This morning's quick check of the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram informed me of that which you see here.
That being that testing the Trinity River water on Thursday, that being the day of the week when America's Biggest Boondoggle sponsors a bizarre event called Rockin' the River, where hundreds of clueless fools are enticed to get in one of America's most polluted rivers to drink beer and listen to music, well that testing indicated that there was way too much fecal matter in the river, rendering it unsafe for swimming and tubing.
Do the clueless now understand that there has always been e.coli fecal matter in the water with them while they were Rockin' the River? That on any given day the level of e.coli could reach a level considered to be unsafe?
When I logged into Facebook this morning I found I was being tagged on this subject.
One of those taggers was Elsie Hotpepper....
Thanks to Mary Kelleher, at least they test the 'crap' now. I can't wait to see what Durango Jones has to say...
And then Mr. Spiffy had this to say....
Hello, Sunday Funday Trinity Innertubers! Please take note of the following announcement: You've been floating in poop water all summer. Sorry 'bout that. Now, here's some fun local country music band! Enjoy! - Yours truly, TRWD
Well, Ms. Hotpepper, Durango Jones does not have much more to say about this subject than he has already said.
One of the many things that crosses my mind regarding this is the fact that this is one more example of how Fort Worth suffers from not having a real newspaper.
A real newspaper would have been all over the absurdity of the Trinity River Vision getting into things like sponsoring drinking parties in the polluted Trinity River.
A real newspaper would have addressed the ridiculousness of the Panther Island nomenclature, pointing out there is no island. Pointing out there is no pavilion on the imaginary island.
Instead, the Star-Telegram goes along with The Boondoggle's nonsense, even when reporting a story with the headline "E. coli found in Trinity River at Panther Island Pavilion".
Would any legitimate newspaper in America go along with the Panther Island Pavilion con job?
A legitimate newspaper long ago would have been all over the scandal that is America's Biggest Boondoggle.
A legitimate newspaper would have long ago focused intense scrutiny on the hiring of Kay Granger's unqualified son to run what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.
A legitimate newspaper would have been all over looking at how America's Biggest Boondoggle has accomplished so little in well over a decade, and has devolved into sponsoring absurd floating beer parties in the polluted with fecal matter Trinity River.
Rockin' the River needs to be permanently cancelled as a first step towards bringing some level of adult supervision to the Trinity River Vision.
Oh, and J.D. Granger needs to be fired......
Friday, August 7, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Today Is My Mom & Dad's 64th Wedding Anniversary
On this day in 1951, six years after a big bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, hastening the end of World War II, my mom and dad got married.
As you can see my dad is in uniform. That being the uniform of the United States Army. Soon after this picture was taken my dad was shipped over to France.
The Korean War was America's current war at the time my dad was shipped to France. I'm glad dad was shipped to Europe rather than Asia. I might not be in Texas right now if my dad had been shipped to Korea.
If I am remembering correctly while my dad was in Europe my mom was a secretary in Seattle.
When my dad returned from France to be mustered out of the army my mom was in New York City to greet him.
How my mom got to New York City I have never remembered to ask. I can not picture my mom traveling solo across the country via bus, train or plane.
To get back to the West Coast mom and dad bought a car and proceeded to take the longest road trip they ever took, til years later, after retirement, when mom and dad roadtripped across America one more time.
If I remember correctly the route of the return to the West Coast had mom and dad driving south down the East Coast, to Florida, then west across the South. I assume they must have passed through Texas. I must remember to ask.
I know eventually mom and dad made it to Nevada, then headed to Death Valley.
Seems very adventurous to me that mom and dad ventured into Death Valley way back then. Cars did not have air-conditioning in the 50s. And flat tires were much more common. I've had myself a flat time in Death Valley. But that turned out to be fun. I had air-conditioning.
I don't think mom and dad continued west all the way to Los Angeles. Seems like, years later, when mom and dad took me and my siblings to Disneyland for the first time that that was the first time they'd been in Southern California.
Anyway, Happy 64th Wedding Anniversary, mom and dad. I must remember to call later today....
As you can see my dad is in uniform. That being the uniform of the United States Army. Soon after this picture was taken my dad was shipped over to France.
The Korean War was America's current war at the time my dad was shipped to France. I'm glad dad was shipped to Europe rather than Asia. I might not be in Texas right now if my dad had been shipped to Korea.
If I am remembering correctly while my dad was in Europe my mom was a secretary in Seattle.
When my dad returned from France to be mustered out of the army my mom was in New York City to greet him.
How my mom got to New York City I have never remembered to ask. I can not picture my mom traveling solo across the country via bus, train or plane.
To get back to the West Coast mom and dad bought a car and proceeded to take the longest road trip they ever took, til years later, after retirement, when mom and dad roadtripped across America one more time.
If I remember correctly the route of the return to the West Coast had mom and dad driving south down the East Coast, to Florida, then west across the South. I assume they must have passed through Texas. I must remember to ask.
