Hambone v3.0

Monday’s The Big Worldwide Lie Open Comments

Protests Erupted in the Philippines Last Year Over “Recycling” Shipments from Canada Contaminated with Dirty Diapers

It is a disgusting conceit of the West to delude entire societies into dumping their garbage on poor Third World countries so politicians and the suckers they represent can pretend to be saving the planet.  The East Asian region has almost totally shut down the inflow of plastic waste from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

…

The two obsessions have some common roots, but the moral panic over plastic is especially perverse. The recycling movement had a superficial logic, at least at the outset. Municipal officials expected to save money by recycling trash instead of burying or burning it. Now that recycling has turned out to be ruinously expensive while achieving little or no environmental benefit, some local officials—the pragmatic ones, anyway—are once again sending trash straight to landfills and incinerators.

The plastic panic has never made any sense, and it’s intensifying even as evidence mounts that it’s not only a waste of money but also harmful to the environment, not to mention humans. It’s been a movement in search of a rationale for half a century. During the 1970s, environmentalists like Barry Commoner wanted the government to restrict the use of plastic because it was made from petroleum, which we needed to hoard because we would soon run out of it. When the “energy crisis” proved a false alarm, environmentalists looked for new reasons to panic.

…

“…I have to take the opportunity to say this: America, the way you dump your waste on us … it is very hypocritical. … Stop sending your rubbish to other countries and start managing it yourself.”

Pua Lay Peng, Malaysia

…

The turning point in the crisis seemed to have been the German study released originally in 2017 Revealing just 10 rivers in Asia and Africa contribute over 90% of the plastics in the world’s oceans.  A huge portion of that plastic comes from the West and if it doesn’t get dumped into a river, it gets burned in huge open pits.
…
If it is not westerners shipping wholesale their garbage to dump on China, Malaysia and India, it’s the Chinese commercial fishermen and ocean ships throwing their crap overboard like a bunch of drunken trailer trash slobs.
…
After painstakingly analyzing debris in the north central Pacific Ocean, where converging currents create the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a team of scientists from four continents reported in 2018 that more than half the plastic came from fishing boats—mostly discarded nets and other gear. These discards are also the greatest threat to marine animals, who die not from plastic bags but from getting entangled in the nets. Another study, published last year by Canadian and South African researchers, traced the origins of plastic bottles that had washed up on the shore of the aptly named Inaccessible Island, an uninhabited landmass in the middle of the southern Atlantic Ocean. More than 80 percent of the bottles came from China and must have been tossed off boats from Asia traversing the Atlantic.
…

“…The problem is not only a Malaysian problem. The international waste trade system itself is broken and based on false assumption about what really happens with waste.”

Heng Kiah Chun, lead campaigner for Malaysia, Greenpeace

…

Activist Tan See Han reveals an illegal dump site in Pulau Indah, Malaysia. This is where “recyclers” burn foreign plastic, much of it from the US.

Credit:  Patrick Winn/The World

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59 responses to “Monday’s The Big Worldwide Lie Open Comments”

  1. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Well, it is time to kick start off this week.
    Mornin’ Gang

  2. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Good drizzly morning Hamsters. So fa we’ve gotten 1.62″ of slow steady rain off & on since midnight. We can use it, especially the slow and steady part. Not many puddles in the yard yet so it must be soaking in. The slow part just turned into harder steady rain. That can stop any time now.

    Our new horse Jessica insisted on going out in it after breakfast, so I let her out. We don’t know much about her previous homes or her preferences, but outside seems to trump inside during the day regardless of weather. It’s 64 and not really cold, except to me that is. The neighboring trio are always outside except for a really nasty winter day, so I suppose Jessica thinks that is how it should be. Outside in a thunderstorm is definitely not the place to be however.

  3. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    The Boy sent this, from the land of fruits and nuts; California scrambles to increase hunting to help protect public lands – Santa Cruz Sentinel.

    “Hunters are directly responsible for funding what we do out here,” said Sean Allen, senior fish and wildlife habitat supervisor at the Los Banos Wildlife Area. A world-famous duck hunting destination, the wetland habitat depends on $1.2 million a year in federal and state funding — supported by recreation taxes and license fees — to help maintain 6,200 acres.

