Your Evening Sift

Wow. The South Florida blogosphere was humming this afternoon. So we have a solid evening Sift for you AND the SFDB Weekend Widget has come to life in the right sidebar just in time for the Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy!

A- Redland Rambles compares produce at a local market and a "corporate" store and gets the expected results.

Overall, I have to give Whole Foods credit for making a good effort to support local growers. They are doing an OK job of sourcing local fruits this summer. But, by the looks of things, their produce people could use training on how to handle delicate specialty items. And of course, there’s just no comparison to shopping at the neighborhood farmer’s market, which has plenty of extremely fresh, locally sourced items!

B- Blue Martini "is by no means terrible," according to Boy Writes Miami.

Blue Martini consistently looks like a casting call for Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City. I don’t frequent this place much. I can honestly say the words “hey, I know, let’s go to Blue Martini!” have never left my mouth. It just feels too “chainy” for me. It’s like the Chili’s of lounges. There’s one in Kendall, that’s the easiest way for me to explain it.

C- Spokes 'n' Folks comments on the growing pains for Critical Mass.

To come at this from another angle, let me say that group riding requires a certain discipline -- and the larger the group the more discipline is needed. Each rider needs to take responsibility not only for the safety of self but also for the others. Designated pace-setters, corkers, and other cool heads are important, even in a ride that de-emphasizes leadership. Please don't be a hothead or a showoff.

D- Worst Pizza is hoping that At's A Pizza's performance during their recent review was the product of a bad night.

My first bite wasn’t anything special. The sauce tasted pretty cheap, and without proper flavoring. The Crust was decent in taste, but not very positive in consistency. The cheese was definitely the best part of this slice. It was cooked right, tasted right, and melted just right.

E- BurgerFi hits a home run with the boys from Burgers by the Beach.

This is now our favorite local spot! You've got to get down to BurgerFi in Delray Beach (right on the corner of A1A & Atlantic Ave). They have a great selection of Craft Beers! And when you're there, save room for dessert. Their custard/shakes are out of this world...

F- Advertise with South Florida Classical Review because they kick classical butt.

As we start our fourth full season, it is clear that South Florida Classical Review has become the undisputed leader in covering the regional classical music scene. From Palm Beach to Coral Gables, we provide the smart, informed and comprehensive classical coverage that no newspaper or website can equal.

G- uVu Blog recounts their recent Dining in the Dark experience at City Hall.

Everyone entered the dining room holding on to a designated waiter. The staff was trained to accommodate the unique diners. I was introduced to my seat, my napkin, my water and wine glass.

Touch became my first security blanket. I caressed everything around me to know what I was surrounded, included the woman next to me, which I later found out was Mary Jo Almeida-Shore from Miami Socialholic.

Let’s concentrate on the food. I was nervous at first not knowing what we will be eating. A previous email asking us about allergies or any diet restrictions reassured me a bit, but I was still not sure how to manage a knife and a fork in the dark.

H- The recent weather pattern has Go Hydrology! thinking more of the Pacific Northwest.

I- Bark Bark Woof Woof remembers Skitz the Cat.

Even though I grew up in a house with cats, I'm more of a dog person. But Skitz was my friend. Normally very shy in the presence of strangers, whenever I went to Bob's house, she would see me and give me her version of a greeting: a shrug and occasionally a squeak. When Bob and Ken traveled, I would stop by the house to feed her, and while it was rare for her to greet me as I came in -- she had her favorite places elsewhere in the house -- she would come out as I put out the food and querulously inquire as to when the food would be ready.

J- Eye on Miami is wondering whether is still safe to go out and eat in Miami-Dade County.

Will I go to Joey's or Luna Star at night anymore? Probably not. I have been going to trendy restaurants in the downtown at night. I don't think I will anymore. The police have to do better. In the case of Wynwood, this is a struggling new neighborhood trying to find its footing. There should be a policeman on foot at night. They say the incidents are isolated but tell that to a customer looking for a place to eat...won't fly. This is deadly PR.

K- Beached Miami scored tickets to this year's Optic Nerve but they say it wasn't all that.

Culled from 144 entries, the 18 films in the Optic Nerve XIII lineup offered little to move my heart, though quite a few set my foot impatiently a-tapping. I would have loved to experience at least one realized story in the bunch, but the festival’s curators evidently don’t believe short films can or should sustain a narrative.

L- Political Cortadito takes on Miami Voice chair and political consultant Vanessa Brito.

After all, Callahan is paying Brito $4,500 a month, according to campaign finance reports, for something. All political operatives have just raised their eyebrows or dropped their jaw. Brito is a newby and $4,500 a month is way out of her league. She is robbing Callahan blind. They say this. Not Ladra. But Ladra knows that the gypsy con artist is totally capable.

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SFDB's Name That Spot #11

Name That Spot is a periodic feature in which SFDB readers attempt to identify the South Florida location of the photo that is displayed.

[I need the building name and/or the exact location.]

Past winners include smedvin, Michael Kain, The Chowfather, Lori, CB, South Florida Food and Wine, Whack-A-Mole and Alex de Carvalho. There's been one Stumper and one identified by "Anonymous."


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The Dodge Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon

 

On December 11th of this year, a new running event debuts on Miami Beach...

Runners will tour the stunning city as the sounds of live, local bands playing along the course motivate and entertain. Enthusiastic cheerleaders and thousands of spectators will also join in, making the 13.1 mile distance unlike any other race experience.

The Dodge Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon joins the Country Music Marathon in Nashville as extensions of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series. The half marathon will be the 18th event this year in the national series of musically-themed marathons and half marathons, which are famous for lining race routes with live bands and fanfare at each mile.

Waterfront views along iconic South Beach will take center stage, with more than six miles of the course running along the water, including spectacular views of the Port of Miami cruise ship terminal, Star, Palm, Hibiscus, and Fisher Islands. The course starts and finishes at Lummus Park in South Beach, and takes runners across both the Julia Tuttle and MacArthur Causeways, which stretch over the sparkling Biscayne Bay. Participants will view the dramatic downtown skyline and run through the Miami Beach Art Deco District and alongside the historic Miami Beach Golf Club before a unique finish line on the sand, a first for a Rock ‘n’ Roll event.

It actually sounds and looks like [.pdf] an extremely good course.

The race starts on a Sunday at 7 AM so you can pretty much write off that morning for moving around the Beach by car. And for local residents who don't like the commotion that the Miami Marathon brings every year, this "musically-oriented" event should prove to be quite challenging for them. On a positive note, the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon people have been organizing races for years now and have race logistics down to a fine science.

Speaking of the Miami Marathon, it is scheduled to be held on January 29, 2012. So runners training for the full marathon could actually use the new Latin Music 1/2 as a training run to get an idea of where they are in their conditioning.

