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The Original Unsocial Media. Anonymous Letters to the Editor with Pictures. Published Daily by Noon Since 2002. No Saturday Edition
 Historic Key West is getting lesser historic now that historic homes can paint their roofs energy saving colors and install aluminum energy saving windows and solar panel arrays. I understand some people’s desire to save money on energy costs, but if they don’t want to take part in the historic restoration aspect of old town Key West they should move to another house on the island. The prices for these historic houses is surely high enough for them to make a great profit if they do. That law states: “The adoption of an ordinance by a governing body which prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of solar collectors, clotheslines or other energy devices based on renewable resources is expressly prohibited.” |
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| [Carquest on Stock Island] I was at the West Marine on Stock Island the other day and saw Carquest has opened new store in the old Standard Marine Building (across from SV Hardware), handy location for those of us in the lower Keys who want to avoid driving into Key West to either NAPA or Advance. I’ve been there twice now and they had what I needed each time. Have not seen any advertising yet and they seem to be somewhat of a secret unless you notice them when you drive by, but I am sure they will promote a grand opening when they are ready. |
 [Summer in the Keys] Dead calm off the Sawyer Keys. Yea, that’s what I’m talking about! |
| [“Wasps Nests”] I soak my under house area and trusses with Round Up once every spring and that seems to keep everything out. |
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 [Sloan IS A Lawyer] The August 5, 2014 post at goodmorningkeywest.com contains various evidences that I, Sloan Bashinsky, practiced law in Birmingham, Alabama from 1973-1985. The August 6 post at that website explains why the Alabama Bar Association has no record of Sloan Bashinsky: It dawned on me that in early 2000 I had legally changed my name to Sloan Young (Young was my middle name at birth) and may have so notified the Alabama Bar Association. Cathy Sue McCurry, 334-269-1515, at the Alabama Bar Association told me by phone on August 6 that they have Sloan Young in their records, and for me to send them the back to Sloan Bashinsky name-change documents and they will make the change on their records. |
| [“Lobster tossed onto a hot grill while the tail is still moving”] I wonder how you would like to be done that way? |
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| [“Name that bird”] The bird might be a Prothonotary Warbler. I used to see them in Key West. |
 [“Name that bird”] It looks like either a warbler or American goldfinch. If you want to feed it, use thistle seeds in a bird feeding tube. |
| [“Name that bird”] I believe the bird is a finch. |
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This fin was all I could catch of a pod of dolphin west of Little Palm. Is it true that if there are dolphin in the water there are no sharks in that area? |
| [Investigation Needed] For us to have any faith in this County government and it’s crazy second class sewer system , designed by FKAA and ingloriously permitted by DEP, there needs to be a full investigation — from the top down to the lowliest engineer. |
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| Is it okay if I dive on your casita and catch some lobster if casitas become legal? |
 [Angles in the Belfry] Wednesday’s edition of the CT is the first time I’ve seen “angels” spelled correctly! And in three different places. Admit it Ed, did you correct the posters’ spelling or did they come through as “angles” as they usually do? |
| [FDLE investigations] There are many professional, hardworking, honest police officers working for KWPD and we should all be grateful that they are there for us when we need them. Howevever, it is becoming more and more evident that there are a small number of officers whose behavior needs to be looked at – seriously looked at. And I’ll venture to bet that the officers who try to do their jobs professionally are even more interested than the rest of us in seeing some bad apples removed from the force. Nothing good will come of bashing an entire police force. The fact that nothing is being done about what is likely a handful of bad cops is where we should focus our concern. When public officials learn that citizens and visitors are dying and being seriously injured while being placed under arrest, that innocent elementary school children and grandmas are being held at gunpoint, and that homes of African American residents are being stormed by hooded officers dressed in S.W.A.T. gear – possibly just for the fun of it, then someone in charge should be seriously looking into it. All we’ve heard from the Police Chief is that from what he can tell his “officers have behaved appropriately” (think Charles Eimers and Matthew Shaun Murphy). The Chief also announced last week at the CRB meeting (not long after Matthew Shaun Murphy’s fiancé left the podium in tears because it was all just too emotional for her) that he is working with FDLE to remove the requirement for an FDLE investigation when someone is seriously injured by police officers. And all we are getting out of our City Manager, Mayor and City Commissioners is silence and inaction. All we are getting out of FDLE and the State Attorney’s Office is whitewashing. I encourage everyone to communicate with public officials about their concerns. |
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 Happy Thursday from Springer’s Bar and Grill. Today’s special is a meatball sub. Homemade meatballs in perfectly spiced sauce with mozzarella cheese on a hoagie roll. So delicious you’ll think your back in mamas kitchen.Friday special: mahi mahi with roasted pepper sauce and cilantro pesto Happy Hour 2-7 daily with great drink specials and happy hour menu. There’s Always Something Special at Springer’s |
