Sleepless in Midland

Open Carry in San Francisco. San Francisco????

Apparently, it's legal to carry a handgun openly in California provided it's not loaded. Now that had to have been a late night legislative compromise.

So some San Francisco residents are exercising their rights. Source: csmonitor.com. Excerpt:

"I looked into concealed carry permits, but unless you’re well-connected it’s impossible to obtain,” says Mr. LaTour. However, he says, “I personally prefer open carry because of the visual deterrent."

They are part of a group of people called Bay Area Open Carry Movement.

People have many diverse reasons for carrying a firearm. "Personal protection" and "exercising a right" are the two main reasons you are likely to be given if you ask a "UOC'er" their reason.

All are welcome here. Please look around, follow links, do your own research, then ask yourself if UOC is right for you. If not, you can always say "to each their own" and sleep soundly knowing that there are other lawful individuals out there who will be looking out for themselves and their neighbors.

Yeah, now there's a neighborhood watch. As their website says, "Carry on!"

Surf's up!

In a short while TV viewers may be able to witness a live broadcast of a genuine Tsunami striking land at Hawaii.  Will this be a first?

If you are online at the moment and searching for Hawaiian beach web cams, good luck. Each one I've clicked on is suffering from download overload and renders nothing.

What's remarkable about this one is the ample warning everyone got. It's due any second.

So are the surfers out there?

Updated 5pm Central: Ummm. It's starting to look like a faux-nami.

Shhhh, don't tell Congress -- pressing the accelerator will cause sudden acceleration

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., shares his insight into the Toyota sudden acceleration trauma in an article in today's Wall Street Journal titled Trial Lawyers vs. Toyota -- Job One: Never mention driver error (subscription) .

The plaintiffs' bar smells blood. The spectacle of a deep pocketed corporate defendant paraded before a Congressional committee intent on proving cruel, heartless behavior must have the lawyers salivating.

But Mr. Jenkins summons the dog that didn't bark. Something was missing from the testimony, and that was any suggestion that the drivers themselves may have unintentionally mashed too hard on the gas pedal or maybe hit the accelerator instead of the brake.

I'm inclined to think that is a distinct possibility in the incidents of sudden acceleration. Because it happened to me. The car took off on its own and slammed into a barricade. No one was hurt, however the witnesses were horrified. It wasn't a real car, though. It happened at Disneyland years ago at a ride involving pint sized cars propelled by go cart motors. I had never piloted a four wheel vehicle before, so it was a foreign experience to me. But it was long after the adults quit yelling that I finally admitted to myself that I had actually done what they said I did, and that was press on the gas pedal and not the brake. Denial is a river in the mind, and it will run as long as there's a reason.

So don't expect anyone to admit that they stood on the gas instead of the brake. But hopefully juries will acknowledge that possibility as the plaintiffs proclaim their complete lack of any responsibility for what that mysterious magic box did to their cars.

Henry Watkins Skinner waits on death row

Opponents of the death penalty are screaming bloody murder because some of the evidence in the case in which Mr. Skinner was convicted of murder was not DNA tested. So we see headlines like Is Texas About To Execute Another Innocent Man? State officials would rather kill a prisoner than give him a DNA test. That's a bit harsh. But much of the anti-death penalty talk is advocacy, and the facts they disclose are those that shine the most favorable light on their side of the case.

In Texas a convicted person can get DNA evidence tested under certain circumstances. Among other things, the defendant has to show that it wasn't his/her fault that the test wasn't done before the initial trial. Further, and this is a tough one, there has to be a showing that "the person would not have been convicted if exculpatory results had been obtained through DNA testing."

Hundreds of people have been exonerated due to DNA evidence. But in the Skinner case the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that he can't get this test. Read the whole thing to get a clearer understanding of their position, but in summary, they said he can't get it now because he failed to ask for it before the original trial as a strategy in the defense of his case. The logic there is that a defendant could decline testing before trial for fear that the evidence would convince the jury to convict, but if the case went against him anyway, he could seek the test afterward because there would be nothing to lose at that point.

So it's a hard rule. A defendant needs to decide before trial whether to take the chance on testing all or some of the evidence if the prosecution didn't already do it. And in this case it appears that Mr. Skinner and his attorney didn't want to take the chance. He's on death row, so now they do.

