marmer

I haven't gotten mine yet, looking forward to it. Ben, do you have it, or do you just know what's going to be in it? MissJanel, you used to be able to buy single copies at Brazos Bookstore; call 'em and ask. On the other hand, individual memberships to RDA are not very expensive and are IMHO, very much worth it for the access to lectures, home tours, and Cite.

Thanks, Rusty. Sounds awesome. But _raw_ sausage? Really?

I'm sorry but I don't know anything about this. Have you tried historicaerials.com? They have aerial imagery back to 1957. Where on North Shepherd was it?

The Guide says that Mr. Kirby and his family lived on this site from 1897, but in 1925 they replaced their Victorian house with this "rambling, 36-room English manor house" designed by James Ruskin Bailey. It has apparently been used for offices since 1948. James Ruskin Bailey was busy in the 1920s. He also did the education wing of First Methodist Church, a bank building downtown, and additions to Eastwood (later Lantrip) Elementary School. Having said that, I agree with kylejack that Kristin may mean one of the buildings he posted near Spur 527 instead of the Kirby house, which is north of Spec's.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=8640766 featured in Swamplot this evening.

The Mackie & Kamrath Farnsworth building on Wayside which housed NASA in the pre-JSC days and now is home to the city's Parks & Recreation Department is being renovated. Just saw the article in Sunday's Chron. Chron article What's up with that? This is Houston, we're supposed to tear that old stuff down!

I found a copy of the book "Sig Byrd's Houston" in a used book store shortly after that came out. Actually, now that I think about it, it might have been before that came out. Maybe Douglas Milburn or someone mentioned it. It was great, but I bought it as a birthday gift for a friend (who really appreciated it) so I don't have it anymore. Doesn't JR Gonzales occasionally post a Sig Byrd story on his Bayou City History blog?

I don't want to post it here out of respect to Story's copyright, but there is a very good view of the Sunken Garden (and Cullinan's house Shadyside) from the roof of the Warwick in Story Sloane's book of Houston images from the 20's and 30's.

I'm fairly convinced it's censored. It's not random and the whited out spots are just the right size, or close to it. The whited out areas seem to concern spinal and intestinal diseases, reproductive organs, and suicide methods. Of course the who and why would make an interesting story, I'm sure. It might just have been something as simple as a cover-up for fear of some kind of public hysteria about diseases thought to be communicable, incurable, or embarassing in some way, and an attempt to spare the feelings of the surviving relatives of suicide victims.

Thank you for sharing the picture of the pistol and your memories of your grandfather. Looks like his gun is a double-action Model 1901. Fine weapon, that. Dad's is a Single Action Army from 1897, right on the cusp of the smokeless powder transition. I'm sorry it took so long to take pictures, but here they are: In honor of both of our grandfathers' WWI service, and in recognition of Armistice, now Veterans', Day, here are some items of WWI memorabilia that belonged to my grandfather: Letter home to his mother on thin American Red Cross stationery: One-franc note, 10-coupon note from the divisional fair during the Occupation of Germany, German five-mark note: German belt buckle with "Furchtlos und Trew" (fearless and true) motto; 30-06 cartridge, Remington Arms 1918 headstamp: German Iron Cross 2nd Class (possibly a late-war reproduction or souvenir): Divisional and Corps history books: Grand-dad's personal service record, written in beautiful fountain pen handwriting:

Don't need a name to TP a house. Just an address. Maybe we could TP the backhoe and dragline that do the dirty deed. Seriously. Tearing that down is absolutely obscene. Even if it is not illegal, there is zero justification for that much waste and destruction.

Nice. Thanks for posting. Sorry to hear about your un-Behr-able stain experience.

