Blue & Max and the McDonald's Diet

My little sister, up in Tacoma, has a pair of poodles, named Blue and Max. Blue and Max have their own blog. Lately they have been blogging about how much they love McDonald's Cheeseburgers.

Today they blogged about a guy in Virginia who lost a lot of weight on what he calls "The McDonald's Diet."

Ironically, I just heard from my little sister, that, at this very moment, Blue is at the vet's, being X-Rayed, with an IV Drip dripping fluids into the little guy.

That is Blue on the left in the photo. That's Max & Blue waiting to get into their favorite McDonald's, that being the Chihuly Glass McDonald's in Tacoma.

Go here to go to the Blue and Max blog and read all about their McDonald's Diet.

Juneteenth

I'd never heard of Juneteenth til I moved to Texas. It's now an annual holiday in 29 states. Juneteenth originated in Galveston, Texas. In Texas it is called "Emancipation Day in Texas." At least that's what it says on my calendar. For more than a century Texas was the main location for Juneteenth celebrations.

I just got back here and saw what must be a big Juneteenth celebration setup, at least I assume that's what it is, in the open field next to my neighborhood Home Depot. I saw a Channel 5 TV crew set up in the Kroger parking lot across the street.

It looks like a big deal. Why was I not informed?

I've not actually ever attended a Juneteenth celebration. From 1870 til 1980 Texas pretty much celebrated Juneteenth alone. Since 1980 it became an official holiday in Texas. After that other states jumped on the Juneteenth bandwagon, including my own home state of Washington. So, now Washingtonians know what Juneteenth is. As do Oregon, California and Alaska.

So, Juneteenth is now a holiday on the entire west coast. Except for British Columbia. But that's in Canada. Canadians are always behind the curve.

This Juneteenth thing is a classic example of how Texas is always ahead of the rest of the nation. Well, sometimes.

How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World

This blogging is yet one more chapter in my ongoing campaign to get Americans to draw down on the National Strategic Fat Preserve by eating less, eating better and sitting less. And dressing better. Or at least in clothes that fit.

The photos you see here were all taken at the Fort Worth Stockyards, a prime hunting ground for plumped up Americans.

I read an interesting article from the UK, via the Daily Mail, titled "How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World." Here's a blurb----

"It is true that there is nothing quite as grossly fat as a fat American. Even clothes sizes have to be coyly renamed to accommodate them. Restaurant chairs and plane seats just aren't big enough.

Only recently, a woman succeeded in suing the hugely fat American who sat next to her on a long-haul flight and overflowed into her space, crushing and injuring her.

But the rest of the world is getting bigger, too. We should be sitting up — while we still can — and paying serious attention to the American situation."

Read the entire article by going here.

Fort Worth & Seattle's Water Projects

A day or two ago I blogged about what I thought might end up being Fort Worth's all time Biggest Boondoggle, that being the re-routing of the Trinity River through a diversion channel to build what they are calling a Town Lake and some canals, where the hope is people will live, play and eat at restaurants.

The Fort Worth project is called The Trinity River Vision.

Meanwhile, up in Seattle they already have plenty of Town Lakes, most courtesy of Mother Nature. There is no big river that runs through Seattle. But there are canals, with restaurants and residences by the canals.

Seattle is in the midst of a big water project, though. It's a bit different than Fort Worth's. The Seattle project is budgeted at $3.9 billion. The Fort Worth project is expected to cost a bit more than half a billion.

The Fort Worth project includes 3 new bridges. The Seattle project is all about 1 bridge. That being the replacement of the 45 year old Evergreen Point Bridge that crosses Lake Washington and connects with Interstate 5.

That is the current Evergreen Point Bridge in the photo. If you saw Sleepless in Seattle and remember Tom Hank's houseboat, that houseboat is moored just to the lower left of what you're looking at in the photo.

This is a floating bridge. Washington has had 2 of its floating bridges sink. The older the Evergreen Point Bridge gets, the greater the chance a storm will come along and sink it. There are no sinkable bridges in Fort Worth.

In Seattle and Washington there is a lot of public debate and input as to how the new bridge should be designed and routed. In Fort Worth the Trinity River Vision was announced as a done deal with little public debate and no public vote.

I'm guessing that the new Evergreen Point Bridge will be floating long before anything floats in Fort Worth's Town Lake. Or sinks.

Texas Thunder is Making My Head Hurt

We have been under assault here in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone of North Texas for hours now. It's coming up on 8am and it is still very dark out there.

And wet.

It appears I will not be doing any outdoor activity today.

