CFN Quote of the Week
“Lisa and I have many years of memories together, and we intend to remain close to our three grown boys. The decision to end our marriage has been a very personal, emotional and painful decision for us to make. It follows years of marital counseling. We ask for your thoughts and prayers as we go…
CFN Mailbag
Dear people, Enjoyed your Chicken-Fried News article titled “Weed control” (Dec. 29, 2010, Oklahoma Gazette). The myth of weed control at its core was perpetuated by racism with a healthy dose of ignorance. The price of making paper, cups, diapers and disposable plastic items is fueling the degradation of a sustainable consumer-oriented system. Trees and oil…
PR Fail
Twitter was all … well … a-twitter last week when it came out that new Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin would be celebrating with a special pre-inauguration family event at Science Museum Oklahoma. Nothing wrong there. Except the food she’d be serving to all the girls and boys, according to her inauguration website, was McDonald’s. <p…
Streetcar friction
White said at a council meeting in December that the streetcar is too expensive (some estimates have put the track at $20 million per mile) and a waste of resources that could go to improving existing transportation infrastructure, and he regrets voting to include the project in the MAPS 3 program. <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in”>So it…
Don’t mess with daylight
In response to the Dec. 22 letter from Jonathan Grant on his hypothetical 16 benefits of having daylight saving time all year long in Oklahoma, I have some comments. My favorite of Grant’s 16 benefits is No. 13. “More sunlight exposure can help decrease the risk of at least 13 different types of cancer.” But…
‘Equal opportunity and equal rights’
I would like to respond to the letters in the Dec. 29, 2010, Gazette from Kevin Connolly (“The rest of the story”), Jay Wright (“Some more, some less”) and Thomas Furlong (“Government shouldn’t create equality”), especially regarding their statements about employment and equality. <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in”>I would like to challenge Mr. Connolly to consider the difficulties of…
What’s in your working-class wallet?
Jay Wright (Letters, “Some more, some less,” Dec. 29, 2010, Gazette) thinks that criticism of the rich is a recent innovation of the Obama administration. Actually, it’s much older than that: It goes all the way back to Jesus Christ, who plainly and without any ambiguity said, “Blessed are the poor,” and “Woe to the rich.” <p…
Don’t afford ink to ‘Faux News Ilk’
In answer to Tom Furlong’s letter (“Highly illogical”) of Nov. 24, 2010, in the Gazette: <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in”>For once, shockingly, I agree with Tom Furlong. I, too, do not understand why the Gazette affords ink to “illogical ideas” like those of Furlong and the Faux News ilk. <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in”>—Larry Stem <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in”>Oklahoma City
Balancing act
Environmentally speaking, providing power in the U.S. is a big business with a dirty little secret. While electricity is one of the cleanest forms of energy, the production of the stuff — largely requiring fossil fuel-fired plants — is an environmental mess. According to the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund and the Environmental Protection Agency, the…
Blowing steam
Although fuel prices, climate change and other issues have created a push to increasingly use natural gas for electricity generation, over the past several years there has been a shift in how power producers actually derive electricity from natural gas. Many electricity producers have moved from primarily using traditional steam turbines to convert natural gas…
Which comes first?
Amid nationwide momentum for renewable energy, advocates of compressed natural gas are hoping that an increase of CNG fueling stations in Oklahoma will drive natural gas-powered vehicles, or NGVs, to become more popular with the public. Natural gas is already popular with many for its environmental and energypolicy implications. It’s a clean-burning fuel, relatively inexpensive…
Hindering connectivity
One of the fundamental roles of cities is to connect. Cities connect people to people, places to places, and goods to markets. Look around. The majority of our public infrastructure was built for this singular purpose. Streets and sidewalks, phone lines and antennas, highways and railroads — all of these things aim to connect us.…
Consumption assumption
Walters complained that public transportation, as opposed to vehicular transportation, is subsidized and would “take away that freedom.” Mayor Cornett correctly pointed out that roads and fuel are also subsidized. Add to the explicit subsidies for fuel and roads the massive defense spending to ensure our flow of fuel continues unimpeded. Military spending isn’t a…
Nuclear unclear
The issue of nuclear power has radiated controversy for years, and despite some failed efforts in the past two legislative sessions to encourage the building of a nuclear power plant in Oklahoma, it’s not likely that the state will see such a facility in the near future. The last major push to have a nuclear…
“Green Screen” brings environment-friendly documentaries to life
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch, aims for a similar mix of education and entertainment with “Green Screen,” a four-film, four-day program presenting “new documentaries about people and the planet on which we live.” The series kicks off 7:30 p.m. Thursday with “Ingredients,” which looks at the local food movement in America, at…
Hey! Do This
Tri this What if we told you 7 p.m. Saturday brings not one, not two, but three country music superstars to the Oklahoma City Arena, 100 W. Reno? Act now, and with your order of George Strait, we’ll give you Reba McEntire, too! But wait, that’s not all! We’ll even throw in — meow —…
Valley forge
When Jay Miller of Wine Advocate magazine traveled to Washington state in 1990, he said he was able to visit all 42 wineries operating in the entire state in a very short time. That wasn’t an unimpressive number considering that the first winemakers in Washington, Gary Figgins and Rick Small, started making wine in their…
Very crafty
She’s not only creative, but actually has the talent to turn her ideas into really cool things, whether that’s a knit cowl, crocheted clutch or bracelet made of vintage buttons. I’m decidedly less talented, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like trying (and failing). With my friend in mind, I headed to The Gourmet Yarn…
Bite Size
His restaurants there are Topolobampo and Frontera Grill. This past summer, Bayless and his wife, Deann, opened yet another called XOCO, offering affordable, quick-serve food inspired by the street food of Mexico. For example, an item on the menu is a ham-andegg breakfast bread pudding. On the Saveur list, Bayless listed not a thing but…
Drink up!
