Fuel Economy

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Since I last filled up the gas tank I have driven 187.8 miles (302.2 km) and my average fuel economy has been 52.0 miles per gallon (16,8 km/liter or 4.5 liters/100 kilometers). I would estimate that I have driven 60% highway miles and 40% in the city since my last fill up, and the air conditioner has been on all the time.

This is in an almost totally stock, factory original, 5 speed manual transmission Toyota Corolla with a cruise control. The only things that are special about the car are that I have increased the tire inflation somewhat, and I have added a ScanGuageII which hooks up to the car’s diagnostic port and provides me with a read out of either the Average or the Current fuel economy. This gauge has allowed me to determine that this particular car gets its highest fuel economy when it is going about 35 miles per hour.

So what are the secrets to getting good fuel economy? You can look at this from two ways, the car and the driver.


THE CAR: To get decent fuel economy you need a light weight car with cruise control whose engine is no larger than 1.8 liters, has a standard transmission, has 15 inch tires, and is aerodynamic. Sixteen inch (or larger) and wider than standard tires greatly increase rolling resistance, and a rack on top of the car increases air resistance. Tire pressure should be kept no higher than the maximum indicated on the tire. Low tire pressure greatly increases rolling resistance. Living in the desert I personally have a strong preference for white cars, since they maximize reflectivity of the sun’s rays.


THE DRIVER: The biggest improvements come by learning how to drive in a way that maximizes fuel economy.

Accelerate very slowly, then maintain a slow and constant speed (using the cruise control any time it is safe to do so). Drive looking and planning far ahead, so that your use of the brakes is kept to an absolute minimum. When going down a hill or coasting to a turn or a stop, put the car in neutral (if you have an automatic transmission this may damage the car and is not recommended).

It really is not difficult, it just requires a different set of priorities. I find that many times when I am driving down the interstate highway with the cruise control set at 50 mph, I have a line of cars driving behind me. Not because they are upset and want to pass me, but because they also are tired of foolishly spending their money on rich Muslim Arab sheiks, and they know that driving slowly is the biggest key to getting better fuel economy.

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The New Mexican Revolution

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Just a few kilometers south of my house in the new suburbs of El Paso, Texas people are being killed every day. A lot of them. And no one is being apprehended or punished for these killings.
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For years young women have been routinely murdered. Girls who have moved north, to the prosperous city of Juarez, Chihuahua from rural Mexico to try and improve their financial lot in life. The same thing is happening all over the world, including in Africa and in rural China. The difference in Mexico is that a system of institutionalized corruption has grown and prospered over the last 50 years.

It is now to the point where attractive young women can be raped and killed with virtually no worry of ever being caught or prosecuted. Yesterday a judge in Mexico freed a man, saying that his few months served in jail were sufficient for having intentionally run over and killed a U.S. Customs Agent during a drug deal gone badly wrong.

Top law enforcement people and their body guards are killed almost every week now in Mexico. It has become routine. The various mafia and drug lord factions have been feuding, and it is beginning to be obvious that they have vastly more stroke than the government.

I really like Mexico and her people. My first spoken word was in the Spanish language (thanks to my Mexican nanny who was much more like a grandmother than a domestic servant). I have travelled widely in Mexico, and although there is a great deal of poverty the people somehow maintain a great sense of dignity. As a generalization, I find that Mexican nationals are really fine people.

But I have to be honest: The rampant corruption in Mexico could not have become so commonplace without the overt cooperation of the normal people in Mexico. It is just so much easier to pay a small bribe for any service performed by a government employee (like a policeman) than it is to demand that any civil servant who is found to be involved in bribery or corruption be permanently barred from any governmental employment or assistance.

The concept of Rule of Law is almost a thing of the past in Mexico now. Money and power rules, not the legal system, ethics, or morality.

I was talking with a friend of mine last night. He is one of the top law enforcement people in El Paso, Texas. He says that many of the really rich and powerful people in Juarez, Mexico have already fled to the U.S.A. Along with their body guards. My friend says that now there is even a code word that is used to warn an officer who is dispatched to the home of one of these people which tells the law enforcement officer that he can potentially expect to find an outrageously rich and powerful Mexican National there, along with his body guards (who may well be heavily armed).

