Info, links, news and calendar items from the virtual streets of Houston, Texas.
From the Downtown Happenings email provided by Houston Downtown:
Don’t miss the Life & Family Tour at the George R. Brown Convention Center this weekend. The show, which will be there Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30, offers a cutting-edge consumer experience. The Life & Family Tour has exhibitions that will introduce attendees to the hottest new products and coolest services on the market.
From the Downtown Happenings email provided by Houston Downtown:
Every day people around the world, often women and children, are displaced by war and violence. Learn firsthand how these 33 million refugees struggle to meet their most basic needs when Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières creates its outdoor interactive educational exhibit in Houston’s center. A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City will be set up on Fish Plaza in front of the Wortham Theater Center starting Thursday, October 4 through Sunday, October 7. In addition, KHOU-Channel 11 anchor Greg Hurst will lead an insightful discussion in the Grand Foyer of Wortham Center on Thursday, October 4 at 7 p.m.Led by experienced aid workers, visitors to the 8,000-square-foot exhibit will be asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia and Sudan.
The exhibit, which is free and open to the public from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center and a cholera treatment center.
Guides will share their personal experiences while explaining the challenges of building shelter, finding food and clean water and handling waste disposal - the basic elements of survival for those who have lost everything.
“Tens of millions of people throughout the world today are uprooted from their homes, on the run, fleeing violence, living under the most grueling conditions,” said Nicolas de Torrenté, executive director of Doctors Without Borders-USA. “By presenting some of the daily challenges faced by displaced people - how they get clean water, enough food, adequate shelter, and basic medical care, often in a climate of fear and uncertainty about their future, we hope the exhibit will raise public awareness and action.”
I just got this from the Houston Public Library:
ScreamWorld Offers Free Entry To Houston Public Library Power Card Holders
–Opening weekend offer takes the fear out of library card registration drive–
HOUSTON (September 18, 2007) … ScreamWorld Halloween Scream Park and the Houston Public Library (HPL) have partnered for the “Don’t Be Afraid of the Library” program which provides free admission to HPL Power Card holders opening weekend, Friday through Sunday, September 21st through 23rd at ScreamWorld Halloween Scream Park. Customers who present their HPL Power Card at ScreamWorld receive one free entry (good Sept. 21, 22, and 23 only) to ScreamWorld valued at $22. ScreamWorld is located at 2225 N. Sam Houston Parkway (Beltway 8), between Ella and T.C. Jester, 1.5 miles west of I-45.The promotion is part of HPL’s Library Card Sign-Up Month, a campaign held by libraries across the country each September to encourage library card sign-up for children and teens just after the new school year begins. HPL expects to sign up an estimated 15,000 new cardholders in September as part of the month-long campaign.
To assist in ongoing HPL Power Card sign-up efforts, ScreamWorld will continue to distribute library card applications to its patrons through the Halloween season. To learn more about becoming a Power Card holder and FREE HPL services, visit us online at www.houstonlibrary.org or call 832.393.1313.
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By The Bayou has a great post on the perils of driving in Houston, with a look at the deterioration of drivers, manners and safety in general. Very good rant.