Clouds taste metallic

Here is an actual un-"shopped" photo of actual clouds this evening in Norman before the Gustnado activity kicked of the 2015 tornado season:

Pretty freaky, but no real damage done in Normatopia.

Grand Game: Libertarian Alamo Edition

This is a truly remarkable article.  Apparently Ami has not only never actually read anything written by a libertarian, he appears not even to be able to define the word.

In particular, it appears that he believes that Oklahoma is ideologically the apotheosis of libertarian thinking.  Oklahoma is many things, and I admire some of those things.  But Libertarian?  Ami, please.

Anyway, have a read, and then Grand Game it up, folks.

KPC Summit!

So, I am visiting at House d'Angus, and got to see the early morning walk wear of the lovely Ms. Angus (to be fair, it was COLD this morn, so she had every reason to wear gloves). We walked Mr. Tootie, and then Angus and I headed to the office.

O Daily had this article about my talk last night. (I already wrote them about the misspelling in the title!)

looks like the Flaming Lips are gonna be doing a Guided by Voices tribute?

Check it here!

Exteme Home Makeover, Okie style

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has been remodeling his house in a marginal OKC neighborhood. All I can say is Wow! You can see more here.

The OKC: where we take our processed meats VERY seriously

I am not joking:

Police say a fight over Spam led to a sledgehammer attack.

Investigators said it happened at a southwest Oklahoma City home when Howard Jones thought his roommate ate his Spam.

Officers said the men argued and then Jones hit him in the head with a sledgehammer....

Police arrested Jones on suspicion of assault.

I can only imagine what would have happened if it had been braunschweiger!

A Sunday stroll in Normatopia

It was finally warm enough this morning to bring my camera when we went on the family walk.

Here is a bit of what we saw:



Ice is melting


Hawks are flying


Mr. Tooty is vigilant


but the water wheel is still iced over!

Stupid Okie tricks

I wonder how many KPC readers are familiar with this quaint Oklahoma New Year's tradition:

Oklahoma City police arrested a Midwest City man early New Year's Day after his ex-girlfriend said he kicked in her door, fought with her current boyfriend and used his rear end to smash her television set.

Gives new meaning to the term "buns of steel", eh?


Hat tip to Jack Hobson and his facebook friends.

   

The never ending temporary tax?

In 1993, my northern neighbors in OKC voted to add one cent to their sales tax to fund something called MAPS. This tax was sold as temporary and the revenues were used to (among other things) help get the Ford Center (where my beloved Thunder play) built. The tax expired in 2001, but was replaced by an equivalent tax to fund "MAPS for kids" which spent money on school renovations or new school construction. When that tax expired, an extension was sold the the OKC-ites to help get the Seattle Supersonics to come to OKC by funding renovations of the Ford Center.

Now THAT tax is set to expire and sure enough, voters are being asked tomorrow to approve yet another extension for "MAPS 3", which is supposed to last for 9 years, and to fund a laundry list of projects such as:

• A new, approximately 70-acre central park linking the core of downtown with the Oklahoma River. The park would include a restaurant, lake, amphitheater, dog park, skating rink and other amenities. ($130 million)
• A new rail-based streetcar system of 5 to 6 miles downtown, a downtown transit hub to link streetcar, commuter rail and bus systems, and possibly increased funding for the building of commuter rail lines. ($130 million)
• A new downtown convention center on the south edge of downtown near the proposed park. ($280 million)
• Sidewalks to be placed on major streets and near facilities used by the public throughout the city. ($10 million)
• 57 miles of new public bicycling and walking trails throughout the City. ($40 million)
• Improvements to the Oklahoma River, including a public whitewater kayaking facility and upgrades intended to achieve the finest rowing racecourse in the world. ($60 million)
• State-of-the-art health and wellness aquatic centers throughout the city designed for senior citizens. ($50 million)
• Improvements to the State Fair Park public buildings, meeting halls and exhibit spaces. ($60 million)
• Contingency funds to cover unforeseen costs ($17 million)

While all of this stuff surely is awesome, (can you imagine how nice of trails those would be at a price tag of $701,754.39 per mile?) I wonder if my northern neighbors are getting tired of this 17 year long temporary tax? At least some folks are against it and they have put their case up on the interwebs here.

So maybe in a few years I can take a streetcar to the senior aquatic center and then walk a luxury trail down to the Oklahoma "river" to see some white water kayaking! And after that, who knows? Maybe MAPS 4 could build a ski resort in south OKC!

Things I am thankful for

1.  Mrs. Angus and Mr. Tooty.

2. Not having to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (we are having homemade gnocchi!).

3. That the people of Seattle dissed the Sonics and the people of Oklahoma City voted to tax themselves (considerably) to attract them.