I don't know when this loud bombing began. I had my earplugs in so as not to hear the air conditioner cycle off and on. Sometime after 5am I started seeing bright flashes. When I pulled out the earplugs I knew what was causing the flashes when I heard some big booming.

That big booming has gone on for hours now. It's making my head hurt. I want it to stop now. But it seems to be getting worse. WeatherBug says this could continue til noon.

Maybe I'll put my earplugs back in. Oh oh, I hear a siren. I don't think it's a tornado siren. But, I think maybe I should keep my hearing at full function.

If this is the last you hear from me today it means I've either lost power, been struck by lightning or been blown away by a tornado, or some combo of all three.

Fremont Solstice Parade

I talked to Lulu this afternoon, while I sweltered outside in the near 100 degree temperatures, while Lulu shivered inside her Tacoma abode. Lulu was working on stuff for next week's Fremont Sunday Market.

And she told me she was getting her outfit ready for the Fremont Solstice Parade. That is this coming Saturday, due to that being June 21, the Summer Solstice. I know Lulu has watched the Fremont Solstice Parade before and has been amused by all the naked bike riders.

But, I just can't picture Lulu doing this bike ride. Though I have seen her on some pretty scary bike rides. Like Gemini Bridges in Utah. I'm almost certain Lulu was not serious.

I mentioned the Fremont Solstice Naked Bike Parade a month or more ago. I recollect Gar the Texan asking if he could rent a bike near where the parade took place. I've not heard from Gar the Texan in awhile. I suspect he may be up in Seattle getting ready to ride.

Click on the link and you'll find a video of last year's Fremont Solstice Naked Bike Parade in all its glory.

Time For Me to Rob a Bank

Last week a 50 something guy decided to rob a Wells Fargo Bank in north Fort Worth. He successfully pulled off the bank job. And then he tried to carjack a ride from a woman. Two men, who had been in the bank, jumped the robber, pinning him down. Then 2 others joined in, holding the guy down til the cops arrived. The bank robber was, obviously, ill-prepared. He didn't even have a getaway car. Everyone knows you need a getaway car.

Now, I'm thinking, what drives someone to such a desperate act? You've lost your source of income, or income has not matched outgo, to the point that money is down to nothing. Bills are due. You can't pay the rent. Or maybe the mortgage. You're hungry.

So. You think to yourself, what if I rob a bank? If I succeed and get away, I've got money. If I fail and get caught, I've got free room and board. It's a win-win either way.

It's too bad there isn't some sort of Desperation Hotline that you can call and get some sort of one-time-only help, help that takes away the desperation and directs you to some sort of more sensible solution than robbing a bank and hoping to get a place to sleep and food to eat at the county jail.

Maybe there is a Desperation Hotline and I don't know about it. If there is, can someone send it to me, so I can call it before I need to rob a bank? Thank you in advance for your help.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Shrinks Some More

The Star-Telegram announced on Monday that it is shrinking again. This time by 130 employees. The Star-Telegram, or Startlegram, as the locals call it, was bought by McClatchy Co. two years ago. It's been downhill ever since.

McClatchy Co. also owns the Tacoma Tribune. Lulu told me the Tacoma Tribune shrunk on Monday too. From my reading experience, the Tacoma Tribune is a much better paper than the Startlegram. Takes way longer to read, because there is way more to read, in a paper in a city of 200,000, where the Star-Telegram is in a city of almost 700,000. But with a lot less readers. And a smaller paper.

On Monday, McClatchy Co. cut about 1,400 jobs from its 30 papers.

The Star-Telegram is going to increase its full subscription rates by $1.50 to $17.50 a month. The Star-Telegram says this monthly rate is less than other major Texas newspapers, like the newspapers of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin. Uh. Maybe those newspapers cost more and that cost is justifiable because you get way more of a newspaper.

With the Star-Telegram it's just like what I read today that Kellogg's is going to do with their cereal boxes, as in put less cereal in the box, but charge the same. The Star-Telegram has been putting less news in their box and charging the same. Now they are going to be putting less news in their box. And charging more.

But. I don't think they'll be charging me more. I'm thinking I'm about done with the Star-Telegram and it's time for it to go bye-bye from my morning doorstep. I won't pay more for less.

Fat Americans & the Strategic Fat Preserve

This blogging is part of my ongoing attempt, in my own small, itsy bitsy way, to encourage Americans, or at least the 3 who read this blog, to draw down on the Strategic Fat Preserve by eating less.

I came across an interesting Newsgroup posting by an American who had visited Europe and was shocked by how skinny the Europeans are. I'll copy that below.

