SFDB Saturday Night Turndown Service

The Band and Neil Young, Helpless

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Your Evening Sift

What a brisk, beautiful South Florida day. It makes me want to put it in a big bottle that I can uncork in the middle of August.

I have just a few thing for you tonight, but first...

New Blog Alert!

Generation Miami: Giancarlo Sopo is a Democratic activist based in South Florida. Sopo carries a fairly heavy resume...

In 2008, President Barack Obama’s campaign appointed Sopo to serve on the Democratic Party’s National Platform Drafting Committee, alongside key national leaders, such as Secretary of Homelad Security, Janet Napolitano, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachussetts and Dr. Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Sopo has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time, The New York Times Magazine, CNN and Univision.

Sopo is presently studying Government at Harvard University and is a weekly political commentator on a Spanish-language FM radio station in Miami, FL.

So you can pretty much guess what we can expect from Generation Miami: decidedly left-leaning political commentary and discussion on both national and local issues. From GM's 1st post on January 17th...

We can no longer afford to have state legislators that spend millions in tax-payer dollars trying to conduct foreign policy from Tallahassee, instead of fully funding our schools. We cannot afford to have a local newspaper that spends its limited resources on revitalizing painful episodes from the past and fabricating controversies.

So, I’ve started this blog to create what I hope will be meaningful discussions about current events; to hold the local media accountable, and, most importantly, to change the tone of the political discourse in Miami — even if it’s just in the confines of this blog.

Welcome, Generation Miami!

SFDB readers will find Generation Miami in the Florida Politics blogroll located in the right sidebar.

Now on to your early evening Sift...

A- Random Pixels updates his controversial "Where is Carlos Alvarez, Jr.?" post after an anonymous commenter leaves some interesting information.

B- The Cleveland Orchestra is in the house, says South Florida Classical Review.

The Cleveland Orchestra opened their 2009 Miami season unseen but definitely heard as the gold-plated pit band for Miami City Ballet’s Balanchine performances Thursday night at the Ziff Ballet Opera House.

On Friday the celebrated ensemble moved across Biscayne Boulevard and, led by Franz Welser-Most, was highly visible and imposingly audible under the Knight Concert Hall lights in music of Wagner and Shostakovich.

C- Miami Condos Investments has confirmed a rumor that an Israeli corporation is preparing to purchase 100 condos at Quantum on the Bay.

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Google Flags Entire Internet As Malware

This morning I got the following comment on last night's evening Sift post...

Whenever I google your site Google tells me this website may harm my computer. Am I the only one getting this?

Well, I immediately Googled SFDB and didn't see anything similar so I filed away the information as bogus.

Mystery solved...sort of.

We're not quite sure what's going on, but a couple of minutes ago any search result from Google started being flagged as malware with a message stating "This site may harm your computer". Including Google's own websites as you can see above.

Twitter is abuzz with people reporting the massive error (also look for tags #googmayharm or #googmayhem), and it's clear that this is happening around the world. Apparently, it's happening with any browser on any platform too.

[...]

Update 2: it seems to be fine now. Lasted about 15 minutes. You can take a deep breath now and go on with whatever you were doing before.

Now we just have to wait for Google to tell us what went wrong. It's quite clear that a meltdown of this size, no matter how short it was, will be the topic of discussion for the coming days (and not only at the Googleplex, I'd wager).

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SFDB Post Of The Year: The Winner

Blast Off!: My Date With Debbie

The poll has closed and the winner of the SFDB Post of the Year for 2008, with 385 total votes cast, is Blast Off's My Date With Debbie. I want to congratulate Sinfonian on this recognition and the fine effort that he put into this post. Ambush interviewing a U.S. Representative in a parking lot is not a job for the faint of heart, and Blast Off! proved its mettle in pulling it off.

Although this is Blast Off's post, I wanted to add that the field of nominees in this year's competition was extraordinary. I think it speaks volumes to the quality of the posting in the South Florida blogosphere as a whole. I hope that at some point, you've taken the time to read the posts of all the nominees to see for yourselves what a great group of talented bloggers we have posting in South Florida.

It was a good year. But I'm looking forward to even bigger and better things in 2009.

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The Cooler

There's some excellent video news clips in today's mainstream media that I've linked to below. Have fun.

A- Herald: Video, Overtown's musical history.

B- Herald: Video, man runs from Broward courthouse and jumps into the New River and drowns. Justice served?

C- Herald: Morin.

D- CBS4: Video, Jungle Island Pawpurrazzi.

E- WPTV: What kind of signal does this send to other criminals?

Police say two Michigan teens won't face charges after toilet-papering the Florida home of embattled Wall Street broker Bernard Madoff.

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Your Mid-Morning Sift

Good morning.

Looks like everyone is starting out slow this morning, including yours truly. Here's your lagging morning Sift...

A- Restaurants are already closing at South Florida casinos? That can't be good. FTL Today has the news.

I just got back from the Isle Casino in Pompano and noticed something interesting. There is now one less restaurant at the casino. Bragozzo's Italian Restaurant is closed.

B- Babalu's Val Prieto courageously saves someone's dog from a Miami-Dade canal and, inexplicably, it's a display of American patriotism. Good story, nonetheless.

As I pulled up I was already taking crap outof my pockets. Wallet and cellphone out. Cigs and lighter out. Cap off, jacket off. By the time I had run to the woman's side I was pullng my sweatet shirt off and ripping my sneakers off. The dog was almost half way belly up. There was no time to call to him.

I jumped into the canal and went after the damned dog.

The woman was crying hysterically now, sobbing over the half dead dog as I handed him over to her.

"He's fourteen years old," she said. "And blind."

I saved a blind, fourteen year old Yorkie from drowning in arctic conditions.

As a sidenote, remember our discussion here yesterday about typos and laziness? Just sayin'.

C- Coconut Grove is starting to look like a country club, according to this photo from Coconut Grove Grapevine.

D- Reidblog links to a couple Huffington Post articles including one describing a move by Bush in the waning days of his presidency to insure that members of his staff never went to jail for crimes committed while he held office.

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Your Evening Sift

Somewhere between Doral and Pembroke Pines, I lost 3 degrees of warmth on the drive home. The temperature is going down, folks...fast. Hopefully you have someone close by who can help you stay warm tonight.

And with that, here's your fairly early and gettin' chilly evening Sift.

A- Blind Mind continues making his case against the new Marlins stadium after Miami-Dade Mayor Alvarez writes a letter to the Herald.

Mayor Alvarez penned a Letter to the Editor in today's Herald in support of the new Marlins Stadium. You can read it here. Nice smoke bomb by Alvarez.

B- Coconut Grove Grapevine lays out the things he would like to see from a new mayor.

We want free parking 24/7, we want fair Code Enforcement people, we want all building zoning laws followed and not changed at whim, and we want the City Commissioners who are not part of our district to stop making the laws for us. They are ruining the Grove with their ignorance. We also want to be our own city and not be part of the City of Miami anymore. And and we want peace on earth.