It truly is very possible that the forces of evil will win in Mexico. At this point in the battle the government and the clean law enforcement personnel are losing. Clearly losing. Their eventual defeat is not 100% certain, but it appears more than likely. Perhaps The Wall being built between the U.S.A. and Mexico has a secondary purpose. Maybe one of it's functions is to protect America from the corruption and open warfare going on just south of our border. The Wall won’t solve this, or even help in my view.

Genuine concern by Americans about importing this culture of corruption, dishonesty, and bribery is not xenophobia. It is completely warranted and appropriate. But we need to be very careful to differentiate these very valid concerns from the more common racism and xenophobia, which is abhorrent.

I don’t know what we can do on our side to help. I think being rigorous about obeying the constitution, like not engaging in torture and supporting the rule of law will help. And any official in America who is engaged in corruption or bribery needs to be dealt with severely, not just a slap on the wrist. A good example of this sort of evil is Justice Department personnal only hiring lawyers who support the Republican political party. This is just the sort of thing which will eventually destroy the rule of law if it is allowed to continue.
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LINK: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91955586
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Rage

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The BBC reports that:
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A 25-year-old employee at a plastics factory in Kentucky shot dead five colleagues and injured another before killing himself, police have said.
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He opened fire at the Atlantis Plastics factory in Henderson city after arguing with a male supervisor, said police.
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Using a handgun he got from his car, the employee killed his 30-year-old supervisor, two other male workers and two females, police told the BBC.
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One can learn a number of lessons here if one has an open mind.
-----(1) Treat people like animals and they behave like animals
-----(2) Better be careful about humiliating people; sometimes they choose to get even.
-----(3) Working the night shift you are dealing with fatigued workers.
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LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7472963.stm
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Guadalupe Peak

THIS IS AA's PICTURETh-

A few days ago I was talking with a couple of friends of mine. I mentioned that I was thinking about trying to do a modern day update of Ansel Adams’ famous picture of Guadalupe Peak.

My friend felt that the image of El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak was only known to people from this general area of the southwest. My feeling was that this wonderful view was more widely known.

Today I happened across my United States National Parks annual pass from last year. I remember well buying it at some national park near Tucson, Arizona. When the park service lady learned that I was from El Paso, Texas she said, “Well then I’ll bet you know what this picture is of.”

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THIS IS MY PICTURE

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Bucket List

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Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson do a really good job in the movie Bucket List.
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This is a story about two older men who are diagnosed with cancer. They get to know the doctors very well, but in the final analysis "modern medicine" cannot cure them. Hum, that sounds familiar. The Bucket List is their list of things that they want to do and the places they want to see before they kick the bucket.
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After the doctors informed me of my situation at first I cried a lot. Why me, and all that stuff. But it didn't take me too long to figure out that all this negativism and complaining was just sapping my energy (and wasting the final chapter of one's life).

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So I started writing my own Bucket List.

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I guess I went to Paris, France at least 10 times, maybe more (my father was born in Paris, Texas). The same with London which is probably the world's finest city. On several different occasions I walked along various parts of Hadrian's wall in northern England. I saw the Peak District, Glastonbury, and I went on several pigrimages to Liverpool and the Beatles sites like Penny Lane and Strawberry Field.

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I visited Rome where I saw the Colliseum, the Apian Way, and I spent a half a day wandering around Hadrian's villa just outside of town. I went to Galileo's home town of Pisa and visited the leaning tower where he performed his experiments on gravity, then Florence where Galileo is buried, and on down to the very well preserved ancient Roman cities of Pompei and Herculaneum just south of Naples. I absolutely fell in love with Berlin and went there several times. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times each I visited Koln/Cologne, Dusseldorf, Xantan, Munich, and Trier, Germany all of which are absolutely delightful places. Several times I visited Frankfurt and Heidelberg, Germany where I lived in the early 1970's when I was in the U.S. Army. These visits were sort of like going back to my roots - my youth.
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Antwerp, Brussels, Tongeren, and Liege, Belgium became almost like a second home to me. Edinburg, Scotland; Dublin, Ireland; Barcelona, Spain; and the Swiss Alps are all truly wonderful and amazing places full of nice people.
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And just like in the movie, after seeing a bit of the world, I finally came home to my roots in America. My primary goal was to try and renew my ties with my sister and my son. I have been back in America for about 18 months now, and I would say that this final and most important part has been rather more successful than I anticipated. And I have formed a really good friendship with my little black partner.

