SO WHATS THE REAL STORY IN FLORIDA?
Florida is a great state to live in. It has sun, beaches, attractions, unique food, great entertainment, no state tax, slower in style than the north, flip flops the official state footwear, a casual nature, great parks, recreation, boating, fishing and camping, music, culture, museums and yes, we have NASCAR.
NASCAR, a circuitous mass traffic jam of up to 43 vehicles generally screaming and crashing around on an oval track sometimes exceeding 200 miles an hour, some 45 miles an hour faster than my last airplane. Piloted by celebrity excitable nomex suited warriors who occasionally lose their cool and throw things like helmets and punches at each other when ramming doesn’t work.
BUT there are many issues they don’t tell you about. My mission is to clue you in about people things in Florida. I love it here in-spite of everything thats wrong. Nature you live with, people problems you try to work out. Occasionally they get swapped.
It has problems like all states do with the economy, crime, one of the most corrupt bought sold and paid for political structure in the US, poor infrastructure growth, some indigent people, a huge drug problem and so forth.
We are a state with lots of older white guys as it was explained in the press who by a small margin re-elected a Governor who was charged in Federal court as GUILTY because as the President of his company HCA they had embezzled 1.7 billion dollars from Medicare and still gets elected in probably the largest Medicare state.
He should of gone to jail for the claims people did not get cared for but were billed. If this was China he would be dead now. It was hit the hardest during the Bush Recession, thats my name for it, telling it what it really was.
Housing went really south, the expressions, "upside down, under water” literally meant it. Any further south than the Florida Strait’s is nothing but ocean till you hit Cuba. “Under water" means a house whose value is lower than what its worth was at one time.
Then there is the thirty to thirty-five thousand jobs we lost here in our small county alone, 10,000 empty condos built on greed, the fast buck deals that lie empty, thanks to the incredible financial prowess and accountability of the Congress during the Bush Administration years. They are coming back but many commercial properties and homes being bought by those from South America and the Orient.
Even NASCAR, one of our favorite adorations was struggling. It’s doing well now. Is there anything else we should know. Yes, on the financial side of things only the highest national Hurricane Damage insurance and Property Taxes in the nation. This leads to a high rate of foreclosure and personal bankruptcy's are on the rise. Many folks have lost their homes.
THE REST OF THE STORY
DRUGS LEGAL, DRUGS ILLEGAL
High risks from falling drug traffickers. You are more likely to get hit with a 74-100 lb. bag of weed tossed from an airplane than a Gator bite. Especially, just north west or south west of the glades. Thank goodness for the real incredible hero’s of the Coast Guard and the combined FEDERAL, STATE and LOCAL Florida Drug enforcement agencies who battle this scourge on a daily basis. Less than twenty miles from where I live they made a two million dollar Heroin bust a few days ago. (2013) But we had a unique drug problem, a quasi legal looking real drug problem called pill mills.
The pill mill epidemic was a nationwide problem in 2010, driven by doctors who would write prescriptions and sell drugs out of clinics they owned themselves. Florida’s lax laws gave the Sunshine State a reputation for easy access to the drug, so much so that billboards advertised to "narco tourists" buyers from out of state who would come to Florida to buy the drug. With more than 1,000 pain clinics in operation across the state, Florida became known as the "Oxy Express.”
IN 2011 law that increased penalties for doctors who abused prescription privileges, banned them from prescribing drugs like oxycodone and strengthened state regulatory power over prescription pill trafficking. "In 2010, 98 of the top 100 oxycodone pill dispensing physicians nationally resided in Florida," the report read. "In 2011, after the passage of HB 7095, only 13 of the top 100 resided in Florida, and by the end of 2012, not one Florida doctor appeared on the top 100 list.” The report, which used figures that also were widely reported by the media, cited U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration data accessed January 2013.