4. The amazing trips to Brazil and Churchill we took this year.

5. The success of the development and growth reading group that Mrs. A and I set up this year in our department.

6. Even after 25 years of doing it, I still love my job (and I still have it!).

7. KPC is alive and well and growing.

Oklahoma: Where amazing happens!

I swear I am not making any of this up!

Car Sideswipes Elephant In Enid

ENID, Okla. --Enid police are investigating a crash between a car and an elephant.Officers said a couple was driving home from church when it side-swiped a bull elephant near 4200 N. Van Buren Bypass. The elephant had escaped from a circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds and was roaming along U.S. 81.Investigators said the elephant did not appear to be seriously injured. It did suffer a broken tusk and bruises.The elephant was chained in a field after the crash while workers prepared to tranquilize him and load him up.The couple was not injured and their car was not heavily damaged.


The moral of the story: Never go to church?

Norman loses an icon

No, not Sam Bradford, E.Z. Million.

Yes, Elmer Zen Million passed away last weekend at the age of 68. In the last Mayoral race here, he ran against a political science professor and a real estate developer. In other words, despite his reputation for goofiness, he was the most qualified and best candidate (by the way, the professor won).

One EZ Million fact that I didn't know until his obituary is that he had a great uncle named Tennyson Million who went by Ten Million and signed his name as 10,000,000!

That is one great family.

Hat tip to Mr. Norman, Ben Keen.

Big nite in the OKC

It's pretty amazing that Dinosaur Jr. and Built to Spill have good new albums out. Despite the fancy name, the place is a low -roofed country sh*&$- kicker bar, but Mrs. A and I will be there for the duration.

The lion in winter

Here he is people, Pluto Lee Grier, aka Mr. Tootie. He's pushing 11 now but still going strong.

the "it" man of Norman

Mrs. Angus and I practice yoga at a space called Pilates Plus in Norman. It houses a variety of entrepeneurs with business ranging from yoga to accupuncture to reflexology to........... intuitive touch?

Here is a photo of the sign on the side of the car of one of the business people housed there:



I especially like how Mr. it has carefully matched his headband to his pocket square!!!

Jasper Johns, political savant

Tyler has credited JJ with being one of the top 3 living artists, but I would like to point out that, even in 1961, JJ knew Oklahoma was a Red State!!

ICK

From the Norman Transcript:

Lake turns green
Taste, odor issues being addressed

By Tom Blakey

Although it's not yet time for Lake Thunderbird to "turn over," the warm, sunny days are causing the lake to turn green from a proliferation of alga, affecting the water's taste and odor, officials said.

"We're getting a bunch of algae in the raw water lines, before it's treated. so we're adding carbon before we filter it and adding additional chemicals," said Norman Utilities Director Ken Komiske. "A lot of tastes and odors are sneaking through, though.

"For the time being we're having to put up with that," he said. "We're constantly testing it and it's perfectly safe."

Komiske said water treatment plant workers are "treating the water more at this time for taste and odor issues."

I cannot even begin to describe how bad the tap water in Norman usually tastes, let alone how it tastes right now. Mrs. Angus and I have a home distiller and we use that to make our drinking water, but this weekend we went to a local eatery and were served a glassful of liquid ass.

Norman hits the big time!

One of our grad students found out about this and for some reason immediately thought of me.

NORMAN, Okla. -- "A statue that depicts a nude, breastfeeding Angelina Jolie will soon make its debut in Oklahoma."The statue is a bronze statue of a nude Angelina Jolie in a sitting position, breastfeeding two babies in a football hold," said project coordinator Cory Allen.The statue was created by artist Daniel Edwards to mark World Breastfeeding Week. It's set to go on display at Norman's Mainsite Contemporary Art on Sept. 11."

Holy Crap!

This is just so awesome! Breastfeeding two babies in a football hold? What does that even mean? Well folks, I for one intend to find out.

Hey Daniel Edwards, what will you do for an encore?

"Edwards is working on an additional project with an Edmond artist to build a house they plan to call The Brangelina."

Ahhh!

PS: extra bonus info. Apparently Brad Pitt is from Oklahoma. Wow!!


Hat tip to Bea!

Holy Crap! Pity my poor ears

This is so cool. Built to Spill and Dinosaur Jr. are on tour together and THEY ARE COMING TO OKC!

Wow! I'm in there like swimwear!

By the way Dinosaur Jr. has a new album out and it is really quite good. If you liked "Bug" or "Living All Over Me" (and who doesn't?), you will definitely like the new one.

Oklahoma where the slurs come whistling out the Senator

Sorry for the commercial at the beginning but this is a good 'un!




Hat tip to Norman (who lives in Norman).