Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Nationally known stunt pilot Fred Cabañas, whose vintage biplanes were a familiar sight over the Florida Keys, reportedly died in a Tuesday afternoon plane crash in Cozamel, Mexico. He was 60.
Photo by Rob O’Neal–The Citizen

[Crooks] Lula Vorick, 57,  wife of City Commissioner Jeff Vorick, is accused of stealing $8,180 from the Ocean Beach Club Hotel & Resort, where she worked as a bookkeeper, according to an arrest warrant.

[The Movies] I remember in the movie Reefer Madness when a cop pulled two kids over in their convertible. The cop rubbed some ash form the car’s ashtray between this thumb and forefinger and pronounced, “Marijuana!” Pretty smart cop for the 1950s.

Liking that Cajun rain gauge, another great use for a “Stock Island bedroom slipper“.

We already have armed uniformed police officers in the schools.  Up to now they were there mostly to keep the super self-esteemed-up sociopathic student bullies off each other and the teachers.

[Sneaky Dealing] Pay attention to the Feb BOCC meeting in Key Largo agenda because it has an item requesting a Comp Plan amendment to allow dredging.  Yes, I kid you not. Dredging – the exact thing we’ve all fought so hard against, and spend so much money on for sea grass and other restorations.

Don’t be confused by the language. The Planning department calls it “re-dredging” but there’s no such thing. There’s 2 kinds of dredging – new and maintenance. There already are rules for both in the Comp Plan. The woman proposing the change has clients who want dredging, but what they want is not in the Comp Plan.  Her approach: No worries, we’ll just change the rules.

It’s a Comp Plan Amendment for only one specific piece of bay bottom — Little Conch Key.  It seems harmless except the woman making the application has many other clients who also want dredging on their locations. So every time she applies for dredging, the county has to do a Comp Plan amendment. It should make her rich from a continuous bunch of separate Comp Plan Amendments for all her different clients who want to dredge.

Adding more to the insult, the Planning Commission voted yes to the Comp Plan amendment, which means the County Growth Management Department is telling the BOCC that we can and should dredge again. And each Planning Commissioner except Werling met privately and separately with the woman, and the private meetings included teleconference calls with agencies (Marine Sanctuary, Army Corps, DEP, DCA) but no recordings of the calls were kept. Nobody except the people in each meeting know what was said. The public was denied the opportunity to see or hear the agencies’ comments.

From now on, every time somebody wants to change the rules so they can do something special, it’s off to the Comp Plan change procedure we go.

Don’t agree with dredging? Don’t agree with a Comp Plan amendment? Tell a BOCC commissioner to please vote no to the request for a Comp Plan Amendment.

In the end, this is about entitlement versus what’s right for our quality of life. 

[Tree Rats] Anyone else noticing an increase in the tree rats this year? Nothing significant has changed in my yard for over fifteen years except that lately I’ve noticed lots of those little palm rats jumping around in the trees at night. They’ve always been there but in small numbers. Now there seems to be a big increase. I’m wondering if, in the past, they were controlled by the corn/rat snakes and the indigo snakes that seem to have degreased in the area and if so, what has happened to the snakes? Something is “off” and I’m not sure what to do about it.

[Gun Nut] A part-time student strode into the office of a longtime administrator at a downtown St. Louis business school Tuesday and shot the man in the chest, creating panic in the school before turning the gun on himself.

[Gun Law] New York state enacted the nation’s toughest gun restrictions Tuesday and the first since the Connecticut school massacre, including an expanded assault weapon ban and background checks for buying ammunition.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the measure into law with supporters hailing it as a model for the nation “Common sense can win,” Cuomo said. “You can overpower the extremists with intelligence and with reason and with common sense.”

Owners of an estimated 1 million previously legal semiautomatic rifles, such as the Bushmaster model used to kill 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., a month ago, will be allowed to keep their weapons but will have a year to register them with police. The sale of any more such weapons is prohibited. In addition to outlawing a broader array of military-style weapons, the measure restricts ammunition magazines to seven rounds, down from the current 10 rounds.

[Angry or Mad] The only time I hear anyone use the word angry is in the movies. In real life we say mad.

Closing all your internet windows before your boss gets to your desk is like trying to get the right key in the door before the killer gets you.

