Mar
6
Leaving Florida
Filed Under Florida is Great | 2 Comments
In less than 24 hours I will be leaving FLA for the arctic north that is Huntsville, AL.
Everything north of the Florida state line is “up north” to me.
So, I’ll be missing and not missing a bunch of things. Of course, friends and family top that list, Florida bloggers included. The coolest thing is meeting truly talented people with a lot of the same interests, like sweet asses and nice racks.
Anyway, here’s a list of some other things I’m going to miss about Florida:
- Disney and the Orlando theme parks are a $300 day trip rather than a $2,000 vacation.
- Watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico from Pine Island.
- The coolest town on the east coast, St. Augustine.
- The coolest island in Florida, Amelia Island.
Here’s a list of things I won’t miss:
- South Florida. Really people, y’all should quit calling yourselves Floridians. ‘cept for Key West, the awesomest place I’ve ever been. You guys are ok.
- Planning and zoning commissions more interested in maximizing property tax revenues today rather than smart planning for things like water, roads, and schools.
- A governor with orange skin. WTF?
- All of the canadians down for winter vacations. Effin’ canadians. They’ll drive 2000 miles just to get a decent steak.
So yeah, I’ve got mixed feelings.
Oct
28
No one under the age of 30 should be allowed to vote
Filed Under Florida Government, Jacksonville, Movies | Leave a Comment
From the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, where Recount, a movie about the 2000 election, is being filmed:
OVERHEARD
Don’t know much about recent history
Two 20-somethings chatting in a San Marco bakery earlier this week.
First guy: They’re filming some stuff for that HBO movie Recount today.
Second guy: Yeah, I saw the crew working on signs. Why are they setting up so much stuff to make it look like everything is happening in Palm Beach?
Oct
5
I remember when St. Augustine was cool
Filed Under St. Augustine | 7 Comments
It was a while ago. A lifetime, really. Back when it was unique and had flavor. I even proposed to my wife in a lookout tower on top of the Castillo de San Marcos.
A while back the local government passed an ordinance to get rid of sidewalk vendors and performance artists. Local businesses hated them, because they competed for tourist dollars and tourist eyeballs, and created clogs of people on St. George Street, a foot-traffic only stretch of shops in historic buildings.
I can understand their point: They’re paying big bucks to own or lease space for their store selling paintings and pictures, while some guy can sit down on the sidewalk outside of their door and set up an easel and start whipping out paintings for the locals. Hardly seems fair, except that it IS a public thoroughfare.
I always enjoyed that stuff. I never spent any money because I never saw anything I had to have, but I did drop a buck in a guitar case from time to time. I was also approached by panhandlers, but I just say “no” and they walk away, no hassle. No big deal.
But, it feels like the place is changing. The sidewalk artists are gone, the musicians are gone, and all we’re left with is shopping and restaurants. Hardly unique. The city pays people to dress in period costume and provide information to tourists, but issued a citation to a one-legged man dressed as a pirate that was charging $2 for a picture.
Really? Was he holding them down, forcing them to take pictures of him, then grabbing $2 from their wallets? Why can’t the tourists decide if they want to pay $2 for a picture?
Aug
15
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton rapidly losing all credibility
Filed Under Florida Government, Jacksonville | Leave a Comment
The local rag in Jax, The Florida Times-Union, with it’s website, Jacksonville.com, are occasionally taken to task by smaller organizations for being too close and soft on business and political leaders in Duval County.
But, credit where credit is due, someone over there has their teeth into Mayor John Peyton’s rear-end and is shaking loose a host of sweetheart contracts awarded to friends and associates, including a $48,000 no-bid contract to an efficiency consultant.
Now, I have no idea if this person earned their money; I do know that a $48,000 no-bid contract in every business I’ve been associated with (Revenues ranging from $4M to $9Billion) would never fly. As someone that has been involved in selling products and services to the federal government for most of his career, I can say sole-source contracts exist when the government knows there is no viable alternative in the market.
This all comes on the heels of revelations of similar shady deals for a provider of IT consulting services, owned by a former Peyton staffer.
It is my opinion that IT consulting services and organizing-consulting services do not meet this threshold. Neither is unique, neither possesses technology nor skills that couldn’t be found elsewhere, and frankly, neither business has high barriers to entry.
Mayor Peyton has been a vocal opponent of property tax reform in Florida, warning that city services would have to be cut. When the reform package was passed and signed into law, Peyton submitted a budget that included heavy cuts in city services and new/increased fees for basic services.
A single instance, ok, you can forgive as a lapse in judgment or “slip”. But, it’s beginning to look like there is a pattern of corruption at Jax City Hall, and the mayor wants the taxpayers to foot the bill.
Jun
29
To paraphrase late-night talk-show host Craig Ferguson, it’s a great day in Florida.
For those that want to get their gamble on, a new law goes into effect on Sunday raising the betting limits for poker played within parimutuel facilities from $2 to $5 per bet for limit games, and allows no-limit games to be played with a maximum buy-in of $100.
I’m an avid low-limit poker player with a modestly successful poker blog, so obviously I’m in favor of this new law. Opponents of expanding gambling say it increases the potential for compulsive gambling, but the fact is that the data does not support their argument. Harvard just published a study of 40,000 gamblers and found that gamblers moderated their behavior based on losses, amount of time played, and several other factors. In other words, the more people lose, the less they play.
