Bye Bye Bell's

A rollercoaster enthusiast website I visit has more information than our local news is reporting about the forced relocation (if, indeed, they relocate) of Bell's Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority apparently decided not to renew the lease, stating Bell's was not financially viable. That, after apparently having stated at some point that Bell's is the “No. 1 long-term tenant as far as revenue.”

Bell's announced earlier this year that they are going to build a new rollercoaster next year. After having fought for years with the local neighbors who claim the noise is already too loud, I suspect that someone got to the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority and made some kind of deal with them. But, then again, I'm conspiracy minded. It just doesn't feel right.

Anyway, Bell's will be gone from the fairgrounds, and it is a sad day for Tulsa. Sometimes I feel this city is not progressing but going backwards.

Election Day

Just a reminder. Today is election day. Get out and vote, dammit! Even if you don't think your vote counts, it does...but maybe not in the way you expect. It turns out that precincts with more voters typically get more government money funneled their way. So even if you don't like the candidates, you might still see some benefit just by showing up and casting a ballot.

Rush Limbaugh Needs To Shut It

I don't normally wish bad things to happen to anyone, but if there were such a person it would be Rush Limbaugh. He recently made the statement that Michael J. Fox was either off his medication or acting in a series of political ads where Fox states he supports embryonic stem cell research. Fox has Parkinson's disease, and it apparently obvious in the ads. He's been struggling with the disease for years now. That's why he left Spin City--it was affecting his performance.

My grandpa had Parkinson's too until he passed away, and for Limbaugh to make such a ridiculous statement really upsets me. Why does this guy continue to spout ignorance? You'd think he'd say something smart every once in a while, but I haven't heard it.

Osage Hills State Park

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning at Osage Hills State Park. The trees are turning yellow, orange, and red, and it is at it's peak right now. It's spectacular.

I saw lots of animals yesterday. I saw a couple of raccoons, an armadillo, several turkey vultures, a tufted titmouse (never seen one in person before), some woodpeckers, a duck, and probably a dozen deer. My most surprising encounter was with a doe. I had just closed up my camera bag and was preparing to move to the next photo spot, when I suddenly got the feeling I was being watched. I looked up, and there she was, staring at me from about 20 to 30 feet away. She had two fawns with her. Luckily, my camera was still available to shoot, so I shot a couple of pictures of her before she lost interest and moved on. It was one of those magic moments that keeps me going back out into the woods.

Speaking of which, I really need to thank my dad for getting me involved with Boy Scouts when I was a young man. At the time, I went through periods where I hated it. We went camping a LOT. But when I look back on it now, it really helped cultivate my appreciation for nature and all its splendor.

Kick-off of the Oklahoma Centennial

The Great State of Oklahoma is turning 100 next year. I got a thing in the mail the other day with some of the upcoming celebrations. The three that caught my eye are fireworks displays on three consecutive nights.

On November 16th, there will be a fireworks display at the 96th Street bridge near Jenks. The following night on the 17th, there will be one at the 21st Street bridge in Tulsa (where they have the 4th of July fireworks display every year). And the grand finale will be on the 18th in downtown Tulsa. This one I am very excited about as it is literally a once in a lifetime event. The downtown display will have not only fireworks but also lasers. A few years ago when Tulsa turned 100, they did the same thing, and it was spectacular. I thought I'd never see it again.

Right Lane Closed

Here is something that happens in Tulsa (maybe other places too) that is really aggravating to me. A lot of times (usually on the weekend) you'll see an orange, diamond-shaped sign on the side of the road somewhere that says "Right Lane Closed". So you'll immediately dart over in the left lane, only to find out that the right lane really isn't closed, and some lead-footed (possibly clairvoyant) jerk will pass you by on the right. Every time this happens, you'll see the cones or barrels that were used when the lane was closed on the curb. So basically the road crew finished up its work on the road and moved its cones out of the way. But these guys always leave the damn sign up. What's up with that? Laziness? Sick sense of humor? Incompetence? What?

Cyndi Lauper

We saw Cyndi Lauper last night at the Brady Theater. I felt bad for her. She said they had just put together a new show with a new crew, and they were having a lot of problems getting the sounds levels adjusted. More than once, she yelled at the people off-stage (and a couple of times at her band on-stage) to do this or that. Apparently, she's a perfectionist, which is not a bad thing--she wants to please her fans.

Despite the technical difficulty, she put on a helluva show. She came out into the audience several times, and I was literally only a couple feet from her. The security guard did not like her doing that, and he told her to get back on stage. She said something like "I know you're not talking to me. You gotta deathwish or something?"

