Your Evening Sift

The weekend is here and the posting is light so gather 'round and review a wrap up of the pretty skimpy highlights from today.

A- Transit Miami discusses the Miami Herald's series on NW 27th Avenue that has been running all week.

B- They love their billboards in the Grove, don't they? Fanless has a picture of the latest one.

C- You still have time to help greenerMIAMI name her baby.

D- A Delray Beach restaurant closes its doors and blames its customers, via MenuPages Blog: South Florida.

E- ReidBlog takes a look at the latest Hillary Clinton ad and discusses its significance. In my opinion, it's one more demonstration of how Clinton is merely part of the status quo in Washington.

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The Cooler

Happy Leap Day! Don't know what you have planned to celebrate the occasion, but while you're deciding, here's a few items of interest from the mainstream media.

A- Herald: Not-so-good news for those whose houses are insured by Citizens.

B- Herald: Air show at Kendall-Tamiami Airport this weekend.

C- Palm Beach Post: Baseball fans will enjoy this video on the history of Vero Beach's Dodgertown as it prepares to relocate to Arizona.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Wal-Mart doctors in SoFla.

E- Herald: The City of Miami is getting super tough: no severance pay for convicted city attorney.

F- NBC6: Fort Jefferson has become a popular spot for illegal Cuban smuggling.

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Your Morning Sift

Well, sometimes the South Florida blogosphere is quiet and last night was one of those nights. Although, I've got to say, it makes my job a lot easier for the Sift. Here you go...

A- Mango&Lime gives us an expert tip on how to store lettuce and keep it fresh.

B- Blast Off! finds out that the profits from Florida's proposed new Confederate license plate would go towards funding a designated hate group.

C- Bark Bark Woof Woof has a great video of a Georgia Republican getting nailed for his hypocritical statements on MSNBC.

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Your Evening Sift

***New Blog Alert*** Obablesque is the kinda sorta new kid on the block to the South Florida blogosphere. If you haven't done so already, drop on by and say hello or hola, as you prefer.

A- When you're a Cuban-American Democrat and you strike another man with your fists, you deserve to be mocked and ridiculed. When you're a Cuban-American Republican and you flip off women, you should be proud and blog about it.

So concludes this evening's lesson in "class" from the babalu boys.

B- On the opposite end of the intellectual spectrum *ahem*, the Cuban Triangle points out the utter hypocrisy of the Bush Administration's foreign policy with Cuba.

C- Spangdish really, really thinks the Herald's Food section sucks. Really.

D- Miami Nights revisits Ladies Night at the Doral Ale House (I never thought they traveled west of I-95) and, well...

But Tuesday Ladies night, pull the lever for the gallows please.

E- MenuPages Blog: South Florida has two posts of note today. The first one details some changes to the Burger King menu including the addition of something called the Angry Whopper. The Angry Whopper has bacon, cheese, and just enough calories to replenish those you would have burned on that run from your house in Kendall to, say, Tampa. And in the second post, we find out, hopefully not too late, where to find a good cup of hot chocolate in South Florida.

F- Is John McCain even eligible to be President of the United States, asks Broward's Blog.

G- Discourse brings to our attention another inspiring political video.

H- A Blue 1/1.5 going for under $250K? So says Miami Condo Investment.

I- Classic photo at Miamism Pix.

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The Cooler

Interesting reads from your mainstream media this morning...

A- Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach art fair displays stolen art taken in 1995.

B- Local 10: Jaguar falls 50 feet onto I-95 North in Broward...3 people die and there isn't much left of the car.

C- Herald: Royal Castles's last burger joint is in Liberty City.

D- Herald: Drive a hybrid, get free parking in Coral Gables...maybe.

E- Herald: The Everglades, a bird-watcher's paradise.

F- Palm Beach Post: FAU student body wants a Hooters Stadium.

G- Hurricane: UM's Rathskeller to close for renovations after 35 years. At least they're not going to bulldoze it like they did will the OB.

And as a bonus, I offer up this seasonal video that seems somewhat appropriate for this morning. Have a great day, folks.



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Your Morning Sift

I'm thoroughly convinced that coffee tastes better on cold mornings like this one. Here are some links to get you started and warm you up.

A- ReidBlog gives us a comprehensive list of who we need to be concerned about as far as enemies of these United States using Republican Party standards.

* Kareen Abdul-Jabbar ... posing as a "basketball legend," but what's his REAL agenda...?
* Mohammed Ali ... claims to be a legendary boxer ... but hello??? His name is "Mohammed..."
* Rasheed Wallace ... He has infiltrated the Detroit Pistons ...what will he infiltrate next?
* Hakeem Olajuwon ... suspiciously African NBA player. I'm thinking background check...

B- babalu posts some great pictures of Cuba, circa 1954, and links to more in this post.

C- Because it's only one more day 'till the weekend...Florida Keys Hard Lemonade, from FTL Today.

D- Owenized shows us what 30-inch rims on the turnpike looks like.

E- In a post that we can only hope the Cuban-American hardliners don't get a whiff of, Transit Miami gives links us up to a snapshot of life on Havana's streets.

F- Miami Dish gives us a new feature that they are calling "Man on the Street" in which they review "tasty, low budget lunch options from the men and women who work hard for the money." Their first post assesses Pinolandia at 119 NW 12th Avenue in Miami.

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Your Evening Sift

I'm going to be out this evening so today you get a late afternoon Evening Sift. Still a lot to cover...

A- All Purpose Dark, Spangdish, MenuPages Blog: South Florida, and Mango&Lime all note Micheal's Genuine being selected as one of Frank Bruni's (NY Times) Top 10 Restaurants in America.

B- Funny post by South Florida Lawyers on Coral Gables trial attorney Stuart Grossman being selected the Best Dressed Lawyer in Miami.

