#san antonio current

[paracunt]

WE ARE PARAMORE !

Paramore is: Hayley Williams, Logan Joel-Mackenzie, Brian Robert Jones, Taylor York, Joey Howard, Zac Farro, Joey Mullen.

taken by Jaime Monzon for the San Antonio Current at Austin City Limits

[butchspace]

Hey Texans (and others in the US)!

We’re expected to have a freeze and harsh weather this week and/or next week (check your local forecast for specifics). Make sure you have some extra water storage, non perishable foods, blankets, and maybe some hand warmers in case our local or state power supply gets fucking destroyed again.

Make sure to at least set your heat to 55°F, keep cabinets with pipes in them open to allow heat in, and drip your faucets to help prevent pipes bursting.

It’s not anything to be scared about, and not likely to be as bad as 2021, but always better to prepared.

There might be snow in the panhandle today, though!

[madlori]

General PSA - Michelin stars

Because this came up in a conversation I had last week.

The context was someone talking about being excited to visit a restaurant with one Michelin star in Chicago (the closest city to my city to find a starred restaurant). Someone else said "One star? So it's terrible?"

Pause, rewind.

The Michelin star system is ascending, not descending (as a five-star rating system is). You can have either zero Michelin stars (99% of of the world' restaurants), ONE star (currently about 2900 restaurants worldwide), TWO stars (about 500) or THREE stars (currently 145).

There are 6 three-star restaurants in London. Four in New York. This is the highest distinction a restaurant can achieve.

This is why you hear about chefs "earning their star," when you go from the rank and file to having a star. And once you have one, you can earn more...or you can lose it. Restaurants are re-evaluated to ensure they're maintaining their standards.

The Michelin guide does not review only fancy restaurants. Many of the starred restaurants are very high-end, but lots aren't. I ate a one-starred restaurant in San Francisco called State Bird Provisions which you'd be fine to go to in jeans and a tee. It was great. There's a food truck that has a Michelin star.

Michelin also only covers certain cities. They're continually expanding, but right now in the US they cover New York, DC, Chicago, California, central Florida (Miami/Tampa/Orlando), Colorado, Atlanta, and just recently added the five major Texas cities (Dallas/San Antonio/Austin/Houston/Fort Worth) although those results haven't been released yet. They cover a lot more in Europe and Asia (the Michelin guide is French).

And yes, it's the same company as the tire manufacturer. Early in their history they wanted people to travel more by car, and use their tires, so they started writing and printing guidebooks for travel. This evolved into restaurant ratings, and somehow along the way it became the ne plus ultra of restaurant hierarchies.

This has been your infodump post for the evening, brought to you by MadLori, Inc.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped counting Covid-19 cases, according to wastewater data—which emerged early on as an accurate tracker of the ebbs and flows of the virus—we are currently in one of the biggest surges of the pandemic, amid the spread of a new variant, JN-1, as the virus keeps mutating. More than three-quarters of U.S. hospital beds are currently in use due to Covid hospitalizations. Uptake of the most recent booster shot, which should help to protect against the new variant and lower the risk of severe cases and the odds of getting long Covid, hovers around 19 percent. Meanwhile, the most recent White House response to a question about whether they had any guidance for hospitals, some of which have brought back mitigation protocols in response to the most recent Covid spike, came courtesy of press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “Hospitals, communities, states, they have to make their own decisions. That’s not something we get involved in,” she replied, appearing exasperated. “We are in possibly the second-biggest surge of the pandemic if you look at wastewater levels,” said Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, who runs a long-Covid clinic at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and has had ongoing Covid symptoms since August 2022. “There is no urgency to this. No news. No discussion in Congress. There is no education.”

[...]

Since the Biden administration declared the end of the national emergency in May, Americans across the political spectrum have largely followed the example set by the government and entirely disposed of any level of Covid precautions. Liberal and left-wing outlets have participated in the normalizing of Covid too, dismissing or even ostracizing people who still take precautions as if they are tin-hat conspiracy theorists. “We can’t be in lockdown forever,” has become a common refrain, as if wearing a mask on the subway constitutes “lockdown.” In September, Biden himself participated in the spread of this kind of harmful disinformation when he declared the pandemic “over” on 60 Minutes. “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks,” he said. “Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.” This is, essentially, governing via “vibes”—so much for “following the science.”

[...]