It was a fun show, and I recommend anyone who likes Cyndi to go see her when she comes to your town.

President Bush Turning Green?

I just read an article claiming the White House wants to halt or regulate a bunch of high seas fishing techniques that are destructive to the environment. And his plan has an emphasis on creating sustainable fisheries, too. I know, I know, I'm in just as much shock as you are. Considering how he reacted to the Kyoto Protocol, this really doesn't sound like something he would say. Maybe there's hope for him yet!

I Can Post Again!

Our firewall at work blocks me from browsing to the new blogger beta site. But this morning, I've been shown a way to get through anyway. It's called Torpark. Sweet!

Too Soon For Christmas

Okay, so I went to Lowe's last night to look for some home improvement stuff. I was absolutely shocked to find they already have Christmas merchandise out. Christmas is nearly 4 months away! Now I like the holiday as much as anyone else, but I don't like how it's so commercialized. Each year, the Christmas goods get put out earlier and earlier. I started not to buy anything there in a silent protest.

iTunes 7 + iPod 1.2 Firmware

The problem I reported earlier about not being able to get a game working on my iPod is worse than I thought. Apparently, since I've upgraded the firmware to 1.2, I cannot play ANY content that is DRM'd. Thanks, Apple. You guys are doing a bang-up job on these firmware updates.

I've even tried something Apple refers to as the Five R's, which includes restoring the firmware. I managed to restore the firmware to 1.1, but I still cannot play anything that is DRM'd.

This is really a problem, as I have a lot of songs I've purchased from the iTunes Music Store that are now unplayable on my iPod. This is pretty ironic, as I was starting to believe that DRM isn't as evil as previously thought. I can still play the DRM'd songs on my computer, so it's not a total loss.

*Sigh*

Al-Qaida and Algerians Gang Up On France

Well, it appears that France may have pissed Al-Qaida and Algerians off enough that the two are now going to join forces and try to damage their interests (oh and ours in the United States, too).  Terrorism isn't funny.  What is funny is how France could have been helping out with the war on terror all along, but instead they chose to criticize us at every turn.  Well you know what?  If they ask for our help, I hope we tell them to go suck a croissant.

 

Apple Customer Service

On Tuesday, Apple announced a bunch of new products. One of those was games for your iPod. I purchased and downloaded Zuma, but I couldn't get it to work, even after updating the firmware on my iPod. So I contacted Apple via their online support form, and last evening, I received an apologetic letter back from them saying they had credited the money back to my account. They also said I could try to buy the game again in a couple of weeks. By then any issues I am having should be resolved. I was upset at first, but now I'm pretty pleased with Apple's customer support.

Electronic Voting

I don't worry about voting irregularities in Oklahoma. Our system works pretty good, and I'll feel confident using it.  You go to the booth, you fill our your card with a permanent marker, and then you run it through a computer scanner.  The machine immediately tells you if you've made a mistake and rejects it.  If there's no mistake, the computer gives you the green light and your done.  The computer records your answers, and there's a paper backup if something catastrophic happens.

Luckily, we don't have to worry about them here, but I'm 100% against electronic voting machines where you cast your vote via a touch screen.  It sounds cool, but having a background writing computer software, I don't trust them.  If I vote for candidate A and a computer bug says I voted for B, a recount would be useless because there's no paper trail.  I've heard some machines produce a voting receipt.  Still, the machine is producing the output, not me, so it could still be prone to error.

I read yesterday that the electronic voting machine makers were doing a really good job of promoting and selling them, but when it came to technical support and maintenance, they left a lot to be desired.  Now, a Princeton professor claims to have hacked an electronic voting machine.  You can read about it here:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060913/ap_on_hi_te/electronic_voting_1

So I'm more like 110% against them now.

Apple Gets Busy

Apple announced a bunch of new products or updates to existing products today that should make even the most jaded geek pee his pants!

There were new iPod nanos, a new version of the iTunes Music Store (which now has movies and games), a firmware update for the video iPod, something called iTV to let you stream movies from your computer to your TV in near-DVD quality, a cute new iPod Shuffle which is literally a clip that you can clip to something such as a pocket, and probably other stuff that I missed.

Weird Oklahoma Liquor Laws

Oklahoma has some odd liquor laws. We still have wet and dry counties. There are many Mexican restaurants where you cannot by a margarita on a Sunday.

Unlike most other states, liquor is not sold in the grocery store. It can only be sold in liquor stores. But if the alcohol content of the item is less than 3.2%, it's not considered liquor and it can be sold at convenience stores and grocery stores. BUT, you wouldn't want the police to see you drinking this non-liquor in your car, because if they see you, even 3.2% beer/malt beverages magically become liquor. Or some such silliness.