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The leukemia is continuing to progress. My immune system is now probably about 85% ineffective. It isn't able to fight off the most common of bacterial, viral, or fungal invaders. Even simple tooth decay has become a real problem. And there are now so many ineffective white blood cells (which refuse to die at the appropriate time, like other cancerous cells) in my blood that they have begun crowding out the red blood cells which carry the oxygen to all of the body's tissues, and the platelets which help the blood clot when one gets a little cut.

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This is all just part of the normal program. We all are born and we all die. We can't change either of them very much. The important part is what one does with the time between your birth and your death. I still have a fair amount of energy, and I'm still laughing a lot and enjoying virtually every day. I intend to stay around as long as possible; as long as I can enjoy it a bit.

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But if it all becomes intolerable and no fun any more, then I plan to move on to the next chapter. That is what the Good Lord made .44 Magnum handguns for. I don't want to be like one of those cancerous cells which just keeps hanging on, refusing to die even when your time has clearly come, and you can no longer be useful or happy. I don't want to be the last one to leave the party.
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This movie The Bucket List is a complete fantasy. But it is funny, and it has a good message. I recommend it highly! Especially so to anyone who has been diagnosed with incurable malignant cancer (or their familes). The truth is that we are all terminally ill; we are all going to die. So maybe this is a good movie for anyone to see.
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Local Hero

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This is an excellent movie. A classic.

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I recommend it highly!

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30% of Americans Are Racist

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A new poll was published today saying that 30% of Americans admit to being racially biased. That seems about right; maybe even a little low.
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I have travelled all over the world, and I have lived for years first in Germany and later in The Netherlands. I can say without any doubt that 30% is probabaly a low number for either the Germans or the Dutch. The Dutch hate the Germans, the Germans hate Turks, the British hate the French, everyone with any brains hates the arrogant Danish, and on and on.
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And Mexicans are terribly biased against dark skinned people. Being light skinned is openly valued in their culture. Some of the most racially biased people that I have ever known were poorly educated Mexican nationals. Well, thinking about when I lived in South Louisiana, poorly educated white southerners may even be more racially biased.
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It seems that with travel, experience, and education some of this racial bias and ethnocentrism decreases. But there seems to be something human about liking "our own people" and disliking "them" the folks that are different than us in some way.
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Dr. Stangelove

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I just got done watching Dr. Stangelove on DVD. It is a real classic, and everyone would be well served to see it. It is funny, but also has a relevant message in this day when nuclear non-proliferation appears to be a thing of the past.
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Dr. Stangelove was done by Stanley Kubrick. In my mind he was more famous for A Clockwork Orange, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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A really amazing man.
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LINKS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove
--------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_kubrick

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Gay Marriage Is Good for America

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The Wall Street Journal has an article today entitled Gay Marriage Is Good for America.
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121400362307993399.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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I am not anti-gay. In fact I think that lesbianism and bi-sexuality among women is just plain smart. Anal sex (inserting an engorged penis in another man's anus), on the other hand, goes way beyond stupid. It damages the anus, and encourages the spread of disease.
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It is very easy to get married, and really painful and financially devastating to get divorced. I am glad that our gay bretheren can now share this part of marriage with us.
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There are some good reasons why we give financial incentives for marriage between a man and woman. Such as allowing the widow to continue receiving the old age pension earned by her husband even after his death. It is because staying at home properly raising a child is so ruinous to one's career, and is seen by many as demeaning and dumming down.
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But having kids and RAISING THEM PROPERLY is vital to our society. So we as a group give certain incentives to encourage this.
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There is no such socially important result that society needs to subsidize when two men or two women get married. If these homosexuals want to get married, well fine. Let them suffer through the divorce process too. Serves them right.
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We need, as an overall society, to commend, encourage, and financially subsidize child birth and the proper raising of these children by a stable man-woman couple. And discourage child birth and ther raising of these children by teen aged, irrespnsible, single girls.
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Summer Solstice

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Today is the longest day of the year.