I stayed at the Edison just off Times Square in the 80's. It was clean and reasonable but not fancy. It is right next door to the then Edison Theatre where Oh Calcutta, the nude musical, was playing back in the 70s and 80s. Looks like they're still there, and in the $250-$260 range. If you want to be right there in the Times Square area that looks like a good choice. Hotel Edison

I've heard some things from some fairly well-placed and credible sources. I can't really say more than that, so trust me or not. 1. There is significant concern among the Rice faculty, not only about the financial impact, but also on the cultural impact. There would be a huge increase in faculty numbers. Dr. Vardi is one of the most outspoken, but many of his colleagues are very concerned. 2. Having said that, there is a strong feeling that Rice has little to no choice about going forward, for three reasons: a.) most if not all of the institutions that Rice considers as its peers have a medical school and the concern is that a generation or so down the road Rice will lose significant ground and become a second-or-third-rate institution without one. b.) the handwriting seems quite clearly on the wall that governmental and corporate scientific granting will become increasingly bioscience based, with strong emphasis on medical applications. c.) If Baylor Med fails it will be a big loss for the community. Rice doesn't want to be in the political position of being seen as the institution that _could_ have saved Baylor and didn't. There is a real concern that this will happen even if the merger falls apart for reasons that Rice can't really control.

Me. Coffee is a different story, though. But I never drink sugar sodas and rarely diet ones. On a per serving basis I have trouble believing that is really true. Beer and wine have a lot of empty carbohydrates, plus the alcohol which will affect children disproportionally according to body weight. I know red wine has some health benefits in moderation but I don't know how those apply to children. Of course if you're drinking four or five sugary sodas a day that's probably worse than one beer. As I said before, the tooth decay is probably a more immediate medical issue from soda than obesity. Another amusing thing about the tax issue is that soda is typically marked up dramatically in restaurants and bars. Way, way, way over cost. People still buy it, don't they?

The commonly heard number is "20% of people who lose 10% or more of their body mass keep it off for one year." Article abstract from PubMed That sounds to me like 80% of people put some of the weight back on within a year, and there really isn't any substantive information beyond one year. There are a few thousand people in that National Weight Control Registry who have better numbers than that, but they 1. are self-selecting and 2. present the numbers in the most favorable way possible. None of us eat anywhere close to what we could when we were kids. Most of us don't like feeling over-full. But hunger is hunger, no matter what you call it, and I'm not going to put up with it. You can call it willpower, or behavior modification, or put some other touchy-feely name on it, but it is simply living with hunger. Sure, you might feel perfectly full and satisfied after a meal. But what about three or four hours later? Do you snack? Just as an aside, I am amused that free lunch programs in schools are a response to the idea of hunger being a detriment to learning. In the same breath, though, it seems perfectly desirable to try to make the fat kids hungry! I don't, usually. But sometimes, it's what you want, and sometimes, it's all there's time for. Like I said, you remind me of me, fifteen years ago. I did give up red meat, and made time to run one hour every day. Rain or shine, cold or hot, wet or dry. In spite of my weight, I was actually in pretty good cardiovascular shape and the only way I could get to my target heart rate was by running. So what happened? First, the weight started coming back, even with no change in my eating or exercise. Second, I started falling asleep at the wheel while driving. Often. I never had an accident but it scared the living hell out of me and my wife several times. The time for running was coming out of my sleep time because I couldn't very well cut my work hours. Additionally, I started having constant joint and foot pain. Finally, I just missed red meat too much. Sure, there are all kinds of good reasons not to eat it, and they pale next to the memory of a good steak or hamburger. As you say, you have to make choices. I don't think constant hunger, pain, fatigue, and giving up all of the foods you have ever liked, forever, is a good choice. I don't think it's reasonable for most people. If you can make it work, so much the better for you.

I've been there. What you describe is not very different from what I did when I first was diagnosed. You have my respect, and I mean that in all honesty. I hope you can keep the weight off. Statistics are unequivocal that the odds are against you. To be honest, I think that eating only tuna fish and running 3-4 miles a day (which I did for about six years) is too high a price of admission. And I think the vast majority of morbidly obese people, whatever the "reason" for their condition, can't even imagine what that kind of life is like. I'm sorry, but I think the whole processed food/fast food rant is a red herring. That's what we have available to us today, for the most part. Within reason, carbs are carbs, protein is protein, fat is fat, salt is salt, and vitamins are vitamins. Portion sizes matter more than the actual presentation. If most of your meals are coming from fast food, you've got all kinds of nutritional problems and portion problems, regardless of what you order. Oh, and why are poor people fat? Because when they work they typically work long, often non-standard hours and have little time to shop or cook. Because cheap food has lots of starch in it. Because they're too busy trying to make ends meet to exercise for an hour or more each day. Saying, basically, "People are stupid and don't know how to eat" adds nothing to the conversation. No red meat and three or four miles a day on the track or treadmill is an unreasonable expectation for most people even though some like LTAWACS who have found a way to make it work. If I know nothing else, I know that from experience.

