editor

Considering the great job done with preserving Houston's Carnegie Library, I think we have nothing to fear. Oh, wait...

Fred Hartman Bridge, originally uploaded by pinemikey. The Fred Hartman Bridge is a great structure. I've never been able to get a really good shot of it. But PineMikey did, and even did it in HDR to bring out all the color and detail of the surrounding marshland.

Very astute. A few minutes ago I discovered a function in the forum software which allows me to see who's been ranking whom over what. I checked on a couple of people who were unhappy with the system as it was, and I really think people would be very surprised if they knew who was voting them down and up. Of course, if I released that sort of information it would be chaos around here, so I think I'll disable the function.

The GSA has been doing a really good job with federal courthouses lately. I was absolutely blown away by the Sandra Day O'Conner courthouse in Phoenix. It's a magnificent space. This picture does not even remotely do it justice: If the new Austin building comes out half as nice, it will be an asset to the city.

If Mr. Conn was really so concerned about the integrity of his photographs, then he would have marked it "Copyrighted" on his Flickr account, and not merely "Some rights reserved" under the Creative Commons 2.0 license, which specifically states, "You are free: to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work." The only transgression here is that the photograph was not attributed. So here's the photo once again: And the attribution he specified on his Flickr account: <div xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about=" rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstephenconn/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstephenconn/</a> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">CC BY-NC 2.0</a></div>

How about this for a compromise -- let Metro raze the building. But the replacement building has to look exactly the same -- only bigger!

This was the victim I had in mind: The old Chicago Stock Exchange building. Awful what happened to it.

Nice building, though I'm not a big fan of facade-ectomies. They've been done around here with varying degrees of success and failure. One ended up stuck in the middle of a park. Lame. It would be nice to see that clock working again, though.

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Sue Lovell, District H Council Member Ed Gonzalez, and At-Large Position 3 Council Member Melissa Noriega are pleased to announce that a historic structure in Houston's East End-the Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co. façade at 4819 Harrisburg Blvd.-has been saved. This was accomplished through an effort between the Council Members, METRO, and leaders of the surrounding neighborhood. The façade will be saved and then relocated to Eastwood Park, where it will remain a part of the streetscape on Harrisburg, as it has been since 1935. As chair of the City of Houston historic preservation committee, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Lovell thanks all the partners who have participated in saving this historic structure. "These are the kinds of partnerships that are needed to save our history as the city continues to grow and develop."

The problem wasn't so much that people couldn't handle having negative reputation so much as it was that some people abused the power to give negative reputation.

Nine years of Catholic school here. If you consider me "pretty darn abnormal," then I'll take that as a badge of honor. It appears that on HAIF you're the only one having trouble interacting with the group. Right back 'atcha. I think we're done here. This thread no longer serves its original purpose.

There's a brief note in the Chicago Tribune that DJ "Silly Jilly" is leaving WKSC Kiss-FM in Chicago to join Hot 97.5 in Houston. It's not one of the stations I listen to, so I can't give you a heads up on how she is as a jock.

, originally uploaded by jfre81. Jfre81 caught his shot of the MetroRail Red Line downtown. With the way the fountains are spraying, it almost looks like the train is splashing through the water.

The View from the View Deck, originally uploaded by photine. There's more going on here than just the city lit up and framed by a silhouette of Minute Maid Park. Note the beams of sunlight illuminating items in the interior of the ballpark as well. Great photo from photine.

It's sad when any radio station goes from local content and personalities to (presumably) satellite-delivered programming. The fact that KCOH was able to hold on this long is something of a miracle, though.

, originally uploaded by jfre81. On the left side of the platform, you can catch the train southbound. On the right side of the platform, you can catch the train southbound. I bet there are people who still screw this up.

I see no redemption for this thread. Closed.

Should be a hurricane in 69 hours.

Forbes has reporters in Houston and most major cities. All that means is that Forbes didn't have a picture of Kemah Boardwalk (not surprising) and asked Landry's PR firm for one. Standard procedure, which is why the copyright notice is included. It's called "disclosure." The few photographers a company like Forbes has probably aren't wasted on features like this. Very unlikely. The damage to the company and publication's reputation would be too great to risk something like that.

Houston Police can now run your fingerprints no matter where you are, Citizen. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97320&id=103350909719&ref=nf

There were a few but I've got them under control. There are more that still need to be resolved, but those are longer term projects.

Really? There "must have?" There's no other explanation in the world? Do you have some inside knowledge you'd like to share? I don't know that Forbes was stretching. There are several other "boardwalk" lists that Forbes has put together, and this is the only one that includes anything outside of New England/Mid-Atlantic and California. Historically, it doesn't appear that Forbes is going out of its way to be regionally inclusive, or it would have picked some sites in Florida or the Great Lakes, too.

This has been a summer of high-profile deaths. I wonder why so many. Coincidence, I suppose. I'm too young to really have the attachment to Ted Kennedy that my parents generation does. My only personal point of reference comes from when I was a little baby news anchor and one day, for the life of me, I couldn't say his name. I kept saying, "Ked Tennedy" on the air. I have no idea why. I couldn't make it stop that day, but fortunately it never happened again.

Enclave Park, originally uploaded by pinemikey. PineMikey broke out the HDR for this shot of a corporate pond/flood control feature that's prettier than most.

This was from Ike, wasn't it?