Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's Bail-Out Plan Stutters

A few days ago I said I had trouble understanding Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson due to all the stuttering and stammering he was doing while answering questions at a news conference.

I did not know at the time that Secretary Paulson is well-known for overcoming the hurdle of having a speech impediment. I just thought he was really nervous, overwhelmed and not used to be under such a high pressure spotlight.

I did say that I thought someone in such a position should have good communication skills, particularly when explaining something that is difficult to understand. It seems like good speaking skills would be part of the job description.

And no, I don't think someone with a speech impediment should in any way be denied whatever his talents lead him to do. But I don't think a blind person should fly airplanes. That's not in anyway discriminating against blind people, it's just common sense.

And now the bail-out plan that Henry Paulson was trying to explain has itself stuttered and morphed into something else, with the U.S. Government buying a piece of various banks, copying what the Brits are doing.

It doesn't inspire much confidence, in this voter, that there seems to be so much floundering about by those who supposedly understand this mess way better than I do.

And I'm not really all that comfortable with this Paulson guy being the government spokesman, guiding us to understand it all. As evidenced by the video below....

Texas Miscellaneous & The 3 Day Walk

It's not even 3 in the afternoon and I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm going in two directions at once.

Yesterday I was talked into doing this, well, let's call it a charity type thing. This involved getting up real early. About 2 hours into being charitable I found I was not feeling all that charitable.

So. I left.

Because of the early morning charitable departure I missed my regular barely post-dawn swim in icy water. I decided to go on a mid-morning icy swim. That went well and the combo adrenalin/endorphin injection put me in a better frame of mind. But I did not like it that the air was so much warmer than the water. I prefer the reverse.

I got back in here and decided to work on webpages. Though I wasn't in the mood. Yesterday I'd added pages to my Eyes on Texas website. Two of those were faking like I'd eaten at restaurants in San Antonio and Austin. Well, I have eaten at one restaurant in each of those towns, but not the dozens that the webpages I made yesterday imply. Now the one I'd made earlier about the D/FW Metroplex zone, those I'd been to.

I tried to move on to Houston and El Paso, but didn't.

Instead I decided it was time for yoga, which I skipped yesterday, which caused an aching back by mid-afternoon, due to too many hours of sitting at the same place I'm at right now.

After yoga I went to Village Creek to go on a walk. There I met a large group of women looking suspicious. You don't usually see large groups of either men or women at this park. So I asked what are you girls standing around looking so suspicious for?

They told me they were doing a practice 18 mile walk for the upcoming 3 Day Susan G. Komen Walk For The Cure event coming up in Dallas. I asked if they were all cancer survivors. Several either raised their hands or nodded yes. I told them I was too. Then they asked how many years. When I told them they got all happy and congratulatory. As if I had anything to do with it.

Last year the Metroplex's turn at the 3 Day Walk was centered at River Legacy Park. It was quite an impressive spectacle. I've never seen so many matching tents. Cancer survivors share some sort of bond, I suppose like war veterans do. (go to the River Legacy link and you'll see photos from the 3 Day)

When I left Village Creek Park I went to Wal-Mart. It's right on the way back here. I had no disturbing incidents at Wal-Mart, no crazy ladies yelling at me or ripped flags. The self-checkout's debit card reader wasn't working so I had to use cash. I'm glad I had some.

I was barely back here when Miss Puerto Rico called me, in full Latino Mad Mode. She'd been fighting with her boss, fighting with a co-worker and all upset due to some notice being missing. I could make little sense of it, but told her I'd come over with ice later to cool her down.

So, that's my day so far. Maybe I'll be feeling more charitable in the morning. And I do have Columbus Day to look forward to. Columbus Day is just about my favorite day of the year....

Lulu's Earnest Inquiry Regarding the State of my Shrinkage

Yesterday I blogged about continuing to swim, despite the water getting ever closer to freezing. I swam this morning just as the sun was rising. At midnight we were at 65 here. When I went swimming it was 59.