It should be interesting to see what kind of reception this new run gets from the community in its inaugural year.

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SFDB Morning Chuckle

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The Cooler

The Miami Herald's server is buggy this morning so good luck getting to those items I referenced below. Enjoy your Cooler.

A- Herald: Looks like the New Times is now providing content for the Herald.

B- Herald: Why I don't ride.

A 51-year-old bicyclist was in critical condition Tuesday after a hit-and-run collision in northeast Miami-Dade, according to Miami-Dade police.

Shortly before 6:30 a.m., Patrick Johnson was riding a bicycle near North Miami Avenue and Northwest 148th Street, police said, when a van ran a red light and struck Johnson as he crossed the street.

C- Herald: Lobstah run.

New nonstop air service between Bangor, Maine and Fort Lauderdale will start in November.

Allegiant said it is launching the twice-weekly flights on Nov. 17.

D- Sun-Sentinel: When you've lost Allen West...

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, a darling of the tea party movement, said his fellow tea partyer, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, got it wrong by suggesting it might be OK to drill for oil in the Everglades.

“I think Michele Bachmann said something that was an incredible faux pas,” he said Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Palm Beach Gardens.

E- Palm Beach Post: Pay to play.

CORAL GABLES — The NCAA Tuesday ruled on 13 Miami Hurricanes players accused of accepting impermissible benefits from ex-booster Nevin Shapiro and eight will miss games but most - including senior quarterback Jacory Harris - will skip just one game.

Four players who accepted various extra benefits will pay restitution but will not miss any game time and one player, senior linebacker Marcus Robinson, was cleared of any wrongdoing.

F- Palm Beach Post: A nation in decline.

The economic downturn has put intense stress on Palm Beach County's health care safety net, leaving about 28 percent of people 64 and under without any health coverage, according to a report to be heard by Palm Beach County and Health Care District boards at a joint meeting today.

Pittsburgh-based health consulting firm Tripp Umbach found that free clinics and charity medical care programs here are overwhelmed with need.

The uninsured now number between 265,000 and 275,000 locally, up from around 180,000 in 2004. They're not only the unemployed or migrant workers. One-third of the county's self-employed workers lack health insurance, the report found.

G- CBS4: Photos of Joey's robbery.

H- NBC Miami: Miami's fickle fans.

The Dolphins' Thursday pre-season game is the first to be slapped with a TV blackout since 2003, but the bigger concern is suffering the same fate during the regular season.

A Dolphins exec said Tuesday that five home games, starting with Week 2 against Houston, need "a lot" more tickets sold to ensure they'll be broadcast.

"We have work to do," said Mark Tilson, Miami's senior vice president of sales and ticket operations.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Happy birthday to the great Van Morrison who turns 66 today. On a day like this, here's hoping there's no one complaining and everything falls into place. Enjoy your morning Sift, readers...and a video.





A- So you say you want a story to start off Hump Day? Restaurant Gal comes through.

As I ate the burger I did not enjoy, Kevin told me only a little about his depression that he couldn’t address because his efforts to help himself were necessarily punctuated, nay overwhelmed, by the pressing, constant need of seeking “shelter and food.”

B- Ipanemic's mysterious trailer preview for Oculus.

C- The305.Com recommends Macita's Colombian empanadas.

The Empanadas at Macita’s Colombian Restuarant down in the Cutler Ridge slash Cutler Bay are probably the best Colombian Empanadas in all of Miami. And paired with the homemade “picante” they have – you will be in heaven. I’ve been buying these Empanadas for my family and for family functions for more than a decade and they NEVER disappoint.

D- Requiring a sonogram before undergoing an abortion, something which Florida requires, has been ruled unconstitutional in Texas, according to Bark Bark Woof Woof.

As if you needed more evidence that the people behind the idea of "smaller government, more freedom" are all in favor of bigger government and less freedom when it comes to people and things they don't like, there you go.

E- Random Pixels takes a look at a couple places the Miami Herald is said to be considering for their new home.

F- Political Cortadito conducts surveillance on some Hialeah politicians.

That dialogue Tuesday morning started late. Ladra, who had been so conveniently tipped off to the meeting, got there early and sat at the last table, where she had some angle on every other table. Seijas was on time and walked to the second to last table next to mine, then took a seat facing opposite me, in the same direction. It could not have been more perfect. Here I was with my sunglasses on and yesterday's paper in my face so I didn't scare them off and now I think she knew I was there all along. Bovo came about 10 minutes after -- and I don't think he had any idea that they would be watched and eavesdropped on.

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Your Evening Sift

We're already moving into mid-week, readers. This is definitely good news. As is a very decent Tuesday evening Sift. Enjoy.

A- Are pop-up restaurants about to take off in Miami? Eater Miami has one that might signal the start of a trend.

Phuc Yea!, they tell us, is a progressive rendition of Southeast Asian cuisine, which will magically appear next month in the Crown Bistro,19 SE 2nd Avenue in the northwest corridor of the Ingraham Building, from early September until November 2011 serving dinner only from 5:30 pm until 10:30pm, Tuesday through Saturday, and will be closed Sunday – Monday.

B- Vanilla Ice will be this year's Grove Bed Race Grand Marshal, according to Coconut Grove Grapevine, who thinks he's perfect for the position because "Ice is very athletic."

What is it about Vanilla Ice that merits assuming the Grand Marshal reins previously held by famed fast-trackers and Indy Car legends Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan? Well, aside from being a long time Miami resident, Ice is very athletic, he auditioned for the X Games after winning three straight Motocross titles at the Grand National Motocross Championships and once was the world’s No. 6-ranked sit-down Jet Ski racer. Plus he's a big Bed Race fan!

C- Great overhead of the swamp, from Go Hydrology! You can almost visualize Michele Bachmann's oil rigs, can't you?

D- South Florida Food and Wine lists some upcoming food and wine events happening in, you got it, South Florida.

E- Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds details her experience at a recent food truck rally in Fort Lauderdale.

The food trucks are a victim of their own success. The event was too crowded for the cooks in the trucks to handle the number of orders they were getting. There were several trucks, but not enough to handle several thousand hungry people at once and really, those trucks aren't meant to serve such throngs coming at them all at one time. The lines were ridiculous and the trucks were all clearly in the weeds, taking more orders than they could get out. This caused a situation where there were two long lines for the starved - one to place your order and one to actually wait for your food to come out. Waits at each truck were averaging around an hour. For a four hour event with many trucks to visit, it just wasn't possible to sample much of anything except standing in line and I didn't see anyone who wasn't aggravated. Worst of all, I didn't see anyone actually eating anything and Gourmet in the Park is supposed to be about food! My husband and my friend's husband thought maybe the beer line would be faster because there was nothing to prepare, but the beer line was over 200 people long.