C- Stuff You Think You Need compares sharks to attorneys as it relates to a recent attack of the latter in the Bahamas.

Markus Groh, from Austria, recently went on a diving excursion in which the boat he was diving from, poured bloody chum in the water to entice Sharks. Mr. Groh understood this was going to happen and signed a waiver (presumably). He was attacked by one of the sharks that showed up for the chumfest, and later died. Very tragic. That shark was doing what sharks will do, but so is a local attorney here in Miami. A Mr. Neblett of Miami Maritime law has advised he would "sue the operator, and sue the people involved." Much like the stupid shark that showed up for a chum fest, the attorney is also just doing what attorneys do. Its like they cant help it.

D- If you think that rock is dead, check out Searching For Normalcy.

E- Miami Provocateur has all the info and links you need for Thursday's start of the Miami International Film Festival.

F- There's a fungus among us, so says Southern District of Florida Blog.

G- Coconut Grove Grapevine shares a couple of his Washington's Birthday Regatta pictures with us.

H- Just take a look at the beignets that MenuPages Blog: South Florida informs us are available at the Grand Lux in Sunrise. Yowzah.

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The Cooler

A few stories for you to ponder from this morning's papers as I make my way back to SoFla.

A- Sun-Sentinel: South Florida is #1 nationally in self-employment.

B- Herald: The guy that caused a security scare at MIA last week is a well-known party promoter who was "staying at the Delano, spending lavishly" before his arrest.

C- Herald: A couple days old, but the Herald and the Sun-Senitinel are delivering each others newspapers.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Letter to the editor writer, Brian Leonard, gets it right.

E- Herald: Photo slideshow of yesterday's blackout.

F- Herald: Florida schools are taking it in the gut when it comes to a new budget.

G- Sun-Sentinel: Police taser fighting students at Broward high school.

H- Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach cop breaks into his ex-girlfriend's home, gets busted and says, "My career is over." Yep.

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Your Morning Sift

Kind of quiet out there in blogland last night. I suppose people were busy resetting all their clocks. Here's a few links for you this morning...

A- Discourse tells us about a Florida Republican trying to get a Confederate license plate added to the state's already large pool of tags.

B- Douglas Eames, writing for Miami Beach 411, acquaints us with Cultural Fridays or Viernes Culturales, as the locals would say, on Calle Ocho.

C- Possibly a sign of things to come, politically speaking, from The State of Sunshine.

D- Miami Dish has the info you need to know for the Coral Gables Wine & Food Festival.

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Your Evening Sift

I leave SoFla for the day and all hell breaks loose. I can only be thankful that I missed the nightmare that must have been the afternoon commute. As can be expected, a fair number of bloggers had posts on the power outage. Here are a couple of them and the rest of the highlights for this Terrible Tuesday.

A- Critical Miami announces the power outage doomsday style and commenters relate what's going on in their respective areas.

B- Blast Off! gives us a decent read on his outage experience this afternoon.

Just to add insult to injury, while all this was going on and I was crawling northward in my car on I-95 in Miami, a tornado warning was issued for part of Broward County, including the general area of Fort Lauderdale. Lovely.

My first thought was to get the hell out of Miami before the looting began ... but perhaps I was overreacting just a tad.

C- Justice Building Blog gets credit for the funniest outage post of the day.

D- FLTV has a link to WPLG anchor Dwight Lauderdale's retirement announcement made last night. I don't care what anyone else says, I always felt as if the guy was faking every emotion he ever showed on air. The comments to the post are also worth a read.

E- The Three Faces of Hillary Clinton from Smashed Frog.

F- Blind Mind pens a heartfelt tribute to a good friend who recently passed.

G- Eye on Miami gives us some terms you should know if you want to appear somewhat knowledgeable about real estate.

H- Ferfelabat reveals that Florida Keys drivers are just as bad as those who haunt the streets of Miami-Dade.

I- Why Zach Thomas will always and forever have my respect no matter who he plays for, from SporTech Matter.

J- MenuPages Blog: South Florida has the scoop on the opening of That Cool Yogurt Place in Miami Beach. Looks great!

K- South Beach has two of Forbes' Top Ten Chic Party Hotels in th U.S., according to Miami-Forum.

L- Fort Lauderdale Daily Photo lets us know that Spring Break is in full swing in Broward.

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The Cooler

Just a few interesting things from your mainstream media.

A- Herald: Just your average day on I-95.

B- Sun-Sentinel: Man swims unprotected with killer sharks, gets bit, dies...is anyone surprised?

C- Palm Beach Post: SoFla road rage, girl-style.

D- Herald: What restaurants do Miami's top chefs prefer?

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Your Morning Sift

A much-too-early Sift this morning as I have a flight to catch to Atlanta. I may or may not get to the Cooler at the airport. Here are the things people were posting about while you slept last night.

A- Some $1 million condo "great deals" at South Beach Condos Blog. Everyone check their bank accounts.

B- One of my regular lunch places in Broward has changed names. FTL Today has the info.

C- Dayngrous Discourse visits Molina's Ranch Restaurant with Gnomad...I'll let her explain.

D- ReidBlog does an excellent piece on Hillary's recent conniptions and what questions voters should be asking themselves as a result.

E- Owenized reminds us that world will stop turning for 3 hours this evening.

F- The cuddly side of warrantless surveillance, from Blastoff!

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Your Evening Sift

Shopping carts, swamp cabbage and racist Republicans are all included in your Sift this evening. Have fun...

A- Is LaBelle in South Florida? Maybe. Maybe not. But MenuPages Blog: South Florida's post on this past weekend's Swamp Cabbage Festival is so good it would be criminal not to link to it.

Make sure you also catch Carolina's thoughts on The Smoking Rabbit and why it may be struggling.