In a comment regarding yesterday's cold swim, one of my favorite Georgia Peaches, Miss Lulu asked...

"Do you ever experience "shrinkage"? Too personal I acknowledge, but inquiring minds..."

Well, thank you very much for your concern, Miss Lulu. I know there was some worrying out there that I was continuing to lose weight. And that swimming in icy water was a huge calorie burner, likely exacerbating the problem.

I am happy to report that my weight loss problem has stabilized. I've come back a few pounds from the low that threatened to take me below the 160 zone. I fixed the problem by making myself eat more.

Oh. A second glance at Miss Lulu's comments makes me wonder if it was not the Big Me she was concerned about shrinking, but the Little Me.

I guess I can speak to that serious issue as well as my overall shrinkage. I think when first introduced to ultra cold water Little Me did not like it at all and tried to hide. But day after day of this aversion therapy seems to have caused Little Me to buck up and take the cold like a man. And, what little retreating the Little Guy still does, he quickly recovers as soon as he senses he's in a warm safe place. Like the shower.

I hope that answers your question Miss Lulu. If you'd like photo documentation for your research it can be provided.

Chesapeake Energy's Propaganda Artists

Every time I blog something and mention Chesapeake Energy, within a very short time, I start seeing blog readers pop up from Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City is where Chesapeake Energy is based.

Shortly after I see readers pop up from Oklahoma City I often receive comments that seem rather obviously to have originated from Chesapeake Energy shills.

Now, Chesapeake Energy used to be more ham-handed about this, using the same boilerplate blog comment response on various blogs. Like their long comment suggesting I was an Archie Bunker stuck in the 70s. Texas Sharon and who knows how many others got that same comment.

Chesapeake Energy seems to have figured out that this was backfiring on them because we used their over the top comments to make fun of them.

So, Chesapeake Energy's shills seem to have adopted a new tactic. But it needs some fine tuning.

Yesterday I blogged about Chesapeake Energy's destruction of part of the Tandy Hills. Soon after that I got the following comments.

First, from the ubiquitous Anonymous....

is someone bitter about not getting a royalty check?

Second, from wolfcry44...

looks beautiful to me

Note how both comments are in the exact same style. No capitals. One short pithy sentence.

Now, Chesapeake, I know you can do better than this. Let's put better effort into it. I'll surely share whatever you come up with....

Part VI In My Ongoing Obesity Series

Alma, the Songbird of the South, sends me funny stuff. Today, among other funny stuff was this one, the theme of which is why NFL Quarterbacks should keep their names short...

Photo Evidence of Chesapeake Energy Tandy Hills Destruction

I was able to get a vantage point from the east overlooking the large area of the Tandy Hills that Chesapeake Energy is bulldozing for the Scott Avenue Gas Drilling Site that Chesapeake Energy calls the "Thomas 1H Well." The photos do not do justice to how large the bulldozing area is. As you can see the operation is already kicking up some dust. The skyline of downtown Fort Worth is a short distance to the west.

What other major city in America would allow a natural landscape like this, so close to the heart of its downtown, to be bulldozed like this? At the same time proclaiming the gas drilling being a great money maker for the city. While libraries are scaled back.

In the photo below you can see the barrier put at the end of Scott Avenue. Just past that barrier is where the piece of Guerilla Art Work known as "Mother Nature" sits.

Deep-Fried Turkey in Texas

( With a bit over a week to go til Thanksgiving I Blogged again about Deep-Fried Turkey )

Before I moved to Texas this perverse Texan named Julene tried intensely via email to discourage me from invading her state. She told me all sorts of things that she thought would scare me off. Obviously she failed.

But I remember one thing she told me that I was sure she was making up, that being that in Texas a lot of people deep fry their Thanksgiving turkey. Or buy it from a restaurant already deep-fried.

I did not see how such a thing could be. That and it sounded disgusting. Not as disgusting as this year's State Fair of Texas Big Tex Choice Award winner being deep-fried battered thick bacon. But close to that disgusting.

It was not long upon my arrival in Texas that I saw Turkey Frying Kits for sale.