I know eventually mom and dad made it to Nevada, then headed to Death Valley.
Seems very adventurous to me that mom and dad ventured into Death Valley way back then. Cars did not have air-conditioning in the 50s. And flat tires were much more common. I've had myself a flat time in Death Valley. But that turned out to be fun. I had air-conditioning.
I don't think mom and dad continued west all the way to Los Angeles. Seems like, years later, when mom and dad took me and my siblings to Disneyland for the first time that that was the first time they'd been in Southern California.
Anyway, Happy 64th Wedding Anniversary, mom and dad. I must remember to call later today....
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
No Danger Of Orca Encounters While Rockin' The Trinity River In Fort Worth
No, what you are looking at here is not some sort of artist's rendering of what the Trinity River Central City Uptown Gator Island Vision Boondoggle's lake, mountain and flying fish may look like upon completion on a date far in the future.
No, every thing you see here is natural, except for those Blue Angel jets.
Natural.
Not the product of a pseudo public works project gone sideways and awry.
I saw what you see above on Facebook, via Kathy Schaefer Bressler, with a caption of "Only in Seattle".
Which would make that mountain the one known in Washington as The Mountain, but also known as Mount Rainier.
That big flying fish is what is known as an Orca.
Formerly known as a Killer Whale.
Calling this beautiful mammal a Killer Whale became politically incorrect way back in the 1960s, when it became widely realized that these fellow mammals were not killers of a danger to humans sort.
However, the salmon world might still refer to the Orca population as Killer Whales.
During that revolutionary decade of the 1960s, I think the guy's name was Ted Griffin, if I remember correctly, he made the majority of the people of Washington aware of the Orca pods for the first time, due to the bizarre fact that this man had hunts, in order to trap Orcas, to sell them to aquariums and places like Sea World.
Which is why the world knows the names Namu and Shamu.
Trapped Killer Whales were kept penned in Elliott Bay, in Seattle, awaiting extradition to the location of whoever purchased one of these mammals who should never have been for sale.
As you might imagine, this did not go over well in the Pacific Northwest, ahead of the times even then, environmental protection issues wise, just as the Pacific Northwest is ahead of the times, in multiple ways, in 2015.
It was made illegal to hunt Orcas. And the Orca pods were protected in multiple ways. Such as the various pods being tracked, with a record kept of the number in the pod and baby Orcas being added. Or Orcas gone missing.
In all my years in the Puget Sound zone I had only one Orca pod encounter.
I was with my mom and dad, somewhere in the San Juan Islands. We were jigging for cod.
Suddenly, in the distance, an Orca jumped out of the water, such as you see above. Then another. Then many others. They were coming towards us. We were not moving. Soon there were dozens of Orcas around us. Some were small, some big.
I remember we did not feel any sense of being in danger. More a feeling of being in awe. Some of the Orcas slowed as they neared our boat, almost as if stopping to say hello.
Orcas are sort of like dolphins, in that up close they look as if they are smiling at you.
This Orca encounter pre-dated the modern era of always having event recording devices on ones person, in the form of a digital camera, phone or video camera. We had no camera on board. Not even of the antique using film sort.
So, that wonderful once in a lifetime experience of being surrounded by an Orca pod is recorded only in my memory, a location where I can still enjoy seeing it, but can not share, visually....
No, every thing you see here is natural, except for those Blue Angel jets.
Natural.
Not the product of a pseudo public works project gone sideways and awry.
I saw what you see above on Facebook, via Kathy Schaefer Bressler, with a caption of "Only in Seattle".
Which would make that mountain the one known in Washington as The Mountain, but also known as Mount Rainier.
That big flying fish is what is known as an Orca.
Formerly known as a Killer Whale.
Calling this beautiful mammal a Killer Whale became politically incorrect way back in the 1960s, when it became widely realized that these fellow mammals were not killers of a danger to humans sort.
However, the salmon world might still refer to the Orca population as Killer Whales.
During that revolutionary decade of the 1960s, I think the guy's name was Ted Griffin, if I remember correctly, he made the majority of the people of Washington aware of the Orca pods for the first time, due to the bizarre fact that this man had hunts, in order to trap Orcas, to sell them to aquariums and places like Sea World.
Which is why the world knows the names Namu and Shamu.
Trapped Killer Whales were kept penned in Elliott Bay, in Seattle, awaiting extradition to the location of whoever purchased one of these mammals who should never have been for sale.
As you might imagine, this did not go over well in the Pacific Northwest, ahead of the times even then, environmental protection issues wise, just as the Pacific Northwest is ahead of the times, in multiple ways, in 2015.
It was made illegal to hunt Orcas. And the Orca pods were protected in multiple ways. Such as the various pods being tracked, with a record kept of the number in the pod and baby Orcas being added. Or Orcas gone missing.
In all my years in the Puget Sound zone I had only one Orca pod encounter.
I was with my mom and dad, somewhere in the San Juan Islands. We were jigging for cod.
