Jump to content

arche_757

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,902

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

 Content Type 

Everything posted by arche_757

  1. arche_757
    My logic wasn't flawed. Would you say the average American spends more of their income getting beer/wine/liquor from liquor stores/grocers or at restaurants and bars? People go to bars and restaurants because they're either socializing with people they know, to meet new people, or to avoid cooking. D&B offers those options, but they are hardly the best place to go for any of those. You enjoy D&B - great - that's fine. Personally I would rather spend my time and money elsewhere. I can think of pretty much everyone I know who would go to a bar or restaurant without question if they wanted to go out. I cannot think of one of them that would ever offer up the "lets go to Dave and Busters..."
  2. arche_757
    Curious... why is Swtsig the expert on building heights? I must have missed something? Again, just asking.
  3. arche_757
    I've never seen the 4 floor high elevator shaft wall from that one vantage point before? Not the best look for an otherwise interesting piece to the skyline. Who cares if Dallas developers built it? They're smart, make hay while the sun is shinning! Hines developed plenty of big buildings in Dallas over the years, including JPMorgan Chase Tower in Downtown Dallas, and the Dallas Galleria (plus numerous office towers around that development).
  4. arche_757
    I wouldn't want to live right next to one if in a single family home in a place like West U or the Boulevards, though if I lived in a higher density neighborhood like Downtown or Uptown, then I wouldn't mind at all. If the building was just 10 floors that might make things different, compared to say a 30 floor tower. I also think an office tower would be better than a condo, and a hotel would probably be the worst neighbor - aside from a concert venue or bar. I also think if the building had to be located on any particular side of my property I think West would be the best. Wouldn't block prevailing winds, would block out the summer sun which would greatly reduce your summer electric bills, and provide plenty of shade from 1pm on so outdoor activities in your yard would be quite pleasant.
  5. arche_757
    I would think Westheimer from 610 West Loop to Highway 6 would be the worst. Vehicular traffic + the volume of major roads that cross it + narrow sidewalks in many parts = pedestrian nightmare
  6. arche_757
    Assume floor-floor ht of 1st floor is 25' + (51 x 14) = 740'-0" so ~60' additional height in architectural embellishments? Seems quite possible to top 800', though I would think maybe it will be just under? Since I'm Capt Pessimistic.
  7. arche_757
    Well, to be brutally honest - Who the heck goes there any more? D&B is a sports bar+video game+restaurant establishment. Perhaps its popular for the just graduated college crowd? I wouldn't know? Been years since I've been to one. Here's the big problem with D&B: if you want to drink and play video games you can do that much cheaper at home. If you want to go to some place "cool" for drinks most cities have much nicer bars, if you want good food there are tons of restaurants that have better food. D&B is like Blockbuster back in the early 2000s, still relevant, but for how long? D&B has 71 stores. Valued at ~500 million (when purchased by Oak Hill Capital in 2010), they had 1 IPO already and it crashed and burned so bad that they looked the fool. Who on earth would really buy stock in D&B?
  8. arche_757
    I think Baybrook has more shops. I have to say - I am disappointed about Star Cinema Grill. Of all the crummy movie places I've been to over the years Star Cinema takes the cake as the worst. I saw in the renderings provided a Dave & Busters next door to SCG. Wonder if that is just marketing wishfulness, or reality? Would be interesting. I thought D&B were slowly going away?
