mkultra25

Yes, digital signals could very well be affected by large buildings or other obstructions. The usual recommendation for indoor digital TV antennas is to place them near a window. I have one of the flat antennas (Mohu Leaf) and in my experience, moving it even a foot one way or the other can make a big difference. Most of the main transmitters are located southwest of Houston. TV Fool is a useful site to map out your location in relation to the transmitters and see relative signal strengths: http://www.tvfool.com/

First thing that came to my mind as well. I've mentioned Pasternak's here in the past but it's an establishment that only current and former Montrosians of a certain age are likely to recall. I'm also assuming that the Frank Butera in the picture is of the Butera grocery/deli clan.

aka "terroir du teardown"

Not sure if the sign's been removed, but if it has, it hasn't been installed at the new location yet. I passed by there last night and they still have a temporary vinyl banner up.

If the objective is to strongly discourage B&E/burglary/theft, the DA should hold a press conference and announce that henceforth a homeowner or business owner who shoots an individual caught in the act of burglary will automatically be no-billed.

G&G was still in their original location on Times until last year - they relocated right after Harvey and are now next door to Nan's Games and Comics in the strip center at 59 & Shepherd.

The Founder's Court lot is very convenient but it's not cheap - $1 per 10 minutes with a $12 daily max. If you don't mind walking from one end of campus to the other, the Greenbriar Lot is right off of Rice Boulevard near Greenbriar, just west of the stadium, and is $3 per entry per day. They have apparently changed the pricing on the Greenbriar Lot effective July 1, as it used to be $1 per hour with some sort of daily max.

Porsche's 919 Hybrid Evo absolutely obliterated the lap record at the Nuerburgring, a record that had stood for 35 years previously: https://jalopnik.com/onboard-view-shows-how-porsche-destroyed-the-all-time-n-1827235601

If you're not opposed to refurbished as opposed to new wheels, I've had good luck at Wheels America's Houston location - much cheaper than new OEM wheels from the dealer, and hard to tell that they're not actually new. If they don't have the wheel you need in inventory locally, they can usually source it from one of their other locations. https://wheelsamerica.com/locations/houston/

Unfortunately, I think you can count on just about any area that has a clear view of the fireworks near (let alone in) downtown being crowded. People invariably park on the shoulder of the freeway to watch, despite warnings every year not to do so. If you're not determined that it has to be the downtown fireworks, you can get a really good view of the Hermann Park fireworks with less hassle - Hermann Park itself can get a bit crowded, but tolerably so, and if you want an even less-crowded option, you can pay to park in the Founders' Court lot at Rice U and watch the fireworks there from the main quadrangle. They are plenty close (and quite loud) there, and there's usually hardly anyone else around. Edit: paying to park at Rice is really the best option even for viewing the fireworks at Hermann Park itself, as the available parking at Hermann Park is almost certainly going to be full and not easy to get in or out of.

Interesting piece in the Atlantic about this: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/disposable-america/563204/?src=longreads I think the industry will move toward the biodegradable/compostable straws mentioned at the end of the piece, as I can't see a return to paper straws, which truly suck (pun fully intended). Same thing needs to happen with disposable plastic bags, a more widespread switch to using materials that decay reasonably quickly as opposed to winding up in the oceans or in a landfill indefinitely. These days I generally rely on the reusable bags when grocery shopping, but I can't say I've completely sworn off plastic bags. More places need to have the big recycling barrels where they can be deposited after use, instead of just throwing them in the trash.

I travelled to Mexico City in 1982, when the presidential campaign was kicking into high gear, and the signs exhorting people to vote for Miguel de la Madrid were inescapable. I had gone there with a friend who had relatives that lived in the city in a multistory apartment building, and in due course we paid them a visit. When the 1985 earthquake hit, their building collapsed and they were all killed.

My usual recommendation for a first fountain pen would have been a Waterman Phileas, but they appear to have been discontinued. You can still find them on eBay but you may have to be patient and lowball a few bids to avoid paying too much for one, as the prices have definitely gone up since they're no longer made by the factory. They used to be available for $20-30 or so when Waterman was still making them, and they also came in sets for people new to FPs which contained several cartridges, a converter, and a bottle of ink in addition to the pen itself. This one would be a good buy: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Paris-France-WATERMAN-PHILEAS-Fountain-marble-blue-Pen-set-new-unused-in-box-w-p/263764213806 A Phileas with a medium nib is a great pen for daily use, and will outperform many other far more expensive pens. Edit: Here's a great overview of the Phileas: https://fromthepencup.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/a-pen-with-personality-the-waterman-phileas-fountain-pen/

Every time I see the title of this thread and the growing list of unresolved issues, I think of Lou Reed's onstage comment from "Take No Prisoners": "Gimme an issue, and I'll give you a tissue..." The rest of his definitely-NSFW statement is best left as an exercise for the reader.

A couple more data points: emoji are not working (everything looks OK when composing a post, but they don't appear when the post is submitted), and the button to insert hyperlinks returns an error, but it's still possible to insert a link by just pasting it into the body of the post.