B- Bark Bark Woof Woof provides his take on the Republican's desperation these days.

Ever since the end of the Reagan era, they have been desperately seeking someone who had the smile and charisma to repeat the magic that overwhelmed the nation and swept out the humble and bumbling Carter administration. And what have they come up with since then? A pale imitation in the person of George W. Bush, who even on his best day couldn't summon the timing and carefully-crafted spontaneity of Ronald Reagan if it was handed to him on a silver platter. And now they're proposing to nominate John McCain, who Mr. Kristol summons his best game face to describe as someone who "more proud of his country than of himself. And his patriotism has consisted of deeds more challenging than “speaking out on issues.” Wow; not exactly what I've call a ringing endorsement.

C-Infomaniac shares with us her recently updated Cuba Links page and, also, her reasons for creating and maintaining it.

Although I no longer 'need' to do this, I've been fascinated with the Cuba story since I was a 1950s schoolkid seeing the photos in Life of the scary revolutionaries in the mountains. And since high school, practicing ducking under my school desk during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And since hanging out at a Cuban restaurant in Washington, DC, in the late '60s/early '70s. And certainly since moving to Miami during the Mariel boat lift and having coworkers who were Cuban exiles, later the children of Cuban exiles, and helping cover the news about Cuba and Cuban Americans there for over 20 years. I don't have a personal connection to Cuba, and wasn't allowed to go there. But it's a place that I have learned to care about. And I hope this can be a help to news researchers who need a start on finding information.

D- 26th Parallel posts its 2nd composition on South Florida history, this one covering Cape Florida and Fort Dallas.

E- Hidden City gives us his thoughts on last night's Oscars, as does Dayngrous Discourse.

F- Don't visit All Purpose Dark if you're a diabetic.

G- Ipanemic needs some suggestions on what books he should read to expand his knowledge of Cuba. That should be no problem, right? Get going!

H- Man or Maniac comments on the Miami-Dade police director's lawsuit against WFOR television and one of its reporters.

I- Eye on Miami runs into UM President Donna Shalala with a chair and gets a dirty look.

J- The Republican National Committee is reminding its members not to do anything racist during the upcoming election, according to ReidBlog. Sometimes it amazes me that people actually admit they belong to the Republican Party these days.

K- Owenized gets a peek in Miami-Dade School Superintendent Rudy Crew's shopping cart at a grocery store. I bet you Steve kept saying, "I can't wait to blog this!" all the way home.

The Cooler

Kind of a slow day in the mainstream media. Oscar coverage abounds. *yawn* Here are your links...

A- CBS4: 19 minutes of fat guys dancing and auditioning to be Marlins Manatees.

B- Herald: Your car is relatively safe in the Grove.

C- Sun-Sentinel: Mapped out, where the foreclosures are at in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Get your coats ready.

E- Herald: Former 'Cane football player arrested in downtown Miami.

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Your Morning Sift

Well, the good news is that Bloglines is up and running again. The even better news, for me at least, is that I've adjusted to Google Reader and I'm enjoying it. Quicker updates, better readability...I think I'm going to stick with it.

***New Blog Alert*** Through a confluence of events that I'll let you read about, Bill from Gainesville has moved from, you got it, Gainesville to Miami and is residing downtown. He's documenting his new life through Stuff You Think You Need and it's the newest blog to be added to the SFDB blogroll.

Here's the highlights of what was posted in the SoFla blogosphere during the last 12 hours or so.

A- Calm Bobby writes about our stations in life.

B- FLTV informs us that WPLG anchor Dwight Lauderdale is going to be retiring and links us up to the Miami Herald article with more information.

C- Burnett's Urban Etiquette is discovering that the oft-repeated maxim, "Time heals all wounds," is true.

D- "Geezertocracy" is the word Bark Bark Woof Woof uses to describe Cuba's form of government.

Not unlike the old American cars that dot the streets of Havana, the "new" Cuban leadership sounds like they all hit their prime fifty years ago, they're running on jury-rigged repairs, and sputtering along on the fumes of a cause they've long ago forgotten.

E- Ipanemic cancels his Twitter account and tells us why.

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Favorite Fever Foto of the Week

Lincoln Road


-miami fever

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Your Evening Sift

Well, Bloglines is still FUBARed so I did the best I could, clicking through the blogroll one blog at a time to determine if there was anything fresh out there. I even exported my Bloglines subscription over to Google Reader which helped a little, but, my God, how do you Google Readers do it? What a mess of read options and views and Lord knows what else. Hey, but at least it's working, right?

Just a handful of posts for you tonight as a result...

A- Searching For Normalcy's Balou, who has been posting over at Fanless for the past few weeks, runs into Vanilla Ice at the Florida Renaissance Festival and grabs a picture with him.

B- Owenized pays tribute to WPLG reporter, Rad "Mr. Lead Story" Berky, who is logging his last week with the television station.

But besides being a first-rate reporter, Rad is first-rate person. He has taken countless people under his wing without question. Myself included. If you go to Rad’s desk, he listens. He laughs at your jokes. A true gentleman.

If there was a Hall Of Fame for news reporters, Rad Berky would be a first-ballot inductee.

C- Coconut Grove Grapevine captures "Family Day" in the Grove.

D- Consumable Joy visits The Smoking Rabbit on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach and is not impressed.

Unfortunately, our expectations proved to be a little bit too high. The place was empty when we walked in around 8 pm. Not a good sign. The server also mentioned that the menu had been tweaked and overhauled a number of times, which for a 6-week old restaurant generally means things aren't quite right yet.

E- I didn't get to talk about Tilefortlauderdale since starting up SFDB because there had not been any new posts since mid-January. Mary Tiler More, the pseudonym behind the blog, loved to paint small tiles with thoughts and expressions on them and then leave them to be found in various places around Fort Lauderdale. It was a cool idea for a blog and one that I had hoped to read more of but this weekend Tilefortlauderdale hung it up.

