Sleepless in Midland

A Home for R.D.

A few weeks ago a cute and friendly adolescent black Labrador Retriever wondered up to the rifle/pistol range. The dog lovers there treated him royally, and someone brought him his own water dish and a huge bag of food. Someone gave him the moniker of "R.D." for Range Dog.

He was a friendly little guy, and he certainly had lots of energy. And strangely, the shooting of firearms didn't seem to scare the wits out of him like it does some other dogs. He had a bad habit of gently putting your hand or arm in his mouth. He didn't actually bite, but it was kind of thing that frightens parents. I took him some chew toys to try to help him get over that habit.

Anyway, the good news. Someone adopted him. He'll make someone a great pet, and it's just wonderful that someone was kind hearted enough to take him in. Kudos to you and to dog lovers everywhere!

Women on Target, Clinic 3

The third clinic for the Woman on Target program took place Saturday at the Midland Shooters Association pistol range.

The first clinic took place on May 1 and was basically an orientation program and an opportunity for the participants to shoot .22 caliber pistols. The second clinic was for .22 caliber rifles. And while many of the participants weren't really interested in rifle shooting it turned out to be lots of fun for those who attended.

And, yesterday the third clinic was for larger caliber handguns. By the third clinic the number of participants was somewhat smaller than the first, but that's probably customary for any activity. At any rate, the participants got some pretty good training, and they turned out to be pretty good shots.

The organizer said he expects to start another class sometime this fall, so any interested women who missed the first one will have another opportunity.

Joanna Rogers - Amber alert.

Anyone who has watched any cable tv news in the last few days is well aware of the ongoing saga of Lori Hacking, the jogger who disappeared in Salt Lake City last week. But, what about the Lubbock girl, Joanna Rogers?

Subscribers of Cox Cable in west Texas have probably seen her mother on an Amber Alert tv spot asking Joanna to please find a phone and call home. It's haunting to say the least. I hope she returns home safely.

But, it's hard not to contrast the news coverage of Lori Hacking with that of Joanna Rogers. What is it about missing women of Salt Lake City that causes the big media types to want to cover it 24/7? And yet they are oblivious to the heartaches of west Texas family members who yearn for the return of one of their own.

Oh well. As I've said before, west Texas is flyover country even for the rest of flyover country.

Paul Johnson's head

Paul Johnson was the American who was kidnaped and beheaded in Iraq a few weeks ago. And, the most recent news was that his head was found in a freezer in Saudi Arabia.

What were they going to do with the head, have it stuffed and mounted on the wall like a hunting trophy? It's not just political religion. There's something Jeffrey-Dahmer-like going on over there. Very weird.

Quote of the Day

"The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best." Will Rogers

Not necessarily, Will. The one that's out often looks quite insane.

Via Favorite Quotes

Will Smith's Robot

Will Smith was on Dave Letteman's show last week touting his new movie "I Robot," and I think he gave away a key element of the plot. Don't you just love it when that happens? That way you don't have to spend the money on a movie ticket. I'm going to write about it, so here's the obligatory warning: POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWS!

I haven't seen the movie, so all I know about it is what they've shown on the trailers and what Will Smith said on Letterman's show. And, on that show Smith repeated Isaac Asimov's three rules for robots, i.e., (1) they can't hurt humans; (2) they have to obey humans unless it violates rule number 1; (3) they can defend themselves unless to do so violates rules numbers 1 and 2.

So, they show the clip from the movie of the robots attacking Smith's character. Smith says on Letterman's show that the robots followed Asimov's three rules, so how can they attack Smith and still honor the rules? Well, for that to be true then either the robots aren't really robots or Will Smith's character isn't really human. But, I haven't seen the movie yet, so there could be some other explanation that isn't so obvious. I'll just have to wait and see. If you haven't seen the movie and want to speculate then feel free to do so in the comments. Or, if you've seen the movie and would like to clear it up then feel free to do that too.

New houses, new owners. Old houses, no owners.

There has been a mini-housing boom in Midland and Odessa in recent years. We've seen the new housing developments going up. And most of us wonder where the buyers are coming from as the two cities don't seem to be growing fast enough to accommodate that new housing.

The theory is that with low interest rates and an uptick in the local economy people already here will move up to houses in the higher price ranges. And, it seems to be working out that way as the new houses are being sold. But, without a growing population it's a pyramid type of scheme, and as each economic tier moves up then eventually there are going to be a bunch of abandoned houses at the low end of the scale.

