Transportation Protesting in Portland & Fort Worth

Now this is a good example of how different things are in the Northwest, as in Seattle and Portland, as compared to Dallas and Fort Worth.

First off, you have a local Portland TV news show with a mountain in the background. You do not have mountains in the background of Dallas/Fort Worth local TV news shows.

Second off, you don't have stories in the local D/FW market showing a local transportation device such as that being used in Portland, because these type elevated transportation devices do not exist in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone. Well, there is a sort of facsimile of this type transportation device, in a very limited way, at the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas.

Third off, and this is the biggest difference, you would never see, I do not think, a Dallas/Fort Worth Texan type protesting something, like the Portland transportation device, in the rather direct manner, that this Portland man chose.

Port Aransas Sunrises, Alma & the Puget Sound

That is sunrise at Port Aransas, this morning, sent by Alma, the Songbird of the South Texas Gulf Coast.

I have not seen the sun rise or set on saltwater in a long time. I do not remember the last time. I did see saltwater last summer, that being Puget Sound, but you do not see the sun rise or set on Puget Sound.

In Western Washington, the sun rises over the Cascade Mountains, not Puget Sound. And when the sun sets, it sets over the Olympic Mountains, not Puget Sound.

It is still spectacularly scenic, though. I remember being in a bar/restaurant in Pike Place Market in Seattle, while the sun was setting over the Olympics, with the barkeeper leading the bar patrons in a series of ooooohs, awwwhs and the sunset becoming ever more spectacular.

My best sunset ever was not a sunset. It was a moonset. On Lake Powell. The night is very dark on Lake Powell, the stars very bright. My first night on Lake Powell the moon slowly set, dropping behind the canyon wall. The instant it totally disappeared an eerie purple glow lit up the top of the canyon. It lasted for at least a minute. I had never seen anything like it.

I am hoping to go down to Port Aransas this spring, to see Alma and a sunrise or two. And to have some real seafood. I have never been further down the Texas Gulf Coast than Galveston. I loved Galveston, pre-Hurricane Ike.

I'm Loving Flock

I've never ever before jumped on the abandon Internet Explorer bandwagon for some upcoming browser. I'd try Firefox or Chrome or others and find a lot of things I do not like.

And then, for whatever reason, YouTube stopped working reliably in Internet Explorer. I wasted a lot of time looking for a solution.

And then I found Flock. Initially I was pleased that in Flock, YouTube worked. But Flock seemed alien, with way too much going on. And when I answered yes to the question if I wanted to add Flock's Blogger enhancements, I did not think I liked the enhancements.

At first.

And then, this morning, the light bulb in my dim brain turned on. I have now made Flock my default browser.

Long ago Internet Explorer quit remembering my logins and passwords. Flock remembers them all, automatically.

Flock integrates with all sorts of things, like Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, MySpace, DIGG.

Flock checks my spelling as I type. I don't run the spell checker after I'm done writing. Flock has already taken care of it.

The only thing I've found that I don't like is Flock is unable to use some of the Internet Explorer type enhancements to a webpage. Many of those a website maker uses, knowing they may be only viewable in IE. The only one I've noticed not working is I sometimes use a stationary watermark background. In Flock, the background scrolls, rather than stay put. No big deal, but it does sort of make my Eyes on Texas website look not like what I intended.

I'm wondering if Flock is going to be absorbed into the Google Empire, what with that nice integration with Google's Blogger seeming like an indication that the two are in cahoots.

Getting Rid of Toxic Waste

It has been over 6 months since I rid myself of direct contact with a TTP (Terminally Toxic Person), who had acted out with extreme toxicity, for no apparent reason, berating sweet lovable me, like a proverbial Shakespearean untameable shrew.

While there have been, and will be no, in person contacts with that particular Human Nuclear Waste dump, there have been some incidents of written toxicity, both in blog form and in very nasty, perverse blog comments to this very blog. It's really sad how delusionally warped the human brain can twist.

It pleases me that I have others who follow the plot line and have made note of noticing the toxicity on display and its revelatory nature.

I mentioned a few days back that I was going through an intense Chinese Herbalist prescribed anti-toxin regimen. This doesn't have to do with human toxins, rather it's those toxins we eat, drink or breathe in, that wreak havoc with our internal organs.

In addition to the Detox Tea I mentioned before, I'm also drinking down salubrious volumes of Horny Goat Weed Tea.

I do not know, precisely, what is causing the salubrious effect, be it the Detox Tea, the Horny Goat Weed Tea, or what. But I had my 3rd night in a row of no insomnia. Disturbing dreams, yes, but no insomnia.

Veterans Park, Sweet Tomatoes & Horny Goat Weed

The early gray, sort of foggy morning, turned, by noon, to a typical blue sky Texas winter day. In the 70s. The windows are open again.

