March 2010
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New study says two Cleburne earthquakes linked to saltwater wells Does Dallas have a 'bucket list'? Hey, kid: Say cheese -- and bring down the house! Recent Comments
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March 10, 2010
Is it too late for us to say never mind to the Super Bowl? If this promotional video is a sign of things to come, we're clearly not ready for the big time.
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The entry "This Kiss (of death)" is tagged: North Texas Super Bowl , This Kiss
Says here that geologists from SMU and UT-Austin released a study confirming suspicions that two saltwater disposal wells associated with Barnett Shale natural gas operations may have spawned several small earthquakes in North Texas last year and the year before. As you may recall, nobody got hurt during the quakes, the largest of which registered 3.3 on the Richter scale. Don't know about you, but I've suddenly gotten really interested in saltwater wells. Here's a good place to get started.
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The entry "New study says two Cleburne earthquakes linked to saltwater wells" is tagged: Barnett Shale , Chesapeake Energy , Cleburne , Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , Richter scale , saltwater wells , Southern Methodist University , Texas earthquakes , Texas Railroad Commission , University of Texas at Austin
The current issue of Texas Monthly has an interesting cover story about the unique experiences the state offers. Despite my mild disaffection for the uber-whimsical movie tie-in term "bucket list," the mag poses a gripping question: "If we had only one year left on earth, what would we do in the Lone Star State?" They came up with 63 only-in-Texas suggestions, many of which I have happily done (visit Devil's River, float the Guadalupe, have a beer at the Shiner brewery) and a few of which I'll skip (eat calf fries). I can't quarrel with most of the list, although there are a few items I would have added (the giant oak tree at Goose Island State Park, hot links at City Market in Luling, "Come and Take It" Days in Gonzales, read William Humphrey's "The Ordways"). It was hard not to note, however, that TM didn't find much to do-before-you-die in Big D. Among 63 far-flung items, I count five each in San Antonio, Austin, and Houston; four in El Paso; three each in Amarillo and Fort Worth. In Dallas: two. Two! One is "Visit the State Fair of Texas" (well, Duh, I would have listed that under stuff they skipped as too-obvious-to-name like seeing the Alamo or the State Capitol). The other is "Have a Drink at the Mansion on Turtle Creek."
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The entry "Does Dallas have a 'bucket list'?" is tagged: Texas Monthly , the Bucket List
I'm shocked to realize that the victim of a fatal stabbing on Swiss Avenue is someone I knew. It had been awhile since I last heard from him, but James Crowell used to be a regular phone friend. He took an interest in my columns shortly after I began to write them, now 21 years ago. And he would call to discuss various topics. He was a sweet-natured man who seemed to be interested in everything. As I recall, he worked part-time for a funeral home and would stop by my desk to say hello whenever he came to the newspaper to deliver an obituary. What an awful ending to a rich life.
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The entry "Rest in peace, James Crowell" is tagged: James Crowell March 9, 2010
As was reported here, 11-year-old Casey Rogers of Terrell won the right to implode Texas Stadium. A former foster child who founded a charity aptly named Casey's Heart, Casey has been inspiring people with his dedication to helping the homeless. His work with the homeless helped him win the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese essay contest for kids who've made a difference in their communities. I was tickled pink by Casey's reaction to being picked to trigger the April 11 implosion: "Oh man, I'm just excited," the Terrell sixth-grader said. "Real excited." For the record, I'm of the mind that the doctor group objecting to Kraft sponsoring the implosion is pushing nothing but a cheesy PR ploy, an ill-advised prescription for senseless discord. Say, cheese.
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The entry "Hey, kid: Say cheese -- and bring down the house!" is tagged: Casey Rogers , Casey's Heart , Kraft Macaroni & Cheese , Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine , Terrell Texas , Texas Stadium
OK, Jack, you have inspired me. If the Spirit of Memphis Quartet got the hymn book into the atomic age, maybe I can push it into the digital world. So here are my new lyrics to "God 1.0": Been to the Help Desk; T'was no help at all. Tried my luck with McAfee, system still ran slow. (Chorus) Download the Lord, yes, I'm gonna download the Lord; (Hmm. Maybe some things don't need updating.)
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The entry "Updating the hymnal" is tagged: God 1.0
Steve, there must be a specific genre of hymns that reconcile modern innovation with religion. Your reader (all of my readers, BTW, are completely hinged) reminds me of a spectacular gospel song, recorded in 1952 by the Sprit of Memphis Quartet:
Great tune - I had it on a superb soundtrack album from the film Atomic Cafe. Sadly, I lost the LP in a divorce and now it's out of print. Full lyrics here.
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The entry "More techno-hymns" is tagged: atomic cafe , gospel , hymns , spirit of memphis quartet
I got a long, slightly unhinged letter from an elderly reader today. The fun part is that she included a page from an old hymnal with the song "The Royal Telephone." It was written in 1919 and must have been an attempt to relate the newfangled technology to heavenly matters. I love the words: Central's never "busy," Always on the line; You may hear from heaven Almost any time; Must have been a booger for church pianists. It's got five flats.
