Celebrating Retirement With Spencer Jack On A Beach In Maui

This was in my email inbox this morning, sent by Spencer Jack's dad, with the text accompanying the photo saying...

Thought you'd enjoy this picture of Spencer Jack celebrating his Grandma Cindy's retirement dinner on Kaanapali Beach tonight.   Absent in the pic is myself and FNJoey.

I see no beach in this photo.

The only Kaanapali Beach I know of is located on the Hawaiian Island of Maui.

Didn't Spencer Jack skip school a couple weeks ago to go to Disneyland? Maybe Spencer's school is closed for Thanksgiving, so he isn't skipping school.

PETA Throws No Party For Meat Eating Impotent Texas Cattlemen

I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook, brought to my eyes by Miss Miki who saw this billboard near the intersection of I-121 and Beach Street in Fort Worth.

Along with the photo Miss Miki posted the following words, "Really ‪#‎PETA‬ you're pathetic!! Go ‪#‎meat‬ and ‪#‎texasstrong‬".

Go meat and texasstrong? I have no clue.

Several people made comments, including me. Here's a couple...

Carole Jeremy Shaffer: English being not my first language it took me a minute to get this... very tacky

Durango Jones: English is my first language but I didn't get it either, til I read the small print....

The message in the small print is "Eating meat can cause impotence. Go vegan!"

After I made a comment Miss Miki made a comment directed at my comment...

Miki Hojnacki Von Luckner: I want to read your musings on a blog about this Mr. Durango!!

Well, I usually always do what someone wants me to do, hence me musing about this billboard on this blog.

Haven't men been meat eaters going all the way back to our caveman days? One can not help but wonder how the number of humans got to be many billions with so many impotent meat eaters.

Who is the genius at PETA who thought this billboard message is an effective good idea?

Did it not occur to any PETA person that this billboard message is extremely tasteless and tacky?

Til I enlarged the image I did not realize the woman on the billboard appears to be stripping off her clothes.

I doubt drivers zipping by this billboard can read the small print, but drivers likely do notice the woman taking off her clothes and probably have enough time to read the woman's message, "I Threw a Party, but the Cattlemen Couldn't Come."

Keeping with the eating meat makes men limp theme, shouldn't the woman be saying something like "I Threw a  Party, but the Cattlemen Couldn't Come Up"?

That is if  "Cattlemen Couldn't Come" is the tacky double entendre I assume it to be. Which seems a bit counter-intuitive. I mean, if the woman's issue is that the Cattlemen could not finish the task at hand, doesn't that seem to indicate that the Cattlemen had been able to adequately perform their mating duty, except for the happy ending part of the job?

Did it not occur to anyone at PETA that they were making this woman seem to be a bit of a slut? Cattlemen? She threw a party for multiple Cattlemen? Wouldn't the sign be just slightly less tacky if it said "I Threw a Party, but the Cattleman Couldn't Come Up."?

Still wouldn't cause me to cease being a meat eater......

A Supposed Post Flood Fort Worth Wakeboard Revival

A few minutes ago I saw that which you see here, on Facebook. A few minutes after that I got a text message from Elsie Hotpepper telling me "I see Andy sent you FOD on FB."

Which translated means Andy sent me blogging fodder on Facebook.

The blogging fodder is a link to an article in this week's Fort Worth Weekly titled Wakeboard Revival.

The blurb from the article, which you see in the screen cap says, "The city’s biggest wakeboard park is being resuscitated after it was flooded by Tropical Storm Bill in June. A new owner is rebuilding ramps at the donut-shaped watercourse at the West Fork of the Trinity River downtown and adding several..."

Adding several what? Lucky for me I had acquired this week's Weekly at my neighborhood library. I could not find where I'd put this week's Weekly, then remembered I likely left it in my vehicle. Soon upon retrieving this week's Weekly I found the rest of the paragraph following several... to be "new features, including shaded seating and a place to get food and drinks."

I have several problems with this FW Weekly article. For one,  it reads like a Press Release. I mentioned a couple other problems I had with this article in the comment I made to Andy's Facebook post, before I had actually read the entire article....

Durango Jones: City's biggest wakeboard park? Does that mean there is another one and it is smaller? How could one get any smaller? This being re-opened under new management has been the operating propaganda on the Cowtown Wakepark Facebook page for months. If it is being re-opened, will the problem with it getting flood damaged be fixed? After all, America's Biggest Boondoggle is primarily a flood control project. Sort of ironic that the first project completed by The Boondoggle has been flood damaged twice....

