Has Spencer Jack Flown His Dad North To Alaska?

When I woke up my computer this morning I found fresh incoming from a couple of my favorite nephews, Jason and Spencer Jack.

In addition to the picture you see here there was one line of text in the email...

Spencer and I may be sending you pictures this week once we arrive at our summer vacation destination.

I have no clue where the boys are flying this time.

Over Spring Break they went to Las Vegas. A short time before that they went to Disneyland, so I think we can eliminate both those destinations. Then again, both of those destinations are favorites of Jason and Spencer Jack.

Maybe they are heading to Arizona to visit Spencer Jack's grandpa, grandma, great grandpa, great grandma, aunt, uncle and my other favorite nephews.

It appears, looking at the picture, that Spencer Jack is at the Alaskan Airlines terminal at Sea-Tac. Maybe they are escaping the HOT Washington weather by heading north to Alaska.

I suspect incoming email will soon resolve this mystery.

Enjoying Flag Day In My Favorite All American City Wannabe

When I was out and about today I noticed a flag or two or three waving in front of homes, first noticing such when I pedaled into Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood.

I wondered about the why of all the flags, and then when I got back to my computer connection to the outer world the mystery was solved, via an incoming email from my FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason).

The email included the photo you see here and a line of text that solved the flag mystery....

Hope my FUD is enjoying his Flag Day in his All American City.

In college one of Jason's minors was Sarcasm.

Fort Worth is an All American City? I don't think that is possible.

If Fort Worth had been accoladed as such, even if the accolade came to Fort Worth decades ago, in a previous century, I would have heard about it. Multiple times.

Fort Worth had a city wide celebration when some obscure publication, no one has ever heard of, put Fort Worth on a list.

If I remember right the city wide celebration was for the time some D.C. lobbying group named Fort Worth as one of the Top Ten towns for Urban Villages. Or something like that.

This was sort of embarrassing, the city wide celebration, I mean. I know I have mentioned this before, but the same year Fort Worth made this prestigious list Tacoma was also on the list.

Tacoma does have some nice urban villages. Old Town comes to mind.

I digress.

So, that same summer Fort Worth had its embarrassing city wide celebration I was in Tacoma to start up a project, long gone, with Tacoma's then Deputy Mayor. I asked the Deputy Mayor if Tacoma had a city wide celebration for making the Top Ten Urban Village list. He laughed, asked something like why would we do such a thing? I told him Fort Worth did, had themselves a city wide celebration. You're joking said the Deputy Mayor. Nope, I'm not making this up. The Deputy Mayor then told me they sent a polite thank you letter and that was the end of it.

I think it was the long defunct LOOK magazine which had an annual All American City issue naming towns awarded the coveted All American City accolade.

I know the town where Jason's Fidalgo Drive-In, seen in the above flag waving photo, is located, Anacortes, was named an All-American City a long time ago, maybe all the way back to the 1950s or 60s.

I don't know if this is still the case, but when I lived in the neighborhood, as in in the Skagit Valley, when driving to Anacortes at the entry to the city there was, or is, a big Welcome to Anacortes sign, along with the words, "All American City".

I don't think Fort Worth can qualify as an All American City til the town gets sidewalks along side the majority of the town's streets. And running water and modern restrooms in the town's parks. I don't think a town can be an All American City when the majority of its parks have outhouses and no place to wash ones hands.

I hope FNJ and FNSJ (Spencer Jack) are having themselves a mighty fine Flag Day, along with everyone else on the planet.

Is the 2 Deluxe Cheeseburgers for only $5.49, I see on the Fidalgo Drive-In reader board, a Flag Day Special, I wonder?

The Fidalgo Drive-In also has Fish & Chips on the menu. The last time I had really good Fish & Chips was when Jason made them for me at his previous restaurant, the Eaglemont Pavilion.

Real Fish & Chips are made with cod or halibut.

Not catfish.....

Another Bike Ride With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts With No Fox, Skunk Or Raccoon Reacting With Fear

Seems like I just visited them, but, even so, this Flag Day Sunday seemed like a good day to visit the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Standing water in various locations and dirt that was dry a couple days ago had been turned back to mud, sticking to my bike tires, indicating, it would seem, that some precipitation precipitated overnight, which I was unaware of.

Though, now that you are making me think about it, there was some puddling by the pool this morning which should have clued me to the fact that some drippage had occurred.

A few drops dripped on me whilst I was rolling my wheels. It felt good.

Today I was stopped at a spot I don't usually stop by a walker wanting to ask me a question I did not have an answer to.  After being useless to the question asker I reached for my water bottle and looked up at a sign I've passed dozens upon dozens of times over the years, but had never bothered to read.