F- Brickell Life's Sunday morning breakfast.

G- Miamism Pix posts an interesting shot of the Freedom Tower.

H- Blind Mind shares some rare thoughts on politics.

The jockey went on to call out Governor Rick Scott for wasting $178M of taxpayer money on a ridiculous study when the state is struggling to fund other programs and cutting the jobs of teachers, firefighters, and policemen. He ended by saying, "This guy has got to go. People of Florida need to make sure their voice is heard at the next election".

I- uVu Blog links to an associated site that has all 18 Optic Nerve movies for your viewing pleasure.

J- The Republican Party continues to aggressively work against the American public as Bark Bark Woof Woof shows us in a post from today.

K- Eye on Miami comments on the Department of Justice's damning findings regarding Miami-Dade jails.

The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has been investigating conditions at Miami Dade County jails for 3 1/2 years. Their findings have been released. Here is the kicker: The County Commission knew about the investigation because they got a memo from Carlos Alvarez on April 4, 2008. Still the Feds found all these problems. They say "a majority of the findings relate to the medical and mental health services provided by Jackson Memorial Hospital's Corrections Health Services."

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SFDB Post Of The Week

SFDB selects its Post of the Week by going back and reviewing all the Sifts that we've done over the past 7 days. We find the best post of the week and note the runners ups as we judge them to be.

Beached Miami continues to dominate the Post of the Week selection process. It's inevitable, it seems, that 3 or 4 of their posts seep into the deliberations over the Final Four each week. Let's see how many made the cut this week.

Runners-Up:   Sam Friend: Down on Jam Farms is a collection of 3 excellent musical videos done by Beached Miami that features South Florida singer-songwriter Sam Friend playing out on a farm in West Miami-Dade.  Miami Beach 411 did a great job reporting on the recent Miami Beach town hall meeting that was held to address the challenges of Urban Beach Weekend.  Beached Miami's 2nd Sketchy Party video contained the usual zaniness and amusement that we've come to expect from these clips which is what makes them so watchable.



Winner:  Miami Dish tends to keep  pretty low profile on the SFDB blogroll. Posting is not all that frequent so it doesn't get a lot of mentions around here. But last week they did a very informative and enlightening post on the invasive lionfish and how one solution to controlling its spread is to eat it. The unique post, Lionfish: Eating Our Way Out of a Problem, used plenty of images and narrative detailing preparation techniques and presented them in a clear, articulate manner. It's for those reasons that it receives this week's Post of the Week recognition.


'Til next time, keep on blogging!

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The Right Wing's Dumbing Down Of Weather

From yesterday's Rush Limbaugh show...

RUSH: Greetings to you, music lovers, thrill-seekers, conversationalists all across the fruited plain, El Rushbo back at it, in the saddle, ready for broadcast excellence, a full week of it here. (interruption) Why wouldn't it be a full week? What, are you thinking an earthquake or something is gonna happen? Was there a hurricane? That was a hurricane? Really? They called it a hurricane. I gotta be very, very careful about this because Vermont is flooded. For you people that haven't heard of it, Vermont is a state, and there's a city there called Montpelier, and it's underwater, and Brattleboro is underwater. This is more of a flooding and power outage storm than it was a windstorm.

People look over the damage to Sue and Jack Holloway's home in the Nassau Station development in Lewis, Del. on August 28, 2011. (Suchat Pederson/The News Journal/AP)#

Some guy did something interesting and I decided to check it myself. He's a doubter, and he's watching the reports of 75 to 85 to a hundred-mile-an-hour winds in Virginia and North Carolina. So he went to the Weather Underground site, and he went to a bunch of cities and towns that were where the hurricane was, and the highest wind speed he could find was 33-miles-an-hour, while they're reporting 75 to 85 to 95-mile-an-hour winds.

So I said, "I'm gonna check myself." I went to Weather Underground and I went to places like New Bern, North Carolina, and Goldsboro, North Carolina, Virginia Beach, and, lo and behold, the guy was right. I found a town where the wind was eight miles an hour while they were reporting hurricane winds of in excess of 80 miles an hour.

Casey and Denise Robinson clear out their destroyed beach home in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach, Va. on August 28, 2011, the day after Hurricane Irene moved through. Officials speculate that a tornado swept through the area.

There wasn't any wind. It was a rainstorm and there was a lot of flooding and there were deaths associated with it, but the hype, folks, I'll tell you what this was. It was a lesson, if you pay any attention to this, the hype, the desire for chaos, I mean literally, the media desire for chaos was a great learning tool, this was a great illustration of how all of the rest of the media in news, in sports, has templates and narratives and exaggerates beyond reality, creating fear so as to create interest.

Janie Gibbs helps clean up a friend's destroyed home on August 28, 2011 after it was hit by Hurricane Irene in Columbia, N.C. (John Bazemore/AP)

These photos came from a huge collection at the Boston Globe that is probably nothing more than another liberal media conspiracy of things that never happened. Try as I might, I'm unable to come up with a reason why Rush refuses to believe that Hurricane Irene wasn't a hurricane but rather something conjured up by the liberal media and President Obama.

But then again, I don't understand this either.

As Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, news stations bombard our televisions with constant updates from the National Hurricane Center.

While Americans ought to prepare for the coming storm, federal dollars need not subsidize their preparations. Although it might sound outrageous, the truth is that the National Hurricane Center and its parent agency, the National Weather Service, are relics from America’s past that have actually outlived their usefulness.

[...]

The NWS claims that it supports industries like aviation and shipping, but if they provide a valuable contribution to business, it stands to reason business would willingly support their services. If that is the case, the Service is just corporate welfare. If they would not, it is just a waste.

As for hurricanes, the insurance industry has a compelling interest in understanding them. In a world without a National Weather Service, the insurance industry would probably have sponsored something very like the National Hurricane Center at one or more universities. Those replacements would also not be exploited for political purposes.

[...]

NWS services can and are better provided by the private sector. Americans will invest in weather forecasting because if there is one thing we can be certain of, people will want to protect their property and their lives.

I'm really not sure what I should laugh at first. The fact that Fox News is actually saying that the universities that they love to paint as liberal institutions would not be subject to political influences or their abject obtuseness when they have no idea that Americans are already investing in weather forecasting today every time they pay their taxes.

A hurricane is not a hurricane and we really don't need the National Weather Service or the National Hurricane Service are just the latest examples of why it's so dangerous to let Republicans near the control panel of this great country.

Didja hear that Al Gore is fat?



