TV2EBoogaloo

this guy from dallas on now dressed as a pumpkin makes me once again glad I am from Houston....funny he wants to go to live in Hawaii.....I think Houston and Texas would come out on the better end of that trade for the guy in Houston

now he forgets signature ingredient

haha he makes it in Houston guy will stomp him

hope you bring home a win!

he is into the molecular gastronomy and he seemed to pull it off well so being from Houston and starting off right he is my favorite

I liked the guy with the piercings too that was the second to get an apron (I think), but the Houston factor works it for the Hawaiian guy

I remember the dinging at all Foleys and it was for more than just one person different people had different tones and patterns

those were both great runs I was glad I was tuned in to see them

TAMU has really stepped it up in the spare sports recently.....making the Big 12 and Texas look really good

no love for the Ghetto Boys?

my mind must be playing tricks on me!

AL baseball sucks and the DL is stupid

this is a dumb idea I hope it fails

it would just establish the Astros as another nobody generic team with little or no real history and just to be shuffled around to where ever to make it easier on other teams and MLB

shuffle around a bunch of expansion teams or teams that have moved or need to move

Not true. There are numerous reasons one might take public transportation. Price, lack of alternative transportation, convenience, wear and tear on personal vehicle, etc. Speed may be one of the criteria for some, but frankly, most transit users expect public transit to be slower than private transportation. The other factors make up for it.

Additionally, public transit agencies have limited resources, and must serve the greatest number of people with those resources. Making the transit faster than private transportation is cost prohibitive in most situations. Only commuter services, such as park&ride, compete with private transportation, but even those are slower, once you take into account getting to the station and parking your car, and waiting for the bus (or train) to leave the station.

and you mistakenly believe stopping every two blocks is serving the most number of people

I also am saying that for the same distance traveled public transportation on a dedicated track should be faster than private transportation......if it is not then something is probably wrong......like stopping every other block or having too many disruptions by other forms of traffic slowing or stopping movement

we don't need to run a light rail so that someone can take it 4 blocks to the grocery store they can do that on a bus for a lot less money

we need light rail so that 5K+ people can park at Ellington and ride to Hobby, UH, and downtown in the same amount of time or less that it would take them to drive from Ellington to their final destination.....and then more people can get on at Hobby and go to UH and downtown and a few can park at UH and ride downtown......and then many can ride from downtown to Hobby

taking a short distance rider off a bus and putting them on a light rail is not always a wise use of money....the study posted by Trae and my statements in another thread support exactly what I am saying.....the vast majority of the system in dallas is designed to get people that don't work or have job skills to places where there is very little job growth....and that is why it is an expensive failure

people with few job skills and little motivation don't suddenly become employable because they have light rail to ride and areas that don't provide the size or types of properties needed by present employers don't suddenly become viable for those employers because a light rail runs there

the single metro line in Houston works so well because it serves two viable employment areas, two universities, major entertainment and cultural areas, sports and convention venues and it has a place for people that are coming in from further out of town to park and make good time traveling from where they park to where they wish to end up......and it also carries the movements between all those various venues

if this line had just run from downtown to any of the numerous areas in the same amount of distance that would have passed a ton more residential.....it would have next to zero ridership......because the vast majority of people are not going to travel longer by bus to a light rail line than it would take them to drive to a freeway on surface streets, then ride the light rail for longer than it would take them to drive the freeway stretch, then yet again ride another bus in a period of time that would be longer than it would take them to get off the freeway and drive a surface street to their final parking spot......especially if you add in any decent amount of walking or waiting in inclement weather

driving quickly to a major terminal where traffic starts to become heavy and then taking a ride on the light rail in a similar amount of time right to or very near a final destination is much more preferable and much more cost efficient

If you use total boardings as a proxy for ridership, then yes. The increase in the average number of transfers per commute will appear to increase transit ridership.

If you ask employees how they get to work, as does the Census Bureau, then no. Only 1.6% of people in the Dallas MSA use public transportation to commute, compared with 2.7% of people in Houston (or 2.3% of people in San Antonio or 2.8% of people in Austin). We crush them even more if you figure in that Houston's METRO administers carpool lanes, which METRO estimated in FY 2008 carried more than twice the number of people as its entire bus system. Even if you narrow it down to just the Dallas half of DFW, it's only 2.1%, still the lowest rate of public transporation use in the state.

