Random Thoughts / Open Thread

I'm realistic enough to know (11.00 / 3)

this is unlikely; but if you never at least try and make ideas come to fruition, they never do.

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by: Diane G @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 06:27:16 AM CST

I like it! (6.00 / 1)

Key West is a great counter-culture place... but still "touristy" enough to be visitor friendly. Problem is just thats its a bit less accessible, which is exactly why we 'd love it. Ive thought about maybe Ft Lauderdale, but, nah. If you're gonna go that far, might's'well go ALL THE WAY! lol

I ...well ... money yuck. I keep sayin maybe I should try to go work temp for the Census but yuck yuck yuck..... maybe I need some incentive! :-)

Bob likes to go to the Annual Flute Convention in August, last year it was NYC. This year coming up its Anaheim CA. I want to talk him out of that. (He always goes alone, again, $$$).

aka Lady Libertine

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by: Sally Panic @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 08:36:29 AM CST

It doesn't even have to be this year (0.00 / 0)

so there is no press on deciding anything, but at least exploring ideas is good.

Maybe we should just rent a houseboat? I'm also totally cool with camping. 12 bucks a night to camp vs 300 a day for a house? Dig it.

Another idea is the Georgia Guidestone place. I think that would be really a kick.

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by: Diane G @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 07:35:29 AM CST

[ Parent ]

getting there (9.00 / 1)

from travel guide site:

Flights to Key West: Daily flights by a handful of major airlines bring in many passengers from all over the world. The airlines that service Key West are Delta, American, US Air, Cape Air, and Continental. For most every air traveler, you will change to a smaller plane in South Florida, for the final leg to Key West. Since our airport is small, expect your connection flight to Key West to be on a small plane, often referred to as a "puddle jumper". Almost all of these flights originate from either: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, or Orlando. The one airline offering an out-of-state flight is Delta's Atlanta-Key West route...a route that is especially desirable for those in the Peachtree State. If you fly during daylight, the view of the Florida Keys is breathtaking.

or

Rental Cars & Driving to Key West Key West is the westernmost island among the Florida Keys that you can drive to, and is one of the most scenic roads in North America. A series of bridges and islands extend nearly 90 miles off the mainland until it's end at U.S. Highway 1 mile marker zero: Key West.

Along the drive, you can check what the rest of the Keys look and feel like. But it is the bridges, sloping above the blue green water, that steal the show. The longest, the Seven Mile Bridge, gives drivers the truest sense that they are heading out to sea.

From Miami, the drive will take around 3 hours, from Ft. Lauderdale a little closer to 4 hours. Take your time on this drive. The speed limits are strictly enforced, especially in the 14 mile Key Deer zone where the speed is 35 at night and 45 during the day.

Once in Key West, you will not be using that rental car much. If you are staying in Old Town, the historic quarter, most everything is within a short, charming walk. Many guests return their car at the airport, and pick another one back up at the end of their week. For Key West car rental reservations, click the "Cars" tab on the Orbitz search box (above).

Ferry to Key West

Ferries are available to Key West from Ft.Meyers and Miami. These trips are full day with overnight options available.

aka Lady Libertine

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by: Sally Panic @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 09:24:53 AM CST

its an interesting drive from Miami (0.00 / 0)

I should ask my sisters about this, my memory is terrible... there for a little while, my Dad has some "job" selling magazine ad space ... so we'd go with him on these drives down the Keys and hit every little Bait & Tackle Shop where he'd go in and try to sell them an ad. Gave us kids time to kick around and goof off, go seashell hunting.

This woulda been in the 60's.... man those little places were FUNKY!!! lol

Loooong bridges and lots of them.

lemme try to resize this pic...

aka Lady Libertine

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by: Sally Panic @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 09:30:26 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I drove in my 78 Camaro (11.00 / 1)

and made the drive from Detroit to Key west in 19 hours with my sister and my brother's best friend. Heh. Mapquest it.

Oh, my.

I was young and dumb. +100 most of the way, rare, rare stops, 3 shifts.

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by: Diane G @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 19:54:12 PM CST

[ Parent ]

drove to Mexico City (8.00 / 1)

from Miami FLA in 1974, with Tess and two others, in her little boxy toyota. Summer after high school grad.

what in the world were my parents thinkng to let me go? lol

aka Lady Libertine

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by: Sally Panic @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 22:01:06 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Let me know, if we can afford it we're in (0.00 / 0)

He has 18 vacation days he needs to use before some time in the summer, and I'm crazybusy but also self employed, so I have some flexibility. If the cash flow is kind to us, we're there. May/June would work best, give us some time to plan.

Who knows, it might be more practical to just HAND you the laptop. ;-7

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by: randgrithr @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 12:47:58 PM CST

awesome! (0.00 / 0)

May is end of kidlet's school year, June would be better for me.

LOL.

However. I'm a lot closer to ya here in MI than in FLA.

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by: Diane G @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 19:55:32 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Anybody else get this blurb about (9.00 / 1)

supporting the "push"(?) for health something or another reform?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/heal...

