The un-social media since 2002 with 60,000 followers.
Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage pick-up days,
Tuesdays and Fridays.
                                              |
| Submit a post Contact Us |
       |
| [Developing The Keys] Human overpopulation and excessive development in the Florida Keys are creating safety and environmental issues of critical concern. The fragile aquatic ecosystem in which we live is being strewn with noxious levels of liter, debris and toxic contaminants. Our island communities are buckling under the weight of traffic congestion, vehicle exhaust, noise and government sanctioned building projects. Assenting to the relentless demands of developers, county and planning commissioners at times, appear to have succumbed to the urban sprawl demands proffered by building and construction companies. The banking and real estate investors bankrolling their construction projects appear not to have given much thought to the devastating impact their actions are having upon our safety and quality of life. A dangerous tipping point has been reached, if not checked and reversed, it will eventually result in our island homes and habitat being turned into a wasteland. The response given by many elected officials to these harmful realities has been to press forward with even more unrestricted low-end housing projects. Even while our drinking water pipelines are bursting from neglect and power outages are becoming a regular occurrence. Even the “Jewel of the Florida Keys” had “No Swimming” notices on its beaches because of the E. coli bacteria present in its beach water. Trojan Horse construction projects (affordable & work-force housing) continue to be proposed and built with a deceptive and fundamental underlying flaw; they’ve not delivered on their promise. Carrying capacity and sustainability studies completed in 2001 at a cost of 8 million dollars indicated way back then that we were heading for trouble. It was determined that the Florida Keys could not withstand further development pressures without ecosystem collapse. Hurricane evacuations and escaping from other severe weather conditions, will not be able to safely take place within the congested and over-developed county schematic that now exists. There are ample humane, practical and analytically sound methods to address growth, housing and homelessness; without discarding the scientific principles necessary for healthy communities and families to live and prosper on our tiny string of islands.Sincerely, John Donnelly, Key Largo, FL |
 |
| “I am against my welfare money going to buy drugs instead of feeding the poor welfare children.” I agree. I am also against the welfare blood suckers taking my money to feed more meal-ticket kids that should not be here (legalize abortion). How about welfare birth control or better yet, sterilization? We have too many society suckers now! |
 WKWF 1600 AM radio advertises the sound of Key West”. That is wrong. WAIL 99.5 FM and WEOW 92.7 FM are the sounds of Key West –face it. WKWF should really say they are the sound of “old” Key West. That is more accurate and the reason I listen to it all the time. I like their mix, no hip hop, no rap and no classic rock. |
| [Viewer Discretion is Advised] Does anyone ever change channels and miss the horror? |
 [Coffee Ballet] My spouse and I perform an intricately choreographed ballet every morning at 5:30. We have two different tastes in coffee making and make them our own way. We aren’t fully awake but are still able to float around each other while preparing our Java and never bump each other in our small kitchen. |
| [Debt] The rich politicians (there are no poor politicians) are scurrying to pass the debt ceiling while trying to reduce debt. Every single proposal they offer took something from the poor or middle class. The rich were untouched. Not one thing created income by charging the rich more. The rich certainly can afford to pay more than the working class can. They wouldn’t even notice an increase in their taxes. Actually, many rich people don’t even pay taxes, they have their lawyers and accountants work the system. |
My favorite magazine is The Week. It has a news story and then what the columnists say about it. You get 3 or 4 different opinions of each story. Now that’s truly fair and balanced. |
| I get Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro confused with each other. |
