Protestors in Houston being covered with a tent before being arrested.
At about 1:45, two groups of protesters - one numbering six and the other 12 - lay on the street, stopping traffic into a two-lane road that leads to the port entrance. Three trucks and four cars were halted before oncoming traffic was redirected to an alternate route.
HFD was called in to cut PVC pipes off of a group of protesters who used the devices to band their arms together. A large red tent was placed over the protesters to prevent sparks, said HPD spokesman John Cannon.
Protesters then came out of the tent individually, were handcuffed and detained by police. Ten protesters were charged with blocking a public roadway, and eight were arrested for using a criminal instrument to block a public roadway.
The demonstrators became increasingly angry during the arrests. Two lay down on the sidewalk, blocking the path of officers on horseback. Both were arrested for interfering with a public servant.
More here.
Undercover for safety? Or to obscure the media?
What are they trying to hide?
Fifty seconds. One fire. One field. This is pretty freaking scary.
(via shortformblog)
As some of you might know, I live in Austin, Texas. As some of you might also know, there is currently a horrific wildfire that is devastating Bastrop, about 25-30 miles southeast of Austin. There are also other sizable wildfires in Spicewood and Leander, and many other flare ups in and around the Austin and central Texas area.
The Bastrop fire has already completely destroyed over 714 homes, and over 45,000 acres of land. To put that in perspective, the amount of land burned is roughly the size of the state of Connecticut. The other fires around Austin and central Texas have also ripped through hundreds of acres of land and destroyed people’s homes as well.
So far no one has been killed in central Texas as a result of the fire, but around 5,000 people have been evacuated, and some people have literally lost everything. Even if you don’t live in Austin or central Texas, please consider donating to help the evacuees and the firefighters who are currently trying to get these fires under control.
If you live in Austin or central Texas, here are websites that list ways to donate food, clothing, or other supplies:
I know this blog is about art, but thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this.
(Source: cavetocanvas, via shorterexcerpts)
The Texas wildfire on the rampage. Via Alex Ogle.
Photo by Mike Stone (Reuters)
Extremely dry conditions are fueling roaring wildfires in Central Texas as high winds from Tropical Storm Lee are fanning the flames.
Updated info: Central Texas Wildfire Updates September 6, 2011 | KUT News
Midland, Texas- Residents are shocked after they find hundreds of dead fish floating in a Midland pond. A bizarre incident at the Wadely-Baron Park duck pond has Midlanders concerned and asking questions.
The sight today was disturbing, a strong smell had people gathering around the pond with jaws dropped when they realized where the smell was coming from.
The duck pond in midland provides a great environment for families to escape the city and enjoy some of nature’s treasures, but today residents found a sickening sight.
“There were people and children walking around, I didn’t know what to think about what I was seeing, I was mortified,” said Jeann Ette, concerned resident.
“We started seeing dead fish and I told my husband, oh my gosh what’s going on and he said that it looks like they’re not getting oxygen,” said Sandia Hampton, concerned resident.
Residents say the aerators, which provides the water with oxygen for the fish, has been off for days. And now, fish are dying by the hundreds, you can see it and smell it.
“There’s hundreds if not thousands of dead fish,” said Hampton.
If you want to get people emotionally charged, start out with insults. You gotta love it when an issue includes the comparison between education in Texas and Wisconsin based on collective bargaining policy and SAT/ACT scores.
Throw in some faulty data and let it run along with lots of help.
The facts below have to do with students in Wisconsin and Texas coming to school with different preparation. Student performance is not something solely based on teacher ability or the education system. Education is a undeniably an important issue. Statistics can be used, abused, and misunderstood to prove any number of points. Personally, I love a good heated discussion especially since there are so many people way more smarter than me (and I was educated in Wisconsin.)
Iowahawk has more stats and comments. You should read them. I’ll wait.
So how does brokeass, dumbass, redneck Texas stack up against progressive unionized Wisconsin?
2009 4th Grade Math
White students: Texas 254, Wisconsin 250 (national average 248)
Black students: Texas 231, Wisconsin 217 (national 222)
Hispanic students: Texas 233, Wisconsin 228 (national 227)2009 8th Grade Math
White students: Texas 301, Wisconsin 294 (national 294)
Black students: Texas 272, Wisconsin 254 (national 260)
Hispanic students: Texas 277, Wisconsin 268 (national 260)2009 4th Grade Reading
White students: Texas 232, Wisconsin 227 (national 229)
Black students: Texas 213, Wisconsin 192 (national 204)
Hispanic students: Texas 210, Wisconsin 202 (national 204)2009 8th Grade Reading
White students: Texas 273, Wisconsin 271 (national 271)
Black students: Texas 249, Wisconsin 238 (national 245)
Hispanic students: Texas 251, Wisconsin 250 (national 248)2009 4th Grade Science
White students: Texas 168, Wisconsin 164 (national 162)
Black students: Texas 139, Wisconsin 121 (national 127)
Hispanic students: Wisconsin 138, Texas 136 (national 130)2009 8th Grade Science
White students: Texas 167, Wisconsin 165 (national 161)
Black students: Texas 133, Wisconsin 120 (national 125)
Hispanic students: Texas 141, Wisconsin 134 (national 131)To recap: white students in Texas perform better than white students in Wisconsin, black students in Texas perform better than black students in Wisconsin, Hispanic students in Texas perform better than Hispanic students in Wisconsin. In 18 separate ethnicity-controlled comparisons, the only one where Wisconsin students performed better than their peers in Texas was 4th grade science for Hispanic students (statistically insignificant), and this was reversed by 8th grade. Further, Texas students exceeded the national average for their ethnic cohort in all 18 comparisons; Wisconsinites were below the national average in 8, above average in 8.
Perhaps the most striking thing in these numbers is the within-state gap between white and minority students. Not only did white Texas students outperform white Wisconsin students, the gap between white students and minority students in Texas was much less than the gap between white and minority students in Wisconsin. In other words, students are better off in Texas schools than in Wisconsin schools -especially minority students.
Wisconsin city and town names can be a challenge to pronounce even for those living in the state. But, for Texans? Forget it. Video by Mike De Sisti
