Letters to the editor with pictures since 2002.
Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.
The Un-social Media with 60,000 Followers
 [Custer’s’ Last Stand] The Crow scout Curley, the last man on the army side to see Custer and the 7th Cavalry alive, is buried at the Custer National Cemetery of the Big Horn Battlefield in Montana. Born around 1859 near the Little Rosebud River, Montana, from an early age Curley had participated in fights with the Crow’s hated enemy, the Sioux. Like many of his people, Curley viewed the Anglo-American soldiers as allies in the Crow war with the Sioux. When he was in his late teens, he signed on as a cavalry scout to aid the army’s major campaign against the Sioux and Cheyenne in the summer of 1876.
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry arrived in the Powder River country of southern Montana in early June 1876. As Custer proceeded toward the Little Big Horn Valley, he found increasing signs that a large number of Indians lay ahead. On June 22, Curley and five other Crow scouts were detached from a different unit and sent to Custer to bolster his Arikara scouts. On the morning of June 25, Curley and the other scouts warned Custer that a massive gathering of Indians lay ahead that far outnumbered his contingent of 187 men. Custer dismissed the report and made the unusual decision to attack in the middle of the day. Both the Crow and Arikara scouts believed this would be suicidal and prepared to die. Right before the battle began, however, Custer released the Crow scouts from duty. All of the scouts, except for Curley, obeyed and rode off to relative safety. However, since the hills were now swarming with small war parties of Sioux and Cheyenne, Curley initially thought he would be safer if he remained with the soldiers. As the fighting gradually began to heat up, Curley reconsidered. He left Custer and rode to the east. Concealing himself in coulees and ravines, Curley avoided attack and made his way to a ridge about a mile and a half to the east. There he watched much of the battle through field glasses, the last man from the army side to see Custer and his men alive. When it had become clear that Custer’s army was going to be wiped out, Curley abandoned his looking post and rode away to warn the approaching Generals Terry and Gibbon of the disaster. |
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 [Beware of Amazon] I priced EF Ecoflow Portable Power Station DELTA at Amazon Prime for $1199 plus $75 tax. I thought about it and went back the next day to buy it, but they raised the price $200 more to $1399 plus $75 tax! I contacted Amazon who said there was a price increase. That’s BS, because to test my theory of rip-off I went to another device with a different IP address and searched Amazon for the power station. And, yes, the price was the original $1199.The next day I went back to Amazon on the first device and their price was back to normal–$1199. What happened was Amazon knows my IP address and when I went back to their site their algorithms told them I returned to buy, so they raised the price based on what their algorithms told them I would pay based on my lavish spending history with them. (I found the same item on wellbots.com for $989 -delivered- and bought it—no tax either.) Amazon used to be my most trusted site I could count on to have the best price. I guess they got too big. This crooked practice is going to bite them in the ass. People trust Prime, but I no longer do. They tried the same trick on me a couple of years ago with a computer price increase the next time I searched Amazon. I thought it was just an aberration. Up until now I trusted Amazon and never shopped for better prices, but no longer. |
Be careful where you shop online. We ordered a German shepherd and now this guy lives with us. |
| [George Orwell] The most influential writer that changed the world, besides George Carlin and Moses. Link |
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 [“Gender”] either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female. “a condition that affects people of both genders”So the poster correcting perceived language errors needs some correcting. This definition of gender, male/female, is the first definition in a dictionary and therefore the most used and most applicable either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female. The poster correcting perceived language errors needs some correcting. This definition of gender, male/female, is the first definition in a dictionary and therefore the most used and most applicable. |
In the future people will look at tanning beds and think we baked people for punishment. |
