Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 80, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 21, 2002 Page: 4 of 14
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PAGE 4, Seminole (Texas) Sentinel, Sunday, July 21, 2002
Sunday's , • ■* '
Editorials, Columns
Letters
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Texas Tales
Military Mind Games Were
Played in the Past
by Mike Cox
“Psychological Operations." the U.S.
military term for playing mind games on the
enemy, is not a nev\ concept.
The only difference between modem
psychological warfare and the past is that it is
more formalized these days. The military has
officers and soldiers specially trained in
everything from playing loud music to annoy
the enemy to dropping thousands of
propaganda leaflets from aircraft. Back when
the U S Army was charged w ith protecting
Texas' frontier from hostile Indians, the
technique w as much more informal.
The Fort Mason chloroform caper is a
good example of 19* century “psych ops."
Established in 1851 :>() a hill in what is
now the county seat tow n of Mason, Fort
Mason was in Comanche country . Soldiers
spent fur more time peeling potatoes and
currying their horses than they ever did
fighting Indians, but the Indians remained an
ongoing concern. A little “out of the box"
thinking certainly calmed things down for a
time.
One of the officers stationed at the fort
w as Lafayette Guild, the post surgeon. When
he receded a shipment of chloroform, a
chemical which only recently had been
proven to have value as an anesthetic, he had
an idea.
The doctor w ent to Col. Charles A. May.
an officer of the 2nd Dragoons, and got his
buy-in to the plan. The post commander also
w as consulted and gave his approval.
At the next peacemaking powwow, the
six foot, four inch. 200 pound May was
introduced to the Indians as a powerful
medicine man. His medicine was so strong.
Dr. Guild told the Indians, that he could bring
the dead back to life.
The big colonel stood up next to the fire.
If any of the Indians would like to volunteer,
the colonel said, he would gladly demon-
strate his pow ers. When none of the Indians
attending the council stepped forward. May
scooped up a small dog and said it would do
May left w ith the dog under his ami and
went inside his tent to work Ins medicine.
Once out of sight, as instructed by Dr. Guild,
the colonel put the dog to sleep w ith a strong
whiff of chloroform
Carry ing the apparently dead dog back to
the circle of Indians and military officers.
May made a big show of demonstrating his
gifts The Indians were not too impressed
until the colonel drew a knife and began
cutting off the dog's tail a piece at a time.
When the dog showed no signs of
noticing that he was being, de-tailed. the
Indians began to look more interested. For
good measure. May handed each chief a piece
of the tail Then he said he would bring the
dog back to life
The colonel carried the freshly bob-
tailed feist back to his tent and waited until it
came to. When the officer returned to the
camp fire, the barking dog followed him.
clearly alive and well.
For the rest of Col. May s tour at Fort
Mason, relations with the Indians were
decidedly pacific. The chiefs who attended
the council carried their piece ot dog tail in
their medicine pouches for a long time, and
the dog with the short tail went about his life
not caring that he had a shorter tail than he
started w ith And anytime a soldier or settler
needed a broken bone set or surgery. Dr.
Guild used chloroform to keep them from
feeling pain
FAKE VISAS...
TMEY’RE
EVERYWHERE
YOU NEED
TO BE...