    The federal funds are raised by excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and outdoor equipment under a 1937 U.S. law called the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. The law has provided more than $14 billion to states in the last eight decades.

    To be eligible for this federal funding, however, state wildlife areas must have their own revenue stream — earned primarily through the sale of hunting licenses and tags. When Allen submits a new proposal for wetlands conservation, for example, he has to show that he can come up with one-quarter of the project’s cost.

    Like many California wildlife officials, Allen is worried that diminished funding will further imperil the Golden State’s disappearing wetlands. There used to be 4 million acres of pristine wetlands in the Central Valley, but the state has now lost more than 95% of that land to development, according to the Central Valley Joint Venture, a nonprofit group that protects bird habitat.

    Increasing regulations on firearm and ammunition sales are also making it harder for hunters to practice their sport. Two new laws that took effect on July 1 — one requiring background checks for all ammunition sales, the other banning the use of lead bullets for hunting — have put conservation groups that support responsible hunting in a bind.

    The Ventana Wildlife Society in Big Sur went so far as to become a federally regulated ammunition distributor to continue giving out free non-lead ammo to ranchers in California Condor country who are having trouble acquiring it on their own.

    Many hunters say they understand that the new laws are aimed at helping protect people and wildlife, but they still feel targeted. “I feel that it’s incremental pressure on people purchasing ammunition and firearms,” Smith said.

    For Smith, all of the changes go beyond his sport. They also affect his lifestyle. Hunting “is just the circle of life,” he said. “It’s as natural as breathing.”

    Like many hunters of his generation, Smith tried to pass on the traditions associated with the sport to his three children, but they never seemed interested. That echoes the findings of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, whose research shows that outreach to youths is no longer an effective means of bringing people into the sport. Smith himself learned how to duck hunt from a mentor he met well into his adulthood.

    Over the past half-century, the number of hunting licenses sold annually in California has fallen 70% — from 764,000 in 1970 to 225,000 in 2019, even as the state’s population has doubled.     So to maintain wilderness areas, the state has been forced to raise the remaining hunters’ fees, pricing many of them out of the market.

  4. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Morning gang. I didn’t have anything important to say this morning until I read SD’s comment above about the hunting license in Kalifornia. Now just about anyone who is trying to sell something knows, you lower the price if you want to sell more items, not raise the price. The truth of that story is probably that there are the same numbers of hunters out there as normal, they just stopped buying licenses because they got too expensive. Amazing the way government thinks about stuff most of the time though.

    Now, in other news, I hear that Trump is proving to be a big hit in India. I remember when Modi came to Houston and Trump came down to visit, and they are apparently instant buddies. I’ve got no idea what the estimated population of India is, but I’ll bet it may be somewhere close to China’s.

    OK, for all you climate nuts, the temp out here this morning is comfortable, some high clouds, and looks like it will be warming nicely into the low 70’s or so. Don’t plant those maters yet though, it’s a trap. Happens every year, gets all nice and springy like, you get out and plant some stuff, and boom, late hard freeze gets it all. So just hold back a little longer, at least up here. Houston is probably OK to go ahead and plant.

    Now, you all go out and have a great day. More later as it develops.

  5. squawkbox Avatar
    squawkbox

    Even more worldwide lies

    The corona virus has done broke out in Iran.  Someone has to be blamed.

    Iran Cleric Blames Trump For Coronavirus Outbreak In Religious City

    The Friday Prayer Imam of the religious city of Qom, the epicenter of coronavirus outbreak in Iran, told his congregation Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump targeted the city with coronavirus “to damage its culture and honor”.

    (CIRCUMCISED)

    According to Saeedi, by targeting Qom Trump is fulfilling his promise of hitting Iranian cultural sites if Iranians took revenge for the U.S. killing of Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.

    Iran in total has been quarantined.  Iraq, Lebannon, Turkey, Israel, Libya , EVEN GAZA among others has banned travel form Iran into their countries.allowing

    Luke 21:11
    In the last days There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
    An aside:  With upticks of wars and rumors of wars etc in Bible prophecy happening with the increasing numbers of events all coming together at the same time……. We would do well to heed the words of the prophets.
  6. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I’ve been pushing hard this past week on work and the upcoming retreat/reception weekend that is too quickly arriving on my doorstep. Lack of proper sleep and “full adrenaline” mode is taking its toll. I started feeling funny the day after my 2:00 am work night, and despite trying to catch up on my sleep, I have failed not miserably, but certainly failed. We had a full day at church yesterday, and I returned home feeling…different. I stayed up ’til 1:00 a.m. working on my presentation for Saturday’s retreat; got it about 95% done, with just a few tweaks left.