When the Florida law changed, it prevented physicians from dispensing pills out of their clinics. Some physicians are still allowed to buy hydrocodone in large quantities, emergency room personnel, but private doctors could no longer buy the drug and sell it on their own. That’s not to say pill mills weren’t a problem, or that the 2011 law didn’t make a difference. By the time HB 7095 was enacted, it was estimated as many as 11 people per day were dying from prescription drug abuse. From 2010 to 2012, overdose deaths from prescription drugs, illicit drugs and alcohol dropped nearly 17 percent Overall prescription drug fatalities fell 23%, and about 52 %t of that decrease was in deaths from oxycodone.
HURRICANES
Once again the brunt of the storm wormed and turned it's way around the Bay of Tampa. We have missed the last ten mild and severe storms thankfully. One circumvented the state and went to New Orleans, Katrina. Since my condo is six stories up, I do not fear the flooding. If it gets that high I’ll need to put a call into Noah.
It's a site-cast total concrete building with lots of rebar and built strong with bullet level plastic safety coated windows. It’s on a golf course surrounded with lakes and ponds galore, really an Island accessible by a forty foot bridge and SWIFTMUD who is our water management is behind the power curve on dredging thus, a good flood could happen. With food, water, enough propane, and a natural barrier to keep thieves out, it’s doable.
My garage on the surface level has an elevated platform with Gorilla Brand nuclear rated shelves with cases of canned food and water six feet off the floor. It if gets that high the Canoe comes out. We keep a propane stove, propane lights, and reserves, water and canned foods, back up batteries for all the radios and and ample supply of Budweiser, C- Rations, Ramen noodles in four flavors, Cheezo’s, Peanut Butter, Crackers, and Martini Mix and a small Honda generator. After I put this collection together easily keeping me warm and dry, no hurricanes, rain nothing else.
PUBLIC SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
For those who have not taken advantage of the tons of public safety information available, here are the basics from the local advisory and stock up on those necessities, the FEMA folks usually distribute Ice and water. Oh, the ice is for the beer.
Get on the "A" List for a good Hurricane party.
Dress appropriately, flip flops, big-fish patterned shirts and shorts for the men, no underwear.
For the girls, halters, tops optional and really short shorts or bikini bottoms and thongs.
Study the words to "Margaritaville" for the sing-along's.
Fill vehicle gas tank with gas, it displaces water, fill self with Vodka, it displaces fear.
Not a bad idea to have something for home defense and protection. Things get crazy during evacuations and crazier when supplies get low. Baseball bats are Ok, if you read the whole story on Katrina you would understand. But a .380/.40 cal Glock and a Remington 870 all good.
Get cash and secure papers and valuables and store in safe place, computers might not take credit cards during the building break-ins.
Refill medications and make sure you have the bathroom basics, band-aids, toilet paper, Alka seltzer, PROZAC, Viagra, Medicinal Brandy and Duck tape.
Fill containers and tubs with water, even if evacuating – you may need the water when you return, fill one container with Brandy or at least good Vodka (2 liter min) floating in large pieces of ice if this goes more than a few days. Your windows, if not safety glass, at least cover them with DUCK TAPE to prevent flying shards. (Remember we are the State for Shards and Chads.)
MOST IMPORTANT
Be sure to help neighbors with their preparations. They won’t listen anyway proclaiming, “ride this one out”. SURE, you will, remember how helpful they were to you during the last hurricane. HINT: CYOA - Cover your own ass, even the LORD said do not covert thy neighbors ass. Sit back and watch, Enjoy natures way of getting even and leveling the land again after we screwed up her previous work.
DON'T TOUCH PLANTS
Plants and some botanicals should be avoided in our state. The usual culprits such as Poison Ivy, Poison Oak live alongside others with names such as (Latin) Abrus Precatorius, Alamanda Cathartica, Nerium Oleandor, Philodendron Selloum.
