Author: /u/RealConfirmologist

Hempstead at Bingle was completely shut down this afternoon, looked like a really bad one. Nothing on the news, so I’m guessing no one died, but I’m curious if anyone knows details.

I counted 6 HPD patrol cars at the scene and more were blocking Hempstead at Clay, stopping eastbound traffic.

It occurred to me that I haven’t seen that many HPD patrol units in one place in quite a long time, if ever. Most of the on-duty units in the whole region must have been at that wreck.

A HFD pumper was just arriving as we detoured over to Sowden to head back west. Didn’t see any ambulances yet.

If I had to guess, I figure someone decided the red light didn’t apply to them and they ran into someone crossing on a fresh green.

I also thought maybe a pursuit had resulted in the crash, but if that was the case it would have been on the news by now.

I had to go back and double-check the application to be sure the “in closed” envelope wasn’t going to send my ballot to some scammers.

Who wrote the wording, and how many people were involved that could have and should have fixed it before it got printed and mailed to everyone?

Or is it no big deal to say “in closed” instead of “enclosed”? Am I being too pedantic? (I’ve been accused of that before.)

Photo link.

Being an older Houston-area guy, who grew up in Galveston, I was just doing some reminiscing while checking some Google Satellite imagery.

I worked at both of the places in the title, and when they were active, there were some substantial structures.

Google Maps still shows “Mary Moody Northen Amphitheater” but satellite view shows nothing remaining of the theater itself.

Demolition of both of these places had to be pretty significant tasks.

For instance, the stage and seating areas of the amphitheater were concrete. Must have taken a lot of jackhammering and bull dozing, etc. But before that, they had to remove the booth at the top where lighting and sound were controlled. On the roof of that building were follow-spot placements. The spotlights there actually used carbon rods and the light came from an intense electrical arc. I remember hearing the buzz and seeing the smoke.

I wonder if those old follow-spots have been saved, or if they ended up in pieces in a land fill.

If anyone here was involved in any way, I hope we’ll have some discussion.

If you were NOT involved in the demolition, how about sharing any memories you have of attending either tourist attraction? (Of course, you’ll be revealing that you’re not one of the younger redditors here…)

Edit: There are a lot of videos on YouTube that show some of the history. Here’s one.

If you have never watched the ISS fly over, you’ve been missing an awe-inspiring experience!

Get somewhere with a clear view of the sky, especially toward the southwest. At 6:55 PM, watch the horizon, facing southwest, and you’ll see a what looks like a very bright star appear, climbing rapidly. It’ll cross near the middle of the sky and disappear 5 minutes later, in the north-northeast sky.

Keep in mind that the astronauts on board are flying around planet earth at 17,130 MPH!

Another fun thing to do is to get someone on the phone that’s far away, and watch the ISS together. It brings a connection that’s hard to describe.

Want to know exactly where to look and see HOW it’ll look?

Go to this link and be sure to allow it to get your location – you can input your address too – and you’ll be able to see an animation of the ISS with the Google Street View surroundings, so you will know EXACTLY where to look, and when! Really great tool, quite helpful.

Set an alarm on your phone right now! The sky looks like it’ll be mostly clear.

There’ll be an almost-full moon as a bonus.

No hard freezes in the forecast over the next 10 days, thankfully.

Up here in the great northwest, I wasn’t too sure about how long it would be below freezing so I went over to the office and drained the sprinkler system and backflow preventer and left faucets dribbling. (We’re on a well so no water meter.)

Here at home, I brought in all the potted plants and covered a few things out in the yard, and wrapped up the hose bibs a little extra.

I imagine we’ll be above freezing soon after the sun rises, but I have no regrets about the time & effort I may have wasted.

If I’d been lazy, I imagine the pipes would probably be okay but the plants would not. In fact, I expect the passion vines and a few other things will take a good while to recover.

I know there are a lot of dogs in backyards in my ‘hood, and although some of them probably might have been a little less comfortable than usual, I don’t think this little freeze will have killed any of them.

My dogs are inside except when I’m outside with them, so they’re fine.

Edit/Update – Forgot to mention: we’ve had power throughout, even though there was some pretty strong wind and gusts yesterday. I think the power stayed on mainly because I got a portable generator after the freeze last year.

Did you take any precautions? Did the freeze damage anything of yours?