    Woke up this morning to sinuses and ears feeling full. Things are starting to bud and bloom, and I have a feeling that the constant pressure has lowered my resistance a bit.

    So, starting on meds today, trying not to push so hard, and just trying to rest as much as I can, focus on the important stuff (unfortunately there’s a lot of that right now, so !help me!), and make sure I keep my prayer life focused.

    I don’t want to be sick, standing in front of a room of parents who already resent me for taking their Saturday, coughing and hacking. Heaven help me, I certainly don’t want a fever. No one else can take up this event. All of the other catechists are at the camp with the students.

    Y’all pray for me. I have to stay at least functionally well this week.

    Oh, and tomorrow is my last bacon day for a while. That’s another challenge on my list… 😉

  7. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    This is a real cool demonstration as to the relative energy densities of gasoline vs lithium batteries.
    The video is about 15 minutes long, but very informative.

    UPSHOT: Gasoline isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  8. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Morning, chickadees. We’re gearing up for pool replastering in the HOA.  Once we get past today, it’s predicted to be dry the rest of the week.

     

  9. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    From yesterday;

    #131 Shannon

    I remember those. Wonder if they’re still doing them.

    Them? Sudoku puzzles? In the HouChron?

    Yes, yes, yes.

    I think that I mentioned this before but one day I was checking out at the Super Save and the young 20, something gal, picked up a book of Sudoku puzzles, as I was leaving. I was impressed that a girl, this age, would find them challenging, she said it kept her brain sharp and that is what I like about this part of the country. Just about all of the cashiers and other workers in the stores are normal people, that just need a job. Very few dim bulbs to be found, unlike the Houston area.

  10. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    I never really got into the Sudoku puzzles but I was pretty good at them.
    Crosswords, on the other hand, I was an Ace, I could whip out a Friday, NY Times crossword in no time at all. Isaac Asimov was the greatest crossword composer of all time. He said that the crossword answers are easy, the questions were hard, that is to come up with a question that isn’t common to the answer. Do you know how many questions I’ve seen for Erie? Several hundred, I’m sure, oh an any two or three random letters is a river, somewhere. 😉

  11. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    The 328 American patients who had been quarantined onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan flew home on Feb. 18. Amongst them were 14 people who were known to be infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus. More hadn’t been diagnosed yet.

    The patients tested positive after the arrangements for their repatriation had been made as part of the group. That prompted a heated debate between the State Department, wanting to go ahead with the repatriation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommended against it. The State Department got its way.

    Reportedly, Donald Trump had not been informed that the protocol would be respected and people evacuated despite testing positive, and was furious that such a decision was made. The US president has never made a secret of being a germaphobe.

    A pair of Kalitta Air 747-400ERF freighters carrying hundreds of U.S. citizens home from Japan after weeks of being quarantined on-board the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where 454 passengers contracted the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, have arrived at two American military bases. Pictures from the operation show that at least one of the aircraft was carrying a specialized shipping container-sized bio-containment system to isolate individuals diagnosed with the virus from non-infected passengers and crew. The late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen helped develop this system after the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

    The two aircraft left Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at 7:05 AM local time on Feb. 17, 2020. Due to crossing the International Date Line, the first of these planes touched down at Travis Air Force Base in California at just shy of 11:30 PM local time on Feb. 16. The second 747 arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas at 3:56 AM local time on Feb. 17.

    They were going to send all these people who had not been diagnosed so far to Alabama.  Then that was suddenly changed when Super Dave started organizing a local militia to stop it.

     

  12. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    This sickly shade of green is definitely Bernie’s color!

  13. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    IMHO the Grey Dog aka Coyote Bus Lines must be smoking some really ‘good stuff’ !!