Today, after putting well over 100 tiles out into the world, I am taking a hiatus. It's been a fun 15 months and being the secret tile hider has made me smile ... sometimes it's easy to forget that life is supposed to be fun, not just all hard work and heaviness. If that's what it feels like it's all about, then it's probably time to make a change. I'm still going to paint tiles when I feel in the mood, and eventually I might put them out in the world again, but I realize that like anything that goes on too long, it becomes tedious.

I'm going to miss that blog.



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Random Question of The Day

Does making the cut automatically disqualify you?

Pompano Beach- They tried more than 20 diets — from Dexatrim supplements to Weight Watchers — but had little success. So Sandra Spencer and Phelicia Whitley on Saturday took a different tack: auditioning for NBC's hit reality show The Biggest Loser.

[...]

Whitley and Spencer, longtime friends, were among 500 people who lined up Saturday morning at the Festival Flea Market Mall in the hope of being cast for the sixth season of the show.

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A Couple Things (UPDATED)

First of all, Bloglines has been down since this morning so the blogrolls in the right sidebar are not updating.

Secondly, how is everybody doing with the Google Documents powerpoint presentations that I have been using? Do you like them? Are they working for you? Do you think the 3Questions feature would be better in another format?

I can tell you that Documents can be kind of tricky to work in, as I found out today after deleting the presentation I did with A Mom, A Blog and the Life In-Between a couple weeks ago. If there's a better alternative I'm open to it.

.....

Per Carlos Miller's suggestions, I have added an SFDB Post of the Week badge at the bottom of the right sidebar. Just click on it and you will be taken to the latest Post of the Week.

Also, I have tagged each Post of the Week with a "postoftheweek" label that appears under the "Most Mentioned" section, also in the right sidebar.

Keep the suggestions coming.

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3Questions

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SFDB Post of the Week

Winner: Calm Bobby's thoughts on Cuba after the resignation of Fidel Castro. The post stands in stark contrast to the rantings and ravings of other Cuban-American bloggers and is, quite frankly, a breath of fresh air.

Runners Ups: The very first post at Cuban Home Cooking and Carlos Miller's video of the media's coverage of Little Havana the day of Fidel Castro's resignation.

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The Cooler

A few select readings from your mainstream media....

A- Herald: Carl Hiaasen pens "A Day in the Life of a Retired Dictator."

11:50 a.m. Another ice-cold bedpan! Immediately I phone Raúl to demand that the offending nurse be locked up as a political prisoner. Twenty-five years in Guanajay sounds about right.

B- Herald: MIA's $1.1 billion South Terminal is open and has 20,000 items that need fixed.

C- Herald: State Farm stops writing homeowners policies in Florida.

D- Herald: People are leaving their foreclosed homes and leaving their pets behind with it.

E- Sun-Sentinel: Parkland washes city cars without water.

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Your Morning Sift

Not much out there this morning, folks. We had to work hard to find you the following...

A- You might think that Republicans who are smart might be somewhat hesitant give blame to a political party for a tragedy they had no exclusive control over because of, well, a particular day in September, 2001. But, as babalu proves to us, the key word here is "smart."

B- FTL Today has a couple pictures of the Trump project on Fort Lauderdale Beach. I think we can officially say the days of the The Button South are over.

C- The Cuban Triangle discusses the Bush Administration's use of the word "transition" when discussing the change in power from Fidel to Raul.

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SFDB Saturday Night Turndown Service

Yo-Yo Ma & Bobby McFerrin, Hush Little Baby

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Your Evening Sift

It was a fairly busy Saturday out there in the SoFla blogosphere. 87 degrees in Miami today, people. Is it June? Or February?

A- All Purpose Dark has some killer pictures from "trade day" at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

B- Miami-Forum has the video for a Critical Mass bike race through the streets of Miami at night. The clip, which was made from the helmet of one of the riders and is of pretty poor quality, includes footage of the the cameraman running into a pedestrian. Is this what Critical Mass is all about?

C- Infomaniac is adding a list of Cuba-related blogs to its blogroll.

D- Consumable Joy informs us that Mint Leaf, specializing in Indian cuisine, will be opening in Coral Gables soon.

E- Zach "Always A Dolphin" Thomas is heading to the Dallas Cowboys, according to PhinPhantic.

F- Some Cranky Guy is, well, cranky over the money being spent for the new Miami Marlins stadium.

Attendance at the majority of the Marlin’s games barely reach four digits, and then only if you count the security and snack bar crew, as well as anyone in cars that happen to drive down University Drive while the game is going on. Assuming you call men standing around scratching their nuts and spitting a game.

Over $500 million dollars. Taxpayer money. We have one of the highest crime rates, one of the highest homeless rate, our schools are practically falling down, and this stinking greedy cash pocketing butthead politicians of the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County decide to waste money on supporting a for profit business!

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Guilty As Charged

-via Suburban Guerilla

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The Cooler

Here's a few stories from the mainstream media to ease you into the morning...

A- Herald: Domestic violence, police officer-style.

B- Herald: Do you have what it takes to be a Miami Marlins cheerleader?

C- Herald: Save Hialeah Park, by Hialeah-based Los Primeros.

D- Herald: Wayne Huizenga plans to sell half the Dolphins...and more.

E- Sun-Sentinel: Get ready for late night slow downs on I-95 between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

F- Palm Beach Post: Horseplay, police officer-style.

G- CBS4: Gullibility reaches new lows.

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Your Morning Sift

As you might expect, it was a slow, slow overnight. Here are a few posts that are worth reading...

A- A family trip to the Miami Seaquarium, today and 26 years ago, from Dayngrous Discourse.