There's much more to the case, and the testimony alone was probably enough to warrant a guilty verdict. Read the Court Of Criminal Appeals opinion for some details about the testimony.

But would it kill anyone to go ahead and DNA test the untested material? Seems like a harmless thing to do. The guy may very well be guilty, but to go ahead and conduct the test would at least shut up all those people trying to condemn the State of Texas because the State condemns killers.  Or it might even point to someone else.  Better safe than sorry.

Updated 5/24/2010: Supreme Court to consider case. Houston Chronicle:

Acting on a petition from condemned killer Henry W. Skinner, the U.S. Supreme Court today announced it will consider whether inmates' requests for DNA testing can be considered as civil rights claims — a question that has split the nation's top federal courts.

Snow day!

Yesterday was a beautiful snow day here in Midland, Texas, except for those who had to actually drive or work in it.  The poor souls.

The Midland Reporter-Telegram tells us that the NWS counted 4.5 inches and that yesterday's snow fall set a local record for February.

It's been a cold winter. Rex and the Snowman talk it over.

Let's hope there's a cool summer coming.

FDIC wants us to save money, Obama wants to tax it

Ira Stoll at Future of Capitalism points out the irony. In a press release FDIC head Sheila Bair urged Americans to save more money. We've heard that before, and if there's anything that will focus Americans on that need, it's a recession.

But on the very same day, President Obama announced his health care plan which includes a tax on interest and dividends on household incomes exceeding $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Americans save, the government takes.

It's not the American people who are spending like crazy, it's the government. Hopefully the seeds have been planted to produce a future crop of politicians who will accept the hard truth that the government needs to stop the spending madness.

Tiger's Cougar -- Joslyn James

Hey, don't blame me. I don't enjoy this, I'm just doing the research so you don't have to.

Tiger Woods is alleged to have had an affair with former porn star Joslyn James who is now claiming to have been heart broken, the poor dear. Plaintiffs' lawyers, call your offices. Everyone else, get out your handkerchiefs.

What you see here is a cropped photo that appeared at Daily Mail showing then-and-now photos of her . You can see the full version in the extended post below. As to whether it's safe for work, that's above my pay grade, but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

To verify whether she really is/was a porn actress, see the X rated porn video Bruthas who luv Muthas. Now that one really isn't safe for work, or anywhere else for that matter.

Query, has any other well known philanderer generated so much grief among his women friends? Well, there was Paula Jones. But one would think that after 40 years of women's group consciousness raising, consenting adult cheaters would act more like adults.

Click on the extended entry to see the full Daily Mail photo. Note the leg tattoo for identity comparison with the XXX video XXX.

The Gamewell Joker -- early fire alarm system

911 Dispatcher: "Where are you?" Caller: "I'm here!"

There was a tragedy in Manhattan the other day when a child went into cardiac arrest. The mom called 911 and gave the address. The rescue team was sent to that address but in the wrong borough. They eventually got the address worked out, but not before the child died. Source: NYPost.com. Unfortunately, human error can still intervene it the most technologically efficient system.

In the early days before telephones, the hi tech fire alarm system was the Gamewell Joker.  Developed soon after electric service became available in cities, Gamewell boxes were placed around the city, and in the event of a fire, someone would pull a lever. Each box had its own signal, and once the lever was pulled, a signal specific to that box was sent to the fire station. The "Joker" at the station would then tap out the signal.

If the box identifier was 123, the Joker would tap once, pause, then tap twice, pause again, then tap three times. Firefighters memorized which numbers corresponded to which box. And when a signal was received, off they went, hopefully to the correct location.

It was quite a device in its day, but Ma Bell came along and sent the Joker to the museum.  Maybe some old timer can tell us why it was called a Joker.

The photo shows a Gamewell Joker that is on display at the San Antonio Fire Academy.

Four curlers walked into a bar

Heard this one? Why did the curlers skip the final match? They didn't have the stones.

Ha Ha Ha! Get it? Didn't have the stones! Oh never mind.

Anyone channel surfing last night probably got a dose of the Olympic curling matches and asked, "What the heck are they doing?"