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SFDB Morning Chuckle

-via The Daily Wh.at


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The Cooler

I didn't have time to get to everything but here are some of the things that caught my attention this morning in the SoFla mainstream media.

A- Herald: Life in South Florida.

Three armed men robbed Joey’s restaurant in Wynwood around 8 p.m. Monday, according to a witness.

Sara Ataie, who was dining at Joey’s when the incident occurred, said three men with bandanas covering their faces walked into the Italian restaurant, showed their guns and demanded everyone to lie on the floor.

“They said that if anybody made a sound they would kill them,” Ataie said.

She said the incident lasted about two minutes, during which one of the men watched the restaurant’s door, while the others took cell phones lying on the customers’ tables and the money from the cash register.

No one was hurt during the robbery.

B- Herald: Not the current one, sister.

Michele Bachmann became the first major Republican presidential candidate to barnstorm the state this year, capping a six-city tour Monday in Miami where she sipped cafecitos, paid homage to Cuban Americans and kicked off a month of intensive GOP politicking in the state.

“We’re going to be all over Florida because Florida chooses presidents. You choose presidents,”’ Bachmann told dozens of supporters and onlookers at Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.

C- Herald: Write your own jokes.

It was almost a case of snakes on a plane. Instead it turned out to be snakes in some guy's pants. Seven of them, in fact, all exotic. Oh, and three tortoises.

Using a body scanner, Transportation Security Administration officers in Miami spotted all the reptiles stuffed inside nylon bags concealed in his pants. The unidentified man was trying last Thursday to get through a checkpoint on his way to Brazil on TAM Airlines, TSA spokesman Jonathon Allen said Monday.

U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife officers took custody of the critters and arrested the passenger.

D- Herald: Morin.

E- Sun-Sentinel: And another one.

At 5 a.m., Katia was located about 535 miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and had maximum susstaine winds of 40 mph. The storm was moving west-northwest at 17 mph.

For now, the system is forecast to aim generally toward the Lesser Antilles. Some models hint that it might turn north out to sea without approaching the U.S. coast. However, it's too early to put faith in that prediction.

F- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

G- WSVN: Remember, it's not the breed.

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Broward Sheriff's Office deputies reportedly shot and killed two dogs after they say the canines attacked a woman and tried to come after them.

According to BSO, two pit bulls in a Deerfield Beach neighborhood attacked a neighborhood cat, Monday evening. The cat's owner intervened, and the dogs began mauling her. "Apparently, these pit bulls came into her yard and started attacking at least one of her cats and then began attacking her," said Dani Moschella of BSO.

When BSO deputies responded to the scene, the dogs charged at an officer. Deputies fired several shots at the dangerous pit bulls, killing them. Moschella said, "Multiple deputies were forced to fire their weapons and kill the dogs when the dogs became aggressive toward them."

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

I'm up a little early this morning so I'll try to be quiet. Enjoy your morning Sift. Shhhhhh.

A- The305.Com kicks things off this morning with a tee shirt inspired by the recent UM scandal.

B- The growth of Critical Mass has created some problems that The Miami Bike Scene decides to address.

A lot of bicyclists anticipate Critical Mass on the last Friday of each and every month. I've seen it referred to as "an institution" and "a religious experience". It's so important to some that they schedule themselves off from work, drive from neighboring suburbs and/or take a train from many miles away to partake in this activity with other cyclists. However, when the ride begins it seems as if they are racing to finish. Why would any educated adult wait all month for something just to rush to the end? Why are some of you in such a hurry to get it over with? It's not a race, it's a community ride! Enjoy your once a month ritual with others, discuss bicycles, talk amongst your peers, share cycling stories or tips, make the moment last. If you can hold a conversation and maintain 12mph pace without any distractions go for it, but you folks chatting it up and allowing gaps to form because you're so caught up in a conversation that the group has left you behind, you probably should wait until the ride is over for discussions.

C- Over two dozen new photos are up at The Street.

D- El Vato is your economical place to pick up some good Mexican in the Brickell areaa, says Eat It, Miami.

Walk out happy that you outsmarted the crowd waiting for a table at Rosa and that you saved enough money to buy one cocktail at the Viceroy.

E- Random Pixels photoshops his reaction to the news that more layoffs have occurred at the Miami Herald.

F- The Reid Report provides the latest example of Michele Bachmann's penchant for the absurd.


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Your Evening Sift

Monday is behind us, readers. Woot! Enjoy your evening Sift.

A- Is DecoBike a good deal? Miami Beach 411 looks into it.

It’s always great to support the neighborhood stores, and Miami Beach has local bike shops with affordable alternatives to renting from Deco Bikes. Not everyone wants to worry about incurring extra charges and docking the bike every 30 minutes. Fritzs on Washington Ave and Miami Beach Bicycle on 5th Street both offer rental bikes starting at $8 an hour or $24 for the day, which is a full 24 hour period. There is a bigger choice of bikes with both beach cruisers and mountain bikes. The deposit is also much less, and the bikes come with locks which Deco Bikes do not. With the bike stores offering 24 hours for $24 compared to Deco’s 8 hours for the same price, the stores obviously have the better deal.

B- I feel very, very old after reading Beached Miami's review of the Jacuzzi Boy's appearance at Churchill's this weekend.

Taking the stage after the Loose Stools, Snakehole, and The Jameses, the Jacuzzi Boys jammed over the din and joyful chaos of a nearly capacity crowd galvanized by a core of limb-swinging, elbow-throwing, beer-spraying, grin-flashing, All-City dudes ...

C- You won't find a single Starbucks on a master barista's top ten places to get coffee in Miami via Eater Miami.

D- Culture Designers weighs in on the Big Brothers Big Sisters ad controversy that was so upsetting to Coconut Grove Grapevine.

According to CP+B, the ‘Under Improvement’ campaign emphasizes the long-term impact that BBBS has, not just on the lives of children, but on Miami neighborhoods. The goal is to raise awareness and donations for the non-profit so that they can continue to positively impact youths’ lives. Regardless of how you feel about the billboards, how can you possibly disagree with this effort?

E- Bark Bark Woof Woof is on his way back to Miami but not before navel-gazing at the airport.

F- Nominate your favorites for The Burger Beast's Burgie Awards.


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SFDB's We Live Here

Guess who's posting somewhat regularly again????

-miami fever


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7 Annoying Blogging Personality Disorders

According to Pushing Social...

1. The Navel Gazer

Navel gazers are introspective folks who love to share their innermost thoughts and feelings. Their blogs read more like a diary than helpful information that people want to share.

2. The Spoilsport

Spoilsports just don’t know how to have a good time. They’re negative, cynical, and always have a contrarian view on issues.