B- FLTV reports that another WPLG employee is going to be following former Channel 10 weatherman Don Noe into retirement.

C- Do you have what it takes to be one of America's Biggest Losers? You might want to check out this post from FTL Today.

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Your Evening Sift

The fact that it was Friday didn't keep bloggers from turning out some good stuff today. Check it out...

A- Miami Provocateur reminds us of some the interesting tours the Historical Museum of South Florida puts on throughout the year.

B- Blast Off! gives us his opinion on the new Miami Marlins stadium. Here's a piece of it...

The new stadium will seat 37,000, which seems small ... unless, like me, you've actually attended a Marlins game. Attendance at Dolphin Stadium has been so poor that players frequently could hear cell phones ringing in the stands. The capacity of the new place sounds about right.

C- As long as we're talking about the new stadium, 26th Parallel puts up a post in favor of the building and particularly in favor of spending taxpayer money to help erect it. Is it me or is it a bit amusing to watch anti-tax Republicans so warmly cheer on something that wouldn't be possible without tax money. Weird.

D- Bark Bark Woof Woof has problems with his Norton Anti-Virus, blogs about it, and gets an email from Symantec who, apparently, reads blogs. Who says blogging isn't worth the time?

E- Miami-Dade Dems links us up to a great Joe Garcia cartoon that appeared in today's El Nuevo Herald.

F- Mango&Lime gives us the scoop on the Burger Bash that was held on Miami Beach last night.

G- South Beach Condos Blog has the Today Show clip broadcast this morning about Miami-Dade's real estate market. Is this the bottom buyers have been waiting for?

H- The Eclectic Chapbook may be the only one who noticed that the Palm Beach Post's Morning Brew Blog is shutting down after only a few months. I, for one, never "got it."

The Cooler

Talk amongst yourselves...

A- Herald: The new Miami Marlins stadium has been approved.

The 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium will be built on the Little Havana site of the Orange Bowl -- and is slated to be ready for Opening Day 2011.

B- Herald: "Backyard barrage of bullets" (the Herald likes its B's) leaves 1 dead and 6 others shot, including a baby, in Miami.

C- Sun-Sentinel: Florida voters reap what they sow, Part 100.

D- CBS4: Florida Panthers player Richard Zednik, the hockey player whose throat was slashed, speaks to the press.

E- CBS4: FIU Beer.

F- Sun-Sentinel: Hialeah's "El Jefe" gets busted for growing weed in Palm Beach County.

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Your Morning Sift

It's Friday and it was a busy Thursday night in the SoFla blogosphere. Get your coffee, 'cause here are your links.

A- South Beach Condos Blog provides us some examples of "good buys" in the Miami Beach real estate market which makes me ask myself who can afford these $500K "steals." Miami Condo Investments answers the question.

B- Daily Cocaine drops by Boteco on NE 79th Street. looks like a great place.

C- Justice Building Blog discusses the presidential election...

We look at Obama and while we’re not sold, somehow, someway, we keep thinking of Lincoln. An untested and relatively unknown man from Illinois, who literally slipped into Washington in the dead of night (to avoid assassins) and guided a nation to a “new birth of freedom.”

Sometimes, the best leaders emerge from the most unlikely places.

D- Speaking of which, you really need to read this Discourse post that discusses how security was dropped yesterday at an Obama rally in, of all places, Dallas.

E- Eye on Miami points us to a YouTube video of a candidate for the Florida State Song. Just the right level of sophistication, in my opinion.

F- The Cuban Triangle briefly discusses Obama's and Clinton's positions on Cuba as they were articulated in last night's debate.

G- Smashed Frog and ReidBlog were not impressed with the Democrat's discourse last night.

H- I guess you could say that Miami-Forum is excited by the prospects of the new Marlin stadium which was approved last night.

I- Bark Bark Woof Woof points us to some Friday Fun, especially for you marketing types. I was able to knock out 18 of 20. Post your scores in the comments, folks.

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Your Evening Sift

The South Florida blogosphere was buzzing today. This evening's Sift tops out with the most items of interest we've had thus far for a Sift in the short lifespan of this blog. There is some real good stuff, so sit back, relax and check out the following compositions.

A- Carlos Miller does it again and provides us great footage, and some humorous commentary, from Little Havana on the day of Fidel Castro's resignation.

B- Habla Mierda, the blogger with the AK in his residence, goes all Cute Overload on us.

C- A house is moved in Hallandale and Critical Miami has a couple photos.

D- When Eye on Miami rants, look out. This time it's on a tear against the Miami Herald's local reporting.

E- Is FDOT raiding the coffers intended for Tri-Rail? Yes, says Transit Miami.

F- Don't mess with sailfish in Florida, according to this post by Southern District of Florida Blog.

G- Coconut Grove Grapevine finds the breakfast cafe he's been complaining about the Grove not having.

H- MenuPages Blog: South Florida has the scoop on the "upscale Chinese" restaurant about to hit Miami Beach.

I- Mango&Lime mulls over whether the South Beach Wine & Food Festival is truly worth the time or the money based upon her past year's experiences.

My first time at the festival was in 2004 when I went to the then OleoMed Grand Tasting Village on Miami Beach with a friend from out of town. At the time, it was $60 to attend for one day if I recall correctly — this year it’s $187 and sold out. The tasting was far from glamorous. I stood on the sand out in the glaring sun watching cooking demos, and then lined up with hundreds of people outside the tasting tent only to be herded around the tasting tables like cattle by other eager tasters. There were also those people who would park themselves in front of a table and drink or eat away like they had never had food in their lives.

J- Burnett's Urban Etiquette has a recent tale from the streets of SoFla...