Suddenly, in the distance, an Orca jumped out of the water, such as you see above. Then another. Then many others. They were coming towards us. We were not moving. Soon there were dozens of Orcas around us. Some were small, some big.
I remember we did not feel any sense of being in danger. More a feeling of being in awe. Some of the Orcas slowed as they neared our boat, almost as if stopping to say hello.
Orcas are sort of like dolphins, in that up close they look as if they are smiling at you.
This Orca encounter pre-dated the modern era of always having event recording devices on ones person, in the form of a digital camera, phone or video camera. We had no camera on board. Not even of the antique using film sort.
So, that wonderful once in a lifetime experience of being surrounded by an Orca pod is recorded only in my memory, a location where I can still enjoy seeing it, but can not share, visually....
No Fort Worth Discussion About America's Biggest Boondoggle Causing Water Rate Increases
Revulsion directed at America's Biggest Boondoggle seems to be spreading as more and more North Texans are learning The Boondoggle is even more boondoggly than they suspected, boondoggling in ways that effect them.
Eagle eyed Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to to a boondoggle relevant post on Facebook this morning, posted by Chris Putnam, Colleyville City Council Place 3, which I assume means Chris Putnam is the councilperson representing Place 3, assuming Place means the same thing as District.
This is what Chris Putnam had to say....
Again - no discussion even in Fort Worth about the real root cause of raw water rate increases - the oil & gas revenue diversion to the Trinity River Vision project. TRWD's revenue fund (where they source and deliver water) is completely flush but their general fund is losing tens of millions annually because of payouts to Fort Worth's giant "economic development" boondoggle the TRV.
The result, much higher water rates for all of us. Colleyville will see a 10% increase due to just the TRWD raw water increase this year alone. How do you feel about subsidizing Fort Worth's economic development with your water bill?
Okay, am I understanding correctly? The TRWD has been raising area water rates, then playing some sort of shifting shell game to divert the funds raised to the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle?
The TRUCCPUV, you know, that public works project the public has never voted for, which has been boondoggling along for well near a decade and a half, with little to show for the money flushed down the river.
Well, there are those three simple little bridges The Boondoggle is building in slow motion over dry land with a four year project timeline.
With America's Biggest Boondoggle not funded in the way normal public works projects are funded, it would seem a rather serious shenanigan to be raising the water rates on water users outside the area of the "economic development", with those water users, just like those water users who do live inside the area of the "economic development", never having voted for this project.
By now J.D. Granger has been paid well over a million dollars to manage this project he has been mis-managing. If this project were implemented in the way legitimate public works projects are implemented it would have long ago been completed, with Fort Worth and the surrounding area enjoying the benefits and J.D. Granger begging his mama to find him another job.
As it stands now, J.D. Granger is going to be riding this bizarre gravy train til retirement time.
As Colleyville councilperson Chris Putnam points out, there is no discussion about the cause of the water rate increases. Just like there is no discussion, for the most part, about Fort Worth being the location of America's Biggest Boondoggle.
When an area has long been an oligarchy, most of the people come to believe they have no real say in what happens in their town.
I don't think most of Fort Worth, and the surrounding area's potential voters, have an answer to being ask how they feel about subsidizing Fort Worth's economic development with their water bill.
There is just way too much apathy in this part of America. Apathy leads to boondoggles. Fort Worth is a petri dish test case for that truism, the Boondoggle Capital of the World....
Eagle eyed Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to to a boondoggle relevant post on Facebook this morning, posted by Chris Putnam, Colleyville City Council Place 3, which I assume means Chris Putnam is the councilperson representing Place 3, assuming Place means the same thing as District.
This is what Chris Putnam had to say....
Again - no discussion even in Fort Worth about the real root cause of raw water rate increases - the oil & gas revenue diversion to the Trinity River Vision project. TRWD's revenue fund (where they source and deliver water) is completely flush but their general fund is losing tens of millions annually because of payouts to Fort Worth's giant "economic development" boondoggle the TRV.
The result, much higher water rates for all of us. Colleyville will see a 10% increase due to just the TRWD raw water increase this year alone. How do you feel about subsidizing Fort Worth's economic development with your water bill?
Okay, am I understanding correctly? The TRWD has been raising area water rates, then playing some sort of shifting shell game to divert the funds raised to the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle?
The TRUCCPUV, you know, that public works project the public has never voted for, which has been boondoggling along for well near a decade and a half, with little to show for the money flushed down the river.
Well, there are those three simple little bridges The Boondoggle is building in slow motion over dry land with a four year project timeline.
With America's Biggest Boondoggle not funded in the way normal public works projects are funded, it would seem a rather serious shenanigan to be raising the water rates on water users outside the area of the "economic development", with those water users, just like those water users who do live inside the area of the "economic development", never having voted for this project.
By now J.D. Granger has been paid well over a million dollars to manage this project he has been mis-managing. If this project were implemented in the way legitimate public works projects are implemented it would have long ago been completed, with Fort Worth and the surrounding area enjoying the benefits and J.D. Granger begging his mama to find him another job.