Considering how much they've spent to build up their network of light rail, that kind of performance is utterly abysmal. We should not be imitating them.

+1 for you young angry canoe paddler of east Texas rivers

any type of fixed route/dedicated route public transportation option needs to move from areas that gather large amounts of people from more distant places to other areas that gather large amounts of people from more distant places.....and they need to move those people from place to place at least as fast if not faster than they could get their themselves on their own

Houston needs to scrap much of the crap they have lined up for light rail and probably the next route needs to go from downtown, right through UH, right past the front of Hobby, and then down to Ellington......it needs to have a stop at each of those places and possibly a single stop in between each of them as well

HAIFLeaks!

I seriously doubt you have any idea what you are talking about. Having been to both, the seating bowls in both are comparable, and I thought that the suites in both were comparable. I thought Toyota had slightly better layouts. But, I will be willing to hear about your experience in AAC and Toyota, and what "amenities" you found in AAC that made it so much better.

there is the Chili's that closed after a month of being opened.....after the remodeled the former space that held the old restaurant that had closed about a year after opening

and again typical dallas.....going to sporting events to see restrooms, "cool bars", and amenities instead of actually going to see the game

Typical Houston conservatism...Reliant and Toyota Center are very bland and nothing like our Dallas counterparts when it comes to the AA Arena or Cowboy Stadium. Looks like more effort was put into Minute Maid. We'll see about the Dynamo

The Texans gameday atmosphere is pretty boring also

the sound in cowboys stadium is horrible.....just ask the people at the superbowl how they liked cowboys stadium.....standing in massive lines to get inside.....only a few entrances that allow you to get to specific areas where your seats are.....the inability to walk around the stadium if you happen to enter at the wrong entrance

and the AAC in dallas has been slammed for having very narrow concourses and being very crowded inside and difficult to move around

typical dallas......all style over substance......if the AAC was so great.....they would not be hosting major basketball games at the football stadium......and ask anyone that was at the Houston Superbowl and the dallas superbowl which stadium they would go back to.....it will be Houston by a mile

Happens all the time. In fact, it's one of the definitions of "unstable."

Yep. That happens to me, too. The lights aren't a measure of signal quality, they're a measure of signal strength. There's a big difference.

My apartment is only 650 square feet, and I found 11 different places to put the Clear modem, all with varying results. There are a lot of factors that affect any wireless signal. Windows, metal supports, major appliances, even line noise from the power outlet. If you can't find a few places in 1,300 square feet to locate the modem, you're not even trying.

I'm not sure how it's a recipe for disaster. I found that using a wireless router actually made finding a location for the modem faster and easier. I never had to unhook anything to troubleshoot my signal. The modem has a built-in web server that streams signal strength and quality numbers.

Wasting an hour of Clear support's time: $2.00. Getting a replacement modem from Clear: $12.00. Your monthly payment to Clear: $45.00. Yep, I can see how you're going to bankrupt the company in a quick -47,595 years.

So... you state in your original post "my bandwidth IS being throttled now they have admitted that to me now," then in this reply state that they, "were never able to tell me if I was even being throttled" and then in the same paragraph state, "also told me I was being throttled." You've got to pick one story and stick to it. You're not doing yourself any favors by contradicting yourself in the same paragraph.

If you think that's how the internet works, your lack of understanding is staggering.

Providing sucky service isn't enough to win a lawsuit. There has to be a breach of contract, not just a bunch of people yelling, "You suxxorz!"

I think that Clear doesn't want you as a customer. If I was Clear, I don't think I'd want you as a customer, either.

http://www.dailytech.com/Clearwire+CEO+Resigns+Company+Faces+ClassAction+Lawsuit+/article21106.htm

here is a quick story about the lawsuit

http://forums.clear.com/clearcom

there is a link to the clear forums.....look at the issues everyone is having

and your thoughts about what you know about anything are less than impressive.....you never support an argument you only make stupid snide comments and then you ban people when they prove you wrong yet again

that is part of the reason this forum's traffic has slowed to a crawl......people support their opinions and then you come along like you have a clue and yet you offer nothing to show where you know more than anyone or where you have any clue what you are talking about

this thread is an example......you get good service with clear.....great massive amounts of people don't......you have demonstrated nothing that shows you have any knowledge about the www or anything else