Mrs. B and I were sitting outside a Starbucks the other evening, when another patron left, climbed into his car and started to drive away. He made it maybe 40 feet, when a different customer began to back his car out of its parking space, blocking the path of the first guy. The first guy, an older gent in a BMW leaned on his horn but didn't back up. The second guy, a younger man in a Firebird, must not've heard the horn, 'cause he backed right into BMW guy's bumper. BMW guy jumped out of the car and began yelling at the younger guy, calling him a stupid S.O.B. The younger guy replied "Eff you, you stupid (piece of male reproductive anatomy)! I didn't see you." So for the next two minutes they called each other names, with the younger guy looking like he wanted to flee, and the older guy taunting him by waving a wad of cash and threatening to call the cops. They both walked away then, like boxers going to their respective corners. Miraculously, about five minutes later they climbed out of their cars, approached one another, shook hands, traded info...just in case that invisible scratch later materialized on the BMW, apologized sheepishly for how they'd spoken to one another, and they both drove off. Amazing. This is Miami. Under "normal" circumstances, I might have ducked under my sidewalk table in anticipation of one of them whipping out a gun.

K- Miami-Dade Dems points out that SoFla congressional races are getting international attention.

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The Cooler

Lots going on in the mainstream media...here's your sampler...

A- Palm Beach Post: Former boyfriend posts nude pictures of 13-year-old girlfriend on MySpace and Mom calls the cops.

B- Sun-Sentinel: Florida voters reap what they sow, Part 50.

C- Sun-Sentinel: This is always a great idea for your long-term financial planning. Not.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Stock up on the Nyquil, folks.

E- Herald: Must-see Morin.

F- NBC6: Today is voting day for the new Marlins stadium.

G- Herald: South Miami shake-up.

H- Herald: Something wrong with this headline?

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Your Morning Sift

Just a few posts for you to check out that were composed while you slept last night.

A- Huggers wanted this weekend, according to Ownenized.

B- Is South Miami's government imploding, asks Eye on Miami.

C- After some prodding from yours truly, 26th Parallel posts the 2nd half of the Michelle-Obama-misspoke story that has been the drama du jour for wingnuts these past few days. Of course, he gets reamed by a fellow conservative in the comments for doing so.

D- Over the past two days, babalu has given us the names and short biographies of 15 Cuban political prisoners that everyone should know.

E- Funny political humor from Blast Off!

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Your Evening Sift

You may notice that things look a little different here at SFDB. Indeed they are. Thanks to Miami Beach 411's Make A New Logo For SFDB Contest, we have a new, smaller header designed by Mirna. For their efforts, Mirna and all the entrants received a prize from the generous MB411. SFDB wants to extend its appreciation to MB411 and all the participants for their assistance in helping us clean things up over here.

And, now, on to the posts you shouldn't have missed today.

A- Eye on Miami is keeping a close track of Jim DeFede's weight loss.

B- All Purpose Dark suggests a few events that you can still attend at the almost-sold-out South Beach Wine & Food Festival this weekend.

C- Dolphin Mall is going to get a Cinebistro, according to MenuPages: South Florida.

D- Ipanemic rambles on which is, in my opinion, the best kind of Ipanemic post.

E- You know all those renderings of the new Miami Marlins stadium that have been circulating lately? Fugghetaboutit, says Owenized.

F- Key Largo OJ, from FTL Today.

G- Fidel Castro has resigned and all is not the same, at least not for Calm Bobby...

I feel Cuban because my parents are Cuban. I feel Cuban because my grandfather made a decision and busted his ass to get over here, leaving behind everything. I feel Cuban because I look forward to Noche Buena and the stories from the old guard. I feel Cuban because I respect the audacity of a community of people that still holds on to their roots so dearly.

For the first time in my life, I can really say that I want to visit the island. I want to see where I'm from and meet all those people that are wearing my 2nd hand clothes. I'm tired of trying to figure out who I really am. There's that void there, the feeling that something is missing because your people have been displaced so long. I see the old Cubans, even the Mambisa guys, and that's all they really want. They want that feeling of displacement to disappear. Just for one second, they want to sit on the same plot of grass they sat as kids. And shit, I want to sit there too.

I miss that island I've never been to. I miss those people I've never met. I miss Cuba.

Go read the whole thing. You'll get more out this one post than you will out of 20 200 on another well-known SoFla blog dealing with Cuba.

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The Cooler

The Miami Herald lost a wonderful writer when Liz Balmaseda moved north the the Palm Beach Post. Make sure you read her column I highlighted (F) today. Here are your mainstream links...

A- Herald: In Miami if you're a public official and you get convicted of a crime you get a bonus.

B- Herald: Knee-jerks in North Miami Beach.

D- Herald: Miami-Dade Schools paid over $26 million in overtime last year.

E- WPLG: Not-so-breaking-news...Lionel Tate is still in jail.

F- Palm Beach Post: While Cuban-American hardliners are busy shouting, stomping their feet, and deriding anyone and everyone who don't agree with them, cubanita Liz Balmaseda takes the time to reflect on Castro's resignation and what it all means to her.

For me, Cuba is there when I think of my grandfather, the poor carpenter from Puerto Padre who died in exile. It's there when I cook my grandmother's recipes. It's there when I hear the lullabies of my childhood. Absent of the streets and the palm-fringed landscapes of the island, it's what I have, the only thing I have.

Cuba is the memory of my mother's voice, that melodious bell of a voice, open, disarming, warm. It is everything she taught me about life in Puerto Padre, a seaside place so beautiful she could never describe it fully in just one sitting. I remember the day about two years ago when we sat in her Miami living room, watching images of Cuba on a local cable channel.

"Look, how beautiful it is," she said, her voice a hoarse whisper.

