Metro Orlando Headlines

[spenser1058]

A good look at why I don't think Mayor Buddy's "creative village" as currently planned is going to work:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/technology/...0,4549512.story

[bulldogger]

The same people behind Orlando's BarCamp meet up regularly downtown (Crooked Bayou) for Florida Creatives. I wish I had known about BarCamp last year. I heard about it after I already booked accommodations and flights for PodCamp Boston which occurred a month after BarCamp here. Both were of the unconference type. Actually, I didn't find out about BarCamp Orlando until the day it was happening. I would have liked to attend.

OK. Now that I look it up online, I just missed this year's event, too. Oh well, I probably had more fun covering the Florida Film Festival anyway.

Some of you may find this short video interesting...

http://rockstartup.com/episodes/episode_34.html

[liberatr]

I like how you referred to us as...

The same people behind Orlando's BarCamp

We're just a group of kids who wanted to meet other likeminded individuals and provide them with a venue to share their ideas and talents.

Hope to see you at the Florida Creatives Happy Hour this Monday.

[scottb411]

Florida can't touch Silicon Valley, but out of the entire State, Orlando is in a much better position than Tampa and South Florida. Coastal Florida is too centered on tourism and the beach. With Orlando's growth centered on NASA, Lockheed, Imagineering at Disney, and video games at EA, there is a lot of tech jobs in the area that you don't find in other parts of the state. Siemens and Oracle are also major employers in the area.

[JRS1]

^^

not to mention dozens or hundreds of firms dealing with simulation/laser/military related tech... Coleman Aerospace, Northrop Grumman are also here...

[MaXxlife]

fyi Google Earth just released v4.3 & It looks like all of downtown's building have been drawn up in 3D.

http://earth.google.com/

Edited April 17, 2008 by MaXxlife

[pip]

fyi Google Earth just released v4.3 & It looks like all of downtown's building have been drawn up in 3D.

http://earth.google.com/

very nice...

hey anyone know what this construction is in paramore (in red box between central and church)?

Edited April 17, 2008 by pip

[JRS1]

that's where that pond was built.

[FLheat]

that's where that pond was built.

Isn't that the new park?

[WeNeed2Progress]

Florida can't touch Silicon Valley, but out of the entire State, Orlando is in a much better position than Tampa and South Florida. Coastal Florida is too centered on tourism and the beach. With Orlando's growth centered on NASA, Lockheed, Imagineering at Disney, and video games at EA, there is a lot of tech jobs in the area that you don't find in other parts of the state. Siemens and Oracle are also major employers in the area.

Please don't include Imagineering in our list of tech jobs. They're based out of Glendale. and most everything is outsourced these decades.

[RedStar25]

Please don't include Imagineering in our list of tech jobs. They're based out of Glendale. and most everything is outsourced these decades.

Thanks to our punishing tax code and ludicris minimum wage requierments.

[JFW657]

Thanks to our punishing tax code and ludicris minimum wage requierments.

To what punishing tax code are you referring?

Unlike California, Florida has no state income tax.

And I'm fairly certain the minimum wage level has no bearing on the salary of a Disney Imagineer.

[scottb411]

Please don't include Imagineering in our list of tech jobs. They're based out of Glendale. and most everything is outsourced these decades.

I just did a search at:

http://www.disneycareers.com

for the following job categories:

Engineering, New Media/Internet, Technology and Information Services

...in the following cities:

Celebration, Lake Buena Vista, Orlando

and 51 openings were returned. That's not bad for being in a recession.

[neon9]

Thanks to our punishing tax code and ludicris minimum wage requierments.

I second that 'What?'. Our punishing tax code that does not tax income and I think old Jeb totally got rid of ALL capital gains taxes? Our 'ludicris' (the rapper?) minimum wage requirements that mandate that people almost have to be paid a living wage? Somehow that law affects...oh, well JFW already mentioned that should only affect the people sweeping up after closing time at 'Imagineering'.

Instead of complaining about taxes, why don't you attend some of the budgeting meetings for your local city or county? Tell them where to cut the fat so they can cut taxes. I was at a Ocoee CC meeting for a project and they were discussing fire fees and they begged people to show up in the same numbers to tell them what services to cut.

The funniest part was this one guy who got up and said the FD could cut costs by not coming to as many minor calls....like the one where this same man had called the city police to remove a harmless snake from his private home. So this guy wants public reptile removal from private property but thinks that pays for itself. My client and I got a real laugh out of that.

[JRS1]

not my area of expertise, but the FD answers calls that are absurd. heart attacks; snakes? why send a fire engine to a heart attack? just send the EVAC van. what a waste of resources and time. I guess they have to justify that annual salary the other 99% of the time that they aren't putting out fires. it's the best gig in town (no offense to firemick)...what is it? 3 days on; 3 days off or something like that?

[JFW657]

I guess they have to justify that annual salary the other 99% of the time that they aren't putting out fires. it's the best gig in town (no offense to firemick)...what is it? 3 days on; 3 days off or something like that?

Until they find themselves inside of a building that's totally engulfed in flames & the roof is beginning to collapse in around them.

Not such a great "gig" then.

[neon9]

not my area of expertise, but the FD answers calls that are absurd. heart attacks; snakes? why send a fire engine to a heart attack? just send the EVAC van. what a waste of resources and time. I guess they have to justify that annual salary the other 99% of the time that they aren't putting out fires. it's the best gig in town (no offense to firemick)...what is it? 3 days on; 3 days off or something like that?