    Greyhound Announces It Will No Longer Allow Border Patrol Checks

    https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/22/greyhound-not-allowing-immigration-searches/

  14. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    What happens in the next two weeks is “critical,” asserted Borgerson.
    “We’re looking at this purely from the lens of the maritime perspective,” he said. “Shipping moves 90% of the planet’s trade, and while China is not literally an island, its economy is figuratively one because it imports nearly all of its raw materials and exports nearly all of its finished goods by sea. So, the lens we apply is very much a leading indicator for Chinese industry activity and productivity.”
    Pressure on the global trade network could be alleviated if “China gets people moving around and factories open up, supply chains can deal with the inventories that are building up, and all the ships that are sailing there can discharge,” he said.
    If not, warned Borgerson, “then we’re in uncharted territory.”

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-pandemic-is-coming-coronavirus/

  15. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    The grittier side of the whole transgender madness.

    HEADLINE: ‘It Destroyed My Body’: Here’s Why This Former Trans Woman Regrets His Gender Transition

  16. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    Is that a commie swoop or a combover?

    Every time he speaks all I see and hear is bologna belches and bologna spittle dripping from his hammer and sickle lips.

  17. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    Greyhound management is a bit naive. Try telling the Border Patrol they can’t get on the bus at the Sarita, or any other, checkpoint. Everyone and everything will be taken off the bus and inspected.

  18. Katfish Avatar
    Katfish

    #17 – No kidding – my point exactly!

    CBP folks are not to be ‘messed with’………..they can dismantle your car or truck down to the bare frame then YOU get to put it back together.

  19. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    The point being made in the article I read was that CBP was checking buses that had not been at or near the border and at locations far away from the border without a warrant or probable cause.

    I’m leaning toward disallowing such searches. Should they be able to run roadblocks in Nebraska to stop The Dog and check for illegals? Wichita? OKC? Dallas? Austin? Uvalde? Where & where not?

  20. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    Interesting bit about how the Juice saved many American lives during our misadventures in IndoChina.

  21. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    9 SD
    Yesterday, I was commenting on mharper’s coffee mug, which she linked in the same comment. These mugs with faces and numerous knock-offs were widely available in Austin over the years.

    As for puzzles, crosswords, board games, and cards I have never been a fan. I did play 42 for a few years but got really bored with it. Like cards, it all comes down to what you are dealt. Yes, you can still win with a mediocre hand if you’re playing against less expert players, but I find no joy in it.
    As for sudoku, I made it as far as the instructions and thought, “Really? You’re kidding me, right?”

    Give me a good book or film instead.

    Or music, of course. 🙂

  22. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    If y’all know Fishie, well, she posted this amazing FIND over yonder. I think the most bizarre map in the collection is “The Most Efficient Road Trip Through Every Springfield In The Country”.

    https://www.ranker.com/list/whoa-usa-maps/jtdesaulnier

  23. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #22 M42: That right there is an interesting collection. I like the ones that separate D voting counties or preferably precincts from R on a nationwide basis.
    These will frequently come out after an election, the one for this years election should be very interesting.

  24. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #21

    Shannon, I don’t think I knew you had been in or lived in Austin. But regarding the Old Man Face coffee mug, I have never seen another hand-crafted mug that resembled it. I know, and have just now seen fresh google evidence that there is still a market for funnier looking face mugs under the name Mahon Made Stoneware. They have an “mms” insignia that looks to be painted on the bottom. The only sign on my mug seems to be a pressed-in design. Could be an R. But I wasn’t seeing those at antique stores in the 1970s.

  25. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I lived in Austin in the late 70’s.

    My father and step mother lived there for many years.

  26. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Katfish and I lived off Braker Lane.
    Wife 2.0 and I lived in Oak Hill while she was finishing up at UT.

  27. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    Or is the coronavirus the Deep State’s plan to crash the market?

    I read today the Rush was talking about this.

    Ahead of the curve again.

  28. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    I sneezed a few minutes ago. I think I gave myself a back adjustment in the process.

  29. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    She and I lived part time at the Broken Spoke. Most often to see this guy:

    https://youtu.be/N-9jy553zzY

  30. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Wasn’t there a Broken Spoke eatery way out south of town on whatever highway S Lamar became? In today’s map check, I see a Broken Spoke in town on S. Lamar… And it’s not that Austin grew way further out in the intervening decades, this BS is almost as close in as I lived at one time…

     

  31. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Since I only get Roku TV, I am always on the lookout for interesting stuff on the You Tube (free version) channel. I ran across a bunch of 1950’s infomercials for airline companies – luxurious trips to Hawaii, cross country from NY to LA non-stop in less than 9 hours, the Carribean, etc. One of the fascinating things was showing the people going to the airport on the roof of the passenger areas just watching the plane take off and land. When I first came to Houston from SS in about 1964, I went to Hobby a few times with friends to watch the airplanes from the roof top – occasionally there were some large jets (B707) and that was really something to see. Guess nobody does that any more.