While some require ingesting to do harm, the contact sports type like the IVY and OAK, do come in contact with pets that we don't control at all times. Dogs can read "POISON IVY" signs. The most dangerous plant of all is POTUS AMERICANUS, or the "five fingered feel good plant" in conjunction with a heavy and fast automobile. NOTE: More than a few ounces and you're a dealer and get to share bed-e-by stories with some of the local farmers like Bubba and Jethro.
EARTHQUAKE
Besides hurricanes, we have tornadoes, waterspouts and our newest phenomena, the earthquake. Didn't think California and Turkey had the edge. We get earthquakes emanating from the Gulf. Funny the last one we had emanated from the center of the Gulf. Almost the same location that the meteor that caused the extinction of the Dinosaurs (no no no, please evangelicals, they were not killed off by the cavemen, that was 200 million years later) but if you need a theory for conspiratorialists, just tell them you think it’s Godzilla.
INFART-SRUCTURE
Since our state has adapted the low bid policy, the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Daytona and the I-75 highway from say Sarasota to the Georgia border might get completed one day. Maybe 2018. In forty years I have never been able to go from one place to another using those highways without numerous construction delays to improve the job botched previously.
Fellows, please consider another inch thicker asphalt and it might last a year longer. Low bids? Nah, good lobbyists. Both the Selmon Expressway and the Clearwater Beach Bridge had construction failures costing a lot before the first car crossed over.
SINKHOLES
What's a sinkhole? well it's NOT the hole in the middle of your sink that the water goes down. It's an underground cavern that during the dry and wet spells in the state tend to collapse on occasion. Totally unpredictable and ranging in size from a Ford 150 pickup to a 3200 square foot house. Sinkholes add an aura of concern around the purchase of a new home as it might NOT be covered in your homeowners policy. In that case your bank account might be a stink hole from the sinkhole.
ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Like all the help in Katrina...no comment. A massive foo-pah in straightening the St. Johns River years back now calls for a massive un-straightening of the St. John's River to restore the ecology it has ruined.
Namely the river, the water, the sedentary ability for water purification and wholesale environment destruction. The waste alone from the Orlando area is a matter of concern. Millions of people in a congested area, congested all the year round produce a lot of effluent. Thats a lot of poop to process and look what it has done to the hat business!
BOMB RANGE (LA BOMBA)
We also have a unique situation as much of our state has been used as a bombing range so every once in a while, a nice hand Grenade winds up at a garage sale or a WWII 500 LB bomb, probably the same vintage as used in IRAQ washes up on a our beaches. Just recently fishermen found an air to air test missile in their nets.
OUR DOCTORS
Medical care at one of our hospitals can be just as dangerous. Some of our doctors cut off more wrong limbs than all the Gator attacks this year. The solution: Use an indelible magic marker and the DR's sign off on the part removed. Phrases like "DO NOT REMOVE", "DO NOT CUT BELOW THIS LINE" and "NOT THE MIDDLE ONE" are very common. On the other hand there are cases of Doctors not being Doctors practicing here. Many cases... including a witch or two practicing Voodoo. Must be popular, Sara Palin had her Voodoo doctor protect her against curses and spells. Thus we know they are there.
DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM (JAWS)
The Sharks did a fair job on the East coast this year, though Tampa Bay is known for it's variety and density of sharks who like to bear young in the surf at night along the beaches. Add some excitement to your sundown leisurely swim. This year might set a record on the East Coast for attacks. Share the water fellows, share! Want to swim as fast as Phelps, make friends with a shark!
St. PETERSBURG TIMES - World-renowned shark expert George Burgess, keeper of the International Shark Attack File, is used to getting silly questions about the ocean's most fearsome predator. "Are sharks out to get you?" is among the most common, he said. "The short answer is 'No.' " The 64-year-old University of Florida professor is co-author of a new book, Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide, which contains a trove of great information for sharkophiles. "There are more than 400 species of shark but only a select few have been implicated in attacks," he said.
