So. FL Trip #6: Florida’s Everglades National Park from Space

There's a lot happening in the Everglades with efforts to save them, and enhance the flow of water that has been cut off by development. Here's a new article from NASA with satellite imagery to give you an idea of what's happening. -


Florida’s Everglades National Park from Space


Florida’s Everglades National Park is not your ordinary protected area. Its unique ecosystem is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance. But the region has long been shaped by people, and in a network of ecosystems like this, the effects can be felt inside and outside the park.

November 2, 1985

Yucatan Peninsula and other areas of the Caribbean, and quite different from other wetlands in the United States,” Trexler said. “There are no other karstic Caribbean wetlands as large as the Everglades.”

The Everglades were once much larger. They drained wide, shallow, slow-moving sheets of water through a range of ecosystems from Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River Floodplain, all the way to Florida Bay. But throughout the 1900s, people drained areas for agriculture and development and started building structures to manage the water for a growing coastal population. A small fraction of the original Everglades was designated as a National Park in 1947. “People have been building canals and levees in the Everglades to divert water and store the wet-season accumulation for use to recharge urban aquifers to the east during the dry season,” Trexler said. “These features are clearly visible in both images, and are the focus of efforts to restore the ecosystem and regain ecological functions lost by compartmentalizing and diverting water from large areas.”

acquired October 17, 2014

Researchers have shown that freshwater diverted from Shark River Slough, for example, can reduce the amount of freshwater that reaches Florida Bay. Less freshwater, in turn, affects the salinity and biology in coastal areas. When these images were acquired, South Florida was late in the wet season, which runs through November. Water depths in both images were about average for the time of year.

Satellite View Shows Changes
Many of the canals and much of the urban growth started before the advent of Earth-observing satellites, but there are still notable changes to the landscape since 1985. The tan-colored area of urban development (Homestead) east of the park has expanded. A series of large green areas also show up in the 2014 image, forming a nearly straight line along the western side of the developed area. Trexler notes that these are water retention areas, created to hold freshwater and create a barrier to seepage from the Everglades out of the park.

Inside the park, you can see a green patch of vegetation called Pine Island (also the location of the park headquarters). Other bright green areas in the 2014 image are restoration areas. These are areas where there was a large-scale removal of invasive plants and the natural wetland habitat was restored. 

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Kathryn Hansen with image interpretation by Joel Trexler.
Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

So. Florida Trip #5: Vizcaya the Mansion

Rob and Tom

 After we saw the Everglades one of the days we were in south Florida, our friend Jeff J. recommended that we visit a mansion called "Vizcaya" so we did. 
  This is the 5th of 5 blogs about the trip.

One thing we noticed was that the former owner had purchased treasures from all over the world - Egypt, Italy, France, England and more. (It was like walking through the Vatican museum in Italy where so many artifacts were pillaged from other cultures).

Front entrance of Vizcaya

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, previously known as Villa Vizcaya, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida. 

VIEW OF BISCAYNE BAY - The back of the house is on Biscayne Bay, and has a recreation of gondola poles from Venice, Italy as well as a replica of a ship in shallow water, where the owner held parties.

My favorite picture of Tom

Vizcaya Gardens

FAST FACT - The mansion took 2 years to build, and James Deering only lived in it 4 months out of the year (during the winter because his main home was in Chicago). He lived in the house over 9 years, so about 36 months.

A Roman statue we admired

Checking the camera

Backyard gardens

The early 20th century Vizcaya estate also includes: extensive Italian Renaissance gardens; native woodland landscape; and a historic village outbuildings compound. The landscape and architecture were influenced by Veneto and Tuscan Italian Renaissance models and designed in the Mediterranean Revival architecture style, with Baroque elements.

OBSERVATION - James Deering lived and died a bachelor and his 2 nieces inherited the house. So we'd venture a guess that he was gay. 

Miami-Dade County now owns the Vizcaya property, as the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, which is open to the public. 

That concludes our South Florida Trip.

So. Florida Trip #4 - A Pre-rainy Beach Walk

Tom in a big beach chair

Tom beaching it

One morning before I (Rob) worked at the pet expo, we were able to take an early morning walk along the Fort Lauderdale beach before on and off showers developed. It made for a nice 1 1/2 hour walk. 

