The graphic is from January, 2020 but it is applicable today for Florida as we are having a cold snap with temperatures in the 20s (F°). No drop bears, just drop lizards.

Dear unGov DeMentis, the highest point in the entire state of Florida is a “towering” 345 feet located in Walton County near the Alabama border. There’s a marker that makes it official. There is no “high ground” in the Big Bend which is wet lands and swamp. You need to drive hundreds of miles to be assured of power, water, sanitary facilities. Take a little time while flying around and learn something about the state.

In order to generate “local excitement” [sell stuff] the chamber of commerce is once again annoying people with the Billy Bowlegs Festival. This year the unavoidable part ran from Friday, May 19^th and finishes up on Monday. The really obnoxious parade on today screws up traffic and sends a lot of noisy people through my neighborhood.

Almost as bad as the parade traffic jam was the Friday fireworks. I know a lot of people enjoy fireworks, but they probably have not seen what loud noises and flashes of light can do to people and aircraft – I am definitely not a fan.

With luck it will rain the rest of the week…

Update: at 9PM it is raining!

The graphic is from January, 2020 but it is applicable today for South Florida as they are having a cold snap. No drop bears, just drop lizards.

Another threat is on the rise this year: lithium ion batteries. There are a lot of electric scooters and bicycles zipping around. They have to be charged, and if you don’t watch them closely when charging you may be in for a nasty surprise as the batteries ignite and burning down your house or apartment. Lithium is an inflammable metal that is surrounded with an inflammable electrolyte in the battery case. Normally nothing bad happens with the smaller batteries in phones, tablets, and laptops. The charger for my battery operated tools shuts down automatically but things involved in transportation, like Teslas, e-bikes, and e-scooters apparently aren’t as well regulated.

This produces the next problem, putting out a metal fire. Water is your worst choice. Water may separate into hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of some burning metals and cause an explosion. Copper powder and soda ash are the best solution for lithium fires. Local fire departments are not likely to have what they need for class D [metal] fires, unless they have a manufacturing plant in their jurisdiction.

Get and use a timer for your chargers to ensure they don’t overcharge your batteries. Don’t get too worried as you will probably be flattened by an SUV before your battery ignites.

The cold is forecast to remain until Tuesday.

I realize that this is nothing like what the North is experiencing, but this the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. As soon as the wind shifts to from the South the temperature will climb to the 60s as it passes over the warm waters of the Gulf. We lack cold weather anything. Central air is common, central heating is not.

I was minding my own business reading tweets and blogs Saturday morning When a guy in a U-haul truck came through my drive way at 11:42AM CST and pulled down the coax cable connecting me with the real world outside of Xanth. A call to the Internet provider resulted in a tentative 5PM appointment on Sunday. I got lucky as an appointment opened up at 11AM and a new cable was connected and working in 20 minutes. I was informed by e-mail that the charge would be $75. Naturally U-haul guy didn’t stop and tell me what had happened. (I have cameras around the house)

Then the car had issues and wouldn’t start. As the battery seemed to go out every 5 years, the battery needed changing based only on the time, so the $150 wasn’t wasted, but that wasn’t the problem. Based on the collective best guess $75 dollars later I have a new starter coming on Wednesday.

I am already looking at a $275 car insurance renewal payment in a week, so Christmas is going to be sparse this year. After fifteen years things are bound to break. If I win a lottery I’m buying an electric vehicle that isn’t a Tesla.

My county mailed me my absentee ballot as First Class Pre-sorted election material and I got it on 10/03/2022.

I immediately filled it out and then put it in the mail on 10/04/2022 at the main post office in the city. I will check on the Supervisor of Elections web site to see when it is received. The envelope was pre-addressed and barcoded and marked as election material. With a month to go I have high hopes that it will reach the election office prior to November 8th.

I just checked and my ballot has been received and counted.

There are no senior politicians to act as moderating influences and laws are written by lobbyists and staff. The actual legislators don’t develop the necessary skills and start campaigning for Federal office as they approach their limits. They aren’t governing, they are in campaign mode. If you contact them with a problem with the state government, they don’t know who to contact to fix it.

Be careful what you wish for – you may get it and it’s hard to correct.

The major systems are returning to normal and I should be able to achieve my old level of sarcasm by Friday.