Read a brief explanation of curling at MentalFloss.com. It's really quite simple. Here's an even shorter version: Four players to a team, eight stones per side, team with the closest stone to the button (bullseye) wins all the points for that end (inning).

Best curling joke found on the net: "Curling: all the excitement of shuffleboard, plus household chores." Source.

Click below for laugh track:

Let their voices be heard -- Odessa TEA Party Rally on April 17, 2010

It's just about time to speak out again. We can vote in the Texas primaries, and while we all think we are fulfilling a duty to do that, let's face the fact one vote really doesn't matter that much. Then like good citizens, we'll pay our taxes by April 15 to help feed the hungry government monster. Oh the frustration!

A political rally with like-minded citizens can really let a person get the anger out of his/her system. And the Odessa Tea Party has provided such a magnificent outlet for voter frustration. Well, they've got another rally planned.

Mark your calenders. It's on April 17, 2010, from 1 til 4 pm at Jim Parker Park located on University and Bonham in Odessa, Texas.

Don't forget your signs!

George Will at his finest -- the CPAC speech

C-Span has been showing the speeches from the Conservative Political Action Conference, and George Will's speech was hilarious. Watch the video at the link.

For other CPAC speeches on C-Span see the whole list.

Republican Party propositions on the Texas primary ballot

[Updated 10/19/2010: The propositions reproduced below were on the 2010 Republican Party Primary Ballot in Texas. There don't appear to be any propositions on the statewide ballot for the November 2, 2010, election. However, check county clerk's websites for sample ballots to see any propositions pertaining to a specific Texas county.  The original post follows.]

The Republican Generic Ballot for the upcoming Texas primary contains five yes/no non-binding propositions. It's basically an exit poll. But their presence on the ballot serves as a rude reminder that Texas voters do not have the right to place their own initiatives on the ballot.

They read like one of those fake polls that disguise fund raising letters. There are probably many people who vote in party primaries who don't necessarily agree with many things the particular party tries to foist on them. For example, one of the propositions involves religion, and another involves abortion -- two contentious areas that are superfluous to the issue that currently motivate a majority of voters.

As a reminder, that issue is out of control government spending, and many elected Republicans incumbents have contributed to the problem.

So will the Texas Republican party report the results of this ballot poll? It would be nice to see whether Texas voters in the Republican primary are as enthusiastic about social issues as the party leaders are. Then again, maybe the inclusion of the fiscal questions might serve as notice about what voters expect from whomever gets their vote.

I copied and pasted the source code for the propositions below, but if they don't appear properly, you can see them at the Harris County GOP site.

2010 Republican Primary Ballot Propositions
Ballot Proposition 1: Photo ID
The Texas legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the State of Texas.	YES	NO
Ballot Proposition 2: Controlling Government Growth
Every government body in Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official emergency.	YES	NO
Ballot Proposition 3: Cutting Federal Income Taxes
In addition to aggressively eliminating irresponsible federal spending, Congress should empower American citizens to stimulate the economy by Congress cutting federal income taxes for all federal taxpayers, rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on so-called "federal economic stimulus".	YES	NO
Ballot Proposition 4: Public Acknowledgement of God
The use of the word "God", prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.	YES	NO
Ballot Proposition 5: Sonograms
The Texas Legislature should enact legislation requiring a sonogram to be performed and shown to each mother about to undergo a medically unnecessary, elective abortion.	YES	NO

Updated 3/3/10:

Here's how the vote came out according to the Texas Secretary of State's election results page:

Prop 1 -- Voter photo ID: Yes = 92.86%; No = 7.13%.

Prop 2 -- Controlling spending: Yes = 91.91%; No = 8.08%.

Prop 3 -- Cut federal taxes Yes = 93.09% ; No = 6.90%.

Prop 4 -- God, 10 commandments OK on gov property: Yes = 95.14%; No = 4.85%.

Prop 5 -- Required sonograms: Yes = 68.86% ; No = 31.13%.

Public acknowledgment of God was the biggest winner. The required sonograms got a big vote but not as much as the others. Clearly the abortion issue isn't going to be the Republican Party's strongest selling point if they want to attract independents.