LIZARD! LIZARD! - One thing we couldn't get used to was seeing big lizards around and we found a couple of them going through some discarded food. After a picture we got out of there.


NEXT: VISCAYA

Lizard! Lizard!

Lizard!

So. Florida #3 - Pet Expo, Amazing Visitor, Missy's Message, Doggy Companion

A basket of pugs

In blog #3 of 4 of our brief 4 day trip to south Florida, I (Rob) worked at the 2 day Pet Expo. At the expo I
gave a talk about my "Pets and the Afterlife" books and  sold them. (I sold 11, which didn't even pay for the rental car- let alone airfare and hotel).

Sylvia's sister, Rob, Sylvia

   I did meet a few nice folks, and really enjoyed talking with my neighbors in the booth next to me: Sherry and Sylvia. They were fun and made the time pass (since not many people came to my table).  

Add caption

AMAZING VISITOR - A woman named Sylva and her husband Bud, and Sylva's sister and husband all drove 6 hours from Clearwater, Florida to Fort Lauderdale to meet me! Sylva had lost her poodle named Missy earlier in the year and bought and read my newest book "Pets and the Afterlife 2" about how pets communicate from spirit. She said she was so comforted by the book that she had to drive over and meet me at the expo (she learned of my appearance on my book's website).  That was really humbling.

Two Dachshunds on wheel chairs

Rob and his black lab companion

MISSY'S MESSAGES -Sylva's sister said that she had dreamt of Missy the toy poodle after Missy passed. She also said that she felt Missy's spirit jump on her bed (spirits will go to people they know will pass the message if the person they're intended for is blocking them with feelings of grief). So, while standing there, Missy had me ask Sylva if she saw a Missy  look-alike. Sylva then recalled she did!  She said someone drove into the cul-de-sac where she lives and in their car they had a toy poodle that looked like Missy. Sylva spoke to the people in the car, and found out THAT dog's name was also "Missy"!  What an amazing sign.

The black lab who kept me company

DOGGY COMPANION - One of the people who came to the expo was a middle-aged woman who had to black Labrador Retrievers. One was on a leash and the other was very lame in his back legs and followed behind. When I saw the struggle the dog was having keeping up, I offered to let the dog stay with me at my booth, and he did. I could tell how grateful the dog was to not be dragged through the expo. At least I had company!

TOM'S BEACH WASH OUT - Tom was supposed to be at the Fort Lauderdale beach, but it rained pretty heavily on and off, so he couldn't even sit by the hotel/motel's pool. He said he spent the afternoon in the room reading a book and reading stuff on the internet.

Rob's booth at the expo

NEXT: AN EARLY MORNING PRE-RAIN BEACH WALK

So. Florida #2 - the Everglades - Airboat Fun

In part 2 of our south Florida trip blog, we're taking you to the Everglades. We flew in on a Thursday evening, and Friday (the day before the pet expo) we wanted to do something fun to celebrate Tom's upcoming birthday, so we took an airboat ride through the Everglades.

SAFARI PARK- We took the airboat ride at Safari Park on the Tamiami Trail. We recommend it! 

Safari Park

Lots of alligators

Alligator close up

ALLIGATORS and CROCODILES -  It was a 30-40 minute ride and we had a very informative driver. We learned that Alligators are native to the Everglades, but some Crocodiles have been brought in from Cuba and other places. Alligators have rounded snouts while Crocodiles have no tongue and pointy snouts. Alligators mainly live in freshwater habitats, while Crocodiles live in salt or brackish water habitats. 

An Egret in the Everglades

   Color differences 
Alligators are black to dark grey in color while crocodiles are a green-grey color.
 Are crocodiles and alligators aggressive?   
Both crocodiles and alligators are wild animals whose behavior can be unpredictable. Generally, crocodiles tend to have a flight or fight response. They encounter humans less frequently than alligators but have been known to be a bit more aggressive when provoked.

Saw grass

  Alligators that have been fed associate people with food and may exhibit more aggressive behavior around humans. Feeding or harassing alligators is a criminal offense as it can ultimately result in harm to the alligator, humans or both.

