Another Viral Vimeo

I love this video...it speaks to me and is funny to me on so many levels...I've watched it probably 50 times. I would so totally communicate like this if I could.

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

"♫♫It's gonna be done right quick, ohh yea, it's gonna be done so soooooon, it's gonna be done in about two weeks....♫♫"

Technorati Tags: auto tuning

Down on Main Street…a RedFork Tradition

RedFork Main Street is holding a Pie Baking Contest during the inaugural "Down on Main Street…a RedFork Tradition" event, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday, May 2, in old downtown Red Fork, 41st and Southwest Boulevard.



I understand that Mayor Taylor will be entering a pie into the contest...




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Tulsa

BOK Center...so far so good

The World has an article out today that outlines the the economic impact of our new arena and how it has exceeded expectations...

The downtown arena has brought in nearly $2.3 million in sales tax revenue since its grand opening in late August.
...
Studies before the arena was built estimated it would produce about $1.6 million in sales tax revenue for a full 12-month period.
...
It amassed $4,880,609 in operating expenses between July 1 and March 31 for a profit of $963,215. However, the building did not host its first ticketed event until September.

Quoting BOK Center General Manager John Bolton, the article sums up my greatest fear surrounding our new arena "Obviously, we're not going to be able to maintain the activity we've had during our first year, but I see our success continuing,"

While, I find the arena to be an absolutely beautiful addition to the downtown landscape, and while I'm happy the first year is going well, I remain skeptical. I'm not convinced that it will continue to operate in the black. While I hope that it continues to be a success, I fear that the after the honeymoon is over, it will serve as a drain on the City's budget and fail to be the engine for positive economic growth that it's supporters say that it will be.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong. While the Tulsa World and other arena supporters hail the BOK Center as a success, I'll take a more conservative approach; I'm willing to say so far so good but lets wait another year before we start extolling the virtues of our massive investment.


Technorati Tags: Tulsa
BOK Center
Vision 2025

Ranch Work Day 2009/OK Vet Board Regulations

I love working with cattle; I spent the summers of my youth on the family farm in Iowa doing everything from working with pigs and cattle, to clearing fields of thistles, and hauling loads of grain to the elevator. So was was excited to get the chance to spend Saturday on a friend’s ranch helping him wrangle cattle. The primary goal of the day was to administer vaccines to cattle, and sort the calves to be weaned (Their mothers were not pleased about the separation from their young...see the last pic at the end of the post).

During a break, one of the other helpers said, "You know, they are trying to pass a law up there that will make what I did today illegal...giving those shots to the cows." He told me that there was a bill in the State Senate that, if passed would require that licensed veterinarians provide the kinds of shots that we were administering. That sounded totally asinine to me. Farming and ranching is an operation of thin margins as it is. Farmers and Rangers have always been responsible for taking care of their herd's needs; adding this kind of regulation and extra necessary cost, would be devastating.

I did some research and found State Senate bill SB 452. Among other things this bill, seems to want to amend the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act, so looked like my bill. It turns out that there is a lot of controversy surrounding SB 452; so much so, that I found it difficult to ascertain what exactly the bill and does not do. Indeed, after reading as much as I could and talking to a few people, I'm still not 100 percent sure.

I spoke with the office of Rep. Don Armes (District 63). Rep Armes was sponsoring the house side of the bill. His office told me that the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners did want to prohibit farmers and rangers from administering their own vaccines.

Deciding it might be prudent to talk the other side, I spoke with Cathy Kirkpatrick, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. She told me that the Board already has enough on their plate, and has no interest in prohibiting what farmers/rangers and their hired hands and helpers have always done with their own livestock.

Apparently they are looking regulate people who are not apart of a farmers/ranger’s daily operation, and are hired to perform what amounts to dental surgery on horses. I can’t speak to whether or not that is a good idea but certainly it seems a far cry from that to giving cows their shots. Since Dir. Kirkpatrick seemed like a very nice person, I will take her at her word when she says that they are not trying to add heartache and unneeded extra regulation to farmers/ranchers and their hired hands and volunteers; which is good, because I really enjoy working with cattle.

SB 452 has had its title striped and is back in committee, so its current state is somewhat hard to ascertain. When I find out more about what exactly this bill aims to accomplish I will be sure to write another post about it. Until then, please to enjoy the pictures from this weekend…









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SB 452
Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners
Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act
Don Armes
Cathy Kirkpatrick

Happy Earth Day

I celebrated Earth Day by making this video.


Technorati Tags: Earth Day

White and Nerdy(in Lego)...a Tautology

For Austin...White and Nerdy in Lego

See the original here.

Tulsa Tax Day Tea Party

I attended the Tea Party hosted by KRMG's Joe Kelley at Lafortune Park yesterday, and it was amazing. I've been to several events, rallies and protests, but I cant say I've ever seen a crowd this big. It is estimated that there were at least 3200 people at the Tea Party.

