Florida’s Big Dig

The story of the Intracoastal and other thoughts on water, waterways, land, and ecology

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about

I am Bill Crawford. I was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., bisected by the Intracoastal. I graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in commerce, with distinction, concentrating in finance. I obtained my juris doctor degree from Stetson University College of Law. I have practiced law for more than 43 years. I am a professional historian and author of the award-winning book, “Florida’s Big Dig,” (2008) the story of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. I have practiced law in Florida since 1975. Along the way, I developed a keen interest in researching and writing history, publishing numerous scholarly journal articles and one award-winning book, “Florida’s Big Dig,” the story of Florida’s Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, using my legal pbackground to understand legal transactions, deeds, wmortgages, bonds, preferred stock, and legal descriptions of land and water. In recent years, I have maintained a limited practice consulting with other professionals on various historical land and water issues, including sovereign, riparian, and submerged land rights, focusing on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and Florida inland waterways. I maintain a broad regular website here at www.floridasbigdig.me and a website solely on how the book was researched as well as some of the major themes explored. The website on the book itself is at www.floridasbigdig.com. The website on contacts for professional services is at www.floridasbigdiglawyer.com?. A fifteen-page outline of my book

  • Geodes

    Geodes are geologic formations found throughout the world.  In the United States, the greatest concentration of these individual spheroids is to be found where the Midwestern states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana come together. In simple terms, a geode is a round rock with an inside cavity lined with crystals of various colors, usually clear as in Quartz or purple as in Amethyst crystals. In formation, these spheroids are either sedimentary or volcanic (or igneous).image

    Under volcanic conditions, these rocks were made under tremendous pressure and heat, while sedimentary spheroids slowly formed layer by layer as different combinations of minerals built up a lining with differing colored crystals inside a round cavity.  After a period of time, ideal conditions created different crystalline structures lining the round cavity.

     

  • Florida should be rewarded as space becomes more acccessible to all

    Florida should be rewarded as space becomes more acccessible to all   Naples Daily News.

    The author of Floridasbigdig.me strongly disagrees with billionaires leveraging federal property to make any profit.

  • More on use of federally funded space assets for private use

    Ed. The author of now 300 posts began this odyssey by focusing on inland waterways, water transportation, weather, and some of the issues  of interest to readers. The attempt has been to be educational and informative, not didactic or polemical. In another posting, I have challenged the use of federally funded Kennedy Space Center and adjoining Patrick Air Force Base assets by billionaires who seek to sell flights into the upper atmosphere or space beyond the earth’s atmosphere.  The title of the preceding post is verbatim the title of an article which recently ran in the Naples Daily News.  The thrust of the article is the appearance of Florida governor Rick Scott  to present an award to Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon and a “public-private” venture to send private individuals into space at Kennedy/Patrick on vehicles for profit. I have challenged the use of federally-funded Kennedy and other space center assets by billionaires for profit.

    I strongly disagree with the use by billionaires of public property for profit making purposes, as reported.  If they can make a profit, why can’t the American people?  Papers on both coasts of Florida have weighed-in on the subject, but very little has been reported by the south Florida press.

    Florida should be rewarded as space becomes more accessible.   (Naples Daily News, Wednesday, November 11, 2015).

    The author of “Florida’s Big Dig” and these serious postings takes issue with the news article as published.


  • The expanding mass of southern polar sea ice

    Like the North Pole, Antarctica has a geographic South Pole.  Both are surrounded by a a massive ring of sea ice.  Ice floating in small pieces on the ocean instead of large chunks or glaciers.  In the case of the South Pole, Antarctica is one of the seven continents on Earth, is considered a “desert” because it is one of the driest places on the Earth, and is one of the seven continents.  More than

    Dramatic increase in Southern polar sea ice since 1979
    Dramatic increase in Southern polar sea ice since 1979, Courtesy, National Snow & Ice Data Center.

    than 99% of the continent is covered by ice.  Sea ice surrounding Antarctica has dramatically increased since 1979. Courtesy, National Snow & Ice Data Center.

    The astounding news today is that millions of square miles of sea ice surrounding the South Pole has accumulated since 1979.  Ordinarily this would be great news to those who do not subscribe to “global warming.”  However,  “sea ice” surrounding has increased since 1979 but not by the same amount.  Specialists in the study of climate further point out that there are myriad factors influencing the warming of the Earth such as the temperature of the Southern Ocean, carbon dioxide saturation rates in the atmosphere, and wind currents in and around the South Pole.v

    Finally, the “all things being equal” principle may be at work.  It may be that all things may never be equal at any time certain given the number of factors influencing the temperature of the earth, the lack of uniformity in geography and the amount of carbon dioxide saturation in the atmosphere. One thing is certain. This debate will be heated and will last for a very long time, without even aconsidering whether a rise in water levels can be attributed to human activities.

  • The shrinking northern polar ice cap

    Shrinking northern polar ice cap
    RShrinking northern polar ice cap.

    Since 1979, as asserted pictorially above, the northern polar ice cap has diminished by more than 20%.  We may conclude that as a result of one or more factors, alone, simultaneously, or sequentially, perhaps a rise in temperature alone, or greater than normal heat, melted away a substantial portion of the polar ice cap.

    Second, as the syllogism goes, some portion of the Earth’s population, perhaps a very small number, believe that this rise in temperature will cumulatively increase sometime in the future and cause a rise in worldwide coastal sea levels.  In the United States, a substantial portion of the population resides within fifty miles of the coastal United States.  Worldwide, substantial populations inhabit sea-level areas, such as the Polynesian islands and other island nations.

    Third, are their additional factors to take into account, such as a rise in carbon dioxide levels, as deforestation continues unabated?  If carbon dioxide levels grow, will the protective layer of ozone surrounding the Earth diminish, allowing the Sun to further increase temperatures world-wide?

    Is this something with which all nations should be concerned?  And if so, what should be done about it and why?  Please state your location.

  • Large sink hole in residential area under asphalt pavement

    Large sink hole with auto under asphalt in multi-family residential area.
    Large sink hole with auto under asphalt in multi-family residential area.

  • Urban sink hole, cylindrical, intersectional, under asphalt

    Urban sink hole. Near corner of structure. Cylindrical.
    Urban sink hole. Near corner of structure. Cylindrical.

  • Urban, island village, widespread sink hole in asphalt pavement

    Urban, under asphalt street, near structures.
    Urban, under asphalt street, near structures.

  • The Making of a Sink Hole

    The Making of a Sinkhole
    The Making of a Sinkhole

  • The birth of an island in the Tonga chain in the South Pacific from a submarine volcano

    The birth of an island in the Tonga chain in the South Pacific from a submarine volcano