C- There are loads of new video clips posted over at Miami Fever.

D- The Burger Beast tackles a 24-oz. Doomsday burger at Kingdom and lives to post about it.

It really does look so beautiful I don't want to eat it but I'll make the sacrifice. I do want to clarify something though. There is a Doomsday Challenge where you must eat the 24 oz. burger along with fries and onion rings in less than 15 minutes. This is no Doomsday Challenge for the record.

E- The South Beach Bum has his usual "the weather is great, wish you were here" photos posted for your enjoyment.

And, if you care to...



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Val Prieto: Tool

Well, now. That didn't take long.

Val Prieto, January 20, 2009....

All those newly proud Americans are the same people that have spent eight years calling the President a Nazi. Calling the man a fascist. A murderer. Calling him stupid. An idiot. A monkey. Drawing up ridiculous caricatures of the man.

[...]

I dont like Barrack Obama one bit. I believe him to be the poster boy of modern socialism and find him incredibly lacking in everything the office of President requires. But I wont be calling him a Nazi. I wont be drawing cartoons of him looking like a chimpanzee. I wont call him a murderer or an idiot. And I will always, always, refer to him as President Obama and not just "Obama."

Val Prieto, today...





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Friday Flashback

In memory of the late, great Billy Powell...




Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gimme Three Steps

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SFDB 2008 Post Of The Year Update

Today is the last full day of voting for the SFDB Post of the Year. 343 votes have been cast and one of Carlos Miller's posts is out in front with Blast Off! not that far behind.

Voting will end at 10 AM tomorrow morning, so if you haven't yet registered your vote, make sure you do it ASAP.






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Setting Up Your First Blogger Blog?

Then you're in luck because Google Blogger For Dummies is coming out next month. From Blogger Buster...

Being a "Dummies" guide, Google Blogger for Dummies will cover both the basics of using Blogger (creating and setting up a first blog) and also some advanced techniques and insights which even experienced bloggers will find both useful and insightful.

There are 16 chapters in all (plus the "Parts of Tens"): the first five chapters explain how to set up and manage a blog with Blogger, while the remaining chapters offer insight into building a successful blog including advice about social networks, publishing blog posts and managing your template. All of this is written with particular reference to Blogger.

Blogger Buster has reviewed a preview of the book and has some comments at the above link.

You can order your copy here.

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SFDB Ecard Of The Day

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The Cooler

Here's some news you can use. For what, I don't know...

A- Sun-Sentinel: Hey, at least we beat Cleveland.

Miami ranks 12th among America's most popular big cities, according to a national survey released today.

The survey by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project names Denver, San Diego and Seattle as the cities most respondents would like to live in. Orlando ties for fourth place with San Francisco and Tampa. Detroit, Cleveland and Cincinnati ranked at the bottom of the list.

B- Sun-Sentinel: The Sun-Sentinel wordsmiths hit a homerun. See bolded below.

The Broward Legislative Delegation heard testimony on a range of issues Thursday: work force development, spaying and neutering pets, funding for Tri-Rail — and nude beaches.

They're good for Florida's economy, said Richard Mason of the South Florida Free Beaches and the Florida Naturist Association, who asked Broward's state lawmakers to oppose any legislation that would force nude beaches to close.

[...]

Mason termed Haulover "the most successful beach in the state of Florida." He said it outdraws the Florida Marlins and Miami Dolphins combined — a comment that drew titters from the crowd.

C- Herald: Miami Nice.

The deaths of three Homestead children Sunday have stirred an outpouring of donations from the community, including more than $50,000 from radio station Power 96.

In five hours, the DJ Laz Morning Show raised more than $50,000 Wednesday to help Hector and Mirian Serrano pay for the funeral of their three children, who were killed early Sunday when Gabriel Delrisco's SUV slammed into the family's minivan at a red light on Dixie highway in South Miami-Dade.

Hector, 10, Esmeralda, 7, and Amber, 4, will be buried Saturday at the Palms-Woodlawn Cemetery in Homestead.

D- Herald: Miami-Dade Mayor on the new Marlins stadium.

In this current economic climate, it would be wrong to ignore the fact that a stadium would create jobs -- good-paying, local jobs for as many as 2,000 people during three years of construction. Construction jobs in Miami-Dade County are down more than 15 percent from this time last year. This project is a shot in the arm we could use, along with all the other investments we are making in our community.

We've got the money, thanks to the 12 million tourists who visit us every year. Let's not shove it under a mattress. Those dollars can't be used for affordable housing, education or other government services. Let's make another investment in our community, put people to work right now and emerge from this economic downturn better and stronger.

E- NBC6: Get your veggies.

The Market Company, distributors to most of Miami's weekend farmer's markets, is making it easier to get healthy vegetables off the farm and onto your table. Since opening its warehouse last month for two days of weekday shopping, hordes of local residents and chefs have been showing up to squeeze the heirloom tomatoes and candy-striped eggplants.

[...]

The Market Company warehouse, located at 4127 Northwest 2 Avenue, is open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

F- WSVN: I hate when that happens.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (WSVN) -- A man is recovering at the hospital after he was accidentally shot in the leg by a friend on a transit bus Thursday afternoon.

According to Miami-Dade Police, two male friends were in a Miami-Dade transit bus in the area of Northwest 47th Avenue and 199th Street. One of the the men was armed. His gun accidentally went off and struck his friend's leg.

The shooter panicked and took off running.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

And, yay, it's Friday. I think I heard a cold front is supposed to blast through here this weekend so the fog we have in Broward this morning might be the prelude to that cool down.

Here's your room temperature TGIF morning Sift...

A- Tropic of Mom takes the little one [and her camera] to this past weekend's Awesome Truck Day in Hollywood.

B- The police catch some burglary suspects in Obalesque's neighborhood but he isn't as happy for his neighbors as you might think.

So while I’m glad the cops got the creeps responsible for the crime, I’m sorely pissed that the thieves weren’t armed and didn’t aerate Caveman and C*ntwife [Ed.]. Or shish kabob a vital organ. Or cause heart failure, or better yet, a debilitating stroke that would have them sh*tting [Ed.] in diapers and drooling snot out their maws for the rest of their lives. Or at least beat the crap out of them, break some bones, and trash the house.

Nothing. Their property was even recovered from a neighbor’s yard.

Further proof there is no god — no one to pray to or worship.

C- Miamism posts a great picture that is sure to get your Friday off to a super start.

D- Artlurker examines The Possibility of an Island exhibit at MOCA at Goldman Warehouse.

The success of the exhibition relies heavily upon on its poignancy. This poignancy exists because viewers can relate to the exhibitions overall theme and moreover because each artist involved empathized with that theme to a personal effect. Although formed from collective interrelated structures of succinct approximations what we see presented is a unified statement on the subject of contemporary and projected human society, its ambitions, problems and fears. To quote the exhibition brochure: “The Possibility of an Island takes French author Michel Houellebecq’s recent novel of the same title as its starting point. The exhibition poses existential questions in the face of an elusive future and explores the poetic and philosophical sides of science fiction.