Well, the article answers the question about there being multiple wakeboard parks in Fort Worth...

About a half-dozen are in Texas, and two are in Fort Worth: the full-sized Cowtown WakePark, with its endless loop cable hauling people around in circles, and TXMC Wake Park, which has a smaller, straight-line cable system.

I have no idea where in Fort Worth this TXMC Wake Park is located. I'd never heard of it before today.

Another paragraph was very perplexing to me....

Water levels on the West Fork, according to the USGS National Water Information System, rose by nearly 6-and-a -half feet during the last two weeks of May. These waters normally flow at low levels –– the West Fork is part of a flood control reservoir.

Only a nincompoop would look at the Cowtown Wakepark pond and not realize that whenever the Trinity River goes into flood mode the little pond is going to be flooded. The flood in May was not the first time the little pond has suffered flood damage. What did they think was going to happen when the river next door floods? And what is this about this area of the West Fork of the Trinity being part of a flood control reservoir.

Huh?

Doesn't a reservoir require a dam which holds back water? Thus controlling a flood? Where is this downriver dam creating a reservoir?

I tell you, Fort Worth Weekly is getting to be almost as embarrassing as reading Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda. Or a Star-Telegram puff piece.

So, when Cowtown Wakepark reopens it will have a new name, Republic Waterpark DFW. The new owner of the so-called "park" is a Philippine man named Lray Villafuerte who is paying for its reconstruction. Supposedly new parts for the renewed park are being assembled in a Manila warehouse owned by Mr. Villafuerte.

I remember when America's Biggest Boondoggle put up signage along the Trinity Trails pointing out the direction to the various wonders one could find along the trails I opined that etching "Cowtown Wakepark" on the signs seemed a bit of an obvious risk, with it seeming obvious to me that that enterprise would not be in business very long. Will The Boondoggle use whiteout to cover up Cowtown Wakepark and write over the whiteout with Republic Waterpark DFW?

Last summer after I discovered Cowtown Wakepark was closed and saw a sign saying it would open soon under new management, it only took a little Googling to find that Cowtown Wakepark had a Facebook page. On that page there were a lot of comments lamenting its closure and the misinformation as to when it would reopen. There were comments about financial malfeasance, funds being stolen. It wasn't pretty.

Did Fort Worth Weekly not consider it might be worthwhile to dig a little deeper into the Cowtown Wakepark debacle?

Early on, when Cowtown Wakepark opened, J.D.  Granger very much touted this as an accomplishment of his Boondoggle, bragging about how The Boondoggle was bringing this wonderful sport to Fort Worth.

I have asked more than once how much The Boondoggle spent to build the wakeboard pond.

I  remember back in October of 2010, biking along the Trinity Trail and suddenly coming upon a ridiculous amount of signage touting the "TRINITY RIVER VISION UNDERWAY'. In the area that became Cowtown Wakepark I was totally bum puzzled wondering why so much earth was being moved, why a big hole was being dug, why the Trinity Trail was being re-routed.

I took pictures and blogged about it, asking if anyone had a clue. Connie D then sent me a link to page on the Trinity River Vision's website, touting this new thing they were bringing to Fort Worth. It was only an artist's rendering, but I could tell the hole I saw being dug was what is now the wakeboard pond.

How much money did The Boondoggle spend on this ill-fated enterprise? Shouldn't that information be readily available?

Changing the subject slightly.

This week's Fort Worth Weekly is their annual Turkey Awards issue. The prime Turkey Award went to the current extremely embarrassing governor of Texas, Greg Abbott.

I think Fort Worth Weekly should also have given itself a Turkey Award.

A Turkey Award is well deserved for firing Fort Worth Weekly Editor Gayle Reaves. Ever since Fort Worth Weekly lost Gayle Reaves the quality of Fort Worth Weekly has plummeted.

This article about the Cowtown Wakepark debacle is just one more example of that plummet.....

A Look At An Actual Fort Worth Pavilion Which Has Seen Better Days

In the picture you are in Oakland Lake Park's picnic pavilion which overlooks Fosdick Lake and the Fosdick Sputtering Fountain.

This picnic pavilion looks to have been built in the CCC era back in the 1930s, making that guess due to the style of stonework construction, which looks like other CCC structures I have seen elsewhere.

But this is Texas. Was the CCC allowed to build public works projects in Texas? Or was there an obstructionist Greg Abbott type governor of Texas way back then?