 [Culverts] The Big Pine Key Hydrology project is moving forward. The one million dollar project in the National Key Deer Refuge appears to be starting. This project will be tearing up land owned by the USFWS, Monroe County, and the State of Florida. I am trying to understand why the County agreed to this project since there is no evidence that it will accomplish anything. This project has no known designer, no known science that would support the stated goals of the project, and appears to be based on some vague ideal some unidentified person somewhere had.I am trying to figure out what two culverts under Key Deer Blvd will connect to, since they are uplands to the north and northwest, and all the wetlands to the west are bordered by the southern part of Fern Avenue in the southern section of Eden Pines and Chickasaw Lane. These roads act as dams for the wetlands to the east and north. They are the reason that these areas are freshwater in the rainy season (5 -12 parts per thousand). Fern Ave has a high grade of almost 4 feet above mean sea level. The base elevations are also higher than the project area. The agencies involved in this project do not seem to have addressed the issue of how they will prevent saltwater intrusion that will result from digging through the filled sewer line canal on the south side of Watson Blvd and the large canal on the north side of Watson. Since the management of the National Key Deer has not addressed any of the issues raised or the concerns that residents have expressed, we can assume that they don’t have answers. Perhaps they just don’t feel they need to answer to anyone. This project appears to disregard the facts of sea level rise, basic laws of gravity, and the physics of salt water osmotic pressure. The lowering of elevations in an area that doesn’t have a freshwater lens under it and connecting it to pure saltwater doesn’t sound like a good idea. Perhaps someone from these agencies can come on the Coconut Telegraph and explain how this project will work. |
Safe America] Firearms recently became the number one cause of death for children and teens in the United States, surpassing motor vehicle deaths and those caused by other injuries. |
| Transgender people don’t bother me as long as they stick to nature’s plumbing and use restrooms that God gave them and play in sports that coincide with their native plumbing. I know that they suffer severe mental problems and should be cared for properly, but let’s call a spade a spade. |
 [Slow Speed Chase] A Florida Keys deputy found a tortoise walking in the neighborhood. Then came a reunion. A Monroe County sheriff’s deputy patrolling the Upper Florida Keys this week found an African spurred tortoise walking around the Harry Harris neighborhood in the Tavernier area. The large reptile is a pet named Nina. Deputy Mario Marin was able to reunite her with her owners who live just down the street from where she was found wandering. |
| The AARP May calendar of events is here. Full Menu > Ongoing Events |
 [Debt Ceiling] One feature of the national debt bill that I like very much is to make welfare people work 20 hours a week to qualify. I would like to add that they should also take drug tests to qualify. As it is now welfare mothers can trade their food stamps for drugs instead of feeding their families. I’m not against drugs, but I am against hungry children.So what if they raise the debt ceiling every year. So what? How does that effect me? |
| The final Full Moon Kayak Excursion of the season, benefiting the Refuges of the Florida Keys, will be Thursday May 4th, departing at 6:30 p.m. from the Old Wooden Bridge Marina on Bogie Drive, Big Pine Key. Please arrive about 30 minutes prior to get set up. Feel free to dress as your favorite Star Wars character to celebrate the day. Call Bill, our sponsor from Big Pine Kayak Adventures, at 305-872-7474 for more information. Reserve your space today at Floridakeyswildlifesociety.org (click on the events tab). The donation is $30 per person, we’ll provide the guides and all the gear. |
 You should back up your Blu-rays and DVDs before they break. This free program will help you move data from discs to a safe place. How to rip Blu-ray to video files: Link |
| [Is It Real Or Not] AI journalism is getting harder to tell from the old-fashioned, human-generated kind. Link |
 Sixty dung beetles are released in Étang de Cousseau reserve in south-west France. The insects play a key role in decomposition and seed dispersal. The insects disappeared from the region in the 1960s as the feral cattle population declined. The last herd of free-roaming marine landaise breed was saved from the slaughterhouse by conservationists in the late 1980s. Before the creation of vast pine plantations under Napoléon III, this area of Gascony was famous for its pastoralism, and shepherds would tend to their flocks on 5ft wooden stilts, with dung beetles thriving on the waste. Now, along with the wild cattle, the dung beetles are back, released in a field freshly prepared with cowpats for their arrival. Link |
 [“Name that seaweed”] Answer: Syringodium filiforme, commonly known as manatee grass. I think it is colloquially called bay grass here in the Lower Keys. |
| My sister was an only child. |
 |
| Submit a post Contact Us |
[Beverly Hills] The Late Great Romanoff’s Luncheon Menu from 1948, check the prices! |
| [“Name that seaweed”] It appears to be needle grass. When the grass rots, it emits a foul odor with names as follows: Bum’s Breath, Eau de Bum, Fragarance de la Boulevard. |
[Transgender] After Mr Clean drank a Bud Light. |
| My Wife, “I’ve noticed that the older I get the more I’m talking to myself.” Me, “I believe that’s fairly common.” My Wife, “I wasn’t talking to you.” |
| |
| The current Coconut Telegraph was published on 5/2/23 at 8:15 am. |