Category: Happening In The Desert

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No Place For Something Obscene Or Profanity In New Mexico

A man in Santa Fe had a New Mexico license plate that says IB6UB9 since 2009 according to KOAT “Man fights for controversial license plate back“. It seems to translate to “I will be 6 and you be 9 in a 69 sexual configuration” however the owner says it does not. The state has said it received an unspecified number of complaints that is has no proof of.

Robert Anaya’s vanity license plate was initially approved back in 2009, but he just got a letter from the Motor Vehicle Division saying it’s revoked because it’s considered obscene. The plate in question reads IB6UB9.

“If something is obscene or profanity, we have no place for it in New Mexico,” Taxation and Revenue Department Secretary Demesia Padilla said.

Anaya said his plate is not a sexual reference, but an inside joke with a friend from a night at a casino.

However, the state said it’s gotten enough complaints to cancel the plate. The state can’t provide those complaints because officials say they weren’t written or recorded.

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"Breaking Bad" Style Meth Candy In The News

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports “NM shop sells ‘meth candy’ to honor ‘Breaking Bad’“. Prepare for complaints about how this candy shop is glorifying drug use meanwhile the TV show isn’t.

The owner of an Albuquerque candy store is selling a product she’s calling “meth candy” and is playing off the popularity of the hit TV-show “Breaking Bad.”

Debbie Hall, owner of The Candy Lady, said Monday that the blue-colored snack is merely sugar blocks, though it bears a close resemblance to the blue crystal causing havoc on the Albuquerque-based TV drama.

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Horses Being Abandoned Due To The High Costs Of The Drought

From the NYTimes article “Horses Fall Victim to Hard Times and Dry Times on the Range“

AZTEC, N.M. — The land is parched, the fields are withering and thousands of the nation’s horses are being left to fend for themselves on the dried range, abandoned by people who can no longer afford to feed them.

They have been dropping dead in the Navajo reservation in the Southwest, where neighbors are battling neighbors and livestock for water, an inherently scant resource on tribal land. They have been found stumbling through state parks in Missouri, in backyards and along country roads in Illinois, and among ranch herds in Texas where they do not belong.

Some are taken to rescue farms or foster homes — lifelines that are also buckling under the pressure of the nation’s worst drought in half a century, which has pushed the price of grain and hay needed to feed the animals beyond the reach of many families already struggling in the tight economy

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Holloman Drones Demoed On Civilian Vehicles

In the New York Times article ““The Drone Zone“, Drone aircraft from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico were demoed for the press by targeting (but not firing on) civilian vehicles on the highway.

Holloman sits on almost 60,000 acres of desert badlands, near jagged hills that are frosted with snow for several months of the year — a perfect training ground for pilots who will fly Predators and Reapers over the similarly hostile terrain of Afghanistan. When I visited the base earlier this year with a small group of reporters, we were taken into a command post where a large flat-screen television was broadcasting a video feed from a drone flying overhead. It took a few seconds to figure out exactly what we were looking at. A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs in the center of the screen and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road. When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car.

“Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?” a reporter asked. One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room.

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The Whitewater Baldy Complex Fire

IMG_0416

Image from Gila Forest on Flickr.

The Gila Fire is now the Whitewater Baldy Complex fire, named after the Whitewater and Baldy fires merged. It’s currently 15% contained and has burned 217,988 acres. It’s the largest fire in the US and the largest in New Mexico state history.

It was almost a year ago that I was posting about the Wallow fire in Arizona, which burned more than twice what the Whitewater Baldy Complex fire has burned. The Wallow fire produced a lot of smoked that end up in Albuquerque. So far Albuquerque has been spared most of the smoke from the Whitewater Baldy Complex fire.

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No Hockey This Winter At The Santa Ann Star Center

The Santa Anna Star Center was built in Rio Rancho to primarily be a venue for the New Mexico Scorpions hockey team. Not only are the New Mexico Scorpions not playing there, the New Mexico Mustangs won’t be playing there either according the the Rio Rancho Observer “Mustangs ‘inactive’ for season“.

The New Mexico Mustangs, who called the Star Center home for the past two seasons of North American Hockey league competition, were officially “granted inactive status” by the NAHL and will not compete in the league in the 2012-13 season.

A ticket to a Mustangs’ game wasn’t exactly the hottest item in town: The team drew an average of 802 fans for each of its 29 home games in 2010-11 and then 721 fans for each of its 30 home games in the just-completed season.

The situation with the Santa Anna Star Center was covered by the New York Times in 2011. The company that convinced the city to build the center, Global Entrainment, went around the country getting a lot of cities to build similar arenas making promises that didn’t come true.

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The Solar Eclipse In Albquerque

Eclipse Sunset

Photo by bobthemtnbiker on flickr.

The (solar) annular eclipse was visible in Albuquerque this year right before sunset. Many people attended viewing parties on the west mesa or their homes. I managed to get out of work in time to see the eclipse at a party in Corrales. I think the eclipse was more fun when viewed with friends.

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Meow The Cat Has Died

I didn’t have a chance to write about Meow the cat when he became famous for being extremely overweight at about 40 pounds at the Santa Fe Humane Society.

Meow has died due to “respiratory complications” according to the Santa Fe Humane Society’s website.

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Moths Cause Horrible Car Crash

From the Denver Post, “Miller moths prompt crash, explosion in Colorado Springs“

A vehicle driven by a teenager Tuesday night veered off of the side of the road, slammed into a tree and exploded into flames apparently because of miller moths, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

This story might sound silly that someone could be distracted by a few moths. But Albuquerque has had the same plague of miller moths and I could imagine there were so many moths that it looked like a snow storm.

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What Is The Source Of This Woman Hitting A Pole In Rio Rancho

Apparently A person hit a utility pole in the middle of the desert of Rio Rancho. I found several sites “reporting” on it, such a WTF and pictures sites but I cannot find the original source which I assume is from a local source in New Mexico. The best I can find is a UK Orange News site which had this to say:

Car Hits Pole In Rio RanchoPolice in the US are baffled after a woman managed to drive her car into a telegraph pole in the middle of a wide-open desert.

She somehow managed to plough straight into the middle of the 20ft pole, despite being surrounded by acres of empty desert in Rio Rancho, Sandoval, New Mexico.

The damage to the front of the grey car is clearly visible in the snap, with the sheer force of the crash also causing the wooden utility pole to snap.

A Rio Rancho police officer said the driver of the vehicle had no life-threatening injuries but was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.

New Mexico is one of the most vast and least densely populated states in the US due to its mountainous territory and desert landscape.

Based on the picture that accompanies the article, I cannot place exactly where the photo was taken in Rio Rancho but I can see what appears to be at least one house in the back ground. I also suspect there is a road behind the camera.

Update: PNM on Twitter says this was a real incident.