And, a glance at the legal notices in the classified ads in Sunday's Midland Reporter-Telegram suggests that is what's happening. A "Notice of Sale" by Sheriff Gary Painter lists no less than 20 parcels of real property that are subjects of judgment liens by the Midland Central Appraisal District. In other words, the owners quit paying the property taxes, the Appraisal District got a judgment, and the parcels are being sold at foreclosure.

The sale takes place on the first Tuesday of August on the front steps of the County Courthouse.

Dipak Patel, M.D., still on the run

Dipak Patel, M.D., was arrested on charges of Medicare fraud, but he jumped bail. He was convicted in absentia, and he's currently a fugitive from the law.

In browsing through Sunday's Midland Reporter-Telegram legal notices a "Notice of Complaint for Forfeiture" pops up listing eight accounts in the name of Patel held with Wachovia Securities totaling over $2,370,485.60. Dipak's name shows up on only one of the accounts, so apparently the Feds are alleging that this money resulted from the fraud for which he was convicted even though some of the accounts were in other individuals' names.

Apparently, Dr. Patel left his wife behind when he took off. And if the Feds are successful in seizing all of their liquid assets then this is certainly going to be a further test of that "for better or for worse" part of those marriage vows.

TV Cable channels - bundled or a la carte?

Apparently, some tv channels only have viewers who happened to have surfed onto the channel and decided to watch for a while. In other words, their entire existence is dependent on the whims of channel surfers. And so, they are strong supporters of the current system of cable company bundling rather than the a la carte system now under consideration.

And, the cable companies are opposed to a la carte channels. They allege that it will cost them more money to provide more options to their customers, and they'll pass that alleged cost onto their customers. Consumer groups disagree.

The FCC is accepting input on the issue, and here's a link to a USA Today article on the subject.

Today's programming tiers force subscribers to pay for channels they don't watch and have helped drive up cable prices 56% since 1996, or three times the inflation rate, Consumers Union says. The top 10 cable networks account for 50% of viewing and the top 20 for 75%, according to Nielsen ratings.

And because viewers in the typical household watch just 17 channels, "Consumers are forced to buy a lot of channels they don't watch in order to get the ones they do want," the group says.

Some established channels say they'd die. Court TV says a la carte pricing "would put the channel out of business." Many subscribers don't even know its name, and Court TV says it, like many basic channels, depends on consumers channel-surfing.

Well, it would seem that if the top 10 cable networks account for 50% of viewing and the top 20 account for 75%, then it looks like an easy compromise would to allow the cable companies to continue bundling but to offer packages of just that top 10 and the top 20 channels. Sounds simple enough.

Channel surfing into the Tour de France

I was surfing though the channels the other day and landed on the bicycle race in France. Lance came in a close second place in that race, and it increased his chances of winning the whole ball of wax. Again.

But, here's the thing. The crowd was all over the track. In some places they had crowded the track so much so that there was only enough room for one cyclist to get though at a time. Forget about passing. And, some fans were dumping cups of liquid on the racers. Hopefully, it was just water, but who knows? Anyway, they needed better crowd control, but that's probably old news to veteran cycle race watchers.

It brings to mind the Olympic bicycle time trials that I was lucky enough to see in Houston a few years back. They peddled on the streets around Buffalo Bayou, and it was quite a thing to watch. And no, the crowd didn't interfere at all.

As the riders passed me they were all in a tight wad, and one of them yelled out "echelon, you guys!" And, shortly after that they drifted into two parallel lines with a passing lane in the middle. One of them, perhaps the guy who had yelled, began using the passing lane to pass to the front of the pack.

It ended eventually, and the riders all gathered around a spot near the finish line waiting for the official times and results. Some of them took off their shirts, and that was an amazing sight. From the waist down they looked like body builders with large, well defined leg muscles. But, from the waist up they just looked like average everyday Joes. So, all of their workout efforts had been concentrated on their legs with little regard to their upper bodies. That's perfectly understandable, but the results made them look almost cartoonish. Half Hulk, half Bruce Banner.

Tired.com

If the blogging phenomenon proves nothing else, it proves that people want a communication outlet. But, many people who don't have blogs are still looking for an outlet. Here's an example. It's a Slate story about a website that asked a simple question and provided a way to respond.

Tired.com is a very simple pages with text that says the following:

Are you tired? Tell us why.

The "us" is linked to an email address for people who want to respond. According to the Slate article Mike Kuniavsky bought the Internet domain tired.com from a friend in 1997 and put in the text. The emails are forewarded to him, and the amazing thing is that he has received over 32,000 responses. He doesn't publish them although the Slate article does reproduce four.

