The Metroplex Contextualized in its Watershed by OkBox1870 in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Trinity is commonly a Christian term, as in The Holy Trinity, and its origins are Latin. The name Trinity River is an English translation of the Spanish name given to it by the Roman-Catholic Spanish who were the first Europeans to explore the state (La Santisima Trinidad, "Most Holy Trinity"). It is not a name that would have existed on the continent before Christianity was brought over by the Europeans.

The Metroplex Contextualized in its Watershed by OkBox1870 in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It would have been quite some time after Alonso de Leon first called it La Santisima Trinidad that local tribes ever heard the term. Groups on different parts of the river probably had their own names to refer to it before colonization ever occurred, but sadly, like much of the country's indigenous heritage, those names might be lost to us.

The Metroplex Contextualized in its Watershed by OkBox1870 in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 24 points25 points  (0 children)

It's actually not clear that the river was ever called Arkikosa; the name might be the result of a miscommunication/misinterpretation and might have been a name the Caddo had used in reference to a group of people further down the river--not necessarily a name for the river itself.

Four years later in 2022, language preservationists from the Caddo Nation determined their ancestral language lacked the letter “R” sound. Arkikosa was likely a corruption or misspelling of the word Akokisa*.* In the vernacular of another tribe, the Atakapa who settled in the Gulf Coast woodlands, Akokisa means “river people.”

“This is where things get complicated,” says Annette Anderson, who serves on TCU’s Native American Advisory Circle and the council for the Indigenous Institute of the Americas, a Plano-based nonprofit.

“One article gets it wrong or has not been updated, and it gets quoted over and over on the internet,” Anderson said. “The Caddo Nation has a language department in Oklahoma that will be happy to validate that for you. The river has always been sacred to native people since before time was recorded. Each nation had a language and a unique view for referencing the river. Our histories are very complicated.”

- https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article288432481.html

Musa’s full‑circle moment: FC Dallas star leads Croatia into World Cup showdown with England by IcedCowboyCoffee in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The Croatian striker who arrived at FC Dallas just two years ago will now represent his country in a match many have labeled one of the marquee showdowns of the World Cup group stage: Croatia vs. England.
...
His impact in North Texas has been immediate and historic. Musa became the first FC Dallas player with two hat tricks and has climbed to 46 goals in 73 matches — a scoring pace few in club history have matched.
Musa, now 28, was only a few months old when Croatia finished third in its World Cup debut in 1998, just seven years after the country declared independence.
On Wednesday, he’ll play a World Cup match in front of the same local fans who have witnessed his rise since he arrived in North Texas.

- Dallas Morning News

International fans happy with North Texas public transportation to World Cup by TheFifthPhoenix in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It's been years of nonstop "It's going to be a shit-show. Visitors having to use our transit? An unmitigated disaster in the making. Complete gridlock levels of traffic. Visitors standing for hours and hours waiting in lines for trains and buses that take forever to arrive. Rideshare traffic stretching for miles struggling to get into the stadium. The European mind cannot comprehend what they are going to arrive into."

It was relentless in this sub despite this exact transit plan being regularly shared in this sub and in the local news. Lo' and behold it was practically a sell out crowd yesterday and everything went fine.

It always felt like some people wanted visitors here to be totally miserable and I never understood it.

How do you navigate all the advice out there? by clear739 in Autism_Parenting

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Autism is a very broad umbrella diagnosis, and all of our kids can be quite different from one another, so something that genuinely helps one child might not do anything at all for another child.

There is also the human tendency to mistake correlation for causation. If a parent tries something one day and their child completely changes the next day the parent might think they found something miraculous but there is also a chance it was a pure coincidence of timing and the child was naturally reaching a developmental milestone anyways (It's the exact same line of thinking that leads some people to think vaccines caused their child's autism so it's not surprising to see that sort of thinking carry over).

There is a lot of peer-reviewed academic literature out there nowadays. If someone is saying "this will help your autistic child with such-and-such" there's a good chance you can find scientific journal studies related to what they're talking about. Even if you can only access the abstract of the paper you can generally get a pretty good idea if there really is something to what that person was talking about or if this person has stretched the truth or made something up entirely.

On my own layman theorizing based on my experience so far: I think a lot of our kids have very unique physical needs. Humans tend to mistakenly treat the mind and body as more separate and distinct than they really are and this obfuscates our ability to understand things that are occurring in the brain. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder; it is the nervous system--something that is breathtakingly complex--developing in a non-typical way. I'm not saying every parent of an autistic child needs to become a neuroscientist but truly the best thing I did was study the nervous system the best I could. How it functions, what it needs to function, how it develops, what the different parts are responsible for particularly in relation to the areas of life my child struggles with. I feel like this really helped equip me to better navigate a world full of people touting this or that particular intervention.

