woolie

I live in in the southern part of midtown, near the Fiesta. I love it. Wouldn't want to move anywhere else.

ho ho ho.

"eh." what are the bush twins up to nowadays?

Chalk it up to the cost of living in an auto dependent society...

central market

$3000 for the camera and $300/mo for webhosting... ouch

CANDU reactors are a very interesting design and have a number of very interesting properties, mostly fuel-cycle related: - They run on unenriched, 'natural' uranium - The neutron energy profile allows "burning" of fission products from light-water reactors (solving the waste issue by burning it as fuel... very neat.) - Online refueling - Can run as breeding reactors; e.g. Thorium They should be used as PART of a fleet of traditional light-water reactors, to consume the most difficult of the fission products, and as breeder reactors. A few thrown into the mix can provide real advantages in terms of fuel cycle. I think their fuel cycle advantages will make them more important in the future, if uranium supplies ever become tight or we get serious about reprocessing or burning actinide waste, but currently they're not as cost-effective or experienced designs as typical modern light-water reactors. They are sometimes considered a proliferation risk due to the unenriched fuel and tritium breeding (because of the use of deuterium as the moderator.)

Not exactly a point of architectural interest in Houston, per se, but definitely a wonder of engineering. NRG Energy has proposed to build two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors, based on designs from GE/Westinghouse, at the STP site in Matagorda Co. If approved and issued the Combined Operating License, construction will begin in 2010 and finish in 2014 or so, at a cost of approximately $5 billion. A number of distinguishing facts about this build: - First application for new reactors in over 20 years - First to apply under the new "Combined Operating License" process, which simplifies the EIS/Safety review process - First ABWR design in the United States; six are currently in existence in Japan and Taiwan, two of which have been operating for a decade - First reactor to use an "off the shelf," pre-approved design that will be partially prefabricated and then installed on site - ABWR is a simplified, 2-loop system that reduces the complexity of the plant, decreases the number of pipes and welds required, and lowers cost and construction time Additionally, a number of factors make the STP site ideal for expansion: - Facility originally designed for 4 units - Cooling infrastructure in place - Switching yard built to handle load - Local community and elected officials supports expansion NRG has filed a letter of intent for units 3 + 4, and will submit the complete COL license application later this calendar year. On Wednesday, in Bay City, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a public hearing to discuss the new COL license process and to take input from the public over the new plant. Except for a few representatives from anti-Nuclear environmental organizations who drove down from Austin, most of the 180+ people assembled at the meeting appeared to be in strong support of the new plant. Here's to 2500 megawatts of clean energy for Texas, and the high technology and valuable skills it brings with it! I will update this thread over the multi-year coarse of the project's construction. -- mods: you can move it to a different forum if you feel absolutely necessary, but I think this will be one of the most important construction projects in our region in the coming years.

Occasionally I agree with Niche. When the toll roads were approved and built, (hopefully) no one was naive enough to think the toll would be the same forever. It was built with the understanding that it was a finite resource and the purpose of the toll was to fairly allocate the resource to those who felt it was important enough to pay for. In the situation where the roadway is beyond capacity even with the toll, the built-in mechanism (and only logical solution) is to increase the toll to reduce congestion. Anyone who constructed their life in any way around access to the tollway at a current price level and congestion is in fact guilty of NIMBYism. It's well demonstrated that NIMBYism is a selfish and indefensible position. It's the assertion that the maintenance of one's own status quo supersedes the property rights of all others. This is the intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy of NIMBYism: at one moment to claim you are only defending your property rights, while in fact your claim is based on restricting the property rights of others. Beyond that, personally I've always felt the suburban lifestyle with a 30 mile commute is unsustainable because of land use, gasoline use, carbon dioxide and other emissions, etc. I think it's wasteful. So I have little sympathy for long-distance commuters to begin with. JH Kunstler provides a rhetorically entertaining view of this position.

I love those, and admire them all the time (like 3 blocks from my house.) I'd buy one if it were anywhere near something we could afford.