They had a place where you could ask a question.

This was mine:

The example of an $ 1115/month premium is truly onerous.  But lacking a public option, what conceivable incentive would insurance companies ever have to offer more affordable insurance now, and not just hope for some limiting of future price increases?  How does mandating that the uninsured buy private insurance bring costs down?  How can people possibly afford to buy private insurance as individuals, with no group rates?

I guess they want us to look at the $ 1115/month number, the average employer sponsored rate for family coverage for health insurance, and say "My God, we've got to pass this health reform thing".

And so, if it passes, you won't get turned down anymore for a preexisting condition.  And maybe no one will cancel your policy anymore if you get sick and actually (try) to start drawing benefits.  And that's good.

But how on earth are you supposed to come up with another $ 1115/month for an AVERAGE cost policy if you have no insurance now, and are not part of anybody's group rate?  And no public option exists to offer any price competition?  

Is this supposed to start some groundswell of support?  Why?

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by: grunmann @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 13:13:00 PM CST

RTFO. (9.00 / 1)

Lesse, no jobs and lotsa foreclosures, lets find yet another way to create debtors that cannot pay after being mandated to pay them.

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by: Diane G @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 19:57:01 PM CST

[ Parent ]

His stance on health care is one reason they went after Massa (9.50 / 2)

Here's another:

Kucinich Forces Congress to Debate Afghanistan

by Robert Naiman

On Thursday, Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced H. Con Res. 248 [1], a privileged resolution with 16 original cosponsors that will require the House of Representatives to debate whether to continue the war in Afghanistan. Debate on the resolution is expected early next week.

Original cosponsors of the Kucinich resolution include John Conyers, Ron Paul, José Serrano, Bob Filner, Lynn Woolsey, Walter Jones, Danny Davis, Barbara Lee, Michael Capuano, Raúl Grijalva, Tammy Baldwin, Tim Johnson, Yvette Clarke, Eric Massa, Alan Grayson, and Chellie Pingree.

The Pentagon doesn't want Congress to debate Afghanistan. The Pentagon wants Congress to fork over $33 billion more [2] to pay for the current military escalation, no questions asked, no restrictions imposed for a withdrawal timetable or an exit strategy.

Ideally, from the point of view of the Pentagon, Congress would fork over that money right away, before the coming Kandahar offensive that the $33 billion is supposed to pay for, because you can expect a lot of bad news out of Afghanistan in the form of deaths of American soldiers [3] and Afghan civilians [4] once the Kandahar offensive starts, and it would sure be awkward if all that bad news reached Washington while the $33 billion was hanging fire.

But Massa was clever. They told him to find a sword to fall on (or else). He ended up finding a pincushion instead - a lot of really tiny, petty things that makes it obvious something else is going on to anyone with a brain. The man is a combat veteran. He wouldn't have given up and resigned his seat in Congress in the face of things as petty as this. Something else is going on. I would bet money that someone threatened his life, or that of his family, if he wouldn't resign.

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by: randgrithr @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 02:38:05 AM CST

[ Parent ]

The thought of key west brings tears to my eyes (9.00 / 2)

Months.... for me, probably November.

Damn, whyd'ya hafta go and mention Key West?

Perfect weather, alcohol, hot guys, beach sunset parties...

sniffle

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by: Elián Maricón @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 16:58:47 PM CST

Truth be told E? (0.00 / 0)

I don't even give a shit about the hot guys or cabnana boys. The place itself has magic.

November is tough for me; top dollar season and lotsa mandatory holiday crap.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Lets see what we get.

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by: Diane G @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 18:41:30 PM CST

[ Parent ]

quote quest, found this (9.00 / 1)

has nothing to do with key west, lol

aka Lady Libertine

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by: Sally Panic @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 18:13:27 PM CST

I think I have (11.00 / 1)

right here in this wwl space.

Magic.

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by: Diane G @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 19:58:30 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Podcast interview with Vandana Shiva (10.00 / 1)

Link is here

http://www.energybulletin.net/...

Topics discussed:

We * (*interviewer is Jari Chevalier) talked about:

   * The roots of Shiva's global activism
   * The violence of "The Green Revolution"
   * Suicide seeds, farmers, bombers
   * False pretenses of industrial farming
   * What's at stake in water privatization?
   * World Bank legacy in India
   * Capitalist patriarchy
   * The false liberation of convenience foods
   * Civil disobedience and seed satyagraha
   * Seed saving
   * Lies money can buy
   * Democracy as an imperative of survival
   * Seeing and acting on interconnections
   * The good work of the International Forum on Globalization
   * Power and the lessons of history
   * A singular solution to a triple crisis
   * Caring, sharing, and The Commons

I thought it was quite interesting/inspiring.

About 45 minutes long - Perhaps next time you're thinking of doing a bit of reading, you could always go to the podcast as another possible choice.

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by: grunmann @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 15:24:27 PM CST