E- Discourse reports that the Zipcar fleet at UM has expanded.

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Who Speaks For Republicans?

Here's your answer...



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Your Evening Sift

You guys are killing me with the volume of posts. Thank God tomorrow is Friday when things traditionally start to slow down for the weekend. Here's your voluminous evening Sift...

A- Shorter babalu...

Staying together and holding on to each other aboard a sinking ship will ultimately refloat it.

B- Count Blind Mind as yet another South Floridian who thinks the new Marlins stadium is a huge waste of money.

People will still have to drive to the game, sit in traffic, and then have nowhere to go when they get there but spend $8 on a goddamn hot dog inside the stadium walls. Businessmen and women in the Brickell/Downtown/Gables area will likely just stay put for happy hour, spending their money in a nice, clean area with established businesses that have their followings already, then head over to the game and head back to Brickell/Downtown/Gables after or go home. The ballpark area just gets raped.

C- Miami Condo Investments lists the location and price of 13 "distressed" condos in Miami.

D- Today was Hidden City's first day of his last year as a 40-something. You know what to do.

This is shaping up to be a year in motion for me, with quite a bit of change in my life, leading toward my fiftieth birthday. The two, though, aren't intentionally related; there are no red sports cars or besequined blond nymphettes in my future. Sometimes fate just conspires to bring symbolic gestures to life without our planning them.

E- Emeril is celebrating 5 years at the Loews Hotel, according to South Beach USA.

Start February with a BAM! as Emeril Lagasse returns to South Beach to celebrate the 5th year of his successful Emeril’s Restaurant at the Loews Hotel. A cocktail reception kicks off the evening at 7:30 Wednesday, February 4 with New Orleans jazz vocalist Jeremy Davenport performing along side 7 year old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick.

F- Balans has opened up another restaurant in Mary Brickell Village and it has some cool bathrooms, says All Purpose Dark.

G- One thing that has become apparent with the latest kerfuffle involving Rush Limbaugh is that Rush Limbaugh IS today's Republican Party, according to Bark Bark Woof Woof.

So every time Rush Limbaugh comes out with one of his whoppers, like "I hope Obama fails," or "we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward whichever, because his father was black, because he’s the first black president," or plays "Barack the Magic Negro," we should all turn to the Republican leadership in the House, the Senate, and the RNC and say, "And your thoughts on this are...?"

To put it in the pithy argot of the street: Hey, GOP, Rush owns your ass; title, taxes, and license plate included.

H- Miami Metblogs daydreams and tells us his vision of a downtown Miami Public Market.

Across the street and down NW N River Dr. there are three areas for the new buildings of the Miami Public Market. Across the old fish market/Visitor Center, Market Area 1 sits in a small island surrounded by SW 1st Street. The new building constructed here, perhaps a two-story structure, would be the new fish market building, housing vendors selling fresh fish and seafood, highlighting local and seasonal options when available, frozen as a second option to carry the vendors through the lean times. Ideally caught by local fishermen and brought to the market via the Miami River, the merchandise is unloaded at the landing right next to the Visitor Center.

I- Tons of pictures capturing what it was like on South Beach today can be found at The South Beach Bum.

J- Kids were being recognized for their artwork this week in downtown Miami, according to Swampstyle.

Currently on view in a 'salon style hanging' is an exhibition of selected works sifted from the avalanche of artworks submitted by local students from public, private and parochial schools. All kids, ages 7-12, are encouraged to submit their work... many of the participants featured are from the handful of public magnet schools.

K- The South Florida Theatre Scene has their wrap-up for this week.

L- Miami, bro is fed up with the attention her now-infamous Matt Damon post brought her. But think of all the new readers you picked up, bro!

I am shocked at how people are so willing to defame me (an anonymous woman) while deifying him (a privileged male), both strangers. It's not like I don't know how sexist and classist people can be, it's just surprising how savage they've been here. Let's just call these hypocrites, "people who read People."

M- Eye on Miami asks "Does the GOP stand for anything?"

If you are going to be the minority party, the party of opposition, then stand for something constructive along the lines of reviving the economy by supporting new industries and, above all, transparency and accountability in the disposition of a trillion dollars or more of future obligations to taxpayers. Don't whine about the nationalization of industries, when it was your party's policies that so badly miscalculated risk. Abjure the fraud and corruption that took over financial markets. Reject the K Street Project.

N- Everything you want to know about Tailpot palms can be found in this post from Volunteering at Fairchild.

O- Embedded in this well-written post about the characteristics of the Republican Party, Incertus pens these couple paragraphs of gold that sum up quite nicely the idiocy of yesterday.

So now, when the entire country has rejected Republican ideas and has embraced Barack Obama, the Republican party has further united to not vote for the stimulus plan with Obama's name on it. (Bush's name, yes -- Obama's name, no). They did this knowing that the plan would pass anyway. They're doing it for show: to make a statement. To show that they will not compromise, they are right dammit, and they will act boldly, no matter the cost!

But here is the gamble: the stimulus package did pass the House, and will pass the Senate, and will be signed by the president. The Republican party just bet its reputation on that package's failure. If the economy improves, and people perceive that the stimulus package helped, then the fact that not a single Republican voted for it becomes a symbol of how partisan and party-before-country they have become, and will further reduce their popularity.

Go read the whole thing.

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Typos And Blogging

The Blog Herald notes that a recent survey indicates that consumers of new media content really do care about about things like spelling, grammar and syntax. From the survey...

• More than 42% said that they had “often” or “very often” left a website upon noticing spelling, grammar or factual errors; another 36.2% reported “sometimes” having that experience
  

• 87.8% of respondents said they find spelling or grammar errors distracting when reading online content and have spent less time browsing a web site than they otherwise would have because spelling or grammar errors on the page became too distracting

Hey, I'm as guilty as the next guy of making grammatical errors and screwing up my sentence structure, but one thing that bugs me to no end is spelling. Most blogging platforms have a built-in spell check so it irritates me when I find an obvious error because I know the writer just didn't care enough to spend the time to do a check.

It's sort of like driving and using turn signals: checking your spelling really doesn't expend that much time or effort but it can make one heck of a difference in how some people perceive you and the value you place on making their lives a little more pleasant.

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SFDB Question Of The Day

Yesterday, Starbucks announced that they're going to close another 300 stores. Let's help them out a little and tell them which ones in South Florida should stay and which ones should go.

For starters, I maintain that the one on Pines Boulevard just west of the police station in Pembroke Pines has to stay. It's clean, it's never crowded, the employees are super nice, it has a drive-thru and it's close to my house. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind seeing the one on Lincoln Road at Pennsylvania close. The bathroom is filthy and there are already enough cafes on Lincoln to choke a horse.

