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  • RT @gadgetboy: ‘Incoming’ iPhone App Allows You To Use Skype Over 3G and Edge [Apps] http://ff.im/-43eU7 #
  • RT @gadgetboy: ‘Incoming’ iPho…

    RT @gadgetboy: ‘Incoming’ iPhone App Allows You To Use Skype Over 3G and Edge [Apps] http://ff.im/-43eU7

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for May 13th through June 10th

    These are my links for May 13th through June 10th:

    • ICSI Netalyzr – analyze your network connection, very detailed and comprehensive, web based
    • How to install the Windows 7 Release Candidate – Windows 7 Release Candidate: Installation instructions
    • Twitter Lists – twitter lists, resources and how tos
    • 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media – Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They?ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. And they?ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment.
    • Live social actions map | im doing my part.org – live twitter map of social actions around the world, a very useful toll for social activists who put on events like twestival

    Can I fist pump you my social networks?

    During the week of May 24 through May 31st AustinLifestyles.com, The Spring, BHI, and RegistrationAssistant are hosting a visitor from the Netherlands, Paul Geurts of MyNameisE.com. He is bringing the first prototypes of a social networking and business card connector to Austin, Texas.  If you’re around Austin next week and want a demo, call Paul at 512–699–4000 or email terry at spring dot net.

    connector1

    My Name is E

    The E device can be used at conventions, trade shows, and meetings, in metropolitian areas like Austin and on college campuses like the University of Texas.  There are over 1.2 million conventions, trade shows and events in the US every year.

    What is the E device? In its current incarnation, E is small white, sleek looking device much like an ipod nano or USB storage device. With E, you can share your contact information and social networks in one simple gesture.

    Connector allows you to safely transfer an online business card and your set of social networks in a simple gesture like a fist pump or a high five. Tap two Connectors together and you’re connected. Synchonize Connector by using the built-in USB plug with your PC or Mac. It is ideal for networking at large events and conferences.

    During the week that Paul Geurts is visiting Austin, we will be meeting with venture investors, potential partners, customers and forming a team to distribute and promote E throught the US and North America.

    There is no setup with connector, it can be used immediately out of the box. It’s equipped with a lithium polymer battery which allows you to use it for 72 hours on a 2 hour charge. It holds two of your E Business Cards (one for personal and one for professional) and connects to RFID tags as well as other Connectors and iphones. It gives you intuitive feedback through LED lighting.  The RFID tag feature opens it up the world of “choice based advertising” and integrates these connections in to your social network activity stream.  It connects you to objects and to the environment as well as to people.

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for February 22nd through April 11th

    These are my links for February 22nd through April 11th:

    Texas Social Media Awards top 25 – I made the cut!

    How in the world did I get on the same list as Cali Lewis? I don’t know but it’s amazing to be on a list of the “top 25 Texas Social Networkers” with her and 23 other amazing people. To whoever nominated me, thank you! It’s an honor to be on the same list as all these incredible social networkers.

    The list was pared down from 125 nominees. The actual awards show where all the award winners will get *trophies* is on March 15 from 6 to 9 pm at Ballet Austin, 501 W 3rd St, with tickets going for $15.00.

    These are the Texas Social Media Award Winners.

    They winners are:

    HENRY ADASO

    JOSHUA BAER

    PERRY BELCHER

    MIKE CHAPMAN

    J.R. COHEN

    MICHAEL COTE

    JENN DEERING DAVIS

    SAM DECKER

    LORI FALCON

    KYLE FLAHERTY

    MATT GLAZER

    LISA GODDARD

    MICHELLE GREER

    DAVID GUENTHNER

    KAMI HUYSE

    CALI LEWIS

    DAVID J. NEFF

    ERICA O’GRADY

    BRYAN PERSON

    CONNIE REECE

    BENN AND LANI ROSALES

    DWIGHT SILVERMAN

    AARON STROUT

    PAUL TERRY WALHUS

    MICHAEL WILLIAMS

    It’s a great list and I’m honored to be listed on it.  Michelle Greer has been really helpful to me and I hope I’ve been helpful to her.  She recently had the major role in pulling off the “Twestival” that raised 10 grand for world water causes.    I had the privilege of interviewing Cali Lewis as she breezed in and out of last year’s SXSW.  Below is that interview with Cali.

    Michael Cote made the list, he really was the person that got me going on twitter and his “DrunkandRetired” podcast rocks, it’s the best podcast coming out of Austin, Texas.  Erica O’Grady is super, she really did an awesome job at the recent Mashable event in Austin and the Camp connected with it.  Last summer I got to co-moderate a session with Connie Reece at the SEMforSMB conference and did an hour long video with her on Youtube and all over with her on social networking.   Lani Rosales has given me a lot of great advice and she’s a riot.  I hope to get to know all the other award winners better, they’re an awesome group of people.