She was frail from a long battle with cancer, and she was tired. But her eyes lit up at the sight of Cuba that day. It was the last time she would see it. Just a couple of months later, she passed away in my arms, in exile. She had not been to Cuba in 46 years.

That, folks, is some real writing.

G- Herald: Morin gets it right on Cuba.

H- Palm Beach Post: Gov. Crist is cutting taxes while trying to make health insurance available to everyone. Wake up, Charlie!

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Your Morning Sift

Well, I don't hear crickets chirping but it sure was quiet out there in the SoFla blogosphere last night.

A- Bark Bark Woof Woof points us to some thoughts about yesterday's events from a Cuban blogger's perspective.

B- If you have any business to conduct at the Broward County Courthouse Miami-Dade Justice Building, best give yourself plenty 'o time, according to Justice Building Blog.

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Your Evening Sift

I am finding that the beginning of the work week produces an onslaught of new posts in the SoFla blogosphere. I don't know if it's because everyone has been languishing all weekend or what, but today was a goldmine of good stuff. Here is some of it...

A- Matt Meltzer, writing for Miami Beach 411, does a fine job breaking down the infamous murder of Groveite Stanley Cohen by his wife, Joyce.

B- Gluten-free cooking and a link to a gluten-free blogger at All Purpose Dark.

C- Miami-Dade Dems posts comprehensive coverage of Democratic congressional candidate Joe Garcia's comments on Fidel Castro's resignation.

D- GreenerMIAMI is preggars and she needs help naming her baby.

E- A Grand Illusion and 26th Parallel offer up a touch of reasonable and articulate commentary on Fidel's resignation.

F- MenuPages: South Florida finds that the wine list at Bourbon Steak is pretty unbelievable.

So, back to this crazy-long wine list at Bourbon Steak. It's the kind of place that deals in decadence (duck fat fries anyone? How about some butter-poached prime rib?), so it's fitting to have a collection of 7,000 bottles of wine. But can anyone actually make a decision in, say, 15 minutes when there are so many choices? There are over 100 types of pinot noir alone.

G-Miami Nights has some thoughts about the proposed plans for the new Marlins stadium and provides a couple great links including one to some great conceptual views of the thing.

H- Coral Gables doesn't mix words with her review of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival.

I- Eye on Miami gave me a good laugh today for its take on Castro's resignation...

As a young child I remember the name Castro. They had a convertible bedding company and the TV ad had a little girl pulling open a sofa bed. I could never figure out how Fidel had this company with commercials on U.S. TV.

J- Coconut Grove Grapevine goes to great lengths to explain what comments will make it through moderation...if he remembers to read them, that is.

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The Cooler

You can expect the Castro resignation to be the talk of the town. But there's a lot more going on in the mainstream media, hence, your links...

A- Herald, Sun-Sentinel: Fidel Castro resigns.

B- Palm Beach Post: The Girl Scout cookie-cash thief is in trouble again.

C- Palm Beach Post: The hazards of living near an airport.

D- Local 10: Homeless sex offenders continue to be moved from place to place.

E- CBS4: New Miami-Dade ordinance may require bike riders to have lights or promise not to ride at night. WTF?

F- Herald: Total eclipse of the moon on Wednesday night.

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Your Morning Sift

Fidel has resigned and the blogosphere is just warming up and discussing the news. That and some other things were talked about last night as you rested...

A- FLTV posts that NBC6 was the first Miami news station reporting Fidel Castro's resignation.

B- babalu's Ziva reacts to the news: "Right now, at this late hour, my emotions are in turmoil."

C- Bark Bark Woof Woof offers his thoughts...

There is no denying that this will be huge news here in Miami today, and a lot of people will be hauling out their plans, if not their suitcases, to get ready for a trip back to Havana. But on a practical level, this changes nothing. The embargo is still in place and can't be lifted with the wave of a pen on an executive order because it's been made into law. And other than making it official, Fidel Castro's statement basically makes permanent what has been in place since July 2006 when he "temporarily" relinquished power to his brother Raul due to illness.

D- Daily Cocaine tries out a couple hot sauces and unleashes the descriptors as only he can...

Things are getting ugly. First Chef Dewey LoSasso, of North One10, creates a hot sauce (above), made from habanero peppers, that belongs next to a bottle of mescal and a warm young heartbreaker, tempting you to go a little further, get good and hot, I like it like that, now kiss me till it burns.

E- The Dolphin's Jason Taylor will be competing on Dancing With The Stars and FinsNation is not too happy.

F- Some Cranky Guy tells us what his platform would be if he ran for office.

Speaking of crime, if a police officer or any government official is convicted of any crime, whatever the penalty would be, it is doubled. No exceptions. Plus,we stuff poison ivy into their boxer shorts.

G- Restaurant Gal flies back to SoFla from Colorado and finds out that peace is priceless.

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Your Evening Sift

***New Blog Alert!*** We have a new blog that has joined the South Florida blogosphere...check out F for further details. And a lot of other good stuff for you to digest this evening. Take a look...

A- Transit Miami posts a glimpse of what the new Florida Miami Marlins stadium might look like.

B- 26th Parallel starts a new series on his blog called "South Florida History" with a couple links to information about Tequesta Indians.

C- Everyone who demands a slice of lemon with their drink when they go out needs to check out this video posted by MenuPages: South Florida.

D- Consumable Joy reviews Hiro's Yakko-san in North Miami Beach and proclaims, "Good food, all of it, very satisfying."

E- Hidden City asks a very disturbing "What if..." question.

F- We're always excited when a new blog enters the SoFla blogosphere and this one looks especially interesting. Foodtastic points us to Cuban Home Cooking...Keeping The Tradition Alive and, as you might guess, it details traditional Cuban recipes. The first post shows us how to make Ham Croquettes or, in Spanish, Croquetas de Jamón. Oh my, this is going to be soooo goood.