What say you?

[And please don't turn this into a "best coffee" or Starbucks bashing thread. Just tell us which stores you think are good and which ones stink.]

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SFDB's Favorite Comment From Yesterday

I was completely appalled when I watched the news about the cloned dog last night. Granted, it's their money, they can do with it what they want. But come on...
$155,000 ?? For a dog???

Can you imagine how many dogs that type of money could've helped at the Humane Society/Adopt-A-Pet?

- Anonymous, The Cooler

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The Cooler

Lots of news to go through this morning so let's get started.

A- Palm Beach Post: Man, that cold front must have been strong!

Flights into, out of Palm Beach International Airport delayed by snow, ice

B- Palm Beach Post: 2009 SunFest line-up.

WEST PALM BEACH — James Taylor's Web site spilled it first, but Sweet Baby James is, indeed, on the lineup for the 2009 edition of SunFest, taking over Flagler Drive from April 29 to May 3.

And he's not alone.

Acts announced Wednesday include reggae rockers 311 (the American version) and UB40 (the classic British version), Classic Albums Live, hip-hoppers G. Love & Special Sauce, jazz legends Spyro Gyra, rockers Jack's Mannequin and, because the show seems to be represented here almost every year, 2008 American Idol winner David Cook.

C- Herald: Video, the "topping off" of the New World Symphony structure on Miami Beach.

D- Herald: Have a cute baby?

The national search for America's Most Photogenic Baby is coming to South Florida.

Photographers will be at Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise -- near Wannado City --Thursday through Sunday, snapping photos of children from infants to five years.

E- Herald: Time to take the keys away.

Police late Wednesday said they had located an elderly Hollywood couple who had been missing for several days.

William Manginelli, 87, and Grace Manginelli, 85, were last seen leaving the Carriage Hills area about 1 p.m. Monday. Neighbors did not see them return home Monday night and called police early Tuesday.

For days, police had no luck tracking the couple, said Lt. Manny Marino, a police spokesman.

But on Wednesday, a North Carolina state trooper noticed the couple driving slowly off the main highway in Greensboro, Marino said. The trooper checked the tag and saw they were missing from Florida.

The couple appeared to be trying to visit family in New York, Marino said.

F- Herald: No way, mon.

Air Jamaica, which has flown to Miami since its founding in 1969, will exit the airport in late February as it suspends unprofitable routes amid the global economic downturn.

The government-owned carrier will continue its service to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where nearly four times as many of its South Florida passengers already fly, said Air Jamaica Chief Executive Bruce Nobles.

G- Sun-Sentinel: Rev. Al is in da hawse!

MIAMI - The Rev. Al Sharpton will join the families of two teens who were killed in a Miami shooting last week to launch a national drive against the "stop snitching" culture.

Sharpton is scheduled to speak at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami today at 10:30 a.m.

H- Sun-Sentinel: Cue "Jaws" music.

Authorities closed beaches along Singer Island, and more could be closed in coming days as the sharks continue their annual migration south.

I- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

J- TC Palm: The man has issues.

FORT PIERCE — A panty-wearing man faces drug charges after a Wal-Mart Supercenter security worker spotted him dropping a marijuana pipe, according to a recently released police report.

The security worker told police Tuesday that Michael A. Conlkin, 21, was stopped after stashing a pair of panties in his pocket. He was brought to the security office “where they found him wearing two more pair of women’s panties.”

K- WPLG: Prices should be going down at Joe's any day now.

MARATHON, Fla. -- Prices for lobster and stone crab are lower this year by quite a bit, but the price plunge is drowning many people who earn their living on the water.

Local 10's Julie Summers traveled to Marathon in the Florida Keys and found many lobster and crabbing boats empty and bobbing at the docks instead of out in the water.

[...]

Experts told Local 10 News the lower prices this year are due to a combination of factors. Lobsters have reportedly been overpriced in recent years and now with lower demand, prices are falling. And as for stone crabs, production from crabbers on the west coast of Florida has been way up, which is hurting crabbers here in southeast Florida.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

And yes, it's the Day Before Friday. We're almost there. Grab some coffee, pull up a chair and follow along with me with this morning's Sift...

A- Sarah Palin sends [some of us] silent messages in her pictures, according to Sundries.

In that spirit, I have observed that Sarah Palin uses her hair down during speeches, which makes her still youthful features appear a little more severe. Almost counterintuitively though, the style flatters her more than the iconic "bun", which has increasingly been shunted aside since her roll-out in Dayton, Ohio. The "hair down" also offers an alternative to the constant short haircuts seen on other female politicians.

This is also why she uses her square librarian glasses (which at one point had been rumoured by HuffPo to be fake. No, she's worn glasses since her earliest childhood. In fact, so do Piper and Trig today, clearly inheriting those genes from their mother). Anything to detract from the fact that she is above-average looking woman in a field where homely women are legion.

[...]

Her posture is relaxed, her hands linked in that almost prayerful gesture she has during rallies, and her prominent jaw is jutting with determination at some far off goal in the distance.

Governor Palin is sending us all a message.

Received loud and clear, Sarah. Good luck.

B- Jaded in Paradise is looking for help with her insomnia.

Guys, do you bloggers, experience the same lack of sleep syndrome? If so, how often? How do you deal with the situation? Can we ever quiet our minds or is this some sort of writer’s curse?

C- I Shot The Chef whips up some fascinating tuile cookies.

I made several different shapes; long triangles that I shaped over a (washed) can, spirals that I shaped around a thin wooden spoon handle, spoons that I shaped on (obviously) spoons, and butterflies that I bent in half and set in a baking dish. I served them with home made raspberry and mango sorbets.

D- 305 went to the circus this past weekend and took her camera.

All I have to say is whoever choreographed the show and designed the costumes is awesome. It was pretty much 80s punk influenced, with a splash of glitter and glam. Loved it!

E- Shorter babalu...

Obama is going to have to own eight years of Republican mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility if there is any inflation during his term.

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Your Evening Sift

I just knew it was going to be a busy day in the SoFla blogosphere because it's Wednesday and Wednesdays are always busy. I was right.

Here's your very predictable evening Sift...

A- The Burger Beast reviews El Rey De Las Fritas in Little Havana.

I ordered their hot dog, a couple of fritas (one with cheese and one without) and some fries. Replace the squarish cuban roll with a longer one, check. Replace the frita with a hot dog, check. Add the same toppings (shredded potatoes & diced raw onions), check. Was the hot dog good? I thought it was a good idea but the combination of flavors did not work for me. It's also cut in half by the way. The fries were a standard affair, pretty much what I find at all the frita establishments, one can only assume everyone took their lead from them, instead of regular fries you can also choose to get the tiny shredded potatoes.

B- Transit Miami thinks that the new Marlins stadium design is a huge mistake.

