March, 2012
Houston
Standing in the Houston-Bush International terminal while waiting for a connecting flight, I watched an information monitor flip from a map of the US with delays speckled in green and red and some nonsense infomercials. Then I noticed that there was a ticker banner running across the timed portion of the delay-broadcast. It said, “The Secretary of DHS has determined that Venezuelan airports servicing…” and at that point it switched to the infomercial, which had no ticker banner. Since I understand that Houston-Bush International services airports in Venezuela, I thought I might be interested in what the old Secretary of DHS had determined. So I waited for the delay-broadcast to come around. It did and it cut off the Secretary’s determination, again. In fact for the 30 minutes that I stood there watching (there was little else that I will admit to watching) it never got around to informing the traveling public what threat on our security these Venezuelan airports posed, if any.
St. Louis
Driving east on I-70 entering the St. Louis metropolis there is a billboard sign showing us, “Hot tasty butts” and a picture of 2 naked butts. Well, pig butts. The sign goes on to advertise “Little Piggy’s BBQ.”
Amarillo
Driving west on I-40, entering Amarillo is a billboard sign telling us that “Fuzzy Butts” has all our liquor needs. I’m not sure I want to know what fuzzy butts are.
Most of Missouri
The Missouri Department of Transportation, MODOT, has sponsored many large digital billboards that are pixel light boards connected to the Internet so that they can broadcast information to the driving public. Various messages are broadcast and change with MODOT’s needs.
“Buckle up for safety.”
“Dial *55 for emergencies.”
“Don’t drink and drive.”
But this last one was an epiphany for me.
“Don’t text and drive.”
The state of Missouri is texting its motoring constituents to not text and drive!
Our tax dollars at work.
From your grumpy Uncle/Brother Dave.
Weary