In its original glory the Oakland Lake Park picnic pavilion must have been a nice place to picnic. Large fireplaces are at both ends of the pavilion, currently boarded up and useless. It appears that at some point in the distant past running water may have been available.

I have seen a photo of a long ago drinking water fountain located near the picnic pavilion. Running water still runs under Oakland Lake Park, as evidenced by the fountain which sputtered back to life a couple  years ago, which you can see below if you look past the flock of Fosdick ducks.

If you have ever visited that area of Fort Worth that is called Panther Island Pavilion and wondered where the pavilion was you might have wondered if Fort Worthers know what a pavilion is. The Oakland Lake Park picnic pavilion is a good indicator that at some point in distant time Fort Worthers did know what a pavilion is.

Regarding this pavilion nonsense, additional nonsense occurs to me, as in the nonsense regarding how Fort Worth names things.

For decades Fort Worth's downtown had signs pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square, confusing Fort Worth's few tourists. Now there is a square, goofily named Sundance Square Plaza, which apparently did not occur to the people naming it such that the name seems a bit redundant.

Then what is known as America's Biggest Boondoggle started calling a chunk of land "Panther Island" where there is no island. And then called an area of the imaginary island "Panther Island Pavilion" where there is no pavilion.

And then we have Oakland Lake Park, where there is no Oakland Lake in Oakland Lake Park. The lake in Oakland Lake Park is called Fosdick Lake.

Changing the subject from walking with the ducks to my other exercise woes.

Swimming went well this morning, which surprised me, because the air was chilled to 48. Tomorrow morning may be my last swim for awhile, because on Saturday the low is predicted to be 31.

Brrrrr.....

I Wonder When A Super Tall Tower Will Be Built In Fort Worth?

It has begun to seem a bit repetitive, pointing out something I read in a west coast news source online, usually the Seattle Times, which I would not expect to be reading in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about something taking place in Fort Worth.

I have said before that hardly a week goes by where I don't read about some new big construction project in the Seattle zone, usually downtown, with most of that construction having to do with the HUGE demand for downtown living space, due to downtown Seattle, like downtown Los Angeles, like downtown San Francisco, like downtown Dallas, being seen as being extremely desirable as a place to live.

So, now, apparently, Seattle is going to have one of those ridiculously tall Super Towers, well over 1,000 feet tall. There are so many skyscrapers and residential towers being added to the Seattle skyline I don't think I will recognize the town as being Seattle til I see the Space Needle, when next I visit.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, quaint, sleepy, charming Fort Worth.

A few days ago in the Star-Telegram an article appeared titled Oilman touts new downtown Fort Worth office tower.

A new 25 story office tower, being brought to downtown Fort Worth by something called Jetta Operating.

A gas drilling company.

Yes. Fort Worth has had good luck with the endeavors of gas drilling companies. Isn't the old Chesapeake Energy building available for occupation? You know, that location from whence Chesapeake Energy ran its corrupt Fort Worth shadow government during the reign of Mayor Mike Moncrief, a buffoon of a man also known as the Poster Boy for Gas Corruption.

A rather embarrassing factoid in this piece of Star-Telegram propaganda is contained in the following paragraph....

"... the building, touted as the first high-rise development downtown in seven years, was carefully designed to fit into the available urban landscape."

The city which deludes itself in thinking it is the envy of the nation has not had a single high rise development for seven years?

And trust me on this, most towns wearing their big city pants do not count a short, 25 story building, as being a high-rise. More like a low-rise. Maybe, at best, a mid-rise.

So, why make mock of this, you are sitting there wondering? Well, there is something serious afoot here.

Why is it that other big cities in America, during this time of economic recovery, have been booming to various degrees? Just drive a few miles east to Dallas and you will see a town in boom mode. Go west to pretty much any of the west coast towns and you will see the same thing.

So, what is stifling Fort Worth's downtown from growing and booming like other downtowns in America?

Besides the obvious.

Well.

I think Mr. Spiffy nailed it a couple months ago when he opined that America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision has killed development in the Fort Worth downtown core, due to the fact that developers do not know if The Boondoggle is ever going to deliver on that which its propaganda purports is going to be delivered at some indeterminate future date.

Developers see failed efforts of The Boondoggle, like Cowtown Wakepark, and they opt to move their money in another direction. Like to a tall Seattle skyscraper. Or multi-story residential complexes in Dallas.

Meanwhile Fort Worth flounders, looking ridiculous to outsiders, embarrassing itself, continuing to allow Kay Granger's totally unqualified son, J.D., to continue mis-managing that which has come to be known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

It all really is very boggling.