     

    OrgSync social media campaign works!

    AUSTIN, Texas (Feb 11, 2009) — OrgSync, Inc (OrgSync.com) is excited to announce its successful campaign to raise $1500 for Charity: Water using social media. On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, OrgSync’s team launched a social media campaign to raise awareness for the importance of clean, safe drinking water around the world. The team of 25 employees used Twitter, Facebook Newsfeeds and their company blog to rally the public behind the cause. OrgSync’s goal was to raise $1500 to donate to Charity: Water during the Austin Twestival event on February 12. Michelle Greer, well known Austin media figure and coordinator for Austin Twestival, says “Big problems like the lack of clean drinking water won’t get solved over night by the few. They will get solved by the many donating in bits and pieces towards a common goal. OrgSync pooled their resources and ended up being one of our top sponsors and I hope more companies follow this approach towards charitable giving.”

    Over 175 cities around the world will be uniting on Thursday, February 12, 2009 to increase awareness and raise money for those in need of clean, safe drinking water. “This is a great cause and an opportunity to unite our Austin community with cities across the world to create social good. As a leader I am passionate about leveraging my understanding of social media to help create awareness and provide people the opportunity to give back,” said Fortenberry.

    The OrgSync team was successful at meeting its goal of raising $1566 in 24 hours and is excited to contribute 100% of it to Charity: Water. Andrew Katz, Director of Community Relations feels, “It’s very important for our team to give back and get involved in the Austin Community. We feel that by being visibly active in the community, we can be positive role models for our students and clients to do the same!” OrgSync’s successful campaign proves how important online communication and networking is for increasing awareness and uniting individuals for a greater good.

    About OrgSync
    OrgSync is a co-curricular management tool that helps colleges and universities communicate more effectively across their entire campus. OrgSync offers a hosted service that provides the tools needed by campuses to easily organize, assess, track, and manage students and student organizations. OrgSync is currently helping over 100 campuses manage their student co-curricular management, leadership development and communication needs. OrgSync is headquartered in Austin, TX with satellite offices in Dallas, TX, Miami, FL, and Tucson, AZ. For more information about OrgSync, visit OrgSync.com. To schedule an interview with CEO Eric Fortenberry, contact Nicole Andreas at (512) 238-8534 or nicole@orgsync.com.

    Resources
    OrgSync, Inc
    Charity: Water
    Austin Twestival
    Related Links
    online communication
    co-curricular management

    video interview with Dr Faye – water and twestival

    More discussion with Dr DD Faye about the twestival.com on Feb 12 in Austin and around the world. One in six people worldwide lack adequate drinking water – 1.1 billion people – and twestival.com and Dr Faye are both part of the solution to providing clean drinking water to the world’s population.


    Water Shortage Worldwide – twestival.com and Dr Faye from Paul Walhus on Vimeo.

    Live Earth and Twestival

    By rallying together globally, under short timescales, for a single aim on the same day, the Twestival hopes to bring awareness to the global water crisis. Live Earth is the global video partner for Twestival events occuring next Thursday, February 12 in more than 185 cities worldwide to benefit charity: water. Scott Harrison of charity: water discusses Twestival below:

    Click here for more on charity: water. For an entertaining, in-depth explanation of Twestival, watch the slideshow below:


    View Twestival videos and submit your own at video.liveearth.org. Find a Twestival near you at twestival.com. Follow Live Earth on Twitter.

    River of Austin pictures

    My cool app for today has to be “flickriver”; it’s well named as it delivers a river of pictures that just keep on going from flickr. I used their embed badge to create a river of Austin images.  It’s fairly awesome. View most interesting 'Austin' photos on Flickriver

    Silona Bonewald interview at GeekAustin party

    Paul Terry Walhus and Kimberlie Dykeman interview folks at the Lynn Bender GeekAustin party on Sept 30, 2008 at the Union Park bar and restaurant on West 6th Street in Austin, Texas. Julie Gomoll of LaunchPad, Silona of the Transparent Federal Budget and Austin Aaron are a few of the people interviewed.  Stay tuned for the entire series of interviews and some commentary on this night and on Lynn Bender’s terrific idea to start a “BarCollege”.  Yes, you heard it right, BarCollege.  It’s an awesome hyper extension of the BarCamp concept that Lynn hopes people will steal.  They should.  It’s an idea whose time has come and one that should spread like the co-working movement.

    Twestival Schedule – Ace’s, Austin, Feb 12

    Here’s the schedule of events for Twestival 2009 at Ace’s in Austin, TX on Feb 12
    8:00 Meet and mingle
    8:50 A word from sponsors
    9:00 Twestival Sumo Smackdown (see video below)
    10:00 Presentation by Glimmer of Hope, a non-profit that drills wells in Africa
    10:45 Performance by T-Bird and the Breaks, one of Austin’s most highly regarded up-and-coming bands. This 11 piece band won accolades from both ACL’s “Sound and the Jury” Awards as well as the Austin Music Awards. They’ve sold out their past two shows and just released a new album. See video below.

