Today is the last day of the Texas House's special session, which means it's the last chance for Texas lawmakers to pass their TSA anti-groping bill. The bill, which would make conducting enhanced pat-downs a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine, was first passed by the House, then modified and passed by the Senate, and is now back in the House for a final vote. As of publication time there's still no news on whether the vote is yay, nay, or nothing.

Will Texas lawmakers hold a vote in time? Which version of the bill will pass? What will the Texas public think? Who cares. This law is moronic. It won't pass in any recognizable form. If it passes in any form at all it will be struck down by the courts. If it isn't struck down by the courts TSA will pressure Texas until the law is repealed. This is our third post on the topic, and frankly we're starting to resent Texas just a little bit for continuing with this charade.]]> Omri 2011-06-29T15:25:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/3/9/132027/1858

Our credibility on demanding TSA reform is pretty good - see here and here and here and probably here and here and maybe also here, and that's just the last month and a half. But what's going on in Texas seems like a silly distraction.

About 20 legislators have teamed up to author a series of bills criminalizing the use of TSA's full-body scanners and enhanced patdowns, and threatening to legally punish TSA workers who implement those policies. The immediate question that everyone asks when they hear about this: "wait, can they do that?"

Short answer: of course not. Longer answer: maybe, maybe, maybe legally, but definitely not after Congress gets involved.]]> Omri 2011-03-09T14:22:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/6/29/152230/787

It was a busy June at the Dallas Zoo, where the May 28 opening of the Giants of the Savanna habitat led to skyrocketing attendance and forced the zoo to extend their hours. The 11 acre section is just the latest addition to the 122 year old zoo, which itself covers over 100 acres. Now that things have calmed down a little bit, it's the perfect time to see the new exhibit, which brought more than 40,000 people to the zoological park in one month.

You can take a virtual tour of the entire exhibit here, via a fairly impressive animated video. During the tour you'll get to see how they've divided up the exhibits of various African animals - giraffes, lions, elephants, and so on. If you look very closely next to the giraffes you'll see a kind of balcony, which is the new feeding station. Visitors have the opportunity to climb up there and feed the giraffes lettuce leaves, which can be purchased on the spot. ]]> Omri 2010-06-29T15:29:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/18/82540/967
With pieces like the above from American sculptor Jonathan Borofsky, the Nasher Sculpture Center gets high marks from us for bending the outdated perception that Dallas ain't got no art.

Designed by Renzo Piano, and celebrating only its third year of operation this month, the indoor/outdoor gallery features a collection of hundreds of modern and contemporary sculptures by plenty of important artists, Miró, Picasso and Rodin among them.

Now that the museum has established itself in the city's art scene, it's collaborating with the Dallas Museum of Art, as well as the Baltimore Museum of Art, to host "Matisse: Painter as Sculptor." The exhibition, which opens January 21, has hundreds of works from the Frenchman organized thematically to highlight his creative process. If a trip to Texas isn't in your future, not to worry. When the show wraps in Dallas, it's headed to San Francisco and then Baltimore.

[Photo: Skept]]]> pbb 2006-10-18T16:20:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/9/25/9424/77008

Does someone at the New York Times Travel section have a serious case of football fever? It would appear that as the leaves start to turn outside, editors at the paper are hankering for a tailgate party. In the last week, they've run stories on both Austin and College Station, Texas, home to the University of Texas and Texas A&M, respectively.

That's not to say that the articles aren't full of some good nuggets, including some background behind the official A&M gesticulation at sporting events:

Throughout, they flash the A&M hand signal, a fist with thumb upturned, and yell "Gig 'em, Aggies!" -- a 75-year-old gesture meant to evoke the act of impaling a horned frog, symbol of their archrival, Texas Christian University.