Wednesday, August 30, 2006
KPEJ - Fox24 HDTV update
KPEJ now expects their high definition encoder in October. I wonder if I'll get to watch the Dallas Cowboys in high definition before Bill Parcells eats Terrell Owens.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The Morgan Observatory of Odessa
After a comment and follow-up email with bigwhitehat in the Metroplex about the Bank Robber entry, I was reminded of another piece of Odessa history that might be of interest to local readers.
The story of the Morgan Observatory is particulary interesting to me. I was lucky to locate Ronnie Morgan in Arizona and correspond with him when I did about this piece of Odessa history. I hope you enjoy the Morgan Observatory Page.
The story of the Morgan Observatory is particulary interesting to me. I was lucky to locate Ronnie Morgan in Arizona and correspond with him when I did about this piece of Odessa history. I hope you enjoy the Morgan Observatory Page.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
More High Def Space Stuff
HDNET has again scheduled pre-launch and shuttle launch coverage in beautiful High Definition TV. Coverage of the launch of shuttle Atlantis will begin at 11:00 a.m. and the launch is targeted for 3:30 p.m. (local times) on Sunday. We'll see the astronauts suit up, climb into that gnarly RV they call the Astrovan and then get packed into Atlantis' crew cabin one by one.
HDNET has I-don't-really-know-how-many high definition cameras at the Kennedy Space Center and most pictures will come from them. They will show non-high definition video (and audio) taken from NASA-TV feeds occasionally during the broadcast. The cameras inside the crew cabin and on the exterior of the external fuel tank are not high definition cameras but live video from them is really cool.
Shuttle Commander Brent Jett and his crewmates - pilot Chris Ferguson, Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean will restart space station assembly on this mission, STS-115.
For those of you lucky enough to get the total mission NASA-TV coverage from your satellite provider, you can find the STS-115 TV schedule here. Those of you with neither NASA-TV or HDNET can skootch up real close to your computer monitor and watch a live NASA-TV feed on the 'net.
Update 08/27/06: Tropical storm/hurricane Ernesto and an updated forecast that calls for 40-knot winds at the Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday. NASA will decide Monday morning whether to press ahead for a launch on Tuesday or to roll the stack back to the hangar.
Update 08/28/06: It looks likely STS-115 will not launch before late October.
HDNET has I-don't-really-know-how-many high definition cameras at the Kennedy Space Center and most pictures will come from them. They will show non-high definition video (and audio) taken from NASA-TV feeds occasionally during the broadcast. The cameras inside the crew cabin and on the exterior of the external fuel tank are not high definition cameras but live video from them is really cool.
Shuttle Commander Brent Jett and his crewmates - pilot Chris Ferguson, Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean will restart space station assembly on this mission, STS-115.
For those of you lucky enough to get the total mission NASA-TV coverage from your satellite provider, you can find the STS-115 TV schedule here. Those of you with neither NASA-TV or HDNET can skootch up real close to your computer monitor and watch a live NASA-TV feed on the 'net.
Update 08/27/06: Tropical storm/hurricane Ernesto and an updated forecast that calls for 40-knot winds at the Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday. NASA will decide Monday morning whether to press ahead for a launch on Tuesday or to roll the stack back to the hangar.
Update 08/28/06: It looks likely STS-115 will not launch before late October.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
West Texas Bank Robbers
In 1926 the Texas Banker's Association began offering a $500 reward for every Texas bank robber killed. By November 1927 the reward had been increased to $5000 but the reward would be paid only if the robber was killed - no reward for captured, live, bank robbers. Apparently Texas bankers were quite tired of being robbed. Could such a reward tempt people to "arrange" dead bank robbers?
Early morning, November 25, 1927, Odessa Sheriff Reeder Webb, Deputy Tom Jones, Midland Sheriff Audie Francis and a cattle inspector named Hogan shot two men breaking into an Odessa bank. Sheriff Webb reported to the local newspaper, The Odessa Times, that the lawmen had been watching the bank for several days after receving a tip that it would be robbed. The two bank robbers were tenatively identified as Sam Weaver and Carl Hansen but they were apparently never positively identified. Weaver died at the scene but Hansen, "riddled with bullets" lived more than 24 hours before dying of his wounds. According to an Extra Edition of The Odessa Times dated November 25, 1927, Sheriff Webb reported that the two men were seen breaking in the side door of the bank and pulled guns when confronted by the lawmen. Sheriff Webb said two empty shell casings in one of the guns verified that the men had tried to shoot it out with the law. Webb stated that the robbers were challenged before they had time to get inside the bank so there would be less property damage inside the bank from the sure-to-ensue gun battle. The newspaper reported this was the very first attempted robbery of an Odessa bank.
