The best thing about living in Miami is the completely unreal, ludicrous third world shit that occurs every single day.
A year and a half ago, I called Mall of the Americas the Lebanon of Miami. I got in trouble for that post, but not from Lebanese people who should be rightly offended by that kind of comparison. No, instead people accused me of being a snob or a racist. I guess it's kind of like living next to a garbage dump and wondering what smell people are always complaining about.
Anyway, right now I'm feeling the exhilarating rush of vindication due to this amazing story: apparently a marijuana grow lab has been discovered in Mall of the Americas. In case you didn't know, there's a second level to the mall which is accessible through an unmarked door on the east side of the hallway across from the food court. I have a few memories of running wild in there as a youth. Apparently someone moved into one of the nondescript spaces and set up shop. From the article:
DEA agents found a hydroponics lab with more than 200 marijuana plants, standing 3 to 6 feet tall in the air and worth millions of dollars, in a storage area on the second floor of the mall.
Authorities said the electricity that powered the lab was diverted from the mall's main power supply.
What bravado. Next they'll discover a coca farm inside that creepy nature preserve on the FIU south campus.
CarStar*
Also, I hear the Incredible Universe complex is now a secret opium cultivation project with an accompanying opium den, powered by the sun and the drafts of wind from 826 traffic.