editor

Is there still that house downtown next to the tire shop by Pierce Elevated that has a bunch of chickens in the backyard?

I've often been amazed by the things people will live in and call home. And in warm climates like along the Gulf Coast things I wouldn't normally think are inhabited seem to sprout satellite dishes and Christmas lights, so someone must be inside. I always assumed it was just part of the independent Texas spirit. It depends on what the city's responsibilities are. Is the city responsible for making sure everyone has a good home? What about lazy people? What about people who are unlucky? What about people who like their crappy house and just don't want anyone bothering them? Has the city failed drivers stuck in traffic on I-10? Has the city failed the HAIF community because the skyline isn't expanding enough? Has the city failed me because I don't have a pony? Gentrification isn't a bad thing, but it's used as a dirty word by people with a particular agenda. Without gentrification and urban renewal the entire city would be wooden shacks along Buffalo Bayou. And what's wrong with building a townhome on a vacant lot? Don't people with a good education who have worked hard for a little money deserve to live somewhere? Should they be forced to wander the streets? Or would you prefer that they plow down what little is left of the Texas prairie to build more McMansions? Remember, you can't be an environmentalist and be against gentrification.

What's Victory Park?

It's not a secret anymore -- you've just told us. Skull & Bones and the Masons aren't secrets, either. They're just selective about their membership. The fact that you haven't been invited isn't evidence that they're hiding anything or doing anything nefarious. And "business networking secret society" it completely contradictory. It sounds like you just want someone to share a special handshake with.

Anyone can suggest some. And I'll make up some of my own.

If you have a cat (or two) and a digital camera, I'd like you to send me pictures of your cats. I want to make a series of HAIF-centric LOLCats for people to use if they want. I know there are already a bunch on icanhascheezburger, but those are bound by copyright restrictions. Don't worry if the quality isn't great, computers work wonders these days. Action shots are great, but for most cats "sleeping" counts as an action, so I understand if they're just lying around. Don't worry about captioning them, I can do that. But suggestions are more than welcome. You can either attach the pictures to this thread, or e-mail them directly to me -- editor@houstonarchitecture.info For those of you not familiar with LOLcats, here's where I'm going with this:

I sometimes watch TV with the closed captioning on so I don't wake up the wifey. It wasn't so bad before the feds changed the rules -- now you never know what you're going to get.

The signals can also bounce off of the atmosphere, itself. The troposphere, if I recall correctly.

Treasure your Central Market while you have it. Especially the meat, seafood, and produce departments. I think that's the thing I miss most from Houston.

Sure it does. The enforce law and order. Taunting an officer of the law in uncalled for and deserves punishment. While we probably agree about whether the girl deserves a smackdown, by their very definition, there is no cause for "abuse" or going "overboard." Cops are human and go overboard, but it's never justified. If it was, we'd use another word.I'd like to see police officers better trained in understanding the nuances of the law, the rights of ordinary citizens, and being able to take verbal abuse without response (like the military or those Beefeaters in London). But I've been told that most of their non-patrol time is taken up by paperwork. I think people should have more right to tell a police officer "no" -- as long as they do it in a civilized manner. When a cop says "jump" our response shouldn't have to be "how high?" A police officer is not a judge or a jury. And the taser thing bothers me. We see a lot of people being tasered these days. When Tasers and beanbag guns first came out they were supposed to be the non-lethal alternative to a gun. But now they're being used in all sorts of situations where a gun wouldn't have been used in the past. Especially when it comes to rent-a-cops, I the taser is too often used in situations where it wasn't intended.

An inexcusable example of excessive force. But at the same time -- it's one example. How many times do police officers and civilians in America interact peacefully each day? A million times? Ten million? For every example of excessive force used by a cop there are ten examples of cops being shot and often killed by perps. No wonder they're edgy. Sometimes they're just grumpy jerks. Sometimes they're poorly trained. But to point to one incident and claim it's how every police officer in America acts is folley.

What you see is rarely what happened behind the scenes. Usually in situations like this the family is more than willing to talk, while the police issue a faxed statement saying they're not going to talk until the investigation is over. So, guess who the reporter puts on TV? The people he has pictures and sound with. A good police department has proactive Public Information Officers who respond to reporter requests immediately in incidents like this with a still picture of the officer and information about him (how long he's been on the force, last time he had weapons training, etc...), or if they can't do that they should at least go on camera to say that they can't talk about it. HPD is not known for having good PIOs. If it looks like HPD is getting the shaft in this, chances are it's HPD's own fault. Jeebus is right -- cops aren't trained to wound. They're trained to kill. If an officer pulls his weapon it's almost always as a last resort. The Hollywood image of a cop pulling his weapon in a dark alley and hitting a guy in the shoulder or the leg as he's running away just doesn't happen. But people these days keep thinking that Law and Order, Numb3rs, and the CSIs are documentary rather than fantasy. I wouldn't make a good cop. I'd shoot too many people. My "better them than me" instinct is too strong.

