07.29.07
Posted in General at 8:52 pm by Paloma Cruz
Mike McGuff reminds us that Houston Museum District Day on Saturday, August 18:
Get ready to enjoy a free day in the Houston Museum District on Saturday, August 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Board a free bus shuttle and spend the entire day exploring favorite museums and discovering new destinations. Museum District Day will feature fascinating exhibitions, hands-on activities, demonstrations and performances throughout the day. Fourteen museums will waive their general admission fee to offer the community the opportunity to enjoy the District’sdiverse displays of art, science, nature and history. For more details aboutMuseum District Day please visit www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org.
Participating museums include:Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, Children’s Museum of Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, The Health Museum, Holocaust Museum, Houston Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston Center for Photography, Houston Museum of Natural Science, The John C. Freeman Weather Museum, Lawndale Art Center, The Menil Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Rothko Chapel
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Posted in News at 8:48 pm by Paloma Cruz
Don’t forget, the tax-free shopping days are August 17 thru 19, 2007.
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07.25.07
Posted in News at 2:24 pm by Paloma Cruz
In case you missed it, Dallas had a gas plant explosion earlier today. From the Houston Chronicle:
A series of large explosions at a liquefied natural gas plant sent a shower of flaming debris on nearby freeways and buildings near downtown today.
A half-mile area surrounding the blasts was being evacuated. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
[snip]
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Posted in News at 10:43 am by Paloma Cruz
It is according to a recent Houston Chronicle story. Apparently, a report released bvy the Trust for Public Land shows Houston to be #3 in the country for park acres per thousand residents.
Of course, since I never visit a park, that’s just a pretty number to me. 
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07.16.07
Posted in News at 11:19 pm by Paloma Cruz
From Fast Company, a list of blogs to watch and read for green news:
Think you’re seeing “green” everywhere, even advertising? You’re right. Greenvertising is on the rise, according to ClickZ.
If you feel like you’ve been seeing a lot more green-themed advertising lately, you’re not alone. Over the past quarter, green advertising — greenvertising — buys have seen a surge both online and off-. What’s green? What’s driving the demand? What are the considerations? Where online should green campaigns be run? There’s a lot going on out there.
They give a list of niche green sites that sell advertising:
The trend includes computer companies, with Dell announcing an initiative to make themselves the “greenest tech company on the planet.” This initiative will affect Dell suppliers as well as benefiting the consumers.
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07.15.07
Posted in General at 4:41 pm by Paloma Cruz
Flex Your Power has some great no cost heating and cooling tips that can help you reduce your energy bill for the rest of the year:
- Check the settings on the room air conditioner. Make sure the “fresh air” vent on the air conditioner is closed so you are not cooling outside air.
- Close drapes, blinds and shades to keep sun’s rays out of the home during the warmer months.
- Close drapes, blinds and shades to help retain heat at night or during unoccupied periods.
- In the winter, reverse your ceiling fan motor so that the blades push air up toward the ceiling, where hot air normally rises. The fan will drive the warm air back down around the edges of the room, which can result in more even heating. Better heat circulation will help combat the problem of sweating windows that some homes experience in the wintertime because of condensation on the glass.
- Set the temperature lower in the winter when your home is unoccupied. Use a programmable thermostat to automatically lower and raise the temperature according to your settings.
- Set the thermostat as low as comfortably possible in the winter. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall heating bill will be.
(Found via Lifehacker.)
These tips are particularly important as I read that only 12% of US homes are energy efficient. From Green Wombat:
Home may be where the hearth is but it’s also where 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are generated in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So depending on your perspective, it’s either heartening or appalling that just 12 percent of new single-family homes built in the United States in 2006 qualified for the EPA’s Energy Star high efficiency designation.
Wow. I don’t own a home, but it’s something to keep in mind as I consider buying one next year.
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Posted in News at 1:44 pm by Paloma Cruz
How does the city of Houston think to alleviate a $150 million annual electricity bill? According to the Houston Chronicle, through wind:
Hoping to stabilize a $150 million annual electricity bill, Houston officials have negotiated a contract to ensure that a third of the city’s power is generated by wind.
If approved, the contract would make Houston a leader among local governments across the country using renewable energy.
The mandate for wind as part of the annual 1.3 billion kilowatt hours needed to power city buildings, street lights and water plants comes from Mayor Bill White, who has made energy conservation a theme of his tenure.
[snip]
Very cool. It’s nice to read that Houston is doing good, proactive things to help the environment and be fiscally-responsible.
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Posted in News at 1:41 pm by Paloma Cruz
Headlines and other news about the war in Iraq
- Iraq making only halting progress, report says; House votes to begin withdrawal, reported by AP but picked up off ABC 13
- Bush Responds To Intel Report On Al-Qaida; Report Delivered To White House Today, reported by Click2Houston.com — “The assessment from U.S. counter-terrorism analysts said al-Qaida’s
operating capabilities are now at a level that hasn’t been seen since
the months before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. It said the
terror group has used its safe-haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border
to build up its strength.”
- House Votes To Pull U.S. Troops By April; Measure Passes By 223-201 Vote In Democratic-Controlled Chamber, reported by Click2Houston.com — “The legislation would require the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops to
begin within 120 days, and to be completed by April 1, 2008. The
measure envisions a limited residual force to train Iraqis, protect
U.S. assets and fight al-Qaida and other terrorists.”
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Posted in News at 1:40 pm by Paloma Cruz
Congratulations to M.D. Anderson for regaining its “No. 1 ranking for cancer treatment in the nation, according to an annual survey released today by U.S. News & World Report,” read in the Houston Chronicle.
“For the past two years, M.D. Anderson ranked second behind Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York in the magazine’s America’s
Best Hospitals issue.”
Well, no matter what the magazine published, Houstonians know which one was always the best.
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Posted in News at 1:37 pm by Paloma Cruz
There’s a cool story in the Houston Chronicle about a planner who’s approaching Houston design with an urban perspective.
Duany and other New Urbanist planners design compact, walkable places where homes are close to shops and offices and where public gathering spaces such as parks and plazas are just as important as houses.
This approach is a novelty in Houston, where most developments still reflect a suburban, automobile-focused model.
I know that the Allen’s House project is something like this. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
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