and for 20+ months clear could not tell me if I was being throttled.....until I had gotten a months credit and I was asking for another months credit....then suddenly they could see I was being throttled and would not give another credit

and as you said...the lights on the modem are a sign of signal strength.....not quality.....so it really does not matter how many lights there are on the modem.....it just matters if they are solid or scrolling.....so it really should not matter where my modem is located because it is going to get the signal or it is not.....and when it does not there is no using the service.....moving the modem around the room means nothing

and if another wireless device between the modem and the PC was not important.....then every ISP on earth would not ask you to go directly into the modem from the PC to trouble shoot.....but they do....because another device between the modem and the PC can add further issues.....which is why ISPs ask you to go directly from te modem to the PC before they will trouble shoot you

clear is a very poor ISP and that is not my opinion it is the opinion of a huge number of their past and present customers

and while my bill might be 35 a month.....the profit they make off of me per month is much less.....so every dime of that I can take from them the better.....because apparently only you would run a business for no profit...

A few thoughts on this screed...

I have Clear in two cities other than Houston and love it in both. Your mileage may vary.

Well, yes -- if your bandwidth is being deliberately throttled, it's going to be slow. That's what "throttled" means. The question I have is how much bandwidth did you use to get throttled?

Sounds like a problem with your machine, not with Clear. Clear is just pushing data. Filtering out Java would be pointless since Java is usually the smallest part of a web site.

Cycling lights means it can't see a Clear tower. Sounds like a bad modem, or bad modem placement. Also, it could be marginal signal strength due to poor modem placement. When I had my modem in one particular location, it would only get two bars, but then when the metal blinds were down, the attenuation was enough for it to drop the signal.

It's not cable, so just because your neighbors are sleeping doesn't mean you'll get faster bandwidth. Also 3am is prime time for maintenance.

I have heard this is true, but never experienced it myself.

Not unusual. Do you know what AT&T's customer service hours are these days? 7am-7pm in my market, and NO customer service on the weekends. And that's a PHONE COMPANY. Ditto for my local electric company. Yes, it's frustrating that customer service is not 24 hours a day, but internet service is not a life-or-death proposition. Go to a bar and make a friend.

Show me a telecom company, or any large company for that matter, that isn't being sued. How many "class action" lawsuits does Microsoft have against it right now? Or Apple? Or Baskin Robins? Hundreds. Sadly, it's just part of being a business. It doesn't matter how good you are, someone is going to sue you.

If you think giving some minimum wage phone monkey a hard time is going to change things inside a corporation, you're mistaken. Or 12-years-old.

Sound advice for any wireless device. It's why most cell phone companies have similar policies. Every person's situation is going to be slightly different.

For me, Clear is the best speed and reliability internet I've ever had of all the ISPs I've had in the last 20+ years: Warwick Valley Telephone, FoxCommunications, AOL, RoadRunner, Optimum, Comcast, AData, AT&T, Qwest. Again, your mileage may vary.

Yeah... I'm going with 12-years-old.

it is not a problem with my computer because the issue only happens when clear is having issues.....like very very slow speeds and or poor connectivity.....it happens for two or three days in a row then not again for a few weeks......once a computer OS starts becoming unstable they don't suddenly start becoming stable again just out of the blue

and my service is actually BETTER when I only have two lights on my modem.....if my modem goes to 4 lights (I have never gotten 5 lights) usually my modem has a brief outage just after it gets 4 lights.......and my house is only 1300 sqft so where in the hell do you want me to put the modem that would make any appreciable difference in signal strength......clear's answer was to offer me a wireless router so I could have the modem anywhere in the house.....I declined because the introduction of yet another wireless device into already poor service is just a recipe for disaster and I would still have to unhook all of that and go directly into the modem to trouble shoot......which means my modem would end up somewhere close to where it is not for trouble shooting

and I have never given any of the actual tech support people a hard time on the phone.....I merely wasted their time and clear's money having them send me modem after modem.....if I am not getting the service I am paying for then I am damn well going to do all I can to make sure they don't turn a profit off of my payments.......the only thing that makes ISPs change their ways is to cost them money period

