Our Generation Florida

By Phyllis W. Zeno

Traditionally, a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise takes you to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and  Jamaica. If you’re sailing from Tampa, New Orleans or Galveston, it is highly likely that you’ll visit the Western Caribbean.

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By Sandra Friend

Since 1923, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm has entertained visitors who want to see vast masses of Florida’s most fearsome predator. More than 1,500 alligators inhabit the park. In my childhood, I was awed by the fearless alligator wrestlers who flipped over the massive squirming reptiles, showing their bravado by sticking a head or an arm in the alligator’s mouth. Another show sent immature alligators down an enormous slide. I rode on the back of a Galapagos tortoise. Those days are now done. Concern for species preservation transformed the Alligator Farm into a zoological park, focused on alligators and crocodiles.

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By Diana Orem

As both a graduate student and an instructor at the University of Central Florida, I have found myself in a unique position to observe firsthand the demographic trends in college students over the past several years. While sometimes I find myself among the students here, and other times I find myself teaching them, there is no doubt that the number of non-traditional students has increased since I began here in 2000. What’s more, this trend is not unique to Florida, a state known for having a larger number of older Americans in the general population, but is mirrored across the nation.

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By Phyllis W. Zeno

Have you ever dreamed about being cast away on a desert island, but found yourself wading through St. Thomas, along with 20,000 passengers from nine other ships? In that case, “Out Islands” are your dream come true!

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By Sandra Friend

By the 1850s, David Levy Yulee had made quite a name for himself. Born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, he was brought to the Florida Territory in 1817 by his family and attended law school in St. Augustine. After attending Florida’s first constitutional convention, he was elected a territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress, and became Florida’s first U.S. Senator when Florida achieved statehood in 1845.

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By Diana Orem

Many stereotypes have plagued members of the baby boomer generation – for instance, they have been called selfish, materialistic, and shortsighted. Despite these harsh labels, for those born between 1946 and 1964, life has been pretty good. Currently, members of this generation can count themselves as the wealthiest group in the U.S., and for that matter, around the globe. However, a recent survey conducted as part of the Pew Social & Demographic Trends Project suggests that the boomer generation is actually the unhappiest generation in the U.S. today.

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By Phyllis W. Zeno
Grand Turk/Turks and Caicos
In a mad scramble to add a new port-of-call to the Eastern itinerary, a number of cruise lines are including a visit to Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are neither in the Caribbean nor the Bahamas, but in the Atlantic, 575 miles off of Miami. Read More »

By Sandra Friend

Since it lies offshore between Tea Table Key and Lower Matacumbe in Islamorada, few motorists driving US 1 to Key West give it a second thought. But for those who plan ahead, a morning at Indian Key can be a fascinating ramble on a lonesome 11-acre island where you might be the only visitor. Read More »

By Ginny Stibolt

Have you ever ended up with a pot bound plant?  If so, it probably didn’t live very long.  How can you increase the chances of survival? Read More »

By Diana Orem
Consider the following hypothetical scenario. If you were given a short list of health guidelines and were told that you would live longer if you followed those guidelines, would you follow them?  Assuming that you would want to live a few extra years, your answer is probably a resounding yes.  However, research on compliance with medical advice and lifestyle changes has repeatedly shown that by and large, people often do not follow important health-related advice. Read More »

By Jason Gaschel

QUESTION: My air conditioner is not cold enough at idle sitting at a stop sign, but gets colder when I get on the freeway. Is this a sign that my compressor is weak? Read More »

By Barbara Lumpkin
Here we are at the midway point of 2008 with most state legislatures in recess and the U.S. Congress scheduled to be in session only three more weeks until the August recess. Read More »

By Jason Daschel
Question: I just had my disc brakes replaced and they are now squealing. My mechanic says this is normal, why did I have to pay for normal squealing disc brakes?

Jason’s Reply: Brake squealing is probably the most common complaint customers have about disc brakes. This can be caused by several things. The first step in determining the cause of the squeak is the customer interview. The more information given to the service center about the vehicle before any work is performed, the better the technician can repair the vehicle. Since this question seems to indicate squeak after the repair, I will assume that the vehicle did not have any brake squeak before the service work was performed. These noises are usually caused by high frequency rattling or vibration of the brake pads.

