Sleepless in Midland

George Harrison (the Beatle) was Dallas (tv show) fan

This is amusing. That TV show "Dallas" really had the fans, among them, Beatle George Harrison. This comes from Houston Press where Richard Connelly tells us that Michael Palin's diaries reported that the Beatle didn't appreciate Palin's phone calls when "Dallas" was on.

J.R. Ewing certainly held the world's attention.

True story -- I was a tourist standing at a bus stop in Rome, Italy, one morning a few years after "Dallas" had finished its run. I struck up a conversation with another tourist, a Scot from Glasgow who introduced himself as "Join" (spelled John, actually). We did the "where are you from" thing that tourists do, and when I said I was from Texas, he replied, "Oh, that's where J.R.'s from." Yep, if Fes Parker hadn't already done it, J.R. put Texas on the map.

Road Notes -- Santa Fe, New Mexico

Springtime is a very pleasant time to visit New Mexico, or anywhere, for that matter, but this journey took me to the beautiful town of Santa Fe where the residents have done a good job of keeping the city looking old. There's an adobe house there that claims to be the oldest home in the U.S. Now it's a store. But even the new homes have that old adobe look.

Unofficial color of Santa Fe -- Adobe Roof Red.
Unofficial Santa Fe slogan -- "Visit our show room."

The trip up the High Road to Taos this time of year provides a spectacular view. Could it be one of the top ten scenic drives in the U.S.? Perhaps.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pics.

Good Thursday Pilgrimage

A visitor driving a vehicle on the expressway on the outskirts of Santa Fe, NM, last Thursday may have thought that New Mexicans sure must like to walk as there were hundreds of people walking on the shoulder of the highway. Drivers had to pay close attention, because the walkers seemed oblivious to the potential for hazard. Signs cautioned drivers to watch out for walkers, and the sheriff's office gave the walkers safety tips and glow sticks.

Luckily I was with a knowledgeable native who politely explained that those pedestrians were making an Easter weekend pilgrimage.

Their destination was Chimayo where a miracle was supposed to have occurred a couple of centuries ago in that Spanish settlement nestled on the edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. And that tiny community attracts thousands of pedestrians every year.

Some people make the trek to heal themselves or others, although some probably do it to honor the ritual. It appears on the map to be about the distance of a marathon and then some from Santa Fe, and most of the hikers appeared to have readied themselves for a long trek. But the ones pushing a baby stroller? They may have been expecting a miracle.

Happy Easter, everyone.

Flooding in Australia

Old pal GR resides about 100 kilometers South of Brizzy (Brisbane, Australia), and he forwards this link to a video of some of the flooding the Aussies experienced on January 10, 2011.

The photographer is in an office building in Toowoomba overlooking what appears to be a drainage ditch. The ditch soon becomes a raging river overlapping the parking lot. Click to go directly to the Youtube site.

Toowoomba appears to be 126 highway kilometers West of Brizzy, according to this Google map.

Thanks, GR. Tie your kangaroo down, sport.

Is that a half pound of PETN in your pants or are you just glad to see me?

The underwear bomber's M.O. gets new life as "junk" takes on a new meaning.

See Airport Body Scanners Fooled By Human Tissue, subtitle: "Backscatter X-ray systems can't reliably spot even a large quantity of plastic explosives hidden against the skin, warn researchers."

Tip for terrorists: wrap it in aluminum foil. (Everyone else, see clip from This is Spinal Tap.)

The Clelia II took a wild ride on rough seas

Last week news watchers were treated to the vicarious thrill of riding a small ship in rough seas as the Clelia II bobbed up and down in the waves of the Drake Passage. Watch the video here and experience it yourself.

But watching a video and being there are two very different things. And one can only imagine the stomach churning that must have taken place as that ship made those rapid steep climbs and the drastically sharp drops. Here is a rather emotionless International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators news release from 12/8/2010:

Reports indicate that while Clelia II was encountering rough weather and sea conditions on the morning of December 7, a large wave hit the ship, breaking the starboard bridge window and dousing some electrical circuitry. This caused a temporary loss of communications and affected engine performance. Both engines remained operational and speed was reduced. There are no injuries to passengers, although one member of the crew sustained minor injuries. The ship reports no damage to the hull or discharge of oil or any other liquids or fluids from the ship.

But for the damage to the radios and the loss of engine power, that's a typical trip through the Drake Passage according to Chris Epting as he recounted a similar expedition in Waves of Terror in the Drake Passage. To wit:

OK, maybe "fun" is too strong a word. Yet, once you figure out the fairly consistent movement, it's possible to ride it out without too much discomfort (we did not get sick during the crossing, something we owe to the scopolamine patches, along with lying down as much as we could).

Of course, the fear of so-called "rogue" waves was always on our minds, it was hard to sit and eat, and the first night, when the ship had to turn quickly away from a brewing storm, for a moment I thought we were goners. I described my anxiety to a young Russian sailor the next day. He looked at me, surprised, and said thickly, "Drake Passage last night? Smooth like pond."

Emphasis added.

Meanwhile, Cruise Law News describes how the ship operator, the ship owner, the tour organizer, and travel agency are all scrambling to pin any potential liability on the other guy.

But if in spite of all this you want to take a trip on the Clelia II, rest assured that the "all-suite Clelia II will offer the finest in small-ship cruise travel," and its "spaciousness and intimate ambience combine to make her ideal for distinctive cultural and expedition voyages." Source: GreatLakesCruising.com.