Sadly, that was the attitude of some others there. i.e. they are just sitting under the shade tree and going to get lunch all day. That's kind of like saying soldiers have the best gig in town, until one of those little wars breaks out. Or cops, until they get a little bite from a crackhead or shot by something.

Regardless of the social value of firefighters, or the liability of the city if they don't send the FD and it turns out they are needed (million dollar lawsuit, here it comes), they are looking for revenue and this is a 'service' that they can charge people for. So it's not just about the FD.

So in that vein, why should the police come and take care of snakes? Comes from the same budget.

[jack]

24 on, 48 off. It is a nice gig, until you are pulling bodies of kids from a wreck or out of a burning house.

Maybe the punishing tax code is the lack of diversification?

Edited April 21, 2008 by jack

[JRS1]

all I'm saying is that it is what it is: your career is your choice: if you are inactive 90% of the time while pulling dead kids out of a crushed vehicle 1% of the time, then that's just the way it goes. ER doctors deal with the dead or dying every hour of every day...

soldiers? there is no draft. private contractor in Iraq? that's a choice as well. Winter Park Cop b/c you think it's a cush gig, and then you get shot: again, it's a choice. Defense Attorney who carries a piece with him every time he leaves his office b/c he fears one of his clients will try to rob him b/c they know he has their cash retainer in hand: another career choice.

Me: none of the above; and that's my choice. let's try to keep things in perspective about this other stuff.

As for the original point about snakes: what about animal control?

[JFW657]

all I'm saying is that it is what it is: your career is your choice: if you are inactive 90% of the time while pulling dead kids out of a crushed vehicle 1% of the time, then that's just the way it goes. ER doctors deal with the dead or dying every hour of every day...

soldiers? there is no draft. private contractor in Iraq? that's a choice as well. Winter Park Cop b/c you think it's a cush gig, and then you get shot: again, it's a choice. Defense Attorney who carries a piece with him every time he leaves his office b/c he fears one of his clients will try to rob him b/c they know he has their cash retainer in hand: another career choice.

Me: none of the above; and that's my choice. let's try to keep things in perspective about this other stuff.

As for the original point about snakes: what about animal control?

I understand what you're getting at re: living with the choices you make, but my point was that the cushiness of a firefighter's job is more than offset by the dangers. As for ER doctors & lawyers.... they don't run into burning buildings.

And let's not forget brushfire season.

Imagine being out in some middle-of-nowhere Florida scrub-brush region in 90+ degree heat wearing heavy fire fighting gear using shovels to manually dig fire lines all day long, every day with no day off for weeks on end. And when you get the fires under control in your area, they pop up somewhere else, maybe in another state so you go do it all over again for weeks on end.

And of course there's the regular training exercises, maintaining the fire station, etc. I kinda doubt they spend too much time laying around the staion eating & watching cable TV.

Anyway, I'm not arguing your point about every job having it's drawbacks, but fire fighting is hugely dangerous & is often times very demanding. Not the "best gig in town" by any stretch, IMO.

[JRS1]

it is a dangerous job, 3 days per week, and the dangerous situations occur probably 10% of the time if that. my only point was that snakes should be taken care of by wildlife or animal control personnel. if you guys don't like "cush job" then fine. just read the 1st sentence of this post and it sums it up. don't mean any disrespect, but it is what it is.

[neon9]

all I'm saying is that it is what it is: your career is your choice: if you are inactive 90% of the time while pulling dead kids out of a crushed vehicle 1% of the time, then that's just the way it goes. ER doctors deal with the dead or dying every hour of every day...

soldiers? there is no draft. private contractor in Iraq? that's a choice as well. Winter Park Cop b/c you think it's a cush gig, and then you get shot: again, it's a choice. Defense Attorney who carries a piece with him every time he leaves his office b/c he fears one of his clients will try to rob him b/c they know he has their cash retainer in hand: another career choice.

Me: none of the above; and that's my choice. let's try to keep things in perspective about this other stuff.

As for the original point about snakes: what about animal control?

Well first the point is, well 2 points-Animal Control doesn't work all night and we still pay them almost as much as a typical fireman or cop.

Doesn't matter who you call. Make it an animal control fee, that just doesn't sound as good.

[palmtree73]

Ernest Rapp's design skills helped him flee Nazis, fueled career in architecture in Orlando area

Rapp's more meaningful work came in the 1960s when he began specializing in low-income housing for the elderly, and designed high-rise towers such as Kinneret, Lucerne Towers, Magnolia Towers, Orlando Central Towers, Baptist Towers and Calvary Towers. He also designed similar buildings in Miami, Jacksonville, Atlanta and Nashville, Tenn.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/obitua...0,1112003.story

[bulldogger]

Hope this doesn't spread...

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/pop....php?cl=7559318

[spenser1058]

Ernest Rapp's design skills helped him flee Nazis, fueled career in architecture in Orlando area

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/obitua...0,1112003.story

Thanks for that, palmtree. The WP state office building and Lucerne Towers are great late 50s, early 60's architecture. I only ate at the Imperial House once and don't remember much about it. The other retirement towers always seemed to me to be standard HUD issue, but I'm sure he didn't have a lot to work with.

His personal story though was quite compelling.