Comments for Houblog

Comment on I’m Sure it Was Unintentional (Not) by Rorschach

Rorschach — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:35:45 +0000

Ubu, even then, they’ve had $127,500 to draw interest off of for five months. They still made out like bandits even though they have to refund the money. And they were betting on the come that nobody would complain.

Comment on Parker: The Sky is Not Falling! by Houblog » Blog Archive » Quick, Rearrange the Deck Chairs!

Houblog » Blog Archive » Quick, Rearrange the Deck Chairs! — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:55:41 +0000

[...] From a few months ago, when I wrote, quoting Ms. Parker herself: The controller noted that financing through other [...]

Comment on A proposal that’s all wet? by Houblog » Blog Archive » Quick, Rearrange the Deck Chairs!

Houblog » Blog Archive » Quick, Rearrange the Deck Chairs! — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:48:45 +0000

[...] Houblog Random rants from a civil servant in Houston, TX « A proposal that’s all wet? [...]

Comment on A proposal that’s all wet? by Fresh Bilge » Face the Music

Fresh Bilge » Face the Music — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:42:38 +0000

[...] college. Maybe life as a Houston civil servant induces a taste for the surreal. In any case I found a September 30 article — the guy only posts occasionally — which implies mismanagement or worse in the office [...]

Comment on Job Opening: Horsemen Wanted, multiple positions available by Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:44:30 +0000

Tam?

Ah hell, let’s just give the War spot to Sarah Palin. So what if she doesn’t blog? With any luck, she’ll be CIC in 4 years.

Comment on Job Opening: Horsemen Wanted, multiple positions available by Rorschach

Rorschach — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:36:05 +0000

I’m thinking Malkin for plague and maybe Tam for war….

Comment on Zed’s a Texan! by DrHeinous

DrHeinous — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:38:00 +0000

Heh. Somehow I’m not actually suprised.

Comment on Not Quite (Many) Dead Yet by Rorschach

Rorschach — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:42:54 +0000

This is third hand but I am told of a coast guard member that is saying that they are pulling bodies out of the bay on a daily basis and is suprised that it is not being reported in the media. I am also being told that many people on the Bolivar peninsula were overtaken by events. That Thursday evening many people got home form work and started packing up to leave Friday morning, but TXDOT stopped the ferry early Friday morning and that within an hour or so of the ferry stopping, the road through High Island flooded from the storm surge in seargent leaving them no way off the peninsula. I too am questioning the official body count.

Comment on Not Quite (Many) Dead Yet by Steven Den Beste

Steven Den Beste — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:02:39 +0000

It really is amazing. I would have expected at least a few corpses to have been found floating in Galveston Bay.

Comment on Crystal Beach, Before and After by Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:08:46 +0000

Almost certainly.

Notice the first row of houses is completely gone. In Texas, you can’t have a house actually “on” the beach; if it’s in front of the vegetation line, the state condemns and demolishes it. The question is, where will the vegetation line reestablish itself? The first row won’t even get to rebuild, and the second may not. Of course, the question is, where are the owners? There were an estimated 500 people trapped by the surge coming up early; 100-130 were rescued before the storm, 100-130 were found after the storm. This means that half of the people are unaccounted for, if the estimation is accurate. We may never know the exact death toll, but thank god it’s not the thousands I feared.

Which is really peculiar… almost John-Ringo-speculates-about-SARS peculiar.

Comment on Crystal Beach, Before and After by Steven Den Beste

Steven Den Beste — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:52:23 +0000

My first reaction to that second picture was that it looks like the kind of utter devastation you expect from tornadoes. Except that they don’t lift the grass and carry it away, so this was even worse.

Odds are even the houses that are still standing will have to be torn down. I bet they’re structurally insecure due to erosion of their foundations.

Comment on Ike: NOAA Aerial Damage Survey (update) by Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:39:33 +0000

They can’t be aerial; I can’t spell that. (But they might be an X-Man character…is she even still on the team these days?)

Comment on Ike: NOAA Aerial Damage Survey (update) by Steven Den Beste

Steven Den Beste — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:28:33 +0000

They’re aerial, not satellite. The first pictures you see (largest area, lowest detail) are satellite, I think, but all the closer ones are from a jet overflight.

Comment on “Gilchrist is Gone” by Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:09:32 +0000

Amazingly, there are at least 130 survivors accounted for thus far from that area. This is out of an estimated 4-500 that remained behind, but since that’s an estimate (lots of those that remain tried to hide, so no accurate count), I don’t feel comfortable with saying “270 dead or missing” at this point. Some folks will turn up in shelters. Sadly, some will not turn up at all.

Having seen more pictures of the area, it’s not scraped as clean as some would say, nor the early pictures showed. It’s bad, but there are sections where more modern housing survived. Those homes have to be a minimum of 14 feet off the ground, but even so, they took a lot of damage. Nothing is unscathed.

Now if you want REALLY stupid, try this story. Begin with the sixth paragraph. Pot, kettle, black.

Comment on “Gilchrist is Gone” by Steven Den Beste

Steven Den Beste — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:25:11 +0000

If the Peninsula really got nailed as bad as you say, I sure as hell hope that every single person there evacuated. Because if they didn’t, they’re dead.

But I bet some people stayed behind, just like some people stayed in Galveston.