May 02

Red Light Cameras: The emotional and money trap

As long time readers of my blog know, I am not a fan of Red Light Cameras or Speed Cameras.  That’s why I applauded the citizens of Houston when they passed a referendum last November, that effectively banned their use.

Red Light CameraMuch as I predicted, the city’s vendor, ATS,  filed a lawsuit challenging the referendum and the legalities of terminating the contract.  The judge in the case has ordered the city not to take the cameras down until the case is settled in court.  The city has, however, effectively “shut the cameras off”.

Today marks six months since the election, and I wanted to share my opinion on where we stand.  First though, I want to convey a personal story about this:

In January, two young men were minding their business, driving the Beltway 8 feeder road in West Houston. As they approached an intersection, the traffic signal was green, and they proceeded  to enter. Without warning, a pickup truck ran the red signal and collided with their two-door car.

The young driver of the car did not survive the crash. The passenger suffered serious and life threatening injuries. He is still recovering and undergoing rehabilitation at Memorial-Herman, over four months since the accident. Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/red-light-cameras-the-emotional-and-money-trap/

May 01

Osama bin Laden Killed

It’s about time…

Osama bin LadenThis man has been a thorn in the United States’ side for way too long.  I doubt where he’s going he will find 72 virgins.

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/osama-bin-laden-killed/

Apr 29

Texas to reign in the TSA???

Earlier this week, 2003 Miss USA winner Susie Castillo reported an incident involving TSA agents at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.  She was “randomly” selected by screeners to go through one of the new body scanners, to which she promptly declined for alternate screening methods.

Millimeter Wave Body Scanner

Anyway, after “opting out,” I proceeded to follow a very nice older female TSA employee to the “pat down” area. It was an inconvenience, but I thought, “No biggie. I just went through this at LAX for the first time and it wasn’t too bad, so let’s just get it over with.”

This is where it goes from stupid to insane: Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/texas-to-reign-in-the-tsa/

Apr 24

Happy Easter

This song is, to me, the best contemporary song of Easter:

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’

Happy Easter everyone.

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/happy-easter/

Apr 16

Do you want to go faster? Legislature says “YES”

The Texas Legislature passed two bills over to the State Senate this week, relating to speed limits in the state. While I haven’t been closely watching the legislative session this year, its interesting to see what they’re working on.

Speed Limit Sign

The first of these bills got national attention, and is somewhat misunderstood is actually part of HB 1201 that cancels the unpopular Trans-Texas Corridor.

To put “Section 11” of the bill into perspective, any new highway section opened after June 1, 2011 and is designed to handle it, can have an 85 MPH speed limit.  Each section must operate at lower speed limits for at least the first year to allow for traffic flows to stabilize on the road before the higher limit can be applied.

For those of us that commute from Houston to San Antonio, Austin or Dallas, it may be a while before we’d see it, since I-10, I-45 and US 290 are all many years away from any reconstruction project that could allow the higher limits. Not even the “fast” 80 MPH sections of I-10 and I-20 in Western Texas will see those speeds anytime soon.

But, never fear, HB 1353 may bring relief on those routes.  Passed out of the House on April 15th, it now faces a similar Senate hurdle to HB 1201.

If signed into law, HB 1353 abolishes the reduced “Night” speed limit on all state highways as of September 1.  At the same time all those signs come down, the limit on all eligible highways will increase from 70 to 75 MPH, of course based on the outcome of an engineering survey to prove the roadway is safe at the higher speed.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/do-you-want-to-go-faster-legislature-says-yes/

Apr 14

TSA Does it again!

Less than a week after I first opined (and the TSA and family weighed in) on the TSA’s use of enhanced pat-down on a 6-year-old girl, new video has surfaced from Portland, Oregon, showing a similar incident with an 8-year-old boy.

Seattle’s KING-5 has the story (from YouTube, story not on KING-5 Website):

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/tsa-does-it-again/

Apr 13

TSA and family respond to incident

A few days ago I posted a video showing a six-year-old being patted down by a TSA screener in New Orleans. Now, like clockwork the TSA has responded (from the TSA Blog):

Some folks are asking if the proper procedures were followed. Yes. TSA has reviewed the incident and the security officer in the video followed the current standard operating procedures.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/tsa-and-family-respond-to-incident/

Apr 10

TSA: How far is too far?

This just makes me sick.

From Breitbart.tv:

The TSA Agent that did this, along with her supervisor, and anyone else in the security theatre known as Airport Screeners that was responsible for the decision to do this should be taken before a judge on the grounds of child molestation.

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/tsa-how-far-is-too-far/

Apr 09

What happens when a vendor sells an outdated product?

I have been a longtime user of Copernic’s Agent Professional – So long, that I found a receipt for it from 1999.  Agent Professional is described as a Meta-Search tool, sending a search query to multiple search engines, parsing the results, and presenting a filtered list back to the user.  The product has worked reliably for years, with only the occasional bugs.

Copernic Agent Pro Main Screen

Main Screen of Copernic Agent Pro - Why would anyone in 2011 be searching to buy a 10-year-old operating system?

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/what-happens-when-a-vendor-sells-an-outdated-product/

Apr 08

Internet Unplugged by Grandma

From Fox News:

Internet service in all of Armenia was cut off for several hours when a 75-year old Georgian woman inadvertently cut the main service line between the two countries.

The woman was scavenging for scrap metal when she discovered the primary fiber-optic cable which runs through the two countries. Service went down when she apparently hacked into it with a shovel severing the line, officials said.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://onthespotblog.com/internet-unplugged-by-grandma/

Bad Behavior has blocked 223 access attempts in the last 7 days.