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The entry "Hotline to Glory" is tagged: The Royal Telephone
I think maybe there's something to this notion that the new smart meters are resulting in higher electric bills. I was too lazy to pursue it, but I remember gulping when I saw my bill a month or so after the changeout at our house. It seemed substantially higher than a normal winter bill. It must the the colder winter, I told myself, as an excuse not to paw back through old bills and deal with a "customer service" agent.
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The entry "Smarting from Oncor's smart meters" is tagged: Oncor , smart meters
Among the junk e-mail this morning was one that I can only assume is a scam, but with an old-timey twist: Dear Western Union member, Western Union? Is this a con job from some Nigerian who has been watching old U.S. Westerns and thinks Western Union is still the company every American uses? Needless to say, I don't have a Western Union account and won't be downloading any forms.
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The entry "A quaint scam" is tagged: scam , Western Union
A non-profit called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine wants the city of Irving to cancel Kraft Foods' sponsorship of the Texas Stadium implosion, and substitute an anti-obesity campaign themed "cheese really blows you up." Why even bother making this silly proposal? For the pub: The PCRM are old hands at this game. It's difficult to find objecive information about the group, especially how many "doctors" it actually includes. Some PCRM literature claims a membership of several thousand physicians; Newsweek reported several years ago that fewer than 5 percent of it members are doctors. Their primary purpose is to combat medical testing on animals and promote a vegan lifestyle - no dairy, no eggs, and no cheese, hence the demonization of macaroni and cheese. PCRM has had the food industry in its crosshairs for years: Among other things, it filed a lawsuit demanding that packages of hot dogs carry a warning label similar to cigarettes, admonishing that weenies cause cancer. There's plenty of negative info about the group available, but most of it is supplied by "consumer groups" actually funded by the deep-pocket industries they oppose. PCRM says it will donate $75,000 if Irving drops Kraft. Kraft says it's all about consumer choice. Irving Mayor Herb Gears says he's not amused. I just like macaroni and cheese.
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The entry "Anti-cheese activists target stadium implosion" is tagged: Center for Consumer Freedom , Herb Gears , Irving , Kraft foods , macaroni and cheese , PCRM , Texas Stadium implosion March 8, 2010
The best ideas often are the simplest ones, the ones staring you in the face. Such is the case, it seems, with historian Ellen Fitzpatrick's, "Letters to Jackie: Condolences From a Grieving Nation." You can read the full story from which I draw here. Basically, Fitzpatrick, was at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston doing research for another book when she asked to read some of the condolence letters sent to the Kennedy family. She wanted to get a better sense of how Kennedy was perceived by his fellow Americans at the time. Well, there were more than 1.5 million letters.
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The entry "Letters to President John F. Kennedy's widow make for compelling reading" is tagged: Ellen Fitzpatrick , Jane Dryden Louis , Kennedy Assassination , Letters to Jackie: Condolences From a Grieving Nation , President John F. Kennedy , University of New Hampshire
I first told you about Rick and Terri Hawkins' noble effort to collect at least 1,000 pairs of crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, canes and the like for Haiti last month. Then I reported on the public's awesome response to the ambitious campaign.
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The entry "Hats off to Lake Highlands' couple's Crutches-for-Haiti campaign!" is tagged: crutches-for-Haiti , Haiti , humanitarians , Lake Highlands , Rick Hawkins , Terri Hawkins , Town Creek Crier
The front page of the paper paper this morning offered an interesting juxtaposition. The huge headline trumpeted the Best Picture Oscar for a movie about bombs in Iraq. And the smaller headline next to it was about real bombs in Iraq. Congratulations to all those involved in creating The Hurt Locker. But far bigger congratulations and admiration go to the Iraqi people who defied bombs to exercise their right to vote.
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The entry "Bombs real and cinematic" is tagged: Iraq elections , The Hurt Locker March 5, 2010
CEDAR HILL -- Now here's something to sing about. The Bray Elementary Character Chorus is performing in Orlando this weekend. In January, I wrote about the choir's effort to raise money for the trip. Organizers needed to raise $56,000 to send 52 choir members to Orlando for America Sings, a nonprofit festival that allows young artists to "combine music, charitable giving and community service."
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The entry "Cedar Hill's Bray Elementary Character Chorus singing in Florida" is tagged: America Sings , Bray Elementary Character Chorus , Cedar Hill , Elizabeth Podany
As with Austin crazyman Joseph Stack III, there's a race on to pigeonhole the Pentagon shooter's politics. Right-wing extremist? Anti-government libertarian? I hate to bring this up again, since I'm stilling getting pissy e-mails from people irate that I called the Fort Hood shooter a "nut with a gun" instead of a Muslim jihadist. Do we really hate one another's smoking guts so much that some established political group has to field the blame everytime some wack job blows a transformer? This guy was anti-government - in part, it's being reported, because he favored unrestricted immigration and pot use, issues which do not quite fit the "right wing extremist" model. Here's a tip in pondering this guy, Stack, the Fort Hood gunman, and others of similar stripe: Ideology-wise, they're difficult to typecast BECAUSE THEY ARE CRAZY. The big difference between me and any of these guys is not how we voted in the last election. The big difference is that THEY ARE CRAZY and I'm not.
