 40 proposals before the Florida Legislature seeking to create exemptions to public records. Historically, the state has been considered a national leader in making its system of government accessible to its citizens — but no more. The intent is to diminish the public’s right of access that is enshrined in our Constitution. |
 Can we please drop the Robert E. Lee holiday already? He was no American hero. He was a traitor. Martin Luther King Jr was an American hero who probably knew that the White man would kill him but continued his fight for racial equality and civil rights. Lee was loyal to the South not the Nation. |
| [Dog Training] Bark is dog training online or in person. Link |
 [Hypochondriac Department] Symptoms Neurologists Say Never to Ignore. LinkDouble vision in one eye Weakness in one hand or leg Transient unresponsiveness Problems with speech Sudden headache during physical effort Numb feet and fingers A sense of déjà vu |
| [“Rude people”] I’ve noticed people who ignore you when passing and you say, “Hello” are usually local and grumpy. |
 [Tourist Flu] I’ve felt awful for two weeks and I wonder if it it’s the Tourist Flu that locals catch every winter when the tourists visit and spread their nasties. I ‘ve been overly tired, chest congestion, nausea and a generally piss poor attitude and I can’t find my Teddy bear. |
| [Content or an Advertisement] Apple is testing a new design for App Store search ads on iPhone. Some users on iOS 26.3 are noticing that the blue background around sponsored results is no longer shown, blurring the line between what paid ad results look like and the real search results that follow.
This means the only differentiator between organic results and the promoted ad is the presence of the small ‘Ad’ banner next to the app icon. Right now, it appears to be in some kind of A/B test phase. This change also has the effect of making it harder for users to quickly distinguish at a glance what is an ad and what isn’t. Link |
 [Camping Journal] Document your adventures. Rack every detail of your camping trips in one place. Easy fill-in prompts, space for notes, and room to relive your best outdoor memories. Great for Big Pine planners and adventure lovers. Link |
| The U.S. Coast Guard said this week that its crews intercepted more cocaine loads at sea than at any time in the service’s history — a record high of over half-a-million pounds of narcotics in a single year. The Coast Guard said in a press release Thursday that from Oct. 1, 2024, to the end of September 2025, crews intercepted more than 510,000 pounds of cocaine, which is an agency record.
And its crews serving tours in the eastern Pacific off South America are seizing an average of 1,600 pounds of cocaine daily. Link |
 [Why Do Cats Lick You] So, why do some cats lick their owners? Are they trying to clean you, too? Grooming is only one way cats say, “I love you.” Cat love video |
| [Original Thought] Giving university exams in the age of chatbots. Link |
 [3D printing ] It’s been some years since the great expectation of 3D printers has waned. They are only good for commercial purposes because the design software is so difficult to use – harder than CAD or Photoshop to learn. Also, the time it takes to print even the smallest item is hours. To print a house key takes about 12 hours. Most of us thought they would be like paper printers, click-click and you get what you want like on Star Trek. |
| [Being Useful] “When I get together with my friends in the industry, I feel a little guilty about how much I love my job. This is a tough time to be a software engineer. The job was less stressful in the late 2010s than it is now, and I sympathize with anyone who is upset about the change. There are a lot of objective reasons to feel bad about work. But despite all that, I’m still having a blast. I enjoy pulling together projects, figuring out difficult bugs, and writing code in general. I like spending time with computers. But what I really love is being useful.” The main character in Gogol’s short story The Overcoat is a man called Akaky Akaievich1. Akaky’s job is objectively terrible: he’s stuck in a dead-end copyist role, being paid very little, with colleagues who don’t respect him. Still, he loves his work, to the point that if he has no work to take home with him, he does some recreational copying just for his own sake. Akaky is a dysfunctional person. But his dysfunction makes him a perfect fit for his job. Link |
 [Bicycle Riders] Going to Key West a few days ago I keep passing spandex people riding in the right lane of US1. Are they nuts? The bike lane is just a few feet away. These are probably the same folks who would scream and holler for the State to build bike lanes. |
| Submit a post Contact Us What are you afraid of? |
 [MLK Day] Monday, we celebrated the life of a great American hero, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who dedicated his life to the cause of freedom. It is the only federal holiday celebrating the life of a Black American. Link |
| [Arsehole Department] Florida Keys man accused of abusing his Great Dane dog aboard his yacht. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for 54-year-old Jack Edward Grewer, who lives on the boat. Grewer was arrested Friday and booked into a county jail on Stock Island on one count of misdemeanor animal abuse. Link |
 Sunday the 25th on Ships Way 8:00-1:00. If you’d like to set up in the neighborhood or nearby, that would be wonderful. The more participation and advertising, the better. |
| The current Coconut Telegraph was published on 1/20/25 at 8:25 am. |
  [House For Sale] Big Pine Key. 3 bedrooms. 2 full bathrooms. House on stilts over full concrete slab. Bay window in Kitchen plus a pantry. Stainless steel appliances. Plenty of kitchen cabinets and granite counter tops. Dining area/living room. Big front porch. Large, locked storage room downstairs. Covered parking for two vehicles. Central air conditioning plus heat. Back two bedrooms have additional mini-split A/Cs. Very bright and clean and in a quite neighborhood. Laundry area in hallway. Electric bill is about $165 a month. 1125 square feet. $575,000.See it on Craigslist: Link |