Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters) talk about a welcome

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Next week is the annual Homoclimbtastic convention in Fayetteville, West Virginia

(Community Matters) In early from Marfa. Spent last night in Fredericksburg, drinks & dinner with my long lost, very dear friends Joe Cloud & John Wallace. Then, a night cap  in their exquisite gardens with their friend Bill Joseph. Joe insisted I stay in one of their next door cottages, the All Seasons Main Street Retreat.

Plus they own the Downtown Retreat and the Cottage at Circle J. I definitely recommend them while in Fredericksburg – Joe is beyond meticulous (not to mention the bed was wayyyy comfortable)

(Community Matters) Thought provoking – from the NY Times

(Community Matters)  Dark energy is thought to comprise 74% of the universe but what is it?  Yesterday was the first time I got that it’s a placeholder – they don’t know. They estimate that atoms account for 4%, that dark matter accounts for 22% and they call the remaining 74% dark energy. “It’s a fudge factor to help explain why the universe is expanding” and its expansion has accelerated. Expansion rate = radiation (light) + matter + universe’s shape + dark energy

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(Community Matters) Minimalism as mass tourism and entertainment. Though several years old, Yve-Alain Bois’ review of two Judd shows provides an enlightening perspective on minimalism and Donald Judd’s work.

Judd’s obsession with the proper installation and exhibition of his sculptures, the selection of materials & the integrity thereof, is conveyed in Ann Temkin’s piece on the preservation of his works.

I’m embarrassed to admit, while I’ve seen John Water’s poster Visit Marfa (image herein), I’d never stopped to realize it’s meant as a ridicule of minimalism, Judd and Marfa

(Community Matters) Super story on Joe Christie and his internationally strolling buddies in Michael Barnes’ Out & About

Joe & Tana are in Marfa this weekend too

(Community Matters) an important Economist article about Fracking – Sorting frack from fiction

There are three main concerns: that it could set off earthquakes or play havoc with water supplies; and that methane could escape into the atmosphere and exacerbate global warming. . . . A report from America’s National Research Council on energy and seismic activity, due to be published later this year, records only two incidents of minor tremors associated with fracking—the one in Britain and just one in America, despite the scale of activity there.. . . With over 20,000 wells drilled in the past decade there have been only a few instances of groundwater contamination, all of them due to breaches of existing regulations.. . . The EPA is now conducting the biggest study ever into all aspects of shale exploration [including methane emissions], likely to be published next year, which might help allay public fears.

(Community Matters) encouraging editorials from the New York Times and The Economist (cover: Comeback kid: Rebuilding America’s Economy) – quotes from Politico’s Playbook:

MOOD MUSIC – N.Y. Times col. 1, “In Latest Data, Economists See Signs of Pickup: Growth Is Not Robust, but It’s Firming Up,” by Annie Lowrey : “Economists at many of the most-watched forecasting organizations, both public and private, expect growth to pick up through the summer and into the fall, although only to a pace broadly considered sluggish, if not dismal. … [H]eadwinds have started to slack, leading some economists to believe that jobs and growth numbers will track up modestly. Perhaps most significant is the falling price of oil. … Economists pointed to surging new car sales as … a sign that households are confident enough to make a major purchase … [T]here are accumulating signs that housing has turned around, perhaps auguring … an upturn in construction jobs and growing sales.” http://nyti.ms/MoSszf

–COVER OF THE ECONOMIST, all global editions, is a gym-rat Uncle Sam: “Comeback kid: Rebuilding America’s economy “: “America’s economy is certainly in a tender state. But the pessimism of the presidential slanging-match misses something vital. Led by its inventive private sector, the economy is remaking itself. Old weaknesses are being remedied and new strengths discovered, with an agility that has much to teach stagnant Europe and dirigiste Asia. … [T]here is a boom … in high-value services (architecture, engineering and finance) and a growing ‘app economy,’ nurtured by Facebook, Apple and Google, which employs more than 300,000 people; its games, virtual merchandise and so on sell effortlessly across borders.” See the cover. http://econ.st/LM6qyZ Read the editorial. http://econ.st/NoGE0X

(Community Matters) Travel & Leisure

(Community Matters) inflation is being reported as less than 2%, but by the 1980s formula, it’s almost 10%. Is high inflation squeezing US consumers?  

in Marfa for a McDonald Observatory board of visitors weekend as well as for Marfa Public Radio. My house guest is John Del Vecchio, a portfolio manager of a short fund and an author. So, not hard to imagine us discussing the difference between core & headline inflation and why any government reported inflation numbers are or aren’t accurate (at least within historical context). John’s introduced me to a site: Shadow Government Statistics which I find fascinating and to which I’ve just subscribed.

for instance, while the official inflation rate is under 2%, if we use the 1990 government definition, it’s 5%. It is almost 10% as measured by the 1980 definition. There are strong arguments that the latter most accurately reflects inflation as experienced by consumers

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(Community Matters) UT is now conducting a formal investigation of research improprieties by Professor Mark Regnerus, who published the study funded by the hate group, Family Research Council – finding disturbing study results of children to gay parents.  The academic journal which published the study is also reviewing its publication.  Original posting which cited research bias here

(Community Matters) so enjoy my roles – thrilled to notify Lifeworks that they’ve been awarded a grant from the ACF Chestnut Fund established by the Tom & Lynn Meredith Family. $500,000 to support Lifeworks’  The Works at Pleasant Valley, an affordable housing project targeting youth exiting foster care, youth families, and the homeless.

along with Rudy Green & Mike Cook, I serve as an advisor to this ACF fund established from the Meredith’s donation of the land and the sale of condos on the Featherlite tract – Terry Mitchell was the condo partner