stories from an ordinary life …
Houston is getting cameras at red lights. The places to beware are:
The first 10 camera locations/intersections are as follows:
- Richmond @ Dunvale
- Bellaire @ Wilcrest
- Harwin @ Hillcroft
- Milam @ Elgin
- Brazos @ Elgin
- JFK @ Greens
- Bay Area Boulevard @ El Camino Real
- Travis @ Webster
- Pease @ LaBranch
- Hillcroft @ Richmond
This list was provided by the KTRK Consumer blog. (Found via Mike McGruff.)
Nationally, housing sales are slowing down (or coming to a halt). Houston, as usual, is another story.
Houston’s housing market still strong
— reported by the Houston ChronicleHouston’s housing market churned out another record month, while the national market continued to cool.
The median price of a single-family home hit an all-time high of $155,890 in July, an increase of 7.5 percent over a year ago, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. The amount eclipsed the June median price of $155,500 after it was revised downward from $156,000.
[snip]
This doesn’t tell me why apartments are at such a premium. It does let me know that a house may still be a good investment… I think.
As privacy disappears more every day, there are more stories about people being dismissed from their jobs because of something written or posted online. Here’s one more. This story does not make clear if the photos were posted online with the teacher’s permission. It does, however, make clear that she is no longer a teacher because of them.
Austin teacher quits her job over nude Web photos
She is to receive $14,850 under the settlement terms
— reported by the Houston chronicle[snip]
The photos, which were posted on Flickr.com by her domestic partner, depict Hoover in the shower, lifting weights, getting dressed, in bed and doing other routine activities. Hoover said the district was focusing on eight pictures among hundreds that were posted on the Web site.
In a statement released Thursday, the district said it “believes strongly in an individual’s right of free expression, but as we all know, such rights are not absolute.
“The district and Ms. Hoover disagreed as to the propriety of explicit nude photographs of her and others in sexually suggestive poses being placed on the Internet, and its impact on students and families, and thus, on Ms. Hoover’s ability to be an appropriate role model and effective classroom teacher in AISD.”
The school board voted in June to begin termination proceedings against Hoover. She was scheduled to argue her case in a hearing next week.
[snip]
What’s your take on this? Should she have been allowed to continue as a teacher?