    A donation of just $10 can provide someone in Africa clean drinking water for 12 years. Collectively, we can initiate substantial change for developing nations. Here are are a variety of ways you can make this happen:

    - Get Tickets: http://www.amiando.com/twestivalaustin.html
    - Donate: http://www.charitywater.org/twestival (Select Austin)
    - Update your Facebook and Twitter statuses: Include a link to http://www.austintwestival.com
    - Sponsor the event: Companies can learn about opportunities here – http://tinyurl.com/aom2hp
    - Donate an item for the silent auction: Email snaxxx@gmail.com

    Join over 100 cities across the globe and take part in this unprecedented event.

    Twestival set for Feb 12

    Twestival is going to be held around the world on Thursday, March 12.  It is the biggest twitter festival ever and has been set up to support the billion plus people in the world without clean drinking water.  It’s a fundamental cause that needs your support.  The Austin event will be at Ace’s on 6th Street at 8 pm on March 12.

    Twestival resources are downloadable below, for the media and websites to spread the word about the event and charity: water, where all proceeds are being donated.

    Please use the tag #twestival in blogs and other social media, so we can find your posts more easily, which will be tracked on Delicious – head here to see the latest coverage and what global sources are saying

    Contact twestival@googlemail.com or @jazcummins for interviews, further quotes, etc.

    Twestival is 100% volunteer organised, but we will try and get back to you as soon as we can.

    Downloads

    Resources

    Twestival set for Feb 12

    Twestival is going to be held around the world on Thursday, March 12.  It is the biggest twitter festival ever and has been set up to support the billion plus people in the world without clean drinking water.  It’s a fundamental cause that needs your support.  The Austin event will be at Ace’s on 6th Street at 8 pm on March 12.

    Twestival resources are downloadable below, for the media and websites to spread the word about the event and charity: water, where all proceeds are being donated.

    Please use the tag #twestival in blogs and other social media, so we can find your posts more easily, which will be tracked on Delicious – head here to see the latest coverage and what global sources are saying

    Contact twestival@googlemail.com or @jazcummins for interviews, further quotes, etc.

    Twestival is 100% volunteer organised, but we will try and get back to you as soon as we can.

    Downloads

    Resources

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 7th through February 1st

    These are my links for January 7th through February 1st:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for December 20th through January 4th

    These are my links for December 20th through January 4th:

    • 70 top tips to generate blog traffic – 75 traffic generation techniques that I learned while blogging
    • Display RSS Feeds – everything you need to display rss on your web page. Just plug in an rss feed and most of these will gen up code you can use on your web page or blog
    • Tweetree – Home – Tweetree, a site that takes your Twitter account and tweaks it, just might be the reason you close that desktop client and return to the browser for your Twitter cravings. – mashable
    • austinlifestyles’ favorites – Slideshow of my favorite pictures of Austin, Texas on flickr
    • Austin Texas favorites on Flickr – My Austin, Texas favorite pictures from flickr . . . some pretty amazing stuff… recommended: run this as a slide show

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for December 13th through December 17th

    These are my links for December 13th through December 17th:

    • The Daily Beast – Tina Brown (formerly New Yorker editor) daily politics, culture and media
    • CMS Showcase: 31 Remarkable Drupal Powered Websites – Six Revisions – From personal blogs and brochure sites, to fully-featured social networking sites, portals, news sites, and e-commerce websites, Drupal has proven itself as the most robust platform currently available in the content management system market.
    • tweetworks – With groups and discussions, TweetWorks helps you get the most out of Twitter. How it works?
    • iTweet 2 : Web – web interface to twitter, nice job
    • 10 Great Thunderbird Addons You Must Have | MakeUseOf.com – More than a year back, Aibek wrote a great list of 35 must-have thunderbird addons. Since then, a lot of great addons have been created and some of the older addons have also evolved to become better ones.

    KVET’s Bucky and Bob Show comes to Baxters on Main 2

    This is the full 40 minute video of Bob Cole and Bucky Godbolt from KVET appearing at Baxters on Main in Bastrop, Texas on Friday, August 1, 2008.  Ronnie Macdonald, Bastrop County Judge, and Terry Orr, Bastrop Mayor, stepped up to the mic on this early morning Austin radio talk show.  Click on the link below to play.

    Snow in Bastrop, I kid you not…

    Snow in Bastrop, I kid you not @Loreen72 and @andrealorenz I left an “a” out of your name in prev. tweet, ooops.

    @andrealorenz 2,275 people conf…

    @andrelorenz 2,275 people confirmed their attendance via Facebook for this weekend’s Xmas fest in San Marcos Wow! Is there a link too?