There are methods of quieting this noise. Using OEM parts that the manufacturer designs for the vehicle when new should give like new results when installed on the vehicle, given the rest of the brake system is in good condition. Using aftermarket pads with a higher metallic content will often produce more noise. Many times these pads are “lifetime” guarantee pads. If the pads are really resistant to wear, the trade off is extra noise when stopping. The high metal content can also be really hard on the brake rotors. Along with the noise, these pads can wear more metal from the rotor surface, and generate more heat. This vibration can lead to brake pulsation, felt as a shake in the steering wheel when stopping.

If the pads installed are of good, like original equipment quality, then the problem could lie in the installation work. Many vehicles use anti-rattle clips that keep the pads in the caliper under tension so they can’t vibrate. If the technician does not reinstall, replace or clean them properly, then the vibration could lead to squeak. Some vehicles use shims between the pad backing plate and the caliper piston to achieve the same reduction in vibration.

An easy way to reduce squeak is to apply an anti-noise spray to the metal backing plate of the pad. This is the metal part of the pad that the lining is bonded or riveted to. This spray is often sold as “disc brake quiet” spray. Just remember that this is a glue spray applied to the pads to stick them to the caliper. This helps eliminate any pad movement that could lead to squeak. Spraying them directly on the brake rotors is not recommended! Always read installation instructions.

By Diana Orem
If you count yourself as a member of the boomer generation, you have a lot to look forward to as you age. According to a 2008 report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging, several key indicators of well-being for aging Americans have been on the rise in recent years. In terms of socioeconomic status, there has been an increase in the proportion of older people in the high-income group and a decrease in the proportion of older people living in poverty. Educational attainment is higher among the aging boomer generation compared to their parents’ generation. Life expectancy is also on the rise, recently hitting a record high of 78.1, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Overall, these statistics indicate that older Americans are living longer and enjoying greater prosperity than any previous generation. But, can this generation expect to enjoy their projected prosperity with a partner, or are boomers increasingly likely to end up alone? Read More »

By Sandra Friend
With summer comes thoughts of cool water and cool breezes and just plain staying cool, which you might think would nix most outdoor activities in Florida, but you’d be wrong. There’s a cool corner of our state that feels a lot like Appalachia, with high bluffs overlooking swift rivers and shallow waters riffling over rock rapids. It’s Blackwater River State Forest, more than 190,000 acres of forests, marshes, and waterways between the Alabama state line and the towns outlying Pensacola, and a prime outdoor destination for our Florida summers. Read More »

By Phyllis W. Zeno
For decades, a seven-day cruise from Florida to the Eastern Caribbean meant a day in Nassau, a day in St. Thomas, and an overnight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A few cruise lines still offer that itinerary, but with the addition of private Out Islands (those islands in the Bahamas, leased by the cruise lines for the private use of their passengers), the majority of the cruise ships now visit an Out Island, St. Thomas, St. Maarten,  and another new discovery, Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Read More »

By Ginny Stibolt

What would the Florida landscape be without our palm trees?  Oh those gracefully curved trunks and topknots of fronds are mainstays of any tropical setting.  Palms don’t develop wood like other trees, which produce a new layer of wood each year to form annual rings.  Palm trunks are more like a grass with bundles of woody tissue throughout.  This arrangement is quite flexible making palms an excellent choice for wind-tolerant landscaping. Read More »

By Sandra Friend
In 1936, Winter Haven resident Dick Pope knew he had a gold mine when visiting servicemen showed up to see this new-fangled idea called water skiing that his wife, Julie, choreographed and his kids and their friends put on. Pope mined that vein for all it was worth, creating the first Central Florida theme park, Cypress Gardens. Read More »

By Diana Orem
Picture this: You have finally retired and settled in the Central Florida area. You are casually dressed for a summer day at Disney World. As you watch children rush by with their parents trailing behind them, you reminisce about the first time you brought your own family to the Magic Kingdom. Oh, and did I mention that you are working here? That’s right, you are a full-time 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. employee and you are working for the same big mouse that your grandkids love almost as much as Santa Claus. If you think this sounds farfetched, keep reading. Read More »

By Ginny Stibolt

The “environment” is not something that is separate from us. We are all participants in it. Our actions, life styles, consumption are all part of the mix. We won’t make much progress if we just talk about it or if we fund yet another study about the environment. No matter how much we pay for it, talk is cheap. There are many lifestyle changes that we may make, which will reduce our footprints on Florida, but one of the most important is to create some habitat as part of our landscaping. Read More »