c
7/
Making a Difference
Spider Webs and God
Gina Caswell kelly
I was sitting out on the sw mg one evening watching a spider craw ling on
his web It was pretty cool You could see the spider nun mg around but you
couldn't see the web
I I could tell the web was there because I could see the spider moving I
thinkingI wtoc hed hum that that i* how we should look walk w ith
the Hi ty spirit You caul see Him. but you should he able to tell hf is there
by our w alk 1 ou should be. that is
I here is a way we are to walk a»ltod's children We are to walk in such
a way that the world sees the Holy Spirit in us. guiding us and caring tor us
cat h step ol the w ay \\ c should be show mg (Ik* w or Id w hat it cannot see am
other way but through us
This is not something we do only on Sunday s as we sit m chuich In last
that is not even the m<»xi important wav Don I misunderstand me (md wants
us to gather w ith other ( hrisiiant in His house to draw trom each **thcr and
strengthen eat h oilier 1 his is \ ital to
our growth as ( hristians tiut the real way we show people the Holv
Spirit in our lives happens .w Monday
Sundav is an easy dav lobe at hrisiijn \tondav is niuth tougher M.nwtav
is ihe dav we are tailed to show ihc world what we are made ft in our
dav -n»-dav decisutn
making and at lions \san example I w as dm mg in I uhK\konc dav and
I did ruu do what seemed verv unponwnt to another driver that I do \s a
result ot this, he gestured
to me his displeasure I know i*4 one other thing aKmt this man oilier than
what he showed me that dav I will iikclx never even come in toniwtt with
him again Itul w hat I
do know is he was a spider walking at that moment without a web He
was trawling on the gtound. no web necessary because he was doing it on
his own Do you want that lobe what (Wiplc sevol you 'Do vou want pesipte
to tee you trawling aromtd **n the ground hv« ause you are so sure1 youdonl
need a guide and a eomtoner'
Show thepe**ph* with whstn vou tome mtoniutf that you do surrender to
a higher power show people that wonderful militate web that has been
woven iust t.*r \ou Show people that you trust not in voutsel! but in the I otd
m your daily w jik It you w ant to make a dillerctHC. there is mi better plate*
to start and end then walking with Jesus
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41
tate Capital Highlights
Compiled by Mike Cox, Texas Press Association
By Mike Cox
AUSTIN - Texas television station owners must lose election years
Required state campaign spending reports show that the Tony Sanchez
gubernatorial campaign spent $12 5 million in less than three months from
March 3 to June 30. That figure includes SS.l million forked over by the
Democrat's campaign for TV advertising
Republican incumbent Rick Perry’s campaign spent $4 7 miPton. includ-
ing nearly $2.2 million on air time.
That kind of spending nearly four months before the November election
puts the gubernatorial race on the road to record spending, surpassing the
$50 million 1990 contest between Democrat Ann Richards and Republican
Clayton Williams.
Medina Dam came close to failure
The 90-year-old Lake Medina Dam may have come closer to failure than
initially believed during the flooding in Central and South Texas earlier this
“month
An engineering report released by the Texas Natural Resource Conserva-
tion Commission said if w ater had broken across the 164-foot-high dam, the
foundation of the structure probably would have eroded. Had that happened,
as the engineering report put it, ”a sliding or ov ertuming failure" likely would
have occurred.
Residents below the dam, located in Medina County near San Antonio,
were evacuated when water came within 17 inches of its top on July 5.
Terrorism hasn't dented summer travel
Despite the events of Sept. 11, travel is expected to be up 2 percent this
year compared w ith last summer
That's the good news Bad news for any Texas business person involved
in the huge travel industry is that travelers are scheduling shorter tnps. spend-
ing less and staying closer to home
These conclusions come from a study by the 1 ravel Industry Association
of America that said statistically the average American is planning three
tnps this summer, the longest being eight nights The study also found that 'b
percent will go in a personal vehicle as opposed to tly ing
Maybe the terrorism war has brought us closer together 37 percent plan
to attend a family reunion this summer, compared w ith 25 percent last year
New park in F.asf Texas
If you're planning one of those reunions, the Texas Parks and Wildlife has
a new place to gather and East Texans have a new state park, one that 's also
handy to the Datlas-Fort Worth area The 376-acrc park is near Wills Point
on Lake Tawakoni, about 50 miles east of Dallas__
I he newly-opened park has 7K campsites, hiking trails, a tour-lane boat
ramp, a swimming beach and numerous picnic sites
As many as 400,000 visitors a year arc expected at the new park
Marfa ghost lights now safer to see
The Texas Department of Transportation has opened a new and safer area
on U.S. 67/90 for folks interested in viewing the Marfa Lights, a mysterious
nightly twinkling in the mountains visible from that point in the roadway.
Located eight miles east of Marfa, the new view ing area has a view ing
deck (for an elevated view, visitors used to have to climb up on concrete
picnic tables), new restrooms and an information center
Gubernatorial race heads
tow ard record spending
Made possible with federal binding obtained bv the agency 's I I Paso
District, the viewing area also was expanded trom 2 to x acres to improve
parking and enhance safety
Ihe only thing the state transportation agency didn't do was explain the
mystery of the lights, which no one has yet been able to do
The Scnwolc Vntincl
Pi) Dumm 1< t sps 4v*-4<iM|
Seminole. TX "‘I'wi
Ph VI<-?.<*• loll tree 1*">25I Will
I XX No (V|Vi'<x 2IU,
c-nuil address sentinel • nwol net
Website hop mwm aankolcsctnwel oen-——-
Oldest I stahlished Business in (Mines l »mnl\
Published cash Wednesday and Sundas at t he Seminole Sentinel building 4<m S Main
under the ust ol March 3. IKTV.
