Legalize--Only When It Fits The Agenda

I read an article yesterday about more lunacy in California; Los Angeles to be exact. Now the city council is trying to protect the "poor" from their own apparent bad habits. They have now voted to approve a one-year ban on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. Yes, they are now limiting personal choices because they presume to know better on how to take care of the citizens. The year long ban is intended to give the city time to attract restaurants that offer "healthier" food choices.

What happened to personal choice? Oh yes, it seems that the people in the community have been practicing personal choice all along. I would think that if the people in the community had wanted "healthier" food choices then quite possibly a restaurant would have moved in to fill the niche'. Apparently the people in the community want the fast food and buy it. I'm quite certain that the restaurants would not stay if they were not patronized. But that could just be me. (Thanks Garrett for the line!)

It seems that California has also now outlawed trans fats in restaurants. Why outlaw something that the marketplace has been taking care of on its own? I'm all the time seeing packages in the store claiming "No Trans Fats". The same thing with many restaurants. It seems they did it because this is what their customers wanted; not because someone wanted to regulate our lives.

Sorry for the rant!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Notgeld #5

Well here we go again. Yes, more Notgeld. These individual specimens are some smaller denomination notes. They are all from the city of Erfurt (der Stadt Erfurt). The 10, 20, and 25 pfennig notes are all dated 9, April 1920.

The 50 pfennig note is dated 20, Oktober 1918. Less than a month before the end of the war to end all wars, World War I.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Waco Drive-In Theatres of Days Gone By

A couple of days ago I posted about Project Silver Screen and drive-in theatres.

Today, the drive-ins of days past in Waco.

During the hey-day of the drive-in theatre Waco had their share. At various times Waco had a total of seven drive-ins. I remember most, barely. There are three that I do not remember; either because I never went to them or they were torn down by the time I came along.

Let's begin with the Oak Lawn Theatre. It was located at 1521 Hillsboro Drive. This is the first one I don't remember. Then there was the Sky Drive-In on Orchard Lane in East Waco. I don't remember it either. The last one I don't remember is the Westview Drive-In which was located on North Valley Mills Drive near New Road which I suppose wasn't there at the time). At some point in time as the population of Waco pushed out into the western part of Waco the Westview was torn down to make way for a small shopping area that was home to Cogdell Sporting Goods and the S&H Green Stamp redemption center. This center was eventually torn down to make way for the CVS Pharmacy, Blockbuster Video, and Dickey's Bar-B-Q (former Krispy Kreme building).

Now for the drive-ins I remember. First there was the Joy Drive-In which was located on the Old Dallas Highway. I went to this drive-in several times in the 60's and 70's. After it was closed down it converted to a flea market type of place that you could go to to buy second hand goods. Then there was the Circle Drive-In at 2112 La Salle Drive. This was always a popular one that our family went to many times. The Circle Drive-In is now a large flea market that is open each week-end. It is also the only drive-in that still has remnants of the screen still standing. I also remember Waco Drive-In that was located at 4100 La Salle, which would roughly put it at the current Chevron station at New Road and IH 35 (Across the highway from the Flying J Travel Stop). I can't really remember when it closed but I do remember going to an all night showing of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns there in the late 60's.

The last drive-in I remember was also the newest and probably the last one torn down. It was the Lake Air Drive-In and was located at Texas State Highway 6 and US Highway 84. I remember going to the Lake Air Drive-In often during my high school years. I specifically remember the marathon they had when they were showing all of The Beatles movies. The Lake Air Drive_in was torn down in 1980 to make way for the Richland Fashion Mall. The mall still stands and there are still no new drive-ins in Waco.

When I was in high school I worked at the Cinema Theatre at the Lake Air Mall so I got to know many of the projectionists in town. I would go to the Lake Air Drive-In often to visit with the projectionists. (I would also visit other theatres in town.) This was always an easy way to get into the movies and not have to pay. The only problem was that the projection booth was always noisy and not conducive to good movie watching.

All of the drive-in theatres were built in the 1940's and 1950's except the Lake Air Drive-In which was built in the 1960's. Many of the drive-ins were forced to close for various reasons. Among them city growth into the areas around the drive-ins, increasing land values, and the decline of the individual drive-ins themselves.
© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Picture Monday, July 28, 2008

Chris was going through the closet the other day. She came across a couple of picture albums for me to see. One of them belonged to my grandparents from Germany. I have posted a few pictures from this album here today.

