Articles for December 12th, 2012
Electric Deregulation Has Cost Texans $10.4 Billion
Source: Texas Coalition for Affordable Power
Despite the soothing, pachouli-scented tones of Matthew McConaughey’s voice reminding all of us that Reliant is “totally alright, brother,” electricity deregulation may not have been that great for Texas consumers. The Texas Coalition For Affordable Power found that Texans have paid an extra $10.4 billion for electricity under deregulation. That’s mostly due to a run-up in electric rates between 2005 and 2008, when natural gas prices skyrocketed, the Texas Observer reports.
While the number – $10.4 billion! — is jarring, TCAP reports that, percentage-wise, Texas is fairly middle-of-the-pack. The 48 percent leap since 1999 trails the nation’s largest jump – Michigan – by 12 percent.
For the masochists in the bunch, there’s a 100-page report to parse through after the jump.
If You Want to Learn About North Dallas But Are Too Lazy to Read, This Video Is For You
This is literally a nine-minute video, posted Dec. 6, of a computer reading the “North Dallas” Wikipedia page. I don’t understand why it exists, but the YouTube user who posted it – WikiPlays – has made 117,749 other similar videos, so there’s obviously some sort of market. Is it for blind people? Lazy people? Bored people?
Recent other videos include a spellbinding “Nemom Railway Station” reading, a tearjerking interpretation of the “Raising of Lazarus,” and a 10-minute piece about “secrecy,” which sort-of goes against the whole idea of secrecy. Have a computer read you your favorite Wikipedia page here.
Texas A&M Fan Plans Childbirth for 12-12-12, Takes ‘Twelfth Man’ Thing Way Too Far
Photo: Medical City Dallas
Email from Medical City Dallas:
“Beth Evans is delivering her son, Palmer Chad Evans, today. She was due on December 13, but asked her obstetrician to deliver on Dec. 12, to enjoy the good luck of the day and connection with their favorite team, the Aggies. The whole family is made up of passionate Aggies, and they are excited to welcome their ‘twelfth man’ on 12-12-12. They have all dressed in Aggie shirts for the occasion, including the new baby’s two sisters.”
This is….disturbing? Passionate? Ludicrous? Exciting? I don’t know I’m so confused someone please help me. Follow-up:
“Beth is in labor right now. We anticipate Palmer being ready for video and still photography at 4 p.m.. The Evans family has agreed to a short media availability at that time.”
Gig ‘em?
Take a Bow, Brandon Formby
I can’t remember the last time something in the Metro section made me laugh even once, so Brandon Formby deserves a standing ovation for inspiring three guffaws with today’s story headlined “Price refers to Dickey as ‘Honey Boo Boo.’ ”
Granted, when you’ve got the long-running battle between County Commissioners John Wiley Price and Maurine Dickey to work with, you’ve got a head start on writing something funny. But Formby knocks it out of the park with this passage:
Price was referring to the nickname of a child named Alana who stars in the breakout reality TV show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The girl lives in rural Georgia and competes in beauty pageants in between belly-flopping in mud puddles and playing with a pig named Glitzy.
If Dickey knows any of Alana’s viral sound bites – “You better redneckognize,” “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with bein’ a little gay,” “My special juice is gonna help me win” – she didn’t respond with any.
The giggles don’t stop there. But, unfortunately for Formby, Dickey’s tenure on the commissioners court ends this month.
Police Catch Handcuffed Man Who Stole Cop Car
The headline doesn’t really do this story justice. What happened:
- dude gets arrested by White Settlement police
- dude gets handcuffed, thrown in back of cop car
- dude somehow slides handcuffed hands in front of his body, rolls down window, opens door
- dude opens front door of cop car
- dude drives away
There’s no better nickname for this guy than “dude” because can you really imagine any other response when he tells his friends what he did than “duuuuuuuddddddddee?”
Ghosts of Dallas: LBJ at the Hall of State, 1961
“Vice President Lyndon Johnson speaking in front of the Hall of State at Fair Park at a ceremony to honor the Texas 49th Armored Division,” Oct. 17, 1961.
Share your own Ghosts of Dallas.