Where are people going to go before and after games? What this development is lacking are all the elements that would make this a real destination - shops, bars, and restaurants. The lack of transit connectivity is also a huge problem (is there even a bus stop incorporated into the design??) and the abundance of exposed parking garages and parking lots are not inviting. This promises to be yet another boondoggle that people flock to in their cars on game day, and leave right after.

C- Both Miamism and South Beach Condos Blog take a look at the South Beach condos market for 2008. From the latter...

Last year was very telling for Miami Beach real estate in terms of how the market actually performed versus how people think it performed. Everyone has an opinion on where the market was, is, or where it’s going, but the current evidence speaks for itself. Read on, and you’ll find some surprises.

D- Random Pixels conducts a class in photographing celebrities and uses a past experience as a lesson.

The point here "Miami bro" is that if you're going to act like a paparazzi, don't be surprised if you get treated like one.

As for me, I don't care what celebrities think of me or whether they "like me" or not. I don't suck up to them. I just take pictures and then I leave them alone.

When they're in public, they're fair game!

E- MenuPages Blog: South Florida links to a newspaper article that seems to indicate that restaurants, at least chain restaurants, aren't doing all that bad these days.

F- South Florida Classical Review profiles classical vocalist, Measha Brueggergosman.

Recitals and concert appearances such as this weekend’s Wagner performances with the Cleveland Orchestra arranged are the “bread and butter” of her career, which is “sprinkled” with occasional opera appearances. “I like to split it evenly so I can have the thrill of the orchestra, the intimacy of chamber music and the partnership of recitals.”

G- Bark Bark Woof Woof has the news that President Obama's stimulus package has passed the House vote along strict party lines.

All I can say is that we tried it the GOP way for eight years. It didn't work. Not only did it not work, it gave us the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. So, even in the spirit of bipartisanship, why should we listen to them? Clearly they haven't had a good idea since they voted to repeal Prohibition, so even if they're sincere in trying to get out of this mess without trying to score political points, what's the point?

H- Incertus is enjoying "being on top," at least for the time being.

So it's going to be interesting for the next couple of years. See, unlike the Republicans who actually bought into the notion of the permanent majority, I know that my party will fall out of favor eventually, and it might even fall out of favor with me. I'm prepared for it. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy watching the RedStaters and Malkins of the world gnash their teeth and rip their hair out because their representatives aren't as hardcore as they'd like them to be.

I- Shorter babalu...

When a Democratic president attempts to pass a stimulus package, it's "[a]bsolutely, irresponsibly disgusting." When a Republican president attempts to pass a stimulus package, he's the first Cuban-American President.

J- Wow. Not only does Daily Cocaine give us a nice tour of Moises Bakery of Miami Beach in this post, but we also get a comprehensive history of Orinoco Coffee.

And that brings me to my secret find-Moises is the place in Miami where you can buy a bag of the incredible coffee from Orinoco Coffee & Tea, Ltd. Orinoco is a family-owned coffee importer and roaster, whose coffee is only available in certain cities at specialty gourmet stores like Dean & Deluca and Balducci's. In fact, I first met Juan Carlos Ramirez, president of Orinoco Coffee, when he was peddling his coffee by bicycle (pedaling?) on the streets of Washington, DC.

K- A military funeral with full honors was held this weekend in Miami-Dade County for several homeless and indigent veterans and Miami-Dade Dems has the video.

L- Reidblog points out what is tying Republicans up in knots these days.

At the end of the day, most economists understand that with most people feeling too job insecure to spend money on non-necessities, and states in financial drought, the federal government is the only entity that can spend at the level needed to put a jolt into the economy. Spending is what we need now, and Republicans know it. But they also know that government spending is good politics, for Democrats.

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SFDB Not-So-Random Thought Of The Day

Isn't listening to economic advice from any Republican a little like taking election campaign pointers from John McCain?






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SFDB's Favorite Comment From Yesterday

Introducing a new, semi-regular feature...

******

We need a blog about nothing. There's too many blogs about something.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

- Nonee Moose, SFDB Question Of The Day

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SFDB 2008 Post Of The Year Update

305 total votes have been cast in the SFDB Post of the Year voting. Amazingly, Carlos Miller and Blast Off! remain neck and neck with only a few votes separating the two.

Voting will end at 10 AM this Saturday morning, so make sure you vote and make your choice known.






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The Cooler

A $155K dog is the talk of SoFla mainstream media, if you can believe it. Details below, of course.

A- Sun-Sentinel: The hazards of living in South Florida.

LAKE WORTH - A man hired to clean around Lake Osborne in John Prince Memorial Park suffered injuries to his hand after he was attacked by an alligator this afternoon, authorities said.

The victim, Raymundo Velasco, 49, of Lake Worth, is in stable condition at Delray Medical Center. He was bitten on the left hand, on the index and middle fingers, said Investigator Jon Garzaniti of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who spoke outside the hospital today.

Velasco was reaching into the lake to pick up a plastic container when the alligator bit him. He was able to fight off the alligator and get back on shore.

B- Sun-Sentinel: So did FPL make money or lose money? Which one is it?

Despite the recession, FPL Group's profit soared 82 percent in the fourth quarter, Florida's largest utility said Tuesday.

Juno Beach-based FPL Group, parent company of Florida Power & Light, reported that net income for the October-through-December quarter increased from $224 million, or 56 cents per share, in 2007 to $408 million, or $1.01 per share, last year. Annual profit increased 25 percent, from $1.31 billion in 2007 to $1.64 billion last year.

FPL attributed the profit boost to its alternative energy arm, NextEra Energy. NextEra more than tripled its quarterly net income from $72 million in 2007 to $265 million last year as hedging contracts gained in value and expansion projects increased wind power capacity by about 1,300 megawatts.

The financial news was dim for Florida Power & Light amid "an unprecedented Florida economic downturn," FPL Group President Lew Hay III said. The power company, which has 4.5 million customers, reported a 13 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings, from $173 million to $151 million, and its annual profit decreased almost 6 percent, from $836 million to $789 million.

C- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

D- Herald: Video, Palm Beach couple pays $155K for a cloned dog.

E- NBC6: Only in South Florida is it worth noting that drivers stop after running over people.

MIAMI -- An 80-year-old man was killed Tuesday after he was struck by a car while waiting for a bus.

Police said the man was hit after the driver of the car made a u-turn on Southwest 8th Street and 29th Avenue in Little Havana.

The driver stopped after hitting the man, however its unclear if any charges will be filed.

F- WPLG: Slideshow, sketches of the new Marlins stadium.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's Hump Day, halfway to the weekend. It was another solid night of blogging in the SoFla blogosphere so grab a coffee and let's get going...

A- Tilefortlauderdale leaves Seanchai in a newspaper box at the Southland Shopping Center in Lauderdale.

B- Based upon this review by Dente Press, Publix shoppers might want to pick up one more item next time they go shopping.

C- Radio Or Not explains why WalMart is ruining her classic rock experience.