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[Cruise Ships] Friends, Neighbors, Good People of the Florida Keys: Senate Bill 1194 was finally released to Governor Ron DeSantis’s office early this morning. The Governor’s veto powers give him the opportunity to preserve the results of last year’s election in Key West, in which 80% of the people voted for a change with respect to large cruise ships. A veto from the Governor would likewise protect coral reefs in the Florida Keys from the well-documented threat of turbidity generated by large cruise ships, and protect the livelihoods of our fishermen and all who depend on clean, clear water. On the other hand, if the Governor were to sign this bill, it would cancel last year’s election outcome and invite large cruise ships to resume their activities in the Florida Keys, with disastrous consequences for endangered corals and the baseline health of the ecosystem that allows them to survive and thrive. Captain Will Benson summed it up a few months back: “It’s about water.” Today, the Governor faces a crucial, yet simple, test. Will he conserve and protect the cleaner, clearer waters we have seen without large cruise ships by using his veto power? Or will he muddy the waters with a signature that would reward and enrich Mark Walsh, the cruise-pier operator who funded the legislative effort and gave almost $1 million, routed through 11 different companies, to support the Governor’s reelection campaign? The choice is clear. We continue to call on the Governor to do the right thing. And we hope you will do the same. Please call or write Gov. DeSantis today. Ask him, one more time, to VETO SB 1194. DeSantis campaigned as an environmental champion. We need his leadership to keep our water clear. Governor Ron DeSantis State of Florida The Capitol 400 S. Monroe St. Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001 email: governorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com phone: (850) 717-9337 See here for our formal letter calling on Governor DeSantis to veto SB 1194. Thank you, as always, for your support. Arlo Haskell on behalf of Key West Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships Evan Haskell, President Jolly Benson, Vice President Arlo Haskell, Treasurer David Dunn, Secretary Capt. Will Benson, Member-at-large Donate today to support our veto strategy. Key West Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships Inc. is operating as a 501(c)4 Florida Not For Profit corporation, and contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes as charitable contributions. The Committee has complied with the registration requirements of Chapter 496, Florida Statutes, the Solicitation of Contributions Act. Registration Number: CH62413. A copy of the official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Division of Consumer Services by calling 1-800-435-7352 or online at www.FDACS.gov. Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state. |
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| America will not be destroyed by undocumented workers, same-sex marriage, Muslims, atheists or abortion. But rather by unreasonable fears, divisive politics, unethical politicians, deliberate misinformation and a gullible population. |
 [“Original Key lime pie recipe”] Friday’s Key Lime Pie recipe is not the original recipe. That recipe is from the late 1970s. And it’s not green. The pies have been around a lot longer and none had whipped cream on top. All original recipes call for meringue on top. They would use the separated egg whites to make the meringue instead of throwing them away. Since the commercialization of KW, whipped cream is used for mass produced pies because meringue ‘weeps’ and shrinks after a day or two; and whipped cream will stay in the fridge for a week. There was no refrigeration when the Key Lime Pie recipe was first made. That’s why they used sweetened condensed milk in their coffee and in their pies—it would last a long time without refrigeration. |
| [The Global Village Map] A Summary of the World. Earth as a village of 100 people. Link |
Old hippies never die, they just space out. |
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| Apparently, I snore so loudly that it scares everyone in the car I’m driving |
 [Speed] I wish there was a drug I could take to pep me up for two hours. After siesta time I have a coffee, but that does nothing to perk me up. I need a pep pill that lasts for just two hours so I can get a little work done in the yard until cocktail time. Actually, I’m glad there isn’t a pep pill available because I would eat them all day no matter what I said. Years ago “bennies” were available everywhere real cheap. Everyone sold them, mostly to truckers. The drug was Benzadrine and came in little rolls of 20 like Tums for the tummy. You could even buy an inhaler and control your buzz. |
[Excessive Yawning]Yawning is normal when it happens when you are tired, probably at the end of the day. But, if you are yawning for as long as you are awake, it is time to know what is up with your body. Link |
| [Killing Weeds With Salt] Salt is a non-toxic herbicide. Learn how to use household table salt to kill stubborn weeds. Link |
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| Boris Karloff’s back of head was flat and he spoke with a lisp. |
 [“Molina Bakery”] In the early 1970s I had one of the first food wagons called the Psyca-Deli. I sold health food and soy burgers on Smathers Beach. But I couldn’t sell soy burgers on white bread. In those days you couldn’t buy whole wheat bread in Key West — anywhere. No one sold it. I think Molina’s was in a residential neighborhood of mostly Key West Cubans. I think it was on Virginia Street. I had the friendly folks at Molina’s make a special whole wheat bun for my soy burgers. The business failed anyway. I later realized that I was catering to less than one tenth of one percent of the population. In the early 1970s few people were aware of their diets or tried to eat healthy. That’s what happens when you don’t know what you’re doing. |
 Having a dog named Shark at the beach was a mistake. |
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