3. The Ranter

While it may feel good to get something off your chest, it does nothing to help your readers. Instead, it’s all about showcasing how smart you are or why everyone else is doing it wrong.

4. The Copycat

Unfortunately, the world is full of me-too bloggers who simply regurgitate everything else that’s on the web. While sometimes it’s entirely unintentional, others are far more blatant about it.

5. The Plagiarist

6. The Sleazeball

Although they might not be as obvious, these people are the ones who will sell you get-rich-quick “systems” to help you get 100,000 hits on your website in one week or how to make $50,000 this month.

7. The Know-It-All

Sadly, this is one of the most common personality disorders in the blogosphere today. There’s a fine line between positioning yourself as an expert and coming off as better than everyone else.

I think I need to see a blogger psychologist.



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Jobs Through The Years

Apple Inc.‘s Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer Steve Jobs is shown in this com­bi­na­tion of file pho­tographs dat­ing (top row L to R) 2000, 2003, 2005,(bottom row L to R) 2006, 2008 and 2009.

-via Like Cool



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The Cooler

The new week for the South Florida mainstream media doesn't start until around noon today so there's not much "new" for you this morning in the news. Enjoy.

A- Herald: Now there's a great idea.

Bachmann drew well over 1,000 people to the Shriner’s Temple in Sarasota on Sunday, where — among other things — she said that she would consider oil and natural gas drilling in the Everglades if it can be done without harming the environment.

Bachman said the United States needs to tap into all of its energy resources no matter where they exist if it can be done responsibly.

B- Herald: Editorial, the Herald is Pro-Castro except, of course, when it isn't.

An extraordinary event occurred in Havana last week. Four women staged a brief protest against the Castro regime on the steps of the Capitol building — unusual in itself — and a host of onlookers quickly gathered. The surprise came when police showed up to arrest the protesters, members of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights, and the crowd suddenly erupted with taunts and jeers against the security agents.

Suéltalas, carajo! (Let them go, damn it!), yelled an angry bystander. Others called the police shameless ( descarados) and hurled epithets. The crowd did not try to stop the detentions, but they had no qualms about calling Castro’s thugs by the names they richly deserved — bullies and abusers.

This is something new in Cuba. By the standards of, say, the Arab Spring, the event may not seem like a lot. But by the standards of Cuba, where tension and discontent with a half-century of dictatorship have been unable to find a powerful voice, it represents a daring show of defiance, all the more so because it was a spontaneous reaction from average Cubans.

C- Sun-Sentinel: $16 mill for Wifi?

HOLLYWOOD— More than three years ago, the city borrowed $16 million to pay for a wireless communications platform that would give residents free computer network service, as well as automate the water-meter reader system and solar-powered parking meters.

But the system, meant to improve residents' quality of life, isn't completely functional.

"It is definitely not working the way we hoped it would," said Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey.

[...]

"It is disappointing to say the least that it hasn't worked," Storey said. "But people shouldn't be left with the impression that $16 million is down the drain."

D- Palm Beach Post: Life in South Florida.

Thieves have cast 33 miles of Interstate 95 into darkness in Palm Beach County by yanking out the underground copper wire needed to power the overhead lighting.

The wire can be sold to metal recycling companies for as much as $3 a pound. State officials say it will cost $200,000 to replace the wiring and install anti-theft devices to prevent thieves from removing it again.

[...]

The thefts along I-95 are so rampant that West Palm Beach police put out a media release last month urging drivers to call them or the Florida Highway Patrol if they see vehicles stopped near light poles.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Don't you love weekends that are so damn good that you're looking forward to Friday as soon as you wake up on Monday? Oh, right. That's known as "every week." Enjoy your Monday morning Sift as we try to get through another one.

A- AshAndBurn celebrates the arrival of his coconut in Scotland.

B- Just how slow is the swamp's sheetflow? Go Hydrology! shows us.

C- It's a showdown in the animal kingdom, at Nikon Miami.

D- Eye on Miami introduces to a right wing ideologue running for U.S. Senate.

Marielena Montesino de Stuart is a Republican running for Bill Nelson's Senate seat. What she basically says on her website is...well...nothing but she does include a lot of talking points she put in her own words, a big mistake. Abortion appears to be her big issue.

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Your Evening Sift

It might be one of the slowest blogging weekends in South Florida that I can remember. Dead as a doornail. Here's your Sunday evening Sift that closes out this weekend.

A- I have to say that I agree with Some Blogging Guy's sentiments today.

It wont be too long before football fever hits us, the carnivals and circus comes to town, plays and concerts start up in earnest and street festivals blossom. South Beach will actually be a pleasant place to go and the parks will fill up with little league games. Art shows, dancing groups and life, will return to South Florida.

And for me, someone who thinks any temperature above 68 degrees is unbearable, joy runs through my veins as Winter comes south.

B- Swampstyle mourns the loss of a good friend.

C- This week's chef in the spotlight is Joel Huff, Chef de Cuisine at Azul Restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami and South Florida Food and Wine asks him a few questions.

South Florida Food and Wine: Who would you most like to cook for? And why?
Joel Huff: My Grandpa, he paid for my culinary education but passed away before I began running my own restaurant.

D- PhinPhanatic wraps up last night's Dolphin's game.

Jason Taylor – Taylor is still moving quick to get up field, but it is obvious he no longer has the moves to actually get around the end anymore. He was knocked down several times last night by the tackle and at one point had to get up and chase the play down from behind when he was the outside containment. Taylor is old and worn down. But his value has to be limited to 3rd down situations. Last night he was on the field quite a bit. Maybe he will have a much better time against Tom Brady week 1.

E- A look at Flagler Street traffic from 1940 at The305.Com.



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Marco Rubio Is What's Wrong With Our Republic

(Photo: Reuters)

The Bradenton Times' Dennis Maley gives Marco Rubio the column the greenhorn senator from Florida has deserved since he took office.

Marco Rubio may be beginning to believe the GOP hype-machine a little too much. It was one thing when the media gave him a pass and allowed him to reinvent himself as a member of the “new guard” and the “Crown Prince of the Tea Party,” despite his machine politics background. But as the 1st American-born generation of immigrants who found asylum here, telling Americans that our meager, depression-era social programs have made us lazy is over the top.

Rubio has called himself an example of the American Dream. I would say that he's an example of what is wrong with our Republic. The junior Senator from Florida's rise financially coincided with his ascent to the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives where he was a go-to guy first for Governor Jeb Bush, then for the growing cabal of GOP bigwigs who began to dislike the policies of Governor Crist. Once appointed Speaker, he took a high-paying job with a high-powered lobbying firm and lived a leveraged, debt-dependent lifestyle quite at odds with his spendthrift rhetoric.