The first picture is the cover of the album. I included this so that you could get a feel for this album which is probably close to 80 years old as are most of the pictures inside. Cool huh?

Now I don't know who most of the people in the pictures are except occasionally I can pick out my grandfather and grandmother. For this reason I will simply show the pictures and keep the comments to a minimum.

My grandfather, Alfred Horst is the good looking chap with the tie on above.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Armadillo Olympics

I got up this morning and puttered around the bedroom a while. After getting ready to go to the library I decided to take Puppy outside for her, well...... necessary time, shall we say. I got her and her leash and we hooked up and started out. The moment I opened up the front door Puppy perked up and become very interested in something. I wasn't sure what she saw,so we proceeded on out.

Apparently Puppy's eyes are better than mine. I didn't see it until I was halfway down the sidewalk. Then I saw a Panzerschwein, the armadillo to you and I. There standing in the yard just off the sidewalk was an armadillo. I suppose it had been rooting around under the pecan tree looking for old pecans and what have you.

By now I had to put Puppy away in order to tend to the armadillo. I did this and then decided to see what I could do with this "Hoover Hog", but I had to find it. I went back out and looked for the armadillo and found it in the bushes. Undoubtedly it was unhappy with my interest in him. As I began to...hmmm....prod him out from under the bushes he decide to make a break. In the process he started running around the perimeter of the house.

About the time that he made his turn to the backyard he ran flat into the chain link fence. Head on into the fence and he jumped straight into the air and then skittered around the corner and into the back field. After all of my chasing and screaming he got away. It must have been humorous for someone to see me chasing this armadillo around the house.

For pictures of armadillos try the Armadillo Photograph Gallery.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Out Of This World Fun

I don't know about you, but I grew up in the 60's and I was always mesmerized by the space program. That fascination is still alive today. I will occasionally find areas on the Internet that help to meet the need I have to play astronaut. (While sitting in my recliner of course!)

Here are a few of those sites that I have found.

Let's go to the the Human Space Flight-Orbital Tracker first. This site shows the current location of the International Space Station. This page takes a few moments to load depending upon your connection and traffic to the site, so please be patient. NASA has some other RealTime Satellite Tracking opportunities that are great and will literally keep you busy all day long.

Another site I enjoy is Heavens Above. Before you journey to Heavens Above understand that you must register and create a New User Account. This allows the user to personalize the viewing experience. And when I say viewing experience I mean it literally. By providing your Latitude and Longitude in the Personal Configuration page you will be able to determine when various satellites may be orbiting above your location. And yes, you might just be able to see one of them on a clear night. Heavens Above will also provide astronomical data and views of various heavenly bodies.

For those of you who may not know your Latitude and Longitude or may not know how to determine it here are a few links for you to visit: Northern Arizona University, Free ZIP Code Lookup at ZIPInfo (Simply check the "latitude and longitude" box and enter your ZIP Code, click "GO" and viola, there you have it.), or try iTouchMap (They use a Google Maps interface so it is quite easy, just touch and click a spot on the map. Remember to adjust the zoom in order to get a better look.)

Not really a satellite tracker but still fun none-the-less is The University of Colorado-Boulder site, Physics 2000. Within this site (I can't really find it in the Table of Contents though.) is a satellite applet. Once the applet page loads you will see a square in the upper left hand corner of your screen. In this square is the earth with the moon orbiting around it. Put your cursor some where in the square and left click. This releases a make believe satellite and you can see how it interacts with the gravitational pull of the earth and moon as they orbit. Push several times and you now have several little satellites. FUN, FUN, FUN.

For more Fun Stuff check out my Fun Stuff links at del.icio.us.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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More Notgeld #4

Yes! Here it is! The rest of the Notgeld honoring the German Imperial Colonies and Protectorates. I have probably 1,000 more assorted pieces of unique Notgeld to share so who knows; I may find some more that depicts the colonies. But be assured this feature will be around for some time.

Above: German South West Africa - (Deutsch-Südwestafrika)

Above: German East Africa - (Deutsch-Ostafrika)

Above: 75 Pfennig Reverse - Neustadt

Above: Kamerun 1884 – 1914

Above: Togoland 1884 – 1914

Above: 50 Pfennig Reverse - Neustadt

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day near the bottom of the left sidebar for free software downloads daily.