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Most years it takes place on June 21, but in 2008 it happens on June 20.

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Meteor Shower

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June isn't known for meteors, but astronomers are keeping a watchful eye on the June Boötids. This little-known shower is linked to Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke; outbursts occurred in 1998 and 2004.

Observers should be on the lookout for Boötid "shooting-stars" from June 22 to July 3. Any potential outburst, however, will occur between 6:30 P.M. EDT June 26 and 5 A.M. EDT June 27, when Earth grazes the comet's debris trail.

The shower radiant - the point from which meteors seem to fly - lies in the northern part of Boötes, which is visible nearly all night. The Last Quarter Moon, which rises around midnight, will wash out fainter meteors.



courtest Astrononmy magazine

Bottled Water

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Here's an interesting factoid. 28 billion units of bottled water are sold every year and has a terrible carbon footprint. If you add transportation costs costs of energy, the amount of diminishing resources used to get some plastic water in your hands when you could have got it almost free out of the tap, it is a scandal.
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Here's what you can do to help. Find a plastic bottle of your favorite water. You know the one you need to define your personality and makes you look cool at the gym and walking in the park. Refill it with tap water which is safer than bottled water. In fact most bottled water is public source water (Hello!! that is tap water). Tap water is controlled by EPA and bottled water by the FDA. The EPA standards are higher. If the bottled water doesn't cross state lines no one controls it.
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Another fact is that if you carry around a bottle of water you actually look like a dork. It is way not cool anymore. It is not PC.
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SAVE THE WORLD
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I received the above rant from a friend of mine who now lives in Venice, Italy.
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Hugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie is an enormously talented guy. He is very well educated, having gone to the finest schools in England.

An excellent actor, he first gained widespread fame in the Jeeves and Wooster series. He is now an American citizen and is the star in the television series House.

I just finished reading his book. It is very readable and funny spy novel called The Gun Seller. First class. A real pleasure to read. I’d recommend it to my best friend.

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LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie
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Europe To Ban Incadescent Bulbs

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According to Der Speigel, the European Union is planning to implement a phase-out of energy-wasting, climate-killing incandescent lightbulbs, starting next year. They will be replaced by energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs, which last 10 times longer.

So... On some things Europe is well ahead of America.
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After waiting a few days I've decided to change this. Americans are so insecure. We have really taken the bait about The American Way being the world's best. We have so internalized this propaganda that we can't see reality any more. The truth is that Europe is far ahead of America on a great many things and issues. Honest. The freeways are better in Germany, the cellphone network is vastly superior, the satellite TV system is much better and consumer friendly, and the health care system is so much better it is like night and day. Honest, I have leukemia, so I know the European health care system very well. I have first hand personal experience. And here in America I am uninsurable and uninsured.
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I love America. I served honorably in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war. And after living in Europe for 20 years as a civilian I retired back to America. So don't give me that Love It Or Leave it shit. But honestly, we could learn a lot from the rest of the world if we would just open our eyes, our ears, and our minds.

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LINK: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,560410,00.html

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Fire In The Organ Mountains

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My friend Robert Durkin sent me an amazing picture of the fire just north of El Paso, Texas in the Organ Mountains.

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Paul McCartney

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---------- Happy Birthday
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It cost you some money, but at least you got that negative Heather out of your life. The woman who was not at all what she pretended to be. The dishonest money grubber.
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Live and learn.
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The European Constitution

The people of Ireland are being resoundingly criticized by the power hungry politicians of the European Union for rejecting the latest version of the European Constitution.

I would describe the situation somewhat differently. The last time the proposed constitution was voted on by the people both the Dutch and the French rejected it.

This time the politicians all over Europe didn’t dare let their voters express their opinion, because they were afraid of how they might vote.

I would describe the situation this way: In the one and only country in Europe where the common people were given the opportunity to vote on it, the constitution was soundly rejected. If other countries had chosen democracy over rule by the political elite the constitution may have been rejected in other countries. But now we will never know, because no other country in Europe had the guts or faith in democracy to ask their voters to express their opinion.
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LINK: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,559741,00.html
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Adventures in Hypermiling

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The Washington Post has an article today on Hypermiling. It is written in kind of a hokey fashion, making the journalist appear rather stupid. But it is an informative article anyway. I don't know if this link will work but its worth a try:

LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061400127.html?sub=AR


The article covers all the standard points of hypermiling like drive slow and maintain a constant speed, accelerate slowly, try to avoid using the brakes, when going down a long hill put the car in neutral, make sure that there is plenty of air pressure in your tires to reduce rolling resistance, and turn off the engine at long stop lights, etc.