And very perplexing.

Fort Worth, and the people who live here, deserve better......

Spencer Jack Takes Us On A Drive Through The Flooding Skagit River

Last August my Favorite Great Nephew, Spencer Jack, who I just realized is currently my Only Great Nephew, took us all on a drive where the Skagit River used to flow.

Well, Spencer Jack is taking us to the river again, only now, a few months later, the Skagit River is back full of water to the point of being over filled, as in flooding.

The current flood is the second Skagit flood of the flood season. It would seem the drought has ended in the Western Washington part of the West Coast. Early snow has closed the North Cascades Highway til Spring. A winter or two, well, maybe only one, there has been so little snow that that mountain  pass has managed to stay open through the winter. But this year it is already closed, with winter still a month away from arriving.

The below is a screen cap from yesterday's Skagit Valley Herald online version.

I read in the Seattle Times this morning that the storms of recent days have killed three and left hundreds of thousands without power.

Texas floods seem to have a tendency to be much more dramatic than what I remember of Washington floods. One would think Washington would get downpours at a Texas level, what with being so close to the Pacific and what with there being areas which are rain forests due to so much rain. I don't think Texas has any rain forests.

Washington does tend to have more horrific mudslides than what happen in Texas, likely due to Washington having steep hills and mountains down which walls of mud and debris can slide.

Below is another picture of Spencer Jack and the Skagit.

I see the Riverside Bridge and the Tulip Tower in the background,  which means Spencer Jack is in Mount Vernon. I can not tell if Spencer is on the east bank or the west bank of the river. What looks likes submerged playground equipment behind Spencer Jack confuses me. I don't remember any park type location being near the west bank of the river as it passes by downtown Mount Vernon.

Texas locals who observe the Trinity River when it is in flood mode and have been astonished by the volume of litter floating towards the Gulf of Mexico, make note of the fact that you see absolutely no litter in the Skagit River floating towards either the Gulf of Mexico or Puget Sound.....

At An Arlington Trade Show With Miss Puerto Rico Loaded With Swag & Margaritas

A couple weeks ago Miss Puerto Rico told me I was going with her to something called the AATC Trade Show on November 17.

Yesterday was November 17, which, seeings as I always do what I am told to do, I drove Miss Puerto Rico to the Arlington Convention Center to a Trade Show.

I can tell you Miss Puerto Rico is among the show goers you see here in the photo.

Hour upon hour of being vertical at a trade show was exhausting, with the exhaustion enhanced due to the need to haul the bags of what I guess is called swag. Soon my bags of swag grew so heavy I used two of the 48 inch yard stick swags to carry a couple of the swag bags over my shoulder, in hobo with a stick mode.

I am thinking a 48 inch yard stick should be called a yard stick plus, what with it being a foot longer than a yard.

As we made our way through the Trade Show time and again I found myself being given a greenish concoction called a Margarita. The Margaritas were tasty, but sometime around the 7th or 8th Margarita something about the concoction seemed to be making the swag seem heavier to carry.

I have not been in all that many convention centers. The only ones which come to mind are the Fort Worth, Dallas, Seattle, Tulsa and Oklahoma City convention centers.

The Arlington Convention Center seemed extremely minimalist compared to the others I have been in. The exhibition hall in which the Trade Show took  place was rather spartan. Meaning I was tired of being vertical, but there were very few seating opportunities, and those were all occupied and consisted of being folding chairs.

Most of the vendors had bowls of edibles for the show goers. Candy type edibles. I had not had myself such a thing in a long time. Last night I had a Snickers, Nestle Crunch, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, York Peppermint Patty, Mars Bar and others I am not remembering. I'd not consumed so much candy type stuff since I last went to one of Miss Puerto Rico's company Christmas Parties, way back in December of 2008.

Another thing about last night. I have an aversion to being in crowds. Even an outdoor crowd, such as what populates the Prairie Fest, quickly gets on my nerves.

I think my aversion to being in crowds stems from a traumatic experience  in October of 1986, about a week before Vancouver's Expo 86 was to close. The crowd was HUGE. If I remember right it broke the attendance record to that point, then broke it again and again as the Expo wound down.

So, it was nearing closing time. I was heading to where I'd parked near the southeast entry. Others were heading other directions. At a point where several Canadian pavilions were located the walkway was under a high cover. The passage through this location was only a couple hundred feet wide, which sounds real wide, but is not when human gridlock occurs. It  is an awful feeling to suddenly find yourself only able to move in slow increments.

