Sleepless in Midland

Houston just took a big hit as migrant magnet

The city of Houston and surrounding communities have been magnets for companies and individuals for decades. That's about to change.

Harris County has had a flood problem for a long time. Any heavy rain, which they have plenty of without a hurricane, typically results in street flooding. It may not have been obvious to those people in other states who sought a new locale. But with Harvey in the headlines, it is now.

Furthermore, residents in our little city of Midland, Texas, see local taxing entities hike their taxes every year without some calamity as an excuse. Residents in Harris County and the city of Houston are sure to see their taxes sky rocket even without talk of fixing the constant problem of water runoff.

Dallas and Austin got a big boost from this. People and companies looking for a Texas city governed by Democrats will gravitate to those cities over Houston for years to come.

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10:59 AM 9/1/2017

Three Square Market and RFID microchip implant

Fewer than half of the employees (41 of its 85) at Three Square Market agreed to get the chip implant, according to Chicagotribune.com at Wisconsin company holds 'chip party' to microchip workers.

Writers around the world are wringing their own hands over this new technological endeavor. Some are preaching caution, of course. But most, like me, take a libertarian approach and note that only those who consent will actually get it.

I would decline, but if someone wants one, then he/she should be able to get one. The possibilities are probably endless, although currently they appear to be limited to unlocking doors and using vending machines. One would be useful for recording medical history if emergency personnel have the equipment to read it.  It might be a useful adjunct to the clapper light switch.

But the human immune system has evolved to reject foreign objects under our skin even if the mind said "accept." I would side with the immune system on these. A plastic card is easy enough to carry around. It's not as if we had to drag along extra weight.

As for the Three Square Market employees who get them, hey, if you want it, go for it.

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2:32 PM 8/5/2017

Forget the airplane cellphone mode, I want a space craft mode

Private citizen space travel is not a common event yet, but with all those billionaires working on it, it's inevitable.

Before I sign up for a trip, however, I want a cheap seat with a safe track record. Maybe I'll live that long.

In the meantime, I keep my phone on "airplane" mode most of the time. Seems that when someone tries to call I'm either driving, with people, or too far from the phone to answer it. So "airplane" seems like the right status to be in.

But I'm not a jet setter. So the "airplane" mode is a fiction. If it's going to be a fiction anyway, I want a space craft mode. Our local airport can get away with calling itself a space port, then by golly, I want that cell phone space craft mode.

Planned Parenthood aborted 327,653 babies in fiscal 2014

That sounds a bit on the high side. I believe it was Bill Clinton who started or at least championed the idea that abortions should be legal and rare. So much for rare.

Some of my conservatives friends point out how hypocritical Democrats are on this. Democrats claim so many things are "for the children," but a baby in the womb seems not to qualify. The conservatives have a point.

Here's another thing. Democrat politicians trumpet their pro abortion creds with their children near by -- Wendy Davis springs to mind. I can't help but wonder what a child listening to that must think. Maybe there's a Festivus card for that: "You're a sorry excuse for a mother, but at least you didn't abort me!"

Anyway, here's the link to the source of that number: Planned Parenthood: We Aborted 327,653 in FY2014.

Sympathy hashtags rule the net -- plastic wristband makers hardest hit

Some of the older people reading this post may remember when colored plastic wristbands were all the rage. They demonstrated that the wearer supported some cause -- a yellow wristband for Lance Armstrong's Livestrong charity, for example. There were many colors to choose from, each demonstrating sympathy for a particular cause. And some causes had more than one color. Luckily for colon cancer sympathizers, blue could be substituted for brown. Here's a list to help put the color to the cause.

Then along came social media, and all you had to do to demonstrate you cared was tweet a hashtag. How much simpler could it get? Michelle Obama showed us how it was done when she tweeted about the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. She cared. She really did.

There was a time when liberalism meant caring for the underdog. There are remnants of that still around, but today it's really all about showing others that one cares, not about doing anything. So the hashtag fits perfectly with that sentiment. It's easy and it costs nothing. But it shows how much the hashtagger cares.

But pity the poor manufacturer of the sympathy wristband. That symbol has come and gone.