Category Archives: Texana

Public school politics

Posted on May 7, 2014 | 1 comment

I was amazed when Mr. B.’s first grade Austin teacher back in 2006 launched into a week-long lesson on the dangers of global warming. He was already so frightened of cigarettes, thanks to the school system, that he wouldn’t get in the car until I hid my pack of Salems in the glove box.

So this report of a California (where else) public school requiring eighth graders to write essays questioning whether the Holocaust (the systematic, in fact industrialized, Nazi murder of six million Jews and millions of others) was an “actual event” is not a surprise.

Nor is the name of the school superintendent: Mohammed Z. Islam. Fortunately some adult complained and the essays are no longer required. We can thank Gen., later President, Eisenhower for what we know of the Holocaust. He saw the future clearly.

Pity the public schools everywhere couldn’t be cleansed of these political creatures who call themselves educators.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Israel, Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, The Culture

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Whatever happened to Peak Oil?

Posted on May 1, 2014 | 4 comments

Fracking seems to have slain this resources issue, once and for all.

Or maybe not. Some Peak Oilers, enablers of the hottest meme of 2005, are still out there. They’re just biding their time, sure as shootin’ that their pet issue will return to haunt humanity and send us all back to the horse-n-buggy era: few medicines and consumer goods made of wood and paper.

Environmentalism is a religion, you know?

Via Instapundit.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obsessions, Science/Engineering, Texana, The Economy

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Texas entry requirements

Posted on April 27, 2014 | 8 comments

J.D., over at Mouth of the Brazos, has a cool idea to help winnow out some of these refugees from the Democrat economy who keep flooding into Texas—especially, for me, the Californicators:

“I have been daydreaming lately about mandatory criteria to move to Texas. I would welcome any additions to my nascent list.

“1. Watch or read the mini-series or book series of Lonesome Dove. Written, closed-book, exams will be done at the driver’s license bureau. If you make less than 50% on the quiz – no license.”

My suggested “No. 2. Explain the history of the Revolution, especially the timeline of the Alamo and Travis’s letters, and have the Victory or Death one memorized. Extra points for timelines of Goliad and San Jacinto. Less than 80% – no license.”

Any other suggestions out there?

UPDATE:  Here’s one newcomer who can skip these requirements. Considering that Toyota is bringing its own jobs along.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Texana, The Economy

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Butterfly Rose

Posted on April 20, 2014 | 1 comment

Butterfly4

Springtime in the back forty at Rancho Roly Poly.

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Posted in Antique Roses, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Go get ’em, Ted

Posted on April 18, 2014 | Comments Off on Go get ’em, Ted

I’m behind the curve on this one. Been a busy boy lately, including trying to adjust Windows 8.1 to something I can work with without being assaulted by new buy-this, buy that b.s. with every click. But I can’t let this one pass us by:

“On the day the House Oversight Committee held Lois Lerner in contempt, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Congress should impeach Attorney General Eric Holder if he does not indict those like Lerner for their roles in the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups.”

They almost certainly won’t, and Holder won’t for sure. Holder’s as big a crook as Lerner and their boss Wormtongue. Why Holder’s been complaining of racism lately. That’s what the really bad ones always hide behind. But it’s good to see Ted holding their feet to the flames.

Via Mouth of the Brazos.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Texana

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The wages of drought

Posted on April 15, 2014 | 3 comments

It’s a staple of some science fiction, the recycling of human urine on a spaceship to keep the crew supplied with drinking water.

Now Wichita Falls wants to go half-way: treating so-called gray-water, toilet flushes—but not the actual urine—for drinking water.

Drought is normal in Texas, but with recent population increases—all those victims of the Democrat economy looking for jobs—the wages of drought are getting serious.

UPDATE:  Lubbock and Big Spring are already building treatment plants to do the same thing.

MORE: Austin also is considering it.

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Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Practicing for a fiddle recital

Posted on April 12, 2014 | 1 comment

Yep, a 70-year-old (me) adult student of the fiddle playing a recital with a dozen (mainly) middle school violin students. I have seven weeks to memorize and perfect the rhythms of my two pieces: the American hoedown/reel Shove That Pig’s Foot A Little Further In The Fire, and the Blue Jig, a bluesy version of an Irish jig.

Another adult violin student (a former bass player in his 40s) will be dueting with me and our teacher, James Anderson, is trying to get two or four dancers to illustrate the contra dancing that generally goes with these tunes. Just hope that doesn’t force us to raise the tempo beyond my endurance. Stay tuned.

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Posted in Fiddle Stuff, Music, Texana

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