    How large do alligators and crocodiles get?
An alligator's maximum size average is around 12 feet, which is common in older alligators, but not many are found of this size in the park. Most large gators we will see in the park are between 7 to 10 feet. Crocodiles grow a bit larger than
  alligators, maximum size around 13 feet.

The airboat

SAWGRASS - Another interesting fact we learned was that a native American tribe lived in the Everglades and would use saw grass roots to drink water and stay hydrated. These are plants characterized by long, narrow (grass-like) leaves having sharp, often serrated (sawtooth-like) margins, and flowering stems 3 to 9 feet tall. When pulled out, you could suck on the root and get water.

Tom and Rob ready to go

 NEXT: PET EXPO PICTURES

GOP Policies & Censoring Science -It Happened Before with Bush

     During the Bush Presidency, right-wing nuts infiltrated government agencies and tried to FORCE their conservative christian religion into SCIENCE research.  It made the news and was exposed after years of quiet harassment and modifying science from government agencies. NOW, it's very likely to happen again under a Trump presidency and right-wing Congress.

    At the time, the White House "science officer" had to "approve" all federal press releases. He was apparently a right-wing evangelical christian, "hell-bent" on including things like "creationism" into astrophysics research stories and forcing government agencies to stop saying "global warming" when the globe is warming.
  Every day I deal with science research and now see it may happen again. It was YEARS of torture to the scientific community.  

WHY THE CENSORING OF SCIENCE? - Because the Republican party does NOT believe in Science (or education). Their "science" is based on what they read in their bible, which makes them think the Earth is 6,000 years old instead of  4.543 billion years old as educated people know it is.

LEARN ABOUT THE CENSORSHIP IN 2006 - There was 2007 book about it called "Censoring Science" where all of this is reported.  READ IT. 
( You may recognize a name in it..)

Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming  by Mark Bowen

About the book: In January 2006, news broke that the Bush administration had been attempting to censor Dr. Hansen—obscuring his message and suppressing the vast body of his scientific work, which unequivocally demonstrates the reality and immense danger of global warming. Now, for the first time and with unfiltered access, writer and physicist Mark Bowen finally tells the exclusive story of Hansen’s decades-long battle to bring the truth about global warming to light. Censoring Science illuminates the real science behind global warming and maintains that we can still prevent environmental disaster, while both strengthening our economy and our national security. 

So. Florida Trip #1 - An Old Friend

Tom, Rob, Chris, Jeff

This past weekend, we took a 4 day trip to Fort Lauderdale as I (Rob) was working at the South Florida Pet Expo to promote my books and give a talk, and Tom was going to the beach to celebrate his birthday (early) this month.  There were a couple of highlights (one being meeting an old friend), but for the most part, the weekend wasn't a banner weekend due to rain, not good lodging, bad traffic and insane drivers and lost luggage.

Rob and Jeff at the Pet Expo

BIG HIGHLIGHT -  A true highlight was seeing our friend Jeff J. We haven't seen Jeff in years because he lives in south Florida, so this was a treat. His friend Chris came along the night we went to dinner at a place called "Rosie's" - which used to be part of the Washington DC based "Hamburger Mary's" chain, now renamed. 
   PET EXPO - Jeff came to the first day of the pet expo and saw me there, which really helped break up the long day.

NEXT: Pictures from the Everglades

  

Why we are Upset about the Election

Yesterday, I (Rob) called all who voted for Trump something not nice. I was emotional and I apologize.  However, even if you support us as a gay, married couple, you need to know WHY we are afraid of a GOP Presidency and GOP House and Senate because they have threatened OUR personal security in plans to invalidate our legal marriage... and they CAN do it. We'll explain.
 -  FIRST: We KNOW It is a great country and always has been. We also condone the violence and protests against the election.
- OUR CONCERN - As gay married men, we are again being threatened by the Republican party to again have our marriage (and countless others) invalidated again for no reason but hatred, its difficult to feel "welcomed."   (Of course, there are MANY other reasons to be concerned including denial of science, education, adversely affecting world relations, eliminating pollution controls, etc.)