Rubio has done all of the usual sleazy politician moves. He's misused his state GOP credit card for personal expenses. He set up a “not-for-profit” PAC that was ostensibly to raise money for other candidates, but according to the Miami Herald, he spent nearly every dime it took in on “travel expenses”, and there were a few more miscues like taking donations before it was approved by the state and failing to disclose $34,000 in expenses.

In fact, Rubio is so so completely typical of what Americans can expect from politicians in either party, that I'm still trying to figure out what's “new” about the guy other than he's a high-profile Latino in the GOP. To my eyes, he seems a career politician who has come up through the party machine and makes every effort to grab soundbites with rhetoric-laced, party-platform talking points that often contradict everything he stands for in his actual actions – no different than the rest, left or right side of the aisle.

But I have to say that there's something that stings a little when someone who has benefited so deeply from liberal, American post-war policy stands up and lectures us, blaming social safety nets as part of our problem today. Imagine the insult you would feel as a depression-era American having to hear that meager programs which you have paid into your whole life and politicians like him have raided their entire careers are really what's wrong with this country. Need we remind him that there are only 535 spots at the main trough in Washington and a few thousand more at the smaller ones. There's over 300 million of us and most have to work their fingers to the bone for low wages that have been flat when adjusted for inflation since 1970.

[...]

It's a joke and it's a sad one at that. Senator Rubio, like just about every Democrat and Republican in Washington, is a shill. He's a well-dressed, highly paid used-car salesman selling talking points on Fox News, trying to convince struggling Americans to keep selling out their entitlements, their safety nets, their crumbs that fall off the table and in exchange he gets to continue to enjoy such perks. That a speech like that can pass without far more outrage is the most disappointing thing that I've seen in quite some time, in terms of the hope that people might wise up to what's going on.

You have to turn on the lights to see the cockroaches.

Thanks to Dennis Maley for flipping the switch.

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Your Morning Sift Video

When you have nothing for a Sunday morning Sift, you always have Pat Metheny's Dream of the Return to get your morning off to a magical start...enjoy, readers.






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SFDB Saturday Night Turndown Service

Not much of a video but a great song from what I consider Pat Metheny's best album to date, Beyond the Missouri Sky...



The Moon Song, Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden



[Let it play in the background while you surf the net tonight.]

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Your Evening Sift

Hope you're enjoying your Saturday night, readers. If not, you can liven it up with a pretty decent evening Sift. Have fun!

A- Soul of Miami posts a bunch of images from last night's Burger Beast Food Truck App Launch Truck Rally in West Miami-Dade.

B- Swampstyle shares some observations on the Northeast's preparations for Hurricane Irene.

In all honesty, Irene the menace from above is being spun in camouflaged media stealth to further a state of perpetual emergency readiness in the minds a public service sector eager to exercise their over rehearsed response to any terror from wherever. It's sad.

C- The latest Cobaya dinner hosted by Yakko-San's Chef Hiro-san is described in detail by Food for Thought.

I will be candid in saying that I was hoping it might be more adventurous - this was more crowd-pleaser stuff - but especially for those who had never been to the restaurant before, it was a good introduction to Yakko-San's" izakaya-style (often called "Japanese tapas") repertoire.

D- Hurricane preparation NY-style, at Random Pixels.

E- AshAndBurn is still in Scotland.

F- Some Blogging Guy posts something then thinks better of it and takes it down and we find out why.

I mean, is blogging just about writing, shouting in a room without windows? Plus, I have exhausted virtually every conceivable subject that pisses me off, so I am just repeating myself over and over again. I mean, seriously, how many times do you want to hear that big government is evil, big corporations are evil, politicians suck and so forth?

Here is a thought. Maybe I have advanced as a Blogger; writing more for my audience than for myself? Could that be happening? Hmmm…maybe. I still have a ways to go though.

G- The Heat Lightning reminisces about past hurricanes and the "stormy camaraderie" with them that has resulted.

The thing is, hurricanes are grand. They’re like these great big statements being made. Your relationship with them is different from an earthquake, because they announce their arrival. No one needed Brian Norcross to tell us that Andrew was making his way into town, the silent birds and quiet air offered enough forecasting.

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Old Grover Passes On

 

I had perused Coconut Grove Grapevine's recent post above Grovite Richard Troutner's passing on last week but I suppose I didn't get deep enough into it because I was surprised when Man or Maniac? sent me an email calling my attention to the fact that Mr. Troutner was the South Florida blogger known as Old Grover.

From the Grapevine...

The obit in the Herald says that Richard had an offbeat personality, he did. I loved to talk with him. He did the Old Grover blog, you can see his politics, his satire and his offbeatness here. His last post was June 13. Before I met Richard, I used to wonder which one of the funny characters at the top of the blog was him, but of course, none were.

I loved Old Grover for its photoshops and stabs at local and national politics and it was a good blogging day when Old Grover made an appearance in my RSS reader.

Old Grover joins Infomaniac as South Florida blogs who continue to exist in perpetuity even as their authors have moved on.

R.I.P.

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Tonight's Optic Nerve

I had planned on going to tonight's Optic Nerve at MOCA but when I RSVPed earlier this week I was informed that the event was sold out.

Alesh Houdek found himself in the same position but decided to vent his frustrations about the situation at Buildings and Food...

Unless you’ve gotten your tickets way ahead of time, that is. When I went to the website on Wednesday to RSVP, I realized that all the tickets — both screenings — were sold out.

This is absurd. This event grows more popular every year; why doesn’t MoCA add more shows? Why not do a friggin’ week of Optic Nerve? Or, heck, a month of screenings, like they do for Pablo Cano?

Please don’t tell me that I can go night-of and stand in a line to vie for one of a small number of day-of tickets. I’m not 21, and this is not an indie band that needs to be in Atlanta the next day for another gig.

Word.

As Houdek pointed out, this limited one-night screening seems somewhat contradictory to MOCA's own mission statement...

"MOCA's Optic Nerve program is designed to provide emerging artists with an important venue in which to show their works and we want this year's program to represent the most innovative and important film and video being created in the United States today. Encouraging new work and making it accessible to our audiences is an important part of our mission," said MOCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater.

And to show you how much importance they put on this new work, MOCA is going to make it available for 4 hours on a Saturday night. Wow.

Well,  the good news is that the de la Cruz Collection places even more importance on accessibility...

NOTE: The de la Cruz Collection (23 NE 41st Street, Miami) will also screen Optic Nerve XIII finalists from September 10 through October 8, 2011 at their facility.

Optic Nerve fans can contact the de la Cruz Collection at 305.576.6112 or you can visit their website. RSVP's don't seem to be necessary.