Pudge, Nolan Ryan Named to ESPN’s ‘Hall of 100’
Nolan Ryan helps a young child/does the bare minimum to keep this child happy. Photo: Nick Gray
ESPN’s currently in the midst of one of their click-hungry “Best of” lists, this time focused on the “Hall of 100,” a ranking of the top 100 baseball players of all time. (There’s also a 25-man honorable mention list, to show you just how click-rabid the editors were.)
Notable Rangers in the mix:
Ivan Rodriguez (71)
Began his career with Texas at the age of 19. He was a 14-time All-Star and a 13-time Gold Glove winner. Played 21 seasons in the majors and finished with a 46 percent caught-stealing rate.
“Pudge” played parts of 13 seasons with the Rangers but won a World Series while a member of the 2003 Marlins.
Nolan Ryan (35)
The Ryan Express fastball made him baseball’s all-time record-holder in strikeouts (5,714) and no-hitters (seven). Ryan led his league in strikeouts 11 times on his way to 324 career wins.
Former player Dick Sharon once said, “He’s baseball’s exorcist, scares the devil out of you.”
Rafael Palmeiro came in at #108, (but everyone hates him, right?) and one-time Ranger Sammy Sosa was #95 on the list. The top 25 players will be announced tomorrow.
A Few More Words About Tod Robberson and That Golf Course, Ctd.
DMN editorial writer Tod Robberson said he “went the extra mile” in examining development around a golf course in Atlanta (by way of showing that the proposed Trinity Forest Golf Course will do wonders for southern Dallas). If you want to know what going the extra mile really looks like, read sometime D Magazine contributor Patrick Kennedy’s analysis of what has taken place in Atlanta. Spoiler alert: the changes in Atlanta had precious little to do with the golf course there.
Did Glenn Beck Just Endorse Gay Marriage?
Maybe.
In a discussion with libertarian/magician Penn Jillette, Westlake resident Glenn Beck said:
“Let me take the pro-gay marriage people and the religious people – I believe that there is a connecting dot there that nobody is looking at, and that’s the Constitution…The question is not whether gay people should be married or not. The question is ‘Why is the government involved in our marriage?’”
From an accompanying note on his website:
Glenn agreed with Penn, noting that gay marriage does not “pick my pocket nor break my leg” and he doesn’t feel like the government needed to be involved. He said that as long as the government doesn’t come into his church and say he or his church (or any church) need to change their belief system and their practices, he doesn’t care. But right now, people of faith who may not want gay marriage in their church are being shut out of the conversation by activists and progressives.
The difference between endorsing same-sex marriage from a libertarian sense and endorsing it from a religious sense could take up more bandwidth than we have. And the Venn diagram of fiscal conservatives and social conservatives overlaps enough that the point may be moot. Still, it’s heartening to see a prominent conservative take such a public approach to a typically liberal stance. An Yglesias Award for Beck.
But wait, says Rod Dreher for the American Conservative:
Dallas City Council Approves Golf Course Go-Ahead
The Dallas City Council green-lighted continued negotiations with AT&T and SMU for the proposed Trinity Forest Golf Course today, so city manager Mary Suhm will now take the baton and run, presumably, to the corner of Loop 12 and Pemberton Hill Road and start shoveling.
The full agenda item and packet are Addendum #21 right here. With regard for your time, brainpower, and willingness to keep reading about this damn thing, I’ll stop (but you should read Tim’s latest missive, first).
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Dec. 12
You can catch the big 12/12/12 Hurricane Sandy relief concert broadcast simultaneous on the big screen at the Cinemark 17 at Webb Chapel. Or on your TV.
Happy tri-numeral date day, everyone. This won’t happen again for a whole century.
To pay tribute to the momentous occasion, Circuit12 Gallery in the Design District is throwing a party for the superstitious and skeptical alike (I’d never heard anything about the number ’12′ being lucky or “balanced” until the Google search I just did). Regardless, there will be music, art, food, and drink. Keeping on with the “12” theme, DJs JT Donaldson, A1, and Tyrone Smiley will all spin from 12” vinyl records. Admission is obviously $12, which gets your complimentary cocktails, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages. Start or finish off your night with a beer at Meddlesome Moth.
