Pictures, Mr. K, please. Rest up and relax a little.

Nakia

Hi Mr. K,
How are you doing? Get any rest from your busy week?

Hokay, on another forum, no not that one a different one, someone callling himself a conservative make a rather controversial post/poll. I would love to hear what an intelligent, educated real Conservative thinks about the post. If you are interested PM me and I will give you a link to the thread. Just don't don't mention the poster's name or the name of the forum.

I have tried to message you a few times other than when we played together and you never seem to notice, whether i send it in game or through steam.
Good luck with your rest and anything else you may be doing.

Hi Tellsworth, Tethras, and Calco!

I had a lot of fun playing with your Tellsworth Player. I usually don't notice the Steam thing blinking, or the PS2 [!] thing blinking ether, It usually takes me a wile to see it. I may have to pass out my Phone number.

So don't give up on playing with me, or talking in Steam Chat.

Today Steam is Up-Dating, and it looks to be stuck. It acts like it is up-dating, or looking for an up-date, but it's stuck. So I will try later to get Steam running.

And yes, I did do more today, I mowed the lawn. There is a lot more to do in getting the backyard organized and everything in it's place, and all my Bonsai trees pruned and some of them re-potted. I even need to photograph them, so I can show them to all my on-line Friends.

After all, Tomorrow is another day.

But for now, I must Rest, Sleep, watch an old Movie with my Lovely Wife.

Your Friend in Texas

Nakia the Rogue wrote:

Hi Mr. K,
How are you doing? Get any rest from your busy week?

Hokay, on another forum, no not that one a different one, someone callling himself a conservative make a rather controversial post/poll. I would love to hear what an intelligent, educated real Conservative thinks about the post. If you are interested PM me and I will give you a link to the thread. Just don't don't mention the poster's name or the name of the forum.

Allright. I consider myself intelligent and educated, but as to conservative/liberal, more in the middle I think. But I am interested. Curious AR.

Mr K, I can not find you on steam. I am analog_relic, so friend request me if you wish. Steaming AR

Analog_Relic i sent you a PM that should be a link to mr k's steam profile.
Oh and mr k if i send a message in game it should show up as blue in the chat. if i send a squad invite that will show up with the exclamation mark

Thank you Lndf117. Much appreciated. Gratefull AR.

Thanks Lndf, and Analog_Relic;

I was having a lot of Trouble with the Steam Up-Date yesterday, and I was out of Steam. After several attempts to fix it, and messing around, I remembered the oldest fix in all of Computing: Turn Off the Power and Restart. That cleared what ever was locking the Up-Dating process, and now I will go look for the Invite. [OK AR, I sent you a Steam Invitation.]

Yes I now about the in-game blue chat box, and the little box [!], but I sometimes don't notice it for a wile. And if you start a Steam Chat wile my Wife is on-line, she will ignore it.

AR, I and a lot of other Texans, think that Australia has a lot in common with Texas.

Your Friend in Texas

i just meant that the text chat shows the text in different colors based on what channel the chat is in, if it is a PM it will be blue, if it is a yell it will be red(with the name of the person the color of their faction(if i remember correctly)) and anyothers i forgot. I am well aware that your wife uses it sometimes, once i sent a message about skyrim and she replied for some reason despite not knowing the answer to the question.

Mr. K wrote:

AR, I and a lot of other Texans, think that Australia has a lot in common with Texas.

Your Friend in Texas

If you mean big, beautiful open country with stunning terrain from desert to alpine, and filled with big, open and friendly people. Yep, we got lots in common pardner. The few Texans I have met seemed nice enough. But I always thought that Texas was flat and dry. True or not? Curious AR.

Hi AR;

Texas is not nearly as big as Australia, or have as many interesting animals, but we do have a big variation in the climate. In East Texas it is wet and is covered with Farms and dense Forests. along the Upper Cost of Texas, where Houston is, it is a Sub-Tropical Climate. We get a lot of rain, anywhere from 35 to 60 inches of rain a year. We may get 2 or 3 days of freezing weather in the Winter, and maybe up to 20 or 30 days of over 100F, but some years none. We do get Tropical Storms and Hurricanes between May and November all along the Cost, down into Mexico. As you go West across Texas, the rain gets less and less, and out in West Texas, it is arid to Desert. In Central Texas, what we call the Hill Country, there is a large area of ancient up-lift that has worn down to some nice hills, with lots of rock outcrops. In the Northern part, what is called the Pan-Handle, it is dry and mostly ranches and grain, and a large Canyon, I have never gotten around to going to the Pan-Handle, someday. West of the Hill Country is a mostly flat region that is dry and mostly ranches and oil and gas. In far West Texas it is some desert areas, and some farming. In West Texas there are two regions of Mountains, not very tall, but we do have them. In South Texas, and along the Rio Grande River, is a lot of dry farming, and oil and gas. Lots of Citrus farms.

