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Texas Jeff

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Everything posted by Texas Jeff

  1. Maybe folks are waiting for the lines to go down. The county courthouse is in Mentone, along with a lot of the voters. The town is three streets with no traffic lights. For some reason they built a bypass around it.
  2. So 6% of Texans the NYT polled were like: Pollster: So how are you feeling about Trump? Voter: I am all aboard the Trump Train ... love me some Trump! Pollster: And what about Ted? Voter: Holy crap not that guy again, who's he running against?
  3. Every one of these assholes will go out to eat tonight or stay at a clean hotel or take a cab or eat food that someone else picked or have their lawn mowed or need help in some way with something and there is a good chance that an immigrant will provide that service for them. An immigrant who is just trying to climb up the ladder and provide a safe home for their family. We all benefit from the work of people who are just here to live the American dream.
  4. I voted today at the Austin ISD Anita Ferrales Coy facility after posting here that it was the least used site in Travis Co. The school district is going to tear it down sometime in the future to build affordable housing, hopefully for teachers and staff. Sure enough, no line and I saw four other people voting when I was there.
  5. Trump is live in Michigan with folks having medical emergencies in the crowd and Ava Maria is back on the menu.
  6. PBS as others have mentioned, but C-SPAN will have it up forever if you missed it: https://www.c-span.org/video/?539508-1/vice-president-harris-campaigns-houston-texas
  7. Amazingly, you can watch film from the last Texas/Vanderbilt game from 1928. The game was played at Fair Park Stadium in Dallas and Texas lost. The next year, Texas started a new streak of annual games in Dallas against Oklahoma, which continues until this day. OU and Texas had played six times before in Dallas, but not every year. Here's the video, such as it is: And a picture of Fair Park Stadium, the predecessor to the Cotton Bowl:
  8. Kamala onstage in Houston with Willie and Beyonce ... I will never be cool enough to attend such an event. ... meanwhile ... in a dark corner of a private jet terminal in Austin ... Trump and Cruz yuk it up with Joe Rogan ... so so exciting.
  9. Happy she got to vote! For those that haven't, please don't be deterred by lines. Lines will be shortest on Sunday but hours are a bit reduced on Sunday. Here are some places you can vote in Travis County that have the fewest number of early voters per day: East: Anita Ferrales Coy Facility - in east Austin, an old AISD school that is now closed - about 170 voters per day - lowest turnout in town Cepeda Branch Library - also in east Austin - about 350 voters per day Community Center at Del Valle - this may surprise you but it's in Del Valle, just past the airport - 430 voters per day Delco Center - AISD gym off 183 in east Austin. The Delco Center may have more parking than the airport - 550 per day Central: Travis Co Civil and Family Courts Facility - this is downtown on Guadelupe just south of campus. UT has a parking garage just south of it. - 280 voters per day LBJ School of Public Affairs - on the west side of campus. I'm not sure about free parking but UT has another parking garage just south of it, by the soccer/track stadium - 615 voters per day Austin Rec Center - next to House Park off Lamar. Free parking. Free skateboarding. Some folks living in their cars. - 850 per day North Central: Austin Permitting and Development Center - this is central/north, near the Highland Mall ACC campus. They have a parking garage. This is a City of Austin facility so it is very nice and probably cost $1000/sq ft to build - 752 per day Travis Co Clerk - on Airport Blvd, nowhere near the airport, it's south of 290 and west of IH-35. They wish they had CoA money. - 659 per day West: Lake Travis ISD Educational Development Center - I have never been here but it probably has something to do with football, it's just off 620 in Lakeway - 695 per day. If you are waiting in line at Bee Caves City Hall then get in your car and drive to this place with 1/3 the number of voters. North: Gus Garcia Recreation Center - on Rundberg just east of IH-35 - 800 per day Round Rock ISD Hartfield PAC - on McNeil east of Parmer, adjacent to McNeil HS - 971 per day South: Dove Springs Recreation Center - hey it's in Dove Springs, a little south of Stassney and east of IH-35 - 700 per day More info here showing locations, current wait times and a report of the daily totals for each location, which is the data I used above: https://votetravis.gov/current-election-information/current-election/
  10. I am predicting Harris between 270-276, a razor thin margin - and I really really really hope Harris wins by much more. The Pennsylvania winner wins the election. Harris will lead early in Penn but Trump will pass her at some point and she will hopefully retake the lead by morning.
