Monthly Archives: October 2007

Help Florida Hospital Lake Placid Win an MRI Machine

Posted on by
Reply

I just received this from a family member who is a volunteer at FHLP. Please read it, and do what you can to help. She forwards, from a nurse at the hospital, the following:

Hi everyone!

I need your help. As most of you know I have been working at a rural hospital: Florida Hospital Lake Placid for the past 14 years. I thoroughly enjoy living in this wonderful community, Lake Placid, Florida.

To show my support for the hospital and the community, I am spearheading a worldwide support effort to have our hospital chosen to receive a free MRI unit from the Siemens Corporation.

All I ask of you is that you go to this website: http://www.winanmri.com, watch a two minute video about our community and our need, then vote the first time. Do this from every computer you have access to. Then you go back once a day to vote from every computer you have , just by clicking on the word “vote.” This is a “home town” effort, and will reward the community with the most support. The voting is limited to one vote per computer (not per person) per day!

It really is a cute little video of our town, and features local residents of Lake Placid on the video. Check it out, and give yourself a reminder to vote every day from every computer in your home, office, etc.! Oh, and make sure you click the word VOTE after watching the video, that is necessary in order to have your first vote register.

Thanks,

Well, whaddaya think? Are we going to help these folks win their MRI? Lots of retired folks in L. P. who really need that machine.

http://www.winanmri.com

Researchers find 405-year-old live clam

Posted on by
Reply

A clam dredged from icy Arctic waters is being hailed as the world’s longest-lived animal.
Climate researchers at Bangor University in the United Kingdom recently counted 405 annual growth rings in the shells of a quahog clam.

Or at least it was alive until they got hold of it.  Counting its rings to find out how old it was killed it.  Is it just me…?

Longest-Lived Animal Found — Clam, 405

Requiem for a Reunion

Posted on by
Reply

Sixty-odd years ago, my Aunt Theresa married a man named Ludlow. Herself a member of a good-sized Central Florida family — destined to grow much larger through the auspices of Catholic upbringing and natural impulse — she found herself adopted by an even larger family on her husband’s side.

One of Ludlow’s cousins was a local builder, mover and shaker. Literally. As a partner in one of the largest construction companies in the Southeast, he helped to move and shake a lot of territory, building major highways and digging drainage canals that transformed the face and economy of Florida. We’ll call him Luke, since that was his name, and note that Luke loved people and picnics. At some point prior to Theresa’s introduction into the family, he had organized a Family Picnic including family so extended that they were aunts and uncles by courtesy, and even beyond — an old Southern tradition that has nearly died out, more’s the pity.

Those were the days when family was everything. Continue reading →

Water Woes Result of Incompetent Planning

Posted on by
Reply

“I’m telling you, when it comes to choosing between mussels and drinking water for children, I’m about fed up with this mess,” Perdue said after declaring an emergency this month as Atlanta’s main source of water dropped to what the state said was a 90-day supply.

Environmentalists and water use experts say Georgia’s water woes weren’t caused by any endangered species.

The drought plaguing parts of at least seven U.S. states in the Southeast has to do with exploding demand in some of the fastest growing areas of the United States, breakneck urban development that has paved over acres of natural wetlands, and poor planning by local authorities.

“It’s very misleading when the debate is framed as people versus mussels,” said Gil Rogers, a staff attorney in Atlanta for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

What politicians in the Southeast need to do is to look at the way “we’re growing and whether there is water to maintain the lifestyle we all want,” Rogers said. “Our political leadership has blinkers on when it comes to anything that might get in the way of unrestricted development.”

Blaming mussels won’t solve water woes | U.S. | Reuters

How an Iowa man grows a 1,600-pound pumpkin

Posted on by
Reply

“It’s extreme gardening,” Young says, strolling through the remnants of his pumpkin plot. He stops at a smooth spot in the dirt the size of a minke whale. It’s where Young grew the second-largest pumpkin the world has ever seen.

The “big guy,” he calls it, weighed in at 1,662 pounds. In the last decade, big-pumpkin growing has gone from a farmer’s hobby to a regulated, worldwide competition. The boom in gourds has been fueled mainly by the Internet, which makes seeds and growing advice widely available. This year, nine pumpkins outweighed last year’s world record holder. Young’s missed being crowned king gourd by only 27 pounds…

Click here to read this article.

Happy Hallowe’en

Posted on by
Reply

‘Tis now the very witching time of night,
when churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.

Now could I drink hot blood, and do such bitter business
as the day would quake to look on.

Hamlet 3.2.380-391

War Plans: United States and Iran — George Friedman, StratFor

Posted on by
1

A possible U.S. attack against Iran has been a hot topic in the news for many months now. In some quarters it has become an article of faith that the Bush administration intends to order such an attack before it leaves office. It remains a mystery whether the administration plans an actual attack or whether it is using the threat of attack to try to intimidate Iran — and thus shape its behavior in Iraq and elsewhere. Unraveling the mystery lies, at least in part, in examining what a U.S. attack would look like, given U.S. goals and resources, as well as in considering the potential Iranian response. Before turning to intentions, it is important to discuss the desired outcomes and capabilities. Unfortunately, those discussions have taken a backseat to speculations about the sheer probability of war.

Let’s begin with goals. Continue reading →

Florida Homeowners, doctors, aircraft owners to be hit with new 2% insurance surcharge

Posted on by
Reply

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty signed off on FIGA’s latest 2-percent assessment Monday, according to state Office of Insurance Regulation spokesman Tom Zutell. Insurers are expected to begin imposing the one-time surcharge – the third by FIGA in 15 months – around March 2008, as policies renew. It is expected to raise $315 million to help pay Poe claims, said Sandra Robinson, FIGA executive director.

She said every homeowner, and commercial and liability policy in Florida will be charged; as well as every medical malpractice and aircraft policy…

Homeowners to be hit with new 2% surcharge