That is the sign you see my handlebars pointing to.

Below is a closer look at the sign.

Of the critters on the sign that we are told it is in their nature to react with fear if we meet while I am here, the only critters  on the sign which I have met in the Village Creek zone are the rabbit, the armadillo, the snake, the squirrel and the bee.

I have never seen a fox, a skunk or a raccoon in the Village Creek zone. I have seen a lot of turtles, very skittish turtles reacting irrationally in fear. And possums, lots of possums.

I think the sign needs a critter update....

Getting Past Gateway Park's Closed Trails I Found America's Biggest Boondoggle Being Busy

Before my regularly scheduled Saturday Town Talk treasure hunt my handlebars took me to Gateway Park for some trail inspecting.

As you can see the Trinity River is still roaring over Gateway Falls, making passage impossible across the river to continue on to beautiful downtown Fort Worth, or the Fort Worth Stockyards.

It has been a few years since I have pedaled from Gateway to the Stockyards, or downtown. That makes for a long bike ride.

After seeing my way west blocked by the still flooding Trinity, I turned around and headed to the Gateway Park mountain bike trail.

Above you are looking at the entry to the FWMBA (Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association) Gateway Park mountain bike trail. The sign says "SIDEWALK CLOSED", which it is, but it does not say the mountain bike trail, to the left, is also closed.

I did not attempt to roll my wheels on the mountain bike trail. Instead I chose to find out why the paved trail is closed.

Well, below is one reason for the closed paved trail.

Not only has a tree bent over to block the way, the wooden bridge across the ravine has been removed.

I later figured out why the wooden bridge is gone. The paved trails and wooden bridges seem to be in the midst of the upgrade promised by signage near the mountain bike trail entry where the Fort Worth Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle informs us that trail upgrades, including new bridges, would soon be underway.

At the time I first read that I said I'd believe it when I see it. I guess that now makes me a believer.

Continuing on I discovered large sections of the paved trail have been removed, including sections which have long been an eyesore, that being fenced off sections of trail left dangling over the edge of the Trinity by the ravages of Hurricane Hermine, years ago. At the location you see above the paved trail previously continued til it hit a cyclone fence with signage informing that the trail was closed for maintenance. The trail continued past the cyclone fence, broken off, in places, dangling, waiting to fall into the river in other places.

The dangling trail and cyclone fence are gone. It appears new trail has been bulldozed, away from the river. All the wooden bridges have been removed. You can still cross those locations via dirt path, sort of like mountain biking.

Well, this will be a good thing, having the Gateway Park trails fixed. Gateway Park has the potential to be an extremely nice park. But, I don't quite understand how America's Biggest Boondoggle came to be in the trail fixing business.

I hope The Boondoggle  is able to build these new bridges in Gateway Park faster than the four years they plan to take to build their three little bridges from the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Continuing, after Gateway Park I ventured a short distance west, to the aforementioned Town Talk where I got myself some big green peppers, black beans, garbanzos, Swiss Cheese, rye crackers, carrots, yogurt, two giant pumpkin pies, jalapeno kielbasa and other stuff I'm not remembering right now.

And now it is time for lunch....

The Shocking Case Of The Exposed TRWD Male Member Employee Termination Scandal

I tell you, the TRWD really is one of those gifts that just keeps on giving. So many scandals with so many twisted variations.

You must read the strange case of Jacklyn Worfel Mayfield and Lori Beth Mayfield, Appellants, v. Tarrant Regional Water District yourself to get the whole bizarre story.

Short version, a TRWD employee named Jacklyn was subjected to seeing something she did not want to see, subjected to this by her supervisors. Jacklyn's disdain led to a hostile work environment. Jacklyn turned to her mother-in-law, Lori, a fellow TRWD co-worker, for advice and help.

On March 21, 2012, both Jacklyn and Lori were fired by the TRWD. Jacklyn was told she was fired because she had exhausted her paid time off. Lori was given no reason she was fired.

Jacklyn and Lori then sued the TRWD, which claimed it had some sort of sovereign immunity from being sued for the type thing Jacklyn and Lori were suing over.

On June 10, 2015 the Court of Appeals of Texas, El Paso ruled in the TRWD's favor.

Why El Paso? I have no idea?

Below are excerpts from the case, which will make clear to you what Jacklyn's supervisors showed her which set off this latest TRWD scandal.....

