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Your Evening Sift
01/03/2012

I have a healthy Friday evening Sift for you and an abbreviated Weekend Widget in the right sidebar if you are so motivated. Have a nice evening.

A- Eater Miami and Miamism list their top viewed posts for 2011.

B- Discourse ponders expanding drug testing.

Perhaps it is time to subject investment bankers and derivatives traders to routine random drug tests. It’s widely believed that many of them use cocaine (although meth use may be rising), and I read that drug use on Wall Street is a real problem, although of course it has also beem rampant for a long time. The health of the economy is too important to be left in the hands of potentially drug-addled brains.

C- Random Pixels follows the action this morning as the Miami Herald makes a mistake in their reporting of a shooting on South Beach.

D- Sex and the Beach goes on hiatus.

I don't plan on keeping a regular editorial schedule here until further notice. Because of HeartCamp and my film production schedule, plus the possible regional Florida Tweetup (#floridatweetup on Twitter) mid-January, the blog is on hold for now.

E- Obalesque takes the long road to deliver up a political rumor he secretly thinks could happen.

F- Photographic evidence of Belle Isle's development from 1962 through 1975 can be viewed at Belle Isle Blog.

G- It's all about 2011's Best Of's today at The305.Com.

2011 Blog Of The Year

Its hard to keep track of them, and I just couldn’t pick one. But all those random Tumblr accounts that focus on Miami and all things #305, are like the greatest thing ever. Search “Miami” and “305? in Tumblr and you’ll start finding them all.

H- Go Hydrology! reveals himself.

I- Florida Keys Girl samples dinner on luxurious Little Palm Island.

Little Palm Island is outrageously expensive (dinner for 4, over $400) and well off the beaten path. Located at mile marker 28.5 you need a reservation to board the ferry. There are plenty of restaurants that are really expensive, but Little Palm Island is totally, 100% worthwhile. It was a wonderful dining experience in addition to having amazing food and service.

J- The Sketchy Holiday Party Video is up at Beached Miami.

K- Homestead is Home wonders why the Homestead PD is not filling vacancies.

Mayor Bateman scolded City Manager George Gretsas for Homestead being short 30 police officers during a recent December meeting. The City of Homestead Employment Opportunity postings does not reflect that shortage. Did Krispy Kreme stop the Mayor and tell him business is down? How would he know and not the City Manager?

A- Your Only in Hialeah moment of the day at Sweet Home Hialeah.

B- The Reid Report examines Mitt Romney's lame attempt to cast President Obama as some kind of person of entitlement and wealth.

But...well...Mitt Romney comparing Obama — the guy who was raised by a single mother and then by his grandparents, whose mom died haggling with health insurers and who experienced having his family live on food stamps when he was a kid and went to college on scholarship — he compared that guy, to Marie Antoinette, who inherited her wealth from the Austrian royal family and then married the king of France.

C- The Chowfather lists his Best Meals of 2011 which is different from his Best Dishes of 2011 in that it takes into account "every facet of the meal" versus just "the dish"...I guess.

D- Eye on Miami thanks their readers.

I want to especially thank the "insiders" of local and county politics who sometimes post comments and sometimes give us information and insights -- albeit anonymously-- that helps to fill out the true picture of our community.

E- Random Pixels looks back into Miami Hurricane history of the mid-'80's.

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A- Sun-Sentinel: Jason Taylor retires.

He knew when he arrived in the locker room, knew when he approached midfield for the coin toss, knew from the first tackle he made, knew when he saw Dan Marino wearing a No. 99 jersey on the scoreboard, knew when Vernon Carey asked for his shoes in the final huddle and knew when his teammates lifted him up and carried him off the field.

"I asked them three or four time to put me down," he said after the Dolphins' 19-17 win against the New York Jets. "They wouldn't do it."

B- Sun-Sentinel: Winter is coming.

The coldest part of the week is forecast to be Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, when temperatures will drop into the 30s.

C- WPTV: Bobcat on a telephone pole.

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01/03/2012

Sooooo...a very slow day in the South Florida blogosphere. I noticed all the Broward County schools get back to work tomorrow. I'm thinking most folks have off, then again I could be wrong. Enjoy your New Year's Day evening Sift whatever you're doing tomorrow.

A- Miamism takes a look at Miami Beach waterfront home sales in 2011.