| [“Sewer connection … I feel obliged to point out”] Obliged by whom? Your wallet? Who said anything about the hook up being free? From a few hundred bucks to $1000’s is no way justified for a simple hook up. People, beware of the coming rip offs! |
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| [“Recluse Spiders”] Human activity related Global Warming is causing many species to alter their traditional ranges. Perhaps this applies to Recluse Spiders also. |
 In much of the world’s oceans, levels of the heavy metal mercury are double to triple what they were before the industrial revolution, a new study says. Researchers found there’s more mercury from human sources— mostly burning fossil fuels and mining for gold — than scientists had thought. |
| [Whiskey Snobs] British researchers asked people to describe the qualities of the same Scotch whiskey in three rooms themed as grassy, sweet, and woody. (For example, the first room smelled of grass and played recordings of bleating sheep.) Respondents largely came back with “grassy’ “sweet,” and “woody,” respectively. |
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 [Beer Glass] Spiegelau has created the new standard for IPA beer glassware. Achieved through a series of design and tasting workshops in which hundreds of possible designs were considered, the brewers ultimately and unanimously chose, by secret vote, one glass – ‘number 6’ – from a final lineup of eight custom-made prototypes. Designed to showcase the complex and alluring aromatic profiles of American “hop-forward” IPA beers, preserve a frothy head, enhance taste and mouthfeel, and present a comfortably wide opening for the drinker to savor each beer, Spiegelau’s latest design is the go-to vessel for enjoying IPA. Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada champion US hop farming. The breweries and donating their portion of the proceeds from this collaboration to benefit advances in hop research (read: getting drunk). |
| [Obamacare Rates Going Down in Florida] The Obama administration says the majority of Floridians who purchased health plans through the Affordable Care Act will actually see their out-of-pocket costs decrease, especially in big cities such as Miami and Orlando. That’s the opposite of what state officials said earlier this week. Tasha Bradley, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services, told The Associated Press that 75 percent of Floridians live in areas where the second-lowest silver premium will actually decline. |
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| [“Recluse Spiders”] They might not be here according to text books, but doctors and my friend with a hole in his leg disagree. |
 [The Arch] In our past history before the time of rebar and such, mortar and bricks were constructed in arches were more strength would be needed, and evidently they worked quite well, witnessing the Roman aqueducts and many more like structures from days long past. One could often make a pretty good educated guess as to how old some of the buildings in our cities were by seeing if they used arches to build the windows or not. Here is the question: the old 7 Mile Bridge seems to consist of both types of construction. I know that rebar was used in the straight type construction, but were they used in the section where the arches are? I have often wondered about this, and I decided to post here on the department of smart, where I know I can garner only factual information. ha |
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 [“Best Westerns”] Let us not forget the soon to join the list of all time greats: Django Unchained. |
| [iPhone 4] Night Fishing (horror flick) this is a trailer the movie night fishing that was shot using an iPhone 4 (with very sophisticated lens adaptors). Video |
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| [Public Meeting] NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary will hold a public meeting of the Sanctuary Advisory Council in Key Largo, Fla., on Tuesday, August 19, 2014.
The upcoming meeting will focus on the sanctuary’s marine zoning and regulatory review of ecological reserves, preservation areas, and wildlife protection. At 9:20 a.m., the Ecological Reserves, Preservation Areas and Wildlife Protection Working Group will report its recommendations. The Sanctuary Advisory Council will discuss the recommendations and potential actions at 10:45. Following this discussion, Sanctuary Superintendent Sean Morton and Refuge Manager Nancy Finley will give a 1:30 p.m. briefing on the next steps in the development of a draft environment impact statement. At 2:45 p.m., state and federal agencies will give a quick round robin of updates to the council on their latest activities. Public comment for agenda items will be taken prior to council action. Public comment for items not on the agenda will be available at 1:15 p.m. Events |
 The next meeting of our Big Pine Computer Club is coming up this Saturday, August 9, 10 am at the senior center. Hope to see you there. |
| The 468 stations of the New York subway system serves 5.8 million riders every weekday. It also displays some 140,000 ads. |
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 Congress is taking a vacation? A vacation from doing what? |
| [Lacey Act] David McNab and Abner Schoenwetter, who were engaged in the lobster trade, were convicted under the Lacey Act for importing undersized lobsters in 1999. In addition, some of the lobsters were also egg-bearing, and all of them were shipped in plastic bags instead of cardboard boxes. These were not requirements of American environmental law, but requirements of Honduran law—requirements that Honduran courts later determined were invalid.