That leafless tree in the picture is in Veterans Park. Veterans Park is in Arlington in the heart of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, in which about 6 million people live, give or take a few.

Does the view, where this tree sits, look as if it is in an urban zone? This is only a few miles from where I live. This is not the only location like this, just a few miles from where I live.

Where I lived in the Washington town of Mount Vernon, population about 30,000, I could easily get to wild, natural areas. Almost as easily as I can in Texas. See why I like it here? For the most part.

After I was done hiking around Veterans Park I went to Sweet Tomatoes. If you live near a Sweet Tomatoes and you've not checked it out, do so. It is good. Real good. You'll be on a health food diet and loving every bit and bite of it. I leave there feeling so nutrified.

After Sweet Tomatoes I went to Fry's Electronics. They did not have the version of Dragon Speak that I wanted. They did not have any sort of Walkman that I wanted. But I did get a camera tripod that I wanted.

After that I went to Arlington's Hong Kong Marketplace on Pioneer Parkway & New York Avenue. I got a lot of good stuff and a box of "Horny Goat Weed Tea Male Vitality-Yang Herbal Tonic."

I'm drinking a pot of Horny Goat Weed right now. So far I'm not feeling any more vital than before I started drinking. It promises to promote vitality, stamina and healthy natural energy levels.

If I get any more energetic I'll have a heart attack.

The Detox Tea I've been taking has had me so relaxed I've slept well two nights in a row. I'm so relaxed I feel like I've been dosed with natural Prozac. I really don't think there is anything that could possibly annoy me right now. My cell phone just rang, a call from Washington. I let it go to voice mail. I don't want to test exactly how un-annoyable I am right now.

It's the dead of winter and there are more flowers in north Texas than in the dead of summer. Heat is hard on flowers. Winter is hard on palm trees. Last week I saw the biggest outdoor tent I've ever seen, on the grounds of a Vietnamese temple place in Arlington. Today the tent was down and I saw what it was covering. A forest of palm trees being protected from last week's freeze. The pansies you see above were in Veterans Park today. They didn't need any tent protection from the freeze.

Barnett Shale Victims Wanted for MIT Study in Fort Worth

URGENT FROM DON YOUNG:

ATTENTION Barnett Shale Victims:

You are needed for a test-run of a new MIT internet-based program.

This is a great - and easy - way to help yourself and others.

Meeting Date: Saturday, February 14, 10:00 a.m. until noon.

Location: Fort Worth Public Library – “Central Library” 500 W. Third St. (downtown Fort Worth at the intersection of 3rd and Taylor, 2 blocks west and 2 blocks south of the Tarrant County Courthouse).

DETAILS BELOW---

Dear Don,

I am writing to invite you to a meeting with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT is in the process of developing some tools to help people affected by oil and gas drilling.

We’re coming to Texas to test-run the "Landman Report Card," (LRC) which is an internet-based site that allows people to document their interactions with landmen/companies during the leasing stage. For the test-run, we’d like to meet with people who have had first-hand experience with landmen or company representatives.

The hope for LRC is that by getting people to share their stories, others will be able to read these stories and gain a better understanding of what sort of tactics these companies use. The stories can help people know what to expect when a landman comes knocking; help connect people with the same issues; and perhaps attract attention (media) to these issues.

If there’s time and interest, MIT will demonstrate a second tool, DrillWell, which is targeted more at folks already living with oil and gas facilities. The idea behind DrillWell is to document industry practices and impact (using citizen reports, links to news reports, government data, etc). The reports or events will be mapped, and searchable.

* Please feel free to forward this email to people whom you think might be interested in attending our meeting. And please have folks send an RSVP email to me (lisasumi@gmail.com), so that I can put folks on the list of attendees (the room can only handle a maximum of 25 people).

All the best,
Lisa Sumi

Information on the MIT project can be found here.

and, also here...

... and here, at the Oil and Gas Accountability Project Website

Lisa Sumi
Consultant, Oil and Gas Accountability Project and M.I.T.
Tel: 970-799-2589
Email

Sweet Tomatoes,..Etcetera...

My one longtime reader, Layla, a real sweet tomato, may remember that ever so once in awhile my imagination runs dry, or I'm just not in the mood to spew out voluminous words at rapid pace.

This morning I've got a lot of things that have crossed my mind to blog about. But at the forefront of my mind right now is I'm thinking of going out into this overcast, warming day and head to Veteran's Park in Arlington to go on a long walk. Followed by lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, my new favorite restaurant.

After Sweet Tomatoes, I'm going to Fry's Electronics, again, to see if I can find Dragon Speak, which is a program where you can talk into a headset and it converts your words to editable type, with a supposed 99.7% success rate, at 300 words per minute. Which is way faster than I can type. And about half as fast as I can talk. I estimate, if this works, it will amp up my blog spewing a minimum of three times. Oh, the horror.

