Sleepless in Midland

Michael Jackson's Dislocated Shoulder

Michael Jackson:

"They were supposed to go in, and just check fingerprints, and do the whole thing that they do when they take somebody in," he said. "They manhandled me very roughly. My shoulder is dislocated, literally."

Dr. Roberts at GruntDoc's Blog has expertly dissected Mr. Jackson's allegation. His prescription: "stop being a whiner."

Serial Bank Robber at large in Odessa

There have been three bank robberies in the Odessa during the last couple of months. One was on November 12, and two occurred within an hour of each other on December 17.

Last January 27 there was a bank robbery in Odessa, and the description of the robber has some similarities to the descriptions of the others. Here's the way they were described:

January 27 robber: Hispanic male 5 feet 7 inches tall, black hair and fair skin, wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue sweatpants and a blue baseball cap;

November 12 robber: No description reported by Odessa American;

December 17 robber #1: Hispanic male between 5 feet 7 and 5 feet 10 inches tall, dark complexion and wearing a white baseball cap, a gray hooded pullover sweatshirt and a nylon blue jacket;

December 17 robber #2: Man weighing between 160 and 170 pounds with mustache, wearing a black baseball cap, gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and sunglasses.

Well, it could be the same guy. It's interesting that the December 17 robber #1 didn't get any money, and the second robbery occurred an hour later. All of the robberies involved the handing of a note to a teller.

One would think that video images of these robberies would be shown on tv so that anyone who recognized the robber could come forward. But, no. There was a grainy video shown on tv after the December 17 robbery, and I made the observation that the video quality of tapes of bank robberies was pitifully poor.

So, I suspect that there just aren't any useful images of the guy. And, I'll just restate my previous conclusion, and that is that bank managers must have assessed the risk of a robbery and have determined that it isn't worth the money to upgrade their video equipment. It will be interesting to observe how much longer the serial bank robber continues to operate before they do that.

[Aside: If I were in the video equipment business I would certainly be calling on Odessa banks to try to sell them some new gear.]

Bill Vanderland, Midland FBI special agent in charge described bank robbers as follows:

"In my experience, people who rob banks are the lowest average IQ of any criminals we deal with," Vanderland said. "They're fairly desperate people without good judgment. They're not the rocket scientists of the criminal community."

As I stated before, it's a pass/fail test, and so far the robber is scoring a passing grade.

McDonald's Restaurant Closing

This can't be good news. First ChevronTexaco announces a plan to move out of the region, and now a McDonald's restaurant is closing in Midland and in Pecos. Oh well, I guess it's true what they say: the three most important things for a business are location, location, and ... uhhhh, I forget the third one.

Appraising Britain

The United Kingdom has been appraised. The whole thing - England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and everything of value there, including the land, buildings, vehicles, machinery, bridges, roads, shares and bank accounts, has been appraised. The Office for National Statistics did the bean counting, and that office arrived at the value of 4.983 trillion pounds, or $8.8 trillion, as of April 2001.

Now, if only the appraisers from the Midland Central Appraisal District could have gotten a crack at it the number probably could top $10 trillion easily.

Blair taking heat in Britain for WMD statement

This morning C-SPAN's Washington Journal guest was Joseph Cirincione, Director of the Non-Proliferation Project of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Link. And, he pointed out some news that American media have not picked up.

It pertains to some remarks by Tony Blair, reported on December 16, about a discovery of evidence of a weapons project in Iraq, and those remarks were later contradicted by Paul Bremer. But, when Bremer was told it was Blair who had made the remarks then Bremer did some backtracking. Here's the original December 16 report by the BBC.

When asked if he hoped the capture of Saddam would lead coalition forces to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Mr Blair said: "There is obviously that possibility there, but I think in any event, we have got to carry on the work that we are doing."

He then stressed: "The Iraq Survey Group has already found massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories, workings by scientists, plans to develop long range ballistic missiles. [Emphasis added.]

"Now frankly, these things weren't being developed unless they were being developed for a purpose ...

"I just say to people continually, when a country with a ruler like Saddam tries to hide what it's doing in a large country like Iraq, it is relatively easy to hide it."