As it stands now, J.D. Granger is going to be riding this bizarre gravy train til retirement time.
As Colleyville councilperson Chris Putnam points out, there is no discussion about the cause of the water rate increases. Just like there is no discussion, for the most part, about Fort Worth being the location of America's Biggest Boondoggle.
When an area has long been an oligarchy, most of the people come to believe they have no real say in what happens in their town.
I don't think most of Fort Worth, and the surrounding area's potential voters, have an answer to being ask how they feel about subsidizing Fort Worth's economic development with their water bill.
There is just way too much apathy in this part of America. Apathy leads to boondoggles. Fort Worth is a petri dish test case for that truism, the Boondoggle Capital of the World....
August Is Starting To Scorch In Texas While Betty Jo Keeps Cooler In Washington
Day after day after day after day over 100 degrees, with very little chance of precipitation precipitating, as you can see via a screen cap from this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which kindly allows me to check the weather, and little else.
On the plus side of little chance of precipitation precipitating the humidity is lower than it would be if there was some precipitation precipitating, thus the HEAT INDEX is not at the misery level long suffering Iran is currently experiencing at 160 some degrees.
Does Iran have air-conditioning of the modern sort? I have no idea. I read recently that most of Europe thinks America is way too cool. They were referring to the low temperatures of our interior spaces, not that other way us American's are way too cool.
I heard from Betty Jo Bouvier last night, up north in my old home state of Washington. Part of what Betty Jo had to say was temperature related. Betty Jo does not know how good she has it at relatively chilly temperatures. This is what Betty Jo had to say about getting HOT....
Another hot day in Washington, 83 degrees right now at 7 in the evening. It has been so hot and dry that the lawn just crunches when you walk. I haven't watered except my flowers and my small patch of vegetables.
Flowers and a patch of vegetables. Luxuries I sorely miss.....
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Incoming Spencer Jack Washington Wildfire Report On Way To Lake Chelan
Earlier this afternoon Tootsie Tonasket shared photos of a wildfire burning near her Eastern Washington town.
A few minutes ago incoming email from Spencer Jack and his dad, with the photo you see here of a big wildfire on the shores of Lake Chelan. Also in Eastern Washington.
The other side of the mountains, as in Western Washington, with those mountains being the Cascades, is also burning.
Elsie Hotpepper will soon be heading to the sizzling Pacific Northwest, the Oregon part of the territory. I have read of no wildfires burning in Oregon so far.
Having a Hotpepper in the state may change that.
The message in the email from Spencer Jack and his dad said.....
Spencer Jack and I are en route to check out the burning part of our state.
We thought we'd be staying in Lake Chelan tonight, however, decided to stay in this Bavarian themed town we found along the way.
We will report back as necessary once we get to the front lines of the wild fires.
The Bavarian themed town Spencer Jack found on the way to Lake Chelan is Leavenworth. Leavenworth is the biggest, and best, of the Washington themed tourist towns. Ironically, the last time I was in Leavenworth, a Saturday in August of 2001, wildfires were burning in the mountains above Leavenworth, with firefighters using Leavenworth as a staging area.
I have not been on Lake Chelan since way back in the last century. I believe the year was 1997 or 98. Not long before the exile to Texas, that I do remember. A floating group of eight took the Lady of the Lake from Manson at the south end of the lake, to Stehekin at the north end, to stay in the National Park Lodge in North Cascades National Park.
This was a bear filled four days. We were barely off the boat before we had our first of dozens of bear encounters. I documented this Stehekin Lake Chelan excursion years ago in a web tale in three parts, beginning with the float up the lake and the bears, followed by hiking, and then our dining adventures, some accessed through a bear infested abandoned apple orchard.
I don't know if it is a good idea to turn viewing a wildfire into a tourist attraction. Wildfires can turn dangerous real fast. I'm sure Spencer Jack and his dad will be careful....
A few minutes ago incoming email from Spencer Jack and his dad, with the photo you see here of a big wildfire on the shores of Lake Chelan. Also in Eastern Washington.
The other side of the mountains, as in Western Washington, with those mountains being the Cascades, is also burning.
Elsie Hotpepper will soon be heading to the sizzling Pacific Northwest, the Oregon part of the territory. I have read of no wildfires burning in Oregon so far.
Having a Hotpepper in the state may change that.
The message in the email from Spencer Jack and his dad said.....
Spencer Jack and I are en route to check out the burning part of our state.
We thought we'd be staying in Lake Chelan tonight, however, decided to stay in this Bavarian themed town we found along the way.
We will report back as necessary once we get to the front lines of the wild fires.
The Bavarian themed town Spencer Jack found on the way to Lake Chelan is Leavenworth. Leavenworth is the biggest, and best, of the Washington themed tourist towns. Ironically, the last time I was in Leavenworth, a Saturday in August of 2001, wildfires were burning in the mountains above Leavenworth, with firefighters using Leavenworth as a staging area.