Bon voyage. Enjoy the food.

Conaway's travels

The other day we talked about the excellent Q&A C-SPAN interview with Brody Mullins about our federal government officials taking foreign tax trips at the expense of taxpayers. See Congress loves to travel on the taxpayer's dime. An important piece of information he provided was the fact that the House Clerk's web page provides search links leading to copies of forms the members are required to file. So let's take it for a spin and see what it tells us about Texas District 11 Representative K. Mike Conaway's travels.

Among those filings we find that Mr. Conaway has taken quite a few trips, some at the expense of a trip sponsor. The sponsors must hope to get something of it, but we can only guess what that is. In any event, here's what we learn about U.S. Representative K. Mike Conaway's travels funded by a sponsor:

Destination: Cambridge, Maryland
Sponsor: Congressional Institute
Dates: 11/01/2007 - 11/03/2007 ;

Destination: Baltimore, MD
Sponsor: The Heritage Foundation
Dates: 01/30/2008 - 02/01/2008;

Destination: Las Vegas, NV
Sponsor: National Association of Broadcasters
Dates: 04/13/2008 - 04/15/2008;

Destination: London & Oxford, England
Sponsor: The German Marshall Fund of the United States
Dates: 05/22/2008 - 05/25/2008;

Destination: Chihuahua, Mexico
Sponsor: Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance
Dates: 08/05/2008 - 08/06/2008;

Destination: Capetown, South Africa
Sponsor: International Conservative Caucus Foundation and the Nial Mellon Foundation
Dates: 11/30/2008 - 12/09/2008;

Destination: Las Vegas, NC (No such place.)
Sponsor: National Association of Broadcasters
Dates: 04/18/2009 - 04/21/2009;

Destination: Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey
Sponsor: The Institute of Interfaith Dialog for World Peace
Dates: 08/07/2009 - 08/20/2009;

Destination: Queenstown, MD
Sponsor: Partnership for a Secure America
Dates: 11/14/2009 - 11/15/2009;

Destination: Berlin and Cologne, Germany
Sponsor: U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress Study Group on Germany
Dates: 03/28/2010 - 04/02/2010;

Destination: Cambridge, MD
Sponsor: Congressional Institute, Inc.
Dates: 05/06/2010 - 05/08/2010.

Those are trips funded by someone else. Search for yourself if you care to. Would the sponsors pay for all this travel it if there were nothing to be gained? I don't think so.

Taxpayer funded foreign travel is a little bit harder to search. The searcher has to look at the congressional record in text or PDF for each quarters' filing, starting here.

Our representatives do most of their traveling on military supplied passenger jets, but the travel cost isn't reflected in the records unless they took a commercial airliner. That said, let's see what we can find for Mr. Conaway's taxpayer funded travels:

England - 4/24/08 -- 4/26/08 - Link.

Germany, Russia, Poland, and Czech Republic - 12/12/08 -- 12/16/08 - Link.

Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Germany - 12/16/08 -- 12/22/08 - Link.

Iwo Jima, Korea and Okinawa - 2/16/09 -- 2/21/09 - Link.

Middle East and Europe - 4/3/09 -- 4/10/09 - Link.

Latin America - 9/20/09 -- 9/22/09 - Link.

Romania, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, UK - 11/23/09 -- 11/29/09 -Link.

Africa and Europe - 12/17/09 -- 12/22/09 - Link.

Middle East - 3/5/10--3/9/10 -Link.

Surely the country and Texas District 11 are better off for having such a well traveled representative. Well, we have one whether we are better off or not.

Could this be the year for hill country bluebonnets?

Some years back a mild wet spring produced a spectacular crop of bluebonnets in the hill country of Texas. It took just the right combination of mild temperatures and Spring showers, and from all accounts, the subsequent crops were puny by comparison.

El Nino has dumped a lot of rain in Texas this winter. Fredericksburg, Texas, for example, got 2.57 inches in February and 1.33 inch in the first two weeks of March.

There have been some early sightings in East Texas. So maybe, just maybe, this could be another banner year. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Now here would be a good weekend outing for April 10-11, 2010. First, a leisurely drive around Willow City Loop to see the bountiful bluebonnet blossoms. Then finish up at the gun show in Fredericksburg. What a weekend that would be.  It doesn't get much better than that.

The Christmas Day Saboteur

So did al Qaeda want to ruin Christmas for Americans? Let's hope that the failed attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring down an airliner is an example of their best efforts.

Jasper Schuringa and other passengers subdued the guy after he ignited the device. They demonstrated once again that when a threat is identified, citizens will come forward to save the day. It's reminiscent of the Flight 93 heroes on 9/11/01 and should be another demonstration to the al Qaeda minions that annihilating Western civilization will not an easy endeavor.

Early reports said that the bomb was "sophisticated," but perhaps that's code for "it slipped through without detection." And it's possible the bomb wouldn't have worked anyway. But hopefully our guardians of air travel will learn how to detect those things without too much disruption to travelers. Their first effort seems to be to confine passengers to their seats during the final hour of a flight. That seems more punitive then helpful, and better scrutiny of the passengers might be more fruitful. But, when CNN asks whether it's a win for al Qaeda, the answer is still "No."

And they didn't ruin Christmas, they just created an inconvenience.