Martin Luther King Day In Texas Hoping One Day We Shall Overcome

This morning, on Facebook, via one of my oldest and dearest friends, Miss Linda, currently residing in my old hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington, I saw my first Martin Luther King Day memorial of the day.

A reminder to remember lest we ever forget.

We shall overcome, we shall overcome.

We shall overcome some day.

Deep in my heart I do believe We shall overcome some day.

Who knows when that day will come when we overcome all the hate that roils the world, overcoming that hate with peace and compassion.

The current Catholic Pope, Francis, seems to be the current world's best version of the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Methinks we need several dozen more world leaders of the Pope Francis, Martin Luther King sort, with at least a dozen of that quality of leader leading those in the Muslim world to a more modern way of looking at the rest of humanity with whom they share the planet....

Watching The Super Bowl Bound Seattle Seahawks Win Again From The Imaginary Football Capital Of The World

What an entertaining Sunday afternoon of football, from my vantage point, here in the Imaginary Football Capital of the World, Tarrant County, where no football was played today, watching a rather amazing Seattle Seahawk's overtime comeback win over the Green Bay Packers, which sends the Seahawks to Arizona for the Super Bowl.

I "watched" the Seahawks win today via live blogging with Scott up in Seattle.

This was a much more enjoyable means of watching a football game than enduring a television broadcast with its endless yammering and commercials.

The live blogging provided plenty of visuals, including visuals likely not seen on the TV broadcast, such as Richter Scale readings when the fans would get quaking way too much.

I did not envy any of those live on the scene 12th Man fans watching that game in person on what looked to be a rather miserable stereotypically rainy Pacific Northwest winter day today.

But, I suspect the record breaking crowd, though wet, in the end, except for the Packer fans in attendance, thought it was well worth it, watching those beloved Seahawks win again.

And now the two weeks of pre-Super Bowl hoopla begins for parts of America.

I suspect the hoopla will be a bit muted in the Football Capital of the World....

Macie Is The Seattle Seahawks Latest 12th Man Fan Not From Texas

I saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook, via Macie Knappson's mom.

Macie is a Snicker Doodle, combo Schnauzer/Poodle, who found her forever home this week in Kent, Washington, where she will now live in Only Child Syndrome splendor.

In other words Macie is getting a lot of attention, hopefully not enough to turn the little cutey into a spoiled brat.

Macie already has had herself fitted with a Seattle Seahawks green and blue sweater with the #12 on it.

The past couple weeks the #12 has sprouted up all over the Pacific Northwest on all sorts of things.

Including the Seattle Space Needle, as you can see above.

A few years ago some obscure Texas school got itself all twisted due to thinking Seattle had somehow stolen this 12th Man concept from them. That Texas school went so far as to sue someone over this supposed 12th Man theft. I recollect more than once reading about more than one Seattle Seahawk 12th Man fan having no clue that some obscure Texas school also deemed its fans its team's 12th Man.

Due to very few people in the Pacific Northwest knowing that some obscure Texas school shared this 12th Man thing the case never progressed to the point of being tried in court.

I don't know if that obscure Texas school still clings to this 12th Man thing, what with the Seattle Seahawks having sort of brought the concept to national awareness.

I doubt I will watch today's pre-Super Bowl game between the Seahawks and Green Bay Packers. Last year I watched, for the most  part, the games which led to Seattle being in the Super Bowl.

This year it all has a sort of been there, done that, seen it before feel to it. I suspect if Seattle wins today I will be watching the Super Bowl in two weeks. I usually do that anyway, for the commercials, which have been a bit lame the past few Super Bowls....

For $70 TRWD Kingpin Jim Oliver Will Make Texas Water Issues Clear For You

A couple days ago a perplexing invitation from the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce showed up in my emailbox.

The invitation was to an event titled Leaders in Government with Jim Oliver, General Manager, Tarrant Regional Water District.