I've got to weigh in on this, so to speak, being both somewhat overweight and diabetic. A lot of the comments here are way too simplistic and rather insulting. Substantive and sustained weight loss is, practically, impossible. That's the great "secret" of the weight loss discussion. The number of people who have lost significant weight and kept it off for more than five years is vanishingly small. That includes weight-loss surgery, extreme diets, you name it. Your metabolism gets adjusted a certain way, largely due to genetics, and then works very hard to keep those proportions. Yes, you can game the system by extreme (and I do mean extreme) calorie reduction PLUS very hard cardio exercise for at least an hour EVERY DAY. I've done it, twice, losing close to 100 pounds each time. Frankly, the fatigue, constant muscle soreness, and constant hunger isn't worth it. It is not sustainable. I work a job which has long hours that involve moving equipment, climbing stairs and ladders, and a LOT of walking. I also walk regularly with my wife and do a fair amount of serious cycling. I have been a pretty serious runner, though I got tired of the pounding on my joints. I do not drink sugary sodas, fruit juice, whole milk, or alcohol. I rarely eat fast food (maybe twice a month.) I eat a lot of lean meat and chicken, drain the fat off of cooked beef, eat salads and fruit every day, and use low-fat, fat-free, and sugar-free alternatives to pretty much every product for which they are available. I eat whole-grain cereal and I take home half of my entrees at restaurants, I do not go out for dessert or doughnuts, and I don't like hardly any candy. I do not watch TV or play video games. I have been to the movies maybe once in the last two months. Where's this sedentary lifestyle everyone keeps complaining about? I have a yard to mow, cars to fix, laundry to do, groceries to buy, a kid to take to activities, dishes to wash, on and on. Hell, I don't think I've sat down on my couch for more than five minutes in the last six months. So when I hear people talking about taxing full-sugar soda, I say "go for it." Won't matter to me. Hell, ban the stuff outright. It's a drop in the ocean where obesity is concerned, though it might help with tooth decay. But when I hear people saying that fat people should be denied medical care because of some kind of illusory "choices" they might have made, well, that does not speak well of our culture.

Damn, sevfiv! Just damn! I guess the first rule is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia," but the second rule should certainly be "Never match research with an Archivist when demolition is on the line!" Or something like that. Scott, I hope you are suitably impressed.

Looks like a double-size lot or two lots at that corner, according to the Lincoln Parish tax maps it belongs to one "Wayne B Hunter et ux." You have to register to get more info and I didn't want to bother. On Google Streetview you can see a big For Sale sign.

Could it be this? Bada-Bing Or this? Google StreetView Approx. 2200 N. Trenton, Ruston, LA

Ahh, yes, Hallgrimur's Church.

I'm not real confident about this, but I'll add to the Reykjavik guess. A similar picture exists on a blog about European travel in a post about Reykjavik. Haven't been able to find the church, in spite of the anchor. That little red house is a Swedish-style "stuga" by the way, sometimes used as a country retreat.

My wife saw this steel structure with a sculpture on top on CR 129 just east of SH 35 in north Alvin. Looks like it's on property belonging to one Francisco Viveros. Businesses listed at the site are F & V Painting and Global Top Soil and Landscaping Decor. Anybody seen this? Picture from Google Streetview

Well, there's your answer. The coupla times I've driven across Kansas I've been blown away (almost literally) by the strong western wind, especially in the western part of the state. Eastbound, with that flat back hatch on the minivan, you were sailing like a clipper ship! You could have put it in neutral and turned the engine off and still been going close to 65! Funny but brief story: I once had a friend (geeky Rice engineering major) beat a ticket by convincing the judge that the vehicle he was driving (~1970 International Travelall) was physically incapable of reaching the speed he was ticketed for. Don't remember how, exactly. I think it had to do with gear ratios and engine speed and wind resistance or something. Of course I wouldn't recommend that approach for everybody. Welcome back, Red.