But, in a later interview Paul Bremer was asked about that observation, but Tony Blair was not identified as the source of the original statement. Here's how it was reported on December 29 by the Sunday Times of Australia:

In an interview aired on Britain's ITV channel yesterday, Paul Bremer was asked if it was correct to say, as Blair had, that massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories had come to light since the US and British invasion of Iraq nine months ago.

"I don't know where those words come from but that is not what David Kay has said," replied Bremer, referring to the chief of the Iraq Survey Group that is hunting for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

"I have read (Kay's) reports so I don't know who said that," Bremer said.

"It sounds like a bit of a red herring to me," he added.

"It sounds like someone who doesn't agree with the policy sets up a red herring then knocks it down."

Bremer backtracked, however, when he was told that it was Blair - US President George W Bush's staunchest ally on Iraq - who had talked about "massive evidence" in a pre-Christmas broadcast to British troops abroad.

Changing tack, the US official said the Iraq Survey Group had found "clear evidence of biological and chemical programs, ongoing".

"Weapons of mass destruction or no weapons of mass destruction, it's important to step back a little bit here, to see what we have done historically," he added.

So, either Tony Blair was exaggerating, or there was some evidence of WMD found that has not yet been disclosed publicly. Time will tell. In the mean time, Blair's enemies are having a field day.

Earworms - Songs that get stuck in your brain

Today's print version of the Midland Reporter-Telegram contained an AP article by Rachel Kipp titled "Researcher finds people worldwide share this: songs that get stuck in your brain".  It's not available at the MRT online site, but here's a link to the article at another online source:  Link.   That one is titled "Killer earworm!  You can't hide ...", but it's the same Associated Press article: 

Unexpected and insidious, the earworm slinks its way into the brain and refuses to leave. Symptoms vary, although high levels of annoyance and frustration are common. There are numerous potential treatments, but no cure.

We've all probably experienced this.  A co-worker once politely pointed out to me that the song I had been whistling all morning was the song from The Wizard of Oz titled "If I Only Had a Brain".  Thanks.  I was cured.  (Oh drat.  It's started up again!)

Actually, there's another cure, and that is to pass it on to someone else.  Mark Twain wrote about this phenomenon in an article titled Punch, Brothers, Punch.  Hit the link to read the whole thing, if you dare.  It's a scary first hand account in which Mr. Twain tells of reading a short rhythmic verse that got into his head and would not give him peace.   At the brink of insanity, he encountered a minister friend who wanted to help him.  So, the minister had Mr. Twain recite the lines.  The minister repeated them a few times until he could recite them without mistake. 

The next time and the next he got them right. Now a great burden seemed to tumble from my shoulders. That torturing jingle departed out of my brain, and a grateful sense of rest and peace descended upon me. I was light-hearted enough to sing; and I did sing for half an hour, straight along, as we went jogging homeward. Then my freed tongue found blessed speech again, and the pent talk of many a weary hour began to gush and flow. It flowed on and on, joyously, jubilantly, until the fountain was empty and dry. As I wrung my friend's hand at parting, I said, --

"Haven't we had a royal good time! But now I remember, you haven't said a word for two hours. Come, come, out with something!"

The Rev. Mr. ------ turned a lack-lustre eye upon me, drew a deep sigh, and said, without animation, without apparent consciousness, --

Well, you get the picture.  Mr. Twain was cured, but the Reverend was now afflicted, and it caused the poor man much grief.  But, Mr. Twain was finally able to cure him: 

 

How did I finally save him from the asylum? I took him to a neighboring university and made him discharge the burden of his persecuting rhymes into the eager ears of the poor, unthinking students. How is it with them, now? The result is too sad to tell. Why did I write this article? It was for a worthy, even a noble, purpose. It was to warn you, reader, if you should come across those merciless rhymes, to avoid them -- avoid them as you would a pestilence!

This item would not be complete without a recitation of the rhyme that nearly drove them crazy, so here it is: 

"Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

CHORUS.

Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!"

So, there you have it.  The disease and the cure in one neat package.  Whistle while you work!