[Gas Grill] I imagine everyone has read and seen what happened to Hanna Storm when she tried lighting her grill. It is a horrifying event. So what was she? Old? Stupid? From NJ? No! When you play with fire, you are going to get burned. Hasn’t anyone seen the gas explosions that have taken place around the country. True, they are different types of events. But they all one thing in common–gas. Heads up everyone!

[Gun Rights Party] OK, we know down here in Key West that we are going to suffer a bit by this, but to myself and my partner and the customers we polled before deciding to do this, people feel the way we do about our rights to own and carry what we feel we need for the protection of our homes, person and business. So details will follow in the next couple of weeks. DADDY BONES is working with a national gun rights group to put together a Saturday afternoon party and BBQ cook off.

Both novice and pro categories will be offered, great live music, and even some items to be raffled. Most of the proceeds will be going to guns rights groups like the NRA. Hopefully, we won’t piss off too many of our loyal customers, but face it, like it or not, guns built this country and guns are here to stay. Anybody that can help should call Daddy Bones at 305-295-RIBS after 4 talk to Mike he is doing all the organizing.  

Looks like that music fest at the Marathon City Park this weekend past was not well attended.

[Gun Shows] My friend on the mainland says gun shows are booming. Buy your unregistered gun from someone’s “private collection” (someone selling 5 guns or less a year) at a gun show here on BPK classifieds or a flea market before its too late. They can’t take a gun away from you they don’t know you have!

[A House is not a Vessel] The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a Florida man’s floating home was a house, not a boat, and not covered under maritime law, in a case that could affect thousands of people around the country who make their home on floating structures in marinas, bays and coves. The high court ruled

Maritime law affects vessels which are “watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.” The key words were “capable of being used”.

I agree with the two judges who dissented, saying anything that floats is a vessel.

I am just about ready to find another internet provider. The one I currently use has been able to set it up so that if I move my cursor one “cute” hair, I get stuck with a 30-40 second car, restaurant or medical commercial. I have had it with their greed and will be moving on.

My Jersey girl is down visiting for a few weeks on BPK. If you happen to see her out and about grazing around town, make sure you say hi.

[Medication Then Murder] It’s no surprise to me when they go off the deep end. We are the most heavily medicated nation in the world. Most of our friends and family are medicated. They all have ‘good’ reasons if you ask them. These are the same folks who are against pot but favor alcohol and pills “because they’re legal”.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy give us the golf commercial of the year. Link 

Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.

If GoDaddy was the culprit, and caused you lots of time and angst maybe Danica Patrick will come visit to soothe all the problems? Naaaah, not gonna happen!

[GoDaddy Hosting] I looked into them a couple years ago to host a site and after a lot of research I firmly decided NoDaddy. Best wishes!

The Iguana Cookbook.  Save Florida. Eat an Iguana. Link

[Mind Reading or Facebook?] Watch this one and then think about it.  You’ll find this, at first amazing, then quite disturbing.  Welcome to the new world of online. Link 

[GoDaddy Bad Hosting]  Drop them and move everything over to HostGator. Way more reliable and superb customer service. 

Gala Wine  and Food Tasting Thursday, 31 January, 7pm at the the Sons And Daughters Of Italy  Key West present a gala wine and food tasting at the Coffee Plantation, 713 Caroline Street, Key West. Enjoy home made Italian hors d’oeuvres and desserts pared with wines from around the world  provided by Opici Wines.   Ticket donation is $25 and available at the door.   All proceeds benefit our local and national charities.   For more information Bulletin Board

[Fred is Dead] Sad, sad day for the Key West Air Force. Fred is dead. I’ll remember our time together with great fondness. Barrel rolls into the sunset, wing-overs til I begged you to stop. You will always be a pilot’s pilot and a dear friend in my heart.  I’m sorry I never told you how much I cared. R.I.P. my brother, you’re flying with the angels now.

Ethanol 1933

[Guns] A link to charts that will make you smarter in the gun debate. Link

Ski goggles with heads-up display, GPS, and more.  I can hit more stuff with full visibility, thanks. Link

[Guns] There are no other rights if you can’t defend them

[More Crooks] Yet another spouse of a city official in the fabulous Florida Keys has been caught with her greasy mitts in someone else’s cookie jar. What is it with these people down here? What will the excuse be this time? Pills? Hormones? It’s greed, the Moron County mascot! Move over Ms. Acevedo, you’re getting company.