The consequences of discarding all Covid precautions are becoming clearer, as more people get repeated infections and long-term symptoms, amid an alarming spike in heart problems among healthy young people. People are getting sick more often not due to the myth of “immunity debt,” which posits that the lack of exposure to other people during lockdown has made people less able to fight off infections (three years later), but because Covid weakens the immune system. Each time someone contracts Covid, the odds of long-term complications increase.

[bom-bombon]

Oaxaca Needs Help!!

Hi, there is currently a fire that started in San Lucas Quiavini, Oaxaca, that has now grown and is burning more Indigenous Zapotec communities. Unfortunately, five volunteers died as a result of the fires: Rafael Antonio Morales, Pedro Curiel Diego, José Hernández López, Felipe García, and Celso Diego. The communities are asking for help.

Here are some places where you can help financially:

For Celso Diego's family

And Emergency Funds right here

If you cannot donate, that is totally fine! Reblogs are very much appreciated!

[joshleyson]

a deeper well.

On this exact day 5 years ago, I was in this same location ensconced by the towering mountains with an overlooking view of a calm, seemingly waveless ocean in the pre-summer blistering heat in San Antonio, Zambales. This time I get to come back with my OG friends slash Zamboanga childhood homies, my friend Karen Blaise who's now based in Clark, Pampanga, and my CPA Lawyer friend Abegail from Dumaguete. After countless discussions of reunions and "travel goals" with some of the important people that we know, and 99% of those plans that never came to fruition, we decided that we would make this outdoor camp happen, and thank God we finally made it happen.

I felt like that 2D1N camping trip was surprisingly one of the longest weekends I had this year. Having to disconnect from our phones for a while because the camping site had no service was the perfect setting for us to reminisce about our adolescent and high school classic moments and teenage angst and how those unforgettable stories from our past (and sometimes politically incorrect moments lol) shaped the people we are today professionally and personally. We had a great time recounting all the crazy stories we had more than a decade ago, planned future travels, played frisbee in the middle of the night, and went hiking after sunrise breathing the cold pre-summer wind overlooking the almost CGI-looking mountains in Zambales. My belief of having this type of "disconnecting" was further reinforced from this trip that, as much as I want so much social interaction with a lot of people, I also like to be alone with the few people I truly trust, and that being alone doesn't have to be lonely and solitude is actually a good thing.

☾

Being on the road while listening to Kacey Musgrave's Deeper Well album (shoutout to Track 6 Sway as my favorite track off the record) revealed so many truths about my current situation and the things I'm dealing with in my personal life, both good and bad, and how I strive to find peace in accepting the pain and the lessons it has taught me, and that I've already arrived in my final destination on some certain aspects of my relationships especially with the people that I love, and that I need to move on. 

My Saturn has returned. 

J

February, 2024 | Nagsasa, San Antonio, Zambales

(Photos were shot using Fujifilm Simpleace 35 mm camera + FUJIFILM X-T100)

Stream Kacey Musgrave’s Deeper Well on Spotify and Apple Music.

Instagram/TikTok/Twitter: joshleyson

[lol-jackles]

You do know that FBBC are still heavily producing and distributing beer, right? Before you start patting yourself on the back that the original brewery/land is being sold, you might want to get clued into the fact that distribution has been expanded to San Antonio and recently to Houston. The company and brand are positioning themselves to expand further. Don't think they will go back to the cute craft brewery, but as you have pointed out, craft breweries are not that profitable. Looks like they are going for a stronger business model.

You go on about the whole YANA thing. I have never understood why a select few in the fandom actually became jealous about a charity? Seems so small minded and petty. Regardless, YANA still exists and continues to do good things.

Yes I know about their distribution, I'm the one who pointed out 5 years ago all those bottling and canning equipment and the end products weren't for the taproom customers but meant for distribution because the Ackles were trying to go big because they want to make actual profit despite originally claiming that they would only sell beer at the brewery (X).

What did you think the $1000 membership package was about?  To get SPN fans to regularly go to FBBC to keep it afloat so they can keep making beer on site and then ship off site. Quite a turnaround when Gino cast dispersion toward SPN fans and said there will be no beer named after a "corny tv show" (X)

According to Gino, they plan to resume producing their own beer again once they find a location in Austin.

After they bought these top on the line brewing equipment and are now selling. That sounds like a "stronger business model" to you?

Surely you don't think the Ackles are going to sell off all the brewery equipment only to turn around and buy new equipment for the alleged 2nd location?  At best they should just open a small scale taproom and put Gino in there as the glorified bar tender.