Why Do They Hate Us?

That question, "why do they hate us?" was a popular refrain immediately following 9/11. But, it's a good question to ask Democrats today about their feelings toward George W. Bush.

Anyone who listens to the callers on C-SPAN's Washington Journal gets an earful of vitriol on a daily basis. So, this morning, that was the issue - is the Democratic party an angry party? Callers preferred euphemisms such as "passion", but the "passion" was definitely there. One caller spewed about how the Supreme Court "stole the election from us", how GWB went AWOL during the Viet Nam war, and how he was a drunk driving cocaine abuser. Funny stuff.

Later in the show Frank Luntz was a guest, and he preferred the word "contempt". According to him, Democrats cannot believe GWB is president. He quotes Hillary Clinton as saying GWB is taking the country backward. Oh puleeeze.

But, there was one caller who hit on something. He described a question he liked to ask Democrats, and he said they really had to think a while before they could answer. Here's the question:

If you had to choose between two things:

(1) Bin Laden gets captured, and it assures George Bush's reelection; or

(2) Bin Laden doesn't get captured, but he arranges another terrorist attack in which 3,000 Americans are killed, and that assures George Bush's defeat in November '04;

Which would you choose?

Ouch!

Tony Snow on the Radio

Tony Snow is one of my favorite talking heads, so it was sad to hear that he left Fox News Sunday. He's supposed to be the host of a radio show which should be starting soon. Here's hoping one of the local radio stations will carry it.

Update - 1/18/04: I've looked for scheduling information about Tony Snow's radio show, but I've been unable to find any. A number of people have landed on this website no doubt looking for the same thing, and I apologize for not being able to provide it. I thought the show would have started at around the first of this year, but here we are well past the middle of January and there is still no information. So, I'm getting a little bit discouraged. If anyone who sees this knows what is going on with Tony Snow's radio show please leave a comment or send me an email. I'm dying to know what happened. Thanks!

Update - 1/22/04: This morning around 6:30 a.m., C.S.T., Tony Snow appeared on Fox and Friends and was asked when the radio show would start. His answer: "March first. Look for it at a radio station near you."

So, it looks like the big debut will occur on March 1. Hopefully, enough stations around the country will sign on so that all of us who want to hear it will have that opportunity.

Update - 2/16/04: Today I received some great news. KWEL Radio - AM 1070 - serving the Midland/Odessa, Texas, area will be airing Tony Snow's radio show starting March 1. So, apparently agreements are being flanged up with radio stations around the country, and the show appears to be on tract for its premier. I don't have scheduling information yet, but hopefully it will be available soon.

And, people with access to XM Radio will be able to hear it as well.

Update - 2/29/04: Well, tomorrow is the big day for Mr. Snow's radio debut, I hope. There is surprisingly little information about it available. If anyone who sees this has a link for a list of stations that will carry it then PLEASE leave a comment with the link. There are a lot of people looking for it. Thanks!!

Update - 3/1/04: Received word that the Tony Snow radio show will be broadcast from 9 am until 11 am CST today on KWEL 1070 AM in the Midland/Odessa area. Thanks Craig Anderson.

Update - 3/4/04: Today Tony Snow said on his radio show that they are developing a website which will list all of the stations which carry his program. And, he said that he will provide the website address on the air tomorrow (Friday). I will listen for it, and if I hear it I will put the URL in an update. However, our local station only runs 2 of the 3 hours of the show, and tomorrow I will only be able to listen to a portion of it anyway. So, if anyone catches the URL then please email me or leave a comment below. Thanks!

Update - 3/5/04: Tony Snow's website is up and running. And, his Station Finder will help locate stations carrying the show.

Self Serve checkout at Walmart

While I was in Austin last weekend I had occasion to go to a brand new Walmart store. This one had self serve checkout lanes in which the customer would scan his/her own merchandise then feed money into a machine to pay. The machine would cough out any change due in coins and bills - real dollar bills not those nearly useless dollar coins the post office machines throw out. And the customer could be out of there without any employee involvement. Pretty amazing!

