<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!-- generator="wordpress/2.3.3" -->
<rss version="0.92">
<channel>
	<title>On The Spot Blog</title>
	<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog</link>
	<description>A Houstonian's look at the world we know.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:17:42 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>Independence Day</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy 232nd Birthday America!&#160; As I write this, I am recently back from the &#34;Freedom over Texas&#34; display in Downtown Houston.&#160; While I&#39;ve never attended the actual events at Eleanor Tinsley Park, I can take in the fireworks from a nearby venue that&#39;s within walking distance of my apartment.
This was the first time in 5 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/54</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Archstone Memorial Heights: March 24th Update</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I happened to catch one of the maintenance staff members over the weekend, and was talking to him about the redevelopment.
According to him, it looks like the wrecking ball will hit the three buildings I identified previously around the first of May.
Don&#8217;t worry though, there&#8217;s plenty of other &#34;prep&#34; work going on in other parts [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/49</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Archstone Memorial Heights: And the Start is Eminent</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: This is the final of three parts outlining the beginning of the redevelopment of the Archstone Memorial Heights Apartment Complex, the first two parts can be found here and here. 
It all started simple enough, a rent increase.&#160; After living in the complex 2 1/2 years (and reportedly longer for others) Archstone increased [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/48</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Archstone Memorial Heights vs. The City of Houston</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#39;s Note: This is the second of three parts outlining the beginning of the redevelopment of the Archstone Memorial Heights Apartment Complex, the first part is posted here, and the final part will be posted in the near future. 
At the May 30, 2007 city council meeting, a request to abandon three fire hydrant easements [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/37</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Archstone Memorial Heights: The Trashy Problem?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#39;s Note:&#160; This is the first of three parts outlining the beginning of the redevelopment of the Archstone Memorial Heights Apartment Complex, the remaining two parts will be posted in the coming days, time permitting. 
As reported recently on Off the Kuff and SwampLot Archstone Memorial Heights is on the verge of a complete redevelopment [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/38</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>One more time&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ok, so it&#39;s time for me to try this again.&#160; We&#39;ll get this down pat sometime&#8230;
I&#39;ve got a couple of topics on the radar, more to come soon.
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/25</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Somebody Tell the Cops to Stop Watching &#8216;Inspector Gadget&#8217;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Isiah Carey at FOX 26&#160;tonight gives us the Insite on a report that the Houston Police Department is wanting to invest in handheld metal detectors and bulletproof partitions for patrol cars.
In my line of work (Information Technology), I frequently get requests from someone who wants technology to do a &#39;big-brother&#39; type control over an employees [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/24</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Why They Want us to See Red (Light Cameras)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Alexis Grant over at the Chronicle&#39;s new City Hall Blog (A nice blog by the way) reported last week that The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released a new report last week on the improvement of intersection safety with the installation of red light cameras.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an organization that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/23</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Texas Legislature to Make Cameras see RED? (Continued)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As we come to mid-month, more news from Austin on all of the action to stop or slow the spread of the disease known as red light cameras.

Two more bills have been filed, House Bill 1570, and Senate Bill 195.  House Bill 1570 is identical to the previously discussed Senate Bill 125, requiring that the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/22</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Jamming Houston Police</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This week, a man was arrested on the charge of interfering with police communications here in Houston.

As someone who spent seven years around the newspaper business, I spent time in the newsrooms of a couple of newspapers in Kansas.  The one thing that was always present in those newsrooms was a police scanner, usually calling [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/21</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Time&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When I envisioned this blog ten months ago, I thought it would be a good sounding board for me to vent issues and ideas.  Then I got sidetracked by other things in my life and everything stopped in my corner of the Blogosphere.

I decided recently it was time to return, and over the last couple [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/20</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Legislature to pull the plug on Tasers?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[More news coming out of the Austin. 

Legislator Coleman introduced House Bill 1304, which institutes a moratorium on Taser purchases and use during calendar year 2008.

With the current number of Taser related incidents that have happened around the state, it might sound like a good idea.  In fact, it, like the Houston Police Department&#8217;s chase policy will [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/19</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Could The Wrecker Races Soon Be Over?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve all seen them, along a freeway or on a street.  Four or five tow trucks lined up to try and get a piece of the business at a scene of an accident.  We&#8217;ve seen the drivers of those trucks snake their way down the emergency lane past the backed up traffic just to get [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/18</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Would Houston Slow Down for Cameras?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Phoenix suburb Scottsdale, Arizona recently conducted a 9 month test of a &#34;Photo Radar&#34; system on loop 101 (Phoenix&#39;s version of 610).&#160; The city has now passed a resolution to turn the cameras back on full time, considering the system a success.
In the ZDNet and Arizona Republic stories, it says that the&#160;cameras activate when speed [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/17</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>When is a funeral not a funeral?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Funny question to ask.

It&#8217;s when people like a religious group from Topeka, Kansas (I know who they are, and I&#8217;m not going to add to their fodder with their name being searchable on Google to this site) can protest military funerals as a way of speaking out against abortion.

I&#8217;m sorry, but the (Name Removed) family [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/16</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Texas Legislature to Make Cameras see RED? (Continued)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My RSS feed blinked across yet another bill being floated around Austin:

House Bill 1052: Relating to requiring warning signs before intersections at which a municipality uses a photographic traffic monitoring system to enforce compliance with a traffic-control signal

Add this bill to the six others that I mentioned in an earlier post. 

This one in particular requires [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/15</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>HPD Not As Shocking With Taser Training</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was reading the story about Pearland Police Officers receiving their Taser training when a important note about Houston&#8217;s Taser Training came to light:

Being shocked is not required in every department.

Houston Police Department officers do not get shocked during Taser training, but deputies with the Harris County Sheriff&#8217;s Department have the option during their training. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/14</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Texas Legislature to Make Cameras see RED?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I subscribe to an RSS feed from the Texas Legislature that gives a one-line title to each bill introduced in the current Legislative session.  Tonight, as I was scrolling through the day&#8217;s activity, a couple of titles caught my eye:

Senate Bill 369: Relating to an offense involving a motor vehicle with an altered or obscured [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/13</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Time to Wake UP!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, okay, so I&#8217;ve neglected the site for way too long.  I&#8217;m going to start writing here again and hopefully with a little more frequency than before.

Now, on with the random rants&#8230;
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/12</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The 2006 Energy Crisis - Short Term fixes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s note - this is the first of a multi-part series on the current energy crisis.  In coming weeks, I will take a look at the longer terms and what should be done.
The American Economy is in crisis. Gasoline prices have increased by $0.42 nationally in the past month (March 23, 2006 - April 23, 2006). [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.otsc.com/blog/archives/11</link>
			</item>
</channel>
</rss>