First the details of this event, copied from the email and then my perplexed wonderment about this event...


EVENT DESCRIPTION:
With Texas’ and especially Tarrant County’s growing population -- coupled with ongoing drought conditions -- our water sourcing, delivery, conservation and reuse is a top business priority for the Chamber.

You’re invited to hear about opportunities for solutions when we welcome Jim Oliver, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District at our next Leaders in Government luncheon February 12. Led by a publicly elected five-member board, the Water District owns and operates four major reservoirs including Lake Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain Lake and the Cedar Creek and Richland Chambers Reservoirs.

Oliver will discuss water quality and supply; the Integrated Pipeline, a joint project with TRWD and the City of Dallas to move existing water from Cedar Creek Reservoir, Richland Chambers Reservoir and Lake Palestine; recreation sponsored by TRWD; and the Trinity River Vision.

EVENT DETAILS:
Date/Time Details:
Thursday, February 12, 2015
11:30 a.m. - Registration & Networking; Noon - Lunch; 12:30 p.m. - Program
Location:
City Club - Ballroom
301 Commerce Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Fees/Admission:
$35.00 - Upper Tier Members
$40.00 - Standard Members
$500 - Member Corporate Table of 8
$70.00 - Non-Member

____________________________________________________

Now, I admit that I continue to be woefully ignorant as to how public operations operate in an oligarchy, in comparison to how public operations operate in a democracy, in other words, what is known as the Fort Worth Way continues to perplex me.

Isn't Jim Oliver sort of a public employee, being the Kingpin, also known as the Keykeeper, of the Tarrant Regional Water District?

Yet, for the public to get to hear the TRWD Kingpin Oliver share his insight about solutions to issues regarding supply of water and its quality, and the controversial Integrated (with Dallas) Pipeline, with which the TRWD plans to suck water from and flood land in East Texas, the public must pay an expensive fee to gain access to hear the TRWD Kingpin's words of wisdom.

$500 for a Corporate Table of 8?

$70 for non-members?

What is a corporation buying with that $500? Who is being paid the $500? The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce?

Is the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce a for profit agency?

Is the TRWD Kingpin, Jim Oliver, being paid a fee for making this "public" appearance?

I guess I will have to fork over  $70 to attend  this major event and maybe get a chance to ask a question or two....

My First Endorphin Inducing Bike Ride In Texas Of The New Year Has Me Feeling Good

I did not realize, until this 3rd Saturday of the New Year, how much I have been missing the blue sky of Texas, when the sun which that blue sky lets shine, heats the air to a temperature allowing outer wear of the t-shirt and shorts variety.

In other words, the temperature currently is halfway between 60 and 70 which made it possible to go on my first bike ride of the new year along with getting my first good strong dose of endorphins of the new year.

If I remember right the last time my handlebars parked at the location you see here, looking at my neighborhood golf course, the grass of the golf course was still green.

How come Western Washington grass in winter remains green, while Texas grass in winter turns brown, for the most part? One would think it'd be the opposite, what with Western Washington getting way less sunshine in winter than what usually brightens Texas.

I did not realize til getting today's strong endorphin fix how much I had had been suffering from the rigors of endorphin withdrawal.

Prior to getting an endorphin fix I had no energy or desire to take myself to downtown Fort Worth to watch the 2015 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo Parade.

That parade is now over, but if I felt before it started, like I do now, I think I would have made one of my rare visits to America's Imaginary #1 Top Downtown to do some parade viewing.

The Stock Show Parade is one of the best, if not the best, parade I have ever witnessed.

Seems like in years past my regular Saturday habit was to go to Town Talk. I don't think I have been to Town Talk yet this year. I guess I am no longer a creature of habit....