Scattered around all of Texas, there are a lot of oil and gas fields, in-fact I live on top of a very rich oil field, it was what Exxon got started with and it is still producing a lot of "Sweet Crude" oil today. This field is under pressure and it doesn't need to be pumped. Just so you know; the surface of the land is not the same as the underground, and the "Surface Rights" to the land is not normally owned by the same people that own the sub-surface "Mineral Rights". Exxon owns the Mineral Rights under my neighborhood. Most of Texas has Farms or Ranches on it, and all around the Houston area, there are ranches, oil fields and some small farms, along with all the economic producing businesses in the Houston area.

In the bigger cities, there are a lot of High-Tech companies, and My Wife works for one of the major contractors for NASA, and the Johnson Space Center (the Manned Spaceflight Center) is in this part of town, I drive by it all the time. My Neighborhood is between NASA, and a large Chemical processing and Oil Refining Industrial area, and it is full of Engineers of all kinds. The average education level in my Neighborhood is 4 Collage Degrees per household. My Wife has 3 and I have 1, and my oldest has one, and my youngest is working on getting 2. Many of the young people in the Clear Lake area, are very serious about their education. (Clear Lake is the name of this section of Houston.)

Did you know that all the Toyota Pick-up trucks are built in San Antonio Texas?

OK, now if you have Google Earth, open it. If you don't, get it now!
http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

OK, got it open? Be sure to look at the Menu bar, and select Photos. Good, now look up Texas, and zoom in, take a look around. Have a "Walk About" if you like. Use the Street View in any area that has it, and interests you. If you put 77059 into the search box, that is my Zip Code, or Postal Code, this area is Clear Lake City (part of Houston), and if you look around you will find NASA, and the Bay Port Chemical Area, and the rest of Houston. Not far to the SE, is Galveston Island. If you go to Monahans Sandhills State Park, Monahans, Texas, and zoom in, you can see some Sand Dunes out in West Texas. The tallest Mountain is Guadalupe Peak, at 8749ft (2666m), take a look.

I could go on all month about places in Texas, but this is a start.

Lots to look at, so take a self guided tour.

Your Friend in Texas

Hi Everybody!

Today my Wife and I went to see Kim & Casey in Huntsville, Katie drove in from Waco, so we had the whole Family all in one spot, at the same time. We went to a good BBQ restaurant, and I had Ribs, Yum! After that we went to a Book Store that is having a "Going Out of Business Sale". Than back to Kim's house, and visited for a wile, and then Katie went to a friends house in Houston. Katie will be here at our house tomorrow, so we will see her some more. After Katie left Kim's, we went to an Antique Shop a few blocks from her house. Lots of interesting stuff there. Casey made some very good Enchiladas, and I ate 2, but my Wife did not want to stay, she was thinking that they would eat it for left-overs tomorrow, or maybe it was the state of the kitchen, Kim and Casey are not the Clean-Freaks my Wife is. After we left we stopped at a good Tex-Mex Restaurant, and I wound up eating too much.