I have no idea what my bandwidth usage was because the techs I talked to were never able to tell me if I was even being throttled......the reason for this is because I started on clearwire and was transferred to clear when they "upgraded".......finally after getting a months credit and the "reduced rates" (that I did not get) and "upgraded speeds" (that I never got or only got briefly) and when my service was having 20 outages a day the guy that told me he would not give me another monthly credit also told me I was being throttled and that is why I could not get another credit......that only happened in March of this year

and while I realize that wireless is not exactly like cable with a last mile issue.....the fact is if their DHCP server and or their backbone out of the city is overloaded.....then the answer is that they will randomly kick users off to try and cover as many users as possibly hoping that many of them are just checking email or browsing to something for a moment

and sure lots of companies get sued.....the difference is that clearwire lost that suit and clear will as well.....because their service sucks

the fact that you have to make 12yo comments only shows that you really have no clue what you are talking about

Two questions:

1) Why did you keep it for 2+ years if it SUCKS that bad?

2) Do you work for Comcast? If so you probably get a discount with them, maybe you should use their service.

the reason I kept it for two years is because I don't like the alternatives available any better than clear.....UVERSE is finally available now in my area so clear will be going bye bye

I also do not have cable right now because I do not like the cable provider in my area.....and getting cable internet without TV is expensive and about pointless

so I just stuck it out

and no I do not work for comcast......I did tech support in the past for @Home (which included cox, comcast, att, intermedia, suburbia, primeco, and on and on until all those were merged and cox and comcast and ATT stole their investors money and bankrupted @Home along with the horribly thought acquisition of excite (which is somehow the only one left standing from that whole disaster)

I used to have cox cable in my area.....I dumped them when they were having major issues like I could browse to cox.com and cox.net and a few other pages hosted on the local cox cloud, but I could browse to nothing on the WWW itself.....their techs tried to tell me it was the cable coax or the modem....which of course makes no sense because I could get pages off their cloud (which means the modem is passing traffic), but I could not get to the WWW proper especially during periods of high network activity like Sunday evenings in a college town when all the kids are returning from a holiday......when the kids were gone.....service picked up.....when the kids were back.....peak usage service went to zero especially around 4:30 to 8:30 and then from about 10:30 to midnight.....then it would slowly improve into the night

I had only seen similar issues just like that in multiple areas across the USA where our outage board said (upgrade in progress) which means 6 months of that for subscribers......I was one of the few techs that had the guts to tell subscribers the real issue VS telling them to get a new modem, run new coax, or rolling a truck......you would be surprised how many people with new modems, new coax, and three truck rolls actually appreciated hearing the truth.....and the truth was their service was going to be crappy for the next few months while their "node" was split to limit subscribers and or while the ISP pulled in new backbone (depending on what the issue was in that area)

not long after I dumped cox they sold out to suddenlink and my experience with smaller MSOs is that they have poor overall service and they are very slow to upgrade......suddenlink did slowly upgrade in my area, but was long gone and on ATT dsl by then

why did I get rid of ATT.....well because when they offered naked DSL in my area and I canceled my land line......well three days later my internet went completely out and the guy on the phone said they had canceled my DSL and pulled the card and it would be three days to get it hooked back up......so I went with clear on the advice of a neighbor because I could get it that day......then we both started having major issues a few weeks later and she ended up moving for other reasons

ATT has been decent in the past, but I just decided to wait out until they had UVERSE in my area and get back to having TV and internet on a single bill with what has usually been a decent ISP for me

the best ISP I ever had was sprint ION......I would kill to have that stability again......like a ROCK.....but alas ION was canceled and I even got a check from them and I still have my sprint ION modem/router.......but it is proprietary so it is useless......just like my direct TV DSL modem.......and direct TV dsl also went under or was canceled.... did not get a check from them, but I did just keep the modem

my experience with clear is like they are trying to run an ISP on a network that is the quality of a network from back in the days of bag phones and brick phones......can you hear me now.....only it is more like "can you browse me now".....the answer with clear is often NO!

