Local

Residents who paid half a million or more for new hi-rise condos in Downtown Fort Lauderdale are complaining about the noise. Now I’m sure these people knew what they were getting into when they bought those condos. They wanted to live downtown for the night life and now they’re complaining about the same night life they were attracted to in the first place. Who was there first? They shouldn’t have moved there if they want quiet.

Snow in South Florida!

Sun-Sentinel: Florida was 31st out of the 50 states in a ranking of how well they are preparing young people to achieve success in their academics and careers, according to a new assessment released Wednesday by Education Week magazine.

We can thank the FCATs for this. The only thing our schools teach the kids is how to take a test. The entire year is focused on raising their FCAT scores so the school will get a higher rating and more funding.

On October 24 last year, Hurricane Wilma hit us. We were without electricity for 10 days, many roofs were damaged, and we lost a lot of trees. Several roofs have already been replaced, but we’re still waiting for the rest of them. Thankfully we had no major storms this season.

We were lucky this time. We got some rain and very little wind. There was no damage, no flooding, and we never lost electricity. Only one small tree with very shallow roots fell down.

Here we go again!

Via Sun Sentinel: “South Florida motorists who endured long lines at gasoline pumps after Hurricane Wilma last year might get some relief if another big storm hits this year — but power outages and panic buying could still cause shortages.

That’s why I bought a Prius.

The storm seems to be fizzling out and may not remain a tropical storm for much longer. It will probably bring us lots of rain this weekend but not much more.

There’s trouble brewing in the tropics and it may affect us in a few days. I just hope it won’t delay my flight to WWDC Sunday.

The Sun-Sentinel reports that Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans that he had undergone surgery.

The Cuban leader said he had suffered intestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to the letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga.

Castro said that extreme stress “had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure.”

Castro said he had undergone surgery and was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his brother and successor Raul, the defense minister.
He said the move was of “a provisional character.”

He said celebrations scheduled for his 80th birthday on Aug. 13 were to be postponed until Dec. 2, the 50th anniversary of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Castro said he would also temporarily relinquish his duties as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba to Raul, who turned 75 in June and who has been taking on a more public profile in recent weeks.

In power since the triumph of the Cuban revolution on Jan. 1, 1959, Castro is the world’s longest ruling head of government. Only Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, crowned in 1952, has been head of state longer.