Texas Trivia (Houston, Austin, Lubbock: loan, neighborhood, catholic church)

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by joqua

Perhaps it's "imported fire ants?" The ones that have virtually taken over the southern tier of states are believed to have entered through the port of Mobile, AL from a South America origin. And they typically live in "colonies."

Like most people living in Austin, I couldn't mow my lawn without being attacked, in spite of various attempts at controlling them. Until gecko lizards arrived on the scene sometime around 1990. Once my house became infested with geckos, the fire ants disappeared, so I gladly put up with the geckos.

Good point about the fire ants. That wasn't what I had in mind but it meets the critera of the question so I will give it to you. Your turn.

What I was thinking of were these:

According to John Kelly of the Travis Audubon Society, there are about 720 Monk Parakeets living in the Austin area.

Mr. Smarty Pants - The Austin Chronicle

The first person in Austin to write extensively about Monk Parakeets seems to be Erik Huebner. He once wrote that Monk Parakeets were first spotted in Austin in the 1970s. Although his former UT Web site is down (guess he must have graduated!), you can still find it at the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. In 1996, he noted that there were about 100 Monk Parakeets living in six nesting sites:
Krieg Fields – (South Pleasant Valley Road by Longhorn Dam) – Largest colony – 14 nests!
YMCA – Town Lake (Corner of West Cesar Chavez and North Lamar) – nine nests.
Butler Fields – (Toomey Road off of South Lamar) – eight nests.
Martin Junior High School – (Haskell Ave.) – three nests.
Taco Bell – East Oltorf Road

When Schlotzsky's opened up at its 218 South Lamar location in 1995 (the site of a former Fresh Plus/Cash-Carry), they promoted the location as a place to watch parrots from the restaurant's outdoor deck. There have also been stories about a colony in the mid-1990s at the Paggi House restaurant across Lamar from Schlotzsky's.

[jtur88]

There are significant populations of Green Parakeets and Red-crowned Parrots in a number of locations in the lower Rio Grande Valley, which have been there for decades. Monk Parakeets are probably the most abundant feral psittacids in the USA, with large colonies in Florida and southern California, as well, and even some in upstate New York and Quebec.

Florida's population of Monk Parakeets in the wild is estimated to be 100,000.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Good point about the fire ants. That wasn't what I had in mind but it meets the critera of the question so I will give it to you. Your turn.

What I was thinking of were these:

I first thought of the parrots that I've seen myself on occasion, but had no idea there was a "colony" of them.

Pecos, TX has the honor of being the place where the world's first (what?) was held, and what year did it happen?

[jtur88]

World's first Rodeo, July 4, 1883, Pecos, Texas.

Assuming that is correct, here's the next stumper:

What Texas writer wrote the all-time biggest-selling hard-cover children's book (which outsold every title by Dr. Seuss)?

[joqua]

Originally Posted by jtur88

World's first Rodeo, July 4, 1883, Pecos, Texas.

Assuming that is correct, here's the next stumper:

What Texas writer wrote the all-time biggest-selling hard-cover children's book (which outsold every title by Dr. Seuss)?

The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey. She was born in Orange, TX in the late 19th century, and her book has never been out of print since it was first published in 1942. I believe she lived most of her life in San Antonio, where I first heard about her when I lived there while going to grad school at UTSA.

Publishers Weekly reports the book "The Poky Little Puppy" is the best-selling children's book of all time with sales of more than 15 million.

I will assume I'm correct and pose the next question:

The first word spoken from the moon was a Texas reference - what was the word?

Bonus: Who said it?

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by joqua

The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.

Yup. I think I might have mutilated and slobbered on a first edition. In 1942 I was three, and I remember the book fondly, one of my first readers.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Yup. I think I might have mutilated and slobbered on a first edition. In 1942 I was three, and I remember the book fondly, one of my first readers.

Awhhhh, how sweet!

Originally Posted by joqua

The [i]The next question:

The first word spoken from the moon was a Texas reference - what was the word?

Bonus: Who said it?

TO: joqua

Do you mean "Houston"? If so, I'm pretty sure you are wrong about that. It is a popular myth (especially in Texas) that the first word was "Houston". Politifact declares this as FALSE! http://www.politifact.com/texas/stat...n-was-houston/ If you agree after reading what that website says. Please ask another question.

[car957]

I looked at the Apollo 11 transcript from NASA and I don't see any references to Texas or Houston.

The dialouge at the point of landing is at 102:45:40 if you choose to read the transcript.

The First Lunar Landing

[doctorjef]

OK, I've got one (with which I'm personally familiar): What was the name of the radical student paper published for the Texas Tech/Lubbock student community in the early 1970s?

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by car957

I looked at the Apollo 11 transcript from NASA and I don't see any references to Texas or Houston.

The dialouge at the point of landing is at 102:45:40 if you choose to read the transcript.

The First Lunar Landing

Lots of other chatter preceeded it, but they did say....

"Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed."


Apollo 11 - Touchdown and Radio Transcript - YouTube

102:45:32 Aldrin: Drifting forward just a little bit; that's good. (Garbled) (Pause)
102:45:40 Aldrin: Contact Light. [At least one of the probes hanging from three of the footpads has touched the surface. Each of them is 67 inches (1.73 meters) long. The ladder strut doesn't have a probe. Buzz made the call at 20:17:40 GMT/UTC on 20 July 1969.]
[Aldrin - "We asked that they take it off."]

102:45:43 Armstrong (onboard): Shutdown
102:45:44 Aldrin: Okay. Engine Stop.
102:45:45 Aldrin: ACA out of Detent.
102:45:46 Armstrong: Out of Detent. Auto.
102:45:47 Aldrin: Mode Control, both Auto. Descent Engine Command Override, Off. Engine Arm, Off. 413 is in.
102:45:57 Duke: We copy you down, Eagle.
102:45:58 Armstrong (onboard): Engine arm is off. (Pause) (Now on voice-activated comm) Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
102:46:06 Duke: (Momentarily tongue-tied) Roger, Twan...(correcting himself) Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.
102:46:16 Aldrin: Thank you.