here is the best part of dealing with TABC.....ask them to clarify one of their stupid policies about signage or some other thing that is completely and totally ambiguous......their answer will be to tell you that if they clarify that policy right then and there......it would basically be making case law right then.....and they will tell you it is better to wait until you are actually being faced with that issue.....and then if you go to court you can try and claim it was not clear how to follow the policy and maybe you will get it dismissed.....I know someone that works for glaizers and he was at a meeting with the TABC guy that heads up about half the state.....and the TABC guy gave him that answer on at least three different issues.....of course the big distribution owns the TABC anyway so those issues just don't come up for them

here is a specific issue someone I know almost got screwed with by TABC for about 70K......they were opening a winery...well in Texas you basically have to build out your facility and then "ask" the dickheads at TABC to approve it and issue a permit after you have made your total investment

there is a law in Texas that prevents retailers from owning a part of a producer and or a distributor or a producer owning a part of a wholesaler ect......there are three tiers.....producer, wholesale, and retail......basically there can be no cross ownership

well these people got their facility built out......then TABC told them they would not give them a permit.....why you ask.....well because the strip center they were RENTING a space in was owned by a guy that also owned a Cstore (retailer) and TABC considered that cross ownership.......the owner of the strip center had ZERO ownership in the winery.....but because he owned the strip center and he also owned a Cstore (in a different area not even in the same strip center) the TABC saw that as an issue.......it took those people months of extra time and legal fees while TABC drug their assed deciding if that was actually cross ownership or not......they finally decided it was not and issued the permit several months and thousands and thousands of additional wasted dollars later

just flat ass idiots.....the last time I almost had the cuffs on was because of dealing with TABC.....it was a long story, but a college kid friend was being railroaded after attempting to do everything proper to have a party and charge for the beer (you can do this legally through a caterer).....the TABC ran a "sting" and was there 15 minuted before the party started....BECAUSE my friend had called them twice to try and find the proper method...the guy laughed at my friend later and said all you needed to do was go through a caterer.....my friend said I called you two times and ask that.......while the TABC guy was counting the money my friend was caught charging I started calling out random numbers......he blew up and threatened to have me arrested while the city cop put his hand on his gun......I laughed at him and stepped back one foot after he told me to "back up"....later when he was leaving I called him a fatass and told him to get a real job and not to look like such a slob if he was going to work for my tax dollars.....he knew he could do nothing about that......of course I had neighbors across the street from me that had been bootlegging 40oz budweisers for a 2 years by then (and literally hundreds of calls to the cops by me and neighbors).....oh yea and they were running a crack house, a party night food service, a flop house for whores.....and an illegal day care.....3 or 4 months later I looked out the window one day to see the swat team swarming that house and grandma house dress and 4 others on the porch in cuffs

my friend that was arrested for the party made the front page of the local paper as well.....in that article they talked about how it took them 12 months to close down an illegal speakeasy in a building with a HUGE sign painted on the outside and another that was passing out fliers every weekend

the bootlegging my neighbors were doing was while the city I live in was dry at the time as well

so yea TABC can't catch two years worth of dealing or bootlegging.....a year so of illegal clubs......but the damn sure had two undercover officers, a third officer (the fatass) and 2 city cops at my friends college kid party 15 minuted before it started......because he had tried to call them 2 times to see what he needed to do to be legal

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/082408/loc_322310803.shtml

there is a link to the story.....best part is.....the party was still able to go on because my friend had all the band and noise permits.....we just needed to go buy more beer because TABC made them poor out 5 kegs on the ground and took the kegs, taps, and trash cans

they almost arrested a girl that was a high school friend of my friend.....that had never drank in her life.....because she was sitting at the table talking to my friend when he was taking money.....she never touched the money......they had to have a 10 minute powwow over that decision

well done TABC!

one day when I have the ability I will make sure TABc is sunsetted and 100% of those that work for them are FIRED and told to GTFO

I have clear in a different city than Houston and it totally and completely sucks

it is SLOW......like less than 1mb download slow......it was pretty much that way from day one......my bandwidth IS being throttled now they have admitted that to me now......I use the web pretty heavy, but not tons and tone of streaming

I believe they use packet shaping for throttling and I am 99% sure the setup they have for that is SCREWED....I am pretty sure they have screwed caching servers as well......as in you will go through week long periods where web pages look like java is turned off until you reload them 2 or 3 times

here is the BAD part.......I have had probably THOUSANDS of disconnects in a 2 year period......just out of the blue the modem will start cycling......sometimes the modem lights stay solid......but I can't ping anything unless I unplug their modem and restart it

just last month I went through about the entire month where I had disconnects at least 20 times a day all day and all night......the bandwidth is slow even at 3am

their tech support is TERRIBLE.....they are nice....but they are in India or somewhere like that and they are literally script readers......lets be honest if the lights on your modem are scrolling and you are not connecting.....it really does not matter if you are on windows or a mac or a PC or a laptop

clear reminds me of when I did tech support for @Home back when cable internet was new.....and people would have to call in 10 or 12 times a day to get their modem "repushed" which meant we were sending a fresh config file to their modem and telling our DHCP servers to give them anew lease on an IP