In October of 2007, 13 years after the Eagles reunited for the live “Hell Freezes Over” and 27 years after their last studio album, “The Long Run,” the Eagles finally released a new album. The problem is that “Long Road out of Eden” was only available at Walmart!

Don Henley, Mr. Social Consciousness chose to be the businessman capitalist by making a deal with the devil.

D- I'm starting to think that Random Pixels and Ipanemic are hanging out.

E- Artlurker discusses "New Work" at Twenty Twenty Projects.

The new show at Scott Murray’s Twenty Twenty Projects is a compendium of some of the more informal and personal tendencies cropping up here and there, lately; it’s called “New Work”.

Artists Jay Hines, John Bucklin, Justin Worsdale, Mark Gibson, and Jillian Mayer all seem to share a kind of immediate (sometimes urgent) concern for self expression that, instead of exploiting some sort of new visual approach, relies more on various materials and methods that seem to call for a more individual response to objects and series that spring from introspective, fetishist or animist sources. In some cases diminutive materials suggest that meaning, not object is the first concern. If Picasso and Braque wanted to borrow Form from African Animist artists, maybe these artists are more taken by the emotional power (ie: Content)that sort of art often possesses.

F- It's just brown water, says Jaded in Paradise.

G- Instead of the playing the regular bike polo game in Lauderdale last night, the biker dudes and dudettes rode down to The Field Irish Pub on Griffin Road. Miami Bike Scene has a video snippet.

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Guantanamo Baywatch: The Final Season

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Your Evening Sift

How long has it been since it rained in South Florida? Lawns in my neighborhood are looking a lot more like the desert landscaping of Arizona these days.

Here is a very busy evening Sift for you to contemplate.

A- Shorter babalu...

I don't want to pay more for my stupidity and bad habits.

This seems like a great time for my complaint du jour: I wish I didn't have to listen to these effing idiots who insist on sucking smoke into their lungs and then whine how much it's costing them to do it. If you want to do something stupid, feel free to do it. After all, this is America. But remember, those taxes that you're b*tching about go to help take care of your ignorant as* when you fall ill with some disease that everyone has warned you about since the very day you started sucking on cancer sticks. It's a choice that you, and you alone are making, so either learn to exercise some self-control or just stop the whining already.

B- There's a whole bunch of new stuff over at Miami Fever to check out.

C- Jaded in Paradise had an "only in South Florida" moment last night.

In the background, I heard a noise that I haven’t heard since my trip to Scotland.

The sound of bag pipes.

I quickly turned around and saw a solo man walking over the railroad tracks, playing the bagpipes. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt going on his way, playing those bagpipes as if no one else was watching.

Hmm…interesting, I wonder why he doesn’t go full blown and wear a kilt?

I looked over at my friend just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating and we both exchanged WTF expressions.

“I love this town!” she said, “Only in Fort Lauderdale!”

C- The South Beach Bum has lots of photos of South Beach scenes posted today.

D- Miami Metblogs discovers an interesting building in downtown Miami while enjoying Bike Miami and it sparks some creative thinking.

A nondescript building in faded tones of pink, the Public Fish Market sits on NW N River Dr, almost under the SW 1st St bridge and ideally accessible from SW 2nd St. The building is obviously abandonded, not necessarily falling apart, but very much unused for years, all painted lettering almost unreadable at this point. When I first rode by I completely ignored it; it just didn’t exist in my peripheral vision, a phenomenon, I dare say, happens to most passerbys. It was only when we were riding back into Downtown that my wife took notice of it. She read something written on the wall out loud and that’s what made me look right and see the derelict structure for the first time.

E- If you're traveling to DC and are wondering what the club scene is like there, you might want to check out this MiamiNights post that compares the two.

Most places are small as a result of the architecture. In addition I found that all the clubs I went to are generally restaurants during the day. There isn't really that haute fervor Miamians treasure here. It was pretty refreshing to be in a place where it didn't matter what your style was. I didn't really see an "scene" crowd or a fancy crowd.

F- The Burger Beast takes an enthusiastic look at Fatburger on Miami Beach.

The toppings I added to my Kingburger were cheese, ketchup and mayo. I liked the burger a lot , a great fast food burger, very reminiscent to me of Gabe's Burgers (long gone but not forgotten by me at least, as I recall they had three locations, one on Bird across from Bird Bowl, one near the airport and the other near the B.J.'s (wholesale warehouse, don't jump to conclusions) original location in Hialeah on 49th st.) Their big deal though is that they have a Turkey Burger, I did not try it though it's not something I'm against eating, I prefer the real deal, I'm not trying to save any calories here.

G- Rakontur posts their usual Black Sunday video from this weekend. Rock on!

H- Transit Miami links to and then discusses an LA Times story about "the transit paradox" and it's application to our Tri-Rail service.

Tri-Rail service cuts are expected to reduce trips from 50 trains a day — the result of a $450 million investment to meet demand ad expand service two years ago — to 20 trains a day. This would not only nullify render the original investment useless, but also discourage a continued growth in ridership. After all, if the train isn’t running when and where you would like it to, who is going to take it?

I- Miami City Diggs takes a close look at Miami Beach's The Yacht Club at Portofino and offers us recent rental and sales data.

The Yacht Club at Portofino is located in the SOFI area of South Beach of Miami Beach. It is located at 90 Alton Road. Built in 1999, the Yacht Club at Portofino is one of the older high end luxury buildings in the South of Fifth Area. It is located on the bay side of Miami Beach, with direct views of Brickell, downtown Miami, Fisher Island, Miami Beach and more. There is a marina that is located off the back side of the building.

J- Miami For Change reports on what Liberty city community leaders are doing in the wake of last week's mass shooting.

K- Bark Bark Woof Woof says to let the Republicans vote no on Obama's stimulus package. I agree.

Fine. Let them vote no. Chances are they didn't plan to vote for it no matter what because in the end, they're more interested in political posturing than anything else. For example, the hue and cry over family planning funds is a manufactured kerfuffle because it's been a part of the budget for generations and was first put in by Republicans...back in the day when family planning wasn't the code word for James Dobson's direct mail deluge.

To have John Boehner carry on about deficit spending, especially after all the years he spent rubber-stamping the Bush administration's budgets, is rich, so to speak.

L- Shorter East Florida Gazette Online...

The State of Florida should allow insurance companies to charge Floridians exorbitant premiums so that they'll want to stay and do business here.

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SFDB Question Of The Day

We have foodie blogs, we have political blogs, we have personal blogs, we have art blogs...what one thing do you think is missing from South Florida blogging? What could we use more of? Or do we have it all?







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Hello And Goodbyes

I counted 27 new South Florida blogs on my "watch list" this morning. What I usually do after finding a new blog is place it in a "pending" folder that I maintain in my Google Reader and I watch it for a couple weeks. If it turns out to be a blog that I think will add something to the SFDB blogroll, I'll introduce it to readers as I'm about to do here.


