The Imperial Hubris Of All The Anonymous People

A couple days ago I finished reading Imperial Hubris, authored by my most ubiquitous blog commenter, Anonymous.

Wikipedia has a good article that gives you a good idea of why Americans who can read should read Imperial Hubris by Anonymous.

In the Wikipedia article I learned that Anonymous is no longer Anonymous.

Anonymous is Michael Scheuer, a 22 year CIA veteran who ran the Counterterrorist Center's Osama bin Laden operation from 1996 til 1999.

If you were among the millions who winced in astonishment every time our former dunce president said things like bin Laden hates America and attacked us because he hated freedom and western modern ways, well, in a video from back in September of 2007, after the Imperial Hubris author was no longer Anonymous, Osama bin Laden said, "if you would like to get to know some of the reasons for your losing of your war against us, then read the book of Michael Scheuer in this regard."

Changing the subject from one Anonymous to another Anonymous.

My initial intention in bringing up this Anonymous subject was to mention my personal problem with Anonymous, as it pertains to blog comments.

I have 5 blogs. Combined, the 5 blogs have had well over 6,000 posts. Any one of those posts can generate a comment. I let anyone comment. The comment can be Anonymous, or make up a name, Or OpenID or log in to your Google account.

Well over half of all the blog comments are from Anonymous.

Google emails me all the comments. This amounts to a lot of comment emails every day. Some of the Anonymous comments are legit. Most are spam. Google does a good job of putting the legit Anonymous comments in the Awaiting Moderation folder.

However, if you comment as Anonymous and do not see your comment appear, that is likely not due to me reading it and rejecting it, but instead due to the fact that I do not open and read the comment emails from Anonymous. There are just too many of them.

So, if you want to make sure your comment is published, make up a name, instead of being Anonymous, if you don't want to use an identifier that identifies the commenter as you.

More than once I have had someone Anonymous get bent out of shape due to me not being able to keep track of various Anonymous people commenting on the same blog post. This can be annoying.

Quit Giving Money To Fort Worth Vagrants Including Panhandlers & Beggars

Today I did not feel like driving anywhere for my daily walkabout.

So, I walked about my neighborhood.

Walking about my neighborhood took  me by Albertsons. In the the Albertsons strip mall there is an Italian restaurant appropriately named Italy Pasta & Pizza.

I have never had pasta or pizza at Italy Pasta & Pizza. Italy Pasta & Pizza is closed on Sunday. This gave me the opportunity to look at the menu that is posted in the window next to the entry door, without being gawked at by the diners inside the restaurant, sitting right by the menu in the window.

Near the menu in the window I saw a sign I'd not noticed before, that being the sign you see above.

The sign says....

PLEASE DO NOT GIVE MONEY 

TO THE VAGRANTS

(panhandlers and beggars  included)

MOST OF THEM ARE PROFESSIONAL CON ARTISTS, THE OTHERS ARE ADDICTS THAT WILL USE YOUR MONEY TO BUY DRUGS AND LIQUOR.

IF YOU WISH TO DONATE MONEY FOR THOSE THAT
ARE TRULY NEEDY, WE RECOMMEND:

The "WE RECOMMEND" is followed by a list of 4 locations in Fort Worth where one can donate money to the truly needy.

Now, I either drive by, or walk  by, Italy Pasta & Pizza at least once a day. I have never seen anyone looking like a vagrant or a panhandler or a beggar. I have never had anyone ask me for money at this location.

How does this restaurant know that most of these vagrants, panhandlers and beggars, which I have never seen, are professional con artists, with those who are not vagrant, panhandling or begging being addicts finagling for money to buy booze and drugs?

I often see Fort Worth police cars parked at Italy Pasta & Pizza. More than once I've seen officers leaving this restaurant, looking well fed. This does not strike me as a prime location for someone wanting to swindle innocents out of their money.

So, why does this restaurant have this tacky sign in their window?

Very perplexing.

A Saturday Walk Around Fosdick Lake Before Pulling Pepperoni Pizza From The Oven

The long and winding road you are looking at in the photo is the paved trail that winds its way around Fosdick Lake in Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park.

The Fosdick Lake trail was this Saturday's location I chose to get my daily dose of endorphins acquired via aerobic stimulation.

Soon after the sun came up this morning I got some aerobic stimulation via swimming in a pool that was a bit cooler than it was yesterday.

North Texas is looking rather green, in the photo, is it not? Most of North Texas looks green this time of year.

I remember awhile back Washingtonian, Betty Jo Bouvier, after seeing one of my green North Texas photos, expressed surprise that any part of Texas is green.