    @natalietejeda you are a “pr m…

    @natalietejeda you are a “pr machine” it says, were you sent here from the future?

    @adiegirl It’s not every day t…

    @adiegirl It’s not every day that you meet a forensic entomologist. Visions of CSI dancing in my head.

    Thanks for being the first fol…

    Thanks for being the first followers @andrealorenz @adiegril and @natalietejeda we’ll try and keep you up to date on everything Bastrop TX

    Setting up social networking w…

    Setting up social networking widgets on wordpress blog at http://bastropbuilder.coms/blog and enjoying SNOW!

    Steve Box to discuss water issues Thursday in Bastrop

    Here is a quick final reminder of the meeting tomorrow, Thursday the 11th, at Argent Court Assisted Living, 508 Old Austin Highway, behind the HEB. We’ll start at 7 PM, as noted in the reminder I sent Monday.

    Following that, take a look at the minutes from the last meeting attached to this message. We will vote to accept or amend them Thursday.

    Next, a message from Steve Box about local/regional water issues. Very important! Please consider following the links and writing/calling the appropriate folks to let them know your take on the situation.

    We will likely have an issues committee next year that will focus on this sort of thing, and other local, state, and national issues. They may prepare regular updates on a variety of topics. I can’t repeatedly feature one issue over another, so please sign up for these updates from Environmental Stewardship yourself. As I looked below I see I didn’t forward this in time…..the meeting we were to target happened on the 9th. I’m sure it will still help to contact them, however. Nothing is settled in a single meeting (unless it is something being railroaded through at the last minute by our fearless “leader” Geo W. Bush).

    Bastrop water crisis

    Water Marketer Threatens Ecology of Region

    Blue Water Hearing on December 9, 2008

    A company that buys and sells groundwater, Blue Water Systems, is attempting to take the water that supports our quality of life in the Lost Pines region and ship it off to our western neighbors without regard to the damage that might result in Bastrop, Lee, and other counties.  On December 9, Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District (GCD), the District that is responsible for groundwater in Milam and Burleson counties, will consider Blue Water’s request to pump and transport up to 71,000 acre-feet of water per year … a volume that is so large it impacts the counties in our district.  Environmental Stewardship has investigated this request and opposes the application. Click here for the full story.

    At issue is whether the Post Oak Savannah GCD will side with Blue Water and allow irreparable harm to the ecology of our counties or will they uphold the duty granted them by the Texas Constitution and Texas Water Code … “to conserve, preserve, protect and recharge the groundwater resources.”

    Post Oak Savannah GCD has not met the criteria established in the Texas Water Code that would allow it to authorize such a permit. As one of five districts responsible for protecting groundwater in our region, it has not adequately considered the impact that authorizing such a permit would have both within its own district, and on the surrounding area, including Bastrop and Lee counties. Click here for full text of our letter to Post Oak Savannah GCD.

    Make your view known by calling or writing Post Oak Savannah GCD’s Board of Directors at 512-455-9900, 800-231-8196, fax 512-455-9909, posgcd@tconline.net before 5:30 on December 9, 2008. Click here for hearing notice. Click her for SAMPLE LETTER.

    channeldvorak – not pretty but it’s got all the good stuff

    I’ve been twittering for a bit.  I tweeted @dvorak about his great podcasts and columns.  Have you seen http://channeldvorak.com?  If John get his son Arick to open source this, I’ll use it.  I’m already rocking and rolling with Arick’s other open source project which has something to do with Craigslist.  Sssshhh!

    Lyn Bender just sent me a cryptic email about some kind of cryptic event Saturday morning.  If I can talk Dot in to going to Nia Saturday morning and do the ride share thing we might have a go.  It would be nice, Lynn, to have a localtion and maybe a couple of details.

    Just got off the skype with rjnagy and he’s still resistant to twitter.  Doesn’t he know this is futile?

    We had a great wordpress meetup recently at http://conjunctured.com with Any Skelton or skeltoac everywhere.

    While I am typing this I am talking to a delightful Spring rep, Josey, from the Phillipines who just set up my pda phone which I’m going to use for a backup for my iphone.  She was really, really nice.  I wish all support calls were like this!

    I’m building a “social network” for Austin, Texas and also working on a green home site.  If you want to beta test or have input on the Austin Social Network, go to http://austinlifestyles.com and sign up for the beta.  If you’re actually in Austin, Texas we’re going to have some cool events coming up for our beta testers like pizza parties, basketball games, guest speakers, presentations, etc. It’s going to be a hoot!

    ptw out

     

     

     

     

     

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for December 8th through December 9th

    These are my links for December 8th through December 9th:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for November 24th through December 7th

    These are my links for November 24th through December 7th:

    • Whatever – interesting, funny daily blog – Whatever – Taunting the Tauntable since 1998 John Scalzi, Proprietor
    • Gmail – Inbox- walhus@gmail.com – my gmail inbox
    • Delicious – delicious main page
    • near:”Austin, Texas” within:50mi – Twitter Search – Austin, Texas realtime twitter search within 50 miles of Austin, Texas 50 results
    • Facebook | Home – facebooks live realtime feed, watch it refresh continually in realtime
    • Home – FriendFeed – Real-time – friendfeed on steroids, real time view of your friends updates
    • Plaxo – Home – plaxo would get a good review from me if it didn’t continually scramble up my contacts. Plaxo is a mess. It could be great if they fixed it.
    • springnet’s daily Bookmarks on Delicious – sites to look at on a daily basis … for a more narrow selection see http://del.icio.us/springnet/primo for the best daily sites
    • Facebook | Home – number one social network with tons of cool apps, you could almost make it your blog if it were more public
    • iGoogle – google’s start page you can personalize with widgets and content
    • Twitter Search – best twitter search, let’s you search by geographic area in advanced search
    • Reva Bhalla on CNN
    • Reva Bhalla – This Austin international security expert has made some of the most intelligent comments on the situation in Mumbai India with the terror attacks on the Taj Mahal Hotel and other sites
    • Swaine’s World – Michael Swaine added me as a friend on facebook and I was amazed to find that he lives in Grants Pass, Oregon and has written some remarkable books like “Fire in the Valley”

    Today I’m 64, like the song says

    When I get older losing my hair,
    Many years from now,
    Will you still be sending me a valentine
    Birthday greetings bottle of wine?

    If I’d been out till quarter to three
    Would you lock the door,
    Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
    When I’m sixty-four?

    oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oooo
    You’ll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah)
    And if you say the word,
    I could stay with you.

    I could be handy mending a fuse
    When your lights have gone.
    You can knit a sweater by the fireside
    [ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/aK ]
    Sunday mornings go for a ride.

    Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
    Who could ask for more?
    Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
    When I’m sixty-four?

    Every summer we can rent a cottage
    In the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear
    We shall scrimp and save
    Grandchildren on your knee
    Vera, Chuck, and Dave

    Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
    Stating point of view.
    Indicate precisely what you mean to say
    Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

    Give me your answer, fill in a form
    Mine for evermore
    Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
    When I’m sixty-four?

    Whoo!

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for November 16th through November 23rd

    These are my links for November 16th through November 23rd:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for October 22nd through October 31st

    These are my links for October 22nd through October 31st:

    Bastrop County Election returns

    President
    McCain  13797
    Obama   11678

    US Senate
    Cornyn  13458
    Noriega  11086

    US Rep, Dist 10
    McCaul  3518
    Doherty  4018

    US Rep, Dist 25
    Morovich  6745
    Doggett  10287

    Railroad Commissioner
    Michael Williams  11521
    Mark Thompson  11710

    State Rep, Dist 17
    Kleinschmidt  12960
    Dippel  11352

    423rd District Judge
    Van Gilder  10453
    Duggan  14697

    Sheriff
    Pickering  12841
    Smith  12560

    County Commissioner, Pct 1
    Willie Piña 3908
    Dock Jackson  3702

    County Commissioner, Pct 3
    Loucks 2601
    Klaus  3215

    President – Barak Obama (D)
    US Senate – John Cornyn (R)
    US Rep, Dist 10 – Michael McCaul (R)
    US Rep, Dist 25 – Lloyd Dogget (D)
    Railroad Commissioner – Michael Williams (R)

    Chief Justice, Tx Supreme Court – Wallace Jefferson (R)
    Tx Supreme Court, Place 7 – Dale Wainwright (R)
    Tx Supreme Court, Place 8 – Phil Johnson (R)
    Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 – Tom Price (R)
    Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 – Paul Womack (R)
    Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9 – Cathy Cochran (R)

    State Rep, District 17 – Tim Kleinschmidt (R)

    Chief Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals – Woddie Jones (D) (replacing
    incumbent Republican Ken Law)
    21st District Judge – Terry Flenniken (D) (unopposed)
    335th District Judge – Reva Towslee Corbett (R) (unopposed)
    423rd District Judge – Chris Duggan (D) (replacing Republican
    Charlotte Hinds, whom Derek Van Gilder defeated in the primary)

    Sheriff – Terry Pickering (R)

    County Tax Assessor-Collector – Linda Harmon (D)

    County Commissioner, Precinct 1 – Willie Piña (R)
    County Commissioner, Precinct 3 – John Klaus (D)

    Constable, Precinct 1 – Dan Hall (R) (unopposed)
    Constable, Precinct 2 – Gus Meduna (D) (unopposed)
    Constable, Precinct 3 – Matt Henderson (D) (unopposed)
    Constable, Precinct 4 – Roy Pruneda (D) (unopposed)

    Bastrop faces water crisis

    At a recent candidates forum, I took Ed Skarnulis aside and asked him about what the “real” issues were and he told me there was something big on the horizon that no one was talking about. He told me how the counties north of Bastrop are sucking our Bastrop County water supply dry. If you thought the Alcoa crisis was big, Alcoa pales in the face of this major threat to Bastrop county’s water supply future. I got the following from Mitzi Van Sant who I recently interviewed at a candidates party at her home in Smithville (you can see the video in another blog post on this web site).

