midtown 4.2

Try "Pick-a- Part" they have several locations . . . bring your own tools to dismantle the parts you find.

Houston crime stats.

http://www.houstontx.gov/police/stats2.htm

There's nothing bigoted about predicting the probability of criminal activity by using historical statistics. Some neighborhoods (no matter what the race of it's citizens) have more crime than others. . . which leads me to conclude that the chances of being a crime victim in that neighborhood is greater.

We're talking about CRIME, let's leave RACE out of it. . . for example:

In which Houston neighborhood would you be more likely to catch a sleazy insider trader? Tanglewood, Memorial, Denver Harbor, or Eastwood?

Still here. I strolled around the neigborhood this evening . . . and judging by the lights in the townhomes, I'd say that 35-40% of the residents are riding this baby out.

Looting at a triple-x vid and Blockbusters?!! What the . . .?!! That's like looting a wig shop or florist or carwash or sumthin. Those looters must have been die-hard movie fans.

Oh . . . forgot to add, that if things had degraded to the point that the city is looting, I would head straight to Oshmans or Academy for their camping gear . . . this was my back-up Y2K plan.

Location: Midtown, townhouse

Status:

Plan "A" leave for a friend's house in Bastrop but decided it wasn't worth the traffic nightmare.

Plan "B" prepare the home then shelter at the office (a sturdier building) when things get nasty.

Now it looks like I might have to come up with plan "C" . . . which is stay at home, if it looks like RITA continues to swing eastward.

Good luck to all.

I've heard the same soft "smoke detector" chirping sounds . . . first thought it was some type of crickets. Only hear it outdoors at night. . . several times I'd search around in the bushes, grass, and sidewalk crevices with a flashlight . . .neighbors probably thought I was psycho. Finally found the source . . . a tiny frog about 1/2 inch long, dark in color. When the light hit it, it just froze and didn't make a sound . . . I did the same, and a few seconds later it chirped! Mystery solved . . . now I can sleep.

Welcome to the board Metropolitan.

Sorry to spoil the fun guys. But I'll take this opportunity to interject once again.

Red - Your link to the "colonias" article is about conditions across the border . . . granted there are locations on the US side that are ALMOST as bad. But, once again, I'll repeat my statement . . . America's poor have it good compared to the poor in the rest of the world.

I had the opportunity to live in the Philippines (was there for 5 years) and one of the most heart-wrenching sights I've seen are the kids and families that lived in a landfill (nick named "smoky mountain"). My heart still bleeds when I think of the kids there. What's worse, is the knowledge that "smoky mountain" is just one example of the conditions that exist all over the third-world.

http://www.fire-international.org/projects...%20Mountain.htm

You pick the poorest of America's poor, and worsen their condition ten-fold, and it will still not get anywhere near those conditions.

There was also a Shakey's on Nasa Road One, just west of JSC.

So, midtown, if I could show you parts of these United States that did not have paved roads, where "houses" consisted of pieces of scrap plywood nailed into a lean-to, where there was no running water or electricity, no indoor plumbing...I suppose you might change your mind about how wealthy our poor are?  There are many places in the Appalachian Mountains, Arkansas, Oklahoma and our own, supposedly great State of Texas, along the border, where these exact conditions exist.

My office partner is a former citizen of the Soviet Union.  He often explains that most of the old Soviet Union was lower middle class, but that they had shelter, clothing and food.  He has done relief missions all over the world...yet he says that some of the most desparately poor can be found right here in the US.  Our system has many cracks through which the poor can fall.

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Red, you're making my point for me. Yes, you can show me the most poverty stricken parts of these United States, and that will not compare to real poverty in India, Africa, South East Asia, Latin America. Like I said, most Americans don't know what poverty really is . . . yes, parts of the Appalachians and Texas Valley are in desperate conditions, compared to the rest of the states; but compared to real poverty they don't look so bad.

Sounds like your office mate pines for the "good-ol-days" of the former Soviet Union, and still has some socialist blood in him. Of course MOST of the former USSR was LOWER middle class they had no choice, no matter how hard they worked, the State would give them just the right amount of rations to get by. I'm surprised that he hasn't claimed that there was ZERO poverty in the USSR. Lower Class: 0%, Lower Middle Class: 99%, Upper Class 1% . . . YES! there was an upper class in the USSR . . . the corrupt Politburo Members and their extended families. You know why there is ZERO poverty in the former USSR? The Secret Police would go around, and abduct derelects off of the street, and imprison them in insane asylums or "work camps" (i.e. prisons). How do I know this? Because I was there during the Yuri Andropov / Constatine Chernenko days. i spent time with the "underground" (basicly regular Joes trying to get by), and learned a lot from them. Party rule #1 do not get drunk and decide to sleep it off on the park bench, secret police will put you to "work" and yyou'll never see or hear from your family again.

How do I know about poverty? Fortunately, I was not born into it, but I have had the privilage to travel extensively (25 countries so far) and have lived for most of my life over-seas . . . I've seen poverty, and America's poor have it good.

You'll be doing a reverse commute, so I guess it will take you 15-20 minutes if you take US 59 North. Maybe 30 minutes coming back in the evening.

To further complicate the issue . . . and once again de-rail the thread.

I can confidently say that most Americans don't really know what poverty is. Pick the poorest neighborhood in Houston, and that will look like Shangri-La to the poor people from other nations. Chances are, America's "poor" will still have a color TV AND VCR, there probably is electricity (to operate box fans), they will at least have four walls and a roof over their heads, enough money for a bus fare to work, can enjoy a soda, etc. Can you imagine America's poor families sending their kids to the city landfill to scrounge for the day's meal? . . . picking through discarded fetid table scraps. . . sometimes competing with street dogs for the same scrap of food. . .washing clothes in open sewers. . . sleeping in nothing more than literally a cardboard box? This is a fact of life for many of the World

More info on this subject from local media.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/weather/090605...na_nytimes.html

Fictitious conversation . . . but might have a shred of truth.