  9. arche_757
    I don't think most people realize that parts of the metro area use 409/936/979? Probably why the Chronicle's "writers" didn't understand that either. I'm not sure, but I think 409 may be long distance? I'm not sure of the others? It doesn't really matter these days.
  10. arche_757
    Apparently 713/281 are almost out of new numbers... What I don't understand is that 979, 936 & 409 are also "Greater Houston Area Codes" Conroe: 936 Galveston: 409 Brazoria/Lake Jackson: 979 So Houston *really* has 6 area codes for calls across the total metro area, soon to be 7.
  11. arche_757
    I feel like they should have "gussied" up the parking garage with a green screen of some type? That's the one part that really won't age very well.
  12. arche_757
    Reminds me of "The Tremont Towers" on Westheimer that had all those problems with mold post-construction!
  13. arche_757
    You may have been refering to some one else's past post..? I posted (and much fuss was raised over this) that an architect working on a "large" project up in the north part of town reported that he heard directly from his boss about a "large energy company" project also up in the north part of town that would commence when the other "large" project ended. Supposing that was about Chevron/Phillips? Could have been Shell? Could have been Anadarko? I don't know, and my friend did not elaborate further because he was not 100% sure? I then surmised that "perhaps Chevron would scrap the plans for the tower downtown?", to which I added - "I did not know what they planned on doing!" Assuming that maybe they were the "large energy company?" I haven't a clue what Chevron will do, but I think it would be silly to have such big plans announced and then cancel them.
  14. arche_757
    Drove by Downtown on the elevated this weekend - and while I want this building to be renovated and redone, it is really the biggest eyesore in the whole area. Days Inn, while abandoned, rotting and ugly is not "front and center" like Central Square. Days Inn is also further from the average viewpoint of people so its true ugliness is somewhat hidden, while CS is just right next to the freeway and right there for all eyes to see. My hope is the developer can get a loan and at least clean this building up. A shame they can't work more quickly.
  15. arche_757
    Despite the fact this "proposal" is probably not real, or even remotely possible - it is possible that a recently constructed existing building elsewhere "could be" used in another city if it is the same developer? Funny, the more information they release, the less credible this company/developer seems. Would have been better to simply have that first cheesey video and nothing else!
  16. arche_757
    The Cold War was an interesting era in our history. Coencidentally WW2 - and Nazi rocket scientists from Peenemünde were exploited post-war by both the USA and USSR for the purposes of gaining a strategic foothold on the race to put men in space, and then on to the Moon. Any way... I think the Moon is a more tangible and logical goal for the interim (next 40 years) with the goal that Mars should be sought after post 2050. Mars is a three year trip. The Moon offers great potential that Mars will not be able to offer us for who knows how long? Until at least a point in time where travel to-fro is quicker/less dangerous. Besides I really think we need to return to the Moon. Its been since the early 70s and we simply MUST return. I would think a permanent settlement of several thousand people on the Moon (say by 2035) would be grand, and a huge step for humanity towards becoming something greater than we what we are currently (but that's the inner-Trekkie speaking). Granted this would take years, but then something like Ellington Space Port WOULD be a huge asset to have if such settlement existed.
  17. arche_757

