memebag

Whoa. That's a fascinating number. Downtown Houston might have twice as many people living in jails and shelters as it down in homes?

But you could have done the same thing at a place called "help desk" or "customer service". It's the name that makes one gag. It might be OK if they had to present their latest IQ score on demand. I bet some of them aren't even geniuses.

I couldn't believe it, either, when I read about it on Digg. Apparently, if you're a really good salesperson at an Apple store, you get promoted to Genius and work at the Genius Bar and fix stuff. I'm part of Houston, and I'm not trying to be a "world-class town". I don't even know what makes a town "world-class". Speak for yourself. You want downtown to be different in some way. Don't speak for Houston.

I wouldn't call Apple stores "emo". "Pretentious" has a much larger scope than "emo". Any store with a "genius bar" is just pretentious.

Downtown Houston used to be a lot of fun at night. It was a perfect place to skate. We've given that up for what, more shopping? Feh. Shopping is boring. Skating down parking garages and playing hockey in the street are orders of magnitude more exciting. And get off my lawn.

I'm curious how the rubber under the playground will hold up in the heat. It was getting uncomfortably warm last Saturday. I hope it doesn't liquify and turn into a sort of roach motel for children. Well, at least not my child. Other people's kids getting stuck to it would make a great youtube video.

I'll bite. Why can't they?

Probably the same folks who like hairy women. Or hairless women, I'm not sure.

The chances of any large video displays on the outside of HP not showing ads are so small that it isn't worth thinking about. I can't think of any public video displays that are ad free. Your eyeballs are the meat merchants want to eat.

I think you helped with our confusion:

Not enough. I crave more. Could it be the weed?

Um, but I did think that. First, I thought about thinking it, and then I just thought it. Both of them are ways to deliver eyeballs to market. One of them fluctuates more rapidly than the other, but each can be seen as ugly or beautiful.

Yes. How many times do I have to say it?

If everyone had the same aesthetics it could, but fortunately we don't. Getting rid of the billboards are not an aesthetic improvement for me. I think so. You're coming from attraction to shiny flashing things. Absolutely.

I thought I made that clear. I like billboards (both ratty and snazzy) along the freeways. Also, I miss the old Times Square from the 70s. The new one is too clean for me.

I'm not against giant TVs downtown; I'm just trying to figure out how to get billboards back on the freeways. You have to put a nickel in the Vibrant Jar.

So billboards would be OK if they were prettier? And the video screens wouldn't be OK if they were ugly? What if the video screens show ugly ads? Or is any video ad prettier than any static ad?

I'm just trying to get my head around this. Giant animated ads are good, giant static ads are bad. Do I have it right?

Here it is again. You don't like billboards on the freeway, but you would like video billboards on HP? How come?

So, if you're not saying Houston could become like Singapore or Hong Kong, what are you saying? By adding video screens to the outside of a shopping mall, Houston will become more ... what?

I think I understand what you're looking for. It isn't shallow, I just don't think it's feasible. Houston is hot in summer and flat all year round. The amount of money it would take to make it as attractive as some the other cities you listed is astronomical, and there's no amount of money that can make Houston as attractive as San Francisco. People with the desire and earning power to live in San Francisco are never going to stay in Houston. Let it go. Houston has other charms and will attract other people, people like us "lifers". Video screens can't change that. Doctors, as a rule, will not be impressed by them. Video screens will attract primitive peoples who haven't seen flashing, moving lights before. Expect an influx of people from deep in the Amazon rainforest.

Space Center Houston (the tourist trap they opened outside JSC) didn't have "rides" the last time I took my daughter there. Funding cuts made JSC and Clear Lake less exciting. Space Center Houston made it cheesier.

JSC was more interesting when we spent more money on space exploration. There wasn't a lot for tourists to do (a movie theater, some space suits, the Saturn V, and some tours), but the work going on there made it more exciting. Space Center Houston is pretty lame compared to an actual Apollo mission. On luring smart people to stay: I don't think video screens will attract more smart people. Magpies, maybe, but smart people will probably see through the sizzle. And I don't think the "lifers" who already like Houston should have to pay to lure people who really want to live somewhere else.

Do you love cranes and what they represent?

I had my first visit to Disco G today. It was tiny and crowded. Not a pleasant place for me, but my daughter likes it.