Saturday, February 21, 2015

Texas Is The One Big State Where America Remains America According To Forbes

I saw that which you see here, this Saturday morning, on Facebook, via the Texas Hill Country Facebook page, quoting a quote from Forbes.

I assume we are talking about Forbes the magazine.

I sure do agree with the part of the quote which says Texans have a peculiar talent for a kind of braggadocio that drives other Americans a bit crazy.

The outrageously out of sync with reality Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's propaganda comes to mind as one example of peculiar braggadocio to which I have reacted.

Such as Ma Granger claiming her little boy, J.D.'s, malfunctioning, slow motion, no project timeline, unfunded, unneeded, poorly planned Trinity River Vision is currently the biggest urban water project underway in North America.

Currently the only thing noticeably going on, construction-wise with that imaginary biggest urban water project in North America is three bridges being built over nothing. Three very simple, ordinary, small bridges, being built over dry land, because no funds exist, yet, to dig the ditch under the bridges through which water might one day flow.

Those three bridges being built over nothing are being built with a four year project timeline, longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge and other actual feats of engineering, many of which were built over water.

I do not know if it will work or not, but I will try and copy the comments made on Facebook regarding this Forbes quote, to give you not in Texas an idea of how delusional Texans can be,  along with a few who seemed to be a bit more reality based...

Page Liked · 9 hrs · 
 

Oh look, Forbes figured it out and realized that America needs and is lucky to have Texas!http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2015/02/11/america-needs-the-texas-economy-to-keep-on-rolling/
— with Amanda Cook HesterleyJoan CookWalter Cook and Mary McClain.
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Friday, February 20, 2015

The Fort Worth Public Library Is Closed Friday So I Am Going To The Burlington Public Library To Check Out Mrs. Burwash

This morning, soon upon getting vertical for the day, it crossed my mind that I had not been to my neighborhood library in quite a long time, hence a shortage of reading material.

So, I decided I would go to the library today.

Then I remembered I was in Fort Worth and my neighborhood library is closed on Friday.

Soon thereafter I was on Facebook and saw that which you see here, that being the library in my old hometown of Burlington, Washington.

In this particular Facebook post the Burlington Public Library's librarian, Janice Jackson Burwash, is announcing that the Burlington Public Library hours have been expanded to open at 10am, Monday through Saturday.

The population of Burlington is only around 8,000. Fort Worth's population is around 100 times bigger than Burlington's. How does little Burlington manage to so well serve its 8,000 some residents, library-wise, whilst big Fort Worth so ill serves its 800,000 some residents?

Regarding the Burlington Public Library librarian, Janice Jackson Burwash, it was from Mrs. Burwash's mom, decades ago, I checked out my first  library book, at the old Burlington Library, a block away from where I grew up. That old library was eventually replaced by a new one across the street, long after I no longer lived in Burlington. That new library has been replaced by an even newer library, which is where Mrs. Burwash is standing, on the right, holding a piece of paper, the significance of which I was unable to determine.

Mrs. Burwash is married to Mr. Burwash, first name Martin, author of the acclaimed, possible Pulitzer Prize winning, historical novel, Vis Major, the tale of the most deadly avalanche in American history, available on Amazon and in well stocked libraries and bookstores all over the world.

I do not expect to find Vis Major in my neighborhood Fort Worth library the next time I manage to be there when it is actually open...

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Hoping To Prevent A Hot Texas Tamale From Accidentally Shooting Herself

As soon as I saw that which you see here I knew I needed to share this information as a sort of cautionary tale directed at a certain Hot Texas Tamale, who I shall not name, who legally packs heat due to having one of those concealed weapon permits that are so popular in the part of the planet.

I have been at an event, a time or two, with the aforementioned Hot Texas Tamale and have inquired if she was currently armed and potentially dangerous, to be informed that she was armed and potentially dangerous.

On one of those occasions the Hot Texas Tamale was wearing what I think is called a cocktail dress. A slinky black deal. Maybe cocktail dress is not the correct term. Anyway, on that occasion the Hot Texas Tamale sort of implied, when I asked where she was concealing her concealed weapon, that her dainty pistol was located in the same location you see that pistol located above.

With this news that a woman in St. Joseph, Michigan accidentally shot herself to death whilst adjusting her bra holster I really think it would behoove the Hot Texas Tamale to go from concealing her weapon, to openly carrying it, via a holster attached to a belt around  her waist.

It is always wise to be cautious....

Another Ice Storm May Be Cometh To North Texas Next Week

I saw that which you see here a couple minutes ago on Facebook, confirming what I saw earlier via my computer based weather monitoring device, that being another prediction of an incoming blast of cold, arriving over this coming weekend, by Monday turning into a possible Ice Storm.

Ice Storms are my least favorite Texas weather event. I never experienced an Ice Storm before moving to Texas.

