Regarding this year's Fantasy Fest theme (Villains, Vixens and Vampires): What's so fantastical about a vixen?
The official definitions of vixen include a female fox, a virago (or quarrelsome woman) and a woman who takes advantage of men.
Then there's Vixen, one of Santa's reindeer, and Vixen, a superhero in DC Comics, and "The Vixen," a 1916 film starring Theda Bara, and "Vixen!," a 1968 soft-porn movie by Russ Meyer, also Vixen the all-female rock-'n-roll band from the 1980s and let's not overlook the Minnesota Vixens, an American women's football team, and the Melbourne Vixens, an Australian women's netball team.
From the Old English fyxen, female of fox.
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To be vulpine is to be foxy, but "foxy" eventually came to mean sly, crafty, sharp; also, according to Funk & Wagnalls, "discolored or stained from decay; improperly fermented, soured; defective from age and damp; also denoting a flavor once found in wine from American grapes."
Today, however, foxy means just one thing: Sexy.
Go figure.
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The National Academy of Sciences has released a report that, during the years of the Great Depression, longevity in American men and women increased by 6 percent.
The only life-expectancy statistic to rise in times of prosperity in America is suicides.
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This just in from the Crabby Hermit at michael.welber@gmail.com:
The minimum temperature at the Key West International Airport last Wednesday, Oct. 7, was 84° Fahrenheit. This surpassed the previous record high minimum temperature of 82° for that date, which occurred in 1965.
It also matched the all-time record high minimum for the month of October, recorded on the previous two days, Oct. 5 and 6.
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With all this talk in the health-care debate about "death panels," it might serve to look at which nations have the highest number of centenarians and which the lowest (on the assumption that the lowest would most likely have "death panels").
France has 30 people over the age of 100 per 100,000 people.
Japan has 28 people over 100 per 100,000 people.
Canada has 15 people over 100 per 100,000 people.
Australia has 15 people over 100 per 100,000 people.
Britain has 15 people over 100 per 100,000 people.
(No "death panels" there!)
America has 10 people over 100 per 100,000 people.
(Oops!)
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The Backstreet Boys -- whose tallest boy, Nick Carter, is a regular visitor at Casa Antigua in Key West -- are getting mixed reviews for their comeback album, "This Is Us."
Elysa Gardner writesin USA Today: "Certainly no one expects, or wants, to listen to the Backstreet Boys dissect the conflict in Afghanistan. But to hear them crooning about a 'shorty' who 'don't know I'm a celebrity' is, at this stage in their lives and careers, unsettling."
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Rob Busweiler of the Free Press in Marathon reports that the renowned (and resonant) restaurant El Siboney on Catherine Street in Key West will soon have an outreach enterprise in the Middle Keys.
Owners of El Siboney, the de la Cruz family, intend to open a Cuban eatery in the former Village Café (which was Italian and American) in Gulfside Village. Plan is to open in November.
The de la Cruz family purchased El Siboney in 2004. The restaurant first opened in 1984.
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Capt. Finbar Gitelman, Admiral and First Sea Lord of the Conch Republic Navy, has issued a call to arms to help the islanders of Upolu in American Samoa.
The village of Lalomanu was destroyed by a tsunami at the end of September, just four months after the tribal elder, or matai, joined the Conch Republic Navy on behalf of his island.
The matai survived but three children who helped entertain the Conch Republic envoy -- a vacationing Eric Holowacz, carrying papers from the navy's rear admiral, Reef Perkins -- were swept away and lost.
Finbar plans a fundraiser aboard his schooner, Wolf, in the near future. Meanwhile donations may be made to the American Red Cross.
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Florida Keys Green Living & Energy Education (GLEE) has eight new board members, bringing the total number of GLEE directors to 11. Outgoing board members are Diane Marshall, TJ Patterson, Shirley Gun and Jedde Regante. Continuing board members are GLEE president Alison Higgins, vice-president Jody Smith Williams and secretary Karen Beal.
Here are the new board members:
Leda Dunmire, a non-profit marine conservationist for 12 years, currently a senior associate with the Pew Environment Group's campaign to end overfishing in the southeast.
Sara Hamilton, environmental affairs coordinator at Florida Keys Electric Cooperative.
Steve Grasley, founder of Solaria Design & Consulting Co. after 20 years of corporate experience at P&G, GE and Honeywell.
