Ladies and gentlemen, the days of unlimited broadband may be numbered in the United States, and we're not talking wireless this time -- AT&T says it will implement a 150GB monthly cap on landline DSL customers and a 250GB cap on subscribers to U-Verse high speed internet starting on May…
...maybe they’d take away his parking space, too. What is it with Republican Governors these days. Especially, Republican Governors with national aspirations. It's almost as if they can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Even members of their own party have noticed. And it seems as if they…
It seems the story of the Peanut Corporation of America just keeps getting better and better as it shows just how poor America's food safety system really is... Even amid a national salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts, state health officials allowed a Texas peanut plant last month to continue shipping…
Image via Wikipedia It seems this story was inevitable... ROSENBERG, TX — A trip out for a free breakfast at Denny's took a big bite out of the wallets of several people in Rosenberg on Tuesday. Some of those who went to the local Denny's Corp. restaurant for a free…
In case a snake ever comes in the office If you want to know the truth, I never sit down at this desk to write a sentence without a bottle of whiskey within my reach. It's always just behind the computer, between a Roget's Thesaurus and an American Heritage Dictionary.…
Wandering down my Google Reader list today led me to Seth Godin's Blog and his muse on Newspapers...Go check it out... I worry about the quality of a democracy when the the state government or the local government can do what it wants without intelligent coverage. I worry about the…
After wondering for days where the cool mornings the weather prognosticators kept telling me about were hiding, they arrived this morning. As a native to this climate in SE Texas, I am always amazed to hear these same prognosticators (most of whom arrived from climes much closer to the poles)…
After the storm, once you realize you've lived through another, your awareness of your surroundings is contracted. You begin by wandering around just your own little space surrounding your home...Checking for damage, fixing the immediate needs if possible. Then you begin to expand your awareness to your neighbors. First you…
With Hurricane Ike set to travel nearly the length of Cuba today before heading into the Gulf of Mexico, residents from Texas to Florida face another week of worrying about whether their communities will fall in the storm's path. Some public officials said Sunday they are concerned that the frequency…
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…
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…
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…
I ran across this looking for a musician referenced on Americana Roots Radio yesterday. I tried it in the sidebar but it didn't work too well...So I'll post it here. There are some really good artists in the play list, so have a listen... Texas Back Porch Station 5428 at…
The Pleasurable Choice Is the Ethical Choice I like to say that I'm not an an optimist, but I am a person of hope. That is to say, I cultivate the virtue of hope in myself. Hope takes account of the enormity and darkness of challenges and problems, and yet…
This project began as so many good things do, over a cup of coffee. So begins the preface to Rebooting America, Ideas for Redesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age. Dana Boyd blogged about the availability of the download this morning and I pulled the pdf down before leaving the…
First things first --- Happy Birthday Sherry. I know you never read these muses...but hell, I'll still say it here. The best present I ever got... Now to the subject of this muse...Heat. It's hot here, it's hot across the south, it's hot on the Blue Ridges of North Carolina…
TED | Talks | Ron Eglash: African fractals, in buildings and braids (video) "I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof." That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he’d noticed in villages across the continent.
I have never felt that the Corporate pushers of GMOs were looking out for anything other than their own profits. That has led me to look on their actions in an unfavorable light. While this has always been a personal "feeling", I find my concerns expressed very well by this…
TED | Talks | Malcolm Gladwell: What we can learn from spaghetti sauce (video) Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.
A good overview of the Keith Olbermann rise in the New Yorker. It was nearly midnight before Keith Olbermann left the NBC News election studio on May 13th, having spent five hours on the air, co-anchoring coverage of the West Virginia Democratic primary. Olbermann had a short ride home from…
I saw the notice in my email first thing and as I worked my way down the list I was trying to formulate a post. Then I read John Scalzi's...If you are or were a Carlin fan go read John's short tribute. Whatever » RIP, George Carlin He was my…
I wandered into this last evening... TED | Talks | Mark Bittman: What's wrong with what we eat (video) In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what's wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too…
Here is a "new" artist to watch. Not many singers can use their voice as another instrument. Expect to see more of her in the coming years... 2020 Update you can follow Priscilla Ahn here... https://www.instagram.com/p/CIoGP2FjfEm/
And the conservative will discount the numbers because of the source...But come on, can't we expect a little bit of research from the speech writers? Fact check John McCain: Another of my disagreements with Senator Obama concerns the estate tax, which he proposes to increase to a top rate of…
As always, Bill Moyers gives a hell of a talk... YouTube - Bill Moyers addresses NCMR 2008 Legendary journalist Bill Moyers address the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008. Presented by FreePress.net. For more speakers, press coverage, and info, visit: http://www.freepress.net/conference Now...Go Tell It... And Tell…
The descendants of my dad's family gets together each year for a family reunion...Today was the day for this years get together. It was a bit of a drive on a beautiful summer day. I enjoyed the trip and the reunion. Here are some photo's from the day... For photo's…
Like many of his fans I discovered Utah Phillips late in his life. My daughter, a fan of Ani DiFranco, introduced me to him a few years back... U. Utah Phillips, 73; Folk Singer Championed the Working Class - washingtonpost.com U. Utah Phillips, 73, a Grammy-nominated folk singer, rabble-rouser and…