sevfiv

The Iowa Supreme Court just unanimously approved same-sex marriage, overturning the 1998 law against it. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/us/04iow...rss&emc=rss

Wow, a lot to catch up on here. I know I have a lot of reading to do, but the initial aspects of major presumptuousness and evangelism of Christianity are the utmost turn-offs. I won't let that stop me from at least learning more about the history, though. And what about the timeline of religious texts? Where does the writing/compilation of the bible fit in with others? What about similarities between them? For the above post by Orikal, though, option 1 does seem to be most logical, even in its oddity. Like John Burroughs said, "Man is, and always has been, a maker of gods. It has been the most serious and significant occupation of his sojourn in the world."

Folks, let's keep this topic from dwindling in to a bickering match.

What is your definition of blind faith? Am I taking this out of some other context, or are you serious? Seriously? I'd be interested in more information about that.. Disagree - well, what Niche said.

The usual MO for driving, it seems, is to be hurried and impatient. And often obnoxious?

Nooo! That's the fireplace you were looking to get rid of/sell?! http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...showtopic=19798

Caveat - I don't mean any offense to anyone or lockmat (and he's the one of the only ones so far that has come out and stated his religiousness to a greater degree than others). I have an incredibly difficult time grasping all of this. Yeah, it's mostly because I wasn't enculturated in to it growing up, but still. No part of my being can look at religion and understand it or its followers in any logical, rational way. Do I need to toss out the logical and rational? As a help, I've started reading the Bible (so many versions!) with some annotations. I can't honestly say I trust the translations or annotations fully, though.

^Ah yes.. And how could I forget the rodeo traffic...aaaaarrrggghhhh! But that's only a couple weeks a year

Like TheNiche, I'm in 77054 now and it is mainly populated with people tied to the medical center (students, patients). I would definitely start by looking at HAR or Craigslist before apartment complexes, though. I think when I was looking, the range for decent one bedroom apartments was barely right at or above your budget. The crimes also seem to be mainly vehicular. I would also advise to stay east of the Astrodome and west of 288. For groceries, there's a Kroger at Cambridge St. and Old Spanish Trail, a larger one at Kirby and Main, and a Fiesta at Kirby just south of OST. There's easy access to 610, 288, and of course the red line rail. There is also a park on El Paseo between Knight Rd. and Cambridge St.

As someone who grew up without much exposure to religion, the OP's example would yes, in the DSM-IV, probably come up with something near a 297.1 (delusional psychotic episode sorta thing). Of course, as I started seeing more of the world, I realized there were WAY more religious people out there than I could have ever imagined, and it scared me. All I know is that religion (I'm talking organized religion, not individual spirituality) is a learned thing, people subscribe to it, and I don't personally get it. But if it is a therapeutic and meditative exercise for people, then that's great.

Yeah, clever having the return and sending email as the president's email. Too bad the VP for Public Affairs spoiled the joke about an hour later... ------ edit - Jax posted that email

Doing a tiny amount of searching in Google maps help, all I found was "We license map data from a network of data providers around the world." I wonder which "data provider" of theirs provided those non-existent (or existent for a short time but never realized) streets..

Ha, no but I am a big fan of Gretsch instruments (guitars, drums).

The guitar on the right *almost* looks like a blue Gretsch White Falcon hollow-body bass (minus a winged head)..

I'm not a huge fan of the buildings' looks, but does anyone know the general condition it is in?

^That's for sure! A house like this (empty!) and a price like that would make Pasadena a faint consideration for me - but does anyone know what the neighborhood is like?

Yep, it's covered once again:

You can disagree and whatnot, but let's please not resort to that..

Thanks for the vote update, infinite_jim. Geez that was close! Final vote tomorrow...

The State Board of Education is set to vote by Friday on science curriculum standards (evolution/creationism in the classroom issues): http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...WijT9AD975LCDG0 http://www.khou.com/news/local/education/s...m.6ef9670c.html

Traffic stories - my daily is pretty much the same. Same out-of-towners trying to find their way around the medical center (and MetroRail). Same d-bags in lanes that end or are turn-only zipping in front. Same weirdos who think that stopping their vehicle on a MetroRail train track isn't really stopping on a train track And oh yeah, same 3-4 mile commute that takes thirty minutes on a good day. That's living in the big city for ya...alas!

Yeah, that was the Houston Lighting and Power Company's Energy Control Center (built 1972) designed by Caudill, Rowlett, and Scott.

I guess the main thing now is to explore areas out of the loop/beltway. I (and about zero people I know) are familiar with Pearland, Friendswood, or anything near/in between.

Maybe the AT&T/SWBell building on Fannin just north of OST (built around 1972).. This is a low-quality streetview image, but the bell is still on the front of the building. It has been covered/filled in now. Two different local live map images show it during and after the bell cover-up:

This topic is closed for now since Tricon01 (who claims to be a Tricon representative) and Houston56 (who claims to be a Tricon homeowner) appear to be duplicate accounts or something around those lines. That's unfortunate for Tricon..