BELOW- the letter from the Hate Group "The National Organization of Marriage" about how they plan to do it.

Remember? Trump's VP passed the most anti LGBT laws in Indiana. He hates gay.people. 
Now, the GOP has.promised to sign into law a bill to make it legal to discriminate against gay people in jobs and housing.  SEE: Donald Trump pledges to sign anti-LGBTQ ‘First Amendment Defense Act’
Trump has pledged to sign the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), if passed by congress. It was first introduced in the House on June 17, 2015 and would effectively legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination across the board, including among employers, businesses, landlords and healthcare providers, as long as they claim to be motivated by a firmly held religious beliefs.
It would act to overturn the executive order signed in 2014 by President Obama prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination among federal contractors.

VETERAN AND MILITARY CONCERN- The Washington Blade reported today: There’s more. Advocates have said they fear Trump could roll back administrative changes, such as those benefiting LGBT veterans or status of forces agreements allowing service members to bring a same-sex spouse with them overseas, or halting movement on lifting the ban on openly transgender service.

OUR QUESTION TO YOU - How are we and millions of gay people supposed to accept that? We are in shock and horrified that gay people are now facing this hatred. 

BOTTOM LINE: We can accept the presidency and deal with it. What we cannot accept is the hatred, intolerance and purposeful assault on me and the LGBT community in the U.S.

LETTER FROM THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE:
Source: http://www.joemygod.com/2016/11/09/nom-issues-plan-work-donald-trump-inevitable-reversal-sex-marriage-ruling/   
NOM Issues Plan To Work With Donald Trump For “Inevitable Reversal” Of Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
NOM's website said:
Here is our plan:
We will work with President Trump to nominate conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, individuals who will adhere to the words and meaning of the constitution. Such justices will inevitably reverse the anti-constitutional ruling of the Supreme Court imposing same-sex ‘marriage’ on the nation in the Obergefell decision, because that decision lacked any basis in the constitution.
We will work with President Trump to rescind the illegal, over-reaching executive orders and directives issued by President Obama, including his dangerous “gender identity” directives, attempting to redefine gender just as he sought to redefine marriage.
We will work with President Trump to reverse policies of the Obama administration that seek to coerce other countries into accepting same-sex ‘marriage’ as a condition of receiving US assistance and aid. It is fundamentally wrong for a president to become a lobbyist for the LGBT agenda, and we are confident that will end in the Trump administration.
We will work with President Trump and Congress to pass the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which Mr. Trump supports. FADA is critical legislation to protect people who believe in marriage from being targeted by the government for persecution.
This is a bright and exciting time for NOM, and we are committed to taking full advantage of the opportunity we have. Our voice and our views matter to the incoming administration, and that means your voice and views matter.
To make sure that we can influence the policy debates that are coming, we need to step-up our communications. The first step is to grow our presence on social media. Please act today to follow NOM and me on Twitter, and to like us on Facebook.
It only takes a few seconds to follow us on Twitter and to like us on Facebook, but doing so will help us increase our ability to educate and mobilize our supporters.
We’re excited about the future, and we are looking forward to work with the Trump administration to restore marriage, uphold gender, protect religious liberty and promote families.

Science Behavior News: Dogs ignore bad advice that humans follow

 We  love Science- and when I (Rob) give lectures about how pets, like dogs, are intelligent and can

Tyler graduated from obedience school in 2013

communicate with people and other animals in the physical world, I explain the science of behaviors, learning, and even how it has been proven that they have the same emotional responses that humans have. Now  a recent scientific study at Yale University with dogs and then children tested their ability to problem solve faster. Dogs won. 

  It's really not a surprise to us, since we see how smart our dogs are figuring out puzzles and how do to things. Here's the info about the study and a brief video explaining the experiment.