Anyway, if you are tired, then visit the link and tell Mr. Kuniavsky why. But, don't look for a repy, because he won't do it.

Via Techdirt.

An everyday hero gets recognized

Our community is full of everyday heroes. They go about their jobs just like everyone else, but when they are needed, they act. Take, for example, Otis Smith, a City of Midland sanitation worker.

We had some uncharacteristically heavy rains not too long ago, and as we all have seen, a sudden rain can cause street flooding.

On the day of the rain a woman and her child got stranded in a stalled pick-up truck in three feet of water. Mr. Smith saw them and took matters into his own hands. First he rescued the young girl. Then he went back to get the mother. So, once they were safe, what did he do? He went back to work and finished his route.

July 13th will be proclaimed by Mayor Mike Canon as Otis Smith Day. Thank you Mr. Smith. Thank you for being such a good citizen.

Joke about Texans

Westgate emailed this joke off topic joke gleaned from the pages of internet stock market forums:

This is an old one, but it's still funny:

On a transatlantic flight, a plane passes through a severe storm.  The turbulence is awful, and things go from bad to worse when one wing is struck by lightning.  One woman in particular loses it.

Screaming, she stands up in the front of the plane.  "I'm too young to die," she wails. Then she yells, "Well, if I'm going to die, I want my last minutes on earth to be memorable!  Is there anyone on this plane who can make me feel like a WOMAN?"

For a moment there is silence.  Everyone has forgotten their own peril.  They all stare, riveted, at the desperate woman in the front of the plane.

Then a man from Texas stands up in the rear of the plane. He is handsome: tall, well built, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He starts to walk slowly up the aisle, unbuttoning his shirt

.....One button at a time.

......No one moves.

.....He removes his shirt.

......Muscles ripple across his chest.

......She gasps...

......He whispers

...."Iron this-and then get me a beer."

Okay, it was politically incorrect, but it sure was funny.

The beat of different drummers

There's something primordial about the piercing rhythm of a drummer pounding away on a set of skins. Some sort of percussion instrument was probably the first musical instrument ever used by humans. Heck, even chimps probably beat sticks together.

But, a good drummer can pulsate a rhythm that can resonate inside a person all the way down to the cellular level. Under the right circumstances a good drummer might even be able to restart a stopped heart.

Friday night four Drum Corp International teams put on an exhibition at Grande Communication Stadium here in Midland. Actually, it was a judged competition among Santa Clara Vanguard of Santa Clara, California; Blue Knights of Denver, Colorado; Seattle Cascades of Seattle, Washington; and Esperanze of San Diego, California. The Santa Clara Vanguard was the winner of the competition, and that was an amazing group of musicians.

Each team consisted of roughly 100 individuals with about 80 playing either a drum or a brass instrument. The rest were dancers with flag, simulated sword or simulated rifle props.

The drummers were simply astonishing. It's not that great of an accomplishment for 80 or so people to march in step. But, to see a dozen drummers not only marching in step but also perfectly syncopating their drum beats is an amazing experience. It was quite a show.

Snakebit in Wal-Mart? Not quite.

The Brownwood Bulletin is reporting a story about a guy who claimed that he was bitten by a baby rattlesnake when he reached for a pair of shoes on a rack in a Wal-Mart store in Brownwood, Texas.

[Douglas] Hatchett told an employee he'd been bitten and asked for a snake-bite kit. But he said he did not want an ambulance called and he didn't want to be taken to the hospital. He said store officials told him they had to call an ambulance because of company policy, and he was taken to Brownwood Regional Medical Center. Hatchett said he was treated for snake bite.

Wal-Mart officials have said Hatchett's account "doesn't add up" but have declined to say why.

According to a report filed with the Brownwood Police Department, a hospital employee told police that doctors did not believe he was bitten.

Mr. Hatchett, who is currently out on a $50,000 bond for an unrelated felony burglary warrant, will be charged with making a false report in the snakebite case.

Update - 7/12/04: Jeff left a comment pointing out that there is a well established urban legend about snakes lurking among the items in stores. And, sure enough, Barbara Mikkelson at Snopes.com has a section on this very topic.

Group working on "Friday Night Lights" premiere in Odessa

The Education Foundation for Ector County Independent School District is a fund raising group for the benefit of teachers in the ECISD. And, the group is working toward a goal of having the "Friday Night Lights" movie premiere in Odessa, according to an article by Ginger Pope in the Odessa American.

Members of the Education Foundation will travel to California in July to preview the movie. This is one step closer to a possible communitywide premiere of the movie in Odessa.