G- Be on the lookout for Bark Bark Woof Woof's teak table.

H- All Purpose Dark visits Bourbon Steak and consumes the best-looking mac & cheese I've seen in a while.

I- babalu shills for the Clinton Campaign...who would have thunk it??

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Get Out of The Way

As I sit here day after day and read the tired old rhetoric of the People Who Voted For Bush (PWVFB) as they go on and on about how we all should be so terrified of the terrorists or how we all should be afraid of Obama or how these two entities are somehow, insanely, the same thing, I firmly believe that these ideological dinosaurs are finished. They have had their day and they are done. It's over.

I laugh as they intimate that Barack Obama is somehow going to replace the Statue of Liberty with one of Karl Marx. I laugh as they mock the very politicians that offer this country relief from the pile of crap we've been living and fermenting in for the last 8 long years. I laugh as they can't get it through their thick skulls that America has changed and they are too bull-headed to change with it. But why am I so surprised? These are, after all, the PWVFB.

To these people, these pieces of dead wood, who cling to this desperate and reckless message of fear and anxiety that they envision as their only hope come November, I say...Get the f**k outta the way because the times, they are a changin'....



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The Cooler

So how was the Coconut Grove Art Festival? Who is working, who has off? Talk it up! Here are a few mainstream media links to keep you busy for a while.

A- Sun-Sentinel: Photos from yesterday's A1A Marathon in Fort Lauderdale.

B- CBS4: An "only in Davie" news story.

C- Sun-Sentinel: Where's the beef?

D- Herald: Big-ass fire in Homestead last night.

E- Sun-Sentinel: Turtles!

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Your Morning Sift

It's President's Day and I'm off to play some golf. Things were fairly quiet last night around the blogsphere but here's a few things I managed to dig up.

A- A Miami Beach history lesson from Miami-Beach USA.

B- Streetcars and cars don't always get along, according to this video offered up by Transit Miami.

C- A Mom, A Blog and the Life In-Between is in search of the perfect undergarment. Have any suggestions?

D- Carlos Miller mulls over the reasons why the police are appearing on YouTube videos more and more these days.

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Favorite Fever Foto of the Week

Somewhere in Miami...


-miami fever

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Your Evening Sift

Loads of stuff to go over this Sunday evening.

A- Daily Cocaine gives us the third installment of his chat with Fat Man's BBQ. Part One. Part Two.

B- Graphs and charts don't exactly make for riveting blog material but Eye on Miami presents some interesting home sale data for select Miami-Dade neighborhoods.

C- Also in real estate, Miamism shows us some sales data from the northeast Miami-Dade neighborhoods for the month of January.

D- Restaurant Gal is vacationing in Colorado and makes note of a "community table" in a restaurant there, wondering whether a similar concept would work in SoFla.

E- Coconut Grove Grapevine is the first SoFla blogger to post photos from the Coconut Grove and St. Stephens Art Festivals.

F- Ipanemic is seriously shooting photos...tons of photos.

G- Pictures of the Coral Gables Farmer's Market...and some other things from Fruitarian Girl Suvine.

H- Downtownmiami.com is live, according to Miami-Forum.

I- Chili's is coming to Coral Gables and Coral Gables (the blog) has mixed feelings.

J- Some excellent stuff from FTL Today. First, they review the Muvico Palace Theater in Boca Raton and deem it the best movie house in Broward and Palm Beach County...make sure you check out the VIP perks. And then they pay $38 for a pizza and bread sticks that takes 45 minutes to prepare at a Pizza Fusion and only think it's so-so. Yikes.

I personally think it's kind of over-priced.

Wow. You can say that again.

I personally think it's kind of over-priced.

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Florida City's New Starbucks

On my way down to Robert is Here this morning (see my Flickr), I stopped in the new Starbucks in Florida City (opened December '07) and checked things out. It was a busy mid-morning and there was a nice line of people both placing orders and waiting for their coffee to be served. It looks like it's going to be a good location for Starbucks.

But they do need to seriously reconsider their parking situation. As it stands now, the lot is set up so that you drive in one place, the go around the building and exit out another driveway to SW 344th Street. Unfortunately, if there is any line whatsoever in the drive-thru, the exit lane is blocked and you have to go back out through the entrance. This, naturally, gets you all sorts of dirty looks and more from the folks who are just pulling in and have no idea what is going on.

Seriously FUBAR, but the building looks good and the coffee is Starbucks.

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SFDB Post of the Week

Winner: Carlos Miller's post covering the Code Pink rally that was held last weekend. The post includes a video and Carlos' description of what happened when he waded into a group of passionate Cuban-American hardliners with a camera.

Runners Ups: Val Prieto's emotional tribute to his father at babalu, Ipanemic's post at Miami Beach 411 showing us the hostesses of South Beach, and Daily Cocaine's two-parter on Fat Man's Barbeque.


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The Cooler

Here are a handful of Sunday morning reads from the local mainstream media...

A- Herald: Details of the new Marlin stadium, including the news that the team has agreed to change its name to the Miami Marlins.

B- Herald: Wine is hot is SoFla.

C- Herald: Miami's federal courthouses are in trouble.

D- Sun-Sentinel: If you're a homeowner, you may be getting even less of a tax break than you thought with the new tax referendum.

E- Palm Beach Post: Does anyone want Zach Thomas?

F- Sun-Sentinel: Broward County's motormedics.

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Your Morning Sift

South Florida bloggers don't have much to say on Saturday nights. Here's all I could dig up for you this morning...

A- The Chinese apparently have some interest in Eye on Miami.

B- I don't get all the hype, but apparently the Kimbo Slice/Tank Abbott fight at the Bank Atlantic Center in Broward in Coral Gables last night was a big deal. Miami-Forum has the [very short] video.

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