Teresa McMahan back in the news

Long time Sleepless readers will remember Teresa McMahan for her splendid on the scene reporting about the making of the movie, "Friday Night Lights." Well, she's back in the news.

Ms. McMahan is a Midlander who loves dogs, big dogs. Very big dogs! She has some prize winning Mastiffs which she entered in a dog show here recently. And another local hero, Krista Lander of CBS7, did a sports challenge with her there. Click here to watch the video. Nice going Teresa and Krista!

To read Ms. McMahan's reports on the making of "Friday Night Lights," click the links below. The most recent ones are listed first, as follows:
"Friday Night Light", film crew moving on...;
"Friday Night Lights" Follow Up;
"Friday Night Lights" - First Hand Report!;
On the scene: "Friday Night Lights".

Toyota or Toyoda -- careful how you say it, Yank.

There's a website dedicated to typos in the big league called Probably Bad News, subhead: "News fails, because journalism isn't dying fast enough." And it's a good source of amusement at the expense the big publishers with their layers of editors and proofreaders who miss simply errors.

Now don't get me wrong. I certainly make my own share of typos and misused words, and I appreciate readers who point them out. But it's fun to see big time newsies, people who are paid to be accurate, make mistakes.

Anyway, here's a typo on the Financial Times front page screen. It's been a few hours, and it hasn't yet been changed. Sometimes the Brits sound like they are speaking an unknown tongue, so maybe it's "Toyoda" over there.  Or maybe it was a spell-challenged Republican congressman's mistake.

(I submitted it to Probably Bad News, but they haven't acted on it as of the time of this writing.)

Updated. I'm the one who needs layers of editors and proofreaders! Akio Toyoda is Toyota Motor Corp. president. Thanks Les!!!!  (I'm so bad with names.)

Cop gear -- small camera captures everything the cop sees and hears

Taser's Axon is a system marketed for law enforcement use which uses a camera and microphone worn like a headphone.  It records everything the police officer sees and hears. A GPS pinpoints the location, and the device sends the signal to a remote system so that it can't be compromised.

It's a pretty neat gadget, but they ain't cheap. USA Today puts the price tag at $5,700 to equip one cop. But like most new tech devices, the price is bound to come down. And the economy is bound to improve, too, eventually giving municipalities some budget breathing room.

In the meantime, those jurisdictions rich enough to implement them now can serve as a laboratory for any health issues that might arise from wearing a radio headpiece for 12 hours at a time.

MR-T wants us to vote for Conaway, but let's not forget about the Farm Bill

An editorial in today's MR-T (Midland Reporter-Telegram) print edition tries to tell us we should re-elect Mike Conaway for U.S. Representative of Texas District 11 saying they "solidly stand behind Conaway in the work he has done for the district." That's basically saying he should be re-elected because he's the incumbent.

But does no one else get a little bit steamed to hear Mr. Conaway's radio ads proclaiming him to be a fiscal conservative when he was such a cheerleader as the House and Senate overrode President Bush's veto of the Farm Bill?

The Bush administration was trying to rein in government spending, but Bush doesn't get enough credit for that. What we had was an out of control Congress which was spending like a bunch of drunken sailors, to quote a losing presidential contender.

The Farm Bill is a system of redistributing wealth -- taking tax money from a large group of people and giving it to a small group of well connected people who have become so dependent on government handouts that they probably couldn't make a living without it. Back in the '90s conservatives complained about "welfare queens," and the resulting welfare reform worked to get people off welfare and into careers.

According to the Environmental Working Group's Farm Subsidy Database, "Recipients of Total USDA Subsidies from farms in 11th district of Texas (Rep. K. Michael Conaway) totaled $1,472,000,000 in from 1995-2006." Here's a glance at the top twenty recipients from the website:

USDA Subsidies 1995-2006
1 Strain Ranches, Colorado City, TX 79512 = $3,336,954
2 W & K Farms, Garden City, TX 79739 = $3,117,228
3 Phinney Brothers, San Angelo, TX 76905 = $2,687,765
4 Schniers Brothers, San Angelo, TX 76904 = $2,401,830
5 Billy Eggemeyer Farms, Midland, TX 79706 = $2,314,910
6 Glenn W Hogg, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $2,301,544
7 Mike C Tyler, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $2,289,924
8 R R Ranch, Sweetwater, TX 79556 = $2,097,757
9 Dugwell Partnership, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $2,082,275
10 Morris Farms, Colorado City, TX 79512 =$2,030,105
11 Newbrough Farms, Andrews, TX 79714 = $2,026,727
12 Blaine Middleton, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $2,024,020
13 Jim-ric Farms, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $1,998,896
14 Denis Ranch, Vancourt, TX 76955 = $1,937,387
15 Woody Bros, Stanton, TX 79782 = $1,932,690
16 Ricky & Lisa Bowman Farms, Hermleigh, TX 79526 = $1,889,251
17 Mark Boardman, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $1,882,837
18 A Clay Kemper , Midland, TX 79707 = $1,874,945
19 C-cot Inc, Lamesa, TX 79331 = $1,865,662
20 Eugene & Marilee Jost Farms, Garden City, TX 79739 = $1,852,149.

They are probably just ordinary everyday down-to-earth country folk millionaires -- millionaires who figured out how to work the system.

What we need now is some sort of welfare reform for cotton farmers to get them off the government dole and into meaningful work. Is Mike Conaway, who worked harder than anyone to keep them on the government dole, the right person for the job?

Post Script (added 2/16/10): Democratic candidate for the District 11 seat, James Quillian, emails:

This the underlying cause of the unrestrained growth of government.

It is the wealthiest Americans who benefit most from the growth of government. Those with the money and power to make government small have no incentive to do so.

A true conservative can see that. I ask you. In district 11, are any of the republican candidates real conservatives?

This is a blind spot for Republicans because seeing it is counter to their culture.

Guy knows how to give a girl a good Valentine -- a half mile wide heart outlined in manure

It happened on a farm near Albert Lea, Minnesota. With a tractor and a manure spreader, Bruce Andersland shaped a heart for Beth, his wife of 37 years.

The Albert Lea Tribune tells all about it.

Beth Andersland: “Now I’ve got my Valentine! That’s pretty cute.”

Nice going, Bruce. You're making the rest of us look like a bunch of chumps!

Via.

Sunday Diversions 2/14/10

Underwater photography -- Inspiredology has an amazing collection of underwater photos -- downed planes, sunken ships, carnivorous fish, bottom dwellers, and many others worth a look. The pictures appear to have been purloined from National Geographic, so you know they are good.

Hardcore skydiving -- Photos of skydivers doing things one doesn't expect to see while falling through the air, at Wild Skydiving People and Dropped Freefalling Things!. (Via Welsh View.)

Multiculturalism make for funny -- Ever notice some odd translation that's just laugh out loud funny? Engrish Funny has a collection of signs, instructions, menus and packaging written by someone whose first language is not English. It may not even be the second, but hilarity ensues, e.g., Poison Bakery -- fastest weight loss program ever.

Austin - not a friendly venue for gun shows. Surprised?

A gun show got shut down in Austin last month ostensibly because Austin police threatened to initiate public nuisance abatement proceedings against the building owner because some gun sales had occurred on the premises to persons who were prohibited from buying guns.

According to The Austin Chronicle, Austin police and BATF had been focused on the gun shows in Austin since mid 2009 which resulted in at least eight arrests of felons and illegal immigrants who allegedly purchased guns from sellers other than licensed gun dealers.

The current state of the law allows a gun owner to conduct a private sale of a gun to another person provided the seller is not aware of any condition that might prohibit the buyer from owning a gun. Occasionally a gun owner wanting to sell his/her gun might take it to a gun show in hopes of meeting a prospective buyer. This is what the anti-gun groups refer to as the "gun show loophole" because no background checks are usually done in such transactions. Many gun owners oppose a law requiring private transactions to go through a federally licensed middleman, because it would tack on another fee to the buyer's cost plus make a record of the transaction available to the government.

Follow the links below to thoroughly immerse yourself in the Austin issue, but one question not answered is how the alleged crimes were detected. Hundreds of transactions take place on any given day at a typical gun show, so one has to wonder how the BATF and/or the Austin police discovered the eight illegal transactions out of all the thousands of transactions that must have taken place during the time period of the investigation. Do you suppose they queried every person leaving a gun show? Or did they (shudder) profile their targets? With Austin being a sanctuary city it must have been tricky for them to pick out prospective illegal aliens.

