Letters to the editor with pictures since 2002. Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.
[Your Vote Counts] The Monroe County Supervisor of Election has drop boxes with a paid box watcher to ensure the safety of the box. Drop boxes are available at each of the Supervisor of Elections offices now from 8:30 am. to 5 pm. Monday through Friday. The offices are located at 530 Whitehead St. in Key West, 10015 Overseas Highway in Marathon and 102050 Overseas Highway in Key Largo. The Big Pine Key Community Park and Islamorada Branch Library at Mile Marker 81.7 will have drop boxes during early voting from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 19 through Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. including the two Saturdays and one Sunday. |
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| [Hannibal is Coming] The people were terrified. Bad omens were all around. Two shields, it was said, in a certain camp, sweated blood. Some people were reaping, and bloody ears of grain fell into the basket. Some streams and fountains became bloody and, in one place in the country, some goats turned into sheep and a hen became a cock. There were other things reported to the senate which must have originated almost wholly in the imaginations and fears of the observers. These omens were formally reported to the Roman senate, and a solemn debate was held on the question what should be done to avert the supernatural influences of evil which the omens expressed. The senate decided to have three days of expiation and sacrifice, during which time the whole people of Rome devoted themselves to religious observances and sacrifice. Hannibal never attacked the city! |
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| [Bogy Man] Every culture has a bogy man (not to be confused with ZZ Tops’ boogie men). All cultures have the devil or its equivalent. Everyone is afraid of the dark. Also, all cultures have recreational drugs. |
[Baked Potatoes] I’ve always been told that you had to prick potatoes with a fork to let out steam while baking so they don’t explode. I didn’t prick it last night, so now I’m a believer! |
| [Plastic Bags] While I am sympathetic to the point of view of being disgusted with litterbugs I ALSO find issue with the politicians and industries who maintain the “status quo” by shooting down bottle and bag deposits/supporting the culture that single use/single portion products that can last hundreds of years have a place in modern society. I wrote this a while back based on my decades of cleanups in the Florida Keys: ” When I cleanup our Lower Keys roadsides, it is often the bright and shiny new litter that first gets my attention. Then, when I remove the shiny piece, I often find a not so new and shiny older piece of litter under the new litter. And when I pick up the not so new and shiny litter that was under the new and shiny litter, I find even older litter underneath that! |
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| [Monroe County Property Search] Type an address and see who owns what. Link |
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Mosquito food pyramid. |
[Free Dolphins] Admission to the Dolphin Research Center is free for locals until October 15. Save $28. |
| [Relativity] Einstein’s famous tongue-in-cheek description of relativity: Time moves a lot faster when you’re sitting with a pretty girl than when you’re sitting on a hot stove. |
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| [Conspiracy Theory] Writing the words L’Empereur Napoléon in numbers, it appears that the sum of them is 666, and that Napoleon was therefore the beast foretold in the Apocalypse. Moreover, by applying the same system to the words quarante-deux, which was the term allowed to the beast that “spoke great things and blasphemies,” the same number 666 was obtained; from which it followed that the limit fixed for Napoleon’s power had come. ~Tolstoy |
[Messing With Mother Nature] Release of 750 million mosquitos in Florida by really dumb people. Just look at the good luck we’ve had with these non-natives like Killer Bees, Cane toad, Fireweed, Kudzu, the Manmade Aquarium Plant, Burmese python, Snakehead fish, Common rabbit, Nile perch, Australian Pines, Black rat, Asian tiger mosquito, Whiteflies, Asian longhorned beetle, and Iguanas. Link |
| Describe yourself in three words: Lazy |
[Fire House Plants] Whose brother-in-law got this job? The robin’s egg blue firehouse on Cudjoe Key was “landscaped” this week. Hundreds of plants that will grow and fill in every bit of space. Doesn’t seem practical or pleasing. |
| [102 Pound Snake] Two snake hunters have captured the largest python recorded in Florida history. Kevin “Snakeaholic” Pavlidis and Ryan Ausburn caught the almost 19-foot Burmese python in the Florida Everglades. Pavlidis is an alligator wrestler at Everglades Holiday Park and a python contractor with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). Ausburn is also a python contractor with the state. They captured the snake on Oct. 2, and after measurements were completed, FWC confirmed it was the largest on record. State officials say the 19’ snake was a female that weighed 102 lbs. Link |
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| [Wearing Masks] I’d like to know the percentages of Republican Covid-positives vs Democrat-positives; although a lot of anti-maskers are politically neutral. |
[Hugs] When do we get to hug again? |
| So you want the cruise ships back, eh? You want their money or their lives? Coronavirus cruise ships and companies’ updates. Link |
Community Peace Park in Key West in Key West started with just a peace bell (blue bell is to the left) and a bench all through the efforts of Jeannie, the West Martello gardeners have developed it into a more beautiful place of repose. Stop by and ring the bell for peace! |
| Brutal, elite government police departments only work for so long. They are the scary people, without guilt, who can kill in cold blood in the name of their version of patriotism. People like G. Gordon Liddy will do anything in the name of patriotism, never thinking about the consequences or the irony that their “patriotism” is for a country that protects the weak and innocent and is steeped in truth and justice and the rule of law. If a government needs a secret cold-blooded force like those to stay in power, that government is doomed and should be changed. Repression always benefits those seeking freedom. Don’t ever let go of your guns. |
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