Nonetheless, McNab and Schoenwetter were sentenced to eight years in prison. Due to the low level of criminal intent required for conviction, it did not matter that the two men were unaware of the Honduran environmental regulations. Thank you, Lacey Act. |
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| [“Sewer connections”] It costs about $1500 — just for all the permits, the septic tank pump out and filling it with “clean granular material”. Those expenses are the same whether you have a gravity connection or got shafted with a grinder pump station. Unless your building drain is very close to the street, it costs about $250-300 for plumbing parts. Maybe you can dig it with a pick and shovel, or maybe you will need a rock trencher. If you got jammed with a grinder pump station in your yard and it is in rock that the contractor bored a hole in and set the pit, then excavation may be more expensive than digging from your house to the street because the damn thing is in the way of running a trencher and you sure don’t want the trencher chain bouncing into that expensive soft plastic grinder pit. Fire up the jack hammer. If you are one of the “losers” who have to provide electrical service to the County’s pump station in your yard, you are probably looking at $1,000 to $5,000 additional for an electrician to either run a new circuit or install a whole new service. KEYS Energy is allowing another panel to be connected directly to the meter box, but if your existing meter is old enough, it may not have enough capacity to connect without overloading it. There are plenty of 60 amp meters around and these cursed grinder pumps want 30 amps at 240 volts just for themselves. That’s enough juice to run a 3 ton air conditioner compressor! |
 If you’re going to advertise them, be honest about them. |
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 Brown Recluse Spiders most certainly live here. I killed two inside my house within the past three months. I was not bit. There was a definite violin shape on the back near the head. (The “violin” has a thin neck and wide body. The neck of the violin is pointing backwards). |
| What is the temperature of tap water in the Keys? Is it colder in the winter? Is KW water the same temperature as Key Largo tap water? |
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| World’s largest urban zip line. Stretching more than 2,000 feet, it only takes about seven seconds to finish this “ride” going that fast. Video |
 That photo of the dog’s butt is hilarious. It sure beats Jesus on a slice of toast or potato chip. Do you think ‘believers’ will be flocking to the dog’s butt hoping for a miracle? I’d be leery of any miracle that comes from there. |
| [Mononym] I was driving out of Key West the other day and saw local politico want-to-be and gadabout town, Vidal, driving down the road with his mom. I knew it was him because of his personalized plates and he had his head out of the window so everyone could see him. I actually thought it was Vidal Sassoon on the ballot because of his mononym. |
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 [Conch cops in the department] Everyplace else in the world when someone is arrested, be it on the side of the road in cuffs, or in the back of a cruiser. The scene is wrapped up pretty quickly and the suspect is taken to jail. Here is what I saw today on BPK. A suspect in cuffs and shrimp boots on the side of the road. Four cops of varying rank from uniformed with varying degrees of stripes on their sleeves all the way to detectives with cuff holsters on their belt. But here is the twist. They are all just standing there. Showing off their catch. Gloating about their stature in the community. Waving at neighbors and the girls from the Circle K. With that look that some musicians have on their faces when they know people are looking at them on stage and their dick just got bigger. |
| Here’s on for you horney old dudes! Boobs – The Bellamy Brothers |
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| [“Fuel Perks”] My fuel perks are working fine, but I get more bang for the buck by driving up to Marathon or the Circle K on Big Coppitt, because all these Shell stations are priced lower than the ones on Big Pine Key. |
 [Deer] We had eleven Key deer to breakfast this morning. Three of them were little Bambies. |
| Your false arrest question should be directed to Bill Heffernan, Jr., Esq. Middle Keys criminal defense attorney, 743-2288. |
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| “Casitas don’t seem to affect lobster migration patterns.” John Hunt, administrator of the state Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s Marathon office, said in a briefing to the FWC on a two-year study of casitas in Gulf of Mexico waters north of the Lower Keys. |
 While FWC commissioners acknowledged that casita advocates made some strong points, I read that they worried about harming an established trap industry that has worked with the state for decades to control fishing effort. That’s a bunch of bs. FWC doesn’t care about any other industries. |
