Monday, December 30, 2013

[Pigeon Key Ramp] As a Monroe County taxpayer who will be paying for the $750,000 ramp from the old 7 Mile Bridge down to Pigeon Key and fixing and maintaining the bridge itself, will I be able to drive out there in my car since it will then be safe for vehicles. Will I be able to drive down the ramp and stay a while and then drive back to shore?  I think that should be okay. 

Anybody else notice how much those grinder pumps look like Dr Who’s greatest enemy, the Daleks? 

[The Playtex Girdle] When I was a kid everyone’s mother wore girdles. They smelled rubber and were absurd and had little things all around the bottom to fasten the tops of nylons to in order to hold them up. 

[New Car Sales] It’s all about electronics. It used to be about quality, performance and guarantees. Now it’s what gadget will connect and how big the monitor is. Imagine having a monitor in front of the driver going 60mph? Crazy.

The thing about the electronics is that by the time the new year models come out, the electronics are near obsolescence. So your brand new car won’t have the latest gear and features. Your kid will, in his $1000 clunker, because he’ll jury rig an aftermarket device to his dash (probably with ridiculously loud speakers). What they should do is standardized the monitor/electronics module, formally called the radio, so the unit can be easily updated instead of buying a new car. But we all know why that won’t happen anytime soon as electronics are still a novelty and the dealers don’t have to.

Key Lime Pie with a twist. You might even call it lunch. Link

Propellers. Volvo Penta 290 outdrive Duo Props(2), aluminum. Bought as spares, never used. Asking $300 for the pair. 854824 LH and 854832 RH. 305-745-2807 Classified Ads > Boats 

Happy Tails Pet Waste Removal. We remove any pet waste from your yard.  Weekly and biweekly service tailored to fit your needs. Special offer. We will disinfect your yard of 14 major pet diseases including distemper and parvo at no extra charge. Don’t be fooled, pet waste is not a fertilizer. “They poop, we scoop!”  Classified Ads > Pets 

[Time to Upgrade] Windows XP crunch time is approaching. Starting on April 8, 2014, no new security patches for the 12 year old, 31% market share, Windows XP will be produced. XP was prone to hacking, that is why security patches are a must unless you want your computer to explode or something. 

Windows 7 Pro will run the older XP software and that version of Windows is most adopted by corporations and businesses at over 47% market share and growing (support ends in 2020 for W7). Windows 8 is a new radical change still undergoing further consumer testing and improvement, if you’re put off by Windows 8 it’s completely understandable. Windows 8.1 fixes many of the PC user’s complaints, and it’s great for handheld touch devices.

Despite many retailers trying to force feed Windows 8 machines, new Windows 7 machines are available online at Toshiba and Sager Notebooks, among other places. HP and Dell will also likely comply with Windows 7 Pro OEM downgrade requests, as Microsoft has extended selling of Windows 7 licenses due to poor Windows 8 sales. If not then ask your corporate or local IT tech for assistance. Businesses are getting Windows 7 Pro machines by the truckload, so should you for compliance reasons *wink* *wink*. Perhaps in a couple of years Microsoft will have something better than Windows 8. It’s rumored that Microsoft’s newest operating system will be released then.

Sexual assaults taking place within our military?  This can’t be true! I thought they were all heroes.  Raping a hero doesn’t sound like something one hero would do to another hero? 

Tammy and Marc Hollander, President and Vice President of Howard Livingston’s official Friend Club, The Southernmost Coconut Castaways at their Merch & Info table  at KOA Campground on December 28th.

[Hawaii’s Love Affair for Spam] It’s no secret that Hawaii loves Spam. We have the largest consumption per capita of Spam. Visitors are surprised to find it as sushi (the ever popular Spam musubi). You can find it at the annual Spam Jam block party in Waikiki. You can even find Spam, eggs, and rice as a popular breakfast item at McDonald’s restaurants in Hawaii!

How did it get here in the first place?

Spam was first introduced to Hawaii during World War II as a wartime staple, when it was important to have canned meat products with a long shelf life that didn’t require refrigeration. Even after the war, many families grew up cooking with Spam. Always popular as a breakfast item, people often snacked on Spam sandwiches (Spam, white bread, and mayo) or sliced it up into stir-fry or as a topping for bowls of noodles, like saimin.

