Trying not to snack in Lake Worth

Cheese-flavored puffs used to be my guilty pleasure.

This past year, I've become increasingly aware of how addictive snack foods can be.

Investigative journalist Michael Moss just finished a whole book on how food manufacturers and their scientists conspired to create salty, fatty and sugary foods that target the pleasure centers in our brains, similar to what cocaine does.

His Salt Fat Sugar book makes a compelling case for the food industry's role in our current obesity epidemic -- similar to what the tobacco industry did to hook people on smoking cigarettes. When food manufacturers dialed back one ingredient, reduced the fat as an example, they amped up the other two: sugar and salt.

West Palm Beach entrepreneur vows to create Surfr app

The Surfr app is moving forward, says Internet entrepreneur Nicholas Mohnacky of West Palm Beach.

He is now searching for angel investors or money from a venture capitalist to pay for his Surfr app development. 

He tried to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter, a crowd-source funding site, but raised only $7,037 from 93 backers by the February deadline. 

Surfer app under development in West Palm Beach

When Internet entrepreneur Nick Mohnacky was talking with his surfing buddies about prior sessions, they had a hard time remembering the surfing details. They debated the height of swells, the date, the location and even who was there.

He reasoned it was 2013, and there should be an iPhone app for this. He wanted to record that surfing info in data and photos, but he also wanted alerts when the waves were kicking up at his favorite surfing locations.

As a member of the Pixil Agency in West Palm Beach, Mohnacky was able to call on app designer Noe Ruiz. He created a wireframe, tech talk for a visual representation, of what Mohnacky wanted in the surfing app, including wave height, swell direction, wind speed and direction, and air and water temperature.

The Surfr app uses social media to check surf reports, allow
check-ins, share photos and update a Facebook status.

Surfing scientist talks about riding waves in South Florida

Bob Taylor in Fort Pierce, summer 2012 (photos  provided)

The soft-spoken scientist at the South Florida Water Management District has distinct ideas about how he wants to spend his spare time -- either walking on water or on land.

To Bob Taylor, environmental engineer, walking on water means surfing.

"Surfing can be a wonderful way to relax and de-stress," he says. "You are very focused on the wave; you are not worrying about other life problems."

That sounds like the main reason I like yoga. When I focus on my breathing, I forget about my worries.

Surfing scientist checks Web for best waves in South Florida

Bob Taylor at North Jetty in Fort Pierce in summer 2012. (Photos provided)

Meet Bob Taylor, South Florida Water Management District scientist by day and surfing enthusiast by night and weekends.

Taylor, 55, grew up in Jupiter where his parents bought him a longboard at a yard sale and got him hooked on surfing. He and his buddies taught themselves how to surf and have been surfing since they were about 9 years old.

They used their surf boards to paddle across the Intracoastal Waterway back then, Taylor says, but he does not recommend doing that today -- presumably because of increased pollutants in the waterway.

He will follow the Pipe Masters tourney when the surfing competition starts Saturday in Oahu. Taylor will watch to see how Kelly Slater, 40, performs because he's one of the three top surfers in contention. And Slater is from Cocoa Beach.

Exploring renovations at Lake Worth's beach

Adirondack chairs line up to face the ocean.

Finally after nearly 30 years of talk, Lake Worth is busy renovating buildings along its beachfront.

Sunday, I loaded my dog in my car to check out the renovations to Lake Worth's storied casino building and other restoration work underway in the multimillion-dollar project. I wanted to see how my tax dollars are being spent. But I also needed to get in a morning walk with my dog. So the trip to the beach filled two purposes, my new definition of multi-tasking. Here's what I saw:

1. Lower parking lot still a construction zone. I parked here in order to get the most steps on that Sunday morning. We drove onto an unpaved road into the parking lot and had to dodge cars and pickups on our walk up to the beach.