Crowds can panic in such circumstances, such as what has happened many times in Saudi Arabia with Muslims making their trek to Mecca.

Last night's crowd at the Trade Show did not reach an Expo 86 level of human congestion, except for a couple locations where throngs had gathered to await the reading of a raffle ticket.

Eventually I made it safely home and this morning feel no after effects, thus I was up early and in the cool pool shortly after dawn, with the outer world heated to a semi-balmy 51 degrees....

America's Biggest Boondoggle Allegedly Finally Completes Something Worthwhile

What you are looking at here is a screen cap from the NBC DFW website, that being the online version of the Dallas Fort Worth NBC affiliate.

The article we are looking at is titled Art Piece Completed for Trinity River Vision Project.

The caption under the person talking with his hands says "Work on Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Bridges has been going on for years and there are a few more years to go, but on Monday morning, one part of the project was complete."

The part of the project that is complete, after all these years, is an alleged work of art, that being the metal object the above person's right hand is pointing towards.

If you have driven by The Boondoggle's bridge construction zone you have likely seen this work of art and wondered to yourself why, among with maybe a few other choice words.

Work on The Boondoggle's bridges have been going on for years, with a few more years to go? NBC DFW makes The Boondoggle's boondoggle sound even worse than the embarrassment it actually is.

Actually only one of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges is being worked on, with that work starting with a bang a little over a year ago, with not much to show for the effort til a couple months ago.

This NBC DFW article and news clip contains several gems in addition to what has already been mentioned, such as....

Most Fort Worth public art is installed after a project finishes or at the very tail end. In this case, Wind Roundabout is really the first finished piece of the Trinity River Vision Project, also known as Panther Island. 

I wonder if NBC DFW can provide us with some examples of Fort Worth public art which was installed after a project was finished, or at the tail end? I draw a blank. This work of art is the first "finished piece of the Trinity River Vision Project?" How can any legit news source print, or say that, without realizing something is dire wrong if this art project is the first finished piece of a project that has been boondoggling along for well over a decade?

Does the now defunct Cowtown Wakepark not count as one of The Boondoggle's completed projects?

The reasoning as to why public funds, for this public works project the public has never voted for, have been spent on an "art" installation, at this stage of the project, is just a bit bizarre....

"The decision was that it would be nice to show something that indicates the progress," said Martha Peters, of Fort Worth Public Art. Showing drivers and residents that progress is happening is part of the reason. Another major reason is that with the artist selected and the piece designed, building it in the future could prove to be more costly. With the piece now finished, it's a chance to show off what the future may hold for an area currently undergoing major construction for the bridges. "It's really sort of setting the stage for the kind of architecture and development the Panther Island Project will bring to Fort Worth," Peters said.

Oh, I see,  part of the reason for adding this work of art to this unfinished project is to show drivers that progress is happening with The Boondoggle. Yes, I am sure that is what most of those driving by that work of  "art" have thought to themselves. As in, something like "Oh my, look at that progress! And here we were thinking nothing was happening with this vitally needed flood and economic development project."

This "art" installation is setting the stage for the kind of development the Panther Island Project will bring to Fort Worth? Could this not be interpreted as a cautionary warning?

When I first saw this art work in progress and wondered why such a thing is being installed now amongst all this sloppy construction mess I figured the artist must be a relative of J.D. Granger or Jim Oliver or Bryan Epstein, in dire need of funds. Thinking thusly due to The Boondoggle and the TRWD's penchant for corrupt nepotism.

The installer of the work of art is a German living in Maine named Uwe Langmesser. The work of art was designed by some other German whose name I have forgotten. I guess nepotism could still be in play, even though those installing the artwork do not have an obvious connection to The Boondoggle's perpetrators.

Another thing about this work of art which bothers me came to mind when I listened to Uwe the Installer wax poetic about how the wind creates a kinetic piece of ever changing art as it blows the thousands of aluminum flappers in the wind.

I thought to myself, is it really a good idea to put such a visual distraction at the center of a big roundabout where all drivers should be focusing their attention on making their way around the big circle, and not staring at some metal blowing in the wind?

I'm guessing the inside, true story as to why this ridiculous piece of art has already been installed in an ongoing construction zone would make for an actual news story, rather than the puff piece of propaganda produced by NBC DFW.....

Lord Baby Jesus Please Let The People Learn To Drive In The Rain

I saw that which you see here on Facebook a couple minutes ago, a meme from something called Olympia Memes.

Olympia is the capital of  the state of Washington. I don't know if Olympia being the state capital has anything to do with Olympia Meme being so named.

