To avoid Alzheimer's disease, exercise the brain with thinking games such as chess and the board game Axis and Allies. As shown via brain scans, certain poisons such as dye are very bad for the brain cells. Alzheimer's disease is mainly caused by the death of brain cells slowly as we age, but faster if we ingest certain poisons such as artificial coloring or taste. The worst of all is dye, as in artificial color. Dye kills brain cells as was indicated in a TV show on the brain. Why our uncaring government has not passed a law prohibiting artificial color in processed foods and meat or red cherries used in ice cream and drinks, I can only guess. Dye in foods is big business although the only reason for using it is looks; a completely stupid reason. ...more

March 27, 2009

Up until 2009, Lake Placid has enjoyed clean, unpolluted air as there are no smokestack industries that I am aware of. This has attracted senior mobile home parks as well as senior assisted living facilities to the area. But now the Highlands County Commissioners have decided to change that by giving permission for an ethanol producing plant to locate near U.S. 27 and S.R. 70 just south of Lake Placid (about six and a half miles.) This is one of the worst polluting industries in the country. Even if they agree to install some anti-pollution measures, as everyone knows it would be cheaper for them to pay fines and-or bribe authorities than it would be to install very expensive, adequate anti-pollution equipment. ...more

January 3, 2009

My previous article that Ford had stupid designers because only an idiot would use plastic intake manifolds in cars, may have been in error as I now believe that Ford and others such as GM deliberately design parts of their cars to require very expensive repairs, in order to rip off the car owners. ...more

November 21, 2008

The most idiotic nonsense design by any automobile manufacturer was made by Ford and probably others was to change the material of the intake manifold, I think it's called, and which I refer to as the water jacket on top of the engine, next to and under the injectors, to plastic. This water jacket replacement recently cost me over $1,000 to replace in my Crown Victoria because plastic cannot be welded good enough to withstand the high temperatures from the engine that the liquid carries. Metal can be welded. Ford, in their stupidity, had changed this important engine part from metal, which lasts over 20 years, to a short-life plastic. When this liquid jacket-manifold burst on my 1,500-mile trip on a Saturday, my trip was completely ruined as no one works on weekends in the Carolinas and no banks are open, and no small independent mechanics that you might find will accept credit cards. ...more

November 14, 2008

Increase in the homestead exemption will only help the rich who own $100,000-plus homes. Those who rent will lose. The retirees on low fixed incomes, most of whom live in retirement mobile home parks on rented lots, will lose greatly. They will end up paying double property taxes on their addition rooms, their porches and sheds even though they do not own the land. ...more

February 7, 2008

In the business section of a recent paper, it stated that Toyota might overtake Ford as number two auto seller. Is the auto public crazy or just plain stupid? I own four older Fords, all in excellent condition, with very few repairs and low maintenance; they just keep running. I owned a Toyota lemon once, a 1984 disaster, which was 6 years old at the time, and the starters kept jamming and burning out. Mechanics diagnosed an engine flywheel problem requiring a new engine. Thus I gave this useless car away. ...more

January 8, 2008

Referring to the dozens of traffic lights in Sebring-Avon Park U.S. 27 area and north on U.S. 27, the use of sensors to prevent the running of red lights will create other problems: mainly motorists like myself will either continually slam on brakes on yellow to avoid a possible ticket or alternately drive at 20 mph in order to stop within the three seconds allowed on yellow before the red light. Almost all U.S. 27 lights change to yellow when I approach within 140 yards of them and three seconds is not enough time to make it through the red. As a retiree on a fixed pension, I cannot just work overtime to pay any traffic fine. A traffic ticket to seniors means no food for weeks to pay any fines or the loss of the car, and so no means to get food in. My solution is to drive very slow, in order to stop within three seconds, but unfortunately I must drive in the fast outside lanes to avoid transport trucks (most of them cannot stop and do not stop for these red lights) from crashing into my car at the rear, and most trucks travel the inside lanes. ...more

December 2, 2007