I remember when I went off to college on the mainland, two things I missed the most were rice and Spam. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and I made up a big batch of Spam fried rice. My roommates gathered around once I seconds for some! Only after all the dishes had been cleared did I tell them what they’d eaten. They were shocked, and started cooking (and didn’t see the Spam can) so they were anxious to try it. I dished up bowls for everyone and even converted! It may be mystery meat, but it’s salty meaty goodness, and I swear it’s delicious. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.

[Boating Course] The Key West Sail & Power Squadron is offering America’s Boating Course at the Key West Sail & Power Squadron Building, 5205 College Avenue, Stock Island. This two week course covers boat handling, elementary seamanship, navigation aids, weather, marine radios, Florida boating regulations and more. Completion satisfies Florida State boating certification requirements.

The course dates are Saturday, January 4, 2014 and Sunday, January 5, 2014. The time is 8:30AM to 4:30 PM with a 1 hour lunch break. The fee of $55.00 covers the cost of materials, and a reduced rate of $70 is available for family members who are willing to share materials. People who pass the course are offered an introductory 6-month Power Squadron membership. For information … Events 

1993 vs. 2013 

[Photography and Lecture] Thursday, January 9, Keys fishing guide Michael Vaughn will share his photography and his vast experiences on the waters of the Florida Keys at the monthly meeting of the Key Deer Protection Alliance.  He has been guiding and fly fishing in the Florida Keys for nearly four decades.  

Vaughn has been active in Marathon Guides Association, Florida Keys Fishing Guide Association, and the Lower Keys Guides Association. He and his wife, along with five dogs, live on Big Pine Key and in Old Town, Florida.  

You are invited to ome join us for this outstanding program.  The meeting begins at 7:00 P. M. at the Lower Keys Property Owners Association Building on Bogie Road on Big Pine Key (turn right off Watson just past the No Name Key pub and just before the bridge to No Name Key.)  The guest presentation will follow a short business meeting. Refreshments will be served.  The public is invited. Events 

Good Grief!  The Democrat National Committee must know something that the rest of us don’t know. Believe it or not they are afraid that Obama will be impeached.  They are using that theme to try and raise money for the mid term elections.  

The DNC sent an e-mail to many Democrats begging for campaign money by saying that they need long tons of money to avoid the impeachment of Mr. Obama. You’ve to wonder what Team  Obama and his supporters know about his service that has them terrified of the prospect of his being impeached.

All of this is happening even as Obama has reneged even more on his promise to be the “most transparent President, ever.”  Obama has not only banned all press photogs, but has also have expanded his political  tactics to include boycotting independent news outlets, and demonizing those that present news that is even slightly negative about  his performance.

One must suppose that the DNC is deathly afraid of the record of the Obama administrations lies about the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack; his Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups during the 2012 election cycle; and Obama personally engaging in serial lying to the American people when he repeatedly told them that they could keep their existing doctors and health insurance plans under Obamacare. Then of course we can’t forget Obama’s NSA wholesale collection of all of our private and personal data. Nor can we forget the Obama administration providing weapons to the Mexican narco terrorists in their operation Fast and Furious utter debacle which caused the death of at least one American law enforcement officer.

Or perhaps it goes even deeper than that because of the crystal clear record of Obama’s unprecedented expansion of the power of the executive branch.  That fact is suggesting to many that Obama is setting the stage for something very dangerous in the future.

It must be very troubling to Democrats/Liberals/Progressives to be forced to beg for money to try and buy a “Stay out of jail” card for Obama, rather than being able to run on the record of his accomplishments.  But the fact is that they are afraid of his abundant record of mismanagement and failure. They are so afraid that they are worried about his being impeached. Wow!

Part 2) It’s obvious that the Democrats can’t possibly run in the mid-term elections on their collective record.  2013 has been an absolutely horrible year for Democrat governance.  Our D/L/P friends are well aware of a poll just released by Economist/YouGov.  The poll revealed that 2/3rds of us labeled this year as being a “bad year.”  The numbers broke down to show that 54 percent of us  called 2013 a “bad year.” Another 15 percent called it a “very bad year,” with just 3 percent calling it a “very good year” and 29 percent a “good year.”

Those numbers are no surprise when you realize that Obamacare is a failure. There are almost no issues where a majority of Americans have seen improvement. Only a quarter say health care coverage is better today than it was a year ago; more than half say it has gotten worse, reflecting the continued poor assessments given to the Administration’s health care reform.  In this week’s Economist/YouGov poll, a majority continues to call it a failure.

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