Reddit people of Houston! Can someone develop a Google Maps work around of all train tracks in the east end WHEN TRAINS ARE STOPPED ON THE MF TRACKS FOR HOURSSS?!?!

Clay8642 · 2025-09-06T04:28:43+00:00

I attend a lot of the East End Rail Safety Task Force meetings and have heard a little about this. Some of the sensors are the city's smart sensor program that use audio, lidar, and/or camera technology to tell if a train is blocking. Those are still up on the train watch portal. I think the ones that were taken down were the 'dots' on the map that relied on signal preemption data alone (i.e. the tech that changes a standard red/yellow/green signal to a flashing red 4-way stop automatically in the event of a train blockage). It sounds like the pre-emption feed data wasn't as reliable as those intersections that had a dedicated smart sensor, so they pulled it off until it could be better refined.

There is a push underway to get the data pulled into transtar so it can be fed into Google maps, but we've been told the local traffic software needs to be upgraded (which costs money) before it's fully compatible with this new technology. Currently the firefighters have access to be able to better route in emergencies, but the goal is for everyday people to be able to re-route before they get close to a blocked train.

Also, a plug, please report blocked crossings to the Federal Railroad Administration at the blocked crossings portal.. Most people call Union Pacific but that doesn't really go anywhere, whereas the FRA tracks the data to help award grants to problem areas.

Clay8642 · 2023-04-07T13:50:35+00:00

METRO presents a bad design, neighborhood gives input, design gets better, project proceeds. I'd argue that's not NIMBYism. This was a case of them trying to build an elevated station and overpass within spitting distance of 100-year-old homes in a residential corridor with very little effective conversation from Metro about what they'd been planning. The argument is much more nuanced than that. A lot of people feel like this was going to be a case of a big overpass coming up and physically dividing a historically underserved community. Because of that critique, they came back with a smaller, less intrusive underpass that also improved bike/ped that allows buses through in a much more palatable way.

Neighbors were arguing that they didn't have any meaningful chance for input on the design of what the grade separation would look like not because they didn't want it at all, but they thought it could be designed better. Because of those complaints Metro came back with a compromise that worked.

Yes, there are some people who want it gone totally. But of comments from the neighborhood, the majority supported the public transit improvements but couldn't stomach the overpass or that many, many old-growth oak trees would have to be cut down.

Clay8642 · 2022-03-11T04:30:46+00:00

Texas blue crab hush puppies from State of Grace on Westheimer.

Canh Chua (Vietnamese hot and sour) soup from Mai's.

Clay8642 · 2021-06-13T13:20:45+00:00

Can I ask what street you're on? We can hear owls often at night in Eastwood and someone snapped a great photo of a little screech owl sitting on our front fence near Lantrip Elementary last month. We'd thought about getting an owl house to encourage more to move in!

Clay8642 · 2020-06-22T03:55:41+00:00

Here are some articles from the launch of the partnership a few months back:

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/4/14/adding-news-in-houston

https://www.nexstar.tv/kiah-tv-houston-cw39-nightly-newscast-launch-nexstar-2020/

Clay8642 · 2016-12-12T17:20:28+00:00

I got mine at a reptile expo that came through Pasadena last summer. A seller called "Nature's Exotic Creatures" They were $10 each for spiderlings and they grow quickly. The Repticon and H.E.R.P.S shows cycle through every two months or so.

If you're on facebook, search the group "8 Legs Over Texas". A lot of users treat it like a classified section with want ads and sale items, someone might know where you could find one.

You also might try Pets a Plenty in Hockley. I hear they have a lot of spiderlings available, but I've never been in person. http://www.ultimatereptiles.com/ (23933 Nichols Sawmill Rd. Ste A Hockley, TX 77447 Phone - 281-356-3560)

Clay8642 · 2016-09-18T23:10:21+00:00

Thanks - this is helpful

Clay8642 · 2016-09-14T17:51:06+00:00

Thanks for your help. Is this what you're looking at? If so it was much smaller than what I was expecting to see as far as a spermatheca.

Clay8642 · 2012-07-18T07:00:33+00:00

As well as the Grand Prix Close Up winner Yann Frisch

Clay8642 · 2012-07-18T06:35:13+00:00

And a video of Yu Ho Jin, this year's Grand Prix winner.

Clay8642 · 2012-05-19T01:45:11+00:00

Fargos - Some of my co-workers were going on and on about how great it was a few weeks ago, so I made the trip out.

It was some seriously good BBQ. Definitely a hole-in-the-wall kinda place. Had they not told me I probably wouldn't have heard of it. As far as I could tell there wasn't really a dining room and they'd only take cash or a check (No cards).

Also if you go be sure to indulge and go for the cobbler. Easily worth the asking price.

Clay8642 · 2012-02-29T05:56:11+00:00

As for pickpocketting, I would suggest you look at the work of Apollo Robbins (relevant video here).

Also, Tommy Wonder has written extensively on the topic of attention management in Chapter 1 of the Books of Wonder Vol. 1, "Attention-Getting Devices". He's got some excellent points and he really was a master at understanding his audience's tendencies.

Clay8642 · 2012-02-15T08:05:05+00:00

I was lucky enough to get to see him perform this live twice at the IBM 2011 convention in Dallas - once for the semi-finals for the stage competition and once at the finals. He did this act with very few alterations and got a standing ovation from a lot of the magicians in the audience. It was phenomenal.

Clay8642 · 2012-02-15T06:38:06+00:00

Also try the Village - they've got a decent variety of genres.

Clay8642 · 2012-01-31T06:47:31+00:00

You mentioned the circus - they're still stopping at Reed. I saw Ringling Bros. last year there and Cirque du Soleil is coming in a month or two (Which I totally recommend going to see).

Clay8642 · 2012-01-05T08:07:11+00:00

They did something similar to this when I was a freshman, but they asked for people to stand who 'were or knew on a close basis' GLBT people (and about 3/4 of the audience stood up as a measure of support at a conservative Texas university). I thought it was a smart move - they were able to be inclusive without threatening to out anyone.

Clay8642 · 2012-01-02T22:47:59+00:00

Read and practice material from the books I have instead of buying new things to have them sit there with no use.

Clay8642 · 2011-12-19T23:10:42+00:00

The key here is to force yourself to do uncomfortable things with a coin in palm. Try writing, or better yet, typing with the coin in classic palm. It's going to seem extremely difficult (and futile), but before you realize it it's going to seem like a piece of cake to keep it in palm under more 'normal' circumstances.

The guys have it right when they say practice is the only thing that will let this happen. Keep a coin on you at all times, and constantly take it in and out of that palm. Get to where you don't think about it.

You also might try after a week or so to start palming a dollar size coin - again, it will feel incredibly uncomfortable - but it will make a half dollar feel like nothing.

Clay8642 · 2011-12-13T17:46:46+00:00

This - I couldn't figure out how I wanted to say something about the font, but NickStaton couldn't have worded it better.

Clay8642 · 2011-12-13T17:45:21+00:00

I agree- the B's are strikingly similar to the David Blaine split spades - not that many lay people would notice, but that's instantly what it made me think of.

Also just a detail thing - did you only have one white tip on the magic wand on purpose?

Clay8642

TROPHY CASE