Tuesday, May 30, 2017

I backed my truck to the tires on the latest version of Blimp’s ramp, and my shallow draft boat would not float off the trailer at a low tide situation. My trailer has been modified to launch in a minimum of water. The axle was moved above the springs, the bunks lowered to barely keep the boat off the trailer steel, and I have little 12″ wheels. I watched as a flat-bottomed Carolina Skiff launched. The driver backed the truck until the rear wheels and brakes were partially underwater, then 5 people lifted and pushed on the bow to get the boat off. A runabout did the same thing, with the addition of body weight on the stern to help lift the bow. They had decided that loading would be easier with a higher tide. Maybe so?

I accelerated in reverse and slammed on the brakes as my tires neared the water to get the boat partially off the trailer, then lurched forward, eased back, lurched forward until my boat floated. I returned at high tide, but the situation was not much improved. Just more of the ramp was covered. But since the slope is uniform, more trailer was not under water. It was 100% winching and 0% floating on. The bow had to be winched over the back end of the trailer.

The right way to have built this ramp would have been to set the new concrete into the natural bottom profile instead of setting it on top. A Cudjoe sewer engineer must have been involved? He’s not a real rocket scientist, eh? The ramp still works for kayaks that can be carried or dragged into the water. Maybe that was the intent all along.

[“Civil War”] To the poster who keeps bringing up specious arguments about the cause of the Civil War. It does not matter that you keep coming up with, “what about this? or how about that?” You cannot change the facts. The Civil War was fought for the end of and eradication of slavery. Tara and Seven Oaks plantations were beautiful on screen but they never existed.

How ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ shaped a musical era. Video

[Marijuana] It seems as though our society is against legal pot because it makes you feel good (it’s also natural). They are about to legalize medical pot because it doesn’t make you feel good. Meanwhile anyone can go to their family doctor and get any variety of pills that make them feel good. I don’t get it.

[Muslims & Mirrors

~ General Gordon under siege at Khartoum 1887

And you think you have problems!

More likely and certainly more believable, the war was fought for the same reason all wars are fought – resources. The south had cotton, it was the industrial revolution and the north needed cotton.  The north also needed jobs for their 22 million and growing population.  Given the power the north had in Congress, due to their more than double population over the south, they restricted the south from selling their cotton and other natural resources outside the US, effectively seizing control of the south’s economy. As a result, many of the southern states seceded from the union. The war was fought to keep control over the southern states and their resources.  But it sounds so much better to say that almost one million people lost their lives for humanitarian reasons

[Dive Shops] I find it odd that there is only one dive shop on Big Pine, the closest key to the reef.

Are the Russians here yet? They have been coming since our President took office. Classic comedy, “The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!” A Russian submarine runs aground near a small New England town, and it’s up to Lt. Rozanov (Alan Arkin) as the Russians’ second-in-command to covertly secure a towboat to avoid an international confrontation. When he hooks up with residents such as Walt Whittaker (Carl Reiner) and the police chief (Brian Keith), all hell breaks loose. This classic comedy earned three Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. (…continued on the National Politics page)

Another normal day at the secret headquarters of the Coconut Telegraph.

[Friday, June 24, 2017] Deer Ed, What calendar are you using? (Ed: Oops! Thanks for letting me know, I changed it. I’m glad someone still has a brain.)

[1836 Key West Shaming] A man was put in the pillory for one hour for larceny.

[Memorial Day] Being a veteran, I feel I must say that that the lack of flags flown on Monday really made my heart sink.

[Retail Closures] How can a store stay open when people come there only to examine the merchandise. They then go home and buy the item online at a much cheaper price.

HDPE starts out flexible and seemingly indestructible, but the plasticizer chemical leaches out into water or off-gasses, leaving behind a brittle material. The molecular structure is actually crystalline and this material is subject to suddenly snapping once the plasticizer has been reduced. The Plastic Pipe Institute is an industry promoter of their member manufacturers’ products, so you need to give their marketing advice and information the credibility it deserves (not much). That’s where FKAA got its HDPE defense information. Instead, read what the Concrete Pipe Manufacturers Association has found where HDPE has been used for storm drains and culverts. Read what the manufacturers of ductile iron pipe reveal about HDPE reliability. Notice that the bridge crossings use iron pipe instead of HDPE for sewers (unless encased in steel or iron pipe)? Did you realize that even the 16″ HDPE pipe pulled under Niles Channel was found to be leaking during the initial test but was allowed to remain? That’s raw sewage, folks, not septic tank effluent, and it is being injected under pressure into the fractured and porous rock under Nilke Channel, day and night. Even the Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association says that a leaking welded joint HDPE pipe must be rejected due to the likelihood of future catastrophic failure. FKAA used an inappropriate testing protocol to be used so as to find the leakage acceptable, but the leakage was personally witnessed by the design engineer and documented. That channel crossing cost almost $5 million. That sewer forcemain pipe is not encased within another pipe as was originally specified, so replacement means starting all over again

To many Americans, Memorial Day has lost its meaning. Link

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office couldn’t identify any policies guiding its use of facial recognition software–and that’s the problem.

[Ethnic Dancing Reflects Culture] Ethnic dancing is truly a fascinating reflection of the diversity that is to be found between various cultures. Take for example this dance couple from Venezuela, engaged in sinewy, sultry, steamy, sexy movements. It’s their culture. Of course it differs, somewhat, from that of the couple from Saudi Arabia.

The developers of the Summerland Key project at the old shrimp farm are now looking at changing the project, which could bring the number of units down to 118.

Developers always start big and later reduce the number of units and the community thinks it won.

[War On Drugs] The Philippines are doing it right by using martial law to cull the bad guys once and for all. It’s called cleaning the swamp! Link

I cannot fathom that its 2017 and there are still people who think the HIV virus is transmitted via a mosquito. Where do these ignorants come from? a cave in lower Alabama?