The Burger Beast

I'm excited about The Burger Beast. As you can probably tell by its name, BB is a food blog that focuses heavily on burgers. But it's much more than that. This Blogger blog also concentrates on what I'll call "everyman food." Stuff that we all eat at sometime or another that isn't at the top of your gastronomic wish list. Chili's, Hooters, Applebee's...c'mon, admit that you wanna know what other people think of that chicken breast sandwich that you thought was out of this world. They'll even just post an open thread for commenters to suggest a place they thought was good.

BB is a group blog [seven bloggers post], meaning that you'll get varied perspectives on the different places they visit around South Florida.

There's a few things that are unusual about The Burger Beast: They don't have an archives, they don't have search capability, and they don't date their entries. But they do post frequently, which is always a good thing.

You can find The Burger Beast in the South Florida Foodies blogroll.


As frequent readers know, we also clean house regularly here at SFDB. If you don't post enough, you don't stay. There's too many blogs out there to keep the dormant ones listed. So today, SFDB says goodbye to three blogs:

Critical Miami: Last post September 1st.
Miami Baby Mama: Last post November 29th.
Ybor City Stogie: Last post December 2nd.

We'll keep monitoring these blogs in our reader and if they become active again, they'll return to the blogroll.

Hope you enjoy the adjustments.


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The Cooler

After a couple quiet days in the mainstream media, we finally have ourselves a decent amount of news to share with you this morning.

A- Sun-Sentinel: A not-so-great investment.

Broward County's median price for existing homes in 2008 dropped 23 percent to $278,000, the Florida Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales did increase 4 percent, to 6,377 from 6,127, as buyers jumped into the market to take advantage of deep discounts.

In Palm Beach County, there were 6,953 sales last year, off slightly from 6,971 in 2007. The median price declined 18 percent to $302,800.

B- Sun-Sentinel: Don't put away that down comforter just yet.

More cold air is on the way and should arrive by the end of the week.

It shouldn't be as chilly as the blast we experienced last week. And it shouldn't last as long.

Still, it's expected to be a bit nippy on Friday night, dipping into the mid to upper 40s. High temperatures on Saturday should be in the mid to upper 60s.

C- Sun-Suntinel: The Geek Squad breaks out their cuffs.

WELLINGTON -- A Boynton Beach man was caught with child pornography not by police, but by the Geek Squad, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

Guy Gripor, 37, was arrested Sunday on six charges of obscene sexual pictures of children. In May he dropped his computer off at the Best Buy electronics store in Wellington, according to a sheriff's report. Andrew Lafferty, a computer technician for the "Geek Squad" that fixes computers at Best Buy stores, found several pictures while working on the computer, according to the report.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Editorial, U.S. policy with Cuba.

And so we wait. And we speculate.

Fidel's alive — or maybe not. Raul Castro will make a seamless transition once his older brother passes — or maybe not. Cubans will accept Raul's leadership — or maybe not. Cubans will protest in the street — or maybe not.

It's all guesswork because the policy of isolating Cuba has also isolated U.S. leaders and U.S. policy. What's been most embargoed is U.S. influence in Cuba.

The new Obama administration would be smart to understand this and follow up with greater diplomatic engagement. Doing so might remove some of the guesswork and replace it with more trustworthy intelligence and knowledge about the leaders who will follow Fidel. It might even prod Cuba to make the reforms it so desperately needs to make.

And then maybe it won't matter so much whether the maximum leader is alive or dead.

E- Palm Beach Post: Your feets are your property.

FORT PIERCE — A former St. Lucie County firefighter was arrested today on theft charges in connection with a severed foot she took from an accident site in September.

Cindy Economou, 38, of Port St. Lucie, was arrested on one misdemeanor charge of petit theft and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail, then released on her own recognizance, according to an arrest report.

Economou admitted to taking Karl Lambert's foot from the scene of the crash on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County on Sept. 19. Lambert had crashed into a tree, severing his foot, and was later flown to St. Mary's Medical Center.

Lambert, 46, of Melbourne, survived. Economou told St. Lucie County Fire District investigators that she took the foot because it was too damaged to reattach and she intended to use it for training cadaver dogs.

[...]

According to the arrest report, investigators believe that by taking the foot without Lambert's permission she intended to "either permanently or temporarily deprive the owner, Mr. Lambert, the right to his property."

F- Herald: The Eagles kicked some butt last night in Broward.

The Eagles were polished but playful on slashing rock numbers like Walsh's comical 1978 solo hit Life's Been Good, the landmark Life in the Fast Lane and a couple of Walsh's James Gang staples. The finale, Desperado, the Eagles' old ballad standard, found Henley's distinctive rasp sounding as pliable and soulful as it did when the band originally released this tune during President Nixon's abridged second administration.

At the end of a long night, the four Eagles might even have had, gasp, fun. The audience certainly did.

G- Herald: And you wonder why traffic blows in South Florida.

Drunk driving, speeding, driving the wrong way on an expressway ramp -- in eight years, Gabriel Delrisco has been ticketed 26 times in Miami-Dade County for traffic infractions of all types.

But Delrisco, the suspect in the red-light wreck that killed three children in South Miami-Dade Sunday, always did enough to keep his license, records show.

That's not unusual in Miami-Dade's swollen traffic court system, lawyers say.

H- Herald: Morin.

I- CBS4: Video, Florida's best companies to work for.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It was a pretty impressive Monday night for the SoFla blogosphere. I hope you enjoy this morning Sift as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

A- Wow. Simply wow. That is the word that comes to mind when I view the video that Ipanemic has put together using images of the homeless in Miami and Miami beach.

This town… it is a tale of two cities: the downtrodden in the lap of luxury, poverty against the backdrop of paradise. All that glitters is not gold.

B- Superbee writes a letter to an inconsiderate neighbor.

All of this adds up to the following: the thumping Club-Space bass music that shakes my insides, giving me the sensation that I'm having a panic attack (constantly) that you insist on blasting the entire time I'm home? I hope you've enjoyed it, because you're going to be stopping it. Tomorrow. Or today, if it persists much longer, and I totally lose my sh"t. [Ed.]

C- Carlos Miller adds his two cents to the commentary currently running on the recent run in Miami, bro had with Matt Damon.

I probably wouldn’t even recognize Damon if I were sitting next to him at the bar considering how oblivious I am to Hollywood stars. But if somebody happened to tell me that it was Damon sitting next to me, and I had my camera with me at the time, you better believe I would try to get a photograph.

The nice way or the hard way.

D- Bark Bark Woof Woof has some news that proves the axiom that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

E- Blind Mind rediscovers Michael's Genuine Food & Drink.

I've been cheating on MGFD with various restaurants in the Greater Miami area. At first it was innocent - checking out a new spot here, popping in for an app and a cocktail there. But then things got out of control. Multiple visits to the same location, more apps here, more cocktails there. I was spiraling out of control and it had gotten to the point where I actually thought that it was a good thing that I hadnt ingested a double yolk farm egg in about a month. Considering health? What?!?!

