The Wikipedia Blackout Puts A Stop To My World Of Free Knowledge

I have now experienced the pain of the Wikipedia blackout.

I read in one of my online news sources that workers working on widening the Panama Canal are striking, due to being way underpaid.

I did not know the Panama Canal was being widened and was curious as to what level of involvement America still has in the Panama Canal.

So, as I often do when I seek info, I Googled and clicked on the Wikipedia link. The Panama Canal article popped up, quickly followed by the message you see above. asking us to "Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge."

Okay, I tried, but I can't imagine what I'm being asked to imagine.

I can easily imagine a world without stupid people. That would be a nice world.

Near as I can tell, this Wikipedia blackout is being caused by too many stupid people sending too many stupid people to Washington, D.C. to represent them, where they've stupidly come up with some stupid legislation that, like I said, near as I can tell, is an American world wide assault on Freedom of Speech.

That really sounds terribly un-American to me.

We Are Freezing In Texas With No Snow Unlike Snowbound Western Washington

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world, on this 18th day of the New Year, you might guess, due to the frosty window pane, that it is freezing this morning in Texas.

Your guess would be correct. My computer-based temperature monitoring device indicates it is currently 27 degrees.

Once again the morning temperature at my current home location is the same as my old home location in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Up in my old home location, this morning, it is not only cold. it is covered deeply in snow.

Pretty much every school in the Puget Sound zone of Western Washington is closed today. The only one I saw open was Anacortes, starting two hours late, subject to change. Seattle is shut down. Flights in and out of Sea-Tac have been cancelled.

I suspect when the sun arrives over the West Coast this morning, in less than two hours, my old neighborhood will be a Winter Wonderland of sleds sliding and skis skiing.

I wish I was there.

Spencer Jack & His Dad Drove By My Old Snowy Home In Washington Today

Snowy Pawnee Lane In Mount Vernon Washington

Spencer Jack's dad has been driving Spencer all over the Skagit Valley today, checking out the snow.

Including a drive by of where I lived before moving to Texas.

I am not understanding how the Douglas Fir that is to the left of the carport has grown so big. It was nowhere near this tall when I moved.

I actually don't even remember a Douglas Fir tree being in that location. Had you asked me I would have said it was several Alder trees.

A month prior to the move a bad windstorm knocked down several trees, including a pair of Alder by where that tall Douglas Fir stands.

Having your house sit under really tall trees and having a lot of windows makes for an interesting scene when the wind gets blowing hard.

Or when there is an earthquake.

Tall trees sway very strangely in an earthquake.

I can see some remodeling has taken place. A different entry door on the second level. The open carport now has a garage door. The stairs from the second floor have been rebuilt with what looks like a landing halfway down. It looks like the windows have been replaced.

I miss this house. Everything about it worked well. It required no air-conditioning, not that many homes in Western Washington have air-conditioning, but this house was designed to passively stay cool.

I like a house that is designed to passively stay cool, since that matches my own personal design. I always stay passively cool.

I wonder what snow pictures my nephew and Spencer Jack will be sending me tomorrow?

Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Thinking About Black Kettle, Log Plugs, A Juicy Snowstorm In Washington & Wikipedia Going Dark

A Log Plugs A Hole In A Village Creek Dam Bridge

When I woke up my computer this morning, well before the arrival of the sun, my computer temperature monitoring device indicated it was 58 degrees in the outer world.

By the time the sun arrived, the incoming cold front also arrived, dropping the temperature to 41.

I took off from my abode earlier than the norm to go on my daily bout of endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

I went to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area for one of my regular walks with the Indian Ghosts who haunt this area.

Indian Ghosts were on my mind today, with me thinking about Black Kettle surviving the Sand Creek Massacre, thinking he had his tribe in a safe place, protected by the American government, then a few years later, again thinking he had his tribe in a safe place, only to find himself, and his wife, murdered by George Custer and his 7th Cavalry, in the Washita River Massacre.

I'd link to the Wikipedia articles about Black Kettle and the Sand Creek and Washita River Massacres, but Wikipedia is about to go dark in a protest I don't quite understand.