I do know that Washington has been much too dry for much to long, til lately. Apparently some people are being vexed by Washington drivers not driving well in the rain. Others blame California transplants.

My current location, a little north of being deep in the heart of Texas, is, weather-wise, being a stereotypical Western Washington Puget Sound lowlands type winter day.

Gray and a slow motion rain, off and on.

On Saturday I read a report or two, again via Facebook, that snow flakes were falling on the Kent Highlands. Kent is a suburb south of Seattle. The Kent Highlands are the area of Kent up on a high bluff above the flat lowlands. I have heard of no snow falling in my old homezone of the Skagit Valley. The lowlands of the Skagit Valley are known as a Banana Belt. Snow can fall and stick in copious amounts in the next county north of Skagit, that being Whatcom, whilst the Skagit zone gets nary a flake.

Lowland Washington drivers are just about as bad as Texans when a rare snowstorm makes roads slippery. Maybe not as bad as Texans due to the fact that lowland Washingtonians can easily get some snow driving practice by heading a few miles east, to the Cascade mountain zone. There are no mountain zone snow opportunities at my current location for hundreds of miles. Probably Colorado would be the closest location one might find a mountain with snow, currently.

I really do not know if I will be able to adjust to living in Western Washington again. Just one day of this gray Texas dripping has me suffering a mild case of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder).

I did manage to go swimming this morning, which sort of surprised me. For very selfish reasons I am really becoming a fan of global warming. I went running in the rain in the noon time frame. Running in my neighborhood zone.

French Flag Waves Support Around The World Along With Fort Worth's Unique Contribution

With this particular blogging my original intention was to make it one of my popular series of bloggings about something I see in an online west coast news source which I would not likely see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I had screen capped an article about Seattle's French community singing La Marseillaise on Saturday whilst the French flag was raised atop the Space Needle.

The 25 by 35 foot flag was made via a rush job by a Tukwila flag maker, then rushed to Seattle for hoisting atop the Space Needle at 4 pm Saturday.

So, while hoisting a French flag atop a well known Fort Worth landmark is something one would not see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, due to the fact that Fort Worth has no well known landmarks, I decided it would be tacky and tasteless, on this occasion, to point out that fact.

Oops, I guess I just did.

And does Fort Worth have a French community? I sort of doubt it.

Below is the Sydney Opera House lit up in the French flag tri-colors. The French flag is like the American, Canadian, British, Japanese and a few other flags, in that it is readily recognizable, what with its red, white and blue simplicity.

A month or so ago we heard the sort of shocking news that the skyline of Dallas is the best in the world. Not New York City, not Paris, not any other well known city skyline, it is Dallas with the best, or maybe most well known, skyline in the world. The Dallas skyline has been lit up with the French tri-color flag via the Omni Hotel next to the Reunion Tower.

Note that Dallas is following the French flag's color protocol, broad stripes, with blue on the left, white in the middle, red on the right.

And then we have Fort Worth's contribution to the world-wide symbolic support for France.

I saw the above and totally did not get it. We are looking down on downtown Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza. Is the fact that there is blue, white and red lighting supposed to be easily noted as representing France? On ground level did this look like anything even remotely memorable?

Maybe all the other cities in the world were being totally literal, while Fort Worth opted to go for an abstract rendering of the French flag.

Yes,  I realize in the bigger scheme of things this particular Fort Worth oddity amounts to nothing, but still, it is just goofy.

I found this photo on Facebook. A selection of a few of the comments were, well, sort of equally embarrassing....

Debbie McGee: So beautiful! Brian captured the support for our neighbors across the sea!

Judy Schell: So proud of Fort Worth, Texas

Jean Wright Potts: Lovely to be so proud of our cities in mourning with France.

Judy Gans: Beautiful.

Nikki Frazier Sonderegger: Very well displayed.

Mary Zimmerman: awesome way to show we care.

So proud? Beautiful? Well displayed? Awesome way to show we care?

The Brian to which the first commenter refers to is Brian Luenser, he being a local photographer who uses filters and digital manipulation to create extremely distorted photos of Fort Worth, which legions of locals gush over like clueless sheep.  Mr. Luenser's photo of Sundance Square in its tri-color glory appears to be more photo-realistic than most of his photos.

In this blogging I had intended to mention how badly some Republican neo-con nincompoops have embarrassed themselves, and America, with the French, and other thinking people, world-wide, with some of their idiotic statements about the horrific mass murder in Paris. But, I have already run long and it is time for lunch....