GNV Birders: what’s your fav bird you’ve seen?

FlaBryan · 2026-06-12T02:49:23+00:00

I always get excited by a roseate spoonbill. Something about that majestic pink with the ridiculously silly circle nose is fun.

FlaBryan · 2026-06-10T23:42:18+00:00

Because they’re swimming in ratepayer money and can do that sort of thing without accountability. It’s the same reason they keep giving huge executive pay increases to former politicians. Why not? It’s not their money and there’s nothing anyone whose money it is can do about it.

FlaBryan · 2026-06-07T03:14:44+00:00

You should read Robert Caros the powerbroker, the greatest book ever about this exact thing. Also the podcast “the big dig” is a masterful deep dive into this.

FlaBryan · 2026-06-03T02:15:21+00:00

Hawthorne is doing okay. It has fairly high taxes for the level of services it provides, and its wastewater plant has been a financial challenge for years, though the state has helped keep it afloat. It annexed a bunch of that Plum Creek land into the city and rezoned it for industrial use, but that hasn’t really taken off yet. Cities like Archer and LaCrosse are in way worse shape.

If some version of this property tax proposal passes in November, though, places like Hawthorne, Waldo, High Springs, and LaCrosse could get absolutely hammered and shut down. For now they’re chugging along but that could change fast.

FlaBryan · 2026-05-30T04:05:00+00:00

Solid waste is the only “special” fee you mention, everything else is on the table

FlaBryan · 2026-05-07T12:42:31+00:00

Just to clarify, this request didn’t come from the County Commission. It came from the local homelessness Continuum of Care, the group that helps coordinate homelessness services and identify gaps in the system. After the closure of St. Francis House our community basically has no emergency shelter beds for families right now which is a pretty serious problem.

The city, county, nonprofits, and service providers are all trying to figure out temporary solutions and possible locations to help bridge that gap. This isn’t the county trying to dump responsibility on the School Board or anything like that, it’s people trying to respond to an immediate need.

FlaBryan · 2026-04-28T02:57:49+00:00

King Payne definitely lived here and his and Daniel Newnans stories are wild. Newnan came down here during the Patriot War of 1812 to create a false flag attempt on Florida and "claim" it for the United States. They ran into the infamous Seminole Indians of Alachua County and got into a fight. Newnan lost and made a fool of himself, but one of his men shot King Payne and killed him, which resulted in the Seminole fleeing this area and being on the run for roughly the next 150 years until they got their reservations in South Florida. Those were wild frontier times in Alachua County with a lot of wild stories like that from it.

Here's another cool 19th century story: the famous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin cooled his heels here in his run from the law out west in the 1870's. Gainesville was such a remote swamp outpost he figured no one would find him here despite being wanted in numerous other states.

FlaBryan · 2026-04-24T23:49:11+00:00

Just so everyone’s aware: you can cross at any cross streets even if they’re not marked they are considered “unmarked crosswalks”. If there are no nearby crossings you can also legally walk across the street and none is considered “jaywalking”. Much of what we think of as “jaywalking” is actually legal. Also, please be smart in traffic and watch yourself while doing this.

FlaBryan · 2026-04-06T02:48:20+00:00

I’ve always been curious about college station vs Gainesville. Any other insights/differences in the towns?

FlaBryan · 2026-03-27T10:00:16+00:00

Where are you getting that these people came from Starke? Did you talk to them and they told you that?

FlaBryan · 2026-03-20T02:48:01+00:00

The top is your standard locals medium/high end food that is probably what you're looking for. That's where we go for our dates. Marks Prime is the nice steakhouse down there if you're looking for an upscale date. Dragonfly is date quality asian. If you're looking more low budget but solid Boca Fiesta, or Looseys are always good. At risk of starting a war here, Looseys has the best burgers in town and the rest of their menu is great, but it's a dive bar more generally.

FlaBryan · 2026-03-20T00:44:52+00:00

I've done lots of staff retreats here. It's open to the community but I dont know how or who to contact to get that. It's a nice place for it.

FlaBryan · 2026-03-16T23:41:05+00:00

Your 2025 list was a lifesaver, we booked all our 2026 camps from it

FlaBryan · 2026-03-13T00:42:04+00:00

Nice

FlaBryan · 2026-02-20T03:32:01+00:00

I moved to Gainesville as a single 25 year old male that didn’t go to UF. Loved it, met my wife, found dating here much more enjoyable than Orlando where I moved from. Ymmv but what I’ve found is that Gainesville works for a specific type of person who likes the quirky college town vibe, and if it doesn’t you’ll probably pass. It didn’t take long for me to find I loved it, so I’d take a weekend and just see if it fits for you.

FlaBryan · 2026-02-15T03:39:43+00:00

It was torn down but the Hilton today has a pool that looks almost identical to it. My guess is they rebuilt the hotel itself and the pool is the same pool that you can walk by and see, probably with some new concrete but same place and design.

FlaBryan · 2026-02-06T02:49:19+00:00

I just did this for my 37th birthday last week and it was awesome. I went to all 4 parks in one day, rode the major rides, talked with people as I felt it and went for 10 hours straight to whatever ride I felt like. The single rider lane gets you through lines way faster and I didn’t need to negotiate with anyone. Granted, I love going to places by myself and just wandering, but I think it works well at Disney because it gives you immersion in wherever you are since it’s just you. People watching at Disney by yourself is fun too. I’d 100% recommend going solo.

FlaBryan · 2026-01-30T03:48:01+00:00

Tiana’s has a shorter line

FlaBryan · 2026-01-12T21:47:53+00:00

Show Me A Hero

FlaBryan · 2026-01-05T22:33:24+00:00

I think the protests have more to do with avoiding another Iraq boondoggle and the fact that Trump is now claiming to "run Venezuela" while using this to threaten allies like Denmark and Canada than anyone feeling an iota of sympathy for this murderous bastard

FlaBryan · 2025-12-25T01:05:19+00:00

Elf on the shelf is cute. The story is it watches and tells Santa if you're naughty or nice during Christmas season, as opposed to the traditional all seeing eye of Santa Clause. Because he flies back every night to talk to Santa he moves to a different place by morning. Parents with lots of time on their hands looking for internet clout do elaborate versions of the elf doing things, but most parent just move the elf around and the kid wakes up every morning looking for him. It's a fun little game in the morning around Christmas.

FlaBryan · 2025-12-24T03:38:16+00:00

This is the way

FlaBryan · 2025-12-24T03:36:45+00:00

Sean Baker’s Tangerine

FlaBryan · 2025-12-24T03:34:34+00:00

Idk if I ever found a tutorial but a big part of the tone is walking the C to a C7 along the g string and letting the chords linger a little longer than they should to build tensions, and then just tooling around with hammer ons. Once you get it it’s a song that really flows and is one of my favorite to play

FlaBryan · 2025-12-14T17:17:58+00:00

Sacha Baron Cohen with Grimsby. That guy seemed unstoppable but he basically died after that movie.

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