They did have payment personnel standing by for those dunderheads from the sticks who couldn't get it done on their own. (Yes, they had to help me, in case you were wondering.)

But, it was an interesting experience - a logical step forward with the available technology. Who among us hasn't wished we could just do it ourselves to speed up the pace?

Very impressive, Walmart!

UPDATE, 6/2/04: Pogo pointed out in a comment that Albertson's on Midkiff and Loop 250 has self serve checkouts. I was in the Albertson's on Andrews hwy this morning, and they have some self serve checkouts, too. I suspect that all of the Albertsons must have them now.

Wanna Feel Young? Visit a Nursing Home.

One sure fire way to feel young again is to visit a nursing home. Yesterday I visited residents in two nursing homes and came away thinking that I'm a whole lot younger than I thought I was!

None of the residents appeared to be able to walk without assistance, and most were in wheel chairs. And there were those who looked like they might be freezing to death, but it was just a case of perpetual tremors. And there were those who just stared into space, lost in their own internal world. Oh, and there were the ones who wanted help to escape so they could go back home, when in fact, the home they remembered probably no longer exists.

Those who are mentally out of it could be the lucky ones. The people who have full use of their mental faculties have a huge adjustment to make. I believe it was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who, when asked what it felt like to be an old man, said "I don't feel like an old man, I feel like a young man with a very serious problem."

It looks to me as if adaptability is one of the keys to living a long and happy life. Unfortunately, the ability to adapt doesn't seem to increase with age. But, I guess each of us will have to deal with it in our own way, and in the mean time maybe someone will find that fountain of youth.

Computer problem, revisited

The other day I was having a heck of a problem with my computer. All indications suggested it was the video card. I bought a new video card at Best Buy, and it turned out to be wholly inappropriate. So, I got a refund and bought another one. But, the new one had a very inconvenient quirk: when using certain software of visiting certain websites the screen would just go black, and nothing would work, not even Ctrl-Alt-Del.

It was very annoying as certain websites that I visit regularly, such as GruntDoc's Blog, would cause a blackout as the screen started to load. I can't explain why. And, here's a random site that I stumbled onto that caused the same problem: The Write Event.

Anyway, Bert9785's comment in the earlier post about this problem suggested Circuit City. I suppose I had just been subconsciously following the herd by going to Best Buy, so I snapped out of it and went to Circuit City to see what they had. Sure enough, they had a video card that was a little bit cheaper than the one from Best Buy. I bought it, and the new card worked fine.

Fortunately, Best Buy has a very nice 14 day no-questions-asked refund policy. The directions in the box had said that if there was a problem not to take it back to the store but to call the manufacturer's toll free number as the product had a lifetime warranty. So, I feel guilty for taking it back to the store - I'm sure the manufacturer must really hate it.

But, the computer is up and running now. And, I'm grateful for that.

Everyone have a great Christmas Eve!

Teaching us math

There is a commercial on a local radio station for Jo-Jo's drive-in restaurant, and although it sounds like just an ordinary commercial, they are actually providing a math lesson. The restaurant sells hamburgers containing 1/3 pound of meat. One of the famous chains sells the "quarter pounder", McDonalds, I think. So, in order to distinguish the size of Jo Jo's burger from the quarter pounder the ad for Jo Jo's burger provides the information that the smaller the bottom number in a fraction, the larger the burger. So, it's basically an elementary math lesson hidden within a burger commercial.

It's tempting to get sarcastic about this, but if our schools really aren't teaching this stuff, then maybe Jo Jo is onto something. It's a public service. Thanks, Jo Jo.

Austin Traffic

It's a pleasure to drive in and around Midland. Don't believe me? Just drive around Austin, Texas, for a few days.

Take Ranch Road 620 in northern Austin for example. Perhaps it was a ranch road in the old days, but now it's a busy metropolitan thoroughfare. The speed limit ranges from 50 to 60 mph, but the road winds around and over hills and is interrupted with traffic lights and zillions of other vehicle entry points.

But, it's perfectly safe. Otherwise, why else would bicyclists ride on the paved shoulder, sometimes three abreast, sometimes as close as a foot away from the white line with cars zipping past at 60-plus mph? Yup. Perfectly safe.