About a week later, early December, 1927, two more bank robbers were killed in Stanton. The December 28, 1927 edition of The Odessa Times reported a "victim" of that shooting had been moved to Odessa for for his own safety. According to the victim, he and two fellow employees of Texas Electric Service Company in Odessa were approached with an offer of better jobs in Stanton. The persons offering the jobs drove the three Mexican men to Stanton and dropped them off in front of the bank there and promised another car would be coming for them soon. Instead, they were ambushed and shot. The survivor reported that he was shot three times but tried to run away. His companions were shot down at the scene. Some men caught the third man and pistol whipped him but told the man if he would leave town and never return, they'd let him live. The wounded man apparently made it to Big Spring where he reported the ordeal to law officers. The Odessa newspaper reported that Martin County Sheriff C.C. Baze and Lee Smith of Wink were arrested for the "murder" of the two supposed-to-be bank robbers.
Unfortunately, the Odessa newspapers from January through August 1928 are missing from microfilm records at the Odessa library so I don't know the outcome of the Stanton case of if there was any more mention of the Odessa case. I do know that a newspaper story by an Austin correspondent for the New York Times mentioned both cases when Texas Ranger Frank Hamer testified before a grand jury in Rankin in April 1928. The famous Ranger Captain stated the dead bank robber rewards had resulted in the organization of a "murder ring".
Maybe someone in Midland will read this and be curious enough to check newspaper archives over there in the Tall City for the missing time period.
I love reading the old Odessa newspapers so I couldn't help noticing a few other articles of interest. Following are a couple of items I noted in the November 8, 1929 issue of The Odessa News-Times (apparently the the name of the local paper changed sometime during the missing issues):
A man was killed after jumping off a "full speed" train about 100 miles west of Odessa near a place called Eagle Flats. The man appeared to be a businessman from his dress and around sixty years of age. A ticket found on the body indicated the man was travelling from San Diego to Fort Worth. Maybe this man had a little help jumping off? And...
Land for Odessa's first airport was donated and cleared "about one mile west of town" adjacent to the "Country Club swimming pool". The land had been used as a golf course previously. A Country Club swimming pool and golf course??? The first airplane to land at the field was a Stinson Detroiter J5 piloted by a couple of barnstormers from Riverside, California. The plane landed at 11:45 Wednesday (November 6th). Hmmm
Early morning, November 25, 1927, Odessa Sheriff Reeder Webb, Deputy Tom Jones, Midland Sheriff Audie Francis and a cattle inspector named Hogan shot two men breaking into an Odessa bank. Sheriff Webb reported to the local newspaper, The Odessa Times, that the lawmen had been watching the bank for several days after receving a tip that it would be robbed. The two bank robbers were tenatively identified as Sam Weaver and Carl Hansen but they were apparently never positively identified. Weaver died at the scene but Hansen, "riddled with bullets" lived more than 24 hours before dying of his wounds. According to an Extra Edition of The Odessa Times dated November 25, 1927, Sheriff Webb reported that the two men were seen breaking in the side door of the bank and pulled guns when confronted by the lawmen. Sheriff Webb said two empty shell casings in one of the guns verified that the men had tried to shoot it out with the law. Webb stated that the robbers were challenged before they had time to get inside the bank so there would be less property damage inside the bank from the sure-to-ensue gun battle. The newspaper reported this was the very first attempted robbery of an Odessa bank.
About a week later, early December, 1927, two more bank robbers were killed in Stanton. The December 28, 1927 edition of The Odessa Times reported a "victim" of that shooting had been moved to Odessa for for his own safety. According to the victim, he and two fellow employees of Texas Electric Service Company in Odessa were approached with an offer of better jobs in Stanton. The persons offering the jobs drove the three Mexican men to Stanton and dropped them off in front of the bank there and promised another car would be coming for them soon. Instead, they were ambushed and shot. The survivor reported that he was shot three times but tried to run away. His companions were shot down at the scene. Some men caught the third man and pistol whipped him but told the man if he would leave town and never return, they'd let him live. The wounded man apparently made it to Big Spring where he reported the ordeal to law officers. The Odessa newspaper reported that Martin County Sheriff C.C. Baze and Lee Smith of Wink were arrested for the "murder" of the two supposed-to-be bank robbers.
Unfortunately, the Odessa newspapers from January through August 1928 are missing from microfilm records at the Odessa library so I don't know the outcome of the Stanton case of if there was any more mention of the Odessa case. I do know that a newspaper story by an Austin correspondent for the New York Times mentioned both cases when Texas Ranger Frank Hamer testified before a grand jury in Rankin in April 1928. The famous Ranger Captain stated the dead bank robber rewards had resulted in the organization of a "murder ring".