The real fun was on the way home, we had a blow-out on the back right tire of the Van. That by it self would not be a big deal, but where we where at the time was not in a good place. We had just gotten to a section of I-45 in Downtown Houston that is an elevated section, while driving about 65mph, the van made a weird noise, and started sounding like something was coming apart! It was too far to drive to an Exit, with the weird noise it was making. I stopped, on the shoulder, or the Emergency lane. I was out of the traffic, but I could not move more than about 1 foot out of the main lane, and there is a wall at the right side of the Van, with about a 20 Foot drop to the street below. The traffic was moving about 60mph. I don't know if you know how flexible a concrete bridge is, but with the cars and trucks zooming by, the whole thing was moving around. Exciting, but that is how the bridge is designed to work. With the lack of a safe amount of room, and with the bridge bouncing a little, and all the blasts of wind from the wakes of all the vehicles, I did not think it was safe enough to change the tire, so I stood next to the back of the van, and my Wife called 911, to get a wrecker to move us off the Freeway. The 911 Dispatcher told my Wife that it was not safe to be out of the Van in a place like that, and she would send Police to help. After an hour or so, My Wife called 911, and this time they said they would get a Wrecker sent out to us. Well it took about an hour and a half for a wrecker to get there, and he did not think it was safe for me to change the tire ether. He has the kind of truck that hook on to one end of a vehicle, and leaves the other end on the ground, but to use his truck, we would have to turn around and hook-up to the rear of the van, and make a U-turn in the Freeway, and that would take at least 3 or 4 Police cars, to block all 3 lanes of I-45 Freeway, and that was not going to happen, so he called another driver with the kind of Wrecker that has the big flat-bed, that picks up the vehicle, to get all 4 wheels off the ground. He was very nice, and told me to get in the van and buckle my seat-belt, and he waited for a wile to make sure we where safe, and he brought us a sheet of info about the service, and told us about the prices for towing, so we would know how much we would have to pay the Wrecker Driver that would come in a little wile. I asked how long it would take for the other Driver to get there, and he said "I don't know. It's Saturday Night, and everybody's Busy." In a few minuets, he left, and in a few more, the other Truck got there. His truck was wider than the 1st truck, and a lot wider than the van, we had to squeeze between the Truck and the Wall, to get in the cab of the truck wile he did his thing with the tilting flat-bed of the truck, and in 2 or 3 minuets, it was ready to go. For $50 Bucks he could drive us to a Gas-Station about 2 miles away, that was as close as he could drop the van off the Freeway, and in a safe place. It was a nice, and well lit Exxon Gas Station, and wile he and my Wife worked on paper work and paying him. I started working on changing the tire, and by the time they where done, I had the spare tire on the van, and about to add a lot of air to it with my air pump. Wile the pump was running, we visited with the nice Wrecker Driver, looked at the shredded tire, and he left just before we did. We drove home on the spare, the little kind, and Monday I will take it to the tire dealer where I got it. I expect to get some money back under the warranty, for a new tire. As long as the wheel was not damaged, I will just have to buy a tire, so no great expense.

The moral of this story is; Always have a spare tire, and a tire pump, and be polite to anybody that helps you, and know when it is not safe to do something, even if you know you can do it, but something at the time or place makes it dangerous. A general rule to have in times like this; When the weird, or odd thing happens, and you must do something right now, don't panic, think, and decide what you need to do, and do it.

Your Friend in Texas

Well sounds like you had an interesting day.

Mr. K, you do have an interesting life.

Nakia

That's what I would call a full day. It reminds me of once when we had a kitchen to install in Dublin. The van was fully loaded and we had driven 3 hours or so and just reached the outskirts of the city. We were on a main road (three lanes each way and a light railway line, the Luas I think, in the middle and us alongside it. When the lights changed, couldn't get into gear (the change linkage had broken). I had to jump out, very tentatively I might add, and push the van. At the next light change we grabbed the opportunity to cross all the lanes in one swoop to get to a driveway and safety.

Yes it was an interesting day.

Below the spot I was standing on the elevated Freeway, was a group of street people, some of them where playing Craps. Different World, so close to home.

Your Friend in Texas

Hi Wet;

It has been a long time since I had to push a car, but I have a few times.

I wish I had thought to use my phone and get a quick video of standing on the edge of the Freeway. Maybe I should go back tonight to the same spot and stop on the edge of the Freeway, to video the Traffic zipping buy...
No, maybe not.

Your Friend in Texas

Link to an image of this spot from Google Maps:
http://goo.gl/maps/vFZgk
If you follow the roadway around to where it gets to the ground with a little more room, you can see how far it is from this spot.

Hi Everybody;

It looks like all my spare time is used in playing Planet Side 2, and posting Political replies in Nakia's Blog thingy. I really don't like Politics, I know about it, and I have studied it for many years, but I still don't like it.

Basically: Politics is how a group of people, or a Nation of People, control or Govern themselves. The key here is Themselves, All Political Power comes from the People Governed, and any time a People forget, or have never understood this fact, they will very easily fall under the control of somebody that says "We have a Problem, and I am the only person that can fix it." Or someone that is willing to just walk in and take over from who ever is in control before, by any means available.

The smallest Political unit is the Family. Traditionally in most Cultures, the leader of the Family is the oldest Male. That was good for maybe 2 or 3 hundred thousand years. In the last 5 or 6 thousand years, the large number of people living in any one area, would need a little more organization than just what you get with an Extended Family, or Clan. That was the founding of Modern Politics. Most people had to do what the Leader said was needed to be done, or they had to find a way to convince the leader to do something different. Or of course, they could find a way to take control from the Leader. Kill the Leader, or convince enough other people to follow you instead of the current leader. This need to get support from others is the start of the concept of Voting to make decisions for the group as a whole. Most people in Ancient Times, just like today, don't have the time, or curiosity to be able to follow all the ends-and-outs of how the decisions are made, and leave the decisions to who ever is in Charge. Hints of Democracy are found in Ancient Greece, and Rome, but that was not Democracy, that was an Oligarchy, few people in an Ancient Democracy actually had a Vote. But the Idea was born, and with a lot of development over the last 900 years, or so, we come to a real Republic, where we have Elections for Representatives that are a relativity small number of people.

