Florida Is Weird
Dave Barry in the Miami Herald covers the newest game in Florida: The Python Challenge.
The game is covered at the official web site, www.pythonchallenge.org. If you put Python Challenge into Google it will send you to www.pythonchallenge.com, which is a game for programmers learning the Python language.
Florida has a python hunting season in an attempt to keep down the number of pythons that have infested the Everglades, and to reduce the number of people in the state to who think wading in a swamp that is known to be infested with constrictors that can swallow them is a reasonable thing to do. Every contestant who is swallowed improves the gene pool and save the lives of the native animals that inhabit the ‘Glades.
They are offering cash prizes for the biggest python caught, and the most pythons caught, but discriminate by not offering anything of value to the pythons, other than a possible free meal.
12 comments
Yep. You are right. Florida IS weird. 😉
What kind of an idiot is going to go out into a swamp infested with snakes that are up to 20 feet long and can eat you? I don’t know, but there are apparently hundreds of them who have paid their money, taken a short class, and headed into the River of Grass.
Because I’m a bad person, I assume they are Republicans and members of the NRA, so I’m not going to be concerned with their demise.
I’m concerned that those crazy peeps will give the pythons indigestion. 😉
Speaking of digestive disorders….
The state hasn’t encouraged restaurants to put python on the menu like Louisiana did the nutria, yet, have they?
Thing is, CJ, Louisiana has a cultural heritage and cuisine based around putting anything remotely edible onto the menu, whether we’re talking ‘gater, frog legs, crawdads, rabbit, squirrel, duck, dove, deer, whatever, if it can be et, it’s on the menu. So adding nutria to that list isn’t exactly a huge stretch. But what’s Florida’s cultural heritage and cuisine based around? That’s right, serving meat and potatoes to grandmas and grandpas from Ohio! You really think Granny’s gonna take to snake? Hah! More like snake is gonna take to Granny!
– Badtux the Snarky Cuisine Penguin
They probably already serve it restaurants, Jill, only they call it red snapper or grouper 😈 It is probably featured in pet food, sausage, and ‘ground beef’ based on the results of a science project by a Florida middleschooler who sent samples from seafood restaurants off for testing as part of a science project. The kid was trying to show something about the DNA of various species in the Gulf of Mexico and stumbled unto a major mess when the lab told him the fish samples weren’t from the Gulf and none of them were identified properly.
Louisiana tells you about the strange critters in the gumbo, but Florida calls them “peacock” and jacks up the price.
They probably already serve it restaurants, Jill, only they call it red snapper or grouper
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
After it has been dipped in corn meal and comes out of a deep fryer, who knows what it was? Hell, you can’t even swear it was ever alive.
Think about it – what does ‘meat by-product’ really mean? Cows are meat and I remember with no fondness shoveling a lot of their ‘by-products’ out of barns.
Python would be a step up for some fast food restaurants, and not a few of the more expensive places in this area.
Bryan, don’t ask what “meat by-product” is, or you will never enjoy another hotdog again. Just sayin’ ;).
I only eat Kosher hot dogs so I don’t have to worry about it.
Did you hear about the scandal where some kosher hot dogs turned out to be about as close to kosher as that kid’s fish samples were to what was actually listed on the menu? Don’t have a reference to it offhand, but I’m sure a quick Google search would turn it up. It was a big name in the kosher hot dog bizness that was caught fudging the kosher-ness of their product, eep!
If horse DNA can turn up in the UK burgers, I’m sure a little python DNA can sneak it’s way into some of Florida’s. 😉
I’m talking about the real thing in natural casing which you can’t buy in supermarkets. I got used to them in Germany, and the American concept has no appeal for me. Kosher markets are usually the only place you can buy them outside of the large cities.
I’m sure that no one is checking to find out in Florida, Jill – it wouldn’t be ‘business friendly’ 😉