During the week of December 19, 2011, Jacklyn was called into an office where several people were laughing and talking, including her supervisors Norman Ashton, Madeline Robson, and Jennifer Poulson.   They told her “you have to see this, come look now.” Jacklyn did so, and was shown a photograph on Ashton's phone of “an extremely hairy and huge penis.” Jacklyn was shocked and horrified, reacted negatively, and was told to leave the room. Jacklyn wanted to report this incident, but as all her supervisors had been participants, she reported it to her engineering department supervisor (and mother-in-law) Lori, who recommended that she not report the incident further and hope it would blow over with time. Lori advised Jacklyn it would “go badly” for her if she reported the incident further. Following the penis picture incident, Jacklyn “experience[d] increased tension in the office.” Her petition and supporting affidavit detail a number of interactions between her supervisors and herself, mainly consisting of challenges to her truthfulness about medical appointments and treatment. She felt that Ashton watched her constantly. She was told to get verification of tests her doctor performed to show she was not lying about treatment. She was told to give her supervisor Poulson detailed reports about her whereabouts when she was away from her desk. Supervisor Ashton apparently thought this reporting was disrespectful to Poulson (why he felt this way was unexplained). No other employee was required to give these detailed reports. Jacklyn again consulted with Lori, who again advised her to comply with the requests and see if the problem would resolve on its own.

Jacklyn was eventually diagnosed with, and received treatment for, a cortisol deficiency. She was released from the hospital and was informed on March 21, 2012 that she had been terminated as she had exhausted her paid time off.

Upon learning of Jacklyn's termination, Lori told her own supervisor that she had personally supervised Jacklyn's notification regarding her hospitalization, and Jacklyn had proof she had contacted a supervisor daily. She told him that the water district “had broken her heart and that her heart would never be with this company again.” Lori was also terminated from the water district, and was never given a reason as to why, even when inquiry was made for purposes of obtaining unemployment insurance.

_________________________________________

There you have it, read the entire ruling by going to Jacklyn Worfel Mayfield and Lori Beth Mayfield, Appellants, v. Tarrant Regional Water District and see if the judge's reasoning makes any sense to you.

UPDATE: Elsie Hotpepper has informed me the Tarrant Count Court of Appeals threw out the case, so the plaintiffs took it to El Paso, which also, eventually, basically, threw out the case.

Excessive Facebook Commenting Correlates With Psychopathy & Machiavellianism

I saw that which you see here on Facebook a couple days ago.

This particular Facebook post did not indicate who these psychologists were who determined habitual Internet commenting correlated with hateful personality pathologies. Or how it was the amount of time spent doing so somehow related to sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.

Machiavellianism? Making a lot of comments has you being Machiavellian? As in a scheming prince of a manipulator?

I have actually observed a person with a very hateful personality who did do a lot of online commenting who did come across as a bit of a psychopath. But Machiavellian? She was far too stupid to be Machiavellian.

Anyway, this Machiavellian online commenter thing somehow led me to an effect I had not heard of before, that being the Dunning–Kruger effect. A blurb from the Wikipedia article about this very serious effect....

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude. Conversely, highly skilled individuals tend to underestimate their relative competence, erroneously assuming that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others.

Interesting, the illusory superiority part of this Dunning-Kruger effect thing also describes the aforementioned inept psychopath with the hateful personality.

The online comments of that particular psychopath do come across as hateful, mean-spirited, trying to start a fight, frequently called a "troll", yet more than anything, coming across as an ignorant, stupid, know-it-all.

Wait a second. Am I describing myself?

Anyway, I'm done being Machiavellian now.....

Has The Fort Worth Weekly Lost It?

That was the question Elsie Hotpepper asked me yesterday.

The reason Ms. Hotpepper was asking me this is because of what she read in a Fort Worth Weekly article titled Summer Fun List which purported to list some of the allegedly fun things one can do this summer in the Fort Worth zone.

The part of the article which has Elsie questioning the sanity of FW Weekly is...

And while August is the perfect time of year to get together with your favorite mosquitoes and grill some Walmeat, don’t forget that from June 14 through August 30, Panther Island Pavilion will serve up Sunday Fundays, in which you can rent a tube to float the Trinity from noon to 6 p.m. for five measly bucks. If you love the water but still think the river is too dirty –– or loaded with too many toe-devouring snapping turtles –– just remember that the flotsam at your apartment pool or nephew’s favorite Arling-fun water park is probably 10 times worse. #harboringecoli #hospitalbedvistas #ecoliestates –– Steve Steward

Well, that is a bit disturbing. Fort Worth Weekly coming to the defense of America's Biggest Boondoggle encouraging people to float in the polluted Trinity River, claiming Arlington's Hurricane Harbor is 10 times more polluted, along with equally polluted apartment pools.

Uh, unlike the Trinity River, apartment pools are tested daily,  the water is filtered, chemicals are added to the water to keep the water clean and safe. I'm fairly certain Hurricane Harbor makes sure its water is safe and clean.

