A carmaker is working to ensure that one of its latest models hums along a little more melodiously than the surrounding traffic. Can you cast a guess at how many varieties of fish Texas has? And when you catch a fish, you’ll likely measure it in inches. That would seem odd to most of the world.
Tuning Up a BMW
By law, electric cars must emit artificial sounds to alert pedestrians, bicyclists and people with visual impairment. When BMW debuts its i4 sedan for 2021, its sonic signature will be the creation of film composer Hans Zimmer, who won an Oscar in 1995 for his score of The Lion King and has been nominated for 10 others.
By the Numbers
Texas has 247 freshwater fish species.
Not Giving an Inch
The U.S. remains one of three countries that does not use the metric system. The others are Myanmar, in Southeast Asia, and Liberia, on the West African coast.
Quotable
”When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
—Willie Nelson
Prized Scribes
November 1 is National Authors Day. Texas Co-op Power writers and editors tell of the authors who have been captivating them lately:
Chris Burrows: Carlos Ruiz Zafón crafted enchanting tales about enchanting tales.
Travis Hill: Claudia Rankine writes cross-genre poetry that lyrically weaves public engagement and private emotion around today’s most relevant themes.
Charles Lohrmann: John le Carré’s international intrigue has been replaced by Attica Locke’s fast-moving crime fiction.
Jessica Ridge: Toni Tipton-Martin cracks open the culinary canon.
Tom Widlowski: Elmer Kelton takes me by horseback to pioneer Texas.
Travel Safely
Three of the five deadliest roads for Thanksgiving and Christmas travel cut through Texas—Interstates 10, 20 and 35—according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The other two are Interstates 80 and 95.
Roughly 1 in every 3 fatal holiday-season traffic accidents involve an impaired driver.
Be careful out there.
The Big E’s Big BD
Elvin Hayes, one of the first Black athletes at the University of Houston and a three-time All-American, turns 75 this month. Hayes, nicknamed the Big E, was picked No. 1 overall in the 1968 NBA draft, by the San Diego Rockets, who later moved to Houston. When Hayes retired in 1984, he ranked No. 2 for most points in NBA history.
Hayes was born November 17, 1945, in Rayville, Louisiana.