"But another way you can look at it is this: Any shark that can get to be 6 feet or longer can be considered dangerous." Burgess said he receives many inquiries about great white sharks. "They are identified in many shark attacks because they occur in areas where they are the only species," he said. "But if you are looking for the most common 'grabber' in Florida, that would be the blacktip shark.''
The species most often implicated in attacks are the bull and blacktip sharks (each with 20 percent) and the spinner (with 16 percent). If you were to pick a "Shark Attack Central" for Florida, it would be Volusia County on the east coast, for one reason: It has the best surf breaks. Spots such as New Smyrna and Ponce Inlets are revered by the state's wave riders.
"People also want to know if there are more sharks now than there were before," he said. "The fact of the matter is there are a lot more people going in the water and that means there is more of a chance for an encounter, more of a chance to see a shark.
The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins. Most individuals have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. It usually attains a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).
Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish. Their demeanor has been described as "timid" compared to other large requiem sharks. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size. Like other members of its family, the blacktip shark is viviparous; females bear 1–10 pups every other year. Young blacktip sharks spend the first months of their lives in shallow nurseries, and grown females will return to the nurseries where they were born to give birth themselves. In the absence of males, females are also capable of asexual reproduction. Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people. This species is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used. It has been assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on the basis of its low reproductive rate and high value to fishers.
JET SKI'S
More dangerous than the Sharks were some of the two-legged knuckle dragging anthropoids who drove high powered speed boats (basically not good for anything else) at 60-70 MPH in congested areas while partying with spirit. Actually, too much spirits were at the party.
Then the other kind of leisure water craft, namely those water borne Evil Knievel machines; the Jet ski's. You probably weren't aware some of those water-borne motorcycles may have as much as or more than 215HP for power as in the RXT by Sea Doo. That's more than a Honda, Saturn or PT Cruiser automobile.
Photo Credit:
Water safety is important in Florida as shown in this wonderful shot of the Sea World skiers doing their version of the Michael Jackson Moon Walk on water. And we thought they were trying to replace methane in the ozone layer.
Needless to say we are proud to announce the Jet Ski group has propelled Florida into the top three states for Marine Accidents and Fatalities. Well done fellow's! Yet the license law looking for 18 or over to operate a vessel, an operators license for marine use, a qualification marine test, written or other has never passed in this state. Lobbyists again… you see good accidents make work for good attorneys. The lobbyists are just protecting their surf….err turf. This must drive the United States Coast Guard and the various Sheriffs Departments bonkers.
RED TIDE
Another treat in Florida's West Coast is RED TIDE no not a new name for the Russian Navies latest sub. No, not a football team, that was the Crimson tide. It's a water borne blossom of Red Algae that kills fish, turtles, and other water species resulting in an odiferous STENCH on the beaches. Some years it took bulldozers to haul the dead fish landfill fodder away. Even employees at the counties landfill thought the fish smell was too much!
Red tides in the Gulf of Mexico are a result of high concentrations of Karenia brevis, a microscopic marine algae that occurs naturally but normally in lower concentrations. In high concentrations, its toxin paralyzes the central nervous system of fish so they cannot breathe. Dead fish wash up on Mexican gulf beaches. Dense concentrations appear as discolored water, often reddish in color. It is a natural phenomenon, but the exact cause or combination of factors that result in a red tide outbreak are unknown.
Red tide causes economic harm and for this reason red tide outbreaks are carefully monitored. For example, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission provides an up-to-date status report on the red tide in Florida. Texas also provides a current status report.
Red tide is also potentially harmful to human health. Humans can become seriously ill from eating oysters and other shellfish contaminated with red tide toxin. Karenia brevis blooms can potentially cause eye and respiratory irritation (coughing, sneezing, tearing, and itching) to beachgoers, boaters and coastal residents. People with severe or persistent respiratory conditions (such as chronic lung disease or asthma) may experience stronger adverse reactions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Ocean Service provides a public conditions report identifying possible respiratory irritation impacts in areas affected by red tides.
