barracuda

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7274645

There might not be many kids living downtown, but that hasn't hurt business at Discovery Green. Build it and they will come.

But true in this case. A decade ago, Toyota exemplified reliability. Now, they seem to have trouble building a car where the most basic feature -- acceleration -- works as intended. And it's not unusual that quality suffers in the chase for growth.

It would seem that being the world's largest automaker means your quality goes down. Way down.

It could be, although the intention is that voice-commands for most typical accessory functions and mobile phones will provide a safer driver environment. If you learn to use the voice commands, these systems work really well and allow you to keep your attention on the road. Those who don't bother learning the voice interface will be the ones getting distracted while fumbling with the graphical interface or their standalone cell phone or GPS.

Someone did a great job restoring the house after what appears to have been a flood.

It's great to hear that that nearly 100-year-old mansion will be saved. Kudos to Atul ChopraI for finding creative ways to save old Houston buildings.

Saabs are/were more of a regional car brand. When living in the northeast, I would see Saabs on a regular basis, which I always assumed was because they are FWD vehicles and can handle snow, yet can still give the owner that sense of snobbery for owning a European import. I'm not sure how Saab is a "girl car", but okay.

$8 for a breakfast burrito?

^ It appears to be a small public plaza rather than a park. It's definitely too small for much other than a more attractive alternative for the rare pedestrian walking from parking garage to office building. I see a total of four people in the photo, and one isn't even in the park. But I suppose it's better than a crumbling parking lot?

Wow, $8 million for five acres? No wonder the family decided to sell.

The developers should be contributing funds to you for your evangelism.

What most amazes me about the images from 1957 are the changes to Midtown/Third Ward. What is now the east side of Midtown in particular had an abundance of single-family homes in 1957 (mostly Victorian according to Midtown Management District, although they look like bungalows from overhead). The area clearly declines by 1964, and then most of the homes disappear completely by 1973, especially near where 59 construction was tearing a path right through the middle of the Third Ward. You can even watch as well-kept sidewalks begin to fade into oblivion from one decade to the next, and random warehouses pop up where homes once stood. It makes sense that an area on the edge of downtown would eventually densify, although in this neighborhood the population declined first before densification took hold in the late '90's. It'd be interesting to know what was lost from it's heyday as a supposed prime residential neighborhood, something that's hard to imagine when so few original houses remain. The overhead images provide some insight, but it'd be really cool if someone could put them into context.

Good find. It's kind of cool seeing 288 being constructed.

The smaller building was approved in August, but the developers are still fighting for their original plans. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6762243.html

^ The presenter in the third photo looks incredibly bored. Actually, the people in all the photos look bored.

Impressive. And Texas is #1.

The running loop is great, but you're right about the cars screaming by. When I use that path, I oftentimes only do the horseshoe and avoid the part along Memorial due to the traffic noise and fumes. The mountain bike paths south of Memorial aren't bad. They make a surprisingly good use of the space and terrain, but you just have to get used to all the tree roots crossing the paths. The golf course is a tremendous waste of valuable space IMO, but I don't golf. There's also the horse stables in the northwest corner (I think that's still part of Memorial Park). There's also the volleyball court, a baseball court, a short running track, and other miscellaneous fields used for soccer, beyond what kyle mentioned. I think part of makes Memorial so great is that is's primarily a fitness-oriented park rather than just a fat camp for families to sit around on picnic tables grilling and eating. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's great that one of the supposed fattest cities in America has such a great public space for outdoor activities. People from out of town are always surprised when I take them there.

Good to hear. I wonder if they will have any outdoor/sidewalk tables.

Something about that rendering reminds me of the Chevy Volt.

Probably the Mondeo. http://jalopnik.com/photogallery/mondeo/423239 It and the Fusion will eventually be merged into one platform.

I'd like to see more street food vendors. The food is cheap, quick, and usually pretty good.

And this is different from when?

^ Looks like JFK Blvd.