    Read this if you care about the future of your water supply in Bastrop County. This affects everyone, not just builders.

    BASTROP COUNTY DENIED WATER NEEDED FOR GROWTH

    Letter to the Editor by Steve Box, Environmental Stewardship

    Wednesday September 17, 2008, will be noted in history as the first official vote by the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District to deny a water permit application in Bastrop County because of high volume water pumping activities by its neighboring Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District. AQUA Water Supply Corporation applied for permits for seven (7) wells to be drilled in the County to meet the projected needs of our communities in the next 50 years.

    After study by the District’s groundwater hydrologist using State mandated modeling techniques and permitted values from neighboring Districts, it became very clear that the water permits already issued by Post Oak Savannah for the Porter’s well field in Burleson County draw down the aquifers in Lee and Bastrop Counties to below conditions that are desirable and sustainable into the future.

    As a result, the Board of Directors of the Lost Pines District voted to grant only three of the seven wells AQUA needs to meet the water needs of the residential and business developments in their service area. Besides the AQUA water application, there are applications for additional water on file by other applicants that will likely be denied also. These are huge deficits to our future water needs and have huge implications regarding the future water supplies for our region.

    For some time now I’ve been watching the water wars develop right here in our back yard and Wednesday they hit home sooner than expected. To give a quick overview, the planning region in the Brazos River basin north of Bastrop County which supplies Williamson County north of Austin has planned for many years, despite protests from the Lost Pines District, to pump high volumes of water out of Lee, Burleson, Brazos, Milam and Robertson Counties in order to provide the future water needs of their region.

    Post Oak Savannah has responded to the water marketers by selling them huge volumes of groundwater in excess of what is available on a sustainable basis (pumping = recharge) which then draws on the aquifers of neighboring counties like ours. And they are profiteering from this to the tune of about $75,000 per month even though not a drop of water is being pumped yet. Even though AQUA water has current needs for water to service local subdivisions the water marketers are tying up the water that would be available for our use while they don’t even have significant customers or the means to pump or transport the water.

    Meanwhile, the Lost Pines District has had to modify its management plan to accommodate this high volume pumping by greatly lowering the future levels of our aquifers to levels they originally considered undesirable – an action that threatens our water supply and environment.

    It is time for the people and officials of Bastrop County to be fully informed of what is happening and be given the opportunity to weigh in on the issues. I am told that many of the shallow exempt wells in the county, along with many springs, seeps and base flow to the Colorado River, are threatened by these actions.

    If you too are concerned, you should write or call the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District and ask that the district hold a public meeting to fully inform the citizens of our community about the implications of these issues to the citizens of Bastrop County. Request that the District take a firm stand against the actions of these other districts by insisting that the groundwater supplies of the Carrizo-Wilcox and associated aquifers of the region be protected in a manner that sustains the water available for Bastrop and surrounding counties far into the future. For more information you may also contact Steve Box at 512-300-6609 Steve.Box@att.net or go to Environmental-Stewardship.org

    Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District contact information: Joe Cooper, General Manager, P.O Box 1027, Smithville, TX 78957, (512) 360-5088, e-mail lpgcd@lostpineswater.org or www.lostpineswater.org

    Steve Box
    P.O. BOX 1423
    BASTROP, TX 78602
    512-300-6609

    Bastrop Texas Candidates Forum, part 2

    Bastrop, Texas candidates forum for the November 2008 election. Candidates appeared for Sheriff, Bastrop County Commissioner, and District Court Judge.

    KVET’s Bucky and Bob Show comes to Baxters on Main

    Bob Cole and Bucky Godbolt brought the KVET traveling show to Bastrop, TX on August 1, 2008. We’re going to run a 5 part series on this event starting with their interview with Bastrop County Judge Ronnie Macdonald. Much more to come in the coming days.

    Bastrop, Texas candidates forum – part 1

    This is part 1 or a 2 part series on the Bastrop, Texas Candidates Forum on Sunday, Sept 21, 2008.