Another oddity is that Oklahoma won't let you bring refrigerated liquor into the state. There's a Colorado beer called Fat Tire that refuses to sell here because they have a policy of refrigerating the beer until it arrives at the store. They say it tastes better. Guess I'll never know unless I go to any of the surrounding states, where it is sold.

The latest liquor controversy is the ability to sell wine on the internet. This is currently prohibited in Oklahoma. The primary argument against it being that it will contribute to underage drinking. I feel this is an argument that sounds logical, but no study has been able to show a rise in teenage drinking because of internet wine sales. There are two reasons: it takes a few days to ship to the product, and most teens are not going to have the forethought to order wine several days in advance of a weekend party. And wine is just not a party drink like beer or malt beverages.

Before I went to the Grape Ranch last Labor Day weekend, I went to the Grape Ranch website, and they have a link to petition your Oklahoma State Representative to see where he stands on the ability to sell wine via the internet. Mine is State Representative Ron Peters. I received a letter from him yesterday, and here is his reply:

Dear Mr. Wallace:

Thanks for your letter on your ability to purchase the wines you want in the manner of your choosing. You asked that I let you know where I stand on the issue.

I am big on the free enterprise system and its ability to choose the winners and losers in the marketplace. As you might guess from this, I too am a strong believer in allowing you to choose how and where you make your purchases of ALL items, including wine.

Thank you for communicating with me on this manner. Please continue to communicate with me on matters of interest to you. If using e-mail is simpler for you, I can be reached at RonPeters@OKHouse.gov. Also, I will be on the ballot this fall and would appreciate your vote.

Sincerely,

Ron Peters

So perhaps internet wine sales are just around the corner.

The Channels

A new project, with Dubai-like coolness, has been unveiled for Tulsa. It's called The Channels. My initial reaction to it was that it sounded absolutely absurd. It seemed like a waste of money.

Basically, the plan is to dam up part of the Arkansas River and build a series of islands in the middle of the newly formed lake. Then residential and shopping areas would be built on the islands.

It's a crazy idea, and an expensive one. They want half a billion dollars from Tulsans to bring it to fruition. However, Tulsans have been saying for years the Arkansas River must be developed to help the city grow. This might be our best chance to do that.

Okay, so it still seems like way too much money, but after I saw the artist renditions I am in love with the concept. And I love that it incorporates green technology, such as solar cells, and it will generate hydroelectric energy. This thing could potentially turn into a tourist resort.

But it'll never happen. Nothing cutting edge like this would ever see the light of day in Tulsa. Tulsans have big dreams but never enough follow through. We're too conservative.

What You Can Do For Conservation

Since Steve Irwins' death, I've seen a lot people say they want to do something to help them remember him. Rather than trying to send flowers to Australia, like some people have, might I suggest you consider donating to the World Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, or the conservation organization of your choice?

Last Days Video

ABC has been airing a series of videos called "Last Days" that talk about how the earth could end. I've just watched the one on global climate change, and it is chilling. It really makes me wonder why we even have scientists. It's not like we listen to them. The only time we value their opinion is when they are helping big business make profits.

There's no doubt that global climate change is occurring. The majority of scientists believe this change is being caused by humans. Not only that, but it may be reversible --but only if we act soon. Then you have idiots like Senator Jim Inholfe saying it's all a hoax, nevermind the evidence. Why we listen to people like him astounds me. What is really going on here is that it'll be expensive to fix the problem, and some people would rather take a wait and see attitude than address the problem head on. When the water's rising, you don't wait until the last minute to surround yourself with sandbags--only in this case sandbags won't be enough.

Movie Studios Are Out Of Touch With Reality

I read that the movie studios are reporting solid, though not outstanding, ticket sales from this year's summer movies. While that may be true, most of the movies I saw this summer were disappointing. In past summers, I'd go to the movies almost every weekend. Not this summer. Pirates of the Carribean, Monster House, Strangers With Candy, and The DaVinci Code were the only movies I saw that lived up to their billing. I liked X-Men, but it was definitely the least satisfying of the trilogy. Superman had its moments, but ultimately turned super dumb in the last act.

The movies studios really need to take a hard look at television. A lot of the shows on TV have become so good, that it almost makes me want to skip the movies altogether. You have Lost, The 4400, Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, etc. What's interesting about all these shows is they don't rely on computer-generated visual effects to tell the story, and most of the summer movies do.