It also goes over the recommended safety warnings like don’t draft (following VERY closely behind an 18 wheeler truck to reduce wind resistance).

I already do all of these things. Before the car I have now I had a Toyota Prius. It’s display of fuel economy helps one learn the importance of following the above recommendations. My current Toyota Corolla does not display fuel economy which I miss greatly. The newspaper article describes a plug in device which does display fuel economy is virtually any vehicle made since 1996 called the ScanGuage II. I just ordered one. Look at it on Amazon.com and you can see all the user comments.

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Fuel Prices

The price of everything that is dependent upon crude oil is increasing. Gasoline for your car, diesel for the 18 wheeler truck that hauls your fresh produce and Wal-Mart merchandise, chemical fertilizers needed for food and ethanol production, fuel oil and natural gas to heat your house and work place, and jet fuel for commercial airliners.

Many people are worrying horribly, and some are grinding their teeth in anger. But this sort of reaction is just silly and ineffective. In fact, getting mad just makes one less able to make rational decisions and adequately cope with difficult situations.

The amount of oil and natural gas is limited, and in fact is getting harder and harder to find. The oil companies are having to drill much deeper and in very strange locations (like the sea bed thousands of feet below the floating oil rig), but even so they are not having a great deal of success in finding new sources of crude oil and natural gas.

The vast numbers of people in China and India who have been living in terrible poverty finally are getting the wonderful chance to have refrigerators, regularly eat meat, and even drive their own cars. Their good fortune at increasing their standard of living is causing an enormous worldwide increase in the usage of oil and gas.

One of the reasons that our species has survived and prospered is because of our ability to make rational decisions and our ability to be flexible. Many of the people who have emigrated from their native countries due to famine really like the place they grew up. But when the future prosperity of their children was on the line, the Irish moved to North America because of the potato famine. The Jews who were rational and flexible left Germany during the nazi era.

When people grumble and moan about the price of fuel to me, I ask them what kind of vehicle they drive. In the 1960s and 1970s it was easy enough to see all of this coming. And the rational, flexible ones made changes in their lifestyle. If you drive a car that gets worse fuel economy than 7,8 liters per 100 kilometers, or 17.2 km/liter, or 30 miles per gallon under completely normal, real-life conditions, please excuse me for saying so, but you are a wasteful fool.

The same applies to your house. You should have long ago converted your house to double (or triple) pane windows, added loads of extra insulation, bought new energy efficient appliances, and changed all of your light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent bulbs.

I feel genuine pity for those people who would rather grumble, complain, and grind their teeth than take concrete action to help deal with the rising energy prices. This self induced stress is certainly contributing to their high blood pressure and their early demise. But my compassion and sympathy for them does not stop me from moving on without them. Many of the dinosaurs were probably nice folks too. The latest research indicates that the dinosaurs cared deeply about their young. But when push came to shove they could not be flexible enough to survive the changing situation.
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John McCain

I used to really like McCain. I thought he was very ethical, had grace under pressure, and great dignity. John McCain said Friday that the Supreme Court ruling on Guantanamo Bay detainees is “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country."
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Sorry Pal, but you are sadly out of touch with reality on this one.
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This is the third time that the Supreme Court has told the Bush administration that even when it is inconvenient, and even during hard times the constitution has to be obeyed. It is not just idle partisan talk wanting to impeach George Jr.

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The German newspaper Der Spiegel is normally pro-America. Today they published an article called, The Bush Administration's 'Outrageous Impertinence' describing how these Republicans keep openly violating the constitution.

LINK: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,559494,00.html
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Watching Satellites

Tonight at just after 8:30 people in El Paso, Texas will be able to see the International Space Station go over along with the space shuttle Discovery which has now undocked from it.


