Category Archives: Texana

Ellis Island of the West

Posted on August 25, 2007 | Comments Off on Ellis Island of the West

It didn’t last long, only from 1907 through 1914, and only ten thousand passed through. But for a time, Galveston was the Ellis Island of the West for Jews escaping persecution in Russia. A littleknown piece of Texana worth the read. "Forgotten Gateway," on Galveston’s 75-year history as a port of entry, a new exhibit of the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum in Austin, is scheduled to open in February.

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Posted in Israel, Texana

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Behind the chicken wire curtain

Posted on August 24, 2007 | Comments Off on Behind the chicken wire curtain

Some folks are amazed that Phill Raije Rian (her real name), a 41-year-old Williamson County mother of two, got twenty-three years in prison after being convicted recently of having consensual sex with the 16-year-old boy who mowed her lawn and babysat her kids. She’ll only have to serve half that before she is eligible for parole, but it’s a tough sentence. Some local bloggers have pointed out that former Williamson constable, Roger Dale Proctor, got five years probation and thirty days in jail for his molestation of a minor girl. But there is a big difference in the two cases, beyond the notion that being a Williamson County peace officer (behind what critics call the county’s "chicken wire curtain") will get you more consideration: Proctor pled guilty. Rian insisted she was innocent, but the jury was convinced that she was lying. So they recommended the long jail time. Rian’s children will have to grow up without her. It’s a controversial situation, and criticism of the sentence keeps rolling in.

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Posted in Texana

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The rap on slaps

Posted on August 23, 2007 | Comments Off on The rap on slaps

Slaps, or flip flops, not only make the wearer look Asian (in Hungary they are called Vietnami papucs) but they apparently can damage your feet–in addition to exposing them to damage. That will be news to the many here (in Austin, at least) who have traded their cowboy boots for slaps almost year-round.

Via Instapundit 

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Posted in Scribbles, Texana

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Texel terminates

Posted on August 22, 2007 | Comments Off on Texel terminates

Armadillo Aerospace, the Mesquite contender for the X Prize suffered a set back when its mock Lunar Lander, Texel, was destroyed last weekend:

"Texel burst into flames after it crash landed during a test. Its fuel and liquid oxygen tanks were so damaged in the impact that it would be easier to build a new vehicle from scratch than to repair Texel, says Armadillo test team member Phil Eaton."

But company officials say they still can be ready to compete in October. That’s a relief. 

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Texana

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The Lone Ranger

Posted on August 21, 2007 | Comments Off on The Lone Ranger

Clayton Moore is welcome to the title he guarded so assiduously until his death in 1999. I still remember the outfit I got for Christmas when I was in second grade, especially the double-holster set with those faux pearl-handled, long-barrel .45s. Cap pistols, of course. I don’t think you can even buy those things anymore. (Well, maybe you can, but they’re pricey.) My mother being from Texas–even though we were then part of my father’s Air Force career and so living in Tripoli, Libya–The Lone Ranger rig was a natural. None of this phony kickboxing stuff that television now attributes to the Texas Rangers. They are, in any case, more often detectives with accounting degrees these days than their famous incarnation: the Samurai of the Old West.

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Posted in Scribbles, Texana

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Top Ten Newspaper Web Sites

Posted on August 20, 2007 | Comments Off on Top Ten Newspaper Web Sites

The daily made the cut, coming in at No. 8, even getting praise for letting anyone blog on its site. Despite still using what Instapundit calls "a lame and buggy registration scheme." Who knows, maybe they’ll drop it, like I’s Knoxville News Sentinal (also on the list at No. 6) did.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, Texana

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Dean-o

Posted on August 18, 2007 | Comments Off on Dean-o

All eyes are still on Dean, as it gets ready to clobber Jamaica tomorrow. Inevitably, someone has put up a page of nothing but hurricane and Gulf of Mexico graphics (some of them in motion) to facilitate the Dean watchers. Stare at them long and hard. Repeat after me: "Dean will stay away from the Texas coast. He will stay away from the Texas coast."

UPDATE: Be a voyeur. Read the "Pleas for Help" bulletin board at stormCARIB, the Caribbean Hurricane Network. Be glad you’re not there.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, South of the Border, Texana, Weather/Climate

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