Letters to the editor with pictures since 0202. Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.
[“Over charged debit card”] Debit, credit or cash? Back when I moved to the Keys there were no ATMs, no debit cards and the locals loved cash. In fact, cash got you discounts. I’ve yet to figure out why folks use debit cards. The banks charge fees for withdrawals, purchases and, of course, overdrafts. Debit cards leave you subject to the bank and a merchant’s claims – thus leaving you with no card or cash to use. Using cash gives you better control over your money. There’s no extra fees and your transaction stays private (except for the ceiling camera recording you being there). I quit using my debit card to even withdraw cash 10 years ago. I go into the bank a couple of times a year and pull a couple of bundles of hundreds that I keep in my sock drawer next to my pet pit viper. Sometimes, I get hassled for handing a hundred-dollar bill. Phugg’em, they’re good for all debts public and private. When they refuse my Benjamin, I hand them my AMEX card. Phugg’em, AMEX charges merchants higher fees and I get points, points that I use on Amazon when I buy Prime Pantry foods and I pay with AMEX. If they don’t take AMEX, I’m a lost sale.
Don’t let the banks control your money. We should take notice that Sweden is all but cashless today. They pay with phones, electronic wallets and cards. The banks rule the Swedes. Think of how many discrepancies are dealt with daily. What a time waste. The day you can’t reach into a hidey-hole to buy your food and freedom is the day you succumb to being a serf and ruled by something other than your own free will. |
Okay, you don’t have to laugh, but some of us are easily amused. Merry Christmas! |
[Walking Dead] I’m pretty sure I saw the Wolfman last weekend, right by the ballfield. I saw someone who looked just like him on a trike. the same bright orange vest/clothing, barefooted but a bit thinner. After reading comments from Friday’s CT, he possibly may have lost weight due to illness, but, boy, he was a peddlin’ that bike! It would be nice to talk with him again. He is extremely intelligent and kind. One late afternoon at the Bistro we chatted for about two hours. He had a lot to say and I was very happy to have him tell story after story. Let’s hope it is the Wolfman and he is healthy and back on Big Pine. |
60 might be the new 40, but 9 PM is the new midnight. |
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018. The rocket is carrying the U.S. Air Force’s most powerful GPS satellite ever built. Link |
[Elucidate the Weather Report] Is it just me or does anyone else have a problem with Alan Archer’s weather reports? No offense to the man, because I do not know him. I have tried to listen to his weather reports for years. I don’t think I understood any of them. He talks so fast, he mumbles and does not articulate his words. They all run together, and he speaks in a monotone. Probably the worst voice for TV or radio I have ever heard. He must have something on somebody to keep that job. |
[Licking Sea Grape] Key Deer rubbing antlers against sea grape tree to remove the bark and lick the wood for nutrients, I think. Video |
[“Dog poop”] I might be a mindless redneck but I have more manners and common sense than to let my dog crap on someone’s property without picking it up. |
[“Alaska legalizing pot use in public places”] Grass is becoming legal everywhere. Why? When booze is tough enough to control. DUIs and drunken madness, bar fights, criminal acts, etc., are a big problem now, what is it going to be like when more heads are messed up. Being stoned at 75 MPH will kill us all and will increase insurance rates. |
Merry Christmas Ed. I want to take the time to say thank you for all the work you do to keep us updated and entertained. You’re are appreciated and admired by many. (Ed: Aw, shucks. Thank you and Merry Christmas to everyone.) |
[African Untrustworthiness 1911] Due to theft, our pioneer’s tools required numbering. Out of one hundred bill-hooks there were only twenty-six, out of one hundred axes there were left twenty-two, out of one hundred hoes there were only sixty-one, out of one hundred shovels there were but sixty-seven. All the rest had been stolen and sold to the natives or thrown away. It is a trying work to look after such reckless people. |
[“Reset your circadian clock”] Go camping. A researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder, recorded students’ light exposure on a camping trip and found their clocks returned to normal within two days. |