F- While Obama's outreach to the Arab world is seen by some, like Reidblog, as a reasonable attempt to advance U.S. influence in areas of the world that badly need it, it also, of course, sickens the extreme Right, like Sundries who want nothing more than Obama to fail.


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Delivering A Street Pizza On South Beach

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Your Evening Sift

One less Monday to experience. That is a good thing as is your very enjoyable evening Sift...

A- The relationship between editor and reporter can be very strong as Burnetiquette explains in this tribute to great one.

Your editor advises you on the direction a news story is taking - whether he feels you have the goods or if you need to start over. If you're off your game, your editor tweaks your story to make it flow just right. Your editor never changes your article so much that it reads like something he'd have written, rather than something you wrote. That's called being ham-fisted, and your editor can make changes that are nearly seamless and hard to detect after the fact. He listens to your story pitches and either acts as your muse, or, when necessary, he calls BS on you and tells you an idea was total garbage. Your editor is an advocate for you, when meeting with the top brass. He never lets another editor from another department put you down.

[...]

Fortunately for me, Terry was a good editor and none of these people. He was Perry Mason to my defendant. He was Q to my James Bond. He was Insp. Douglas Todd to my Axel Foley.

So R.I.P. Terry Jackson. You were a great editor and will be missed.

B- Jaded in Paradise takes the time to thank her readers for their concern about her recent love fest with her cats.

C- Gangs are swarming the Grove, according to Coconut Grove Grapevine. My question after reading this post is "Gangs of what?"

Saturday I was coming from the gym and saw them banging on the door at Kinkos next door, trying to get in. They had the girls inside scared stiff. They were trying to break the glass. They were kicking and banging and trying to cause damage. When I asked what they were doing, they attacked me with rocks and cans and called me a few choice words. They literally threatened to kill me if I didn't leave them alone.

They also called out two older guys, who seemed to be running the show. These kids are young, but someone older is behind it all. When the older guys looked me in the eye, it was pure hate looking at me. These kids look innocent, but they are violent.

D- Jeff Eats visits the Royal Castle on NW 7th Avenue in North Miami and says he's not going to tell us much about the experience...and doesn't.

E- Eye on Miami says the Miami Herald is MIA on the impact the sick housing market is having on South Florida's economy.

It is still missing in action, on connecting the dots of the political origins in Miami of the housing bust despite strong investigative reporting like "Borrowers Betrayed" and "House of Lies". Those focus on poor exploited victims of fraud. In 2005, former president of the Latin Builders Association Willy Bermello was given the space on the Herald editorial page to write, "The bubble is not latex, it is stainless steel," the Herald editorial board allowed no counterpoint, no hint of doubt; it still is missing the story of the political origins of this economic disaster that belong to the connection between subdivisions built in Miami-Dade farmland.

F- A horse fly lands on an NBC6 news anchor's nose during broadcast and SFLTV has the pictures and a video link.

G- Natalie's Nibbles tries out Smith & Jones up in Lauderdale and likes the food but not the service.

The food was really good, but the service needs a little work. It seemed after our order was taken, our server didn't make too many appearances. The prices are very affordable. Sandwiches are in the $11 range, entrees in the $15 range. I will definitely be coming back! Next time I'll try to catch their live music.

H- South Florida Classical Review says you don't want to miss Rossini’s La Cenerentola during its run here in South Florida.

Florida Grand Opera has served up a witty, delightful staging of the Cinderella story, with an engaging cast, stylish conductor, and charming production that delivers the coloratura vocalism and comedy in winning fashion.

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Billy Joel Takes The Highway To Hell

Here's a decent homemade video with pretty good sound clarity taken during a recent Billy Joel concert at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. In it, Joel turns over the mic to a roadie named "Chainsaw" to sing AC/DC's "Highway To Hell." Just some old guys having fun.



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SFDB Question Of The Day

So here are some movies that I have recently seen in the order that I would rank them...

1. Milk
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. A Man Named Pearl
   

My girlfriend says she agrees except that she would switch Benjamin Button and Milk.

Comments? Your own rankings? Do you have a movie that you would recommend?

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The Cooler

Another quiet news day in South Florida. Here's about all I could find for you.

A- Herald: Giving up the pet with the house.

As foreclosures mount and unemployment rises, many in Broward and Miami-Dade are finding they can no longer afford their pets.

''We are now receiving weekly calls from police having us go into foreclosed homes with them because pets have been abandoned,'' said Sara Pizano, director of Miami-Dade County's Animal Services Department. ``That's not something that happened a year or two ago.''

B- Herald: Wrong turn, Clyde.

On a day made for tourists and other tropical-weather-worshiping creatures, the 12,376-strong ING Miami Marathon and Half Marathon had its seventh running in near-ideal circumstances -- until Jynocel Basweti of Kenya made a wrong turn.

Confusion about the route altered the race for the two front-runners.

Basweti, 22, was in the lead Sunday at about Mile 20, saw a video truck turn unexpectedly and got distracted. He followed the truck, which, according to race organizers, had been incorrectly ordered off the course by a police officer.

C- Herald: Video, Miami Marathon.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Slideshow, Chili Cookoff.

E- Palm Beach Post: Getting even.

Tidbits of toilet paper twisted in the wind at Bernard Madoff's Palm Beach home Monday morning - possibly the work of some ticked off teens who lost their trust funds.

Some teenage boys called The Palm Beach Post newsroom Sunday evening to take credit for the prank - one they said was sanctioned by their parents. They said they were acting in retaliation after they lost their trust funds to the accused swindler.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's Miserable Monday and that's all I have to say about that. Here's your Sift...

A- Miami Bike Scene has info on this month's Critical Mass ride and another video of last month's event.

B- Miami, bro runs into Matt Damon at Poplife and tries to get a picture with him, to no avail.

I was aggressively friendly with Matt's friends in order to try and get myself a picture with him, all of whom tried to keep me away. I explained that I lived in Stoughton, my dad's from Brockton, I'm of Mass stock, too. I deserve a shot. Eventually, I realized that all niceties were useless, and I went in for the camera kill and got nothing but the top of his head. I just walked up and took a picture and they all started yelling at me, "this is not a zoo!" or "does this look like a ZOO???!!"

C- Mood Vane visits a farmer's market in Broward and clicks off a few images to share with us.

D- The South Florida Traveler samples the offerings at Cero Restaurant in Lauderdale's Ritz-Carlton and says it's pretty good.

I have always been impressed with Cero, ever since I attended a wine tasting event there last year. Sometimes, when you have a great experience at a restaurant, you hesitate in giong back, thinking they can’t top what you experienced the first time. With a new chef, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but let me tell you, my mouth is still salivating with delicious food memories.

E- You know all those super dangerous people that are being held at Gitmo? Yeah, well, Discourse comments on a news report that indicates that the hard evidence to justify that claim is now nowhere to be found.

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