The Median Listing price for a Miami Beach waterfront home is currently $4.7 Million. And if you are not convinced that this real estate sector is hot, out of the 165 homes listed for sale, only 2 are distressed (both are short sales – one in Normandy Island and the other one in Mid-Beach).

B- Both Soul of Miami and Coconut Grove Grapevine share images from yesterday's King Mango Strut.

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I'm still enjoying it although I have to admit to being very close a couple times last year to throwing in the towel and reclaiming the part of my life that brings you these posts every day. Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it when the comments and page views drop but I always seem to get a second wind and get back to work.

Thanks to all of you who visit, especially those of you make SFDB a regular stop during the day. Although I don't always see or hear you, I know you're out there...and I appreciate it.

Please join me as we prepare to complete Year 4...it's going to be fun.

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Random Pixels will be hired as a Copy Editor by the Herald.

Some Blogging Guy will be attacked by a wood stork near Moore Haven but will capture it all on film in one of the year's best posts.

Mike LaMonica does NOT run another 1/2 marathon.

Food for Thought will write a negative review on a local restaurant...wait, that's way too absurd.

More sex for Sex and the Beach but not necessarily on the beach.

Carlos Miller will discover even more TSA personnel who aren't familiar with photography rules at the airport.

Fidel Castro will die but Babalu will be too busy extolling the virtues of Newt Gingrich to notice.

Boy Writes Miami cleans up his act and readership drops by 50%.

Blind Mind has a seat named after him at Michael's Genuine's bar.

The Miami Bike Scene starts giving out the wrong date for Critical Mass in hopes of thinning out a huge and out of control crowd.

PhinPhanatic becomes less phanatic after the Dolphins start 0-5 in 2012.

Miami on the Cheap hits a Powerball and closes down.

Nikon Miami visits Zoo Miami for a photoshoot and is never heard from again although, interestingly enough, a tiger is seen shopping for a tripod at a camera shop in the area.

Obalesque joins a band.

Beached Miami reaches their goal of sketching every person in Miami and turns their attention to the animal population. Sketchy parties become even more popular...and interesting.

Miami Beach 411 gets a sponsorship from a well-known convenience store and changes their name to Miami Beach 7-11. Slurpees are now served on every tour bus ride.

Go Hydrology! has a bad experience in the Everglades that he doesn't share with anyone but is noticed wearing a new pair of alligator skin boots.

South Florida Lawyers runs into legal problems with a major coffee shop when he reconnects with former bandmates in the Starbuck's Reunion Tour.

Bark Bark Woof Woof resolves to eliminate redundancy in 2012 and renames his blog Bark Woof.

01/03/2012

Diana Krall, New Year's Eve

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Patrick Murphy who is running against Tea Party hack Allen West in 2012. Making these right wing extremists own their bigoted vitriol is always an effective campaign tool, in my opinion.

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01/03/2012

Hazziez
It's a good thing that Jabir Hazziez Jr. wasn't kicked off his flight because he's a Muslim.

A man foaming at the mouth lunged for the airliner’s cabin door, attempting to open it as flight attendants struggled to hold him at bay.

Most of the post-Thanksgiving travelers cruising at some 30,000 feet toward Kansas City that day were unaware of the potential disaster looming at the front of the plane.

But when a crew member came on the intercom asking if anyone had medical training, passenger Jabir Hazziez Jr. heard the sense of concern in her voice.

What happened next came as no surprise to those who know and work with Hazziez, a Kansas City firefighter, reserve Jackson County deputy and member of the U.S. Naval Reserve.

As Hazziez walked toward the front of the plane, he saw a man pacing and holding his head in his hands. The man appeared to be in an “altered mental state” and clearly appeared agitated.

“He was trying to get to the door of the plane,” Hazziez recalled recently. “I grabbed ahold of him and tried to calm him down.”

But the man only became more combative and knocked Hazziez into the cockpit door.

Using his law enforcement training, Hazziez put the man in a neck restraint and took him to the floor. The man continued kicking and trying to reach the door with his feet. Another passenger grabbed the man’s legs.

Together they held him for about 15 or 20 minutes until the plane, which had taken off in Atlanta, made an emergency landing in Memphis and authorities came on board to deal with the man. Later, Hazziez learned the man had been suffering from an adverse reaction to a vaccine.