Kind of a shame. I have a very cool brass and bone telescope from them that I use to look at the neighbors at the moon at night.

Dude, you've got to give me some warning.

You didn't see Marty's problematic posts because the mods deleted them as fast as he could write them. They went beyond inappropriate. Eventually his frustration caught up with him and he started sending vulgar and harassing PMs to the mods, me, and the other HAIFers. The fact that you didn't notice it is a good thing and shows that the mods are on their game.

Banned.

I'd love to, but I'm operating on zero money for the next three months.

They are, because they are owned by the Port Authority or the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority or the Metropolitan Transit Authority, etc... That's the key word -- "Authority." That means it's a private company, even though it's quasi-controlled by the government (exactly how varies by municipality). It used to be that airports were owned by their host cities, and as such were public buildings like city hall or a courthouse so anyone could go there anytime they wanted to. Eventually most airports ended up being transferred into authorities which made them private property. I don't know the precise reason this happened, but one of the upshots was that the airports can now kick out anyone they want, whereas before they couldn't. This is why there's the scene in the movie Airplane where the Hare Krishnas are bothering people in the airport. Airports used to be infested with grifters and vagrants and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it because they were public property. The city of Chicago still has a homeless shelter operating at O'Hare that dates back to this time. Anyway, you don't see Krishnas or anyone else doing that sort of thing anymore because it's now private property. It's interesting to note that what is considered "public" property varies from state to state. When I lived in West Virginia (1994-1995), public schools were considered public property because they were built with taxpayer money. We used to be able to just walk into them whenever we needed to (for work) without signing in or anything. I wouldn't try it today. Back when I spent a lot of time in federal, state, and local courthouses for work, I used to go to the top floor hallways and take pictures out the windows. It's public property. But in today's climate it's another thing I wouldn't try anymore. Maybe RedScare can enlighten us on how likely it would be for someone to get bounced from court buildings for doing the same thing today.

Nope. No, this happened in between shows. I seem to recall that a few months later Fox26's helicopter went down and someone died in that crash.

Thanks. That works for me.

News to me. I've been in about 30 skyscrapers in China, and they're always as gorgeous on the inside as the outside. I will say that buildings, including skyscrapers, seem to wear harder in China. I don't know if it's the materials used or poor maintenance or what, but some buildings in China that are only 10-20 years old look more like they're approaching 100.

This came up a lot during the Enron collapse -- cops were chasing photographers away from the signature building. The national and local media got so fed up with it that they had a meeting with the then-police chief who put out a memo to all of his officers (I used to have a copy) reminding them that as long as people are on a public right of way they can take pictures of whatever they want. It appears the officers have forgotten this. By all means post the officer's name and badge number here on HAIF. There's no law against that, either. In fact, you could have taken a picture of the officer telling you not to take pictures. That would have probably earned you a night in jail, but you would have at least had the satisfaction of going through a trial and having the cop proven wrong in a court of law. Also write a letter to your councilcritter and send a copy to both the mayor's office and the police chief and post a copy here. If people don't stand up for their rights, they will have no rights left. I've been stopped a few times, mostly by security guards not police officers (Hello, El Paso Energy Plaza!) I inform them that I'm not on their property and I tell them that when I cross the property line they are more than welcome to call the police. I've had a few get angry and threaten to call the cops and I've pulled out my cell phone and offered to do it for them (I have the non-emergency line programmed in for just such situations). They've always stormed off without getting their way. However, it should be noted that there are SOME restrictions to taking pictures in public spaces. Military installations and power plants are a no-no without prior permission. Also, while handheld photography is usually OK, setting up a tripod on a sidewalk will require a permit and a fee in many cities (New York, Chicago, London, etc...) And in countries with less freedom than the United States there can be even more restrictions. For example, in London it is illegal to take commercial pictures in any parks owned by the Crown. This includes Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park. You can do it if you pay for a license (something like $300). One time in Hong Kong I thought I might have trouble with security at a particular building (One ifc) so I went up to the security desk and asked the guards what they thought would be the best places to stand to get a good shot of the building. They pulled out a map of the area and pointed out several locations. As far as I'm concerned, that counts as permission. And if they were watching me through their remote cameras they at least knew I was harmless.

In another thread on HAIF people are talking about helicopters lifting heavy objects. It reminded me of a set of photos I took in May of 2001 that I don't think I've ever shared with the public before. As you can tell, Air11 crashed on the roof. The pilot wasn't hurt, but he was fired even though it wasn't his fault. Typical KHOU.