[Teen Suicide] Our prayers to the Gilleran family. If there is any investigation, it must include the KW High School bullying aspect of this young man’s life.  And if bullying is determined to be in the slightest way a contributing cause of his suicide, then the KWPD must arrest, and the countyState Attorney must prosecute, to the max, all the students involved in the bullying. Unless of course any of the involved students are Conchs, or best buds with the new State Attorney clan.

Say no to drugs. Then again, if you’re talking to drugs, you’re probably already on drugs.

I watched a good movie last night, Fire With Fire, great cast. Reminded me of myself and what I would do to protect the one I loved. My ex once asked “you used to be my hero”. I never answered that because I had spent six years protecting her from others and herself. My answer now is, “you used to be faithful”. Some people do not deserve the dedication and love of others, they take if for granted. If you have a hero in your life, let them know. Chances are they have done more than you will ever know.  

[Captain Doom and Gloom] “Too many people are walking around medicated, unsupervised”  And posting wimpy crap on this blog. You really want to know how bad this country is, turn off the freaking TV and Radio and listen to the noise!

Fanci Seafood will be helping out at the conch fritter booth at this Saturday’s seafood festival. “Get you fritters. Get them while they’re hot!”

A new gigantic comet is currently approaching Earth. The ISON comet, which is expected to become brighter than the full moon, will be visible to the naked eye by late 2013. Link

[Guns] More than three thousand Americans are killed every month by gunshot  wounds. That is like a 9/11 every month! We went to war to take a stand because of the event on 9/11 that killed our fellow Americans, but  Republicans want us to do nothing about our gun problem? Don’t be fooled. It has nothing to do with tweaking the Second Amendment to fit our changing society, as it has been done many times before. It  has everything to do with money and power.

[TV Watching You] Are consumers ready for television watching back? Chinese manufacturer TCL unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show a new TV and set-top box to be sold later this year in the US using the Google TV platform which recognizes who is watching in order to suggest potential programs. Link 

Lance Armstrong apologized for steroid use? I didn’t think he had the guts to finally come clean!

Florida’s Python Roundup.

[“Problem with mice’ scroll wheel”] How about you go to the Control Panel — Mouse — Wheel tab at top —  Vertical Scroll  —  then up the lines to the max.

[“Does freedom mean we have to arm ourselves just to go to Winn Dixie”] No, freedom means we have the right to arm ourselves and go to Winn Dixie.  

[Guns] Of the people, by the people and for the people. The majority of  Americans, according to every major poll, want to ban assault weapons  and want universal background checks. The GOP want to demand IDs for voting, but don’t seem to care who can have a gun? Go President Obama. The majority of Americans voted for you and want you to listen to the majority of Americans.

Oh FTR, you know as a retired member of the United States Marine Corps I shake my head in disbelief that your mental state is no longer stable. The Kool-Aid in which you consume in copious amounts must make you urinate every 33 seconds. You, as a self admitted, retired Peace Officer, forgot this: On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the constitution and to my community and the agency I serve.

Before any officer takes the Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, it is important that he/she understands what it means. An oath is a solemn pledge someone makes when he/she sincerely intends to do what he/she says. Honor means that one’s word is given as a guarantee. Betray is defined as breaking faith with the public trust. Badge is the symbol of your office. Integrity is being the same person in both private and public life. Character means the qualities that distinguish an individual. Public trust is a charge of duty imposed in faith toward those you serve. Courage is having the strength to withstand unethical pressure, fear or danger. Accountability means that you are answerable and responsible to your oath of office. Community is the jurisdiction and citizens served.

Do you remember this? You have some serious issues with character, courage and honor. The rest I’m not sure about with you. For myself I have never forgotten my leadership and character traits as defined by my oath as a member of the United States Marine Corps.