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The entry "Right, left, and the Wackitocracy" is tagged: Fort Hood gunman , John Patrick Bedell , Joseph Stack III , Pentagon gunman
The Shape of Things (at the Wyly Theatre) Titillating, damaging, sad. Sexual manipulation at its best -- or worst.
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The entry "10wol review: The Shape of Things" is tagged: The Shape of Things , Wyly Theatre
I was always jealous of kids whose parents paid them for good grades on report cards. Dad could be a bit hard-nosed about such things. "Why should I pay you for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway?" he reasoned. But Newsweek reports in its current issue that some Texas programs to pay kids for good grades paid off in real academic gains. This is according to the first long-term study of cash incentives.
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The entry "Money motivates -- even in school" is tagged: education , pay-for-performance
Jay Leno got a shot in on Texans in his Tonight Show monologue last night. He noted that Bill White had won the Democratic nomination for Texas governor over Farouk Shami. Then Leno went into feigned shock. "Who could have seen that coming???" he gasped. "Imagine! Texans electing a white guy named White over a Pakistani-born businessman named Farouk Shami! It's like the world is upside down! Crazy!" Shami is Palestinian born, but I guess you can't let that get in the way of a good joke. Yee-haw.
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The entry "Leno digs Texas -- not in a good way" is tagged: Farouk , Jay Leno , Shami , Texans
This just in: The local weather 65 1/2 million years ago was very, very bad. This is due to our proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, where a new coalition of scientists now agrees a seven-mile-wide asteroid slammed into the planet. This, they say, set off earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, and a lingering "thermal winter" that killed off half the species on earth, including all the dinosaurs. I have been complaining loudly about the pollen count, but I'll concede that it could be worse.
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The entry "Crimes against dinosaurs: The asteroid did it" is tagged: asteroid collision , dinosaurs , Impact theory , Journal Science March 4, 2010
OK, here's something a little different. The Dallas Opera is putting out a call for good climbers. You don't have to sing, just climb through the rigging of a stage-bound ship in an upcoming production of Moby Dick. We need men with a slim to medium build, ages 16 and up who are able and willing to climb a truss up to 30 feet in the air without hesitation. They should have absolutely no fear of heights. No previous opera/theatre experience necessary. Details after the jump.
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The entry "Call for buff opera buffs" is tagged: Dallas Opera
My alma mater, A&M-Commerce, has a sticky little situation on its hands, to be sure.
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The entry "Texas A&M-Commerce football coach can't be allowed to run roughshod over student newspaper" is tagged: Carlton Cooper , First Amendment , freedom of the press , Guy Morriss , James Bright , student media , Texas A&M-Commerce , The East Texan
The sun is shining and Rangers baseball is back on the air today. All is well. The first game of spring training begins at 2:05 p.m. You can listen on KRLD-FM (105.3) or stream it online here. Let's go, Rangers. Make Nolan proud.
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The entry "Baseball and blue skies" is tagged: Texas Rangers March 3, 2010
True to type, low-key hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger retires today with a minimum of drama. The Denison native whose skill and levelheadedness saved a planeload of passengers last year hangs up the winged cap after 30 years as a commercial pilot. In other aviation news, the FAA announced that it will no longer allow children to direct commercial air traffic, following disclosure that a controller let his precocious tyke issue instructions to jets at JFK last month. Cute! What if it was take-your-kid-to-work day on the date Sullenberger's US Air flight ran into trouble? SULLY: Hit birds, we lost thrust in both engines, we're turning back to LaGuardia. TOWER: Do you think Spiderman can beat up Batman? SULLY: I don't know if we can make any runway. TOWER: Billy Wetzel threw up in the cafeteria yesterday. Miss Nolan got throwup on her feet and she said a bad word. SULLY: We're gonna be in the Hudson. TOWER: Can you fly your airplane over my school? SULLY: (No transmission) TOWER: I have to peepee.
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The entry "What if: Sully and the control tower kid" has no entry tags.
Actually, I've been a little under the weather lately, yet I find cause for good cheer: Steve Ott is keeping his job. And Don McLeory isn't.
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The entry "Feelin' groovy" is tagged: Dallas Stars , Don McLeroy , Steve Ott , Texas State Board of Education |
I would be more specific about the Stat
How embarassing! None of them can sing
Attend a symphony performance directed
To reader JG....... There is no other
To reader JG....... There is no other
I love Dallas, but I have to disagree a
To all the readers (Andrew,Jim, and Kri
I'd include the Grassy Knoll, going to
--Nasher Sculpture Center and the Arts
This is why I don't read the "South" Te