My Van Rendered Immobile By Snow

A few minutes ago I blogged on my Washington Blog about the snowstorm that is covering Western Washington, today, in what may end up being a record breaking accumulation, in a blogging titled "A Juicy Snowstorm Hits Western Washington Today & Tomorrow."

In the picture you are looking out my bedroom window in my house on Pawnee Lane in Mount Vernon, Washington, in December of 1996, at what was the deepest snow I'd ever seen in the county I lived in.

I was snowbound for almost a week, that month in 1996. Today and tomorrow's snowstorm is predicted to be equal to, or deeper than the 1996 snowstorm.

I am feeling a bit homesick today.

The 17th Morning Of 2012 Dawns Dark & Warm While Snow Covers My Nephew's Restaurant In Washington

As you can see, looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, the 17th morning of 2012 is very very dark, with just a little illumination provided by a sliver of the moon directly overhead.

Seeing a sliver of the moon directly overhead would seem to indicate at least a partially clear sky.

Currently, in the outer world at my location, it is 58 degrees. Yesterday's high got into the 70s.

I think I will see if swimming is doable this morning.

Changing the subject from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I watched last night's Republican debate.

Changing the subject from the ridiculous back to the weather.

My old home zone is bracing for what the weather predictors are predicting may be a record breaking snowstorm, arriving on Wednesday, with possible accumulations of well over a foot of the white stuff all over the Puget Sound lowlands.

In all my years of living in the Puget Sound lowlands zone I can only remember one time the snow got over  a foot deep. That was in December of 1996. That particular snowstorm had me trapped on the hill my house sat on for almost a week. I could only travel by cross country ski til the snow melted.

Spencer Jack's Dad's Fidalgo Drive-In

It was a Winter Wonderland. The steep cul-de-sac that my house was on became a sledding mecca well into the night, with night sledding illumination provided by the street lights.

This morning Spencer Jack's dad, my nephew Jason, sent me a picture of what his restaurant, the Fidalgo Drive-In, was looking like yesterday.

My nephew's restaurant is in Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island, hence the name of the restaurant. Anacortes is a port town. It is where you hop a ferry to get out to the San Juan Islands, or to Victoria, up in British Columbia.

A cold front is moving in today at my current location on the planet. I see no snow in the forecast.

Martin Luther King Day Finding A Rutted Muddy Mess On The Tandy Hills With Drowned Tires

Stunning Skyline Of Beautiful Downtown Fort Worth

Today was my first time back on the Tandy Hills since we had some rain fall a week, or so, ago.

When I arrived at the top of Mount Tandy to take the picture you see here of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth a strong wind was blowing, making the air feel cooler than its 65 degrees.

I did not realize today was Martin Luther King Day til I was on the road listening to Rush Limbaugh doing his ranting when he said he also did not realize today was a holiday til someone mentioned it to him.

I don't know how I missed it being Martin Luther King Day. Surely there was mention made of the holiday in each of the online news sources I check in on every morning.

The Rutted Muddy Tandy Highway

During the night I did have a dream. Maybe that was my sub-conscious telling me it was Martin Luther King Day.

Changing the subject back to the Tandy Hills.

I was more than a little appalled when I got to the bottom of Mount Tandy and saw that the Tandy Highway has been turned into a rutted, muddy mess.

The muddy ruts have dried for the most part. The rutted up road made walking on it more difficult than it was before this happened.

I did not check today on the current status of the Tandy Bamboo Teepee.

The Drowned Tandy Tires

But I did check in on the current location of the Giant Tandy Tire #2 and its mate.

A cruel vandal has drowned the tires in Tandy Creek at the base of Tandy Falls.

Who would commit such an act?

When I left the drowned tires and headed south, back to the Tandy Highway, I saw the rutted, muddiness continued into the northeast corner of the Tandy Hills.

Back to that first photo at the top. Today when I was looking across the prairie at the skyline of Fort Worth I wondered if there is any other city in America, with a population over a half million, which has such a large expanse of undeveloped land so near its downtown?

I suspect not.

Fort Worth is very unique.

The Dawn Of The 3rd Monday Of 2012 In Texas Is Already Heated To 60 Degrees

I was up late Sunday, which has me up late on what is already the third Monday of the New Year of 2012, which you can sort of tell via the view from my primary viewing portal on the outer world.

Half of January is already history.

