SpaceCity

BTW, where did you get the idea HCA is a privately-held company? I just got a quote from Charles Schwab for HCA's stock. . . Apparently it is publicly-traded. (It closed today at $50.97)

Shareholders OK deal to take HCA private

South Florida Business Journal - November 16, 2006

Shareholders voted to approve a merger agreement providing for the acquisition of HCA by an investor group.

Expected to close Nov. 17, the deal would privatize Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA (NYSE: HCA), one of the largest health care companies in the United States.

The investor group includes Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, Dr. Thomas Frist Jr. and HCA management. Frist is the founder of HCA.

Under terms of the agreement, HCA shareholders will receive $51 in cash, without interest, for each share of HCA common stock held.

HCA said a preliminary tally showed 82.42 percent of the company's outstanding shares were voted at a special meeting and of those 72.95 percent voted in favor of adoption of the merger agreement.

Companies are selected by amount of revenue and profit.

HCA is a privately held company. They are number 87 on the list.

I think an interesting statistic is where Texas ranks on the overall number of Fortune 500 companies. We're just one Fortune 500 company away from tying for number 1.

New York 57

Texas 56

California 52

And if I'm not mistaken, TXU is going private, so the DFW count is back down to 24...

So what? A company can still be listed on the Fortune 500 without being listed on NASDAQ or the NYSE. It's not a list of publicly traded companies. It's a list of companies. TXU will still be a company. Just a private one. The only difference is that you won't be able to buy stock in it.

Interesting related info: I was shocked after being in Philly last Fall (my first visit) for several days, and experienced outright anomosity for speaking Spanish in a public place - on a cell phone - outside, mind you. I was trying to order some food at a street sandwitch place, and was bluntly told to "speak American", even though I was not talking to the dude taking my order. This happend twice, in somewhat different forms, but twice. I was talking on the cell phone to my mother-in-law while waiting in line to order, when it was about to be my turn to order, and that is when the "comment" was made from the person taking the order, before I even said anything to the guy. This really isnt racism per-se, but it has innuendoes of it. Anyways, my point really is not to agree or dissagree with it, because as an American, I can speak whatever damn language I please: English, Spanish, Binary, C++, whatever. And the friendly sandwicth-order-taker can say anything he likes too, as he prooved that day. My point is that this kind of stuff is not a Houston thing. It is not a Texas thing. It it can happen in Philly, and New York, Chicago, LA...anywere. I guess I have a problem with the title of this thread, mabye. Considering how long I have lived in Texas and Houston, statistically, this kind of thing rarely happens here, at least to me. Anyways, that's my rant and I'm sticking to it.

[suddenly, 2112 gets on his Donkey, and rides away into the sunset]

[sound of galluping Donkey]

Did you go to Genos Steaks (really cheesesteaks) in South Philly? They have signs all over the place that you must order in English and speak in English. They have a big picture of a police officer that was killed by a Muslim immigrant. They even have T-shirts that espouse both speaking only in English and deportation of Muslims.

I don't think any restaurant in Texas could get away with such ridiculous stuff.

Your continent of origin determines your ethnicity -- not your skin color. Someone born in Africa who later became and American citizen, is an African-American. Race has nothing to do with it.

I have gotten in trouble for asking "dots or feathers" in response to listening to a story about "Indians." All in good fun. All in good fun.

GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in any given year. The 11B from Houston's ship channel would definitely be counted. I'd be surprised if Houston didn't overtake Dallas and Atlanta because of the current energy boom. Actually, I'm surprised that Houston isn't higher and that Atlanta surpasses us.

i believe hard rock is just a small portion of the 100/200 milllion dollar victory park project. there's no way a hard rock can cost 100 million dollars to make. i dont know the status of their finances but if they did have the money, one would think the sell wouldn't be such an obstacle.

Victory is a $3,000,000,000 project. The 100 million dollar project is purportedly for a Hard Rock Hotel/Condo tower. (Like Vegas minus the casino). I still don't understand how a proportionally "little" 2 million dollar land sale would seriously impact a 100 million dollar hotel/condo project.

SpaceCity no disrespect but why don't you pack up and move to Dallas. Leave your name/ title behind because you sure do be on Dallas's nutsack!

Is this more sarcasm or are you serious? Why would I want someone to claim that Dallas is the best city, not on Earth, but in the Galaxy?

Do you actually know of a city that is not on Earth? I certainly don't. For my statement to be taken as true, you have to believe, not only in extra-terrestrial life, but that there are real cities out there on Mars, Venus, Pluto that people know about and can compare with Dallas. So please list the cities that exist on other planets and then we'll debate if they have a larger MSA than Dallas.