Anyway, below I will copy the weather warning from my favorite Texas weatherman, John Basham....

WINTER WEATHER UPDATE - 910 AM THU FEB 19 2015 - NORTHERN 1/2 OF TEXAS INCLUDING: THE DALLAS/FORT WORTH METROPLEX, WACO, ABILENE, MIDLAND/ODESSA, LUBBOCK, AMARILLO, WICHITA FALLS, SHERMAN/DENNISON, & TYLER/LONGVIEW - It is now becoming more and more apparent as a large part of the country is battling winter weather that Texas will be it's target very soon. Sunday (2/22/15) into Monday a combination of extremely cold air and a series of upper level disturbances will give the Northern 1/2 of Texas it's first widespread shot at wintry precipitation of 2015. As if that news isn't enough to make you cringe, it doesn't appear (at this time) that the wintry precipitation will fall as that ever so pretty and fun snow. No, instead it appears the majority of the wintry mix will fall as that hard to love sleet and freezing rain. The beginning of the wintry mix will occur on Sunday across the region and spread farther south as we move into the day on Monday. The scenario as to how much accumulation of ice will occur is anyone's guess at this point. It seems clear with a warm slightly unstable air-mass above the surface sub-freezing temperatures that any areas of increased lift or near elevated convection could cause locally heavy accumulations of ice while others may only see a glisten or glaze, to nothing at all. I'll continue to keep you updated throughout the early part of the weekend as to where I believe the greatest risk will occur. I have included an image of the latest GFS computer model (just one possible scenario) for noon Monday. It shows an ICE STORM developing in the DFW Metroplex. Keep in mind these models have been shifting North and South wildly over the last 24-36 hours so this is not in stone by any means, but I wanted to make sure that you PREPARE for the possibility that you could not drive or get to the store or drug-store by early next week. Prepare now for this potential. THIS IS NOT A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PRODUCT. Meterologist John Austin Basham - Storm Spotter METOPS Fort Worth, Texas

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Overheating Walking To Albertsons Before Finding Cool Relief Poolside

I overheated on my roundtrip to Albertsons in my weekly Wednesday futile attempt to acquire Fort Worth Weekly on the day it becomes available for my reading pleasure.

Upon my FW Weekly-free return from Albertsons I decided to cool off with some poolside lounging, since, as you can see, I was already properly attired in my favorite swimming suit.

I have not been in that hot tub you see on the far side of the pool in several days. I just have not been in the mood to get HOT when the air is so freezing cold.

Currently that formerly freezing air has heated up by 30 degrees to a relatively balmy 52,  which is why I was sure to slather sun screen on all spots exposed to the sun whilst I was doing the pool lounging.

I hope real heat returns soon. I am starting to worry I may not remember how to ride my bike, what with it being so long since I felt warm enough to roll my wheels.

Maybe I should re-activate my dormant roller blades and get some endorphins via that method, except I sort of swore off ever rolling those bladed wheels again after I had a spectacular crash caused by being startled by a giant snake whilst roller blading with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts.

I just realized I do not know where my roller blades are currently located. I really need to develop a  better inventory tracking system....

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

No Snow From The North Texas Sky While My Computer Revolts With A Blue Screen Of Death

Well, I guess I am grateful the weather predictor's prediction of frozen water material in various forms did not materialize, as predicted, at least at my location.

The predicted freezing cold did arrive, however, as predicted.

As you can see via the skyward view from my patio outlook on the world, stormy looking clouds do blot out the sun this morning, but nothing snowy is falling from them.

Currently, this is the first time I remember since my exile in Texas that I have been so eager for the return of being way too HOT and humid.

Changing the subject to some of my other woes.

Last night I finished with an HTML code upgrade to almost 400 webpages. This took a few days.

I was only about a half done with the HTML code upgrade when my computer greeted me with the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. The computer auto-restarted, after which all seemed fine.

Til later.

I was peacefully laying horizontal watching TV when suddenly the computer  screen turned blue again, this time with odd noises. It did not auto-restart. So I re-started it. After re-starting I then shut it down so as to not have a repeat.

Then I went back horizontal and was looking at some of the webpages I'd just changed and saw a major problem in one where rogue ad code was making a mess.

So, I got up and once again re-started the computer, it came up, I fixed the mistake, turned off the computer and returned to being horizontal.

Now, this morning I have had no computer problems, knock on wood, so far, except for the secondary monitor was not displaying correctly. That was fixed by turning it off and back on.

I  really am not in the mood to go through a computer going bad on me. It's been a long time since I've had that type woe. I think if that happens I may take it as a sign that it is time to move on from being so computer centric and let a smart phone suffice.

Of course, that would mean giving up on blogging and webpage making, which would be a huge loss for the world, but somehow I think the world would survive just fine....