The Tomball Blogger Jesse Smith

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977.
> TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.
>
> Hey, pretty efficient, huh???
>
> AND NOW, IT'S 2009 -- 32 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS
> "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. THEY HAVE 16,000
> FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK
> AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY,
> "WHAT WAS I THINKING?"
>
> Ah, yes -- good ole bureaucracy.
> AND, NOW, WE ARE GOING TO TURN THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE AND THE
> AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?
>

Burroughs Park Tomball, Texas
Originally uploaded by Jesse C Smith Jr

Burroughs Park Tomball, Texas

Container Home
Originally uploaded by Jesse C Smith Jr

This is similar to the way I want mine to look.

This is my dream car.

More Fantasy: the New 911 Turbo

Despite the presence of the godawful Aston Martin Lagonda, I respect tgriffith's wish list, which for the most part shows some hopeful vehicles—hopeful in the sense that buyers can welcome them. (Well, I don't know about that Hyundai Veloster concept, which looks like a Japanese blob-car. Why would a Korean company want to do that?)
Anyhow, my wish list consists of one car, the 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo, which seems to be another triumph for the Stuttgarters, at least so far as the reviews go. This is a car, however, that many will welcome but few will own. Available in January, if you can find one, it will set you back anywhere from $132,000-$143,000, according to Inside Line, which has a thorough test drive.

Most reviewers make the point that the car, in typical Porsche fashion, is evolutionary—keeping the best while adding the new. The best of the new is its 3.8-liter, 500-hp twin-turbo boxer engine, which features movable turbo vanes (VTG), direct injection, variable valve timing, and 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds. The new PDK transmission system allows you to

manage ultra-fast and hardly discernible gearshifts in either automatic or manual mode. With the optional two-paddle PDK-equipped steering wheel, you can use the wheel-mounted paddles to shift in manual mode.

And on and on. The car is simply state-of-the-art, an art which Porsche has been practicing since it produced the first 911 Turbo in 1974. This is now the seventh generation of an "original everyday supercar."

This is a great bird blog. Jesse Smith

Whooping Crane Killed

The only female whooping crane to have successfully hatched and raise a wild chick in the nine years of Operation Migration has been shot and killed during the annual ultralight migration, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The 7-year-old bird's body was found in Indiana on December 1, and a $2,500 reward is being offered for information leading to conviction of the individual(s) responsible. The penalty for the crime could include as much as a $25,000 fine and up to six months in prison.

The chick hatched from the killed bird is doing well as part of the annual migration. It is the only wild chick to hatch and survive in the wild in more than a century in eastern North America. Because whooping cranes are so critically endangered, chicks are normally raised in captivity before joining the flock.

Operation migration has been plagued by other difficulties this year, including poor weather, flight accidents and vandalism. For more information on the program, including how you can help, visit OperationMigration.org.

Whooping Crane
Photo © Lisa Lenscap

The  lake continues to amaze me.

LAKE 12 02 2009
Originally uploaded by Jesse C Smith Jr

Can't wait to see the finished result.