Do you know people who had their beer made by somebody else?  I have. They have to pay for everything, or make compromises.  There is no in between. A specific yeast strain the contractors don't use?  Then you're going to have to pay for that, and the labor to keep it going, or do it yourself.  Oh wait, they can't because they closed down FBBC.

Breweries don't close because they'll make more money from contract breweries, if that's the case then why open your own brewery in the first place?

Let me break it down using another real life example:

If parents have a couple of kids going to the same college and overlap each other, instead of paying dorm fees or renting an apartment, they would buy a townhouse for their child/ren and rent out rooms to other students, which pays for the mortgage.  Then when the last child graduates, they sell the house for a profit.

See the difference between owning a brewery that doubles as a contract brewery (your house) vs paying everything to a contract brewery (college)?

What's going on is there is a saturation of craft breweries.  It's like in the late 90s when there was a huge surge in openings of comic shops.  Every collector dreamed of running his own place and thought a love for the product was enough to be successful. The market became saturated.  A couple years later, the trend reversed and it seemed another shop was closing every other week. The difference in making it or not largely rested on whether the owner had the skill set to run a business. Foresight. Customer relations. General business principles. And of course, the ones who had adequate funding. The market decided who made it and who didn’t.

That's what is going on in the current beer industry.  The hobbyists who thought they could be successful because they loved brewing but lacked the skill set to run a business are beginning to fall.

LOL nobody is jealous of YANA, people continue to be amused by it because of how badly it was executed and then failed. If YANA still exist and continues to do good thing, it's only because Jared bailed it out after both Misha and Jensen abandoned the public promise as mentioned here and here.

I remember back in my day a craft beer was “hey there’s a beer that’s $3.50 a bottle instead of $2 and it’s way better!”

Nowadays it’s “this craft beer is sourced with water collected from the Himalayas by free range howler monkeys and filtered through the wings of butterflies.  Oh and we can’t bother to be original so it’s an IPA loaded with hops.  $8 please”.

[paracunt]

Paramore at Austin City Limits by Jaime Monzon for the San Antonio Current (2022)

[hometoursandotherstuff]

It's so refreshing to see a colorful historic home like this 1920 house in San Antonio, Texas. By the looks of the Corinthian Columns, I would say it's a Greek Revival, but the real estate description says Victorian, and the Victorian Era ended in January of 1901. 4bds, 2ba, $775K.

The entrance hall is grand- beautiful stairs and yellow walls with a pink wall that has what I think is a Buddhist altar.

The woodwork over the doorways is so beautiful.

Cozy sitting room of the main hall.

Currently, the dining room is a very Zen space.

I expected the kitchen to be larger. Not really feeling the cabinets and it definitely needs a backsplash.

The primary bedroom is a nice large size and is very cheerful.

It looks like all the bedrooms are bright.

The black & white bath is kind of retro.

Delightful pink family room.

This is such a cheery home. The attic is finished and has a bright combination bedroom/sitting area.

Wow, look at the 2nd level porch. Those columns are gorgeous.

There's a lovely inground pool.

I don't think I've seen a more cheerful historic home.

The corner lot measures .32 acre.

[tlatollotl]

✨ NEW EPISODE ✨

047. West Mexican Figurines with Art Historian Beth Wilson Norwood

In this episode we interview art historian Beth Wilson Norwood (@arthistorianb) about her research into the art of West Mexican figurines.

Beth Wilson Norwood is an art historian specializing in Pre-Columbian art, funerary art, and the art of ancient West Mexico. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico and the editor-in-chief of the 15th volume of the journal Hemisphere: Visual Culture of the Americas. She holds an MA from UT San Antonio and a BA from the University of Central Arkansas. Her dissertation “Narrative Ceramics and Networks of Practice: West Mexican Visual Traditions in the Late Formative-Early Classic Periods,” will focus on the issue of visual communication, and the role West Mexican ceramic sculpture may have played in the expression of important cultural narratives and histories, as well as their use in performance and oral storytelling.

[therainingkiwi]

Tiny details I noticed in the Percy Jackson TV show--episode 4!

I guess this is a recurring Thing now. See the "tiny details in PJO tv" tag for my posts about the other episodes.

Annabeth's hair wrap has little sheep on it. Adorable.

Percy wakes up from his nightmare very quietly and calmly, with his sleeping bag still neat (letting us know he hasn't been tossing or turning at all).