  32. El Gordo Avatar
    El Gordo

    Along that same vein, while at Rice we jetted to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies. We went up on a Wednesday (I think) since they had this new fangled astroturf field, and the coaches wanted us to be acclimated to it since we had not seen that down here. It rained the entire time we were there, and the whole campus was nothing but a mudhole, except for the football field. We played late Saturday (west coast time) and returned on Sunday. We made a fuel stop in Kansas on the return trip, and the crowd at the airport watching the airplanes was almost as big as the football game crowd (not really, but everyone in town seemed to be out watching airplanes on a Sunday afternoon). The other thing that impressed me was that we began our descent into Houston while we were over Wichita Falls, which to me seemed to be a long ways out back then.

    PS – that may have been the first ever airplane ride for many of us, much less in a jet.

  33. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    People that have dirt on the totalitariancrats always seem to end up Rkancided and/or now Kenyancided. This dude even said if he ever ended up dead it wasn’t going to be by suicide.

    I hope that Attorney General William Barr constitutes a team of special investigators from the federal law enforcement bureaucracy under his command to conduct an exhaustive, independent investigation of the circumstances of Phil’s death, given that Phil had exposed enormous treachery by the Obama administration to cripple our nation’s counterterrorism efforts.

    Like he did with Epstein?

    Pfffffffftttt!!

  34. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    But by gawd just wait until Durham’s report comes out, that’ll get em.

    He’s a pit bull they say!
    He’s like that Trey Gowdy windbag on steroids another shouts!!
    In the end it’ll be he’s full of sh!! just like Bill Van winkle Barr Sessions!!!

  35. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    8mm footage of February 1958 Barton Springs flood, Austin, TX

    https://youtu.be/CpReZFRgMnI

  36. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Mharper

    The Spoke has been on South Lamar since it opened in 1964.

    Local groups started performing at the Spoke as early as 1964. White was later able to book more well-known acts, including Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Roy Acuff, Tex Ritter, Ray Price, Floyd Tillman, and Ernest Tubb. In the 1970s, he booked the “outlaw” bands that had gained notoriety by rebelling against Nashville’s more mainstream sound. Leading this brigade were Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. Such Texas favorites as the Dixie Chicks and George Strait also played the Broken Spoke when they were just starting out. Although these superstars moved on, other well-loved performers such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P. Nunn continued to play the Broken Spoke in the third millennium. Local favorites included the Geezinslaw Brothers, Chris Wall, Dale Watson, the Derailers, and Alvin Crow.

    Texas State Historical Association:
    https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xdb03

    Website:
    https://www.brokenspokeaustintx.net/

  37. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    I can just hear it now.

    After a thorough investigation Bill Barr just announced that because of another perfect storm of blunders and coincidences Philip Haney accidentally shot himself because he placed his gun on the car’s dashboard and that the air bag deployed when he hit a large chug hole causing his gun to go off and shoot him in the chest.

    Witnesses report that there are no chugs holes on that stretch of road but the report stands and the case is closed.

  38. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    #19 From the linked AP story that started the link posted here.

    “When transportation checks occur on a bus at non-checkpoint locations, the agent must demonstrate that he or she gained access to the bus with the consent of the company’s owner or one of the company’s employees,” the memo states. An agent’s actions while on the bus “would not cause a reasonable person to believe that he or she is unable to terminate the encounter with the agent.”

    From the linked article.

    SEATTLE (AP) — Greyhound, the nation’s largest bus company, said Friday it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks.
    The company’s announcement came one week after The Associated Press reported on a leaked Border Patrol memo confirming that agents can’t board private buses without the consent of the bus company. Greyhound had previously insisted that even though it didn’t like the immigration checks, it had no choice under federal law but to allow them.
    In an emailed statement, the company said it would notify the Department of Homeland Security that it does not consent to unwarranted searches on its buses or in areas of terminals that are not open to the public — such as company offices or any areas a person needs a ticket to access.
    Greyhound said it would provide its drivers and bus station employees updated training regarding the new policy, and that it would place stickers on all its buses clearly stating that it does not consent to the searches.