If you want to get a feel for how Political decisions are made, go to the local University, and find the Debate Club, and get involved with them to see what their training is, and how they work to Win a Debate. One of the common things a Debate Team will do is pick a topic, that no one on the Team agrees with and try to debate from the viewpoint that they don't actually agree with. This is a good way for them to learn how to debate a weak point, and win. This tool, that is used by Politicians, is like having a Loaded Gun in your pocket, it will make you bolder than you should be in your argument. Ever hear the phrase "Stick to your Guns"? It is much like the phrase "Don't confuse the issue with Facts".

OK, so don't bring me any Politics here in my Blog, I hate that! Politics, and Politicians generally make me mad. I am a Fiscal Conservative, and a Constitutionalists. And who do I have to Vote for? Usually a Big Government Republican for President, one like Romney that will give in to over spending. But even the biggest Big Government Republican is more of a Fiscal Conservative than any Liberal. Look at JFK, that was a Liberal that I could live with, he would get mad at his fellow Democrats of today, for not working with the opponents, and spending the Country into a Black Hole of Debt.
Who will Lead us out of this Quagmire?
Where is a Real Leader that can actually get Elected?
Who? What Presidential Candidates?
Ron Paul? No, he is too easily called a Crazy Man, and his viewpoint is incomplete. He doesn't have the Voice, or Look of a strong leader.
Paul Ryan? No, his view is good, but it is not something we can convince 51% of the Voting Population to Vote for. He looks better, and he has a better Voice, but it's not good enough.
Rick Perry? No, he is a converted Democrat, and only has a weak understanding of the Fiscal Conservative Viewpoint. He is a Texan, so that is good, and he looks right, but it's not enough.
Michele Bachmann? Maybe, but she is in the odd, and difficult spot of being a Woman; if she is too forceful, she will be called a Bitch, if she is not forceful enough, she will be ignored.
Herman Cain? Yes, but he will be a big target for all kinds of attacks and lies over Race, more so than any other White Conservative. Liberals will side track any discussion to the distraction of Race.
Jon Huntsman, Jr.? Yes, He was a US Ambassador to China, and we could use that knowledge in the White House. He was also a former Governor of Utah. But being a Big Business Leader, (privately owned and operated Huntsman Chemical Corp.), and a strong Mormon, will limit him. He is my favorite, he is a Corporate Leader of a Worldwide Corporation, and I think the Mormons as a group, is some of the hardest working, nicest, and most generous people I ever had the good fortune to be around. No, I am not Mormon.

There are others, but you don't want to hear all that, and I want to do something else with my time, like do my laundry, or eat lunch. I don't have the patients for politics.

Your Friend in Texas

Hi Anybody interested;

I am a Fiscal Conservative, and as such, I don't hold with many things that my Party promotes.

I am a Republican, and like the Democratic Party, there are several sub-parties that in a Parliamentary System would be separate Parties.

Fiscal Conservative, just means to conserve and use wisely the money that the Government takes from us, in the form of Taxes. We do need a Government, and we do need to pay Taxes, but how do we control the Taxing and Spending, how much do we allow, and in what form are the Taxes in, is the point that is the main thing for Fiscal Conservatives.

You may find it odd that I believe that the Government should not have a say in issues like Gay/Lesbian marriage, if 2 people love each other and want to get married, why should the Government have anything to say?

Abortion Rights? I think Abortion is wrong, in most cases, but I think that is up to the woman involved, and is a privet matter, not something the Government needs to have a hand in.

The Environment is something that has to have Government Regulations to give a level playing field for businesses. Otherwise competition, and Market Forces would favor any company that did not spend money on environmental control equipment, and practices. That is what we had before the EPA. But Environmental Regulations are much too complicated, and don't do as good a job of protecting the Environment as a much simpler set of regulations.

We do need a lot of Basic Research done by the Government. Research in; the Medical Arts, Energy, Environment, Basic Physics, Space Exploration, and a lot of other things I am forgetting, but not so much Research that could, and should be done by, and for Industry/Businesses.