  11. First day numbers for Travis Co: 6.02% of all registered voters have now voted. Top three polling places by ballots cast: Bee Cave City Hall (2,072) Ben Hur Shrine Center (2,041) PFISD Rock Gym (1,942) Bottom three polling places by ballots cast: Anita Ferrales Coy Facility (199) - the old Allen Jr High school Travis Co Civil and Family Courts Facility (327) - two blocks southwest of where Players used to be Cepeda Branch Library (379) - Pleasant Valley at 7th in east Austin
  12. First day and last day of early voting are always crowded. If you don't want to wait in lines, go on Saturday or Sunday of early voting, or late this week or early next week.
  13. https://www.votetexas.gov/voting/allowed-at-the-polling-place.html No phones or other wireless communication devices within 100 feet of voting locations (100 ft is the distance marker, where political signs abruptly end) No firearms unless you are a peace officer No clothing advocating for or against a candidate, measure, or political party.
  14. Mow, edge, leaf blower, rake out flowerbeds ... you can stretch it out if a Texas win is dependent on you continuing to work on the lawn.
  15. I once refused to watch a Texas Nebraska game because I was mowing the lawn at the start of the game and I thought it was working, so I kept mowing. I took a water break at one point, watched for a few minutes and Texas started to suck, so I said that's it ... back to the lawn. We won and by the end of the game my lawn looked great.
  16. Games left involving two teams with 0 or 1 conference loss each: LSU at Texas A&M (10/26) Texas at Vanderbilt (10/26) Tennessee at Georgia (11/16) Texas at Texas A&M (11/30) Tennessee at Vanderbilt (11/30) Missouri has one loss and no games left against zero or one loss teams. Alabama is their biggest test. Alabama can play a spoiler role at home vs Missouri (10/26) and on the road at LSU (11/9) Arkansas can also be a spoiler with games at home vs Texas (11/16) and on the road at Missouri (11/30) Florida still has games at home vs Georgia (11/1), at Texas (11/9) and at home vs LSU (11/16) Ole Miss can spoil Georgia's season at home (11/9)
  17. Hey folks at the game -- a reminder that it is OK to make noise and have fun on your own initiative. You don't have to wait until the giant TV tells you what to do. I was at an OU game in the 1990s where the Texas had a slim lead. The defense was saving the day. People in the stands started the "Defense" chant every time they went out during the second half. It was awesome and a lot of fun. At my second game ever, two guys in front of me decided to start the "Texas .... Fight" chant. They did it and spent the rest of the game celebrating their accomplishment. That could be you. If you want to outsource it, offer some kids $100 if they get the defense chant going. Make sure to tell them that this will not pay off unless they get it done while we are actually on defense. I'm not talking about Venmo or some other electronic crap, offer them crisp official US currency. Those kids will have a great story to tell on Monday morning ... how they went to the Georgia game, got 100k people to chant "Defense" and walked away with $100.
  18. I heard about Trump dancing for an hour at a town hall in Penn, so I had to check it out on C-SPAN: https://www.c-span.org/video/?539179-1/president-trump-hosts-town-hall-oaks-pennsylvania Sorry if it's already been covered here. The great thing about C-SPAN is it's just the unblinking eye of a camera. They just keep rolling. Some unfortunate person fainted at about the 47 minute mark because it was hot in the venue without A/C, and the doors were all closed. Old people standing around for hours, what could go wrong? Trump just stood there for almost an hour dancing to various songs. Kristi Noem looked like a hostage who couldn't find a gracious way to end it. At one point she starts to rearrange the chairs, perhaps hoping that would be a sign that this thing is over. Trump requested Ave Maria by Pavarotti. He then stopped taking questions and just starts rambling. An Ave Maria encore was followed by to "It's a man's world". James Brown said: This is a man's world But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, not one little thing, without a woman or a girl He's lost in the wilderness He's lost in bitterness, he's lost lost They cut out that part of the song... More Trump rambling was followed by "YMCA". Noem tried to find an exit as Trump worked the crowd. She failed and remained onstage for 20 more minutes. The town hall music festival continued with "Hallelujah" while the screen behinds him changed from "TRUMP TOWNHALL" to "TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING". The crowd swayed and turned on their camera flashlights. I will spare you the rest but it did include Elvis singing "I wish I was in Dixie", followed by Guns and Roses singing "Nothin' lasts forever, and we both know hearts can change" and wrapped up with music from Cats. It's like the movie Idiocracy came to life...