The Deep Moat Search For The Tarrant Regional Water District Crime Syndicate's Smoking Gun

I think I may have mentioned a time or two that we in the Anti-Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Syndicate have ourselves a mole inside the TRV Boondoggle who has provided us information over the past few years which has gone a long ways to reinforcing the widespread belief that something is not right with The Boondoggle, not right to the extent that some, recently, have referred to The Boondoggle's overseer as the TRWD Crime Syndicate.

The Anti-TRV Boondoggle Syndicate's TRV mole calls him or herself Deep Moat.

From Deep Moat we have learned many things. Things such as details of the junkets J.D. Granger would take his TRV co-horts on, to various American and Canadian towns, ostensibly to research how those towns accomplished that which J.D Granger and his Boondoggle hoped to accomplish for Fort Worth.

Ironically, it has been years now, and there is ZERO to be seen of anything The Boondoggle has accomplished which at all mirrors anything they saw on any of those junkets.

Well, there are those Three Bridges Over Nothing being constructed with an incredible four year construction timeline of longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge.

We had not heard from Deep Moat for over a year til this week. Deep Moat sent an email with some information and one question....

"Did the Breitbart guy ever find what he was looking for? "

The Breitbart guy to whom Deep Moat refers is Lawrence Meyers, investigative journalist for Breitbart.

Lawrence Meyers and Breitbart have published multiple articles detailing their ongoing investigations into the Tarrant Regional Water District and Trinity River Vision corruption.

The Anti-TRV Boondoggle Syndicate's Information Officer, Elsie Hotpepper, relayed Deep Moat's question to Mr. Meyers, who then replied with...

Tell her "No. He knows there are many smoking guns, but everyone is too afraid to hand them to him. They need to stop being so afraid. Someone will get indicted and when that happens, people who know stuff and didn't come forward are going to be in the crosshairs".

One can not help but wonder, if one wonders about such things, when it is that there is going to be any sort of Grand Jury investigation into the TRWD and TRV shenanigans?

And what will the smoking gun be?

Will it be the communications between TRWD board members which led to the bizarre hiring of J.D. Granger to run a pseudo public works project for which he had zero qualifications?

Will it be how it was that shady land purchase deals came to be approved?

Will it be a follow the money type scenario which leads to the wrongdoing?

Will it be finding the details of sweetheart deals awarding no-bid TRWD contracts?

What does it take to get a Grand Jury investigation under way in a jurisdiction rife with corruption?

There must be a way......

Why Does Fort Worth's New Multi-Purpose Arena Cost So Much And Do So Little Compared To Phoenix Arenas?

It seems as if it has been weeks, maybe months, since I've made note of a bridge built somewhere in the world in less than four years, compared to the Fort Worth Dunce Confederacy's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing, those being three small, simple bridges scheduled to take four years to build.

Well, it's a construction project of a different sort than bridge building which has me puzzled today.

In this past November's election Fort Worth's voters were asked to vote on three bizarre propositions regarding a proposed multi-purpose arena to be built in the Fort Worth Stock Show zone, to replace the antique Will Rogers Rodeo Coliseum.

Fort Worth voters were asked to approve three fees, such as a $1 fee to rent a livestock stall in the new arena.

No, you reading this in the democratic part of America, I am not making this up.

The actual funding mechanism of this new Fort Worth Multi-Purpose Arena was not much discussed. Such as, how was it determined that these three fees voted on by the voters would be enough to pay for half the cost of the almost half billion dollar arena?

What is freshly perplexing me is the cost and capacity of this small Fort Worth Multi-Purpose Arena. The Dunce Confederacy propaganda regarding this arena claimed it was needed so as to attract acts to Fort Worth which were not attracted to the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena which could hold only around 12,000 ticket buyers.

However, this new Fort Worth Multi-Purpose Arena will hold only a couple thousand more ticket buyers. So, are we to believe those extra couple thousand tickets sold is the tipping point to get Beyonce or One Direction to do their thing in Fort Worth?

I think not. Not when the Dallas Cowboy Stadium and other venues are in the D/FW neighborhood.