    So far, I think this is a false narrative for Greyhound’s image. Driver, you can’t be searched where they can’t search without a warrant anyway. No incidents of non border searches or trespassing are cited. Cell phone video is claimed but not provided. Just that they happened. If searches of buses and business are being done without warrants on private property, including the bus, I agree that needs to stop.

  39. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #36

    Yabbut has it always been in the same location? 3201 S Lamar Blvd is only a few blocks farther south than Barton Skyway, my turnoff to where I lived when I was frequenting a place that I thought was named the Broken Spoke. I also thought it was just a place to eat, sorta out in the county a ways. Maybe I am misremembering the name. Although I remember Hill’s Cafe and Flap Jack Canyon where I also ate out when I lived in South Austin. That was about 1975-1980.

  40. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    The Spoke has never moved. I suppose it would be very easy for someone to eat there during the day and not be aware of the dance hall, through the double doors on the back wall. The restaurant area up front is actually pretty small.

    I could draw you a diagram of every corner of the place.

  41. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    As far as it being out it in the country, in 1976 there wasn’t much of anything between the Spoke and Oak Hill. 290/71 was a two lane road with an occasional left turn lane, back then.

  42. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    39 mharper42

    There has only been one, ever, Broken Spoke dance hall and cafe in Austin, Texas.  It has always been located at 3201 South Lamar Blvd.

    If you are thinking of anything else, it’s not the Broken Spoke.  I used to eat there every Sunday evening with my auction crew for years during the 1970s and have been there many, many times since.

  43. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    It’s been 20 years since I drove out South Lamar in Austin and I just looked at the Google Street View.

    Damn, I am shocked.

  44. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Haven’t been there in a few years, but I’d bet the same dirt on the ceiling in the dancehall is still there.

  45. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    44 Shannon

    But they paved the parking lot with asphalt !

    On a windy night it was like a West Texas dust storm trying to get into the front door in the old days.  It’ll never be the same and the food won’t taste as good without a little limestone dust to season it.

    And South Lamar Blvd. has concrete curbs just like the big city. Dang.

  46. Tedtam Avatar
    Tedtam

    El G

    I went to Hobby a few times with friends to watch the airplanes from the roof top – occasionally there were some large jets (B707) and that was really something to see. Guess nobody does that any more.

    There is a dedicated plane watching area on the southeast side of the airport. I think it doubles as a meeting spot for things I don’t want to think about. I’ve seen cars there at all hours.

    When Handsome was young, I took him to the airport to encourage him to talk. He loved the “airpays”. As he saw one coming, he’d point to it excitedly and shout “ISHT! ISHT!” That was his way of saying “There it is!”

    I had to learn to decode his jargon. I loved those moments with him:
    Me: “Airplane!”
    Him: “Airpay!”
    Me: “I love you.”
    Him: “Wuff oo.”

    I’ll never get those sweet moments back.

  47. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Fay’s sister informed her that Fay’s oldest cow bred back, finally. This will be her 14th and final calf.

  48. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    47 Shannon

    That old gal deserves some kind of medal.

  49. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    There was the Big Wheel and Convict Hill restaurants in Oak Hill back then, now long gone.

  50. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Rod Dreher at the American Conservative writes:

    Last night, I received an update from the American doctor who has been writing in about the coronavirus situation. His wife is from China, and is plugged in to Chinese media and social media. What he wrote last night is extremely frightening. I post it here with the obvious caveat that I can’t confirm any of this, and that you should take it as a comment, not as gospel truth. I know who this doctor is, and have been corresponding with him. I brought another physician, in another part of the country, into our conversation, and this second physician tells me he definitely believes the Doctor is onto something.

    Here is part of the American physician’s email to Dreher…

    First of all my wife’s family.

    Her father has still not been heard of — now approaching a month. No words can express my wife’s grieving. I am running out of ways to help her cope.

