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Author: wotantx

Musings On Having Natural Disasters as a Determining Factor on Where to Live

Posted on by wotantx
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This post began as a comment to an article on Space City Weather.  Space City Weather is a great site for accessible, hype-free weather information for the Houston area.  I highly recommend it.

I wrote this in response to some people discussing the impact of Harvey on where they want to live or go to school. The general gist is that I don’t think disasters should be a major factor in those decisions.  It can certainly be used to narrow down options.

Continue reading “Musings On Having Natural Disasters as a Determining Factor on Where to Live”

The Mentally Ill are People Too

Posted on by wotantx
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The response to mass shootings where the mental health of the perpetrator is in question or where there are known mental health issues often includes exhortations to prevent the mentally ill owning guns.  There are significant, to put it lightly, legal, moral, and ethical problems with this.

The mentally ill are people too. Continue reading “The Mentally Ill are People Too”

The Great Catharsis

Posted on by wotantx
Read Time:2 Minute, 59 Second

As I write this, it has been just over two months since Hurricane Harvey cleared out of Houston.  At this time, there were still many areas of Houston still under water, and that would continue for another couple of weeks.  For myself, water came within inches of entering the house before the heavy rain finally stopped.  People who live less than a mile from me, behind Barker Dam, lost everything.  One of them is a colleague of mine.  Others are friends of my girls. The elementary school they attended flooded as is currently gutted. Continue reading “The Great Catharsis”

On The Structure of the US Constitution and American Government

Posted on by wotantx
Read Time:13 Minute, 21 Second

Introduction

In an era of ever increasing executive and judicial power in the United States, it is a worthwhile exercise to re-read the Constitution with an eye to its structure.  For it is in the way the document was constructed that a better understanding of how to federal government relates both to the People and to the States. In this article, I use the official transcript from the National Archives. Sections that have been modified by amendment are called out in this text, but the original text is left in place, including the spelling and punctuation as written on the official parchment copy in the archives.

It is often stated that the three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial) are co-equal.  In reality, this is only partially true.  The order in which the branches are laid out, and the amount of text devoted to each, speak to the importance of each branch in the eyes of the Founders.The three branches of government are discussed in order of decreasing importance to the People.This holds true even in laying out the two houses of Congress. Continue reading “On The Structure of the US Constitution and American Government”

Armistice Day

Posted on by wotantx
Read Time:10 Minute, 53 Second

In the United States, November 11th is celebrated as Veteran’s Day.  In much of the rest of the world, however, November 11th carries a different significance.

On this date in 1918 (98 years ago as of this writing), the armistice that ended WWI was signed at Compiègne.  WWI was, perhaps, the least logical and most preventable war in the modern history of the world, and yet it was fought, and produced misery on an unbelievable scale at that time.  Sadly, part of its legacy was WWII, which increased the human suffering from war still further. Continue reading “Armistice Day”

Well, That Was Interesting

Posted on by wotantx
Read Time:5 Minute, 54 Second

Well, That Was Interesting

I’ve got to hand it to you, America, you’ve really outdone yourself.

The two major parties nominated the worst two candidates in recent history, but because you refuse to entertain a third party, one of them had to win. Continue reading “Well, That Was Interesting”

He Was A Great Guy (Texas and Red Dirt Country #4)

Posted on by wotantx
Read Time:12 Minute, 19 Second

Back on Tuesday the 17th, we lost visionary singer-songwriter Guy Clark. He was a huge figure not, only in Texas and Outlaw Country, but also writing songs that achieved popular success with singers such as Ricky Skaggs, The Highwaymen, Brad Paisley, John Denver, Alan Jackson, John Conlee, and many others.

His catalog is quite extensive, and any tribute I could try to do would be inadequate to the task. Nevertheless, I will endeavor to put something together.

I have chosen five of my favorite Guy Clark songs. I could have added others (“Texas 1947″ comes to mind), but I do need to limit it. I have chosen “Desperados Waiting For A Train,” “LA Freeway,” “My Favorite Picture Of You,” “The Guitar,” and “Dublin Blues.” Continue reading “He Was A Great Guy (Texas and Red Dirt Country #4)”

I Are A Star (Texas and Red Dirt Country #3)

Posted on by wotantx
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This post originally appeared in BattleRedBlog as a FanPost.

For this week’s installment, we have a song from one of the big names in Texas Country as well as a major songwriter for Outlaw Country (including some of Waylon Jennings’ hits): Billy Joe Shaver.

He has had an impressive career as a songwriter, with the following titles to his credit: Honky Tonk Heroes, You Asked Me To, Live Forever, Georgia On A Fast Train, I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal, just to name a few. At some point, if I continue this series, I’m sure I will get to one or more of those songs. However, in this post, I have selected Slim Chance And The Can’t Hardly Playboys, featuring fellow Texas Country artist, Kevin Fowler. This song tells the story of a very bad band, the Can’t Hardly Playboys, until Slim Chance came along and “played the songs that stick right in your head.” That’s not necessarily to say he was any good either. The band continues to play in Walmart parking lots, for instance. They still dream of getting dressing rooms when they play. It’s a very silly song, with a number of puns in the lyrics.

Continue reading “I Are A Star (Texas and Red Dirt Country #3)”

That Itch…. (Texas and Red Dirt Country #2)

Posted on by wotantx
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This post originally appeared in BattleRedBlog as a FanPost

In the comments to my first post in this series, JFMC said that this is the time of year that he starts getting into this genre of music. This got me to thinking that Texas Country is not really a genre, but a collection of related genres that also have a geographical relationship, principally Texas but also Oklahoma.

Continue reading “That Itch…. (Texas and Red Dirt Country #2)”

Well, It Did Rain Today (Texas and Red Dirt Country #1)

Posted on by wotantx
Read Time:2 Minute, 2 Second

This post originally appeared in BattleRedBlog as a FanPost.

I’ve been posting this to the SNOT the last few weeks, but no one has replied. I don’t know if that means no one is interested, or it’s just getting lost. So I decided to post it here, a little more fleshed-out, and see if it is worth continuing with.

The music is taken from my Texas and Red Dirt Country playlist on Play Music. If you have All Access, you can listen to the list, and I will be linking to the track. I will also link YouTube videos for those who don’t have All Access.

My criteria for inclusion in this playlist is the artist must be associated with either Texas Country or Red Dirt Country (a genre that has its origins in Oklahoma but which is now considered part of the Texas Country scene as well), or, the artist must be a prominent singer from Texas and with some ties to Texas music, even if they are more mainstream. I added this so I could make sure to include singers like Ray Price and George Jones.

Continue reading “Well, It Did Rain Today (Texas and Red Dirt Country #1)”