The Streets of Sugar Land

For those few who haven't yet heard of it, Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps. Google had a specially-equipped vehicle drive down streets in hundreds of cities in the US and Europe, taking images every few feet. These images are available to anyone with an Internet connection.

I didn't realize it until a few days ago, but they pretty much covered all of Sugar Land, including the swankienda where I hang my hat.



There's our house. Now, I know that the streets are public property, and anyone can come along and snap a picture. It doesn't show anything that really invades my life. It does show that it was garbage day.

But still. I love the InterTubes and the rich oceans of information available at the click of a mouse, but there is a price, and that price is a degree of privacy. It will be very interesting to see where the next hundred years takes us.

Storm Damage

Tropical storm Eduoard passed through our area yesterday. There are a lot of people telling us that "it was only a tropical storm" and "you got off lucky". Well, I just want to remind people that even a tropical storm can leave devastation in its wake. Here's documentary evidence of the path of destruction left by Eduoard.

Paparrazi to ducklings

There's a little lake not too far away, and I was driving by it when I saw a duck herding her little ones alone. I had recently acquired a new compact digital camera that could take video, so I stopped by one evening, found the birds, and shot some video.



The papa duck served as bodyguard, hissing at me, sounding just like a ticked-off cat. I snagged the video and left them to their avian business.