I have had to call clear for this probably 100 times + since I have had them

clear used to not have tech support from 9pm until sometime in the morning..... got so mad one time I kept calling and calling at like 1am and finally the phone tree was a different sequence of questions and suddenly tech support was on the line at 1:15am.....I don't know if they changed it up or if they got sick of me

in march I threatened to cancel for about the 12th time and got a full months credit on my next bill and I was suppose to get a reduced rate.....well I got the credit but not the reduced rate.....and I did get the better downloads promised......for about 3 days and then it was back to being throttled and then the periods of 20 disconnects a day started up.....then I was told because I was being monitored they would not give me another credit

clearwire (before 4g) is being sued in a class action now for poor service and wanting 40 to take the modem and and cancel......I believe clear is or is about to be in the same situation

I got tired of their BS and started making them send me new modems a couple of times and I flat told them I was doing it to waste their time and money....the second time they did actually send me a new model modem and it helped for about a month

I was told recently they were upgrading all the towers in Texas......that was when the massive outages were happening again......those outages have slowed to about one or two a day now, but the university in town has also let out for the semester......which makes me think their network is less congested now....so I don't trust they have upgraded anything

I would get some more reviews of clear before getting it....and keep in mind you can cancel in like 3 days without the modem return fee

clear is worse than all the high speed internet services I have ever had combined........probably 20X the number of outages of all those 15+ years combined. the worst speeds by far, and the worst support and service

and two of those ISPs went out of business haha

clear SUCKS.....I can't stress that enough......flat horrible.....and honestly I think I am being actually a bit moderate on the number of outages and the poor speeds

if you like waiting to even listen to the beginnings of a youtube video......if you like any type of TV show being interrupted while you download it and having to start the SLOW download over again.....if you like crappy service and support.....clear is for you....if not forget clear it SUCKS!

the first time I had ever heard of noodling was in about 89 or 90 when I was living in Austin and Austin Access TV had a show called "White Racial Noodling"

it was some guys in Oklahoma that noodled fish and then had a fish fry and talked about White Racial Issues

it was not actually nearly as racial or as radical as the title sounds and most of the show was just noodling.....it was funny to watch none the less

not as funny as Dean Langston and singles hotline......TURKEY BASTER!!!!!

I hate to imply that a person (or persons) who would have a big shootout may also steal cars, but it is a possibility.

careful careful.....liable laws

Ha Ha Ha, I laugh in the face of your newly opened rail line. Not only have Houstonians outwitted Dallas but we've outwitted the world by focusing most of our transportation dollars on roads. What fools you and the rest of the world are for investing soooooo much money on rail when buses are so much cheaper. As gas prices continue to rise as I have predicted for some time now, you will learn to regret your expansive rail systems as more people riding trains will cut into oil company profits, thus hurting Texas' economy. The citizens of Dallas must not love the great state of Texas.

I am jealous and of course joking. Congratulations Dallas.

it is all fine and good of that is where Dallas wants to put money, but lets be honest.....their ridership per mile is already very low and anyone that thinks traffic in Houston is any worse than in dallas is fooling themselves

also in many places and especially dallas the downtown area is not the area of job growth......you can't put Alliance Airport, the raceway, DFW airport, or many other things that are driving growth in downtown dallas.......just like you can't put the port of Houston right downtown......so spending billions on rail lines designed to carry people all downtown or centered on downtown is not exactly my idea of genius

Houston has much better ridership per mile, that single line hits just about as much or more major things than all of the dallas lines combined......2 universities, major med center, major sports venue, zoo, museum district, and downtown

sadly I fear Houston is going to go down the same path as dallas in the future though and start running lines to "where the people are" when the reality is half of those people might drive opposite of traffic to get to work in the morning

one thing I think Houston may do correctly is "heavy rail".......these should come in from Katy or Sugarland ect and they should go at least 10 miles between stops and they should move at 70MPH+.......another issue I see with a lot of public transport is they try and turn a rail line into a bus route stopping every 2 miles for 3 to 5 minutes at a time......you spend more time stopped than actually getting to where you go and the reality is that a single line or even a few lines are not going to serve to catch tons of people making bunches of stops.....they will best serve people by stopping at large parking lots and them hauling A down the tracks and making time for long stretches before they stop to drop off and pick up at another centralized lot/bus drop off

New Oreans?