RABIES
And Rabies amongst our raccoons is on the upswing though we have air-poisoned them with pellets for two years now. Cute and cuddly, rabies shots are no fun. There are few public health threats as concerning as the spread of rabies. A bite or scratch from an infected animal can spread this deadly viral disease from animal to animal or animal to person.
The most common carriers of rabies in Florida are coyotes, bats, foxes and most frequently raccoons. Diseased animals may behave differently than healthy ones. They may stagger, behave aggressively, be out at times of the day when they wouldn’t normally, nocturnal raccoons active during the day and may salivate excessively or "foam at the mouth.”
Again a bite or scratch from an infected animal can spread this deadly viral disease from animal to animal or animal to person. If you capture or trap one DO NOT relocate raccoons; it is against the law in most Florida Counties. Relocating a raccoon is illegal and leads to fighting among raccoons and the spread of disease.
Since rabies is such a dangerous disease, the most important way to protect yourself and your pets is to prevention of contact with rabies. Also, keep your pet’s rabies vaccinations current (dogs, cats, ferrets, sheep, horses and cattle).
COMMON SENSE
Do not feed or interact with wildlife or strays.
Do not leave out food outdoors for pets or wildlife.
Comply with leash laws.
Report animal bites or scratches to Animal Services.
Make sure your pet gets and wears their rabies vaccination tags.
They should also wear a tag with their name and your address and phone number, and microchip your pet to insure his/her records can be found. Keep your pets under direct supervision incase they encounter strays or wild animals.
Keep them in a fenced yard or on a leash.
If a stray or wild animal bites your pet, seek veterinary assistance for your pet immediately.
Never adopt wild animals or bring them into your home.
Do not try to nurse sick animals to health.
Call Animal Services or an animal rescue agency for assistance.
Teach children never to handle unfamiliar animals, wild or domestic, even if they appear friendly.
LIGHTNING and TAMPA BAY
We get so much, we named our one-time Stanley Cup Hockey Team after it, unfortunately they kind of short circuited and grounded out the next year. Lightning is as much a part of the Tampa canvas as manatees and strip clubs. It tears through sky on an average of 100 days a year. It singes and burns, injures and even kills. Florida is a contender for the Lightning Capitol of the world and Tampa Bay is the Capitol of the Capitol.
We average more lightning strikes per hour than anywhere else in the world. Enough that we have a Lightning Research Lab at the University of Florida. The last class reported shocking information about the intensity of strikes and as soon as they get out of the hospital, we'll hear more about it.
And it leads us to a bold assertion: "Tampa is known, as all of you know, as the lightning capital of the country," It's an association ingrained into the soul of the city. But, the claim of national storm superiority might be a little overzealous,as the state leads the nation in lightning-related fatalities. But calling Tampa the lightning capital of the United States, or North America, or, as some have said, the world, just isn't true.
Houston is a hot spot, and so is the arc from North Carolina to New Orleans. New England. The Rocky Mountains. The amount of lightning activity a region or city sees changes every year, depending on a whole host of factors. One defining term would be the most cloud-to-ground lightning strikes another is thunderstorm days. Some strikes pack more of a punch, or multiple punches known as strokes — the parts of the bolt that fragment off, documented in iconic photos. A single strike could carry as many as 15 strokes, adding one more layer to the comparison process.
S.C.U.D.S. (FLORIDA DRIVERS)
Our Senior Citizen Unrestricted Driving School (S.C.U.D.S.) just graduated another class. Florida roads and highways are the largest demolition derby in the world. You don't go to see crashes, they come to you. You think Gators got poor eyesight, some of our citizens lost theirs years ago and drive by sound.
COUPLE THINKS CAR CAN FLY
Several years back an older tourist couple from Eastern Europe left Tampa in a rental car trying to get to Sarasota. They missed the exit to I-75 south, which goes direct to Sarasota. Instead they drove on the I-275 south highway to St. Petersburg for the Skyway Bridge to Sarasota and missed that exit. They got off at the last downtown exit.