I also want to see if Fry's has any sort of Walkman type thing. You know, those old-fashioned headset things where you can listen to the radio. Wal-Mart and Target no longer have such things.

I'm going from Fry's to Chinatown in Arlington to get stuff I forgot 2 days ago. I need to remember to make a list. After Chinatown I'm going to go by the new Dallas Cowboy's Stadium, which is almost completed, and maybe get a good picture or two. Maybe not. Last time I was there it was so congested with construction obstructions all I wanted to do was escape.

On my mind to blog about, today, likely this afternoon, is something I learned about this morning, that being that Dallas also is in some sort of deal to have Omni Hotels build them a convention center hotel. The deal has hit snags. I'm not getting why Dallas would have to go to any extreme measures, unlike Fort Worth, to get a convention center hotel, because Dallas actually has a lot of conventions and already has a lot of downtown hotels.

I have also been amazed at how many people come to my blog after searching for help about how to deal with "Only Child Syndrome." That's always fun to write about. Also, I am perplexed as to why, all over the world, people are looking for info about the "world's biggest butt." Yes, I did blog about that after I saw what I thought had to be the world's biggest butt at my local Wal-Mart Supercenter. But what causes people all over the world to keep searching for this? And they usually do the searching in packs. Look at my FeedJit stats and you'll likely see what I'm talking about.

Alma, my favorite Songbird of the South, sent me an email, this morning, with "Tips For A Better Life in 2009" that I thought was pretty good blog material, though it is one of those things that has likely spanned the globe a million times via being forwarded.

Also, I had it in mind to blog about how well my Chinese Herb Detox program is going. Last night I had another insomnia free sleep. What a difference that makes. This morning I took my blood pressure for the first time in awhile. I could tell it would be low. 123/68. I recently learned my little brother is on BP medications. He drives down to Mexico to get his pills. My little brother is actually my big brother. He's about twice as big as me and a little shorter.

Anyway, it's time to get ready to get out of here. Sorry to disappoint my one longtime reader, Layla, my one, self-described, adoring fan, that I wasn't in the mood to blog this morning. Maybe I'll feel more word-worthy this afternoon. After I have my daily Chinese Herb Detox Tea.

Clucking the Ducks at Oakland Lake Park

I'm on Day 2 of my self-supervised Detox program. I am already seeing benefits. As in last night I did not suffer a bout of insomnia. The Chinese Herbal Cure I mentioned yesterday seems to be working. For now.

Like my one time longtime reader, someone, somewhere, out there, can tolerate reading what I write, enough to ask me to write for their new enterprise. I shall keep you posted as to the details of that, if it comes to any sort of fruition.

I was stuck in here, staring at my computer screen, for the most part, til a bit before 3 when I escaped to walk around Oakland Lake Park. In a few months I'll be seeing a lot of turtles there, I thought I might see some today out sunning themselves. But I didn't.

But, I did see a lot of ducks. Usually they are in the water, where ducks belong. Or in the air. But instead, a whole big flock of ducks was out of the water, across the paved trail and halfway up the hill to the parking lot. I don't know what they were thinking. They appeared to be busy getting stuff off the ground. Someone must have thrown out a lot of duck food.

The ducks let me get pretty close. Somehow, I've got my new camera set to make a dog bark noise when the shutter snaps. I find that annoying, but like that orchestra that plays when my cell phone rings, I don't know how to make the barking or the symphony stop.

When I got too close and my camera dog barked, the flock of ducks took off, all at once, right over head. I was afraid the same falling projectile problem that occurs if you are under a flock of seagulls, early after take off, would occur. I shielded myself as best I could, but no duck poop was spotted.

The flock of ducks didn't fly too far, just out to the lake. I walked towards them and took more pictures, using the zoom, so as not to startle them with a barking dog.

I talked to my sister in Phoenix while I walked around Oakland Lake. Ginger and Mark are visiting from Marysville. That is a town north of Seattle. Seattle is in Washington. Ginger and my sister were out by the pool. Ginger was getting a sunburn. It's in the 80s in Phoenix. It's almost 60 here. I am not out at the pool. I do have the windows open though. It felt warm in here.

I see Fry's Electronics and Sweet Tomatoes restaurant in my future for tomorrow.

Texas Survivor

Like I've said before, Alma, the Songbird of the South, performing now on the Texas Gulf Coast at Port Aransas, regularly sends me funny stuff.

One of this morning's crop of funny stuff was one I think I've seen before, I think, but it freshly amused me.

And so I'm sharing....

Due to the popularity of the "Survivor" shows, Texas is planning to do one entitled---

"Survivor, Texas Style."