My first time in North Texas was way back in 1980, so I've known, since then, that not all of Texas is a brown desert.

But that 1980 visit was in August, so, at that point in time, North Texas was not green to the jungle-like level it currently is.

After having myself a mighty fine time walking around Fosdick  Lake it was off to Town Talk for my regularly scheduled Saturday treasure hunt. Today I got myself a lot of green peppers, a big bag of pears, a bag of grapefruit, roasted turkey breast and a big pepperoni pizza that I just pulled out of the oven.

Since I just pulled the pepperoni pizza out of the oven one might guess that it is time for lunch. One would be making a correct guess...

The Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area Is Now Blooming Bluebonnets

On Tuesday I was walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, pleased to discover that the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area was blooming a lot of color.

Today I was pleased to discover, as you can see in the photo, that the precipitation that precipitated since my last walk with the Indian Ghosts, has coaxed the bluebonnets in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area to tardily, in large numbers, put on their annual display of an otherworldly shade of blue.

The unusually cold temperatures that blew in with the rain is likely slowing up the wildflower blooming, again. I suspect the return to warmth in the next day or two will have the wildflowers back on track to be in full show off mode by the time of Prairie Fest 2013, on the Tandy Hills, Saturday, April 27.

Speaking of being cold. This morning I switched my interior climate control device from cool back to heat. I do not remember ever resorting to artificial heat before, in April, in Texas.

Paradoxically, even though the temperature was only 37, this morning, when the sun arrived, I had myself a really fine time in the cool pool, with the cool pool feeling as if it was a heated pool, due to the water being so much warmer than the almost freezing air.

Well, I must cease this blogging now and move on to something else, as in, I see Elsie Hotpepper has tasked me with an important task that I must attend to at once,  lest I get heat from the Hotpepper....

A Stormy Texas Night With Fertilizer Exploding In West & Elsie Hotpepper No Longer Missing

The sun is not yet providing much illumination this stormy Thursday morning in Texas.

You can sort of see, via the view from my patio portal on the outer world, that an extremely strong wind is moving the foliage surrounding the swimming pool.

Currently the outer world is chilled to 46 degrees at my location. This means the water in the pool is a lot less cool than 46, due to yesterday's high being in the near 90 zone.

The power went out in my abode around 4 this morning. This woke me up, which is when I realized rain had arrived along with thunder booming.

I don't think I heard the explosion in West that killed more people and did more damage than the Boston bombings. Apparently the fertilizer plant that had erupted into a big fire, being fought by firefighters, when the explosion exploded, was known to have some operation issues.

In other news, the missing Elsie Hotpepper has now been located. Suffice to say, Elsie is yet one more victim of American Airlines.

I don't know if going swimming this morning is a good idea. I'll have the answer to that question in about a half hour.

A HOT Hunt For The Missing Elsie Hotpepper At Quanah Parker Park

No, that is not the paved trail in Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area you are looking at in the picture.

That fact is clearly obvious to an observant person, due to the well known fact that the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's paved trail does not have a center line.

However, the paved trail in Quanah Parker Park does have a center line.

Which might lead one to guess that today I parked at Quanah Parker Park to go on a borderline too HOT walk.

The one making that guess would be correct.

Elsie Hotpepper has gone missing for the first time in quite a while. I looked for the missing Hotpepper at Quanah Parker Park, but did not find her.

The last I heard from Elsie Hotpepper was on Monday, at which time Miss Hotpepper talked about islands. As in South Padre Island being a preferable island location to Galveston Island.

Changing the subject from Hotpepper back to the HOT weather.

Just like a week ago today, a BIG storm is predicted to arrive sometime after midnight at my location on the planet. Last week's BIG Storm piddled out at my location.

I am not liking the A/C running. Eventually I get used to this, if I am remembering correctly.

At 83 degrees my location is the HOTTEST of the temperatures I monitor hourly. My old home zone of Mount Vernon, in Washington, is a relatively chilly 55 degrees, while my mom and dad, nephews, sister and favorite brother-in-law, in Arizona, are only 14 degrees warmer than Mount Vernon, at 69 degrees.

Well, enough about temperatures, I must go continue my hunt for the missing Elsie Hotpepper now....

A Plethora Of Village Creek Wildflowers Thinking About Skagit Valley Tulips

Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area today was blooming a lot more wildflowers than what it was blooming just two days ago.

And so it seems, wildflower season has finally arrived in North Texas.