According to an “urgent news release” issued by the company, Ozarka was erroneously identified on a “damning report on bottled water labeling and source practices” in which the Environmental Working Group gave Ozarka Water a D grade. Here’s the problem, says Oklahoma City’s Ozarka: The EWG cited the Nestlé brand Ozarka Water, which is not…
Turning the switch
Soft, swaying grasses on Oklahoma’s native tallgrass and shortgrass prairies once fed millions of bison. The majority of the prairie has been plowed under for row crops or development. Now similar grasses used to feed livestock could also help provide transportation fuel, known as cellulosic ethanol, into the next several decades. A multiuse, high-yield switchgrass…
Getting squirrely
The Bossy Squirrel Cafe 104 E. Gray, Norman 364-5116 Owner: Melodee Squirrel Food style: Healthy American Average check: $9 Melodee Squirrel has heard all the squirrel jokes and coined a few of her own. But when she finally had the opportunity to own her own restaurant, she and husband Richard decided they’d incorporate their name…
Cutting-edge chili
Coney Island 240 S.W. 25th 232-8734 Coney Island doesn’t have anything to worry about. People have been coming from all over town just to eat here for decades. The Greek spaghetti topped with chili, onions and cheese splashed on the top is a hit, and the flavors are in Technicolor. A server will quickly take…
Meet the frackers
Depending on whom you talk to, hydraulic fracturing, an oil-field technology first used 60 years ago in Stephens County, could either deliver the United States from the political volatility and high prices of imported foreign oil and liquid natural gas, or is a short route to environmental disaster. Simply stated, when used by oil and…
North face
When Bruce Rinehart thought he’d found the perfect location for his second Rococo, he did what every devoted husband should do. “I went to my wife, and she said, ‘Go for it. I love the location and I’d love to have a location up north,’” he said. Rinehart spoke between phones ringing off the hook…
The Blue Door opens to the airwaves
Faithful Blue Door fans may recognize the name of the show, as it’s the same as a program Johnson ran on KRXO-FM 107.7 that ended seven years ago. But while the host station has changed, “Sake”’s commitment to good music has not. While the venue at 2805 N. McKinley caters almost exclusively to singer/songwriters, the…
Made in Dagenham
In 1968, employed at Ford’s assembly plant in Dagenham, London, were some 55,000 men and 187 women. Which gender do you think ruled the roost? You do the math. Opening Friday, “Made in Dagenham” depicts the real-life story and struggle of those female sewing machinists who bravely went on strike against what they rightly saw…
Something Fierce
Fierce Bad Rabbit9 p.m. Saturday Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewing Company50 Penn Placewww.belleislerestaurant.com 840-1911 As most bands will tell you, there’s a lot riding on a name. It can help make you (The Who) or break you (Hoobastank). For Fierce Bad Rabbit, settling on one was much the same struggle, before finding inspiration in a children’s…
Doin’ the Pidgin
Pidgin band with the jonbear fourtet10 P.m. Thursday Coach’s Brewhouse 110 W. Main, Norman WWW.coachsbrewhouse.com 321-2739 $5 Judging from the muffled horn blasts and sultry guitar riffs recently popping from behind the walls and doors of Norman concert venues, one might think that Parliament-Funkadelic has taken residence there. It hasn’t, but the true culprit is rather convincing. It…
Mixed media
Friday, ongoing If Susan Cromer Yback’s new exhibit of angel artwork seems, well, familiar, there’s a good reason: The collage works utilize pieces from recent Oklahoma Gazette issues. “The Gazette always has so many different images in it, so there’s a lot of fun stuff to work with, and it’s current,” said Cromer Yback. “It…
With dunk contest, NBA is grooming Ibaka for stardom
Few events have created more stars than the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest. From its inception at the 1984 NBA All-Star game, many of the league’s marquee moments have occurred as part of this mid-season exhibition. From Julius “Dr. J” Erving’s free-throw line slam and the mano a mano battles between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins,…
Getting jazzed
Looking for jazz? Then look up — to The Petroleum Club, that is. The 35th-floor restaurant in Chase Tower, 100 N. Broadway, hosts the Oklahoma City Jazz Orchestra at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The concert will feature eight songs, including Jerome Richardson’s “Groove Merchant,” Benny Carter’s “All That Jazz” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train.”…
Art is dead
Skullmaster6 p.m. FridayHall of Tattoos328 E. Main, Norman 364-7335 With a nickname like SkullMaster, metro artist Joey Williams would be expected to have a rather morbid taste in decor. His walls are filled with skulls from antelope, rhinoceros, hippopotamuses and other fallen members of the animal kingdom. But the result is not grim and…
Mane event
Broncho with The Boom Bang and Skating Polly9 p.m. Friday Opolis, 113 N. Crawford, Norman www.opolis.org 820-0951 It’s easy to get past the little things when the bigger picture is so great. Ryan Lindsey was just hours removed from learning that many of his belongings — including a laptop, guitars, recording equipment and a sizable chunk of his record…
Still bouncing
Madball with Comeback Kid, Cruel Hand, STAY and Pay at the Pump 6 p.m. Thursday The Conservatory, 8911 N. Western www.conservatoryokc.com 607-4805 $14 advance, $15 door When it comes to hard-core punk, few characters are more essential than Freddy “Madball” Cricien. The younger halfbrother of Agnostic Front’s Roger Miret, he was close at hand when…