(CLICK ON THE BELOW CHART AND IT WILL ENLARGE)


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Times are slightly different for San Antonio, Texas. Click on the link below to get the exact time.
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LINK: http://www.universetoday.com/2008/06/10/double-spaceship-sighting-alert/


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UPDATE: The International Space Station and the Space Shuttle showed up right on time. They were very easily seen by the naked eye as they appeared to travel rapily in the southeasterly direction.
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The shuttle is 80 miles (129 km) from the space station in this picture.

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John Edwards

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He would make an excellent running mate for Obama.

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LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_edwards

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New Horse In The Stable

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My wheeled vehicles include a really light alloy folding bicycle that I bought in Germany, another folding bicycle powered by a 33cc two cycle engine, a 250cc Honda scooter, and a Toyota Crayola.
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In Europe I had a 50cc ATV which had license plates and was road legal. A 50cc machine was plenty big enough to haul a big boy like me around in the mud or sand.
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Here in America you can only use these four wheelers off-road. As it turns out, I live less than one kilometer from thousands of square kilometers of desert, which is one ideal place to drive these four wheelers.
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At the Socorro, Texas flea market today I met a couple of young men who are selling Chinese made ATVs, and are willing to accept a very reasonable markup. We came to terms, so I bought a nice little brand new 110cc ATV still in its original packaging. Even as weak as the Bush Dollar is in the international currency exchange market, I paid these young men less than half of what I paid for the 50cc machine that I bought four years ago in Kerkrade, Holland.
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I plan to modify the one-motorcycle trailer which I built to haul behind the Toyota, so that it will also carry this ATV. This new ATV already has nice big racks mounted on it front and rear, so I probably will try adding a doggie carrier to one of these to see if I can get my little black doggie Inu to ride with me.
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Climbing Hills

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My friend Axel Emmerman who lives in Belgium just had his gall bladder removed. And a few months ago he had bypass surgery for his heart. But even so he is in good spirits and all full of it just like always.
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By e-mail we were comparing our various "old man" diseases, and I said to him, "Getting old sucks, but it sure beats the alternative." And here is his response. I feel so incredibly honored. He wrote this himself, just for me:
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You fight and win as much as you can. After every hill that you climb there's the freewheeling down the other side.
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Finally will come the one that makes you forget about the next hill to climb. Somewhere on the way up you just look back and there you see all those little foothills that you conquered... There are so many of them that they disappear in the distance of the past horizons. Then, a little sad but also a little proud, you kick off your shoes and take the nap.
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It's the same for us all...
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Obama

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Yahoo operates a photo sharing group called Flickr.

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Barack Obama is one of the members of flickr. Well no doubt his staff maintains it, but maybe he actually does see it occastionally. I contributed early to his campaign and I worked the polling place for him on voting day here in Texas.

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I just sent him a message. Click on it and it will enlarge enough to be readable.

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Chipotle

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Not long ago I mentioned to a friend how chipotle is made. My friend had a completely different idea about chipotle. Early in my food processing career I bought truck loads of fresh jalapenos peppers in Mexico, and I have seen the process of making chipotle in person.
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Normally green jalapeno peppers are preferred for fresh sale as well as for the food processing industry, so premuim prices are paid to the grower for green peppers. But towards the end of the harvest season, more and more of the jalapeno peppers are turning red on the vine. The farmer can either plow these plants under, or if there is a market for the red jalapenos they can be harvested.
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These red jalapeno peppers are dehydrated using wood smoke. In the dehydration process most of the water goes away, and ten kilograms of fresh peppers become roughly one kilogram of dried peppers. Once they are smoked dry to approximately the consistency of raisins, they are classified as chipotles.
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LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle
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Sun City

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There are towns named Sun City in South Africa and in the U.S.A. in the states of Arizona, California, Kansas, and Florida.
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For some reason people who are not originally from El Paso, Texas like to call it the Sun City. Rather than use its real name which recognizes the long and fascinating history at the Pass Of The North, they choose to use a name which can be confused with so many other places.
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I used to be involved with the Sun City Amateur Radio group, and I am currently a member of the El Paso Astronomy Club which has chosen to call itself the Sun City Astronomers.
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I'm sure that this is not some sort of hidden xenophobia, rather it is just due to a narrow view and a lack of global and historical perspective.
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