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Your Mid-Afternoon Sift

I got a walk in this morning that was followed with my daily requirement of Starbucks and is now being supplemented with a nice helping of classical music. This is what weekends are for. Enjoy your mid-afternoon Sift.

A- Go Hydrology! shares another one of his great little videos from out in the middle of the swamp.

B- Random Pixels has an amusing clip from South Florida TV in the 60's.

C- Another great batch of Critical Mass images from Beached Miami.

D- It's only to a small, dimwitted minority of the American population that Bark Bark Woof Woof directs his morning comments as Irene bears down on the Northeast.

Not to inject too much politics into a natural disaster, but it's events like this that make you realize why we have things like "big government." After this is all over, there will be countless stories and inevitable tragedies, but if it wasn't for the people in public service like police, fire, emergency medical responders, and the people at federal, state, and local agencies like FEMA that have been preparing for events like this for years and who will be there to help the survivors and get things back to normal.

And through it all, there will be some big-mouthed politician who will emerge from a hurricane shelter, go on Fox News, and carry on about how big government can't do anything right and that the American people can do it themselves. In the first case, he's alive only because he was protected by government planning and infrastructure, and in the second case, the American people can do it themselves -- by creating a government that provides the protection and infrastructure to handle these kinds of emergencies.

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The Forecast?

-via Dependable Renegade


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Your Evening Sift

It's Friday night, readers. The entire wonderful weekend lies in front of us. The SFDB Weekend Widget in the right sidebar isn't that busy but check it out anyway while you're enjoying your evening Sift.

A- Sex and the Beach experiences a Scottish smorgasbord as she attends a Scotch whiskey tasting and interviews a historical romance novelist about one of her books that is set in Scotland.

I just love that a Miami girl, encouraged by a big and warm Cuban family, is successfully writing romance novels set in the Scottish Highlands. You’d think that’s a stretch – but Marcos has the smarts and wit to pull it off. She represents the Cuban-American 305 truly, giving us volumes of good sensual read better than any telenovela out there.

B- Random Pixels unveils his list of City of Miami employees who made over $100K last year, including overtime and other compensation.

C- Burgers By The Beach gives the Hollywood Quickies their top rating.

This monster was piled high with Bacon, Fries, Onion Strings, Quickie Sauce and then stuffed with american cheese, yes stuffed, that just shoots out with every bite!

D- Coconut Grove Grapevine is upset about a large sign that had been put up in the Grove to raise money for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

It doesn't look that large here, but it is huge. I would say about 20 or 25 feet high, something stupid like you would see on those downtown buildings. The hazard stripes on the poster make it even worse. This is the route that every single tour bus takes to enter the Village. Is this the first impression tourists get now of Coconut Grove? That we are closed for business and under construction? That's the first impression I got. Actually, my first impression was that Mayfair was condemned or something. I really did. Then I read the sign closely.

E- The305.Com has the link to download the Miami Food Truck app that the Burger Beast just launched.

F- You might say that Eye on Miami was not impressed by the Homestead Housing Authority Meeting on Wednesday.

I went to the Homestead Housing Authority Meeting Wednesday, just for a little while. It was an eye opener. Their budget is $20.3 million dollars. What was one of the things they voted on - to meet every other month instead of every month. One of the Board Members asked, at the meeting, what was the purpose of the housing authority. Really! He also hadn't even viewed his packet as he asked for something that others said was in it.

In my opinion, this was a dysfunctional Board. I have seen more professional boards with $2,000 budgets.

G- Mike LaMonica advises those about to kiss Irene what not to do after being smacked.

H- After reading the latest about restaurateur Douglas Rodriguez over at Eater Miami, I'm not sure I would ever frequent one his restaurants in the future.

"Douglas Rodriguez closed the doors on De Rodriguez Cuba over at the Astor Hotel on 10th and Washington some months ago. In his very own words, he "relocated" to and merged the restaurant with De Rodriguez Ocean on 101 Ocean Drive. The restaurant was subsequently renamed De Rodriguez Cuba on Ocean and Douglas Rodriguez can now be seen there on most days and nights.

The problem is that when he left the Astor location, he did not pay workers their last week or two of tips and gave some workers worthless checks. This is in addition to not having paid overtime since workers can remember, not having paid tipped employees hourly wages from November 2010 to February 2011, and routinely paying workers for less hours than actually worked. (Douglas Rodriguez's OLA restaurant on 17th and James was recently busted by the Dept. of Labor for not paying OT and had to give some workers checks for that).

I -Beached Miami posts a few music videos they made with Miami-born singer-songwriter Sam Friend at a farm in Kendall.

J- Shorter Roy Black...

A good attorney is a good storyteller.

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Flashback Friday

1978...





Honda Commercial




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Take It From One Of Their Own

It takes a Republican to know a Republican.

Listen to Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman describe some of his fellow Republicans.




Nice.

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Top 10 New Food Truck Dishes

The Feast Miami recently checked out the latest food trucks to hit the streets of South Florida and gives us their favorite meals from the bunch. You can take a look at them here.

Believe it or not, I have yet to get something from a food truck. Anyone else in the same boat or am I the only one in South Florida?



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Say Something Nice

For our latest mission we constructed a custom wooden lectern with a megaphone holster and an attached sign that read, "Say Something Nice." The lectern was placed in public spaces around New York and then left alone. We wanted to see what would happen if New Yorkers were given the opportunity to amplify their voices to "say something nice."

Have a great Friday, readers.

And say something nice today.



-via Improv Everywhere

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The Cooler

The 'Canes are back on the front page as Irene plows northward. Here's your morning Cooler.

A- Herald: Going to the 2nd string.

The University of Miami declared eight student-athletes — all believed to be football players — ineligible Thursday and has asked the NCAA to initiate the reinstatement process, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Quarterback Jacory Harris and star linebacker Sean Spence are two of the ineligible athletes, the source said.

Another five football players were not declared ineligible by the university because it is believed the impermissible benefits each allegedly received from former UM booster Nevin Shapiro totaled less than $100 — meaning they can pay it back, usually by donating to a charity. However, UM could impose additional penalties, including suspensions.

In order for UM to ensure that those deemed ineligible have a chance to play Sept. 5 in the opener at Maryland without risking severe penalties by the NCAA, UM had to declare them ineligible.

B- Herald: Greg Cote on the news.

I continue to believe Miami will not and should not receive the “death penalty” for this scandal, meaning the abolishment of the football team for a season or two. But having said that, there is no way that Thursday’s development can be seen as anything other than a darkening of the cloud now pregnant over the program.

The possible long-range impact has been well chewed and debated. Miami likely faces years of sanctions — probation, reduced scholarships, bowl banishment — for having allowed Shapiro to lavish players with improper benefits, undetected for years.