Bank Robbers and Their Video Images

A bank was robbed in Odessa, Tx, on Wednesday, as reported in the Odessa American:

Bill Vanderland, Midland FBI special agent in charge, said a few tips had come in Thursday, but there will [sic] still no solid leads.
...
Vanderland said when it comes to bank robberies, which are a rarity in the Permian Basin, the FBI has to rely on help from the community.

The video tape of the robber was shown on local tv news on Thursday, and as usual, it was a grainy black and white image which could possibly trigger a recognition from someone who knew the culprit but wouldn't be of much use otherwise. And this suggests to me that banks are very complacent about bank robberies. There really aren't many bank robberies out here, so perhaps the expense is not proportional to the risk.

But, if bank management were really concerned about robberies they would install higher quality video equipment. And this would apply even more so to convenience stores.

Anyone who has seen one of those crime scene video tapes on television would probably agree that they fit in the lowest possible category of video quality. There are other things available, for example the "lip-stick" sized cameras there were used to record unsuspecting passengers in the HBO program "Taxicab Confessions" got some very good images. A few of those cameras placed strategically could get some high quality images of the perpetrator which could then be broadcast to the public.

The Odessa American quotes Mr. Vanderland as also having said:

"In my experience, people who rob banks are the lowest average IQ of any criminals we deal with," Vanderland said. "They're fairly desperate people without good judgment. They're not the rocket scientists of the criminal community."

But, it's a pass/fail test. If they get away, they've passed. And, as of the time of this writing, the Wednesday robber has passed.

We'll Fly Away

SpaceShipOne

Wallace at Streams has a wonderful tribute to the Wright brothers' contribution to human kind one hundred years ago. Their plane flew on December 17, 1903, and just yesterday, one hundred years later, SpaceShipOne, whose sponsor is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, flew Mach 1.2 reaching an altitude of 68,000 feet above the Mojave Desert. Link.

All I can do is just shake my head in wonder at the progress made in the past 100 years and wish I could be here to see what the next 100 years will bring.

DUI case at Crimlaw

Crimlaw has a very sobering summary of a case in which an individual was convicted of DUI and certified to go to the grand jury on a DUI - Manslaughter charge even though the defendant passed all of the field sobriety tests except that one step in the heel-to-toe walk was out of line. Yet he was convicted because the breath test showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.08. Crimlaw points out that "almost no one is inebriated at .08."

Update on Bear Hunt In New Jersey

The other day I wrote about the six day bear hunt in New Jersey which ended Saturday evening.

According to AP via ESPN there were 328 bears killed - about 10% of the bear population . There were 209 females and 119 males killed according to state Division of Fish and Wildlife Director Martin McHugh who said that 16 of them had previously been tagged as "nuisance" bears.

The governor, James E. McGreevey, had apparently backed a five year moratorium on bear hunts during his campaign. But, he changed his position on the issue when complaints about the bears mounted and other means of controlling the bear population had failed. So, it will be interesting to see how this plays out politically as there was a definite disagreement on the issue between the people threatened by the bears and those opposed to the hunts. (Link.)

Computer Problems

I'm having a problem with my computer. The display appears in "troubleshooting" mode, and I get a message telling me there is a problem either with the video card or the driver. I've replaced the driver, but that didn't help. Dang! So it looks like next step will be to attempt to replace the video card.

The trouble started yesterday around the time I plugged in my GPS to upload some routes, so perhaps static electricity may have played a part.

Anyway, I'll be back online when the darn thing is up and running again.

Update 12/17/03 12:30 p.m. CST:

So far so good. I decided to swap out the video card in the computer to see if that would cure the problem. So, I took out the old card and took it to Best Buy to see if I could find one of the same type. Well, the ones they sell appear to be intended for gamers who really want to maximize their gaming experience. But, a sales person pointed me to an inexpensive package containing a video card that would not only replace my old one but also allow me to watch television within a small window in the screen. Hot dog!

I bought it. But, once I got it out of the package I realized that it was only a tv cable adaptor card and not a video display card. So, back to Best Buy.