Yesterday, whilst walking in my neighborhood I came upon a flower growing wild that I thought was a wildflower, but I was later informed this particular flower is known as a very common Iris.

I don't know why a very common Iris can not also be a wildflower.

Currently my old home location, that being the Skagit Valley in the State of Washington, is in the midst of the annual Skagit Tulip Festival, running from April 1 through April 30.

Over a million visitors come to the Skagit Valley each year to look at the tulips and other flowers blooming on the valley floor.

Until 1985 I lived in West Mount Vernon, on the west side of the Skagit River. This meant every weekend during the Tulip Festival I had myself a really fine time dealing with the worst traffic jams I've ever experienced anywhere.

The traffic problems have improved over the years, with mass transit hauling some of the visitors in buses. And better control of the traffic flow.

Looking at the Skagit Tulip Festival website I see a mission statement...

The Mission of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is to coordinate and promote a countywide Spring celebration of the tulip bloom, in commemoration of the valley’s annual tulip harvest, and to be an advocate for Skagit Valley agriculture.

Reading the above had me wondering if Tarrant County has a countywide celebration advocating anything. Skagit County has countywide public transit. Tarrant County does not have countywide public transit.

Does Tarrant County have countywide anything? I'm drawing a blank.

Well, there is the Tarrant Regional Water District, that covers more than Tarrant County,  but I don't know of the Tarrant Regional Water District celebrating advocating anything other than conserving water, except for the water the Tarrant Regional Water District sells to gas drillers, who mix the water with chemicals and shoot it underground, turning it into water the Tarrant Regional Water District does not worry about conserving....

Everyone Knows 9 Out Of 10 Children Get Their Awesomeness From Their Uncle

A couple minutes ago I was making one of my rare visits to Facebook when I saw that Fort Worth's Connie D, not to be confused with Tacoma's Connie D, had posted a very disturbing distorted bit of propaganda. I took this propaganda and altered it to more accurately reflect reality....

Mailing A Letter To The IRS With The A/C Running And A Wildflower Blooming In North Texas

I was up early and in the no longer all that cool pool soon after the sun showed up this 3rd Monday of April, which also happens to be April 15.

April 15.

A Day of Infamy which arrives once a year which causes me to drive to the Post Office to mail a letter to a federal agency known as the IRS.

I returned from the Post Office and decided to take a short walk around my neighborhood.

About 10 minutes into walking I came upon the big, colorful, orchid-like wildflower you see above.

Yesterday I read somewhere someone opining that the North Texas wildflower display is going to be more wild than this year's Hill Country wildflower display.  I do not recollect upon what data this opining person was basing his thinking that the 2013 North Texas wildflower display was going to outdo Hill Country.

I have only seen the Hill Country wildflower display once. The year was 2002, with the hills covered with color to a level I've not seen in the North Texas Prairies & Lakes Region.

I am guessing the return to extremely warm temperatures in North Texas will get the wildflowers a lot more excited about blooming than the bout of almost freezing that had the wildflowers shivering last week.

The outer world has become so warm at my location that I have had to resort to using the in-house mechanical cooling device known as air-conditioning to make the air in my abode suitable for habitation.

I have a bad feeling, the source of which I am not certain, that we are going to be having a record breaking HOT summer in North Texas. I may need to escape to the relative frigidity of Washington...

Sunny Sunday Pedaling Arlington's Bob Findlay Linear Park

I took my handlebars to Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area this fine second Sunday of April to pedal with the Indian Ghosts, then exit the Natural Historical Area to continue pedaling on the crooked paved trail that is known as the Bob Findlay Linear Park.

We may be at a VCNHA number of visitors tipping point where adding additional parking space may be needed.

Today I saw what may have been a record number of people enjoying the outer world in the Natural Area.

One family of 11, all with fishing poles stuck in the creek, with one of the 11 claiming to have caught a fish. But I saw no evidence of the catch.

A guy and girl pair on skinny tire bikes had the guy with two big leashed dogs. I saw this was not going well. By the time I reached the guy with the two dogs I told him he was being very adventurous, when what I actually thought was he was being very foolish. About 20 feet after I passed the guy with the two dogs I heard the noise of a bike crash. I turned around to see the guy on the ground with the leashed dogs all tangled up.

Changing the subject to something else.

This morning's swim went well. The cool pool has lost a lot of its cool. Are we now at the point in time where the pool remains comfortably doable until next fall cools it down?

I think I will have myself an afternoon swim along with some lounge chair based sunbathing, preparing my pasty skin for excessive South Padre Island sun exposure.