I have given a few examples of issues that I am interested in, if you think you would like more info on any of this, or any other topic that would you think could be important to a Fiscal Conservative view point, please ask. One question at a time, if you please. I get way too long as it is, so help me keep it a little shorter, by asking one question, or 2 or 3 on one topic at a time. Please don't ask me about NASA and Overspending, unless it is about Overspending at NASA.

Your Friend in Texas

Hi All Y'all!

Ask me about Flying, or Kayaking, or Football, or Bonsai growing, or General History themes, or Teenagers, or Education, or Science Fiction, or even Voice Acting. Don't just ask about Politics all the time, I am much more than that. After living almost 57 years, I have had a few odd experiences, and done some interesting things, not nearly as much as Nakia, but I have done a few.

Your Friend in Texas

I love Science fiction books and films Mr K. Have you read Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds? It's is a well told story and Reynolds builds the tension up beautifully. Revelation Space is the first in a trilogy, but I've found it hard to get hold of the other two.

Some SciFi films nowdays seem to blur their boundary with aspects of horror, but maybe this has always been the case. For instance a number of the B movies e.g Them* were dealing with the perceived threat from the Soviet Union and were a reflection of the concerns of the day - as I believe most films are. In addition, now there is often an emphasis on action rather than the marvel of space, God and the space/time continuum. However, Danny Boyle made a film in 2007 called Sunshine which, in my opinion, contains aspects of some older films, despite having horror elements. One of my favourites is a Russian film from the 70's called Solaris, not the modern re-make with George Cloony.

Have you read any good SciFi books, or seen any films in the SciFi genre recently?



* I think I've got the name right, it's where a spaceship lands and a young boy's parents are taken over by an alien intelligence/mindset, so although they go through the motions they're not themselves anymore.

Hi Sue;

Yes I have read a lot of Science Fiction Books, but sadly, I don't read as much as a used to, my eyes get tired, and and I have trouble with blurred vision for up to a few hours, if I read for several hours. Reading on-line is better, but I don't like to spend a lot of money on myself, so if I can read something free on-line, I can make the font bigger, and it is easier to read.

Science Fiction Movies? There are a lot of good ones, but many are called Sci-Fi, but they are just Fantasy, set in some Futuristic setting. Think "Star Trek", or especially "Star Wars". I love both of them, and I have all the Movies, but they are Fantasy. Star Trek has a lot of Science Fiction in it, and a lot of it is good Science, but most of the stories are based on a Fantasy theme. In fact, several ideas in Star Trek has inspired research into new fields of Physics.

A good, but something you may not have watched is a very plausible story, is the Sean Connery Movie "Outland". To make it more realistic, think about how to get more effort out of your Workers, in a place that having more workers would be very hard, and think about all the Power Drinks, that young people drink. At $1.50 to $2.50 a pop, a shot of strong Caffeine, and Sugar is well on it's way to being the drug that is making the Workforce in this interesting movie, go crazy.

Another is "Alien", it is one of the likely ways that Humans and somebody else could meet. And having Sigourney Weaver in it, is not a bad thing. The Alien is too much like the form of a Human, with 2 legs and arms, with an upright walk, and a head and neck, with the eyes and mouth. Man can Ripley handle a Life-or-Death situation!?! I'd carry a big pack full of ammo for her any day!

Science Fiction books on-line are what I have been reading for the last several years. Here are a few Links:

http://www.baen.com/library/
The Baen Free Library has many good, and important books, free, and it has links to a lot of books that are by the same authors that allowed Baen to publish for his Free Library.

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_%28Bookshelf%29
The Science Fiction Bookshelf, is a collection of old stories that have passed into the public domain. Lots of interesting stories, mostly shorter works. Just pick a name, and read all of that author's, or Issue of a Magazen's books. Most of these books are scientifically out of date, but interesting non-the-less.

I have been reading a story by David Drake; "Starliner" it is about a man with a hidden past on one of 2 of the largest Space Ships, on a regular Passenger Route. Lot's to like about this story. It can be found at Baen Books.

Your Friend in Texas

Hi Mr. K,
Mark got to Amaryllis today/ The bulbs have shoots on them about four inches. One is starting to bloom. It is still too cold here to plant outside. We thought we would start them indoors in pots. Then plant them in May when it is warmer. Is this alright? Also the one that has a bloom should we just leave it or remove it? With other flowering plants I was taught to remove the bloom so the plant could concentrate on rooting and taking hold before blooming but these look very different. As if the bloom is part of the plant. If that makes sense to you.

Thanks for any info,
Nakia