But now the Big Easy seems to be finding its place again among America's great cities. Jobs, up 3.5% since 2006, have been created by rebuilding, a resurgence of tourism and a growing immigrant population -- the region's Hispanic population grew by 35,000 over the past decade.

little bit different flavor of chocolate than mayor McFool was hoping for......hope that dolt likes Mole

BMW get away vehicles.

Exactly.

hahaha these two post remind me of when I moved in high school from going to RE Lee in Houston to RE Lee in San Antonio......both schools had a lot of different income levels going there, but Lee in Houston had many many more at the higher end and VERY higher end

one day I was sitting in health class listening to coach and in comes a girl (she was a student) that was one of the office assistants on her off period for that particular time of day and she has a note from the office to give to the coach

one of the guys in my class leans up and tells me "she drives a Mercedes to school" implying that she is "rich".......I am personally thinking "big deal it is a car" and also thinking of the people I knew at Lee in Houston that got 944s or a 500SL for their 16th bday or the ones that had a "hardship" and had been driving to school since they were 14

at the end of school that day I am walking out to the parking lot and I see that girl and she is going to her "Mercedes" and when she gets to it it turns out it is probably a 1965 4 door......don't get me wrong it I am not trying to be a car snob, but it was probably a $5,000 dollar car at the time and the lot was filled with regular cars and trucks that cost twice as much at least......it was not trashed or anything and I am sure it was a nice safe ride for a high school girl, but there was also a place in the front grill where some motor of some sort had been replaced and probably when they found out the part was $1,500 they had cut some of the grill out and put in a different part and the motor part of it was sticking out of the grill.....I actually thought to myself that her family was smart because they had probably passed that car along from parent to kid or maybe even from grand parent to grand kid and made that Mercedes last a LONG time for them

so yea a "BMW getaway car" is in no way, shape, or form indicative of someones financial status

or better yet growing up my mom spent some time in high school in Odessa......she had a friend that everyone thought might be "rich" because her dad drove a Cadillac......turns out they were far from it, that was their only car (which was not uncommon at all back then), but her dad worked in the oilfield checking pumps and production gauges ect. and back them Odessa and the surrounding areas were BFE (back when people worried about radiator water ect especially in boiling hot west Texas) so all the guys in his line of work bought the most reliable cars they could and at the time that was a Cadillac

Last week, some neighbors reported seeing surveyors on the property. I believe Moody National is behind on property tax payments to our dear city. The City has to lay off police and firemen, Brett Moody lives in a multi-million-dollar mansion.

PAY YOUR PROPERTY TAXES MOODY NATIONAL!

Individuals are generally not liable for taxes owed by corporations

While I was amused that you had nary a single statistic to support your claims (EVERY entertainment dollar can be considered wasteful spending), I had to laugh out loud at the above statement. It is the classic retort to any proposal that the writer disagrees with. "Do something unique!" As if the goal of commercial ventures was a prize of uniqueness. As if money spent by tourists on unique and different things is money well spent. It is not. The goal of commercial enterprises is to profit. The goal of government revenue schemes is to raise revenue. This proposal would do both. The construction bonanza alone makes it worth it.

At least you did not advocate for something family friendly.

Note that I agree with you on the type of clientele attracted to these money pits, from the downtrodden addicted gambler pawning his watch, to the hipsters impressing each other with how much money they can waste on niteclub "bottle service", to the hip hop wannabes who try to appear as if they are big spenders, but really only drink water and take up space with their "posse" (is that still a word?).

