Dallas has the misfortune of being known by most people as the place where two famous people were shot. JR Ewing, thankfully, was only a character on the TV series Dallas. President John F Kennedy, on the other hand, was tragically a real person. His assassination has long fed the conspiracy gristmill. The only place to separate the reality from the rumors, to the extent it can be, is here in Dallas. The Sixth Floor Museum has the most extensive information on the assassination. It’s located on (and named after) the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, where former mar... read more

I began today at one of Houston’s most popular tourist site, the Johnson Space Center. Its world famous as the place that directs all American manned space flights. All Apollo radio messages started with a reference to Houston (including the infamous one from Apollo 13 listed in the blog title). The center requires a drive, because it exists on the very edge of the city proper. Civilians get funneled to a large parking lot outside a white, vaguely futuristic building labeled Space Center Houston. Inside contains three things: a museum on the manned space program, a space themed url=http://www.spacecenter.org/KidsSpacePlace.ht... read more

Today, I dove into the Houston art scene, starting at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. It consists of two modernist buildings across the street from each other. Since this is Houston, that ‘street’ was four lanes wide. To prevent people getting killed, the museum built a tunnel between the buildings. It holds one of the museum’s most remarkable artworks, The Light Inside from Texas artist James Turell. He builds installations that manipulate the viewer’s perception of light. Walking through the tunnel, it looks like a long blue narrow tube, through a pink area of indefinite size. Careful close up study shows that the actual corridor is shaped like an oval. Pink lights on the curved walls create the light field, and two strips of bright blue LEDs create the... read more

After some time in this state, I’ve gotten the impression that Texans view their home a little differently to how most Americans view theirs. People from other states tend to see themselves as US citizens first, and residents of their states second. Texans, by contrast, give the distinct impression that they view themselves as Texas citizens first and US citizens as almost a side effect of that. Locals like to call this attitude ‘Texas Pride'. Those from nearby states tend to call it things that can’t be repeated in public. Whatever one thinks of this way of looking at the world, it’s grounded in url=... read more

Fredericksburg has a reputation within Texas as a place to escape. I spent most of the day relaxing, except for laundry and other chores. The Laundromat had two things that really showed where I am. Like most, it had a few TVs on for people to watch while waiting. In most parts of the country, they show soaps. Here, they showed football highlights. Not just any highlights either, HIGH SCHOOL football highlights. The other item was an editorial in the local paper. The long drought in the state has caused problems for local wildlife by reducing the food supply. The editorial stated that the logical solution was to increase the length of hunting season this year! Welcome to Texas.... read more