And it was not long after that that I bought one. I was shocked to see it with my own eyes, that in about a half an hour a big turkey, that would take an oven hours to roast, is done and ready to eat.

And good. As in really good. And not at all greasy. That next summer we had a pool party and deep-fried 15 chickens. That was a production.

I wonder whatever became of that Julene person who tried to convince me not to come to Texas?

I'll wonder about that and let you watch the amusing video below that is all about frying a turkey...or go to my Texas website for more Deep Frying Turkey info and recipes...

Fort Worth Gas Price War Spreads

One of my two favorite Chippys, the renowned Texas cowgirl booted Miss Lulu from Georgia commented regarding her annoyance at the fact that gas is practically being given away for free here in Fort Worth, while her zone of Georgia, that being the greater Atlanta metro zone, has been plagued with shortages and high prices.

Today, while heading towards Tandy Hills Park to do some investigative hiking trying to document the extent of the damage that Chesapeake Energy is doing to that rare urban ecosystem, I saw that the gas at the Tandy Hills neighorhood gas station had fallen to the lowest I've seen in awhile. $2.83.

Speaking of the Chippys, Lulu and Lauri, go to their blog and read all about the amusing adventures they had coming, being in and leaving Texas. They will be back in Texas in 6 months. If the border patrol lets them in.

Meanwhile, by tomorrow I suspect I'll find gas under $2.50.

Big Cheese Rodent Factory Has 3 Weeks To Quit Stinking

Last night the Fort Worth City Council, aka Fort Worth's Ruling Junta, gave the owners of the Big Cheese Rodent Factory 3 weeks to quit stinking up their neighborhood.

The Rodent Factory was given something called "planned development" zoning, instead of the "industrial zoning" the Rodent Factory owners had requested.

The new zoning lets the mouse breeders keep on breeding in their Rosemont neighborhood factory in south Fort Worth. The smell must be gone by November 1.

The Big Cheese Rodent Factory sells between 500,000 and 600,000 rats and mice a month. The rodents go to research, zoo food for snakes and birds and other uses.

An investigation by Fort Worth's Environmental Department (I'm shocked Fort Worth has such a department) found that the Rodent Factory's stench violated the Texas nuisance standard for odors.

Apparently the Big Cheese Rodent Factory reeks of an ammonia-like smell.

It will be interesting to see if the Rodent Factory stops stinking by November 1. And what Fort Worth does about it when the problem continues.

I'd blogged about the Big Cheese Rodent Factory previously.

Fort Worth's Stockyard Ruins Went Up In Animal Fat Flames

Adjacent to Fort Worth's #1 tourist attraction, that being the Fort Worth Stockyards, there is an area of sprawling ruins, the site of the former Swift-Armor meat packing plant, where cattle driven to the Stockyards met their final fate.

The Stockyard's Ruins is such an aesthetically interesting looking thing that one would think that something would be done with them. I don't know, maybe preserve the ruins, but build touristy things among them, like restaurants. Maybe they are just too unsafe and it's best to let them continue their gradual decay.

The only creative use I know of, regarding the Stockyard Ruins, is the Fox TV show Prison Break used it as the set of Sona Prison in Panama during that show's second and third season. Prison Break has now abandoned the Stockyards Ruins.

The reason I've mentioned the Ruins today is yesterday I got Feedback regarding them from someone calling himself CM Waring and claiming to have an answer as to what happened that made the ruins.

Here is what CM had to tell me....

"The Stockyards ruins were victims of arson fires, 2, in 1971 and 1973. The amount of animal fat in the buildings left the fires unable to be extinguished. They just let it burn out. I was long interested in how the ruins got in the state it's been for decades. I had to do plenty of digging to get that info, and I couldn't tell you where I finally found it. It was not easy."

I don't know. You don't really see signs of what looks like a big fire at the Stockyard Ruins. It more looks like a massive earthquake shook it all. But they don't get earthquakes here. Maybe a tornado struck it. Or maybe it was a huge animal fat fire. The mystery continues...