Mr. West: Yo! publicist! I've been toiling in obscurity, and need to break into the really big time. What can I do?

Publicist: Well Kanye, you can give it all you got, and record a kick-ass album.

Mr. West: No, can't do that . . . don't have the talent.

Publicist: I know! You can say something really controversial, and that will guarantee your name will be on the headlines.

Mr. West: Like what?

Publicist: I don

It's easy for everyone to say "let's mobilize the troops or FEMA" to a staging point ahead of time, but I feel that would be rather impractical.

1) The weather forecasters have a hard enough time predicting where the storm will go. Where will you be moving the troops to, if you don't even know where the storm is going?

2) If the storm takes a jog, you could actually be "mobilizing" a bunch of people and supplies right into the path of the storm.

3) How many troops do you move? How often?

4) Do you mobilize for every storm that targets the mainland? Should the authorities have mobilized troops for Katrina's first landfall in Florida? Where's the cutoff point to mobilize or not to mobilize.

For these reasions, I feel the current system is better . . . NOT the best . . . but better than mobilizing ahead of the storm.

Local authorities are already on site, so are the state authorities. Lets say that a storm was targeting Texas, do we mobilize for Port Arthur, Galveston, Corpus, or Brownsville? Wait a second . . . we already have resources on hand at each of those locations . . . the LOCAL authorities. If the local authorities are overwhelmed, then it's up to the state to step in and help, if the state is overwhelmed, then it's up to the feds to step in and help. I believe this is what happened in NOLA.

I'm not sure that I'm making my case correctly . . . like Editor, I gotta run.

Poor Bush, he's dammed if he does & dammed if he doesn't!

He was critisized for not visiting the affected areas soon enough, and when he does show up, his critics call it a "photo-op" and critisize him once again.

I have not personally heard of any EMS electrocutions from hybrid cars, and I suspect that there have been no deaths from such vehicles. But the danger is great enough, that both Toyota and Honda have prepared special booklets for such events.

(following text excerpted from another site).

"There are several additional online resources that will benefit an agency in preparing for hybrid vehicle emergency response.

American Honda Motors has produced a booklet, Honda Insight Emergency Response Guide, May 2001. It is available by contacting a local Honda dealer.

Toyota Motors offers a 26-page booklet, Prius Emergency Responder Guide. The item number is TMS M/N 00400-OTH02-0U. The booklet will be available in the fall of 2001. A copy can be obtained by contacting a local Toyota dealer."

http://www.firehouse.com/extrication/archi...eptember01.html

GOOGLE "hybrid" and "EMS" and you'll get quite a result.

once again, I'm not anti hybrid . . . anything to reduce oil dependence is great. In fact, more power to you if you currently drive a hybrid . . . or should I say more WATTS to you. ha ha

My point is:

1) The Prius is not as environmentaly friendly is it's image makes it out to be.

2) I did not say EMS personnel will just stand by and let you die in your car . . . I have faith that they will do their job. It's just that many departments have sent out memos warning their staff to pay particular attention to the extremely high voltage that is present in the hybrids. Instead of putting on latex gloves to protect them from blood diseases, they now have to put on heavy duty insulating gloves to protect them from electrical shock.

Be honest . . . would you reach into a pile of twisted metal, knowing that there is the POSSIBILITY of high voltage running through it? Or would there be a moment's hesitation? I myself would be reluctant to do it without protective measures.

I neither like nor dis-like the Prius. Just pointing out things that others might not see.

Most people are under the FALSE impression that the Prius is environmentally friendly . . . it is in fact a rolling toxic waste dump! What do you think goes inside those huge battery packs used to power the vehicle? Yes it cuts down on emissions, but when the battery life dies (and ALL batteries will die) where are you going to throw it? So, buy it because you like the looks or something, but do not buy it because you feel that you are saving the environment.

P.S. many EMS services are hesitant to extract people from wrecked hybrid cars due to the possibility of life threatening electrical shocks.

I designed the National Museum of the Pacific War (aka "Nimitz" museum) in Fredericksburg, TX a couple of years ago . . . and have been following, with great interest, the development of the Veteran's Museum. I was jealous that New Orleans got the D-day museum, but it now looks like the pendulum is swinging back in our favor. Let's hope that the momentum does not stall out on this project.

BTW: there's another proposed museum going up in Mineral Wells, TX

http://www.nationalvnwarmuseum.org/

I seem to recall (back in the late 80's - early 90's) when it was a club that catered to the Montrose clientel, that a teenaged boy was wrapped in duct-tape and died from asphyxiation. My memory is kinda foggy, but I believe I heard it on the news . . . and not by word of mouth. Does that jive with your urban legend?

Ditto bigtex . . .treasure every moment. I dismissed it as pure exaggeration when people say "they grow up fast" . . . but it's true. My kids are already 2 and 4, and their infant days are just a memory now. Document everything; arm yourself with a good digital camcorder, camera, and voice recorder.

Congrats,

My understanding is that certain property have certain restrictions, i.e. building height, set-back lines, type of use etc. These signs are notices to the public, that the owner want's to deviate from these requirements. The public then is given the chance to voice their approval or disapproval. . . at city hall? (on the date posted on the sign).

My only "architectural" collectible is a brick from the infamous Hanoi Hilton. I was traveling around SE Asia back in the late 90

I seem to recall some development in Pearland, but can't remember the name. I'll try to Google it later.