If they're on a train passing through St. Louis, with the eventual goal of making it to LA, then our trio are currently riding the Texas Eagle-Sunset Limited train that goes from Chicago to San Antonio to LA. They should have ridden the Southwest Chief--it's cheaper, faster, and runs more frequently… It just doesn't stop in St. Louis. Also, I now want to know how they got from New Jersey to Chicago.

Ambrosia and nectar haven't gotten a mention yet (for those of you non-book readers, it's the food of the gods that in the books can have incredible healing powers for demigods). Interesting choice.

The actor for younger Percy appears to have brown eyes.

Grover and Annabeth have now watched two separate forbidden children insist on staying behind to fight a deadly monster, so the two of them could get to safety. In both cases, the forbidden child was about to die, but at the last second, their godly parent saved them.

Percy's flannel is almost the same color as the Mississippi river water.

The pieces of glass on Echidna's jacket are fairly small, and I had to rewind a couple times in order to see them properly. Grover is VERY observant.

EDIT because I forgot to put this detail in: Percy tells Annabeth that he's "only been a demigod since last Saturday." Which first of all implies that Percy sees himself as someone who BECAME a demigod rather than someone who just found out something that's been true about him all along.

Also wtf, Percy and Sally's trip to Montauk was LAST SATURDAY???? What a week this poor kid's had

[decafdino]

wednesday vibes! thanks to @emsprovisions @whatsintheboxmh and @lemonlyman-dotcom for the tags! I don't want to give too much away since everything I've written is super spoilery, so have some intentionally vague snippet from the exchange fic.

"What's weird?" he and Paul ask at the same time.

"Well, his employment records show several transfers within months of each other. He seems to hop around from place to place." She keeps typing. "He came to Austin from Denton. Before that, it was San Antonio, then Lubbock, El Paso, then—"

"Waco, Fort Worth, Midland?" Carlos finishes. He feels himself go pale as Lexi nods. "That's the exact order of where they found the victims." Holy shit. Holy shit. "That's the killer. It has to be."

"Wait, hold on." Paul looks between the two of them. "How the hell is he transferring so quickly?"

Lexi hums. "There are several letters of recommendation on his file, too. It looks like someone was pulling some strings for this guy." They watch her click on something, and then a pdf opens on her laptop. Lexi begins skimming it. "To who it may concern…blah, blah, blah…cordially yours, [redacted]."

If he wasn't currently sitting down, Carlos would have sunk to his knees in utter defeat. "Oh, God," he says, "oh, God, what have I done?"

[kernyen-xo]

Long time!

Firstly, how y’all been? I’ve been wandering in from time to time and reading some of your posts. I just haven’t felt like posting myself until now.

Here we go.

What In the World: I walked out of Daiso and almost gave this woman a heart attack trying to get into my parked vehicle. My first thought was why in the world was this lady sitting in my vehicle, and why in the world the driver’s seat of all things?! I mean, why not the passenger side or the backseat?? And, why won’t my key unlock the door!? And then, almost immediately, after trying to open the door a second time, I was like, “Hold on now.. Uh oh. Oh no, this isn’t my vehicle!” Holy hot pockets! I immediately backed away, put up my hands, and told her, “I’m sorry,” several times, and then said, “My mistake, wrong car.” She just stared at me through the closed window, scared shitless. In case she didn’t understand what I said, I stepped back and gave her a respectful bow, and then hurriedly got into my car, which was parked in the next row. I hoped that when she saw me drive away, she was able to put 2+2 together because we had the same vehicle (same make, model, and color). Needless to say the humiliation of it all stuck with me the remainder of the day. I am such a dweeb.

Houston, We have a Problem: Went to Houston last month for my niece’s wedding. I just want to say that I don’t get why Houston is the 4th most populous city in our nation. I mean, the weather. It is pretty miserable. It was super humid and most of us were bitten by these mutant mosquitoes! Every wedding event my niece had was outdoors or it didn’t have A/C. Like the inside pickleball courts. She had a farewell outdoor crawdad boil for her guests, and the wedding and reception were also outdoors. All the events were pretty much held in the Heights area, which despite the weather is a nice historical area. But, you know what? I was glad that I went to Houston because my niece had a great wedding. I loved catching up with my nieces and nephews! I loved the serve yourself margaritas machines! Great people and great food and drinks! The kid and I went to Tenfold, a popular coffee place where I had my first cold brew with lemonade. It was was delicious and refreshing. On another day, the kid and I walked to have breakfast at this cafe with a great vibe. Attached to it was an antique shop, which we perused after we ate. We also did some shopping at Rice Village. We wanted to visit San Antonio but our schedule couldn’t spare the time.