I have not been on Lake Chelan since way back in the last century. I believe the year was 1997 or 98. Not long before the exile to Texas, that I do remember. A floating group of eight took the Lady of the Lake from Manson at the south end of the lake, to Stehekin at the north end, to stay in the National Park Lodge in North Cascades National Park.
This was a bear filled four days. We were barely off the boat before we had our first of dozens of bear encounters. I documented this Stehekin Lake Chelan excursion years ago in a web tale in three parts, beginning with the float up the lake and the bears, followed by hiking, and then our dining adventures, some accessed through a bear infested abandoned apple orchard.
I don't know if it is a good idea to turn viewing a wildfire into a tourist attraction. Wildfires can turn dangerous real fast. I'm sure Spencer Jack and his dad will be careful....
A Bachelor Party On Saddlebag Island Led Me To Learn America's Biggest Boondoggle Still Preserves Feral Cats
Over the weekend Spencer Jack's dad, he being my Favorite Nephew Jason, aka FNJ, and several of his high school buddies floated out to Saddlebag Island State Park to have a bachelor party for one of the buddies who is about to get married.
I saw pictures of the Saddlebag Island Bachelor Party this morning on Facebook. That would be a pair of the aforementioned buddies, standing on Saddlebag Island, looking out at Dot Island.
All these islands are among the hundreds of islands in the San Juan archipelago.
I saw the above picture of Dot Island and thought it might be useful for education purposes.
At my current location much fuss is made by what is known as America's Biggest Boondoggle over something referred to as Panther Island. The Boondoggle slaps the Panther Island nomenclature on all sorts of things.
Calling a chunk of land an island does not magically surround it with water, making it an island.
This is sort of embarrassing, at least to me, but, apparently, a lot of the locals are okay with an imaginary island. But then, one has to keep in mind those same locals, for decades, were okay with Fort Worth confusing its few tourists by having signs in its downtown pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square.
Soon upon being in Texas I was in downtown Fort Worth, pretty much being one of those rare out of state tourists. I was confused by the signs pointing to Sundance Square. I had walked all over downtown Fort Worth, which does not take too long, unable to find Sundance Square. Eventually I asked a local where Sundance Square is. The local pointed to the parking lot under the Chisholm Trail mural and told me "I think that parking lot is Sundance Square."
Years later I learned that a multi-block area of downtown Fort Worth, years before, had been designated Sundance Square, as part of some sort of downtown revitalization project.
A couple years ago Fort Worth finally ceased confusing its few tourists by turning those Chisholm Trail mural parking lots into an actual public square, goofily named Sundance Square Plaza.
Apparently no lesson was learned from the decades of confusing Fort Worth's few tourists with a non-existent Sundance Square, so now the town is confusing its few tourists with an imaginary island.
I do not know how a local answers the "where is the island?" question when asked by one of those few tourists.
Regarding Saddlebag Island State Park, I had not heard of this island or park before, so I Googled it to find myself surprised it was so close to my old home zone. In the lower right of the above map you see the Skagit River wiggling through Burlington and Mount Vernon. Burlington is the town I grew up in. Mount Vernon is where I lived before moving to Texas.
A red balloon marks the location of Saddlebag Island, just to the right of Guemes Island, which is due north of Fidalgo Island, where Spencer Jack's dad's Fidalgo Drive-In is located in Anacortes.
Above Saddlebag Island and slightly to the right is Samish Island. Samish Island is like a Fort Worth island, in that it is not really an island. But, unlike a Fort Worth island, Samish Island used to be a real island before early settlers diked off the sea so as to make a lot of fertile farmland.
The Washington State Park website has a good description of the things one can do on a real island, along with several pictures of what a real island looks like. From the WSP website...
Saddlebag Island (including Dot Island) is a 24-acre marine park located in Padilla Bay with 6,750 feet of shoreline. The park is named for the two rocky knobs separated by a narrow “saddle” of land that form the shape of the island. The park is a boat-in camping park within the San Juan islands, popular for its crabbing opportunities. Beautiful wildflowers bloom on the island between April and May, much earlier than other sites in the San Juan archipelago. The park is a popular site for wildlife viewing, with harbor seals and river otters abundant in the surrounding waters. Visitors frequently report sightings of bald eagles and peregrine falcons in the area.
Wikipedia also has Saddlebag Island State Park entry....
Park activities include boating, crabbing, diving, saltwater fishing, swimming, water skiing, birdwatching, and wildlife viewing, though there are no mooring buoys or docks. The campground has five primitive campsites, one of which is reserved for human- or wind-powered visitors on the Cascadia Marine Trail.
I was shocked to see that Wikipedia has no Panther Island entry. Wikipedia does have an article about America's Biggest Boondoggle, titled Trinity River Vision Project. The article is mostly a propaganda puff piece, so pitifully bad that it causes Wikipedia to ask readers to help improve it because the article has multiple issues. The following paragraph from the Wikipedia Trinity River Vision Project article is an example of those multiple issues....
