AtticaFlinch

I think you're right.

This is why one shouldn't post on the backside of insomnia.

Still can't stand the C&D scrap metal.

But they pay for your scrap metal with two dollar bills.

Two dollar bills!

From what I've seen thus far.. it looks like people are much less likely to rate up or down since it's instantly visible

Can editor tell how many rating points are issued each day... I wonder if the amount really is way down...

I'm more inclined to give positive points now that people can see them. I often just don't think about it, but I don't want to be considered stingy because of my absent-mindedness. I'll probably never giver out a negative rating though, regardless of my opinion of what's written, and regardless of whether or not people knew I gave it. That's just not my style. Anyhow, considering I've got 5,000 positive points to spread around today, everybody who's posted on this thread gets a taste of Flinch love.

We could make it a 420 sanctuary city. That would probably help out the tourist industry quite a bit.

And we could employ the former inmates as tour operators:

"Don't buy weed from that dude. He only sells bags of oregano."

That was the subject of the article and the issue at hand. That was one of the options given in the poll. Federal or state solutions to county problems are unrealistic for the sake of budgeting and operational planning.

Ah, now I see it, right at the top. A little reading comprehension would go a long way here - "What should Harris County do..."

Well then, considering federal and state reform is off the table here, I suggest the powers that be at Harris County discourage the various county police forces from arresting minor drug offenders and other non-violent offenders. If they ain't hurtin' anybody, leave 'em alone.

I'll take the Jacksonian view on this. If the federal and state governments make the bad laws that clog the jails, then the federal and state governments can enforce the bad laws and house the inmates on their own.

Nothing screams "Pacific" to me quite like anything from Oklahoma and Texas.

I say bring back the SWC.

The new mobile version looks great on my Storm. Is there a way to give rep points with it though? I couldn't locate the plus sign.

And it loads really quickly.

(couldn't find the edit button either)

Harris County is not a federal or state legislative entity. For them to expect those kinds of changes and develop their capital budgets as such would be utterly and hopelessly naive.

I wasn't aware reform was limited exclusively to the local level.

Expansion of house Arrest and pretrial services for non violent minor offenses. I read in the chron a while back how some inmates are in Harris County awaiting trial longer then the actual max sentence is for the crime commited

I'd also recommend decriminalizing all illicit drugs as well as a number of other non-violent offenses.

I'd stiffen the penalty for white collar crimes though, so I doubt my solution would solve the overcrowding problem. However, it would put the most dangerous criminals behind bars.

You've got a bare room with bars and shackles?

Dude, you know how to party, I didn't think you were that type.

It's the guest room, and what can I say, I've got demanding guests.

I've got an extra bedroom available, and I'll take the going rate to lease it to the county.

You gotta do what you can to make ends meet these days.

I eat bananas.

Why do you loathe it? Is it too excited for ya?

This thread is turning into the world's worst porn.

Gee Attica.... way to spoil my first attempt

That's it! Sorry to spoil the surprise, but you can only keep this level of genius under wraps for so long till it explodes into world consciousness like Fat Man and Little Boy. You are the Enola Gaye and HAIF is your Nagasaki.

It's coming. New and improved. Now everyone will be able to see WHO modded you into oblivion. I suspect a little accountability will go a long way.

Eh... maybe. I think you should just do away with the rating system altogether. Some people around here are already sensitive enough as is.

Or, put a limiter on the number of positive and negatives each person can give another person with either a time limit or some other governor. It people couldn't give or take points at will, that would probably be the best way to eliminate what IronTiger's referring to.

Hey, if I were on an island decimated by a hurricane and everyone had left, I might not be so prone to redevelop a property either, but at any rate, that doesn't mean that any of the other grocery chains would be better at developing a grocery store that suits the neighborhood. I didn't say I trust HEB outright, I said I trust them more than any other grocery chain in the area to build a store that suits the neighborhood, most of which make little to no concession to suit the customer base.

I trust Scott McLellan absolutely.

Not the Bush II press secretary Scott McLellan, I'm talking about the HEB guy. He's on TV all the time telling me how I can save money shopping at HEB, so he's got to be trustworthy.

Fortunately, Highway6 is taking a stab at making some replacement icons for us. Hopefully we'll see what he comes up with by the end of the week.

If they're anywhere near as awesome as his Bagwell/derrick/shuttle monument idea, he might be the first person ever to win a Nobel prize for icon design.

You probably didn't realize that the idea is to portray demons from hell as more lovable and 'human' than native Texans...who are portrayed as pickled-drunk horny hyper-elitist tycoons that can't decide whether they'd rather kick a dog or have sex with it.

Or did you?

I caught about fifteen minutes of this show last night. Mere words can't describe how unfunny and bad it is.

I give it five more episodes before they pull it.

Nope. As a first year at Hobart, you're required to take a multi-disciplinary course taught by professors from several departments. The course I took had an econ prof, a philosophy prof, and a women's studies prof. It was a fascinating class.

The only reason I read Atlas Shrugged was because Rand had several fan clubs that gave college scholarships to anyone willing to read one of her novels and write a book report on it. (Is that irony that they were giving away money for doing basically nothing?) I was riding the crest of my populist anti-wealth wave at the time and the novel made me sick to my stomach. It left a bitter taste in my mouth for two reasons, neither of which I could articulate at the time: 1) Her ideas were elementary level simplistic, and I knew despite their naivety (or perhaps childishness), they'd influenced many powerful people, and 2) The book was so poorly written. Seriously, the story was ambitious, but poorly executed. The characters may as well have been written as sticks of wood. Rand feebly attempted (I guess) to make the reader empathize with characters who were utterly devoid of life. The only way to properly empathize with one of her protagonists is if you too feel unfettered greed is good, and even then, that's about the only way to connect with one of her characters. Every other character was written as a hackneyed archetype without reason or logic beyond the basic template. Reading Atlas Shrugged is like reading a high school student's first attempt at a novel. It was a good effort, but the student still lacks a compelling writing style and an understanding of the world and the motivations of people.

