Saitek A-250

The rumor is our midtown Wal-Mart is going to be closing soon so they can move to a larger Wal-Mart (actually, one of the biggest I've seen) down the street. I've noticed their clearance area has more than doubled in size over the last month or two.

Yesterday, I ran across a device I saw on Gizmodo a while back. At the time, it was too expensive for me to seriously consider. But with a $40 mark down, I could not resist. It was less expensive than buying it at Amazon.com, even after their rebate.

I must say it sounds very good and was really easy to setup. They had one left if anyone else wants one!

Update: I took this product back to the store. After using it for a week, its quirks and limited wireless range made it unsuitable for my needs. I think I'll look into getting a speaker system with an iPod dock on it.

Mosquito Device

I keep reading story after story of how a new device called a Mosquito emits a high pitched frequency that people over the age of twenty cannot hear. For people under the age of twenty, the sound is very annoying, and the device is being sold to movie theaters and such to cause teens to stop loitering outside. While I had not actually seen the device in use anywhere in Tulsa, a co-worker downloaded the sound off the internet, and played it for us. I can hear it. I'm 33. I think it very irresponsible for the creator of this device to make such blanket statements about who can and cannot hear the sound. I'm sure its a marketing tactic to sell more Mosquitos. What's bad is the media is repeating the statement without verifying its authenticity. If and when I do notice the device in use, I will be giving the owner an ear full so to speak.

Yet Another Reason I'm Against Genetic Engineering

Yahoo has a scary story about genetically engineered grass used for golf courses being found growing in the wild. You can read the article here.

The grass was engineered to resist Round-Up, a popular herbicide. The article implies the grass could cross-polinate with other strains of grass (and possibly other plants), producing new varieties of Round-Up-resistant plants.

It pisses me off that the scientists in the article use levity to lessen the seriousness of genetic engineering. It is only a matter of time before something bad is released into the wild that cannot be contained. Indeed, it may already be out there. Take StarLink corn, which has pesticide engineered into it. It kills bugs, some beneficial. The last time I checked, it's not approved for human consumption. But it cross-pollinates with other corn, apparently, so who know if we are eating it or not? Somebody ate some of it. Anyone remember the Taco Bell taco shell incident? And if anyone died from it, how would we know? It's not the like the government checks dead people for such things.

Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden

In the spirit of reporting on improvements to Tulsa today, I also found the website for the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden here. It sounds like it will be really nice when they complete it in 2007.

The American Statue

Last night I uncovered the website for the American statue. You can find it here. There don't appear to be any recent updates, so I decided to contact them.

I got this reply within just a few minutes:


Dear Mr. Wallace,

We are happy to advise that The American Project is alive and well. Yes, we have been very quiet for a number of months while we were completing research and addressing some design issues that we believed were necessary to ensure the success of the Project. Since last August, we have completed two focus group studies, an attendance study, and an economic impact study. The results of these studies all identified the Project as not only a sound Project, but one with great potential for Tulsa and the state. We also introduced The American to the art world at Art Expo in New York City in March of this year. Art Expo is the largest art show in the world. With regard to design, the artist and designer of the Project, Shan Gray, completed the 3.5 ft engineering prototype in February and has begun work on what will be called the Scan Master (a 6 ft engineering prototype of The American image) which will be the final image for enlargement to the over 200 ft monument. With the completion of the 3.5 ft image and the 6 ft Scan Master, certain design issues are being addressed by the Structural engineers (i.e. fitting of the elevator shaft and stairwell inside the statue, etc.). While all of this work is very exciting and important to the Project, we realize it is not very tangible to the public.

While we work on different aspects of the design, we continue to raise funds. When the funding is completed, we will have about a six-month start-up and then the public will be able to begin to see construction on the monument itself. Our goal is to have the monument and support facilities complete by January 2010.

Thank you so much for your interest in the Project. And if you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Best regards,

Melanie Gray

The American Project


I'm still very excited about this project, and it's encouraging to know the project is still very much alive.

Glued to a Toilet Seat

I just read where another person found herself glued to a toilet seat in a public restroom, and I can remain silent no longer! I'm not one to blame the victim, but I'm thinking there are some very simple precautions one could take to ensure one doesn't find one's self the subject of an embarassing, if humorous, internet story.

It seems to me, that if you wipe the seat off with a tissue or place one of those paper ass gaskets down, it would be pretty obvious if some deviant has squirted a bead of super glue on the seat (which is really funny by the way). That's all there is to it.

It seems like common sense, but I could be wrong. I just can't imagine walking into a public restroom and sitting down without doing a thorough inspection of the seat first. You never know when a Trekkie left Klingons on the seat, if you know what I mean.

I'll give these super glue victims the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they had to go so bad it seemed like a good idea at the time to forgoe the inspection because hestitating even a second would risk unleashing the unthinkable. Just be careful. Apparently, staph infections and pedophiles aren't the only thing to worry about in the bathroom.

Gatesway Foundation's 12th Annual Balloon Festival

It's always the first weekend in August, and I nearly forgot about it! I look forward to this all year, and it is this weekend at the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino.

Friday night they do the balloon glow where they light the balloons up all at once. They don't fly them, though. Saturday and Sunday, I think they have contests and they will be flying them, weather permitting. It's fun for the entire family.