  19. It depends. Different schools emphasize different parts of the application. Some schools are test optional, meaning you can submit a test if you think it helps your case, but you don't have to. Some schools require it. Your kid is going to have to write one big essay, and what will seem like a small library of smaller essays on different subjects. It is like trying to get a drivers license in 8-10 states at the same time. For UT, a large part of the freshman spots (65-70%) are taken by top 6% students. About 10% are international/out of state. That leaves a small amount of the spots that everyone else is trying to get. So if you are not in the top 6% for UT, you have to be very attractive in some other way to get one of those 15% spots. A high SAT score plus a kid who is really really interested in a non-popular major might get in ... or maybe not. For other UT system schools, they don't have as many top 10% kids enrolling, so there a high SAT score or even strong "demonstrated interest" in a major might be enough. Check out these stats for UT system schools: Top Ten pct - https://data.utsystem.edu/data-index/applied-admitted-enrolled UTSA - 17% from the top 10% in 2023 UTD - 23% from the top 10% in 2023 UT Austin - 64% from the top 10% in 2023 SAT scores - https://data.utsystem.edu/data-index/admissions-test-scores UTSA - 1116 SAT in 2022 UTD - 1291 SAT in 2022 - BTW I think this is slightly better than Texas A&M's average, UTD has smart kids but it's not the classic college experience. UT Austin - 1403 SAT avg in 2022 If you want to outsource this, you can get a college counselor for your kid that knows what schools want what and will help with applications and school decisions, but it's not cheap. And you are early for that sort of thing.
  20. So, freshman is kinda young, you have a long way to go -- but perhaps things y'all can think about: * Where does he want to go to school? Far away or close by? * Does he like a big school, medium school, or small school? Walk around on a few campuses to see what fits. * What does he enjoy doing or see as a possible career? Working at a job that you enjoy is a lot more rewarding than doing something you don't, especially for 30-40 years. What will that pay and what is the cost of getting the degree that will lead to that career? * What resources does he have to afford four years of college life? Can he get through an undergrad without going into debt, including possibly working during high school or college to provide funds if needed. What are the parents able to provide? Can he avoid debt? These answers might give you a framework to start looking around. And the answers will probably change over the next few years. If he finds a campus that he likes, check out some YouTube videos of students actually at that school to see if it still seems like a fit. Once you have a rough idea of his GPA or SAT score, there are websites and books that will tell you the average SAT scores for various colleges and you'll be able to think about target and reach schools and start to zero in on his options. But that's still in the future. Texas schools are cheap if you are in-state. My kids had a few friends that went to top out of state schools, some went to UT/TAMU, others to UT system schools or SEC/Big-12 schools with some merit, and still others that are thriving at Texas State. Others are doing the basics at ACC for free with a plan to transfer to a "name" school for the final two years. A big spectrum.
  21. On Election Day, about an hour after the polls close and before results are in, Trump will be on TV declaring victory and thanking everyone to chants of "four more years". He will put everyone on the defensive to say "well actually the results are coming in and it looks like Harris may have won PA/MI/WI/whatever". Trump will say "the fake news is going to tell you that Kamala won but that's a lie." It will be close all night and it will come down to PA and it might not be decided by morning. It's going to be a long wait. I think Harris wins the blue wall states to clinch and maybe picks up Nevada to get to 276. Trump picks up Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina. The next day, the shitshow begins. Lawsuits, press conferences at landscaping companies, people with signs. It's not going to be great. The shitshow continues into December with rallies at state capitol buildings and "conventions" of alternative electors and a bunch of crazy stuff from the red team. DC gets locked down over the holidays prepping for what is supposed to be a ceremonial count. Harris as VP counts electoral votes and puts 276 in her column FTW. Trump announces he is a candidate for the 2028 election, primarily to keep raising money and stay out of prison.
  22. Still way too early, but Texas, LSU and Texas A&M still control their own destiny. Everyone else needs help. Oklahoma, Florida and Ole Miss each picked up a 2nd SEC loss and are probably out of contention, without a lot of losses and some fortunate tiebreakers. This week, LSU (at Arkansas) and Texas (vs Georgia) play 1-loss teams and try to remain perfect in league play. Surely A&M can take down Miss St on the road?
  23. That launch window opens at 7 am central time for anyone up early, 8am on the east coast. What a gutsy move. The launch may take place at 7am and the booster stage may return from space at supersonic speed and destroy the launch pad at 7:15 ... or maybe not. Tune in and find out.
  24. I thought Harris and Walz did well and looked great on "60 Minutes" and holy cow Maricopa Co, AZ is crazy town USA. Harris repeated a few lines from the debate, answered some questions and dodged others, but otherwise looked presidential. "60 Minutes" said that Trump's camp wanted them to agree to not fact check his interview before Trump pulled out, and they replied that they fact check ALL their interviews. What did they expect, it's friggin' "60 Minutes" -- this is what they do.
  25. Dang it, sorry I was talking about the Austin ISD board trustee elections, sorry. There are only two seats up for grabs, district 2 in East Austin and an at-large seat at position 8. https://communityimpact.com/austin/south-central-austin/education/2024/09/12/get-to-know-the-austin-isd-school-board-candidates/
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