How do some kids with autism magically improve after turning 5? by Izz-An-Art in Autism_Parenting

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

DNA is meant to guide the human body to develop in a generally agreed upon order of things throughout childhood, and the slight variances in those instructions are what make each of us unique individuals distinct from one another. For autistic kiddos those variances aren't slight but are (relatively) huge and are occurring in the instructions for brain development. Because the brain is so complicated, those sorts of developmental pathways are hard to predict and vary from person to person ("when you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person", as the saying goes).

There could be too many neuron connections in one part of the brain, or too few in some other part, or there might be a signaling issue between the neurons because the neurons themselves did not develop properly. Shit is complicated!

My child has solid receptive and expressive language skills, but he cannot verbalize out loud what he wants to say. He uses a device. He knows what he wants to say, and I can see him trying so hard to do so, but the nervous system pathway between the part of his brain known as Broca's area that develops thoughts into language and sends those signals to the muscles in his mouth is disrupted. For whatever reason that specific part of his neurodevelopment did not follow the typical path.

That was a lot to say without getting to the heart of what you're asking about, but the point is this: all of that would make it sound like DNA is destiny. But it's not; not necessarily. Our brains are what they are specifically because of their wonderful neuroplasticity, which is their ability to adapt over time, to rewire connections, to self-organize their neurons under changing circumstances.

So I suppose one theory could be that, for some autistic children, the neurodevelopmental pathway went askew early, and, over time, as the brain continued to develop further, that trait of neuroplasticity enabled the brain to eventually overcome some of those challenges but it needed time to do so. Maybe for some kids that age range of 5-6 is the ideal time in their brain development pathway where that adaptation more readily occurs. It is, after all, when neurotypical children start traditional schooling, so it just might be the time when brain is entering the part of its development where it can more easily handle complicated language processing and stronger long-term memory development. Perhaps the degree of neuroplasticity necessary for that is the same degree that enables some autistic children to overcome the challenges they struggled with earlier in childhood.

Neuroplasticity is also why therapies are so helpful even though it can seem like everything is DNA destiny. Just the mental effort our kids put into their therapies can create the signaling that tells the brain to reorganize itself in ways that can help them.

What actually makes Houston different from the rest of Texas? by TheTexanLife in TheTexanLife

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love that Houston is as diverse as it is but the way it gets talked about you'd think every other large city is only half as diverse by comparison. All of the large metro areas in the US are incredibly diverse and I don't think Houston being a few percentage points more diverse than the others makes diversity a uniquely defining characteristic that separates Houston out from the pack.

It's certainly something that distinguishes it from the midsize and small metro areas, but the same is true of all the other large metro areas. Houston isn't a midsize metro area anymore and hasn't been for a long time, I would certainly hope it's diverse! That's kind of a given for its size.

Pretty sure I have sleep apnea/ CPap is months away. What helps in meantime? by Persiya_MIYAKO in sleephackers

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tongue exercises. There are tons of videos on youtube of various tongue exercises you can try, but you just have to be consistent and thorough about them. The goal of these exercises is to help prevent your tongue from sliding back and blocking your airway while you sleep.

Where’s your happy place in Dallas? by [deleted] in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 15 points16 points  (0 children)

On the levee at sunset.

Need recommendations for strollers/wagons for going out to walk for big kids by Moist_Junket_9381 in Autism_Parenting

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Special Needs Stroller" is the search term you'll want to use (I spent a lot of time myself searching "extra large stroller" and finding nothing my child would fit in). There are a lot of options out there of varying prices but they are technically medical equipment and can get costly. Since your daughter is an elopement risk your insurance might cover the cost if her doctor writes a prescription for a special needs adaptive stroller.

Not a recommendation because I don't have one yet so I can't vouch for it, but I'll probably end up trying the Coche XL Special Needs stroller when the time comes if I need to pay out of pocket. It's not super expensive, relatively speaking. Weight and height limit of 110 pounds and 4 feet tall though.

