I sit here this morning for the first time in months having my morning coffee with the door open and the sounds of birds and dogs and squirrels serenading me. The temperature has dipped into the upper 60's. Can winter be far off? I am alone in the house this…
And, I think, they find her acceptably “real,” because Palin’s not intimidating, and makes it clear that she’s subordinate to a great man. That’s the worst thing a woman can be in this world, isn’t it? Intimidating, which appears to be synonymous with competent. It’s the kiss of death, personally…
The drive to hire private contractors to take over duties performed by state employees in agencies under the oversight of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission — mandated by the Legislature five years ago — has been a slow-motion disaster. The commission was forced to terminate a major contract…
It's been quite busy the last week. Most of my online time is being spent working on updating my Genealogy Site...So here's a couple of pictures from the weekend... And later in the day... Later folks...
For all of you folks up north feeling the beginnings of fall in the air, here is my morning forcast of what faces me on the way out the door... Bobby Wright, Alvin, Texas (PWS) Updated: 2 sec ago Clear 79.7 °F / 26.5 °C Clear Humidity: 66% Dew Point:…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Hurricane Gustav continues plowing inland, and is now just a Category 1 hurricane. The storm surge has peaked and is falling in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast. A storm surge of 12 feet was recorded at Northeast Bay Gardene, and surges of…
...Eye of Gustav nearing the Louisiana coast...hurricane force winds over portions of southeastern Louisiana... A Hurricane Warning remains in effect from just east of High Island Texas eastward to the Mississippi-Alabama border...including the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Preparations to protect life and property should have been completed.…
Just to keep up with the updates I started with this storm...
Over the years in the convention business, I've spent a bit of time in the city of New Awlins. I have friends who call the city home. I have co-workers who called the city home and now live in Houston. So I am saddened to see the area in the…
It's passing Cuba and the models are looking more and more like rain, rain, rain...Even if we miss the winds!
In 2005 the eye of Hurricane Katrina seemed to spare the low-lying neighborhoods of New Orleans as it moved to the east into Mississippi. Relief was short-lived as the backhanded surge of water from the storm breached levees and created an urban catastrophe that exposed fatal flaws in the nation's…
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Gustav strengthened into a dangerous storm today, and as city officials started evacuation plans, some residents weren't waiting to be told to leave. Cars packed with clothes, boxes and pet carriers drove north among heavy traffic on Interstate 55, a major route out of the city.…
I have always loved Fractals. I began playing with the earliest computer generation programs when I got my first PC. I have installed new programs on every PC I have ever owned. But I have never created anything like this... Chaoscapes from Rocco Helmchen on Vimeo.
Here it comes... MIAMI — Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say Gustav has again strengthened into a hurricane. At around 2:15 p.m. CDT Friday, data showed the Category 1 storm had top sustained winds of around 75 miles per hour, and was still on track to hit…
Image via Wikipedia I don't know why these guys worry...My wife has already sent Gustav packing... Don't freak out about the newest models, but... The latest computer models have been released and they reflect a distinct shift westward, toward Texas, for Hurricane Gustav's path. This almost certainly presages a similar…
I took a day off from work today...It seemed like a good investment in mental health. My wife had already scheduled the day off planning for the scheduled arrival of our latest grandson. In case you are wondering, he's decided the schedule wasn't approved by his royal personage so he's…
Hurricane Rita Image by alpoma via Flickr As of this morning at 7am this was the latest on what was happening with our tropical weather As the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina nears, federal, state and local officials along the Gulf Coast are keeping a wary eye on Tropical Storm…
Texas' overall uninsured rate of 25.2 percent, and its 20.2 uninsured rate for children, continued to be the highest in the country. Nationally, the number of people without health insurance last year declined from 47 million in 2006, the Census Bureau said. Median household income — meaning half of households…
Image via Wikipedia The weather here has been very dry...at least until the past week or so. We have been having a spring-like amount of rain. After complaining for so long about the lack, it seems almost sacrilegious to say anything about the water we needed so bad. After months…
In the midst of August, spring appears to have triumphantly — if temporarily — returned to Houston. Steady rainfall has delivered a blessed week of lower-than-normal temperatures, and Tuesday's high reached only 81 degrees, which is more typical of late April than mid-August. Wednesday's mercury reached a comparatively warm 84,…
Anything Wendell Berry writes is worth the time it takes to digest...My recommendation is to go spend some time today with the man... The general reaction to the apparent end of the era of cheap fossil fuel, as to other readily foreseeable curtailments, has been to delay any sort of…
This one's for you... While reporters at The Post and The New York Times have been vetting McCain, many others give him a free pass. Their default cliché is to present him as the Old Faithful everyone already knows. They routinely salute his “independence,” his “maverick image” and his “renegade…
Up on the mountain behind my house, the wild blueberries are ripe and prolific. It’s public land, part of the Maine state-park system, so the berries are free for the picking. In a half-hour or so, if I’m lucky, I can fill a tin cup with enough berries for breakfast,…
This has to be one of the strangest things about Texas Republicans... When health care in Texas makes headlines, the issues raised by administrators and physicians are hardly rosy. They include overcrowded emergency rooms, mounting hospital budget deficits created by unfunded indigent care, and uninsured rates for adults and children…
CARSON, NEW MEXICO—When the wind comes up the mesa, which it often does, there is a particular rusted-out old car nearby that whispers the same eerie, long-toned question every time: “Whoooooo?” I sometimes think: “Us.” Out in this remote part of the American Southwest lies the closest thing I have…
Obama is the first political figure since Carter to understand the energy efficiency and conservation approach and actually try to present it to the American people. Republicans want to nip it in the bud -- that's why they are so aggressively jumping on the tire gauge thing. They want to…
In order for the American dream to work, everyone must do their part. As you can see from this report, the majority of the corporations doing business here don't. WASHINGTON — Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from…
What do you call a Republican who is happy to lie directly to people's faces? John W. McCain. The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.
Leaving the house this morning the temperature was already passing 80°. August in SE Texas may not be as hot as other places in the country, but factor in the humidity and it ain't pretty. The prognosticator on the radio was holding forth about a high today of 96°...But then…
It just goes to show you, when the government doesn't believe in regulations...Regulations go by the wayside and enforcement becomes mute... Whole Foods Market pulled fresh ground beef from all of its stores Friday, becoming the latest retailer affected by an E. coli outbreak traced to Nebraska Beef, one of…