    Stay tuned for the 2nd video in this series in a few days. Also, we’ll be submitting this to BCAT – Bastrop Community Access TV.

    sxsw interview 11 – Lindsay Campbell – moblogic.tv

    Lindsay Campbell did hundreds of episodes of the insanely popular Wallstrip and is now doing something totally new and different, a show about news and politics. We luckily catch her in an interview on day 1 of SXSW. There will be blog is Lindsay’s clip from sxsw which includes two cuts of austincasts Paul Terry Walhus talking about Matt Mullenwegg and “wholesome, family podcasts”. “MobLogic shamelessly pimps fellow bloggers in a pathetically transparent attempt to promote itself” it says on moblogic.tv’s episode page.

    pingback austincast.com/blog bastropbuilder.com/blog compuslides.com/blog gameslides.com/blog magickpapers.com/blog shopslides.com/blog touroftexas.com/blog spring.net/blog socobuzz.com/blog web2.0slides.com/blog webgirlvillage.com/blog wholetech.com/blog wmeyers.com/blog workontheweb.com/blog

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for September 2nd through September 15th

    These are my links for September 2nd through September 15th:

    • Irssi – Community Ubuntu Documentation – Irssi is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client. It is a text-based client as it lacks a graphical user interface (gui) such as XChat, Chatzilla and others.
    • Fitbit – Automatically Track Your Fitness and Sleep – Did I get enough exercise today? How many calories did I burn? Am I getting good quality sleep? How many steps and miles did I walk today? The Fitbit Tracker helps you answer these questions.
    • Gnip API v1.3 – The Gnip API provides notification of activities (events) occurring in a variety of services and, whenever possible, a guid that identifies the activity itself vis a vis the service it was created on. Activity examples include a user “tweet” (twitter), a user “dugg” (digg), a user creating a blog post, etc.
    • CrunchBase, The Free Tech Company Database – CrunchBase is the free database of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit.
    • ONLINE BUSINESS TOOLBOX: 230+ Tools for Running a Business Online – A great roundup of business tools for running a business, all web based. I found some good stuff here.

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for November 8th through November 12th

    These are my links for November 8th through November 12th:

    Democrats running for Texas offices meet at Mitzis

    The event in the YouTube series of videos (below) took place at Mitzi VanSant’s lovely home in Smithville, Texas. It was a perfect setting in a prefect town for the Democrats for US Senate in Texas, and for many other national, statewide and local offices to gather and meet.

    There was an abundant potluck, drinks of all kinds, music, and plenty of shade (important in Texas). Some of the people you’ll see in the video include Chris Duggan (running for Bastrop District Judge), Rick Noriega (running for US Senate), Wayne Smith (running for Bastrop Sheriff), Susan Shelton (Democratic strategist), Mitzi VanSant (the party host), Larry Joe Doherty (running for US Congress), Linda Yanez (running for Judge statewide), Susan Strawn and many others. Best celebrity sitings since Brad and Angie left town.

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for September 20th through October 9th

    These are my links for September 20th through October 9th:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for August 1st through August 31st

    These are my links for August 1st through August 31st:

    • Eventbrite – TechCrunch Austin Ventures Meet-Up – TechCrunch is heading South for a Meet-Up in Austin, Texas with the team from Austin Ventures (http://www.austinventures.com/). We are landing in town on Thursday, September 25 just in time for the Austin City Limits (http://www.aclfestival.com/default.aspx) music festival. We do have a handful of three day ACL passes to give away to sponsors and attendees, and will be announcing details of music festival give aways in the coming weeks.
    • Rudder – The New Free Online Money Management, Budget Planning And Personal Finance Software – product that looks forward and determines how much you can spend today and still pay all your bills
    • Gustav Information Center – good social network resource along with http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Gustav for tracking Gustav news and resources
    • Schedule Future-Dated Twitter Tweets » TweetLater.com – Keep your Twitter stream ticking over with new tweets even when you’re not in front of your computer. Or, use it as your personal reminder system. Send automated thank you notes to new followers, automatically follow new followers,
      if you choose to do so.
    • (6) near:”Austin, Texas” within:50mi – Twitter Search – realtime search results for twitter tweets near Austin, Texas. Twitters official advanced search.
    • SocialGO – Social Network Maker – Create your own Social Network for FREE
    • Mashable Summermash Austin interview with Will Pate – spring.net – Spring.net interviewed Will Pate. Will cohosts CommandN a very popular video podcast with Amber Macarthur out of Toronto, Canada. He founded Raincity Studios which recently bought Bryte. Will ?can?t talk? about some upcoming ventures, but he does talk broadly about his future direction.

      Spring.net did over 30 interviews at the Summermash Party in Austin at Buffalo Billiards on the night of July 30, 2008 and also videod the entire daytime Socialmedia Camp at the Thistle Cafe on West Sixth Street in Austin. The evening party featured an open bar, food, and a packed second floor. Brian Massey said ?It took a bunch of people from San Franciso to round up some of Austin?s best bloggers and developers in one place.?

      We?ll be releasing the full 5 hour session of the Mashable Social Media Camp on one hour installments and we?ll also be releasing all of the 30 plus interviews over the next 2-3 weeks.

