Sunday, May 28, 2017

Ft. Kissimmee Cemetery

Fort Kissimmee Cemetery is one of the oldest Florida Heartland pioneer cemeteries located on the eastern boundary of the Avon Park Bombing Range in Highlands County, Florida, along the Kissimmee River. The cemetery is approximately 20 miles (32 km) east of Avon Park, Florida. The cemetery was started from a community of cattle farmers located along the Kissimmee River near the old Fort Kissimmee site used during the Seminole Indian Wars. Kissimmee River is an Indian name meaning "long water", given to the river by the Creek Indians. Once the Indians were driven further south, the Florida Heartland area was then opened up to pioneer settlers. Getting to Heartland was not easy during the mid-19th century since there was not many well traveled roads except for military roads connecting the different forts. Much of the supplies were brought to these settlers by steamboats and used to haul out their produce.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Florida's Great Freeze

On December 29th, 1894 the course of Florida’s history changed forever. A massive cold front moved through the state. Temperatures logged in Orlando reached an all-time low of 18F and a frosty 24F in West Palm Beach. The bitter cold turned the oranges black on the trees and destroyed most of the crop for the year.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Creativity vs. Data

Creativity allows us to take the data we have, question our starting assumptions about what the data is telling us, and experiment until we make something useful out of it.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

DeFunding the banks

This is the perfect time to turn up the pressure on the banks, in particular, for their role in financing the climate crisis. Summer is also the season when most big companies hold their shareholder meetings. And the global divestment movement is putting the screws to companies large and small in demanding that they align their investments with the future of life on earth.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

We've been had by the mass media

The function of the mass media is not to inform the American public of important things that are happening in their country, it is to turn attention away from the important things that are happening in their country and to keep them sleepy and compliant.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Our Connection to Nature

This is sad: Americans encounter a number of society-wide forces disconnecting them from nature. Americans face competing priorities for their time, attention and money. They live in places that often have more concrete than green space. It is increasingly normal to spend little time outside. More than half of adults report spending five hours or less in nature each week, and most are satisfied with this minimal amount of time. Many parents and older adults lament that children today are growing up with limited opportunities to experience nature. Parents say their 8 -to 12-year-old children spend three times as many hours with computers and TVs each week as they do playing outside.