Wow. This is really going to mess up the thought patterns of those Little Limbaughs who sit in front of their TV all day and listen to Fox news hosts explain how Muslims are out to destroy America.

On second thought, no it won't. Reality and facts are secondary to these kind of people. They'll continue their Islamophobia and sarcastically refer to Islam as "the religion of peace" every time a Muslim extremist is arrested.

- Story via Little Green Footballs

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01/03/2012

It's that time of the year again...

As South Florida readies to welcome another New Year, police and public safety officials, along with grieving relatives, again warn of the dangers of a tradition that in some communities is as entrenched as it is reckless. Along with sound of firecrackers and rockets expected Saturday night, there will be gunfire.

"As much as you tell people not to do it, it continues," said Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti. "People may think that it's a way to celebrate, but that bullet has to come down and if you shoot it, you own it. You are liable criminally and civilly."

The two best reasons for staying at home on New Year's Eve are the proliferation of stupid people in this world. I refuse to put my future health and welfare at risk because of DUI drivers and morons exercising their 2nd Amendment rights and actively participating in a well regulated militia. Most importantly, I will not expose my loved ones to such nonsense.

So call me a killjoy or a spoilsport but I'm sitting New Year's out again this year in my own home. That offers me some protection from my fellow South Floridians who haven't been endowed with the simple common sense and intellect that keeps many from enjoying or even attending New Years Day brunch the next day.

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A- I'm not sure what the point of Coconut Grove Grapevine's latest story from the Grove really is other than to point out that the Grove may not be for everyone.

They wanted to know where Bayside was. When I told them it was a few miles away downtown, they got exasperated and said, forget it. I pointed to our waterfront, such as it is and they were not interested. She asked, "Is this all there is here?" and she swept her hand around the area.

I said, "We'll we are a small village, this is all we've got." Her husband seemed to like that, he said, "Thank God for that."

B- Justice Building Blog looks back at his predictions from last year and composes a new list for 2012.

C- New Year's Weekend is the perfect time for some theater as South Florida Theatre Scene shows us in their weekly wrap up.

D- Sex and the Beach files their year end social media review.

E- Transit Miami's review of all things bicycle for 2011.

F- Artlurker checks out Dogan Arslanoglu's “Investigations” at 6th Street Container Gallery in Little Havana.

Stills rendered from various iconic clips including a 1940's atomic bomb test over Bikini Atoll and the Max Headroom Broadcast Signal Intrusion of 1987 are paired with vintage commercials advertising Coca-Cola, cereal, dental hygiene and cosmetics. Cropped into abstraction, many images are difficult to identify without a hint.

G- The year in precipitation is graphically presented by Go Hydrology!

H- Dining world headline predictions at Eater Miami who is apparently putting out year end lists for virtually every post from now until 2012.

I- Carlos Miller continues to confirm that not all TSA employees know that screening checkpoints can be filmed.

J- The Burger Beast's reveals his Top Ten Burgers of 2011.

K- Joining in what seems to have become a favorite pastime of many a SoFla blogger, Discourse critiques the Miami Herald.

That said, I might mention two other somewhat bright spots: The Local section has degraded much less than front. There’s still real news there, just not enough of it. And as the news staff of the Herald shrinks, it is running more content from Bloomberg and from the political reporters at its partner newspapers in the state, some of whom are quite good.

L- Republicans need to take a few lessons on principles from Democrats like State Senator Gwen Margolis....at Eye on Miami.

M- The Chowfather tastes truffles at The Tudor House and urges us to do the same...as if.

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Boy apparently OK after fall from second story in Downtown DeLand
01/03/2012

A young boy playing upstairs over Stetson Flower and Wedding Boutique fell out of a second-story window just before 6 p.m. Dec. 28, but appeared to be uninjured. DeLand Police did not identify the boy or his parents, but said the boy's mother told them her son "did not appear hurt, he was just cryin ...

Sears announces 100-120 closings
01/03/2012

Will the local Sears and Kmart stores close? That’s the question on many minds, and so far there’s no answer. Sears Holdings Corp. announced that it will close 100-120 Kmart and Sears stores in 2012. Kmart and Sears merged in 2005. Sales have declined, particularly in consumer electronics, hom ...