Anyway, here are some links for you reading pleasure:
Austin gun show documents confirm promoter given ultimatum;
Austin gun show update: Interviews reveal bigger picture;
Guns, Property, and Public Nuisances: A North Austin Showdown;
Gun show owner, police at odds over recommendations Show owner says police advice heavy-handed.;
The Gun Show Myth;
Texas Gun Shows;
Saxet Gun Shows.

Unsung heroes -- A feel good snow story from last Christmas

As Santa's sled sailed the skies last Christmas eve, a beautiful snow blanketed north Texas.

But the snow just kept coming, and eventually over a foot of snow had descended onto the land and especially the highways in and around the tiny town of Bellevue, Texas. Traffic was heavy that night due to all of the travelers going to grandma's for Christmas, but the thick snow caused traffic to come to a complete halt. And Volunteer Fire Chief Mark Hanson's phone was ringing off the wall.

Chief Hanson mobilized his volunteers to the extent they could be mobilized under the circumstances. And they recruited anyone with a tractor to help the stranded motorists. Eventually many of the 300 or so residents of Bellevue had pitched in to help. And before it was all over they had provided a warm place to sleep and a hot meal to somewhere between 100 and 150 people on Christmas eve and another 50 on Christmas night.

This is America. This is Texas. And the people are fabulous. In the words of Chief Hanson, This is the spirit that makes America and Texas great.

By the way, the Clay County budget provides the Bellevue Fire Department $2,500 for fiscal year 2010.

So here's a hat tip to Chief Hanson, all the citizens of Bellevue who gave up their own Christmas eve to help others that cold night, and volunteers everywhere for all you do.

Why isn't Michael Moore defending James O'Keefe?

James O'Keefe, famous for exposing some employees of Acorn as not so much interested in helping people as helping clients beat the system with fraud, was arrested recently. He explains what happened in his own words:

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.

It's not clear exactly what laws he was charged with breaking, but that hasn't stopped some members of the main stream media from making some outlandish accusations. O'Keefe and friends pretended to be phone repairmen, which they weren't. And one has to wonder if our fine senators and legislators have placed a law on the books saying it's illegal to lie to a politician. Now that would be an irony to beat all.

But you know, Mr. O'keefe didn't do things that much differently than Michael Moore did in "Roger and Me." (I haven't seen Moore's more recent ones and can't speak to those, but I suspect there was a fair amount of trickery involved in those, too.) So if there's honor among surreptitious film makers, Moore should be out there defending O'Keefe.

Let's take a more recent example from film makers Andy and Mike. The Yes Men Fix the World is their movie with the tag line: "Sometimes it takes a lie to tell the truth." And this is a direct quote from their website:

One day Andy, purporting to be a Dow Chemical spokesperson, gets on the biggest TV news program in the world and announces that Dow will finally clean up the site of the largest industrial accident in history, the Bhopal catastrophe. The result: as people worldwide celebrate, Dow's stock value loses two billion dollars. People want Dow to do the right thing, but the market decides that it can't.

So they tell a lie, the stock price tanks, owners of the stock lost money, and the boys yuck it up because their vigilante journalism satisfied their sense of justice.

But here's the kicker -- the teacher's guide. Certainly any civic minded teacher will want to help train students to commit their own shenanigans against those evil corporations. Just don't mess with a Democratic Senator. That would be wrong.

Cold winter blast everywhere but winter Olympics

Much of the U.S. is battling a cold winter, and while most of us are shivering, we can appreciate one benefit -- a snow day for Congress.

But here's something interesting. The temperature in Vancouver, Canada, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics, is not cold enough to keep the snow from melting. They just get rain.

And so, according to USAtoday.com, snow is being shipped in with a Sikorsky S-64 helicopter capable of hauling 13,000 to 15,000 pounds of snow per trip for an average of 780 tons a day. A spokesperson wouldn't disclose the cost, according to the article. But it can't be cheap.

A downhill ski race in the rain will certainly be a unique viewing experience.