I couldn't stay for the entire program, but I was able to get some good pictures, and some mediocre video (I'm still learning...I'll get better I promise) Click on the above links to see everything; Here are a few choice pics and vids.













Sullivan gave a great speech. There are some people that are really upset with the congressman over his vote on the first bailout, but as you can see, he gets it and won't be voting on anymore. I'm glad I was there to see it.

Technorati Tags: Tulsa
Tulsa Tea Party
Tea Party
KRMG
Joe Kelley
John Sullivan

An Awful Dream

I had a pretty bad dream last night. I dreamt that I was pulled over by the police for what I thought was running a red light. However I was utterly shocked when the officer said what it was for. "For owning an unlicensed gun,” the policeman said. It was a $700 dollar ticket! This officer was targeting specific people who the FBI said had purchased a gun, but had not registered it. Amid my confusion over what was going on, I heard him talking about all the tickets he had to hand out that day.

I know some friends on the force, and was able to get one of them to search my house to "prove" that I no longer had a gun. Despite my efforts to hide them, he quickly found my guns. "You are going to have to find a better place to find these guns," he said, “They are not going to stop coming over and searching your house; and you need to hide all your ammo, because it it’s illegal to own ammo with out a permit for the guns." I was flabbergasted. I had to sit down. "I thought you didn't have to register your firearm in Oklahoma, when did this even happen," I asked? "The law passed last week,” he said.

The blatant unconstitutionality of what was happening was boggling my mind. It was obvious that government was setting up for the next step which was finding out who had guns so they could take them. It was obvious that they were harassing the ones they knew would be a problem, and it was obvious that they were moving as quickly as possible because they knew what, they were doing was unconstitutional. Then I woke up. Usually when I have a bad dream I brush it off because it is just a dream. What continues to haunt me about this one is that it seems so plausible.

Technorati Tags: bad dream
2nd Amendment
gun+control
unconstitutional

Conficker D-Day+2

The day that Conficker was supposed to dial home and receive updates from it's masters has come and gone. You may ask your self, "Well, what happened? It didn't seem that bad...the world didn't end. Steven said we needed to prepare, and nothing happened. Roemerman is an idiot."

Calm down, I'll concede one of those points...The world did not end. However, for the people who did not heed my warning to check for and remove Conficker from their machines, the world did get a bit darker.

Gizmodo explains how the Conficker problem just got much worse.

In the first minute of April 1, Conficker did exactly what everyone knew it was going to do: It successfully phoned home for an update...the result was not outwardly catastrophic; rather than a blueprint for world domination, the update contained instructions on how to dig in even deeper.
...

"The worm did exactly what everyone thought it was going to do, which is update itself," security expert Dan Kaminsky, who helped develop a widely-used Conficker scanner in the days leading up to April 1, told us. "The world wants there to be fireworks, or some Ebola-class, computers-exploding-all-over-the-world event or God knows what, but the reality is...the Conficker developers have cemented their ability to push updates through any fences the good guys have managed to build in February and March."

So remain vigilant; keep your computer up-to-date with virus definitions for your scanner, and with important Windows updates from Microsoft.

Technorati Tags: Conficker
Downadup
Kido

Friday Mix Tape

This is what I'm listening to right now...

Artist	Title
Maximo Park	Apply Some Pressure
Bloc Party	Helicopter
Billy Talent	Red Flag
The Dead 60s	Riot Radio
Five for Fighting	Superman
CCS	Music
Aerosmith	Sweet Emotion
Cake	Never There
The Cure	Friday I'm in Love
Elton John	Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Guns N' Roses	Live and Let Die
Ice Cube	You Know How We Do It
INXS	Devil inside
Moby	Another Woman
Nirvana	Smells Like Teen Spirit
Beastie Boys	No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Pearl Jam	Once
The Prodigy	Firestarter
Red Hot Chili Peppers	The Power of Equality
Sublime	Santeria
Violent Femmes	Blister In The Sun
The White Stripes	Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Stone Temple Pilots	Wicked Garden
R.E.M	Star 69
No Doubt	Spiderwebs
Modest Mouse	Float On
Mat Weddle	Hey Ya
EMF	Unbelievable
Ben Folds Five	Your Redneck Past
Beck	Hotwax
Beastie Boys	Intergalactic

Technorati Tags: music

Pinewood this Saturday Saturday Saturday

I'm finally finished with my cars. Actually I've been done for over a month, I just wanted the clear coat to have time to set before I put the wheels on.
I promised you I'd post pictures so here you go.

I made custom blocks of wood out of pine and oak, by using clamps and Gorilla Glue (awesome stuff). I think my cars came out nice this year. What do you think?


Technorati Tags: pinewood derby