The contestants will all start in Dallas, then drive to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, over to Houston and down to Brownsville.

They will then proceed up to Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo.

From there they will go on to Abilene, Fort Worth and finally back to Dallas.

Each will be driving a pink Volvo with bumper stickers that read: "I'm Gay," "I Love the Dixie Chicks," "Boycott Beef," "I Voted for Obama," " George Strait Sucks," "Hillary in 2012" and "I'm here to confiscate your guns."

The first one who makes it back to Dallas alive wins.

Don't Let Oil & Gas Drillers Mess With Texas

Fight back: help us start the
Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project

Dear FWCanDo supporters --

I know you love Texas. And we are writing today because the oil & gas industry is "Messing with Texas" and we need your support to reform oil and gas practices in the Lone Star State, before it is too late.

A destructive new drilling boom threatens communities

In Fort Worth, amid the lush prairie hills and the Trinity River corridor, more than 1,100 oil and gas wells have been drilled within the city limits! 100 new wells are being permitted every month. Some experts predict as many as 7,000 wells could be drilled within city limits. And more than 9,000 wells have been drilled in surrounding counties -- with 5,000 more already approved.

This drilling boom is due to the discovery of the Barnett Shale formation, a prolific source of natural gas, roughly 8,000 feet below the surface. The pace of drilling to date has outstripped the ability of landowners and local governments to address the environmental and public health impacts that haunt other oil and gas producing regions like Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.

We urgently need you to join our cause and help level the playing field in favor of Texans like you.

What does this mean for your community?

Drilling for gas means a spider web of gas wells, disposal wells, compressor stations, pipelines, processing facilities and traffic. With this development comes toxic emissions, water contamination, water disposal issues, safety concerns, and noise issues. The impacts to people's health from living downwind or downstream from drilling and processing is significant, and homeowners are already wrestling with declining property values as neighborhoods and rural communities are turned into industrial drilling zones.

---In Fort Worth, pipelines and wells are being located and drilled just feet from residences. Open spaces, such as the Tandy Hills, Greenbelt and other endangered, native prairie lands are turning into industrialized landscapes and drilling is encroaching upon drinking water supplies such as Lake Worth.
---In Parker County and across the Barnett Shale drilling region, massive amounts of precious water are being used to drill the wells and residents worry about the quality, quantity and future of their water resources.
---In Wise County, toxic and unfenced oil and gas waste pits dot the landscape, engines from drill rigs, trucks and compressors spoil our air quality, and massive pipeline projects create industrial noise in once quiet communities.

A solution: the Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project

We are writing to invite you to join an exciting new project aimed at preventing and reducing the negative impacts of this unchecked drilling - the Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project!

Over the last year, organizations and information outlets such as Bluedaze, CREDO, Fort Worth CANDO, the League of Women's Voters, PARCHED and the Sierra Club, have been getting information about gas development into the hands of residents, weighing in on our local gas drilling ordinance, and protecting the future of our neighborhoods by petitioning for gas drilling to be limited to industrial areas. In the course of this work, we have partnered with EARTHWORKS' Oil & Gas Accountability Project (OGAP), an organization with more than 20 years expertise and experience working with communities to prevent and reduce the impacts caused by mineral development.

As energy corporations have pushed to open up more areas across the country to oil and gas exploration and development, OGAP has worked to bring local, state and federal reforms to protect water and landowner rights. Their efforts helped pass the strongest surface owner protections in the United States last year in New Mexico and Colorado, and we want the same protections here for Texans.

If we are successful in forming a Texas chapter of OGAP, we will work to:

---establish strong local and state oil and gas regulations in Texas;
---ensure that where oil and gas resources are developed, companies utilize best practices to prevent and reduce their impact;
---protect key areas threatened by energy development such as the LBJ Grasslands and urban green space;
---end industry exemptions to our nation's environmental and public health laws such as the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act; and,
---advocate for an energy future that is based on clean, safe and renewable energy sources.

Will you please make a contribution to this important work and join our cause today?

Holding energy companies responsible and accountable for their impacts is a daunting task in this era of urban drilling and peak fossil fuels. I am confident that as we face the rampant development of the Barnett Shale, we need on-the-ground expertise and engaging OGAP is a critical and savvy step for North Texas.

Thank you so much for your time and concern about our great state. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Don Young, Fort Worth CANDO and
Gwen Lachelt, Director, EARTHWORKS' Oil & Gas Accountability Project

P.S. Please consider making a gift to OGAP of $35 or more to support this effort. If you'd like to review a provisional budget that provides details on expenses for Texas OGAP, or in discussing anything else relating to this initiative, don't hesitate to contact us -- Gwen (970) 259-3353 or Don (817) 731-2787.