Ed Begley, Jr., as opinion leader -- well, maybe in Hollywood

What? Ed Begley Jr. didn't convince you to fill out the census questionnaire?

Mr. Begley, Jr., has acted in over 200 TV shows over a 40 year span. And he has joined a legion of TV and movie stars who, having been successful at making audiences believe they are someone they aren't, now want to convince us to adopt their political beliefs.

His cause is global warming, and a very strident advocate he is. If he doesn't warm your heart, never mind, the earth's temperature will fry you anyway.

Now Ed is on TV doing commercials, most recently promoting the U.S. Census in a Super Bowl commercial which was such a quality piece that it earned at least one reviewer's ranking as one of the five worst Super Bowl commercials.

With his political pronouncements preceding him, he enters our houses under a cloud, his credibility not exactly solid. The people who hired him for this gig probably agree with his global warming stance and think everyone else either does or should. Never mind that the whole global warming yarn is rapidly coming unraveled. But in their minds perhaps Ed Begley, Jr., is the perfect, ahead-of-his-time, pitchman. And the Census Bureau just goes along with it.

So what exactly should we make of his commercial pitch promoting the U.S. Census?The goal would seem to be to get people to fill out the forms. But Mr. Begley, Jr., just throws up another psychological obstacle we have to overcome before giving up our personal information.

But with the tone deafness they've demonstrated, it's a good thing for us that the Census Bureau is tasked merely with collecting data, not interpreting it. If only taxpayers could get a refund for what they spent on that commercial.

There's no politically correct way to say it -- some good came from Hurricane Katrina for New Orleans residents

Plenty of people are cheering the Saints' Super Bowl win. But there's another reason New Orleanders and their supporters should celebrate: Ray Nagin won't be mayor any longer. He reached his term limit, but he had definitely overstayed his usefulness, a matter which was painfully obvious to outside observers during Hurricane Katrina and which eventually became obvious to New Orleans residents.

And maybe it was the hurricane. Education Secretary Arne Duncan caught hell for saying that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to the New Orleans school system. Political incorrectness really shouldn't be a crime, especially if the statement is true. But after the hurricane, the residents took advantage of an opportunity to make some long needed improvements.

Let's hope it's happening in the political arena, too. Ray Nagin, who thinks the only reason he was such a failure during the hurricane is because he didn't have the power Castro has over Cuba, is finally out.

Maybe there's a bright future ahead for New Orleans. After all, the city is home to the 2010 Super Bowl champions.

As long as we're complaining about Toyotas ...

Anyone who has ever owned a no-frills car or truck, one that didn't have all the high technology in it, probably has some particular gripe about how the old ones were better than the new ones.

Well, here's mine -- the dimmer on the rear view mirror. The old cars had a manual switch on the rear view mirror which, when flipped, would shift it to a dark mode to keep the bright lights from cars coming up on the rear from blinding the driver. Worked perfectly.

So along comes some techie with a bright idea for one more electronic feature the driver doesn't want. It's a sensor which tells the mirror when to go dark. Doing it manually was just soooo much work, wasn't it?

But here's the problem. The sensor detects light and dark, so when it's dark outside the mirror goes dark on the theory that the only bright light coming into that mirror will be car lights coming from behind. But that's no help in the daytime when the sun reflects off the front windshield of the following vehicle straight into the eyes of our driver. Grrrrr. The techno benefits just won't quit giving.

On a different but somewhat related note, by now every Toyota driver has probably practiced putting the gear in neutral while the car is moving to practice for that rare possibility that the gas pedal might get stuck. For anyone who hasn't yet done this, remember that the engine RPMs might not match the car speed when the driver shifts back into drive. So if the driver relaxes pressure on the gas pedal when he/she makes that practice shift into neutral it's best to press back down on the gas before shifting back into "D" to get the RPMs up so that the engine won't have too much trouble adjusting to the vehicle speed.

FN Five-Seven handgun

I visited gun shows in two cities this weekend and was able to see a handgun model I've been looking for since last November. It seems that Nidal Malik Hasan, aside from being a crazy shrink and an Islamic terrorist, had a good eye for guns. Source.