| [“I have been in action for more than a few years”] I suggest you take off your blinders.[?] |
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| Why do I watch Fox News and try to read FTR? Like the Godfather said,” Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” |
 I posted yesterday with a graphic showing the % of people leaving the workforce due to aging. The darn angels didn’t attach it. I guess it’s Sloan’s fault. Our beloved FTR accused me of making stuff up. Would you please post the attached. I will admit the source is the Wall Street Journal, a known communist organization. Thanks |
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| I hear where the Army is laying off, mostly because there is nothing for those soldiers to do since that damn Obama refuses to get us involved in any more wars. Besides that, they are being replaced by various forms of technology [think drones] just like many other Americans. I wonder if they get unemployment benefits? Probably not if the Republicans have anything to do with it. And how many security guards does Walmart need anyway? |
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| A POSTER WROTE: “Gun Nuts] Attention all you pistol packin’ gun nuts.” Then the poster cited stats, purportedly from the FBI, that suggested that the number of “justifiable” homicides was only a tiny fraction of the gun caused criminal homicides, gun accidents, and gun suicides. The poster claimed that: “In 2010, for every justifiable homicide in the United States involving a gun, guns were used in 36 criminal homicides.”
FTR’S RESPONSE: The posting is interesting, but the reasoning is specious. First of all the stats quoted came from The Violence Policy Center (Link), and it is pure political screed with an anti gun agenda. For example in the reports closing paragraph, you will find the following quote: “The devastation guns inflict on our nation each and every year is clear……..” In the report’s conclusion the following quote is to be found: “….claims of the efficacy and frequency of the self-defense use of firearms are the default rationale offered by the gun lobby and gun industry for this unceasing, bloody toll.”
But there is more to consider. The report makes much of the claim of relatively few “justifiable homicides” by gun. I question how the FBI supposedly collected that stat. Homicides can be declared “excusable” or “justifiable” by the police, jury verdict, by grand jury decision, or by the decision of a prosecutor. To the best of my knowledge and experience, there is no mechanism for the FBI to collect those stats from the courts or prosecutors. The FBI Uniform Crime Report data comes from police agencies and rarely contains disposition info such as verdict reports. I know that we, a prosecuting agency, did not report that data to the FBI. I also know that not every crime thwarted by an armed citizen results in the death of a bad guy. The bad guy(s) might be wounded, or they might just be scared away by the armed citizen. To the best of my knowledge the FBI has no mechanism to collect that kind of data. Further, the NCVS itself does not itself actually collect crime data, it only conducts surveys. Very much like polling. The report fails to mention that it is a stone fact that as gun sales and ownership has soared, the crime rate, especially violent crime has drastically declined. Even though we have had an increase in population, gun crime is lower today than it was two decades ago. The report also fails to mention that those American jurisdictions that have the most draconian gun laws have the highest rates of crime, especially gun crime. The posters suggestion that gun owner’s lust to kill a bad guy with a “dream shot” is patently wrong and is offensive. I know many persons who carry/own guns, not a one of them has any desire to kill. They carry to protect themselves and their loved ones from violence, not to cause it.
You folks are on the cusp of a nasty, rude awakening. I wonder why the mainstream media including our own Keys media has not reported that premiums for health plans on the Affordable Care Act exchange in Florida will increase an average of 13.2 percent in 2015. Don’t believe it? Read about it here: Link But wait, there’s more: The planned premium hikes, once subsidies are applied, mean the monthly cost will range between $400 and 600 per family in most counties, the Orlando Sentinel reported. “Even with a federal subsidy, that could mean an out-of-pocket cost of $500 or more per month to have coverage,” the insurance regulator warned in a news release Monday.” Have a nice day |
The report is nothing more than political screed and cannot be taken seriously as a research document. It is propaganda.
Part 2) Special to the CT community left fielders. How do you like Obamacare so far? Is anyone saving any money on insurance premiums? Do you still remember Mr. Obama’s promise that the cost of health care was certain to decline?