Dave, my grandmother lived on a farm outside of DeQuincy, LA - and I have many fond memories of her and the times I spent there as a young boy. Thank you for writing so well and taking me back to those days.

Dave,

No reason to be paranoid. Wasn't sadism - just incompetence on the part of the architect or a cheapskate buyer who had them underscale the necessary plumbing diameters.

We have had the same experience in the showers in the dorms at the Nevada Test Site for decades. Fortunately, the walls are thin enough you will *hear* the flush - and if your reaction time isn't dulled by too many beers at the Steak House - you can jump out of the way before the scalding wave arrives.

Love the way you write...

David

You are absolutely right, Group Captain - I am a physicist at Los Alamos, starting out as a philosophy major. Intense interest and pleasure come first, and the math later.

I'm smiling through tears, too, Dave. Thank you...

Get well soon, Dave!

A draw that will be trumpeted as "The Comeback of the Century."

Peter, many of us are deeply concerned that we are "past the point of no return." We won't give up resisting the entitlement/dependency mentality.

But as for the polling, one should recall the "Bradley Effect" which was first observed 30 years ago. Even more so now, any criticism is labeled as racism and that is one trait that (thankfully) is abhorred by all. I don't know how many polling points this effect comprises, but it isn't negligible.

I'm enjoying the cloud computing discussion and want to add a point - fragility. Witness what happened recently with the storms in Northern VA. Plenty of major cogs in the internet/cloud machine were driven offline and took quite a while to recover. Now - imagine either a sustained cyberattack or EMP event (or even massive solar flare) that disrupts/destroys that distributed infrastructure. Such an event would be massively disruptive to companies and the economy, whereas local server/storage has a chance at least of surviving.

I love the way you write, Dave. Keep it up!

Peter, it is more in sadness than in anger that I must agree with you. As much as I respect the Chief Justice, he failed to do his job. So, let us with grim determination defeat this pack of scoundrels and finish the job that SCOTUS wouldn't finish for us.

"Water's edge" does not imply that one must refrain from criticism of foreign policies that one disagrees with. Criticizing Presidents while they are abroad might justifiably be limited, but even then - it would depend on how despicably they behaved.

Umm....an amazing claim from someone who knows nothing of my wife's family. The deed to their ranch (near San Diego, TX) was "From the sovereignty of the soil." A small part of that ranch is still in the family today, not having been entirely swallowed by the King Ranch. 

I doubt it... my German ancestors (who arrived in Texas in 1850) and my wife's Hispanic ancestors (who received a land grant from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in 1835 *before* Texas became a Republic) might have something to say on this point.

You are correct in one important respect - part of the reason Texas is unique is because it was settled by those who left (or were driven off from) somewhere more "civilized."

Dear CJ - my wife just finished reading my collection of 10 of your books (I'm still 2 behind) and I was delighted to see you posting on my favorite site. 
Thank you for telling the story of the Sacketts - such stories are legion in the west.  Keep up the good work!

From Los Alamos, NM

Peter, although we've lived in New Mexico for over 30 years, in my heart I'm still a Texan. And that might be part of the answer to your question. How many other states have a myth to live up to?  It keeps your spine a little straighter and your voice a little deeper. 

"You can't handle the truth!"