1. I am pretty sure Helen Keller knows that Atlantic city is a total and complete dump.....with a few casinos.....and anyone that has breathed air in the last 10 years knows that several if not all of those casinos have gone broke at least two times each.....especially the ones with Trump in the name

2. a doctor in the TMC just ask a person with serious brain damage to squeeze his fingers if Vegas was over built and going broke....the doctor now has a broken hand

3. Shreveport is still Shreveport......with some casinos

here is how the story starts out

"After two bankruptcies"

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/10/after_a_shaky_start_harrahs_ne.html

so I see a lot of numbers tossed around.....but what I really see is the usual casino tactics......a lot of un-kept promises about taxes they will pay......a lot of arm twisting to get things approved they said they would not ask for when they first came to town.....and at the end of the day their business is WAY down in Vegas and hotel occupancy is very low in New Orleans......and there at the end......the casino still wants to build more hotel rooms to suck the life out of all the rest

so great 10 years from now when the economy should be better Texas will just then have a bunch of crappy casinos all over the place to "save" our economy.....no thanks

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/01/harrahs_new_orleans_replaces_f.html

cutting back on FULL TIME staff.....more McCasino jobs for everyone!

and again you can see....they have mandates placed on them.....they fail to meet them.....they are lowered.....and they still fail to meet them.....just a crappy industry all around

http://www.onlinepoker.net/poker-news/casino-news/mississippi-casino-revenue-november-1796m/8889

Mississippi revenues declining

Atlantic City non-Trump in bankruptcy

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/article_159a35a6-2360-11e0-94e2-001cc4c002e0.html

if this does not sum it up for Mississippi in general.....unbuilt!

http://msgaminglaw.com/mississippi-gaming-development-since-katrina-part-one-of-a-series/

Indiana/Vegas

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/mar/04/gaming-executive-files-bankruptcy-after-failed-str/

Billings

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_af4c1c54-c83f-11df-8802-001cc4c03286.html

Indiana again....big promises.....bankruptcy

http://www.ibj.com/casino-operator-centaur-aims-to-exit-bankruptcy-much-leaner/PARAMS/article/21775

one can't deny that Gary Indiana has benefited from casinos......people now know of it as a total pile of crap with a casino that went broke

http://www.indianabusinessnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=198&ArticleID=58936

The Station properties.....in BK since 2009 for several of them toss all of them into BK now

http://www.bankruptcyhome.com/bankruptcy-news/800483900/Nevada-casino-owner-files-for-Chapter-11

Maryland.....race track throws in the towel because casino is going to open

http://washingtonexaminer.com/maryland/2010/11/laurel-park-close-anne-arundel-casino-moves-forward

Sahara Vegas closing

http://www.lvrj.com/business/sahara-hotel-to-close-on-may-16-117800628.html

can't even keep one in a bowling alley

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/pat/news/92721159.html

who would not want to get in on the gold mine that is a southeast Kansas casino

http://www.kansasreporter.org/73483.aspx

casinos are just a saturated, crappy, BS filled business that have gone from being something unique to catering to any loser with 20 dollars burning a hole in their pocket

I will have to pass on the attractiveness and unkept promises above for Texas

So, I can bring a bottle of Captain Morgan's to Burger King and mix a rum -n- Cokes for my date?

(hypothetically - I seldom have dates.)

this is actually a very good question.....I would imagine if you were to look at the laws the answer would be yes......I would also imagine that even if the restaurant allowed you to stay that the TABC specifically would find a way to have an issue with it

because you specifically mentioned hard liquor I am sure that is where they would start......but in reality there is nothing different that I know of between bringing a bottle into a BYOB "gentlemen's club" or other bar....or a restaurant.....or bringing a bottle of wine or beer into any one of the same

I would think

1. that type of restaurant would probably have an issue if they saw it and had management that cared

2. if TABC saw you they would automatically claim you were drunk in public (they have done worse) or they would just make something up

technically if the restaurant was OK with it I think you would be legal....except TABC does not really work with a defined since of legal and illegal......they work better with charge you right off the bat on the fly

I don't mind dogs on the patio if a restaurant post they are going to allow that and you know it......hell I don't mind it in the restaurant if it is posted and known (I probably won't be going there a lot)......but these people that treat their pets as their constant companions or like they are to be accepted by everyone else like they are children are idiots......and anyone that is faking their pet as a service animal should be beaten down like a tranny trying to use the womens room at a Baltimore McDonalds (not saying the tranny deserved the beating just that those service pet fakers deserve a similar fate)

Handy Andy.....that was it thanks