[Wind Direction] Down here everyone knows where the wind is coming from. Anywhere else you go it’s difficult to judge wind direction because of interference from mountains, hills or buildings. Here, you just look out the window and see which way the palms are blowing. There’s noting here to obstruct the wind. Same with sunsets. Go to any city and ask them where the sun sets and they probably have a vague idea, but the buildings obscure it, so they don’t know. |
[Time Warp] Friday, was December 22nd. Sad to see the post of great Cudjoe Key decorations on 9th Ave. listed as Key West. (Ed: Thanks, I corrected it. As time goes by, the gap between my eyes to my fingers is getting bigger. Merry Christmas!) |
[“Slowpokes”] Asking someone to do even one mile an hour above the speed limit shows an incredible lack of common sense. Maybe it is you who should leave a little early so that you do not put yourself or others in danger. I have seen tickets on Key Deer issued for 2 miles over the posted speed limit. I will not chance a citation for your lack of planning. And, no, I do not think I will be pulling over so that you can pass. |
Tree frogs are cute because they are cute and always smiling and don’t have teeth. The best part is on hot, humid summer nights they sing in the thousands and sound almost symphonic. |
[“USA has highest rate of mass shootings in the world”] You can pick apart almost any study on any subject if you pick at it enough. If you haven’t observed first hand that we have highest rate of mass shootings in the world than your vision is clouded by politics. Same goes for global warming, many people pick the parts they favor and ignore the others. The same goes for this study. That’s what lawyers do. They take a truth and deconstruct it into tiny pieces that they keep picking at until the truth is forgotten. |
[Crackers] I do not expect this sort of racism from a supermarket. We Saltine Americans from Georgia will not stand for this kind of insult. |
A blonde’s polar plunge on frozen lake. Video |
Why doesn’t Google have audio pronouncing? |
Running water makes people happy. |
[Movies] They are killing more and more children and showing more and more penises. I saw one just yesterday and it was the first semi-erect one so far. This guy just got out of her love-making bed and went through an energetic routine of martial exercises all while supporting a semi-hard-on on his perfect body. What is pornography, but something that turns you on, is it not? |
[Movies] In SiFi movies it seems the futuristic cities’ traffic always goes flying from left to right or the other way, but never towards or away from us. |
The mystery of why some people become sudden geniuses. Link |
[Affordable Housing] The developers are at it again, this time with little houses that are for the eponymous “affordable housing.” The bottom line is they will save money on the construction cost and will sell them at a outrageous price for the size. And watch for the push for density zoning changes to get two of these on a standard lot. Don’t fall for this. |
[WGAY FM] It’s on Sugarloaf Key. 105.7. Party, house, electronic and trance music all the time. Every time is party time at WGAY. The call letters go very well with the community in Key West. The city is widely known for its large LGBT population. |
[Pot] I think almost all pot we see down here comes from America. Why risk crossing our borders when it’s a weed and will grow anywhere, like right in your back yard or garage. If you think our borders are porous, just try bringing a ton of pot into the country. |
Is this list of Democrat mass shooters accurate? Link |
[“Body paint-turtle”] That was the best body painting I’ve ever seen. They are right — no one watches it just once. Video |
[Food Cost] The wife went to WD for Xmas foods. Four dollars for a head of lettuce! Are you nuts? |
Happy 100th birthday Betty Brothers! I spent some time with her on her birthday Saturday, December 22. She’s in a care facility in Broward County and she is doing fine. Some of you remember Betty and her dolphins on Little Torch Key. She also was a real estate broker and owned the Brothers Motel where the Dolphin Marina is. Betty wrote and illustrated several books about her life on Little Torch with the dolphins. She was born the month after the end of World War I in 1918. |
[“Slowpokes”] My definition of rush hour is the culmination of a bunch of incompetent morons who leave for work or home too late to drive safely in order to get to their destination to goof-off over coffee! |
[Reincarnation v Resurrection] One reconstitutes your soul into another person or thing. The other raises the dead, all at once! |
A major shift in our approach to ageing. Meet the revolutionaries who are inspiring us to make the most of our longer lives. Audio |