The goal of the master plan is to preserve and enhance the river and its corridors so they remain essential greenways for open space, trails, neighborhood focal points, feral cats and recreation areas.
No mention of the imaginary island, rockin' the river, wakeboarding, three bridges being built in slow motion, but preserving feral cats is still part of the project......
I saw pictures of the Saddlebag Island Bachelor Party this morning on Facebook. That would be a pair of the aforementioned buddies, standing on Saddlebag Island, looking out at Dot Island.
All these islands are among the hundreds of islands in the San Juan archipelago.
I saw the above picture of Dot Island and thought it might be useful for education purposes.
At my current location much fuss is made by what is known as America's Biggest Boondoggle over something referred to as Panther Island. The Boondoggle slaps the Panther Island nomenclature on all sorts of things.
Calling a chunk of land an island does not magically surround it with water, making it an island.
This is sort of embarrassing, at least to me, but, apparently, a lot of the locals are okay with an imaginary island. But then, one has to keep in mind those same locals, for decades, were okay with Fort Worth confusing its few tourists by having signs in its downtown pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square.
Soon upon being in Texas I was in downtown Fort Worth, pretty much being one of those rare out of state tourists. I was confused by the signs pointing to Sundance Square. I had walked all over downtown Fort Worth, which does not take too long, unable to find Sundance Square. Eventually I asked a local where Sundance Square is. The local pointed to the parking lot under the Chisholm Trail mural and told me "I think that parking lot is Sundance Square."
Years later I learned that a multi-block area of downtown Fort Worth, years before, had been designated Sundance Square, as part of some sort of downtown revitalization project.
A couple years ago Fort Worth finally ceased confusing its few tourists by turning those Chisholm Trail mural parking lots into an actual public square, goofily named Sundance Square Plaza.
Apparently no lesson was learned from the decades of confusing Fort Worth's few tourists with a non-existent Sundance Square, so now the town is confusing its few tourists with an imaginary island.
I do not know how a local answers the "where is the island?" question when asked by one of those few tourists.
Regarding Saddlebag Island State Park, I had not heard of this island or park before, so I Googled it to find myself surprised it was so close to my old home zone. In the lower right of the above map you see the Skagit River wiggling through Burlington and Mount Vernon. Burlington is the town I grew up in. Mount Vernon is where I lived before moving to Texas.
A red balloon marks the location of Saddlebag Island, just to the right of Guemes Island, which is due north of Fidalgo Island, where Spencer Jack's dad's Fidalgo Drive-In is located in Anacortes.
Above Saddlebag Island and slightly to the right is Samish Island. Samish Island is like a Fort Worth island, in that it is not really an island. But, unlike a Fort Worth island, Samish Island used to be a real island before early settlers diked off the sea so as to make a lot of fertile farmland.
The Washington State Park website has a good description of the things one can do on a real island, along with several pictures of what a real island looks like. From the WSP website...
Saddlebag Island (including Dot Island) is a 24-acre marine park located in Padilla Bay with 6,750 feet of shoreline. The park is named for the two rocky knobs separated by a narrow “saddle” of land that form the shape of the island. The park is a boat-in camping park within the San Juan islands, popular for its crabbing opportunities. Beautiful wildflowers bloom on the island between April and May, much earlier than other sites in the San Juan archipelago. The park is a popular site for wildlife viewing, with harbor seals and river otters abundant in the surrounding waters. Visitors frequently report sightings of bald eagles and peregrine falcons in the area.
Wikipedia also has Saddlebag Island State Park entry....
Park activities include boating, crabbing, diving, saltwater fishing, swimming, water skiing, birdwatching, and wildlife viewing, though there are no mooring buoys or docks. The campground has five primitive campsites, one of which is reserved for human- or wind-powered visitors on the Cascadia Marine Trail.
I was shocked to see that Wikipedia has no Panther Island entry. Wikipedia does have an article about America's Biggest Boondoggle, titled Trinity River Vision Project. The article is mostly a propaganda puff piece, so pitifully bad that it causes Wikipedia to ask readers to help improve it because the article has multiple issues. The following paragraph from the Wikipedia Trinity River Vision Project article is an example of those multiple issues....
The goal of the master plan is to preserve and enhance the river and its corridors so they remain essential greenways for open space, trails, neighborhood focal points, feral cats and recreation areas.
No mention of the imaginary island, rockin' the river, wakeboarding, three bridges being built in slow motion, but preserving feral cats is still part of the project......
Monday, August 3, 2015
Seattle Billionaire Nick Hanauer Explains Why Raising Minimum Wage Causes Booming Economy
On Facebook, and in other locations, I find myself getting annoyed at some of the nonsense spouted by right wing reactionaries whose unevolved, uneducated, wrong-headed, economically stupid claims about raising the minimum wage bear no relationship to economic reality.
But, they are just so darn sure of themselves.
