livincinco

Cool so the will of the voters is meaningless as long as this moronic congressman is alive Amazing how he keeps getting reelected isn't it? Almost like it's voters that do it.

Good point...perhaps I should have said that it would/might create some sort of dialogue. Do you honestly see either of the Senators from Texas calling for a change in language to allow rail on the University corridor?

[\quote] It is my understanding that the bill still needs to be approved by the senate and the president so hopefully there will be an ability to change the language. Don't forget that if the language changes in the Senate, the bill moves back to the House to get reconciled.

The only update that I could find was from the Houston Press. They're reporting that federal funding for the University Line was killed. http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2014/06/behind_culberson_federal_funding_for_metro_blocked.php

How dare you want to talk about something substantial! Wouldn't you rather rehash the same tired topic over and over again?

Also remember that Federal money requires compliance with FTA rules such as the "buy American" rules that caused METRO issues previously.

Think of dialing "1" as just the next step in integrating area code because it's the country code for the United States. Helps to prep you for the day that international codes are as outdated as area codes.

I'm quite sure that I'm in the minority here, but I don't agree with that sentiment. That's exactly what has led to the massive expansion of pork barrel spending across the country and the general inefficiency of the federal government. I agree with you that there's a large number of cities and counties across the country that have taken advantage of this, but that doesn't make it right. The Big Dig (that you referenced in your other post) is a perfect example. It was a massively bloated, hugely inefficient project, I would be embarrassed if Houston was responsible for that kind of a project regardless of who it was funded by.

I find the touchscreen is most useful when viewing a pdf (and being able to change the size/orientation by touching the screen.) It's also quite useful when you are showing something to multiple people without a projector.

Fear is always a powerful selling tool. The language has become more polished over the years, but the message is pretty much the same.

The question of whether a quantity of oil reserves exist that can be extracted and whether they should be extracted are two completely separate topics. And aren't both completely separate topics to the status of construction of the Exxon campus?

Comparing luxury hotels from city to city though really isn't an important criteria. High end luxury hotels exist because of market demand in a particular city. If demand doesn't exist in that city, you aren't going to create it by building a luxury hotel.There are arguable exceptions to that, such as Dubai and Las Vegas, but those are entire cities that were built to appeal to certain demographic, not individual projects.

Interesting comment. You want to move into the city because of its diversity and so that you can be around like minded people? Don't you find those two objectives to be somewhat contradictory?

Current "guilty" pleasure is London Grammar https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6drfp_3823I

This fits perfectly into this discussion. http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/209547a1b4/the-game-of-thrones-viewer-release-form

Agreed. There is still a fair amount of local philanthropy that occurs and certainly nothing wrong with that, but I do believe that there is a significant percentage of dollars that has been shifted to other priorities.

Yes, there are suburbs in Houston and the majority of people in the metro live in one. Not a bad idea to acknowledge them.

I understand your point and I don't disagree with you. The show moves past my comfort level at times as well. However it's their artistic vision to present and, as someone who has read the books as well, I think that they've done a very good job of presenting the material in an entertaining way. Like everyone else, I think that certain parts could have been done differently, but presenting 40 hours of extremely complex story is always going to have missteps. One thing that I think that they have done an excellent job with is getting the audience emotionally attached to characters that meet with violent ends which makes the impact that much stronger.

Good to know that we can add the zoo to the long list of things that you hate about Houston.

Got is pretty heavily based on medieval history and most of the violence is pretty accurate to what happened in that time period although it does have a tendency to go over the top at times. I actually have more of an issue with shows that completely sanitize violence. It should be disturbing.

I think that part of this is a result of changes in philanthropy which I think has really been driven by the Gates Foundation. My impression is that individual philanthropy was more local in nature in the past, but recently there is a lot more emphasis on solving "big" problems. A great example of this is the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. They're spreading their wealth much more widely around the world than previous Houston givers.

That's it. I had a friend that lived in that area and I had to get back on the freeway here with flow of traffic at about 60 mph. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.092678,-118.206203,3a,75y,62.07h,62.15t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1soC9ZTZtf07wBaEbfxlre1A!2e0?hl=en I saw a lot of road rage at that on ramp.

Arroyo Seco Parkway in Pasadena, CA. Opened in 1940. Really not a fun merge.

I don't think that it's accurate to categorize Houston as a single industry town. To do so ignores the diversification of the economy that has occurred since the 1980's. Houston is certainly a more diverse town in all aspects than it was then. The local economy is growing in many areas, especially considering the growth of the Medical Center and the growth of the Ship Channel. The problem is that the growth in energy is so dramatic that it dwarfs what's happening in everything else. I think it's also important to remember that growth rates in Houston are among the highest in the country in jobs and population and that there is a huge amount of development going on that will continue to make the city a more desirable place to live and work in the future. There's a tremendous amount of positive momentum in this city that will continue to make it more attractive moving forward.

Be grateful that we don't have freeway on ramps like this.