Now to what is bugging me, that being the almost half billion dollar cost of this new Fort Worth Multi-Purpose Arena.

On February 1 the Super Bowl will take place in what is called University of Phoenix Stadium, so-called due to the online school which plays no inter-collegiate sports buying the naming rights for the stadium in which the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL play.

Construction on this stadium began on April 12, 2003, with the stadium opening less than four years later, on August 1, 2006.

This stadium costs $455 million, which amounts to $532 million in 2015 dollars.

At its peak seating configuration this stadium can accommodate in the neighborhood of 78,000 ticket buyers.

This stadium is a multi-purpose arena which can be configured for all sorts of events, and features the world's first fully retractable natural grass surface, which is able to be slid out of the stadium so an event can take place on the stadium floor without damaging the turf.

In other words, this is a much more complex arena, which holds a lot more people, than Fort Worth's relatively puny arena. And which costs only slightly more than Fort Worth's arena.

Adjacent to University of Phoenix Stadium you will find the Gila River Arena.

Construction began on this arena on April 3, 2002, with the arena open for business on December 26,  2003.

The Gila River Arena cost $220 million, which amounts to $282 million in 2015 dollars.

The Gila River Arena can hold 19,000 ticket buyers, significantly more than Fort Worth's relatively puny Multi-Purpose Arena.

At a fraction of the cost.

So, what is going on here?

Why does the new Fort Worth arena cost so much more than the Phoenix area arenas, relative to the number of ticket buyers the Fort Worth arena can accommodate?

How can Fort Worth spend almost a half a billion dollars on a multi-purpose arena which can only hold around 14,000, while the Phoenix area can manage to build a multi-purpose arena for around a half a billion dollars which is big enough to hold an enormous rodeo?

And a Super Bowl.

With the Fort Worth Multi-Purpose Arena proposal not vetted in the way such things are examined in democratic parts of America, one can only wonder what type shenanigans are taking place with this project.

Unlike the Dunce Confederacy's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle I've not heard about any local politician's son being hired to oversee the arena building project, so we are not looking at, as far as I know, the price being inflated due to paying the beneficiaries of nepotism an inordinate amount of money over an inordinate amount of time for a project which should have been completed in a reasonable amount of time.

This is all very perplexing...

Many Ohio & Oregon Fans Frustrated By Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Lack Of Public Transportation

This morning I am being a bit discombobulated, with that condition having me bouncing from one thing to the next, subject-wise, in my discombobulated thinking.

So, let's start with this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram's article titled Long taxi lines leave many fans frustrated at AT&T Stadium.

First off, why is the Star-Telegram letting me  read an article this morning without the usual blocking and insistence I become an online subscriber?

Second off, why do various media entities go along with the naming of stadiums? It's Cowboy Stadium. Why call it something else just because some corporate entity paid to have their name slobbered on the building. And slobbered is an understatement. Have you seen the garish AT&T logo on Cowboy Stadium. To my mind, that alone should be what they get for naming rights, with those naming rights not including everyone else, as in those who have not been paid to do so, going along with the "new" name.

I remember the first time I flew into Seattle after the Seahawks new stadium was built. The roof said something like "Seattle Seahawk Stadium". The next time I flew in the roof said something like "QWest Field". The last time I flew in to Seattle the Seahawk stadium roof said "CenturyLink Field."

What is a Qwest or a CenturyLink? I have never bothered to try and find out.

Back to the most recent event to take place at Cowboys Stadium, that being the National Championship College Football game which Ohio State won by soundly beating Oregon.

After the game mini-riot conditions erupted. I read somewhere that an Ohio State cheerleader was trampled in one of the post game melees.

This morning's Star-Telegram article about the transportation woes following the game brought to my mind something I have wondered about before, which I started wondering about after the Super Bowl debacle at Cowboys Stadium.

As in, what is causing those who book a national event decide staging that event at Cowboys Stadium is a good idea?  What with there being so many other venues in America which would seem to work much better.