    Auto repairs! Yuck!

  18. arche_757
    My posts where not meant to be troublesome - though I believe that they came across as a bit harsh? I'm quite defensive of NASA. You will be amazed at how many people in Houston think its a waste to have a space program and spend as much as we do on it. Maybe not the expenditures at the JSC, but overall, the agency as a whole. Quite sad. So when I see what people like Elon Musk and Richard Branson are doing with private - for profit space ventures - I can get a little defensive. I see SpaceX and Vigrin Galactic (as two examples) that will spend their money and work in unision with NASA but not contribute towards the greater prosperity of the JSC here in Houston. Quite the oposite, I think people like Branson or Musk would be hesitant to attach to anything in Houston given a choice. NASA's JSC is an important part of the Houston economy, and adds to the areas economic diversity (even a little). Losing it, or having any more large scale cuts would be harmful, that is sure. I'm curious skwatra... what would you - or others at JSC - think about working with Texas/Regional public universities on a regional aerospace/aeronautics research center, attached, but not part of JSC? I'm wondering if something like that has been proposed at some point?
  19. arche_757
    You should say - I work for NASA - that would clarify things a bit. Billionaires are grandiose. What else could you call someone who is worth that much money? The guy started his own space company! That's crazy. His ideas are grandiose. Will he see them become reality, who knows? What are your thoughts on the longevity of JSC?
  20. arche_757
    Not kidding. The Iraq War.. was that a single budget item, or hundreds and thousands of budget items? The International Space Station was just the International Space Station. The ISS is estimated to have cost upwards of $150 billion. Single construction piece+flight to-fro+man-hours+continuing upkeep. That's a lot of money for a space-lab! Apollo was estimated to have cost something like $60 billion from 1960-1975. You guys can put all your chips in Elon Musk's basket if you want, but the best bet for long term human exploration of space is government funded projects by the people who know what they're doing - NASA. Musk probably wants to invent a time machine as well, who doesn't? If I was an eccentric billionaire I'd spout off all kinds of grandiose notions as well. But - SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are not based in Houston. No connection to the JSC. That's the question. Not whether Elon Musk will be able to eventually send certain people up into space. No doubt that's eventually possible, but that will not make Houston's role in the future of space exploration any brighter. Why would it? Has Musk mused at the idea of moving operations to Houston?
  21. arche_757
    I respectfully disagree with some of Luminare's post. 1) NASA has 4 major research/campuses. Cape Canaveral (FL), JPL and Ames Resarch Park (CA), and JSC (Houston). Now... of those four, which one is the most redundant at this point in time? Yep. Houston's very own JSC. 2) Private Space ventures - such as Elon Musk's SpaceX - are merely getting people into the very fringes of the atmosphere (for A LOT OF MONEY TOO) and are not - repeat NOT sustainable space ventures taking away the government money (allocated by NASA) that is being funneled their direction. How many times does a billionare need to go into the upper levels of the atmosphere/stratosphere what have you? Will that interest be enough to make this system worthwhile? Doubtful. Satalites exist at much higher elevations than what is possible at this time. Will SpaceX allow "us" on this forum to afford a chance to fly almost to space? If so, then some day these ventures might be somewhat less of an unneeded novelty than they are today. I mean, lets face it, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic could implode and little would happen outside of those singular companies. 3) What becomes of the International Space Station? It was the most expensive single project in US Taxpayer history. Costing $100 Billion Dollars for JUST the ISS. Our contribution. Only. Right now we can get to it because of the Russian's. Take that out of the equation and we don't have any need to send astronauts into space. Making JSC redundant, since its the manned space flight hq. Unless the Government decides that pursuing the Moon is a tangible and worthwhile goal for Manned Space Exploration (which it is) then we need to imagine a future where government spending cuts either A) greatly reduce JSC, or B ) shut it down. Hopefully even if it is shut down, we can figure out how to make a local aerospace research institute a reality...?
  22. arche_757
    I've long wondered just how long this agency will remain here as well. I suppose there will always be a government presence, but I don't know how many people will be employed or the importance of the local employees. I thought that NASA ought to sell off some of that land and develop it with UHCL, TTU, UofH, TAMU, UT (etc) as a state center for aeronautics/space reasearch. Why not? Take some of the money being generated by the current business boom and issue a % of that towards a new multi-agency research center off some of the land at NASA. Surely the Feds would allow 75+ acres to be sold off (or ground leased for 99 years). Think of the development potential of this and the boost it would give Texas' aeronautics community? Instead the Texas Enterprise fund will continue to pour money towards nonsense like Siracha and paying a company like Chevron to move people here. I'd rather see our state government spend that money towards higher education. I would think the Feds might be receptive to an idea like that? Surely NASA wouldn't mind if the groundwork was laid out with clear enough text.
  23. arche_757
    Unfortunately only 3 of those companies are non-energy sector related: Sysco, Waste Management and Group 1 Automotive. I'd like to see this list again in a few years with 2 more non-energy related companies on there. Personally I would love to see a large healthcare company relocate here. Never understood why one hasn't been pursued, other than the fact perhaps few of these companies have every moved or been pulled from one metro to another?
  24. arche_757
    ^Uppity Boar is one I'd want to see them attempt. I mean what is an "uppity" boar? One of higher social rank and refinement not found among the common man? Good find. Very true. I'm not upset at Oberyn's death - just at the level of graphic violence the show feels it should have on film. I feel as if... the producers are purposely making certain parts more graphic than others for the sake of selling the show. I do agree with the above comment by arndthwrld82 about the level of nudity. It is excessive, and often times pointless to the story. Don't get me wrong - I think our society pushes violence as far, far, far more acceptable than nakedness....and it should be the other way around. A naked body is much less troublesome to view than a mutilated body or smashed head or what-have-you. It is just that GoT naked people are mostly not very nice to look at, compared to say the "hot" people that you'd find on True Blood for instance (this is what my wife says which I agree with).
  25. arche_757
    Rice Stadium is a decent looking sports facility. Too big for what it is, and who uses it, but still a nice modern stadium. I thought I heard/read years ago that the stadiums east side uppper deck would be replacaed by some sort of multi-use recreation/indoor sports arena facility? Regardless, the west side of campus has plenty of room for Rice to continue to expand.
×
×
  • Create New...