Tittered as Second! lass Maner at the Seminole Texas, Post (MTtce. Seminole, lexas ’flftO
An> cm me* >us retlec ti< >n upon the c har-.wter ot any person or firm appearing in these columns
Mill be gladly and promptly corrected upon heing brought lo the attention of the management
Letters policy Loners to the I ditor arc Mclcomcd All letters should be kept as brief as
possible They must be signed m ith name, address and telephone number, in case need for verifi-
cation arises (address and phone number will not be pnntcdl The Sentinel reserves the nght to
edit letters to present libel, tnvasian ot privacy or untasteful language without changing the desired
context Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial policies or beliefs ot this new spaper No
letters about candidates seeking election or "Thank You" letters will be accepted
♦
Plugged In.. .Speed Up Your Internet
When it comes to surfing the Web, “speed is everything.” A slow Internet
connection can be painful, especially to those who’ve experienced high-
speed connections. As more and more people move to broadband (high-
speed) solutions, this frustration is starting to ebb. However, that hasn't
stopped many software companies from offering products promising to “speed
up your Internet.”
Basically, two types of utilities exisit: Internet Accelerators and Down-
load Accelerators. ... „ '
Internet Accelerators
Waiting for a web page to load can be frustrating. Watching the pictures
slowly develop is akin to watching grass grow. To that end, some companies
have created software solutions. HOWEVER, before you download any of
those programs, read on. Internet accelerators have two methods of opera-
tion. First, they tweak some of the internal settings of Windows. Most of the
time, these adjustments result in NO noticeable speed increases, but they
don’t hurt anything.
The second function offered by these programs is more interesting, though:
predictive-downionding. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the
beginning In a typical web surfing experience, your modem is only active
about ten percent of the time. That’s right. Ninety percent of your surfing time
is taken up by “you reading web pages.” Your modem is only active when
DELIVERING or SENDING information to/from your computer. Internet
Accelerator program* have a clever method of “tricking you” into thinking
your speeds have increased. While you are reading a web page, these pro-
grams are secretly downloading all of the pages LINKED from that page.
That way, if you click on one of these links, the resulting page appears instan-
taneously; because it was downloaded while you were reading the first
page! I’m not going to list any of these programs, because 1 don’t like them.
Most, if not all, install spyware on your system, throwing up (and I use that
phrase literally) banners and advertising at every turn. These programs also
seem to be very unstable, causing mysterious system crashes when you least
expect, or can afford them.
Download Accelerators
You’ve found the coolest program on the planet and it’s yours free. AIJ
you have to do is “download it.” Well, you click your mouse and little meter
appears. However, it doesn’t seem to be moving. Eight days later, you think
it might have edged up a bit...A download accelerator can speed things up
through a variety of means. My favorite program in this genre is Download
Accelerator (http://www.speedbit.com). With it, you can schedule down-
loads for any time you wish, resume broken downloads, and download from
dm simultaneously. The best part, though, about this program is
GetRight (http://www.getright.com). Similar to Download Accelerator, it
can resume broken links, and schedule downloads. However, it also allows
you to limit the bandwidth you use on a particular download. This capability
is VERY useftil if you are downloading multiple files simultaneously. It pro-
hibits one ’’session” from monopolizing your system’s bandwidth. GetRight
is shareware. By paying the one-time $25 registration fee, you get a code that
removes the “nag screens" and increases some of the download limits.
The Culprit of Most Speed Problems
Believe it or not, your Internet connection rarely reaches it’s maximum
rated speed. In fact, most of the time, you are surfing at about HALF that rate.
What’s going on? Well, in most cases, “your computer” is not where the
bottleneck lies. Internet information travels through a host of computers, rout-
ers, hubs, and firewalls before it gets to your system. Any one of these ma *
chines could be causing a slowdown. Or as confucios would say: “Just as a-
chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, your Internet connection is only as
fast as the slowest machine between you and your requested information.”
Only one thing changes faster than the price of high tech toys: their speed.
Next week’s column will get you “up to speed” on current technology bench-
marks. Until then, I’ll...
See you in Cyberspace!
The Seminole Sentinel-
the only
Newspaper in the world with
Seminole and Gaines County, Texas on its mindlll
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Fisher, David. Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 80, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 21, 2002, newspaper, July 21, 2002; Seminole, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth825060/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gaines County Library.