    Her brother and his family are still in their upper floor apartment in a major metro area — not Wuhan. The martial law and lockdown continue. They have not left their apartment in about 3 weeks. Food is delivered to them twice a week. There is no end in sight at this time. The family immediately across the hall was forcibly removed about 3 days ago because one of them was sick. My wife is concerned about their mental health – but so far they are staying healthy.

    Her mother remains under in home quarantine in her apartment in a small city on the Western frontier. She seems to be fully recovered. She is eating rice that she has had piled up in her apartment for just such a reason – and refuses to eat any food that is brought to her door. This city is in the middle of a vast agricultural area. Hogs, cows and chickens are a staple of their economy. My mother-in-law has told us that the “death stench” has permeated her city the past week or so and getting worse daily. She cannot even open her windows. Why? No one is going to work – and no one is taking care of the livestock. No shipments of grain are coming in for the animals — and throughout the land the animals are starving in the pastures. The bodies by the hundreds of thousands are just laying in the sun and rotting. All this while the industrialized part of China is beginning to have severe food shortages. Something in my doctor brain is telling me that having millions of people so close to rotting animals cannot be good. What could possibly go wrong?

    All I can say is I hope Phil doesn’t read this.

    Oh, and now, get this new news…

    And about the locusts. This is becoming an ever more important part of my wife’s Mandarin news feed every day. Vast clouds of locusts made it to Xinjiang (the furthest west Chinese province) last week. The videos are amazing. The Mandarin news is showing the government deployment of these gigantic fire throwers that lay waste to not only the locusts but all the land in the path of the fire. Huge bursts of fire blow out from them and they truly look like something that would be appropriate to accompany the Four Horsemen. Today we learned that the locusts have now arrived very close to the western border of Gansu province. Gansu is part of the ancient Chinese homeland and is a huge producer of wheat and rice. If this swarm gets started up, it will be a huge blow to China and their psyche. The CCP has now ordered that every live chicken in China is to be immediately dispatched to the western border, where they will be released to eat the locusts. To everyone who thinks this is not a huge problem — think about the decision being made. Take away eggs and meat for the people who are already angry — to stop the locusts. The CCP must have data that this locust swarm is going to become a disaster unless stopped immediately, no matter what the cost.

    For the last month the entire Sahel region, between the Sahara Desert and sub-Saharan Africa, a major area of agricultural  crop production has been under siege by locusts of Biblical immensity. Observers have been watching closely to see if this would spread to other parts of the eastern hemisphere.

  51. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Oh, just in case you didn’t have enough to think about.

    Tens of thousands of frogs have appeared on suburban roads in Wuhan and Nanjing, prompting fears among residents that they could be signalling an imminent earthquake.

    However, earthquake authorities in both cities say that massed ranks of the amphibians do not herald quakes. A resident in the town of Dunkou in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, found the road in front of her home covered with thousands of tiny brown frogs, each about the length of a thumbnail, on Monday morning.

    ‘They are packed so densely that it’s easy for people to stamp on them, leaving a horrific situation,’ she told the Wuhan Evening News.

    She said she had to use a broom to drive away some frogs trying to enter her house. Other villagers said the frogs began to gather on the road on Sunday night and many had been squashed by cars.

  52. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    49 Shannon

    I loved the Big Wheel in Oak Hill on 290.  They had a big breakfast of fried eggs covered with their homemade chili plus fresh grated hash browns and superb biscuits.  I’ll never forget it.

  53. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    By the way, the Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System decided to not move to fancy digs in downtown Austin and pay $326,000 a month in rent.

    https://texasscorecard.com/state/teacher-retirement-system-staying-put-will-not-pay-monthly-rent-of-326k/

  54. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    Tens of thousands of frogs have appeared on suburban roads in Wuhan and Nanjing,

    Get Ready!

  55. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    they’re coming 

  56. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    Only a matter of time.

  57. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    #52
    Maybe it was the Big Wheel I am remembering. Did it have a huge wooden wagon wheel adorning the front of the place? Most of the places I went out to eat were all-night cafe-style eateries. Places where you could get bacon and eggs at midnight.

     

  58. pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns Avatar
    pRogRessiVes-R-toTaLiTaRiAns

    Only a matter of time II.

  59. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Scroll down for photo of Big Wheel Restaurant sign.

    https://mixerrreviews.blogspot.com/2019/10/history-of-big-wheel-truck-stop.html?m=1

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