Maybe someone in Midland will read this and be curious enough to check newspaper archives over there in the Tall City for the missing time period.
I love reading the old Odessa newspapers so I couldn't help noticing a few other articles of interest. Following are a couple of items I noted in the November 8, 1929 issue of The Odessa News-Times (apparently the the name of the local paper changed sometime during the missing issues):
A man was killed after jumping off a "full speed" train about 100 miles west of Odessa near a place called Eagle Flats. The man appeared to be a businessman from his dress and around sixty years of age. A ticket found on the body indicated the man was travelling from San Diego to Fort Worth. Maybe this man had a little help jumping off? And...
Land for Odessa's first airport was donated and cleared "about one mile west of town" adjacent to the "Country Club swimming pool". The land had been used as a golf course previously. A Country Club swimming pool and golf course??? The first airplane to land at the field was a Stinson Detroiter J5 piloted by a couple of barnstormers from Riverside, California. The plane landed at 11:45 Wednesday (November 6th). Hmmm
Monday, August 07, 2006
KWES HDTV - NASCAR and MNF
I was a bit disappointed in the High Definition pictures in the NASCAR broadcast and NBC's coverage of the NFL Hall Of Fame game but it doesn't seem to be the fault of our local station, KWES - Channel 9, or a problem from the cable companies.
Broadcasts from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Sunday's NASCAR race was held, are controlled by the Speedway and I believe they use their own cameras. This year's Indianapolis 500 was not in HD because the Speedway had no HDTV equipment. I read that the network broadcasting the race (ABC) was not allowed to user their own equipment and had to rebroadcast the IMS feed. However, this past Sunday's NASCAR race was shown in HD so I'm not sure if IMS upgraded to HDTV or if NBC was allowed to use their own HDTV equipment. In either case, the broadcast was not as sharp has I've been seeing on the TNTHD network but it was (except for in-car cameras, etc.) in HD.
The football broadcast was not as sharp as I've been seeing on ESPNHD or on CBS-HD. The picture jumped from in-focus to slightly out-of-focus many times throughout the game and there was a lot of macroblocking - especially in camera zooms.
Both broadcasts were certainly better than Standard Definition but still a bit disappointing. Reports from users across the U.S. confirm though, that the problem was not a local issue so I say thanks again to KWES - Channel 9 for the HDTV.
And for Texas baseball fans... The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros ballgames are always blacked out on EPSNHD. Apparently Fox Sports Southwest is responsible for this. I appreciate that FSS carries almost all the Rangers and Astros games but it sure would be nice to see them in HD once in awhile.
Broadcasts from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Sunday's NASCAR race was held, are controlled by the Speedway and I believe they use their own cameras. This year's Indianapolis 500 was not in HD because the Speedway had no HDTV equipment. I read that the network broadcasting the race (ABC) was not allowed to user their own equipment and had to rebroadcast the IMS feed. However, this past Sunday's NASCAR race was shown in HD so I'm not sure if IMS upgraded to HDTV or if NBC was allowed to use their own HDTV equipment. In either case, the broadcast was not as sharp has I've been seeing on the TNTHD network but it was (except for in-car cameras, etc.) in HD.
The football broadcast was not as sharp as I've been seeing on ESPNHD or on CBS-HD. The picture jumped from in-focus to slightly out-of-focus many times throughout the game and there was a lot of macroblocking - especially in camera zooms.
Both broadcasts were certainly better than Standard Definition but still a bit disappointing. Reports from users across the U.S. confirm though, that the problem was not a local issue so I say thanks again to KWES - Channel 9 for the HDTV.
And for Texas baseball fans... The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros ballgames are always blacked out on EPSNHD. Apparently Fox Sports Southwest is responsible for this. I appreciate that FSS carries almost all the Rangers and Astros games but it sure would be nice to see them in HD once in awhile.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
HDTV Myths Addressed by PC World
In this article titled Ten HDTV Myths, dated October 28th, PC World magazine offers a lot of information for those considering HDTV (and Digital Television in general).
The article might help if you have questions such as:
Should I wait for 1080p?
Should I buy plasma, lcd or crt?
Is burn-in still a problem on newer plasma sets?
How much is the signal compressed and what is the affect of compression?
What will Standard Definition signals look like on my new HDTV?
The article might help if you have questions such as:
Should I wait for 1080p?
Should I buy plasma, lcd or crt?
Is burn-in still a problem on newer plasma sets?
How much is the signal compressed and what is the affect of compression?
What will Standard Definition signals look like on my new HDTV?
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