One of Seattle's billionaires, Nick Hanauer, speaking to the New York City wage board about the economic reality of raising the minimum wage, explains in simple easy to understand language what actually happens in towns and states which have raised the minimum wage to a level much higher than states like Texas and towns like Fort Worth.
Below I excerpted part of how Billionaire Nick Hanauer Explains How Higher Wages Create Jobs, for your economic education enlightenment....
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “a review of 64 studies on minimum wage increases found no discernible effect on employment.” And contrary to popular belief, relatively large minimum-wage hikes like those recently passed in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are not unprecedented. For example, the federal minimum wage jumped 88% in one year, from 40 cents an hour in 1949 to 75 cents in 1950. Yet despite the usual warning from the Chicken Littles at the National Association of Manufacturing that the hike would prove “a reckless jolt to the economic system,” unemployment plummeted, from 5.9% in 1949 to 2.9% in 1953.
Likewise, my home state of Washington raised the minimum wage for tipped workers by 85% between 1988 and 1990—yet over the following decade restaurant employment growth somehow managed to outpace the nation as a whole.
I live in Seattle, the first major city in the US to enact a $15 minimum wage. But a high minimum wage was not a departure for us or something new. Seattle already had the highest minimum wage in the country. Rather, $15 was a continuation of an economic strategy that already was allowing our city to outperform yours.
Our current state minimum wage is $9.47—30% higher than the federal minimum. Seattle’s minimum wage is now $11.00, 52% higher than the national minimum. But we have no tip penalty in our state, so our tipped workers make $11 plus tips, 513% higher than the federal tipped minimum of $2.13, and more than twice the $5 still paid here in NY.
So, if the good people from the industry were right, that a higher minimum wage killed jobs, then we should have no restaurants in Seattle, right? You would have to bring food and cooking equipment when you came to visit us in the hinterlands. How could it not be otherwise, with these stratospherically high wages?
But here’s a really odd thing. Not only do we still have some restaurants in Seattle, we have a lot of them. In fact, we have more of them per capita than even—wait for it—New York City. According to a Bloomberg analysis, of all major cities in the US, Seattle ranks second in restaurants per capita. New York is number four. Read it and weep, New York. OK, so surely the number one spot will be held by some low-wage paradise, right? Not hardly. The number one spot is San Francisco, the only place in America that pays restaurant workers $12.25, even more than Seattle. Why? How can this be? They told us that high wages killed jobs!! And business! And the economy!
Nonsense.
Seattle has more restaurants than New York because that’s how capitalism works. The fundamental law of capitalism is: when workers have more money, businesses have more customers, and need to hire more workers. In places where wages are high, business is good—particularly for restaurants.
Let me say that another way. When restaurants pay restaurant workers enough so that even they can afford to eat in restaurants, that isn’t bad for the restaurant business—it’s great for it, despite what the good folks at the National Restaurant Association may tell you.
With the highest minimum wage in the country, my state somehow manages to outpace the rest of the country in small business job growth.
Go to Billionaire Nick Hanauer Explains How Higher Wages Create Jobs to read all of what Nick Hanauer had to tell the New York City wage board.
But, they are just so darn sure of themselves.
One of Seattle's billionaires, Nick Hanauer, speaking to the New York City wage board about the economic reality of raising the minimum wage, explains in simple easy to understand language what actually happens in towns and states which have raised the minimum wage to a level much higher than states like Texas and towns like Fort Worth.
Below I excerpted part of how Billionaire Nick Hanauer Explains How Higher Wages Create Jobs, for your economic education enlightenment....
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “a review of 64 studies on minimum wage increases found no discernible effect on employment.” And contrary to popular belief, relatively large minimum-wage hikes like those recently passed in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are not unprecedented. For example, the federal minimum wage jumped 88% in one year, from 40 cents an hour in 1949 to 75 cents in 1950. Yet despite the usual warning from the Chicken Littles at the National Association of Manufacturing that the hike would prove “a reckless jolt to the economic system,” unemployment plummeted, from 5.9% in 1949 to 2.9% in 1953.
Likewise, my home state of Washington raised the minimum wage for tipped workers by 85% between 1988 and 1990—yet over the following decade restaurant employment growth somehow managed to outpace the nation as a whole.
I live in Seattle, the first major city in the US to enact a $15 minimum wage. But a high minimum wage was not a departure for us or something new. Seattle already had the highest minimum wage in the country. Rather, $15 was a continuation of an economic strategy that already was allowing our city to outperform yours.
Our current state minimum wage is $9.47—30% higher than the federal minimum. Seattle’s minimum wage is now $11.00, 52% higher than the national minimum. But we have no tip penalty in our state, so our tipped workers make $11 plus tips, 513% higher than the federal tipped minimum of $2.13, and more than twice the $5 still paid here in NY.
So, if the good people from the industry were right, that a higher minimum wage killed jobs, then we should have no restaurants in Seattle, right? You would have to bring food and cooking equipment when you came to visit us in the hinterlands. How could it not be otherwise, with these stratospherically high wages?