And this time, I am serious.

I'll start. Dallas' Central Expressway is so much better than Klingon-54's level 3 Meelock Hwy #8253-235! Their meeloids are so inferior!

It's a pipe dream, but that would be an awesome building to add to downtown's skyline.

Dallas, the greatest city on planet earth!

On Earth ???!?!?!

You $#$%^&*@$%&.

It's the greatest city in the galaxy. Dallas gets no respect.

That's great that Comerica is moving to Dallas. Big D has a diverse economy. However, I wish they were moving more jobs to Texas. It almost sounds like just a PR move.

Although times in Houston are great when there is an oil boom.

I am all for freedom of expression. But if the old country is THAT great why not move back?

I seriously doubt I'd ever fly Old Glory if I moved to another country.

Would y'all?

Agreed.

How could a little 2 million dollar land deal impact a 100 million dollar project in the same city. Proportionally, it just doesn't make sense.

A&M has a couple of really beautiful old buildings.

The rest are 1970's modern crap.

Beautiful!! You're a very talented photographer.

What part of town is this in? It's beautiful.

Awesome. Thanks, man.

I think that it's just a matter of time until Houston gets an NHL team. The more sports, the better. NHL games are a blast to attend.

We don't need it to freeze here. We have the money to freeze anything we want. Even when it's 90 degrees outside and 100% humidity. That's just how we roll.

It's booming. There are seven cranes. That fulfills the "booming" element for me.

It's named an "arts district." Whether you can tell from the freeway that something is an arts district is an odd way of determining something is an arts distict. I'm not sure Houston's Arts District is noticiably an "arts district" either while driving by. Who cares? They're both called "arts districts." Not every building is going to have art in it. Instead, it just means that there is a high concentration of museums/thearters in the area. In Dallas' arts district, they're building an opera house and a theater. That fulfills the "arts district" element for me. They're also building mid-rise offices. (Low rise is 4 stories and below).

The office buildings shown above, are in the arts district. That doesn't mean that they have art in them. That just means they're in the district. Hence the use of the term "DISTRICT." There are non-musuem and non-theater buildings in Houston's arts district. But the office buildings in Houston's arts district don't look like "art buildings" either. And by the criteria of driving by at 60 mph, I'm not sure we could ever tell one district from another.

I just read the article posted that said "booming arts district" and then saw the pics that were posted of mid/low rises. Seeing those pics in no way made me think "booming arts district" it just made me think business center alongthe freeway. Were the museums you referenced shown in the initial pics?

How could you say that isn't booming?

Thanks for that pointless piece of misinformation. ;-) I guess Carolina Herrera, Salvatore Ferragamo, Fendi, Movado, Giorgio Armani and many others over the years haven't received the memo.

Only if you don't count Miami as part of the South, and of course the Dallas Mandarin Oriental is still 3 years in the future, at best. And FWIW, let me remind you of the revised criteria set forth by DallasBoi. In addition to being the first in Texas and/or the South, he told us that "the stores that were chosen only have maybe two or three other Locations in the united States". So the Mandarin Oriental fails his criteria on two counts. It will no doubt be a lovely hotel (assuming it is actually built) but hardly the level of exclusivity claimed by DallasBoi.

I agree that it is pointless information, but you're the one making a big deal out of it. Who cares if Dallasboi said most of the stores only have two or three American locations? Mandarin isn't a "store" anyway. It's a hotel. So by you're very own quote, it shows he wasn't referring to Mandarin Oriental.

It's really pointless to be so petty on this. They have five locations, with 4 expansions listed on their website, Dallas included. Dallasboi may have over-reached. He might not have known. But who cares? Only you. Don't waste your time on such little petty references. It's not worth it.

I think it's great that Dallas is getting a Mandarin and the W. Hopefully, these brands will see that Texas is a great place to do business. I have no doubt we'll see them all in Houston soon.

By the way, Mandarin is certainly an overseas brand, as Dallasboi contends. There are several in the US, but none in the South.

If you want people to assume that you're the voice of reason around here, it might help if you wouldn't have a near meltdown every time someone says something disparaging about Dallas. You love it. Fine. Great even. But accept that others don't--or don't nearly as much as you do. Further, try to do it without ad hominem attacks.

Sentences are supposed to have complete thoughts. Once I understand your point, I will be happy to respond.

These are some really cool pictures.

Nice photo of the Texas Embassy. Did you eat there?