They cheerfully refunded the purchase price and another sales person provided me with more accurate advice - it seems that video card knowledge is a somewhat narrow science. Anyway, I ended up buying a new Nvidia Verto card for $99, plus tax, and installed it into the computer. And it works! (So far anyway.)

Gun Safes at Home Depot

I was in Home Depot Sunday, and I happened to notice several gun safes on display near the front of the store. I've seen gun safes for sale at gun shows for prices in four figures, but the ones at Home Depot were priced at $349 - not a bad price. But, there's a problem. The safe was just an inch shy of five feet tall, and it weighed 328 pounds. So it's not something one can just toss into the trunk.

I was curious about it, so I asked an employee whether they could deliver something like that. The store would deliver it for a $25 fee. So far so good. Then I asked whether the delivery people would set it up where I wanted it. Nope. It's "curb side" delivery only. I asked how much extra it would cost to have it brought in and set up. No dice. They would not do it, I was told.

So, any purchaser gets to move this 328 pound hunk of metal from the curb to wherever he/she wanted it. Well, that cinched it for me. My sales resistance just turned into a solid brick wall. The curb is just not the best place to keep a gun safe.

Well, I was just casually asking, I don't know whether I would have bought it anyway, but I'm certainly not going to now. However, it does raise a question of just why they would sell such an item if they aren't going to take that extra step for the customer. Home Depot seems to be doing all right without my help, and I'll just have to chalk this off as one of those things where Rosann Rosannadanna would just say "it's always somethin'." But, it looks like a disconnect between the generals and the front line soldiers at Home Depot. And, that's never good for any business.

Army of Shoppers Descend on Stores

With weapons of MasterCards, Visa cards and cash, customers easily overwhelmed all sales resistance yesterday. Loosely organized troops of shoppers descended on stores over the weekend and came away loaded with spoils of the shopping war.

The stores were packed, the parking lots were full, and the money flowed. But, there were no losers in this war - it was a great day for retailers and shoppers alike. Take that Saddam!

Plastic glasses - pretty ugly

This site purports to have the largest list of oxymorons ever collected online.

"Clinton principles", "civil war", "adult children", "blind eye", "clogged drain", "dull roar", and many more. And yes, "jumbo shrimp" is there too.

Via A Welsh View - always lots of good stuff over there.

Celebratory Gunfire

I'm all for honest citizens owning guns, but one thing I really hate to hear about is celebratory gunfire. Bullets go up. Bullets come down. It happened today in Iraq, and there was the suggestion on a tv news report that a fire is being blamed on falling bullets. But, I suppose that if we want to make changes in Iraq there are more important things to focus on than guns fired into the air.

As for me, I'm off to do some celebratory shopping!

Saddam Captured!

This is great news!

The officials said the former leader, who during his rule slept in lush palaces while many ordinary Iraqis lived in poverty, was found "cowering" in a basement in a home raided by coalition soldiers. The sources said coalition forces were "testing" the person believed to be Saddam to confirm his identity.

News of the potential capture made its way around Iraq like wildfire, with Iraqis in Tikrit and the capital city, Baghdad, celebrating the news by firing guns into the air.
...
In Iraq, rumors that Saddam was captured or killed near Tikrit sent hundreds of exultant people into the streets of this northern Iraqi city Sunday. They fired in the air in celebration and congratulated each other.

Update, 9:00 a.m. CST: Regarding the early morning tv coverage of Saddam's capture, the tv heavy weights, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw were up and broadcasting. But, Peter Jennings was absent from the tube this morning. I suppose this just wasn't the type of news about Iraq he would have preferred to cover. I understand Al Jazeera downplayed the incident, too.

Other news sources are waking up to the story. This morning at around 5:20 a.m. Google News had "55 related" articles on the subject. Now there are 165.

Black Bear Hunt in New Jersey

For the first time since 1970 the hunting of black bears in portions of New Jersey was authorized for six days, ending today. When bear hunting was banned In 1970 it was estimated that around 100 bears were left in New Jersey. However, now the black bear population is estimated to be as high as 3,200.