************************************** 

Dogs ignore bad advice that humans follow

By Bill Hathaway

    Dogs are less likely to follow bad advice than children, according to a new study conducted at the Canine Cognition Center at Yale. In contrast to children, dogs only copy a human’s actions if they are absolutely necessary for solving the task at hand, according to a recently published study appearing in the journal Developmental Science.
  “Humans often fall prey to the bad advice of others” said Laurie Santos, director of the Canine Cognition Center at Yale and senior author on this study. “Children tend to copy all of a teacher’s actions, regardless of whether they are necessary or not.”
  For instance, in one study previously conducted at Yale by Dr. Frank Keil and colleagues, children watched a demonstrator solve a puzzle by first moving a lever and then lifting a lid to pull out a prize.   
   Although the lever was completely irrelevant for solving the puzzle, children repeatedly performed both actions, even when they were in a race to solve the puzzle as quickly as possible.
The new study shows that dogs will leave out irrelevant actions when there is a more efficient way to solve a problem, even when a human repeatedly demonstrates these actions.
FULL Article: http://news.yale.edu/2016/09/26/dogs-ignore-bad-advice-humans-follow
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/QyhqbVkqQaw

A great Local Ghost Story Collection: Vineyard Ghosts

I recently enjoyed reading a great book written about many local haunts in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.  Our friend Lynn  surprised us with a copy of "Vineyard Supernatural" by Holly Mascott Nadler and it's a must-read. 
  It's wonderfully written and very engaging, and will take you to many places on Martha's Vineyard where hauntings occur often. The author is a resident who also owns a bookstore and does ghost walks, so she's very familiar with the local "haunts." 
  Whether you've been to the island or not, there are so many ghosts there, that you'll find this fascinating. 

ABOUT THE BOOK: Holly Nadler, the ghost lady of Martha's Vineyard, won lots of attention for her collections of ghostly accounts on the island in Haunted Island. Now, in her second volume, Nadler brings her sassiness and spunk to investigating and delivering the dirt on even more eerie happenings on an island that is home to the rich, famous ― and, yes, the otherworldly. In fact, she says, Martha's Vineyard is America's most haunted island.
  Available on Amazon.com 

***NEW VIDEO***Trump-Pence, Trump-Pence - Randy Rainbow Song Parody

It's another Randy Rainbow masterpiece for election day, 2016;

Trump-Pence, Trump-Pence - Randy Rainbow Song Parody

As we head into Election Week, I send you off to bed with this - the song most requested by all of you since July. God Bless America, and God Bless Julie Andrews. xo - Randy 

https://youtu.be/G19s4OmvFw8

Valiant Comics Faith #5 Features Hillary Clinton / Like Spiderman Featured President Obama

Faith #5 November 2, 2016

Being a HUGE comic book fan, and a liberal guy, I was really excited to get the number 5 issue of a Valiant Comics new super heroine called "Faith" that includes Hillary Clinton on the cover. In 2009, Marvel Comics put President Obama on the cover.


ARTICLE: Valiant To Send Out Double The Hillary Clinton Numbers Of Faith #5 To Comic Shops
Source: http://www.bleedingcool.com/

On November 2nd, just days before Election Day 2016, legendary writer Louise Simonson and Harvey Award-nominated artist Pere Perez present history in the making with a presidential milestone like no other! Faith Herbert, star of the highest selling independent superhero debut of 2016, is a shining beacon of optimism in a challenging world. Her day job as a blogger and journalist is about to bring Faith face to face with Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton…but its her daring alter ego as Los Angeles’ leading superhero that will have to save the day when a new threat emerges to imperil a pivotal moment that has all of America watching! 

REMEMBER WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA APPEARED ON THE COVER OF SPIDERMAN? 

Amazing Spiderman #583 in 2009

When newly-elected President Obama appeared on the cover of Spider-Man I saw it as an opportunity to sell to people who weren’t predisposed to buying comics. It worked well. We sold 3000 copies of the book and frankly, made a killing doing it. Now Valiant is jumping on that bandwagon but lo, not so fast. Obama appeared AFTER the election. The book had a street date that fell right after the inauguration. In short, ASM was jumping into a piece of history and regardless of political stance, Spidey was interacting with the President of the United States, not a candidate for the job in a very contentious election season.

"Spidey Meets the President!" is a backup feature in The Amazing Spider-Man #583, written by Zeb Wells, with art by Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata. The cover of the issue shows Barack Obama giving a thumbs-up to Spider-Man. The comic book was published the week before Obama's inauguration in January 2009.