    Democrats gather at Mitzi VanSants in Smithville

    Mitzi VanSant’s charming Smithville home was the gathering place for Democratic Candidates for office for US Senate, Texas Supreme Court, US House of Representatives, Bastrop County Sheriff, and Bastrop District Judge. This is the first video in an 8 part series of videos of the event. It will feature appearances by Chris Duggan, Wayne Smith, Lloyd Doggett, Joe Doherty, Susan Shelton, Linda Yanez, Rick Noriega and Mitzi VanSant among others.

    The first video in the series features Susan Shelton, a leading Democratic strategist who gives us an overview of how the Democrats will gain control of Texas in the upcoming elections.

    Bastrop Chamber Candidate meet up

    High Definition Video of the candidates meetup

    Audio Podcast of the Candidates meetup

    Bastrop Chamber of Commerce Political Forum

    Tue, Feb 26 2008 in Bastrop, 4:00 pm to 6:45 pm

    Sponsored by the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs Committee. At First National Bank, 489 Hwy 71 W. Voters were able to come meet and hear from candidates for local, state-wide and federal offices.

    BastropBuilder.com has contacted Cable Channel 10 in Bastrop and Bastrop Access TV has agreed to carry this video and the video from the Democratic meetup in Elgin from Sunday February 24. Check back on this website for dates and times.

     
    icon for podpress  Bastrop Chamber Political Forum: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

     
    icon for podpress  Chamber Candidate Forum audio [73:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    How to Make an Electoral Revolution – Bastrop event

    “How to Make An Electoral Revolution”

    Sponsored by Independent Texans

    Sunday, June 8, 10 am to 5 pm

    This event was held at the Aqua Water Coop, 415 Old Austin Highway, Bastrop, Texas Call us at 512-535-0989 or 512-657-2089 – click on any of the links below to see videos of the event, there are 21 10-minute videos in all, published to several video sharing websites such as Youtube.

    12:30 Stopping Stinko Sweetheart Deals

    Brian Rodgers & Paul Walhus for Stop Domain Subsidies

    1 Brian Rodgers – Stop Domain Subsidies 1 of 3
    YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    2 Brian Rodgers – Stop Domain Subsidies 2 of 3
    YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    3 Brian Rodgers – Stop Domain Subsidies 3 of 3
    YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    4 Paul Walhus – Stop Domain Subsidies 1 of 1
    YouTube, Yahoo, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

     

     

    1:30 Voter Contact: Where the Rubber Meets the Road!

    Nancy Robbins, Ron Paul activist

    5 Nancy Robbins, Phone Banking Campaigns part 1 of 4
    YouTube, Yahoo, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    6 Nancy Robbins, Phone Banking Campaigns part 2 of 4
    YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    7 Nancy Robbins, Phone Banking Campaigns part 3 of 4
    Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    8 Nancy Robbins, Phone Banking Campaigns part 4 of 4
    MySpace, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    10:30 How Ron Paul Made the Revolution

    Chuck Young, Ron Paul activist

    9 Chuck Young talks about the Ron Paul Paul campaign 1 of 4
    MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    10 Chuck Young talks about the Ron Paul Paul campaign 2 of 4
    MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    11 Chuck Young talks about the Ron Paul Paul campaign 3 of 4
    Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    12 Chuck Young talks about the Ron Paul campaign 4 of 4
    MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    2:30 How to Protest Perry

    Merry Anne Bright & Jan Tracy, Piney Woods Alliance

    3 Piney Woods 1 of 2
    Yahoo, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    14 Piney Woods 2 of 2
    YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

     

    2:45 Taking Power: Electoral and Electrical

    David Schraub (on solar farming) & Jere Locke (on Climate 1Sky)

    15 Solar Farming 1 of 3
    MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast
    16 Solar Farming 2 of 3
    Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    17 Solar Farming 3 of 3
    YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Howcast

    8 Global Warming 1 of 4
    MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    19 Global Warming 2 of 4
    Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    20 Global Warming 3 of 4
    MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

    21 Global Warming 4 of 4
    Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos and Howcast

     

    3:45 Winning Elections to Protect Your Water Rights

    Marie Day, Lavaca County Taxpayers, Inc.

    4:30 State Independent Convention Planning, September 6

    10 Political Independence: What’s Obama, Kucinich and Paul got to do with it?!

    Linda Curtis, Independent Texans

    11:00 How Youth Organizes (for Arlan Foster), Arlan Foster, HD 18 Candidate

    Eric Price & Clayton Scott, and other high school student activists

    12:00 How Citizen’s Lobby Congress & the Texas Legislature

    Ann Del Llano, Esq., Capitol City Solutions

    Judith McGeary, Esq., Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for July 27th through July 28th

    These are my links for July 27th through July 28th:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for July 21st through July 25th

    These are my links for July 21st through July 25th:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for July 13th through July 16th

    These are my links for July 13th through July 16th:

    My del.icio.us bookmarks for June 28th through July 9th

    These are my links for June 28th through July 9th:

    bubble

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