Also tonight, Stoney’s Wine Lounge hosts a Holiday Sing-along and Ugly Sweater party inside their wine shop-turned-cozy drinking den–not surprising, considering that the owners, Diane and TK Savage, are quite the musical duo. Whether you can carry a tune or not, all are welcome for a cup of cheer and some laughs. Tommy DeSalvo plays the piano. And forgive me, but anytime I hear the words “holiday singalong,” I think of this scene from You’ve Got Mail. Frank. So awful.
For more to do with your 12/12/12 evening, go here.
‘Big Tex’ Tops Dallas’ Google Searches in 2012
Kick around on Google Zeitgeist for a bit, and you’ll find some interesting nuggets. For instance: the fifth-most searched recipe in the United States was for something called “slutty brownies.” A thin, sultry strip of coconut down the middle? Or just brownies that everyone can enjoy? I don’t know.
Anyway, the list of Dallas’ top searches just slid across my desk:
1. Big Tex
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Dallas Craigslist
4. Texas Rangers
5. Black Friday
6. Presidential Polls
7. Southern Methodist University
8. Dallas Mavericks
9. Studio Movie Grill
10. North Texas Tollway Authority
These all make sense to me, except for one. Do people really love eating food while watching movies so much that it nearly catapulted the term ahead of a team coming off an NBA championship?
Also: the poor Stars. Poor, poor Stars.
A Few More Words About Tod Robberson and That Golf Course
Must. Not. Lose temper. No more scurrilous attacks on Tob Robberson. Because then his bosses will be forced to come to his defense, and I don’t want to fight a war on three fronts. Oh, man, that last sentence veered toward personal territory. Must. Stay. On track. Just the facts:
Yesterday Tod Robberson wrote something that struck me as strange for a few reasons. The gist of his post was that the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta shows us what will happen when the golf course is built in southern Dallas (the City Council is expected to vote on it today). Robberson wrote that Mayor Mike Rawlings encouraged him to have a look at how East Lake spurred development. Then Robberson wrote this:
I didn’t have any reason to disbelieve the mayor. But today, I decided to go the extra mile. I did a 20-year U.S. Census comparison of a one-mile radius surrounding East Lake, just to see what results it would yield.
It seems strange to me that a journalist would say he has no reason to disbelieve a city official, because journalists are supposed to be professional skeptics. Even if you’re predisposed to agree with a city official (for ideological reasons or because you’ve dealt with the official in the past and he has shown himself to be trustworthy), you’re still supposed to let doubt have its day. Ask the question that the official’s opponents would ask. Do some fact checking. And when you do that work, don’t pat yourself on the back for “going the extra mile.”
Decatur Rodeo Cowboy Closes in on Title Record
Decatur’s Trevor Brazile took home his 17th world title Tuesday at the National Finals Rodeo, and is lined up to take home his 18th – and record tying – today. I do not know what any of that means, so I’ll let Sports Illustrated take it from here:
Brazile also is trying to become the first cowboy to win multiple world championships in four categories. He has 10 all-around titles, three in tie-down roping, three in steer roping and one in tie-down roping.
“It’s just such a relief,” Brazile said about winning the all-around title. “As much as I try not to let it affect anything, it kind of just releases me to go try to do whatever it takes to win the team roping and just concentrate on that title. That is the immediate thing that I think about. And as far as the long-term stuff, 10 world titles is more than I ever could have dreamed of. It’s awesome.”
Brazile pushed his all-around total to $298,626.
In other words, kids, you can make $300,000 a year cowboying if you eat right, pay attention in school, and can rope a calf while riding a horse. Maybe start your training by watching that video above.
Jenna Bush Hager Is Pregnant
I was going to say something snarky about Grandpa George, but you know what? He’ll probably make a pretty fantastic grandfather. Throw a kid on the knee, have a nice afternoon.
Still:
“I just have a cat, to my parents’ dismay,” Bush Hager told People magazine last year. “My dad saw my husband’s boss at a conference, and he said to stop paying my husband until we produce children.”
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