It is already 60 degrees out in the outer world, this morning, with the sun only a short time into its daily heating duty.

The temperature predictors are predicting a high in the 70s today.

I see a possible bout of swimming by tomorrow morning.

And possibly the Tandy Hills around noon today.

Blue & Max Take David, Theo & Ruby Sledding At My Future Home Zone Of Tacoma

This was so darn cute I just had to share.

I have been getting reports from Western Washington, all day today, that the predicted snow actually arrived, as predicted.

Those who have never lived in Washington don't know that it is fairly rare for Western Washington to get snow all over the Puget Sound lowlands. Up in the mountains, yes, lots of snow, but not so much the closer you get to the saltwater.

I learned on the Blue & Max Adventure Poodle Blog, this evening, that the snow covering Western Washington reached all the way to the south Puget Sound zone, to my living quarters in 2020, in Tacoma.

In the sled, that is my nephew David in the rear, with nephew Theo in the middle, which would make niece Ruby Jean in front.

I'd Go To Haltom City To See The Sara Lee State Fair Corn Dog Water Tower

The Haltom City Sara Lee Corn Dog Water Tower

This morning, or was it yester morning, I learned of an important contest in Haltom City to design a new look for the town water tower.

Currently the Haltom City Water Tower has the name of the town on it and what appears to be Snoopy the Dog smoking.

Some have suggested that water flowing should be painted on the tower, since Haltom City is well known for its floods.

Others have suggested the naming rights be sold, with many suggesting selling the naming rights to Haltom City's biggest employer and polluter, Sara Lee, which makes world famous State Park Corn Dogs in Haltom City.

Additional others have suggested selling naming rights to Chesapeake Energy, because Chesapeake Energy already owns so much in Haltom City. The Chesapeake Energy logo could go on the tower, with a catchy phrase, something like "Your Water Is Our Water."

The Haltom City Water Tower In Its Current Condition

Those who decide what is best for Haltom City could not decide on how to solve the water tower problem, hence the contest.

On the right you see how the Haltom City Water Tower currently looks. This is not the view with Snoopy smoking.

I think it'd be real cool if the top part were made to look like a flying saucer, with the ribbed support tower underneath the flying saucer painted to look like exhaust from the flying saucer.

I bet people would come from as far away as Richland Hills and Watauga just to see the Haltom City Flying Saucer Water Tower.

A Windy Xeriscaped Walk In Veterans Park Wondering Why Betty Jo Bouvier Chose To Be Happy

I had to be in Pantego today in the noon time frame, so, since I was in the neighborhood I dropped in for a visit with the soldier who stands guard at the memorial in Veterans Park in Arlington.

As you might guess from the 3 flags waving, a strong wind was blowing in Arlington today.

I saw several groups disc golfing. A strong, gusty wind would not seem to be ideal for disc golfing.

Speaking of disc golfing. There are signs in Veterans Park advising that you be on the lookout for flying discs. Methinks disc golf parks should have their own designated park. It does not seem right to be required to dodge flying discs in a multi-use park.

I walked on the trails that meander through the Veterans Park Xeriscape display garden that shows people native Texas plants they can plant which require little water.

This had me wondering if Veterans Park were located in Fort Worth if the city would issue a citation to Veterans Park for having tall native grass growing that does not match the other yards in the neighborhood, like Fort Worth did to the Young couple who live across the street from the Tandy Hills, hills which are covered by native grass and other plants that grow naturally in Texas?

Changing the subject from the City of Fort Worth's bad behavior to happiness.

Betty Jo Bouvier has been on a trek to find the meaning of life. Just minutes ago I saw on Facebook what Betty Jo has discovered so far, that being that "Happiness is a Choice."

I did not know this.

I know happiness is discussed in the American Declaration of Independence, something about the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. If happiness is a choice, like Betty Jo Bouvier believes, then why would you need to pursue it, I can't help but wonder? In Betty Jo's America you don't pursue happiness, you simply choose happiness.

I wonder if Thomas Jefferson had the benefit of Betty Jo Bouvier's more enlightened view would he have changed his wording to "Life, Liberty and the Choice of Happiness?"

Doesn't quite have the same poetic ring that Thomas Jefferson's wording has.