Remember my July 17th news item about the man in Port Orange, Florida who beat his girlfriend with an alligator? Well, it seems the gators read it, because they are fighting back.

In Gainsville, Florida, a man was forced to jump on a 6-foot alligator with his pocket knife in order to save his dog, a bloodhound/Shar-Pei mix the gator had got its jaws around. Only by stabbing the gator in the eye could the man convince it to release the tasty pup. The dog, appetizingly named "Sugar," escaped with teeth marks around and on her head, and the owner got away with just a few scratches.

In other Florida-related news, the companies certifying America's voting technology have flat out refused to discuss flaws in like machines that will be used by nearly one in three voters this November. As the founder VerifiedVoting.org put it, this is like having ballots handled by a private company that counts them behind a closed door and then burns the results. With poll results showing an incredibly close presidential race in such states as, say, Florida, the mechanisms of voting and vote counting are once again a matter for serious concern.