We should play word bingo in Dallas threads. Here's a partial list of words and phrases to get started: Houston (free spot) upscale exclusive "never gonna happen" "it WILL get built!" $1M+ editor "deleted inappropriate comments"

The real issue isn't speeding. We depend on the rule of law, and speeding is not only against the law, it's dangerous. Speeding is a violation of the social contract you agree when you use the public highways. It is correct to punish people for speeding. It makes me angry when people aren't punished for speeding. If you disagree with the traffic laws, change the traffic laws, don't say "it's not fair for the law to be enforced." Lax enforcement of laws, at officer's discretion, leads to a terrible situation that only encourages discrimination against people without power or means to 'wriggle out,' blackmail, intimidation, etc. So we should all hope for fair enforcement of laws that exist, because we can monitor what laws exist, and aim to repeal laws that are unjust. Differential enforcement of laws is the same thing as a secret law, the defining trait of a police state people here are crying about. (add: of course I believe in due process and a fair trial, but what I'm concerned about is the kind of differential enforcement we see where it's ok for certain classes of people (paris hilton, celebrities, company executives, children of politically powerful people) get away with breaking all kinds of laws that would be certain jail time for less advantaged people. Also I think plenty of laws are unjust and should be destroyed. but the process should be transparent and through political channels; it shouldn't matter if you're dealing with a 'good cop' or a 'bad cop') The real problem is privacy. Some would argue it's not right for the government to keep records of where every car is every second. It infringes, or creates an environment where infringement is inevitable, against freedom to assemble, invasion of privacy, etc. Instead of assuming no one is looking, we have to trust the government not to tell anyone what they saw.

Actually, the answer is yes. "Big Medicine" on TLC It's a surgery-theme show about gastric bypass and associated plastic surgeries (tummy tuck, etc.) It's shot at Methodist and around town. Apparently we're very proud of the trolley -- it's featured in most of the street scenes. Overall the show is just like everything else on TLC -- basically just paid informercials for an industry (home improvement, plastic surgery, clothes, etc....)

I can name a thousand buildings in Houston I only wish had the quality of MCM "blandness."

Don't be disingenuous.

I've always loved this building. I have a few pics, somewhere...

The web designer should be fired. It is NOT ok to resize my window.

It's pretty pedestrian, actually. Aggie is just a term for a TAMU graduate. If you want to give it a more colorful flavor in your mind, try to imagine it as the Texas Illuminati. Basically, Aggies give preferential treatment to other Aggies in hiring, promotions, awarding contracts, etc. Think "good ole' boys network." It's also somewhat of a military society, very rigid and focused on power structures. In some ways you can imagine an "Aggie Ideology," somewhat like neoconservatism. I find the whole thing pretty boring, and the whole Aggie creed just makes me tired and Applied to architecture, the myth is something like this. TAMU is an engineering school, that produces architects who are competent engineers but completely void of any vision or artistic ability. The UH architecture school is much more theoretical and interested in the study of architecture itself, with less an emphasis on building and engineering. UH architects have a reputation for being good dreamers but bad at execution. or so I've heard... Also, don't have to go far to find a typical Aggieism, even in this thread. Look at the TAMU demographics and it'll be obvious why.

I hate the tunnels, but I don't think the Skywalks are so bad. The TMC has plenty of skywalks but (few: 1 or 2) tunnels. We usually walk on the street to have lunch, but if it's unbearably hot or raining we do take the skywalks. I think you need to have both good streets, but also make the concession that Houston is a mother____er in August and I don't want to walk 6 blocks completely in the heat.

I really dig this, actually. It's quite nice. Definitely my tastes. Let's hope it gets built (of course, standard cynicism applies.)

hopefully kinkaid would be available to help me find housing in Boston a few years down the road...

to the contrary. if it's forced, you can only accept it on faith. what little tools available to investigate and test dogma are wrestled from you. let's not muddy the meaning of the word with the touchy-feely evangelical notion of faith. faith is the belief in a doctrine without any proof.

All of like 200sf. Mosaic is nuts. I don't see how they're calling it anywhere near "affordable." I'd rather have more sf in a midrise than a tiny highrise unit in a weird, somewhat isolated part of town. No one willing to pay Mosaic prices has lived in that neighborhood -- trust me, I was there for 4 years. Anyway, our income is starting to round out after heavy, long investments in education, so we have an increasing number of options available. We're renting a place now, deciding on our long term plans and goals. My girl might be interested in law school a few years down the road, so that flavors things a bit.

I mostly take MetroRail. I have a thread with pictures.