As I read yesterdays post by you I knew I had to say something. You can’t stop drinking that Kool-Aid can you? Just can’t do it can you?
“..the depths of the OBAMA recession…” This old jarhead knows damn well the ‘recession’ belongs to the U.S. and it’s called the The Great Recession, (the Lesser Depression, Long Recession, or the Global recession of 2009),and is a marked global economic decline that began in December 2007 and took a particularly sharp downward turn in September 2008.(Courtesy Wikipedia) 

Notice the dates FTR, President Obama (and that’s where my integrity, respect, character and honor surpass yours by a long shot) had not yet even been elected to office but you just couldn’t resist calling it what you did. Classic Tea Party Kool-Aid and geriatric GOP paranoia with a splash of racism for flavor!

Your kind of ‘discussion’ is what is destroying this country. Your kind of division, lack of respect, contempt and dishonesty. Grow a pair. Call the President of the United States by his/her title. Have a little respect for those you ‘disagree’ with. One can disagree about many things but for you to disrespect openly here on the internet as you do, the role model you present is not much higher than the thugs you rail about so much.

On top of that you slammed that poster with this classic line: “..or had availed herself of the wonders of modern day contraception, she would avoid pregnancy.”
Uh, FTR, I’m not a spring chicken but my mind still works rather clearly. You claim to be a card carrying Republican or is it a card carrying Tea Party nut or so I surmised or read your post that fact many times. Please correct me if I am wrong as my integrity is extremely important to me. But I must ask you, why do you slam someone with a method you, yourself, and your ‘party’ have tried very hard to rid this country of? It’s a little too much in the way of hypocrisy. Hypocritical to the point of absurdity.

I’m a former Republican, now Independent, of mind, body, political party and thought.

On this date in 1786, Thomas Jefferson‘s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom passed. The preamble is a sweeping indictment of state-dictated religion, noting that “false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time” have been maintained through the church-state. “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical . . . our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry. . .” The heart of the Statute has been replicated in differing versions in most state constitutions (see quote below). So important was this Statute to Jefferson that he gave these instructions for the epitaph to be placed on his tombstone: “Thomas Jefferson/Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom & Father of the University of Virginia.” Omitting his two terms as president, Jefferson wrote these were the “testimonials that I have lived and by which I wish most to be remembered.”

“That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief: but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil 
capacities.”

[High Dudgeon] Man, can FTR use a term more? Maybe “high dudgeon” should be his catchphrase. Not as cool a catchphrase as, Arnold Jackson’s “What’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” But, coolness is not in FTR’s wheelhouse. Here’s some quotes from the past year or so, thanks to Google. (And I’m not even counting the times he uses the phrase when he writes in to the Citizen’s Voice.)

“While the media and the liberals among us are in high dudgeon to emasculate the Second Amendment…” -Yesterday
“The Chicago dicta is in high dudgeon…” -Dec 20, 2012
“Obama, in high dudgeon, spoke in support of Ambassador Rice” -Nov 15, 2012
“Some folks are in high dudgeon about Romney and his tenure at Bain Capital.” July 19, 2012
“Yesterday a poster was in high dudgeon over my analysis of a poll…” -March 6, 2012
“Mr. Obama’s acolytes are in high dudgeon with their false claim that Gov. Perry…” -Dec 16, 2011
“And yet not a one of them can rationally tell us why the name Palin triggers their high dudgeon.” -June 7, 2011

FROM THE RIGHT

A Washington politico hit the nail right on the head in the following speech that he gave on the floor of the Senate. You should read it, it is inspiring. It part, it says: “The fact that we are here to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies…. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

The speaker went on to say that just the interest alone that we’ll pay on our debt is more than we’ll spend for homeland security, veterans benefits, education, and transportation combined. At that time our national debt was about 1/2 of what it is now. You can read the entire speech at Link 

The speaker was Senator Barak Obama.  Ask yourself why repeated geometric increases our national debt is in the national interest.  On this issue, Obama had it right in ’06, but he has it dead wrong in 2013. I trust that you’ve noted that Obama refuses to cut spending, and in fact is demanding that we increase spending. Certainly by now you know that Obama is demanding raising our debt limit. Yet, he refuses to even consider cutting spending. That, Deer Friends is a perfect recipe for fiscal calamity that will dwarf our current Obama fiscal malaise.

