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HouTex

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Everything posted by HouTex

  1. Yep. As bad as this apparent engineering/maintenance failure is, it's not the first and it won't be the last structural failure. Thankfully, they are rare. The Hyatt hotel walkway collapse in Kansas City killed over 100 people in 1981 and the Oakland/SF area double deck freeway collapse during the 1989 World Series earthquake killed over 40. Who had the bright idea to build a double deck freeway in the middle of earthquake central and then not design it well enough to withstand a major earthquake? Those are just two events that I recall in my lifetime. Probably several more if I think about it a while.
  2. That happens during just about every thunderstorm or other strong wind event in Chase Tower downtown Houston. Sometimes the window blinds are banging against the window frame so hard it’s hard to work.
  3. This. And even if they were talking to each other it didn’t seem to matter. I watch the numbers daily in the SE Texas area and you’d think we would have seen a spike from Memorial Day gatherings. Nada. For proof, check out SETRAC.org.
  4. I have two friends that are right handed but putt left handed. One just thinks he is a better putter left handed and the other does it because of the yips. The second guy does not have the yips when he putts left handed. It is a thing and you should try it. I wouldn’t carry two putters though unless you really don’t mind giving up one of your other clubs. Also, private clubs often waive the 14 club rule for some of their events so you may not have to give up a club sometimes if you really want to putt right handed on longer putts.
  5. Sincere question. Is Latino/hispanic a race or a country of origin thing? I had an uncle who was Cuban (pre-Castro) who was pure Spanish. He had the complexion of Sergio Garcia or Desi Arnez. I have several friends who are Mexican who look very white/Spanish. They could pass as Italian as well. Are they Latino/hispanic? And my contribution to the Latino part, I can make pretty mean tamale from scratch. So I have that going for me.
  6. But he was perfectly cast as longhair in The Cowboys.
  7. This. If you need chlorine you can just go to Walmart or Costco and buy as much Clorox or generic liquid beach as you need. The pool calculator app will tell how much you need to add depending on the concentration of the liquid chlorine and the size of your pool. Make sure to buy plain bleach with no scent or other additives.
  8. https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-the-battle-of-the-alamo-2136256 Hollywood embellishes everything. The truth is consistent with the history I was taught in 7th grade Texas History. It's still a kick ass history of rebels fighting and dying for a cause they believed in. They had the chance to haul ass and they chose to stay and fight knowing they likely would die.
  9. HouTex

    Getting old sucks

    I might have posted this before-maybe on the old site, but read Younger Next Year. If you do it right you can be active and healthy well into your 80’s. Eat healthy and work out a lot. Eating well is key. You can’t exercise the excess calories away.
  10. Well, in my last round I had 38 putts and shot an 86. And I'm usually a decent putter.
  11. But then you'll miss out on the opportunity to buy that $120 bottle of wine that you can get at Spec's for $40.
  12. The cheap way is to get some PVC pipe and make one or two fountains that screw into your pool return lines in the pool. The idea is to spray small streams of water at least 6 feet into the air. The evaporation process lowers the temperature of the water. In about 24 hours I could lower my water temp about 5 degrees. You have to run the pump 24/7. The TFP site has some DIYs on it.
  13. James Brady. He was in the Reagan Administration and was seriously injured in the attempted assassination. You may have heard of the Brady Bill named in his honor.
  14. This. I don’t have a pool any longer but I miss my old house and pool. It got to where I needed to add maybe a quart of acid every two weeks or so and that was pretty much it. The Polaris 280 kept my pool spotless. No need for a pool guy.
  15. Speaking only about estate taxes, some of the discussion here is nuts. The Bezos story makes for good theater but it's not the rule for most rich people--say people between $50-$200 million in net worth that have sold their businesses (and paid income tax on the sale) and have a pool of investments and assets when they die. They are worried about asset preservation and/or income generation for their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on. I know two leading will and estate attorneys in Houston each with more than 30 years at this and they say that you can do everything right with things like revocable trusts and the marital by-pass trust, etc., but the 40% estate tax is real. They will also say that depending on how soon the next generation dies after the previous generation dies a $50 million estate can turn into an $18 million estate very quickly. Usually, the assets are invested very conservatively (again, it's all about asset preservation and income generation, not bitcoin-type investments) and the 40% estate tax can hit the heirs before the estate can grow back from the previous 40% hit. And when it's divided among numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren it's not like everyone is sitting on a beach earning 20%. For the vast majority of folks affected by it, the estate tax is a horribly unfair tax.
  16. Uh, I'm just gonna go find a cash machine.
  17. Yep. That was my point. Just because we see new cases, i.e. positive Covid test results, it does not mean people are “getting Covid”. That’s why I pay particular attention to the ICU surveys which are updated daily. Per Setrac, SE Texas ICU Covid numbers are near the lowest they’ve been since early April 2020.
  18. HouTex

    Wine

    Wow. I would think they are ready to drink. Please post notes.
  19. This. It’s easy to figure that out. My house is wired cat 5e and it’s pretty awesome. All TVs are hard wired and the wifi (Orbi) works very well for everything else.
  20. Presumably. He was only in the hospital for a couple of days. The % of Covid patients in ICU is still a good indication of where we are. He was never in the ICU.
  21. Well, my 91 year old father was fully vaccinated in mid February and got Covid in late April from a caregiver (we think but can’t be sure). He had no symptoms though and was only tested because he went to the hospital for other issues. So he was one of the new cases that day. New case numbers are interesting, but I’m mainly concerned about hospitalisation and ICU stats. Both are near the early April 2020 numbers in SE Texas. I’m guessing it’s the same throughout Texas.
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