But, there are problems that arise when bears live near populated areas. Animal rights activists say the bears aren't the problem, the people are the problem. Is that right? Take a look at this:

Actually, the bears are a problem, according to the state. Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 28, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife fielded 1,395 complaints about black bears, including 206 reports of aggressive bears, 58 house break-ins and 21 attempted break-ins.

Nor do New Jersey's problem bears know how to keep their place, according to wildlife officials from other states.

"Despite annual hunting seasons conducted in southeastern New York, the number of bears and the frequency and severity of human-bear conflicts have increased markedly during recent years, culminating in the tragic death of an infant last summer," New York environmental Commissioner Erin Crotty wrote to Department of Environmental Protection Bradley Campbell earlier this year. [Emphasis added.]

"Our staffs attribute these increases, in part, to recent increases in bear numbers in New Jersey," Crotty said. Link.

Opponents of the hunt protested, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order eliminating a recreational area which comprised 20% to 25% of the approximately one million acres that were originally available for hunting. However, the restraining order was lifted on 12/9, the second day of the hunt:

"Given the state of New Jersey's research on this issue and the fact that the hunt will only be feasible for a limited time due to the start of the bears' hibernation cycle, which commenced at the beginning of December, the Court concludes that other parties would suffer harm if further injunctive relief is granted," [U.S. District Judge Reggie B.] Walton wrote. Link. [Emphasis added.]

Over 5,200 hunting permits were issued. And it was estimated that 500 bears would be killed, however, as of Friday afternoon 253 bears had been killed.

Update 12/17/03: According to AP via ESPN there were 328 bears killed - about 10% of the bear population . There were 209 females and 119 males killed according to state Division of Fish and Wildlife Director Martin McHugh who said that 16 of them had previously been tagged as "nuisance" bears.

The governor, James E. McGreevey, had apparently backed a five year moratorium on bear hunts during his campaign. But, he changed his position on the issue when complaints about the bears mounted and other means of controlling the bear population had failed. So, it will be interesting to see how this plays out politically as there was a definite disagreement on the issue between the people threatened by the bears and those opposed to the hunts. (Link.)

Volunteers Wanted: get drunk, test Breathalyser

Local law enforcement agencies are hosting a "Know Your Limit" program at Graham Central Station in Odessa on December 17, 2003, from 9:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. Law enforcement officers will assist volunteers in identifying their alcohol limits with field sobriety tests and a portable breath tester. The participant will be told his/her blood alcohol concentration level and be allowed to return to test again until he/she reaches the Texas legal limit of .08.

Oh, by the way, it's probably a good idea to plan on not getting behind the wheel once the .08 is reached.

Crossing 10,000

Sleepless In Midland started on 9/1/03, and it has been loads of fun. The host, Typepad, is great! I recommend it to anyone who wants to start a blog. Typepad provides some statistics to its customers, and one of them is the total number of hits a web log has received since its inception. And, this morning that number for Sleepless In Midland crossed over the 10,000 mark. Now, I know that may be pretty small potatoes when compared with the big league bloggers, but for me it's very rewarding. And, I want to express a heart felt "thank you" to all who visited this humble blog.

Oh yeah, the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed over 10000 today, too!

Selling West Texas Water - NYT weighs in

The New York Times has published an article about the proposal by Rio Nuevo, Ltd., to lease water rights under far west Texas land owned by the state of Texas.

The Times mostly rehashes much of what we already knew, but there is some background about how it all came about, and the parts involving Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick make for interesting reading:

Mr. [Robert] Canon said that before he and Mr. [Steve] Cole founded Rio Nuevo, another Midland company, Mexco Energy, had bought an interest in a Falcon Bay oil and gas projects. Mr. Craddick, the House speaker, is a Mexco director, but Mr. Canon said that Falcon Bay and Rio Nuevo were separate entities and that Mr. Craddick had nothing to do with Rio Nuevo.

Mr. Craddick, too, said through a spokesman that he had no connection with Rio Nuevo. But he did not dispute accounts that he had urged Mr. [Jerry] Patterson and David Dewhurst, the land commissioner at the time and now the state's lieutenant governor, to meet with Rio Nuevo partners.