Unlike the Trinity River, the water in apartment pools and Hurricane Harbor is the same treated water you get out of your faucet.

FW Weekly is advising us not to forget that The Boondoggle is serving up Sunday Fundays? With tubes costing only 5 bucks to rent?

Walmeat?

I think the answer to Elsie Hotpepper's question is YES!

Spencer Jack Celebrates Graduating 2nd Grade Making His Uncle Homesick For Washington

There seems to be a conspiracy afoot to make me homesick for Washington today.

Incoming email a few minutes ago from FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason) with several photos, including the two you see here.

The text in the email said...

Spencer Jack explores Cap Sante after finishing the 2nd grade today.

Cap Sante is a Gibraltar-esque rock monolith in Anacortes. Anacortes is on a real island, called Fidalgo. In the photo above FNSJ (Favorite Nephew Spencer Jack) is sitting atop Cap Sante. In the distance behind Spencer Jack, on the left, is another island.

People reading this in Fort Worth, this is what real islands look like. They are surrounded by a large body of water. Not a dry ditch.

Below is a view looking west, at the Cap Sante Marina and downtown Anacortes. Many a time I helped launch a boat with my mom and dad from the Cap Sante Marina.

I don't know if we can see it, but on the left side of the above picture is where Spencer Jack's dad's Fidalgo Drive-In is located.

I Googled Cap Sante to see if there was a Wikipedia article about it. There is not. But I found a blurb on Yelp that was a fitting description, once I fixed the grammar and typo mistakes....

From the majestic trees draping precariously over the bank, to the beautiful sweeping view of Anacortes and beyond, Cap Sante Park is a must-do on your next trip to Fidalgo Island.  There are plenty of vantage points for photography, and usually there are at least a few yachts, sailboats, and/or large ships within view. If you're in an adventurous mood, hike down the easy path to the beach below, or just stay on top and admire the surroundings.  

That is true, there are often large ships to be seen at this location, called supertankers, bringing oil products to and from the Anacortes Refinery complex, located on the east side of Padilla Bay, on Marsh's Point, in the direction Spencer Jack is looking.

Time flies way too fast. Hard to believe that Spencer Jack is now a third grader....

No Cop Is Safe From The Attack Of The 14 Year Old McKinney Black Bikini Girl

Elsie Hotpepper sent me this a few minutes ago. I thought it was funny.

But also thought that those to whom it is directed won't get that it is they who are being made fun of.

I am talking about those who have been apologists for the bad behavior of the bad McKinney cop who has now resigned in disgrace.

People who claimed, based on nothing seen in the infamous video, that the black kids were disrespectful.

That the black kids were not listening to the bad cop's erratic demands and commands.

That the girl the bad cop attacked was being mouthy, thus the only way to shut her up was for the bad cop to tackle her, force her face down on the ground and then jam his knee into her back.

While taking time out to un-holster his gun and wave it menacingly.

Will America's Biggest Boondoggle Make A Mountain Out Of Its Ditch Dirt?

No, that is not an artist's rendering of what the Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle's Pond Granger will look like if it ever is able to float a boat.

That is also not an artist's rendering of one of the transit ferries carrying vehicles and people across Pond Granger to the imaginary Panther Island.

That is also not an artist's rendering of Mount Granger, as envisioned by America's Biggest Boondoggle, with the mountain made using the dirt dug to make the ditch to go under the three little bridges The Boondoggle is taking four years to build to connect Fort Worth's mainland to its imaginary island.

What you are looking at above is not an artist's rendering, it is an actual photo of a volcano, a real island, a large body of water and one of the world's biggest ferry boats, which would make that Mount Rainier with the boat floating on Puget Sound, a natural body of water, not an artificial result of someone's bad vision.

I saw this photo today on Facebook, via Miss Chris, she being one of my nephew's two new replacement aunts. Miss Chris captioned this photo by saying "Love this picture".

A few people, including me, made followup comments. The comments from the Washingtonians struck me as mild humble bragging. Maybe I am just being hyper sensitive due to missing mountains, ferry boats and large bodies of clean water.

8 people like this.

• 

  Sharon Southstone Nelson I love where we live! It is so beautiful and never tire of seeing the beauty of our state.

  Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
• 

  Durango Jones That looks like a mountain and a ferry boat. We ain't got nothing like that for hundreds of miles at my current location....

  Like · Reply · 1 · 4 hrs
• 

  Chris Sampson Me either Sharon. I don't think I could live any where else.

  Like · Reply · 4 hrs · Edited
• 

  Jennifer Kaffenberger I could during the winter time

  Like · Reply · 2 hrs