This exit ramp becomes the road which enters the Coast Guard Dock and Air Station, St. Petersburg. They thought the Coastguardsman in the booth was a toll gate attendant. He thought they were looking for the commissary. He waved them through. They thought the taxiway was the entry ramp to get back on the highway.
They did access the main runway at Albert Whitted Airport where the tower guys were frantically trying to radio the Red Chevy Cavalier to "get the hell" off the runway. Unfortunately, the Chevy comes with FM and music and the tower was on another frequency band yelling some explicative. Alas, our brave couple accelerated to 65 miles per hour, about the rotational speed of a Cessna 150 and proudly flew off the end of the runway into Tampa Bay and started to sink.
THERE IS A GOD
This proves it. No coincidence. That day, of all of the 365 days in the year, the St. Petersburg Fire Department - Marine division was conducting rescue exercises off Albert Whitted Airport in case an aircraft didn't quite make the runway. I could just see the guys in the Zodiacs and larger Fireboat commenting, "How realistic these exercises get year after year!" The folks survived the ordeal probably thinking maybe they should of taken a cab or paid the toll. Then as if that's not enough!
"ELDERLY WOMAN CRASHES INTO DMV BUILDING"
Deerfield Beach, Florida (AP)- Officials say an 80-year-old woman crashed into the DMV building in Deerfield Beach when she went to take a state-ordered driver's license retest. The Florida Highway Patrol says Therese Smith accidentally drove her car into through the Department of Motor Vehicles building literal "stopping at window six", Wednesday, injuring several people. An FHP spokesman says she apparently stepped on the gas too hard. The car went over a concrete parking block, onto the sidewalk, through a metal parking sign and through the windows of the office.
Fire rescue officials say seven people in the waiting room were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Four others also were hurt but did not need to be taken to the hospital. They were injured from flying glass and from falling on other people, but no one was actually hit by the car. Smith was cited for careless driving. Her test was postponed. (Hopefully till her 100 birthday)
OH CANADA! CANADIAN DRIVER DISCLAIMER
We Welcome our Canadian Friends: I love our snowbirds and many are friends of mine BUT the once a year migration of the slightly dyslexic Canadian drivers who love to make right turns from the left lanes, left turns from the right lanes and think signals are a waste of battery power in their cars keeps me on the alert. They add a certain challenge to the driving here in the winter months. I
t's OK though, they help our community, give new meaning to the off-neglected letter "A" in our vocabulary and still try to convince our Senior Professional Shuffleboard Players (S.P.S.P.) that Curling is a far more physically enduring and intriguing sport. (Yawn) Try Curling on sand…
Next time I hear how Cribbage is more exciting than Mahjong, I'll scream. And they don't tip! SOLUTION: Some restaurants now offer American and Canadian menus, with the Canadian one higher by 15%.
NEW ! WRONG WAY ON TAMPA HIGHWAY = DUI
In February, four University of South Florida fraternity brothers died after a wrong-way driver slammed into their car on Interstate 275. Two weeks later, a man driving the wrong way in the same area killed himself when he smashed into a box truck. In August, another man died in a wrong-way crash on the same highway. Four more people died in two crashes the following month.
The deadly collisions on Tampa Bay area interstates, six so far claimed 11 lives. It drew national attention and much speculation as to causes. Experts weighed in with theories. Law enforcement stepped up patrols in an effort to prevent them. But the wrong-way drivers keep coming four more were stopped since October. And that shouldn't be surprising wrong way driving is an astonishingly common phenomenon in the Tampa Bay area.
In the past seven years, troopers have responded to at least 70 incidents of wrong-way drivers on limited-access highways around Tampa Bay. That tally does not include nearly 700 wrong-way incidents that occurred on local streets in 2014 alone. But among the data the Times collected, one pattern stands out: drunken driving. In almost all of the wrong-way driving cases that resulted in a crash, and in all six of this year's fatal wrecks, the drivers were legally impaired. That, law enforcement officials say, is the real issue. And that's what makes it difficult to stop.
