https://socialreader.com/me/content/nvLb3?chid=129891&utm_content=win20130724-542&utm_medium=email&utm_source=toppicks&utm_campaign=cl20130724&email=sacspajosage%40aol.com

In the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal, a lot of people from outside Florida blamed Florida. We’ve had commentators complaining that Florida is the worst and the rest of the country would be better off without that uvula-shaped state. Some clever people posted on their Facebook pages an old YouTube clip of Bugs Bunny sawing along the state line and pushing us out to sea.

OK folks. Let’s play the It’s a Wonderful Life game and see what you lose if Florida doesn’t exist.

1. Computers. The genius who invented the first computer, John Atanasoff, grew up in Florida. He began tinkering with his dad’s slide rule at age 9, graduated high school in only two years and then earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida.

2. Air conditioning. Dr. John Gorrie became so concerned about his yellow fever patients sweltering in the Apalachicola heat that he invented a way to cool their homes and later received the first U.S. patent for a mechanical refrigeration unit in 1851. (snip)