Part 2) Is there anyone out there who can actually believe that the Obama administration is not on the very cusp of imposing broad new restrictions on the private ownership of firearms and allied products?  I expect that you will learn of Obama’s plan today.  It is particularly disturbing that he threatens to ignore the legislative branch of our government, and to unilaterally impose his own restrictions.  Deer Friends, each and every day Mr. Obama is looking more and more like a tyrant. Mr. Obama has repeatedly placed his edicts above the law, doubt me? Just ask.

[Mice Problems] In my opinion Logitech makes the best mice. Perhaps the one you had was old, try the M325 at OfficeMax. It’s wireless laser, contoured/two button with a very fast spinning scroll wheel and has a small low profile wireless USB plug that remains in the computer. The included replaceable battery lasts 18 months on a charge, auto shut off to conserve power. It’s really sweet and requires no software to be installed. Also it’s quite tough we played catch with it.

What might be really causing your slow scroll issue is either a hardware or software problem, or using the wrong browser.

Many computers today are coming with only integrated CPU graphics which responds poorly to high graphic demands as it also has to do other things as well. Integrated graphics are included in all Intel processors and likely all AMD processors now. Increasing the RAM can help these machines a bit.

Some computers do come also with extra dedicated graphics for more intensive graphics, 3D, games, media PC’s etc., tends to last longer than machines with only integrated graphics. There is switching technology that senses if you need it and kicks it on. But using it drains more power from the laptop battery. But some machines one can turn on the dedicated graphics to be used all the time, this increases the display rendering performance speed. If it’s a desktop tower and the graphics card can be upgraded along with the RAM.

Some machines don’t have enough Random Access Memory (RAM), which works with the integrated graphics/processor (CPU) to store more information in the faster RAM memory than buffering it to a slower hard drive. This is usually easy to upgrade, the minimal amount recommended now is 4GB, preferably 8GB for performance needs. I have 16GB, but then I run three operating systems at once and they all scroll web pages very fast. 😉

Next your router and leachers, if it’s not Wireless N and running WPA2(AES) with a decently long password, it’s likely compromised, being used by neighbors and that could be slowing down your web page rendering.

Also your connection to the Internet has to be looked at, if it’s AT&T U-verse with TV and everything else going over it’s slow telephone line, then that could to blame. It’s only 15Gb down I believe. Comcast internet is extremely fast at about 25Gb down.

If your computer hardware is pretty recent, you might be having a software issue. Anything from malware, PC vendor installed crapware, too many programs/processes running at once, background anti-virus software running (especially two or more), too full of a boot drive, fragmented/deoptimized hard drive, upgraded the operating system on a older machine etc., could be causing your slowdowns. 

A nice backup of files off the machine and a wipe and install of the operating system does wonders for many software problems, also it puts all the essential data up on the faster portion of the hard drive. 

A good rule of thumb is never fill your hard drive more than half as performance starts to take it’s toll after that and gets worse as it gets filled. SSD’s coming on newer machines are really fast and don’t require defragmenting, problem is you can’t securely erase the data on them, but you can fill 50% of the remaining space, erase it, then fill 50% remaining space again and that should overwrite the unwanted data residue.

Lastly is your choice of browsers, Chrome and Firefox are considered neck and neck for speed performance on Windows, then IE, then Opera and Safari for Windows is dead last (and shouldn’t be used). On OS X it’s Apple’s Safari first for speed because Apple gives it some hidden boost, then it’s Firefox/Chrome next. Firefox has a tweak ability to make it 10x faster, because it opens 30 pipes to any website to download it lightning quick on broadband connections. So basically Firefox is the fastest browser, provided you tweak it.

If you don’t know how to backup personal data, wipe and install the OS, upgrade/update it and programs, use PCDecrapifier, then opt for a local PC repair professional who is a performance freak, they can remove the PC vendor installed crapware and tweak the hardware with more RAM or the OS with slightly less eye candy for better performance. Get a quote after they looked at your machine, you might be better off just doing data recovery and buying a new machine (I recommend Windows 7, not 8), but learn about computers performance because usually cheap PC’s get slow in a short time.

I suggest using cpubenchmark.net for hardware performance specs.

So basically with computers, all aspects have to be fast. Just a fast mouse won’t cut it as there are other factors involved.