The Kid Jr: My granddaughter graduated from the 8th grade last week! I’m so proud of her. I gave her a Kindle, which I was pretty excited about because she’s starting to enjoy reading, something she didn’t like before.

Saying Good-bye: I also attended my aunt’s funeral last week. Out of 8 kids, it’s just my mom and Uncle Junior that remains. It seems like yesterday when my generation of cousins were kids and our parents were still young and getting into their own shenanigans. It was a sad and bittersweet day. There were a lot of relatives that I didn’t even know, all of them cousins.

Books: I splurged. I decided I needed to start building up my personal library. It’s been a while since I’ve bought an actual book. I have been reading on my kindle or listening to audiobooks from the library app, Libby. It was time to start reading from actual books and adding to my home library. I used to have over 1,000 books but I got rid of most of them because it was becoming too much to pack and move them - especially when I was moving about 3 times a year. But now I have my own home and I’m not planning to move - at least for 5 years.

So, let the book buying begin!

The current book:

If you love birds, you’ll enjoy this book. Amy Tan’s backyard is a bird’s paradise. In this world of birds, you’ll learn about their habits, heartbreak, wonderful curiosities about the whys and why nots of birds’ actions. A lot of times unexplained, but if you are an avid bird watcher like Amy, her reasonings as to why the out of ordinary behaviors were interesting and entertaining. You will enjoy her drawings too.

The Kid and Me: Here’s what we did at the wedding 😆

The beautiful bride and her groom:

(Houston, The Heights May 2024)

How can they look so good in the sticky weather?

The Kid takes a picture of Yours Truly: (Grass Valley, May 2024)

My Loves:

(Sac-Town May 2024)

This post has been brought to you by Toodles, Inc.

[transbookoftheday]

Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa

When a Mariachi star transfers schools, he expects to be handed his new group's lead vocalist spot—what he gets instead is a tenacious current lead with a very familiar, very kissable face.

In a twenty-four-hour span, Rafael Alvarez led North Amistad High School’s Mariachi Alma de la Frontera to their eleventh consecutive first-place win in the Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional; and met, made out with, and almost hooked up with one of the cutest guys he’s ever met.

Now eight months later, Rafie’s ready for one final win. What he didn’t plan for is his family moving to San Antonio before his senior year, forcing him to leave behind his group while dealing with the loss of the most important person in his life—his beloved abuelo. Another hitch in his plan: The Selena Quintanilla-Perez Academy’s Mariachi Todos Colores already has a lead vocalist, Rey Chavez—the boy Rafie made out with—who now stands between him winning and being the great Mariachi Rafie's abuelo always believed him to be. Despite their newfound rivalry for center stage, Rafie can’t squash his feelings for Rey. Now he must decide between the people he’s known his entire life or the one just starting to get to know the real him.

Canto Contigo is a love letter to Mexican culture, family and legacy, the people who shape us, and allowing ourselves to forge our own path. At its heart, this is one of the most glorious rivals-to-lovers romance about finding the one who challenges you in the most extraordinary ways.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

James Bickerton at Newsweek:

The Republican Party of Texas has voted on a policy proposal that would require any candidate for statewide office to win in a majority of the state's 254 counties to secure election, effectively preventing Democrats from winning statewide positions based on the current distribution of their support. Democratic voters in Texas are heavily disproportionately concentrated in a handful of major cities which only constitute a small number of counties, while Republicans dominate most of the more sparsely populated rural counties. On Saturday, Texas Republicans voted on a range of policy proposals at the party's biannual conference which took place from May 23-25 in San Antonio. Once these votes have been counted, the official Texas state Republican policy platform is expected to be revealed later this week.

Proposal 21, under the state sovereignty section, called for a "concurrent majority" to be required in order to hold statewide office. It says: "The State Legislature shall cause to be enacted a State Constitutional Amendment to add the additional criteria for election to a statewide office to include the majority vote of the counties with each individual county being assigned one vote allocated to the popular majority vote winner of each individual county."

A berserk Texas GOP proposal would end any hope of a Democrat winning a statewide election by requiring candidates to win a majority of counties, thereby creating a statewide electoral college system that used to be enacted in Southern states to maintain segregation, only this time it would be used to maintain GOP power even if it lost the popular vote.

Such a proposal would violate the one person, one vote standard.