Val Candy, formerly policy adviser for Her Majesty's Government in London, England, in the Depts. of Trade and Industry, Small Firms and Tourism, Foreign Affairs, Education and Skills, and an original member of the City of Key West's climate action team and business focus group.
Christi Allen, owner of Pilates in Paradise in Key Largo, regional publisher for the EcoGuide Florida Keys, host of "Living Fit" and chair of the Upper Keys chapter of GLEE.
Nicole Medina, formerly of the Lodging Association, now the Coca Cola company's local Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Champion.
Jeff Ruberg, a LEED accredited professional working with SALT Service, Inc. on building efficiency and renewable energy potential.
Kathy Kirkland, past board member of the Florida Keys Audubon Society and an avid birder, now building an off-grid home in the Florida Panhandle on 140 acres of wildlife preserve.
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The Beatles Tribute Cruise sets sails from Fort Lauderdale on March 28, 2010, aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas for six nights.
Joining this cruise will be May Pang, John Lennon's former girlfriend and the author of "Loving John" and "Instamatic Karma;" Nancy Lee Andrews, Ringo Starr's former fiancée and the author of "A Dose of Rock and Roll;" Shannon, the "world's greatest" Beatles artist; Paul Saltzman, author of "The Beatles in Rishikesh;" and Jorie Gracen, Paul McCartney's photographer for 20 years and the author of "I Saw Him Standing There."
Royal Caribbean has lowered its regular prices by almost 30 percent for the Beatles tribute cruisers until Oct. 15. A deposit of $300 per person is required to reserve a cabin, the balance to be paid by Jan. 4 next year. The "Beatles Tribute Cruise" website is the only place to register for this cruise.
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The wealthiest person in the mutual fund business is Abigail Johnson, 47, daughter of the chairman of Fidelity Investments. Worth $11.5 billion dollars, she beats out the net worth of her dad, Edward Johnson III, by half a billion dollars.
Abigail is the 17th wealthiest person in the nation.
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Global Warming Update:
NewScientist news report, summer 2009: "Australia's worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast in a cloud of red Outback grit. Dust clouds blowing east from Australia's dry interior, parched by the worst drought on record, covered dozens of towns and cities in two states as strong winds snatched up tons of topsoil, threw it high into the sky and carried it hundreds of miles."
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Wesley House Family Services holds its annual meeting on Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Eco-Discovery Center at Truman Waterfront. Community Support Awards will be given to Pat and Kirsti Madeo of Prudential Knight Gardner Realty; the BottleCap Lounge; Ocean Reef Foundation; Details Landscaping; BB & T; Nancy D'Amato of Clear Channel; Jeff Shimer of Old Town Electric; Cliff Taylor of the Radisson and Peter Arnow of Spectrum Imaging.
The public is invited but must RSVP to rsvp@wesley house.org or 309-5009.
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Study after study shows that owning a pet is good for the health, especially in seniors. Pets offer unconditional love, help fight loneliness and ease the loss of a loved one.
Florida Keys SPCA has received a grant for a 6/60 program wherein anyone 60 years of age or older can adopt a dog or cat aged 6 years or older, free of charge.
These cats and dogs have been spayed or neutered and are up-to-date with their shots.
The shelter is at 5230 College Road on Stock Island, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Call 294-4857 for more info.
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Howlite, first discovered in Tick Canyon, Calif. by Canadian chemist Henry How, is a porous mineral often dyed blue to imitate turquoise but sold in its natural state as "white buffalo turquoise."
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The American bison, commonly known as buffalo, numbered 60 million when the white man first arrived in their breeding grounds. Fifty years later, 50 million buffalo had been exterminated, largely to deprive Native Americans of their primary provision.
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It is said that Native Americans called black cavalry troops "buffalo soldiers" because of their dark curly hair, which resembled a buffalo's coat.
Buffalo Soldiers were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army, formed on Sept. 21, 1866 as the 10th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth to fight Native American tribes.
Mark Matthews, last of the Buffalo Soldiers, died at the age of 111 in 2005 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Quote for the Week:
There's a place for us
A time and a place for us
Hold my hand and we're halfway there
Just hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow ... some day ... somewhere
-- Stephen Sondheim
"West Side Story" (1957)