Under the 2009 City of Houston Water and Sewer rates, a resident would need to use 35,000 gallons of water in a single month to receive a $300 water bill. That's as much water as I've used in the last year. I don't doubt that some people could waste that much water, but frankly, if they do, they SHOULD pay $300 for it.

For comparison, the average consumer uses about 70 gallons per day, or 2,100 gallons per month.

I lived in Humble (Atascocita, really) when Kingwood was annexed, and I knew many people from Kingwood, adults and teens like I was then. There was a consistent theme that came from all those who opposed the annexation, and that theme was exaggerated complaint. According to those opposed to the annexation, water rates and electric rates rose to unmanageable levels and the police disappeared overnight leaving Somalia... err, I mean Kingwood.... in the hands of a lawless mob and the San Jacinto River ran with blood. In reality, not much changed aside from their sales tax and their volunteer fire department was replaced by professionals.

Let me correct myself. I've read Atlas Shrugged, not The Fountainhead. Like when I read a Dan Brown novel, one instance of crap was enough to keep me from reading any more of the writer's catalog. I'd once made the mistake of reading Elmore Leonard because I'd read that Quentin Tarantino liked his books. It took me five utterly scheisse novels to realize Tarantino has no taste. From that point forward I've been considerably more protective of my time and won't read a second book from an author if the first book sucked.

I think they ought to do away with the lights at Westheimer and Montrose and then sell tickets to the show.

I must have terrible reading comprehension skills because I don't see a similarity between Rand and AtticaFlinch's lines of thinking AT ALL.

I freely admit that most of what I wrote was spontaneous and not terribly well thought out. It had occurred to me as I had been reading through this thread. It was that niggling little annoyance that sat like a burr under my saddle since the first time I read The Fountainhead. Frankly, Rand's philosophy just doesn't make sense under a microscope. Everybody is motivated to some degree by self-promotion, self-preservation or greed. Had Rand bothered to flesh out her lesser characters, mainly those in the masses who act as one force (presumably because they're all being manipulated), she'd have discovered their motivations were more complex than she could possibly understand. And, had she not been so kind to her protagonists, and admitted their character flaws more honestly, particularly their narcissism and indiscriminate greed necessary to be a true titan of industry, her philosophy would have fallen apart before her books were even published.

Out of curiosity, was this required reading at Kinkaid or at college? I was subjected to some pretty heady books in high school, but they tended to be better written and told more interesting stories. Then again, I did go to a public school. Instead of The Fountainhead, I read Les Miserables in high school. The books are similar in length and share similar themes (class warfare, wealth, industry, economic change and government intervention), though they come to markedly different conclusions. While The Fountainhead is the literary equivalent of eating cardboard, Les Miserables has well developed characters who grow to understand the distinctiveness and subtleties inherent in the human experience. Life may be tragic, but it's not because one class of people is trying to take from those who actually work. Rather, life is tragic because we're all trying to take from everybody, and everybody has good in them and everbody has evil. There are no true protagonists and there are no true antagonists. All life is a chaotic free-for-all. That's my interpretation anyhow.

That's good advice, generally speaking, but it also undermines the credibility of your initial accusation, that Ayn Rand was addicted to amphetamines or was a "speed freak".

Also, I'd really appreciate a comment on whether you have ever appreciated or patronized an artist of any sort that had similar character flaws to Rand's. Did their unlikable persona detract from your ability to appreciate their work?

It depends on the medium, it depends on the artist and it depends on the depths of depravity of their character. For instance, when I was a teenager, I liked Ted Nugent. Then I learned more about him, and now I turn the radio dial every time one of his songs come on.

When I first heard about this project, I wasn't that interested in the institute side or the 'green' aspects (I only wanted some good roller coasters and a nice park)- but the more I read about it, the more I think they are really on to something here.

I think this is the best part of the park, and certainly the part that intrigues me the most. Even without the present commercial viability of "going green", the research institute could potentially become a huge force in scientific discovery, provided the revenue stream from the park is at least partially diverted to its funding. Without a doubt, an institute with as much potential as this one could do more for neighboring universities' respective earth sciences departments than millions in alumni donations. By mere proximity to the institution side of this park, the University of Houston and Sam Houston State could attract and retain much bigger talent in the fields of Paleoarchaology, Anthropology, Paleontology and Biology. It could literally transform these schools from tier two to tier one status virtually overnight (within those departments anyhow).

Don't get me wrong. I'm excited about the rides too, but I'm mostly excited by the institute. Not to mention, we'll be home of two major scientific institutes if this place is built: NASA, which uses science to look toward our future, and Earth Quest, which uses science to reveal our past.

I missed that. Thought it was some kind of competition. Guess I made it up. Strange too, considering how much of the thread was dedicated to mocking the Hummer.

It's unfortunate they didn't want to take a picture of their Prius instead. Then we could have mocked a different level of pretension.

It IS a great vantage point, but there's no space to park it and take photos without blocking traffic.

I don't think a Hummer owner cares much about his impact on other people.

Also, the corner of Fannin and McGowen makes a great visual. In the background can be the skyline and in the foreground can be the Hummer and the SEARCH Houston homeless shelter. It's an awesome juxtaposition.