But here’s a really odd thing. Not only do we still have some restaurants in Seattle, we have a lot of them. In fact, we have more of them per capita than even—wait for it—New York City. According to a Bloomberg analysis, of all major cities in the US, Seattle ranks second in restaurants per capita. New York is number four. Read it and weep, New York. OK, so surely the number one spot will be held by some low-wage paradise, right? Not hardly. The number one spot is San Francisco, the only place in America that pays restaurant workers $12.25, even more than Seattle. Why? How can this be? They told us that high wages killed jobs!! And business! And the economy!
Nonsense.
Seattle has more restaurants than New York because that’s how capitalism works. The fundamental law of capitalism is: when workers have more money, businesses have more customers, and need to hire more workers. In places where wages are high, business is good—particularly for restaurants.
Let me say that another way. When restaurants pay restaurant workers enough so that even they can afford to eat in restaurants, that isn’t bad for the restaurant business—it’s great for it, despite what the good folks at the National Restaurant Association may tell you.
With the highest minimum wage in the country, my state somehow manages to outpace the rest of the country in small business job growth.
_________________________________________________
Go to Billionaire Nick Hanauer Explains How Higher Wages Create Jobs to read all of what Nick Hanauer had to tell the New York City wage board.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Zebra Zeke Cries No Tears Over Cecil The Lion's Murder
I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook.
Is it too soon after a psychopathic American dentist's murder of Cecil the Lion for this type of, well, humor?
In the photo that is allegedly the late Cecil the Lion eating Gary the Gazelle, who Cecil killed for dinner.
Gary the Gazelle was killed via the natural method, with Cecil using no bows, arrows or bullets. Cecil did not have a hunting permit. Nor did Cecil remove the head of Gary the Gazelle to mount on the wall of his den.
Below is the text you see as part of the screen cap under Cecil and Gary....
Turns out, Cecil the Lion was no choirboy. Photos have surfaced of Cecil in the act of killing and eating Gary the Gazelle. Gary was a favorite of both locals and visitors at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, where he delighted onlookers with his trademark leap, while clicking his heels. Gary was 12 years old and leaves his beloved wife, Greta Gazelle, and their 8 (unnamed) offspring. Gary's long-time friend and confidante, Zeke the Zebra said, "A lot of people are crying over Cecil lately, but, let me tell you, I've lost a lot of friends and family to him. He was an animal. I won't be crying no tears."
Is it too soon after a psychopathic American dentist's murder of Cecil the Lion for this type of, well, humor?
In the photo that is allegedly the late Cecil the Lion eating Gary the Gazelle, who Cecil killed for dinner.
Gary the Gazelle was killed via the natural method, with Cecil using no bows, arrows or bullets. Cecil did not have a hunting permit. Nor did Cecil remove the head of Gary the Gazelle to mount on the wall of his den.
Below is the text you see as part of the screen cap under Cecil and Gary....
Turns out, Cecil the Lion was no choirboy. Photos have surfaced of Cecil in the act of killing and eating Gary the Gazelle. Gary was a favorite of both locals and visitors at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, where he delighted onlookers with his trademark leap, while clicking his heels. Gary was 12 years old and leaves his beloved wife, Greta Gazelle, and their 8 (unnamed) offspring. Gary's long-time friend and confidante, Zeke the Zebra said, "A lot of people are crying over Cecil lately, but, let me tell you, I've lost a lot of friends and family to him. He was an animal. I won't be crying no tears."
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Bullet Proof Armadillo Sends Texan To Hospital With Bullet In His Head
I find this story just a little hard to believe.
A Texan supposedly shot an armadillo, with the bullet bouncing off the armadillo, ricocheting back to the shooter's head, sending him to a hospital.
An armadillo's armor is hard, but is it hard enough to bounce a bullet?
I think the shooter may have been under the influence of an adult beverage, aimed at the armadillo, pulled the trigger, with the bullet hitting a rock near the intended victim and then bouncing back to the shooter's head in a karmic case of instant poetic justice.
I have seen a murdered armadillo before, the victim of a gun shot near the mountain bike trail entry in Gateway Park.
Isn't it a felony of some sort to shoot one of the official state symbols of Texas? Why would anyone in their right mind shoot something as cute as a harmless armadillo?
A Texan supposedly shot an armadillo, with the bullet bouncing off the armadillo, ricocheting back to the shooter's head, sending him to a hospital.
An armadillo's armor is hard, but is it hard enough to bounce a bullet?
I think the shooter may have been under the influence of an adult beverage, aimed at the armadillo, pulled the trigger, with the bullet hitting a rock near the intended victim and then bouncing back to the shooter's head in a karmic case of instant poetic justice.
I have seen a murdered armadillo before, the victim of a gun shot near the mountain bike trail entry in Gateway Park.
Isn't it a felony of some sort to shoot one of the official state symbols of Texas? Why would anyone in their right mind shoot something as cute as a harmless armadillo?
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