Manufactured by Fabrique Nationale Herstal (FNH), it was the FN Five-SeveN®. From the manufacturer's website:

The FN Five-seveN® single-action autoloading pistol fires the low-recoil 5.7x28mm cartridge making it ideal for personal protection, target shooting or NRA Tactical Police Competition. It features a textured, ergonomic polymer frame with checkered panels for enhanced grip. The polymer slide cover helps reduce weight and the operating controls allow for easy access with a reversible magazine release and ambidextrous manual safety levers. The barrel is hammer-forged and chrome-lined for enhanced accuracy and extended service life. Models are available with matte black, olive drab green or Flat Dark Earth frames with a choice of adjustable target sights or fixed three-dot combat sights.

The bullet is a small caliber about the size of a .22, but it packs a punch with a large shell casing and lots of gun powder. Bullet photo is from Shootingtimes.com. There's a compelling theory out there that says heavier, larger diameter bullets have more stopping power, but I'll leave that one for the ballistics experts.

Here's why I like this handgun: the manual safety. As you can see, it's located just above the trigger. The correct way to handle a handgun is to hold it with the trigger finger outside the trigger guard until the target is acquired. So this model allows the trigger finger to rest on the safety, then as the finger goes down toward the trigger, it flicks the safety into firing position. That's a pretty neat feature.

The downside is the price of over $1,000. And those fancy bullets aren't cheap, either. This particular prize package won't be coming to my home anytime soon, but if that style of manual safety catches on then maybe we'll be seeing them on cheaper guns that shoot more conventional ammo.

The Toyota gas pedal -- There's your problem.

First off, a confession.  I've been a Toyota fan for over for two decades. They have served me very well, and I trust the company to the extent one can trust a car company. So it's interesting to see the reaction to the recent recall. Plaintiffs' lawyers are probably making upgrade plans for their yachts as the news reporters wring their hands and customers wonder what it's all about. And the government, desperate for an easy win, will try to smother Toyota with investigations.

It appears as though Toyota is doing the right thing. They've publicized the problem. They issued a major recall notice. And they issued a sincere apology. We can't ask them to commit hara-kiri.

It looks like they've made a determined effort to fix the problem. According to this Toyota FAQ, they've identified the problem to be a friction device designed to make the gas pedal feel the way gas pedals felt in the old day before the advent of the fly-by-wire computer controlled throttle. Some of them got stuck. You can see a diagram of the sticky part here.

So the recall involves replacing a friction shoe, although there are sure to be logistical problems before all the recalled cars can get the replacement part. But hopefully it will end well for the affected drivers.

However, we can't leave this without a little good natured humor. This photo, borrowed from Autoblog.com but with an arrow and caption, is just a joke. "There's your problem. There's an ugly appendage resembling a hairy human arm just above your pedal assembly. Better have that thing removed right away."

Informal poll snapshot of Texas governors race

Here's an interesting little online poll at Ksat.com. It's small, informal, and changes by the minute. But at the moment it shows Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina at a virtual dead heat at between 27% and 28% each.

Democrats White and Shami are in single digits. But the results change by the minute. And of course, online polls such as this one are loads of fun but notoriously unreliable. Hopefully, the more reliable Rasmussen will update his Texas poll soon.

Updated 2/3/10: Rasmussen says as of 2/3/10, it's Perry 44%, Hutchison 29%, and Medina 16%.

The new Midland Courthouse -- where will the intimidation booth be?

Visitors to the old courthouse in Midland, Texas, have to submit to the whims of armed guards if they want to get past the front door. They are forced to empty their pockets, strip off their belts, and remove jewelry and watches until they can walk through a very sensitive metal detector without setting off an alarm. This is the treatment people entering the front door get regardless of whether they are reporting for jury duty or filing a deed. It's easier to board an airplane.

We learn from Bob Campbell's MR-T article about some of the details of the new courthouse and the $29.2 million expenditure to date, as well as the projected October 1 opening date.

What we won't learn until it opens is whether the new building is going to be user friendly, or will everyone entering the building be subjected to the same humiliation as they are at the old building. In other words, where will the guard house be? One would hope that if the Sheriff's department's job is to protect the courts against that one in a million risk factor, then the guards can be placed outside the court rooms and people using other parts of the building won't be bothered. We'll see.