But Thursday’s development locks the immediate impact into focus.

C- Herald: Morin.

D- Herald: They write letters.

Perils of biking

Re the Aug. 22 story South Miami turning into a bike rider’s haven: South Miami’s a two-wheel town? Are you kidding me? To get exercise, save money and reduce pollution I ride my bike to the bank, restaurants, library, grocery store and Dante Fascell Park. I take my life in my hands while doing so. Riding on Sunset Drive is impossible.

Cars are parked next to the sidewalks, forcing the biker into a car lane. If one retreats to the sidewalk, one has to dodge posts, planters and sidewalk diners, not to mention pedestrians who firmly believe bikes cannot be used on sidewalks. Equally hard to navigate are 64th and 80th streets, and both have room for a bike path.

Once I reach a destination, there is no place to lock up a bike, except at the library. How bike friendly is that?

It’s pleasant to bike down side streets and around my neighborhood, but if we’re going to get serious about bike riding, city planners have to get serious about bikeways and bike parking.

Karen Kerr, South Miami

E- Sun-Sentinel: Tom Jenkins is voted best barbecue. No news there.

So proficient are their cooking skills, however, that Tom Jenkins' Bar-B-Q was voted the best barbecue eatery in South Florida by online Sun Sentinel readers.

"It's really an awesome feeling," says Harrell. "It really is a labor of love for Gary and I. We've been selected best-of several times, but it never gets old to us. We always want to stay as consistent as possible and put out an excellent product. It feels great when someone acknowledges it."

F- Sun-Sentinel: A South Florida success story.

It was "the Candy Man" who schooled two bad-boy rich kids in 2007 on how to make a fortune. His advice? Start a pain clinic.

The unnamed physician, nicknamed by cops for his large volume of pill prescriptions, launched Wellington twins Jeffrey and Christopher George, then 27, to start a pill mill empire that raked in $40 million in two years in Broward and Palm Beach counties, officials say. On Tuesday, the Georges and 31 co-conspirators were arrested on charges ranging from murder to racketeering to fraud.

The brothers had sold 20 million pain pills by the time police and federal agents shut down their four clinics in March 2010, prosecutors said in a 123-page indictment.

Each clinic made up to $50,000 a day. Employees carried the receipts to the bank in garbage bags. Their mother – who worked in a clinic and got arrested with her sons – kept about $4.5 million of their spare cash in two safes in the attic of her house on Primrose Lane in Wellington.

The George boys spent their riches on six-bedroom houses, a shopping plaza, four-figure Rolex and Patek Phillippe watches, boats and fast cars, such as Jeff George's yellow Lamborghini Murcielago.

G- NBC Miami: Serial fake doctor, allegedly.

A Miami clinic owner has been arrested one day after her her husband was charged with practicing medicine without a license, Miami police said.

[...]

Signs posted at the clinic said they offer gynecological and physical exams as well as free back to school vaccinations for children.

Teobaldo Fuentes was in Miami-Dade court Thursday and ordered held on $5,000 bond.

Broward County court records show Teobaldo Fuentes was arrested in 2009 and charged by Fort Lauderdale Police with trafficking oxycodone. His next court hearing in that case is Oct. 7.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Shhh. Everyone is apparently still sleeping. Either that or my RSS reader is broken. Wow, is it quiet out there. Here's your morning Sift.

A- Miami Beach 411 attended the Miami Beach town hall meeting held to address Urban Beach Weekend.

While Wednesday’s meeting was called to give citizens of our small island a chance to voice their suggestions, what it was in reality was an opportunity to see what the City was, in fact, planning to do. Not terribly satisfying for those who wanted to vent, but at the very least educational.

The meeting boiled down to two solutions: Enforce the laws and create a better event that will attract a better crowd. Clearly, Miami Beach has reached its tipping point, and another year of Memorial Day madness will not be tolerated. The City seems to be putting itself on the right track, but only time will tell if residents will ever be able to enjoy this holiday like the rest of the country.

B- If you're thirsty tomorrow you might want to wander by The Abbey, says the South Florida Beer Blog.


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Your Evening Sift

Rain showers blew in and out all day up here in Broward. Looked up at the sky and the clouds were moving north to south. Outer bands! Enjoy your evening Sift.

A- Bark Bark Woof Woof gets us going this evening with another take on the "Boys will be boys..." post I did today.

B- Transit Miami documents another crash on Biscayne Boulevard and maintains that the only way to make the roadway safer is to slow everyone down 10 mph.

Enforcement is not the solution. We need to design our roadways in order to achieve the speed we desire people to drive. In the case of Biscayne Boulevard the design speed should not exceed 35 mph. The FDOT (and our elected officials) must stop practicing wishful thinking and begin designing roads that discourage speeding that don’t require enforcement. Properly designed streets enforce themselves.

C- Man or Maniac? does a nice job slicing and dicing Rick Scott for his micro management of the state's prison system.

Who would you rather have running our prisons - a man lauded as being top in the field, or someone who'd be serving time if not for the work of his shysters?

D- Eat It, Miami checks out Oliver's Bistro while All Purpose Dark files the first review of Michelle Bernstein's Crumb on Parchment that I've seen since it opened. From the latter...

It's Michelle Bernstein's place and she's clearly a perfectionist. Every damn detail about the place is welcoming and well-considered. Self-serve coffee and water station. Comfortable couches flanked by coffee tables topped with interesting coffee table books. Tangerine centerpieces for crying out loud. Where am I? In a Diane Keaton movie? I love it!

E- Beached Miami interviews Jacuzzi Boy bassist Danny Gonzalez about their new album as they get ready to rock Churchill's on Saturday night.

It’s been a really good year for the band. Are you guys feeling really positive right now?

DG: I guess we’re in a positive state of mind. We’re definitely not feeling negative about anything. But we’re also not ones to get too caught up in anything either which way. Since we’ve been playing, there have been times when not so fantastic things are written, and we sorta laugh it off. And when good things are written, we laugh them off too. It’s definitely exciting, but we kinda think it’s all funny.

F- The Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders unveiled their 2011 calendar at LIV nightclub last night and The305.Com has all the photos.

G- South Florida Theatre Scene posts this week's theater wrap up.





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The New MAM

Check out the progress that is being made on the new Miami Art Museum...





-via Buildings and Food



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A Clear Provocation

The Corner, a cesspool of conservatism, calls this picture from David Limbaugh, the less successful brother of the Human Zeppelin, "a provocative picture." "Provocative," in this case, meaning more flattering to the Tea Party extremist.

Turns out, I have a "provocative" picture of my own.

Some guys never grow up.

Make sure you vote for the grown ups in 2012.


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