A Stacked Deck
Bryan Berg holds the world record for tallest free-standing house of cards—25 feet, 97⁄16 inches—which he built October 16, 2007, at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. A year earlier at the fair, he built the Dallas skyline as fairgoers waited in line for hours to watch.
Berg, who has an architecture degree, used more than 1,000 decks of cards, which weigh about 140 pounds, just for the tallest spire in his world-record tower.
America’s Lifelines
Electric cooperatives, which celebrate National Co-op Month in October, own and maintain 42% of the electric distribution lines that serve American communities. That equates to 2.7 million miles of line, including 340,774 miles in Texas.
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Worth Repeating
“If sad, eat cookie. If still sad, talk to doctor. Sounds serious.”
—Cookie Monster
NBA Launches in Texas
The NBA came to Texas 50 years ago, when the San Diego Rockets migrated to Houston. A vibrant San Diego aerospace industry inspired the team name, and it fit perfectly in Houston, home of the Johnson Space Center.
The Houston Rockets lost their first game, 105-94, to the Philadelphia 76ers on October 14, 1971, at Hofheinz Pavilion.
DYK? The first pro basketball teams in Texas were the Dallas Chaparrals and Houston Mavericks, charter members of the American Basketball Association in 1967. The Chaparrals moved to San Antonio in 1973 and became the Spurs, joining the NBA in 1976 when it merged with the ABA. The Mavericks moved to North Carolina after two seasons and became the Cougars. The Dallas Mavericks joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1980.
The First Picture Show
The Last Picture Show, a film about high schoolers coming of age in a bleak West Texas town, hit theaters 50 years ago this month. The movie, based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, landed two Academy Awards: Cloris Leachman for best supporting actress and Ben Johnson for best supporting actor.
The film, much of it shot in Archer City, was released October 22, 1971.