Cowboys Stadium seems to work great for Texas-centric events, where the locals drive and park on the world's largest acreage of parking lots. But, when people fly in from other parts of the country, in the most recent case, from Ohio and Oregon, well, I am sure many of those people arrive thinking they are arriving in a modern American city with modern transportation, to be perplexed to find that is not the case.

Do those who book Cowboys Stadium for a national event realize there is no modern public transportation connecting the stadium area to the airport? Do those who book Cowboys Stadium for a national event not realize there is a very limited number of hotels in the area near the stadium? Do those who book Cowboys Stadium not realize that about half of the stadium is surrounded by urban blight?

Why is there not some local impetus to extend the Dallas DART train from Dallas to Arlington's Entertainment District? I would think such a line would be very popular. What if the new DART line which connects to the airport was extended to Arlington's Entertainment District? Would that not be a good idea?

As for those hapless souls from Ohio and Oregon who found themselves staying in one of downtown Fort Worth's hotels, was there public transit other than taxis to take those people east to Arlington? Did the Fort Worth T buses run a circuit back and forth between Arlington and downtown Fort Worth?

I suspect not. If not, why not?

What is the next national event scheduled for Cowboys Stadium? Methinks the transportation problems need to be addressed or there will soon come a day when  no national events are scheduled at Cowboys Stadium....

Does TCU Now Play The Winner Of Oregon/Ohio State For The College Football Championship?

I admit I am not much of a fan of football. Or watching most sports.

Of all the sports people find to be something they are willing to sit and watch, basketball is the only one which I have enjoyed watching.

I went to many a Seattle Supersonic game over the years, til the team was stolen by the thief who calls himself Aubrey McClendon.

With football I don't get what people find to be so compelling that it causes them to watch these games week after week. It just seems like endless variations of the same thing, to me.

I do enjoy a good halftime show, though.

Anyway, I admit I don't get the local umbrage over their local team, TCU, being denied a spot in the college football final championship group of four.

I mean, TCU may have had a good record, winning a lot of football games, ranking high in those all important football polls. But, the reality of the matter is TCU is a small school most of the nation knows nothing about, except for it being three initials on a football poll. With those three initials, TCU, playing in a town most of America knows nothing about, Fort Worth.

I have no idea if lack of national presence was factored in when the decision was made as to what school was to play for the all important national college football title, but I suspect TCU's relative obscurity may have been a bit of a factor.

I wonder how many people watching yesterday's college football championship, where Ohio State beat Oregon 42 - 20, got what was meant by the sign you see in the photo above,  "WINNER PLAYS TCU"?

I wonder how many of the people in Cowboy Stadium yesterday from Ohio and Oregon knew that TCU was located just a few miles to the west of where they were sitting?

Currently I Am Periodically Suffering 3 Out Of 7 Common Cold Symptoms

Yes, that is an accurate artist's rendering of me you are looking at here, including the receding hairline.

In the middle of the night, the past three nights, I have found myself suddenly awake and coughing.

Along with a sore throat.

I get up and drink some water and the sore throat goes away.

Then I lay back in bed wondering if I am coming down with a cold for the first time in years.

My other cold indicating symptom, the past three days, has been getting a headache in the afternoon, which then abates around the time the sun leaves for the day.

Is my extremely highly evolved immune system fighting off a cold virus, somewhat successfully, is what I think may be happening.

Or am I just suffering from being denied any high speed Tandy Hills hill hiking or mountain bike riding for well over a month?

All I know for certain is I do not want to go into full blown cold mode. It has been a long time since that has happened to me, but the memory of the misery is still fresh.

And I certainly do not want to go into flu mode.  That has not happened since early in the 1990s and was the most miserably sick I have ever been.

I think I need a strong dose of the sun's rays warming me up in the outer world. I have no idea where I can find such a thing right at this particular point in time at this particular point on the planet....