Ms. [Susan] Combs, the agriculture commissioner, said that around April 2002, Mr. [Gary] Martin approached her with an idea of marketing state water via the Rio Grande. It was folly, she said, because sending water into the river would entail large losses from evaporation.

Not long afterward and at the behest of Mr. Craddick, Mr. Dewhurst said, he met with Mr. Martin to discuss the project. Mr. Dewhurst, who was running for lieutenant governor, said he later returned a contribution from Mr. Martin when he learned the oilman had an issue pending before him as land commissioner. "I thought it was a terrible idea," Mr. Dewhurst said of the proposal.

Mr. Patterson said that at Mr. Craddick's urging, he, too, began meeting with the Rio Nuevo partners, even before he succeeded Mr. Dewhurst in January.

Then, in May, as the legislative session wound down, the Texas House and Senate passed a bill that would allow the Rio Grande watermaster to put into the river "privately owned water" for delivery to clients and directed the state's Commission on Environmental Quality "to expedite any application for a permit" to carry out the act.

Mr. Dewhurst said he remembered Rio Nuevo's pressing for such a bill, but said he did not focus on it during the session. Mr. Craddick's spokesman said the speaker had nothing to do with the bill.

(To see other items in this weblog about this issue click on "Water" either below or in the Categories column to the right and see the entries titled "Selling West Texas Water".)

Thanks to bad things for the NYT link.

Grammar Quiz

The other day we took quizzes for punctuation and investment acumen. Today's quiz is about grammar. Go here to take the quiz.

Sample:
The professor gave the most difficult problems to Andrea and _______.
a) me
b) I
c) myself

The answer a test taker gives to the sample (question number 3 on the quiz) might vary depending on when he/she graduated from high school. I don't know when the cut off date would be, but it seems that a lot of people we see on national tv use a word in that situation that would have been ruled wrong by the dear ladies who taught me grammar. Perhaps it's just language evolution.

Via Fark.

"Friday Night Lights" - Billy Bob Thornton

There are reports that Billy Bob Thornton is negotiating to play the team coach in the movie version of "Friday Night Lights" based on the book of that same name about the 1988 season of the Odessa, Texas, Permian Panthers high school football team. Link.

Update: Lucas Black has signed on to play the quarterback. Link.

[Note: To see all of the items at this weblog about the making of this movie click on the category "Friday Night Lights"].

Midland Flood Zones - the 100 year flood map

West Texas is still in a drought, so perhaps the lack of water might be what triggers mental images of an over abundance. I saw a computer generated map of the 100 year flood map of Midland last month, and I've been hoping for a way to display it on this website. But it doesn't look like that will be possible. For anyone interested, a hard copy of the map is available for purchase from the city for $20.

But, the easiest way to see it is to download the map in PDF form from the City of Midland website. Here's the link (PDF). Be patient, it's a hefty 1.82 MB. But, it's worth the effort.

It's fascinating to see a depiction of the Midland River snaking its way from the Northwest city limit down to Scharbauer Draw, and it looks like a lot of residential areas could experience some flooding. There was a flood on May 9, 1968, in Midland (for excerpts from the May 9 and 10, 1968, Midland Reporter-Telegram, go here), and that could have been the last local "100 year" flood. The article said that officials estimated from 500 to 700 homes were flooded. And, with a casual look at the 100 year flood map it's easy to see how that could result.

November 19 was GIS Day, and the Department of Development Services Planning Division of the City of Midland participated with demonstrations of what the geographic information services can do. (Go here for my report on that.) There is a lot of useful information available from the city. Here's a link to the index within the City of Midland website with links to some other city maps available for downloading. For example, there are maps showing water usage, zoning, voting precincts, city council districts, and others. There is a lot of information there. We are privileged that our city made the investment necessary to get this information system. And, the people working in that department are providing a valuable service.

I would like to give a special "Thank You" to Jeffrey W. Jordan, GIS Specialist with the city of Midland, for directing me to this wealth of information. Keep up the good work!