Unlike booze, where the more you drink, the more you drink.
Personal experience: I’m a winning poker player over my lifetime. For a period last year I moved up in stakes and continued to win with an ROI that was as solid as at lower limits. After less than two months, I cashed out a winner.
Why?
Psychologically, I was uncomfortable with the swings. Most people assume that people on win streaks will keep gambling because they can’t help themselves, and people who lose will chase losses to bankruptcy. This is simply not true.
Perhaps they are projecting their own weaknesses and addictive personalities?
I don’t know. What I do know is that no one has ever put a gun to my head and said “Gamble”. Compulsive gambling, like other addictions, has been shown to have medical roots and should be treated as such.
Dopamine agonist therapy was associated with potentially reversible pathological gambling, and pramipexole was the medication predominantly implicated. This may relate to disproportionate stimulation of dopamine D(3) receptors, which are primarily localized to the limbic system.
The argument should be about personal freedoms.
And with personal freedom comes personal responsibility:
Florida Times-Union:
Barlow, who started playing as a way to stay in touch with friends, offered a more blunt suggestion over a round of poker.”Anyone who plays with rent money shouldn’t be playing with cards.
It’s nice to see the government begin treating it citizens like adults, for once. It’s nice to see the “Nanny” mentality amongst our lawmakers dissipate a little.
Make smart choices. Hope to see you at the tables some day. Fun stakes only, of course.
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Jun
25
If you get the death penaly in Florida…
Filed Under Florida Crime, Florida Government | Leave a Comment
… you can be sure we’ll kill you better than we used to.
Jun
21
Only in FLA: The last British colony
Filed Under Humor, Only in FLA | Leave a Comment
Dominion of British West Florida
I wouldn’t worry too much until they start getting a bunch of notaries and government attorneys, then you’ll know Queen Elizabeth is in trouble.
Wonder if I can find a hotel…?
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May
14
From the files of too-stupid-to-know-better
Filed Under Florida Education, Florida Government | Leave a Comment
Forgive them - they too young and dumb to realize that once you add a “fee”, it defies the laws of physics that state that something that goes up must come down. Fees never come down, and volunteering to pay them damns the students that follow to pay escalations caused by an ever-increasing portfolio of “green projects”. After all, if I were a University president, every building in the planning stage would be classified as “green” and I’d rape that fund for every penny and hit those environmentally-aware-but-financially-stupid kids for every penny I could squeeze out of them. Or their parents.
Florida university students push for ‘green’ fees
Orlando Business Journal - 9:00 AM EDT Monday, May 14, 2007Students from the University of Central Florida, New College, Florida Atlantic University, University of Florida are working to kick-start a funding source to apply environmentally friendly practices on campuses. and the
The first phase of the plan is to incorporate a proposed 50- to 75-cent “green fee” into tuition to finance projects that would campus energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The proposals are asking for a campus sustainability committee made up of students, faculty and staff to oversee those funds.
UCF’s green fee campaign is expected to be voted on by students during the student government elections in the fall. It follows the national campaign Campus Climate Challenge, under which similar proposals have been made at southeastern colleges, such as the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee.
“Campuses use a large portion of the nations energy from non-renewable resources like coal which contribute to global warming pollution,” says Stephen Mortellaro, UCF student senator and green fee campaign coordinator, in a prepared statement. “We’ve got to do something and the [green] fee seems like a great first step.”
UF’s Gators for Sustainable Campus group recently passed a student vote with 78 percent approval. The issue is awaiting review by the board of trustees this summer.
Apr
30
I swear, sometimes I think lawyers could screw up an orgy!
Filed Under Florida Government, St. Augustine | Leave a Comment
As a marketing professional, I can tell you that when someone wants to use your brand for something like an elementary school, that’s a good thing.
But, leave it to the lawyers to screw up a good thing:
World Golf Village, a registered trademark, will no longer be included in the name of the St. Johns County School District’s newest elementary school.
The school board chose the name after polled community members gave the highest number of votes to the name “World Golf Village Elementary,” which was previously known as new elementary school K.
Lawyers from the World Golf Village Foundation notified the district that the name is a registered trademark. The district could have kept the name under some stipulations.
For example, they would have to ensure that the school was always referred to as World Golf Village Elementary, and never an abbreviation of WGV or just World Golf.
Original Article: District drops WGV name
(Gotta love the attempt at editorial irony in that headline!)
Apr
30
Only in FLA: Florida legislator asks for info about male prostitutes - in front of kids!
Filed Under Florida Government, Humor, Only in FLA | Leave a Comment
Those of us that live in Florida are accustomed to to vigorous debate about sex, drugs, gambling, etc. And now, some of our kids are accustomed to it, too…
From the Orlando Slant-inel:
Thursday was Take Your Child to Work Day, so some of the reporters in the House press gallery brought their kids with them. But when the House launched into discussion of a bill that would increase penalties for prostitution, several scribes quickly rushed their daughters out of the gallery or had them listen to their iPods.Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, the bill’s co-sponsor, has been getting questioned by Rep. John Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, about the details of the bill.
Some of his questions: “What about escort services?” “Does it apply to male prostitutes?”…