CRUISING TITANIC ADVENTURES
Both coasts feature cruises to the Bahamas, Mexico, and other parts of the Caribbean and South America. Even Clearwater has a short cruise aboard a totally fake pirate ship.
The SS Yohoho and a beer. Pirates are big in Tampa Bay. Jose Gasparilla parties and Krewes are a Holiday in Tampa. Literally the city shuts down, mainly because the parades lock up the traffic and a bunch of drunk pirates invade the town. Recently, well more than just recently the city is cracking down.
The problem was not the Pirates, raping, pillaging, and burning, not in the script, but the problems were spectators who drank too much, drunk offenses prevailed, and used any location as a bathroom, all in all the pirates (actors and local citizens) were under control. And feel protected that out Navy has these Somalia wannabes under control and keeps an eye on them. (see classified photo)
CRUISE FEVER
What do you get when you cram 1000 people into a boat with cabins that don't circulate air well? Lets face it, open windows or portholes are not that common below the waterline on most sea going ships. Thus the answer to the question is a bunch of little virus's and bacterium that cause about 20% of the travelers to get various upper respiratory and lower tract problems. More common than you think.
Just recently Carnival Lines had two from their fleet come back to port with hundreds sick on board. Adds new meaning to the expression "cruise to nowhere". Each season either fires, bad food, epidemics of porcelain polishing or just going over the side welcome the seafaring cruise public.
GOOD and BAD FOOD - SO BIG WE HAD TO MAKE IT IT’S OWN SITE
Read on, and we'll talk about FOOD in paradise. So big we had to make it a separate piece. Our chain restaurants should be called "chain gang restaurants" and some of the operators thrown in jail. Illegal Immigrant labor working in the restaurant industry swelled till Florida and a few police departments got involved and uncovered literally slave labor.
That article and list of many restaurants has grown large enough to warrant it's own space and places are broken down under the good the bad and the what are they still doing in business. We call it the "State of the Onion” at www.aljacobskitchen.com
FIREWORKS ** JULY 4th 2007-08-09-10-11-12-13-14-15
By the way, fireworks are illegal in Florida. So how come during Holidays there are tents every mile selling pyrotechnics. Under Florida Agricultural law it is permissible to buy fireworks to scare bird flocks away from your farmland. What tourist has farmland in Florida? Our Tallahassee bought off legislature hasn’t the balls to repeal that stupid law or issue an amendment to show proof of farmland since the fireworks folks donate money to their lobbyists.
Two of our tourist laden pristine beaches exploded under a hail of spent Chinese defective fireworks. Blew one motels windows out and sent 12 to the hospital. Why do I tell you this? Because each year covering for the paper we get two or three really serious injuries out there and sooner or later someone loses their sight. Working for the paper, I always made a beeline for the local hospital after 10Pm, about the time the injuries come in, and always got a story about fingers and eyes.
It was incredibly scary seeing all those fireworks designed to explode 500 feet up bursting on the ground and the idiots screaming get a good shot, get closer. Sometimes I wonder. Any one of the flying rockets could have gone horizontal as many did and crisped someone.
They are trying to pass ordinances that allow for larger safety zones or move the fireworks shows to a barge off shore. The two shows cost $15,000 dollars for 15 minutes of flash and the resulting lawsuits will easily surpass that. PLEASE BE CAREFUL......
SUN WORSHIPPING
Not sunburn, SUN WORSHIPPING because after you cook yourself raw, all we'll hear is "Oh God, it hurts". Get the Aloe, get the Coconut Butter, get me a Vicodin, a Joint, anything. When I was a kid I suffered some severe burns on my ankles to above my knees, enough to put me in the hospital with second and almost third degree burns, I will tell you 40 years later from that day at the beach I still feel the pain from that burn, as a reminder and it doesn’t let me forget.