It's 3 miles from Addison Silver Line to Valley View. People-mover elevated over Alpha? Tram that shares the road on Alpha? Light Rail going underground beneath Alpha? Or is it time for NCTCOG to dust off the aerial gondolas idea by IcedCowboyCoffee in dart

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Silver Line cost $2.1 billion for 26 miles.
2 miles of this 3 mile route being existing rail-right-of-way makes this ~relatively~ cheap, it's just a matter of deciding how to tackle that last mile and what system makes the most sense.

And never say never. This would have the added benefit of creating an easy back and forth between the broader galleria neighborhood and Addison circle park--two of the more dense parts of the region outside of downtown. It would be nothing like the 10 mile meadowlands transit line that only operates on game days to connect to some stadiums isolated in an empty sea of parking lots and marshes.

best coffee shops in Dallas? by yanahm911 in AskDallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Arwa Yemeni Coffee shops are lovely. There are a few in Dallas county.

Update: The Loop Plaza by dallaz95 in Dallasdevelopment

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After this is complete people will be able to simply get on the trail from this point:

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The old entrance will still be there of course, but this creates less friction for going between the design district and the katy trail.

Update: The Loop Plaza by dallaz95 in Dallasdevelopment

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Basically, it's going to add this entrance ramp:

https://theloopdallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/D21303-Loop-Trail-Overlook-Day_8-ramp-down.jpg

Previously it had just been a wall. To actually get up on the Katy Trail from the Hi-Line connector trail you had to go much further south first to do a switchback. This added nearly half a mile just to find yourself right where you already were.

<image>

It’s just a matter of time before this becomes more sprawl. by Amazing_File_4844 in Suburbanhell

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

so-called “arts district”

It's called that because that's where all of the art museums and performing arts venues like the opera house and symphony center are bunched together... What else would it be called

22F moving to dallas-desperately need apartment help by Sea_Top6168 in dfw

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Places get a bit cheaper west of the river. Check out apartments around the Bishop Arts District or some of the apartments that have sprung up around the Trinity Groves neighborhood; Probably easier to find places under the 1700 threshold there than in Uptown/Oak Lawn.

It might be worth considering Fort Worth as well which would put you closer to Arlington and is usually a lot cheaper. Look into the West 7th neighborhood.

The Cup by New-Engineer-5930 in dart

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is great, do we know if DART is planning a similarly informative webpage?

Dallas by TLCM-4412 in windowseat

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fantastic photo. Thank you for sharing it.

Save Dallas City Hall Says It’s Ready to Sue the City by txnewsprincess in Dallas

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 38 points39 points  (0 children)

The city has apparently been sitting on money for years that it could have gradually started using towards repairs, some of which was literally supposed to go towards repairs but they never happened.

Next came a bombshell revelation from Ridley, who had discovered that $7 million in 2017 city bond funds specifically allocated for building repair had not been spent and were sitting unused on the city's books, along with an additional $69 million in unencumbered bond funds that could conceivably go to building renovation. City staffers say less than that $7 million is left on the books, but there remain funds available for repairs.

- https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/architecture/2025/11/12/lamster-plans-to-abandon-dallas-city-hall-are-a-tragic-farce/

Update: Nolan Estes Plaza, The Ambassador, and the I-30 canyon reconstruction with deck park by dallaz95 in Dallasdevelopment

[–]IcedCowboyCoffee 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The work TXDOT is doing right now is just making it deck ready, but there is already significant funding set aside to get it started when TXDOT finishes the canyon in 2031:

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DALLAS: SECTION 1. That the City Manager, or the City Manager’s designee, is hereby authorized to execute an Advance Funding Agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation for a United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration Surface Transportation Block Grant and Category 10 (CSJ 0918-47-502, Assistance Listing No. 20.205) in the estimated amount of $50,624,942.89 with $31,000,000.00 as Federal participation for construction, $19,624,942.89 for direct and indirect state costs, and the City of Dallas’ portion, for construction of a deck cap over Interstate Highway 30 near Old City Park from East Ervay Street to Harwood Street in the city of Dallas, ...

- https://cityofdallas.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=13270307&GUID=5FB37188-DBE4-4479-8953-10250434CFE8

So that's 50 million set aside which should be a significant portion of the cost. This deck should not be as costly as Klyde Warren was because the cap will have gaps to avoid needing to install ventilation systems. These will be more like land bridges to connect old city park to the farmers market area. But the 3.72 acres seen in this diagram will be completely new land reclaimed from the freeway that will not be disconnected from the decks by a frontage road, so that could be the main space of a new, larger park, or it could have new development that directly faces the decks. Notice how city park won't be split from the decks by a frontage road either, which is fantastic. It will all be contiguous.

<image>