Lorraine Perryman and Cindi Wiehle, co-chairs of the foundation's "Friday Night Lights" premiere committee, will be traveling to California for the preview. Perryman said so far the only thing nailed down on the project is a signed letter of intent to have a premiere here.

/cut/

Perryman said Universal will make a final cut of the movie. Then members of the foundation will preview the movie when they go to California next month. Based upon what they see, the committee will then decide if the foundation can support the movie.
"We've been sworn (by Universal) not to talk about what we'll see," she said

/cut/

Venue ideas depend on how many copies of the movie are furnished, Wiehle said. Talk of venues range from a giant screen show at Ratliff to Century Theaters and Graham Central Station to the downtown Ector Theatre. The foundation would like to premiere the movie 10 days before the actual release, she said.

My vote would go to the giant screen at Ratliff Stadium. But, if the group decides after screening the movie not to have a premiere in Odessa then we can all draw our own conclusions about how well the movie might go over here.

Rent or Own?

Rent a house in Baghdad for $1,000 US per month:

Big House For Big Family, Company, near From Every Thing - fully open beautiful big house with nice gold decoration, good location and access to transport, school, shopes and 15 min by car to Baghdad city center. all rooms are big, master room supplied with ensuite. And two additional Italian bathrooms, .. Vivium International Property Listings.

How long did you plan to stay?

Via A Welsh View. 

B-17 Flying Fortress

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Photo source-USAF Museum

Today, in commemoration of July 4th the Commemorative Air Force presented a speaker, Dean Leyerly, who recounted his service in World War II.

When he entered military service he was given a audio test of Morse code signals. He didn't know the code, but the purpose of the test was to determine who might have a better ability to distinguish messages. The test consisted of a pairs of dot and dash signals which the testees were asked to say were either alike or dissimilar to each other. Although Mr. Leyerly said he was tone deaf, he had the highest score in the group. So, he became a radio operator in a B-17.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress had four 1,200 horse power engines and had a maximum speed of 287 miles per hour at 25,000 feet of altitude. The plane could take a lot of punishment, but nonetheless, too many of them were shot down.

Mr. Leyerly's plane was hit by flak over Germany, and they began losing altitude. They went into some clouds, and when they emerged they were just a few hundred feet off of the ground. Fortunately, the pilot was able to crash land in a field, and the plane ended up as a pile of wreckage. Miraculously all aboard survived the crash.

Some farmers approached them, and Mr. Leyerly saw that one of them was wearing wooden shoes. He was elated, they must have made it to Holland, he thought. "Where are we?" he asked. "Deutschland," was the answer. Now he was sure they were in Holland! Well, not quite. They were still in Germany, and they ended up as POWs. But, eventually the war ended and they got to go home.

The people in attendance at the talk today were treated with a tour of a B-17, and as Mr. Leyerly had warned, it looks like the biggest plane in the world from the outside, but it looks like the smallest plane in the world from the inside. On the inside it was all business. Waist guns, nose guns, tail guns, a ball turret gun, bombs, and a few small spaces for the crew of nine or ten. Very cramped quarters.

The ball turret was a half circle under the plane which housed a .50 caliber machine gun and a crew member - the ball gunner. That job always fell to the smallest guys on the team because they had to sit in a tiny space with their knees scrunched up near their heads. And, as it happened there was an ex-ball gunner in the audience. Thanks fellows. Thanks for keeping us free. Ball Turret photo source.

Here's some local trivia: The Midland air port was the main training center during WWII for the Norton Bomb Sight. Norton Bomb Sight photo source.

It was a good program, and next Saturday, July 10, they will have a drawing for a ride in an open cockpit WWII aircraft! Up, up and AWAY!

Marlon Brando, from fit to fat in 50 years

As everyone probably knows by now, Marlon Brando died today. It's highly improper to poke fun at someone so recently deceased, but here goes.

Turner Classic Movies channel specializes in the oldies, and a few years ago they showed A Streetcar Named Desire, the 1951 movie hit starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. And, there's a scene in the movie in which a shirtless Marlon Brando struts around showing his stuff. He had a good physique. He was in good shape - muscular, fit, buff.

But, fast forward 50 years to 2001 and catch Brando in The Score. Is there a polite way to say obese? The guy was humongous! Huge! Fat! It was stunning to see that physical transformation. How could that happen?

Maybe we'll learn that it was all just an act. He wore a fat suit or something. Or, maybe he was taking steroids in Jerry Lewis proportions. In any event, it was a remarkable transformation.