But, first I need to tell you that that is Gar the Texan in the photo, in Booger Red's Saloon in the Fort Worth Stockyards, having a Buffalo Butt beer with his wife, Madlen. Gar the Texan met Madlen in Germany. When I met Madlen she was a thin, beautiful young thing. Now, after just a short exposure to both America's food culture and Gar as a husband, the dear girl has greatly contributed to the Strategic Fat Preserve by becoming one of the Balloon People. Shocking.

And now the Newsgroup posting:

"After 17 days, 3600 miles, and 10 countries later, we returned home, and the first thing we noticed was how many fat people there were in North America, compared to Europe. Even in the Bavarian Alps region, an area noted for jolly chubby Germans, the % of fat people was not even close to the average American town/city... At breakfast, we noticed that our fellow travellers, all European, never took more than they needed... a croissant, an egg, just enough till lunch...the portions at the restaurants were not as big, the meat cuts at the supermarkets were smaller...but still, everyone looked so healthy and slim!!! In fact, I think they quietly shoot ugly people in Europe...everyone looked so damn good! In fact, the only fat people we saw were...well...American tourists pouring out of a bus, loud enough to be heard in Mosquito Neck, Iowa (a really really small place) (grin)"

Durango Texas Comment: Regarding the Newsgrouper's comment that he thought "they quietly shoot ugly people in Europe." It's a little known bit of history that, in addition to the known victims the Nazis sent to Death Camps in Hitler's attempt to creat a Master Race of Aryan Perfection, ugly people were also sent to the death camps. I don't know how Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goring or Joesph Goebbels escaped that fate.

Read the Newsgroup Posting in its entirety here. The writer also comments about how liberated Europeans are in other areas, as compared to us repressed, unliberated Americans.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe Lash & J. Edgar Hoover

That image you see on the left is from Eleanor Roosevelt's FBI files. If you click on it and are able to read the small print, you'll have read the short version of what I'm blogging about.

The FBI had over 3,900 pages of files on Eleanor Roosevelt, forced free by the Freedom of Information Act. This is one of the largest collection of files ever made by the FBI on an American citizen, let alone a First Lady. These files were compiled by the FBI, mostly at the behest of what we now know was a detestable little cross-dressing creature, known as J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover ran the FBI, like a dictator, from its founding, in 1935, til his death in 1972.

Hoover was able to last at his position through President after President, til he met his match in Nixon, by compiling dossiers of info on anyone he wanted to have influence over. Presidents were sort of scared of J. Edgar Hoover. And with good reason.

I just finished a book called Roosevelt's Secret War, by Joseph E Persico. FDR did not care for J. Edgar. But he found him useful.

Eleanor Roosevelt befriended a young man named Joe Lash, who was 25 years her junior. There were no allegations of anything improper in this relationship. Til J. Edgar saw an opportunity. The First Lady and Joe Lash were in Chicago at a hotel. They stayed in adjoining rooms. The FBI had Joe Lash under surveillance, I don't remember why. A lot of people were watched by the FBI during WWII. Sort of like what goes on now, during our less sensible war, under our less sensible President.

So. J. Edgar had those hotel rooms bugged. J. Edgar heard something useful to his purposes, recorded from that hotel room. He felt he had to get the info to the President somehow, in a way that sort of kept his hands clean. J. Edgar had had clashes with the First Lady. She was on his enemies list.

So, a report found its way to the President which contained the info that a microphone planted in the room had recorded the clear indication that Mrs. Roosevelt and Lash engaged in sexual intercourse during their hotel stay. Mrs. Roosevelt was called into the conference, confronted with the charge, which resulted in a terrific fight between the President and Mrs. Roosevelt.

FDR sent orders to have Lash sent outside the United States within 10 hours.

Now. Here's the bad part. What really happened was J. Edgar's microphones had caught Joe Lash making whoopee with a married lady, 2 weeks after he'd been in that hotel with Mrs. Roosevelt.

Nothing untoward was recorded between Mrs. Roosevelt and Mr. Lash. It is believed J. Edgar Hoover was fully aware of the truth. But saw an opportunity to do some dirty manipulating.

To what gain, I can't fathom. J. Edgar Hoover kept these secret files in his possession til his death. I don't know if the goal for his little dirty trick was to make Mrs. Roosevelt think he was a powerful foe, not to be crossed. Or if it was to ingratiate himself, somehow, with FDR. Or both.

Who knows? But, what I found interesting is our nation has always seemed to be quite a roller coaster of dicey doings that aren't pretty at times.

J. Edgar Hoover was one twisted sister.