Ned Hibberd's Blog

I'm curious what viewers think about our relatively new "Live Streaming Video" capabilities.

We have these videocamera/phones that can send back moving pictures.  You'll see this utilized most often in our traffic and storm coverage.

Here's a picture Sally MacDonald took, showing one of the phones taped to the driver's window of a news unit (and, by the way, I don't think this mounting procedure is recommended in the manual).

Just like cell phones have spotty coverage, the quality of the Live Stream picture sometimes pixelates if the connection isn't good.

So what say you?  Do you like the immediacy of the footage, even if it's not top quality?  Or do you think the sometimes-blocky video doesn't really add anything?

Ned

Yesterday I covered Sugar Land's first home-invasion crime of 2008.

Two masked men kicked in a back door, confronted the homeowners in their bedroom, tied them up and beat them, before making off with their valuables.

Sugar Land police gave me several terrific tips for preventing just this type of home invasion, and I want to pass those tips on to you.

First, officers recommend an alarm system that is activated, even when you're home.  Be sure to display the alarm company sign prominently in your front yard.

Second, make sure the exterior of your home is well-lit.  One especially effective tool is a porch light with a motion detector.  Notice I said a "porch" light.  This is important.  Crooks know about those dual spotlights that blink on when there's movement nearby.  And they know those are automatic.

But if it's a "porch" light that comes on, the bad guys won't be sure.  They may think someone noticed them and flipped on the light to look out the window.  They may believe that person could be 15 seconds from calling the cops.

Third, reinforce your door jambs to prevent kick-ins.  Replace the standard latch screws with extra-long wood screws, so they really bite deep into the door jamb.  Think of adding an extra deadbolt.

Fourth, if your bedroom door is hollow, consider replacing it with a solid lockable door with a reinforced jamb.  That can buy you some time, if someone breaks in while you're asleep.

None of these tips, alone, will stop the bad guys.  But all of them, together, may convince crooks that your house isn't worth the trouble.

Ned

Okay, so what did you think?  Was the new X-Files movie everything you wanted and more?

My wife, who is a huge, HUGE X-Files fan, loved it.  She describes the movie as having the X-Files feel without being about the supernatural... and I'd agree with that.

The movie grossed $10,200,000 during it's opening weekend... not too bad.

So, was the X-Files fan in your family running to the theater this past weekend, as my wife was?  Did the fan in your family get their X-Files fix?

Ned

This job has its hazards.  I've been attacked by drunks and suspects and the subjects of Fox 26 investigations.  But until this month, I'd never been attacked by bees.

We were shooting a follow up story about an elderly lady living next door to an abandoned house that was infested with bees.

Our initial story sparked interest from a bee-keeper, who offered to relocate the bees, for free.

As my photographer rolled video, I snuck in to snap these pictures for our website.

But the bees apparently felt that their removal was none of our beeswax!  They swarmed both me and my cameraman.  Neither of us was wearing protective gear.

I ran down the street for a full block, flailing my arms and removing my suit jacket as i fled.  I even did a "stop, drop and roll," but without success.  The bees were in my hair, on my suit, and the buzzing sounded like it was coming from everywhere!

I ended up with three bee stings.  My photographer was stung a couple times, as well.

I'm just grateful he was distracted by the bees at the very moment I was running for the hills, or else I'm betting my graceless bee-swatting ballet would have been posted on YouTube by now!

Ned

So you think your boss is generous (or not)?

Check out what one Houston-based company is offering all of its employees if they meet annual goals.  Here's the video:

Houston Company Rewards Workers with 'House Money' Bonus

Now, I'm going to ask you what I asked everyone at the beginning of that story: What's the best bonus your employer has ever offered YOU?

Do you think incentives like this achieve the desired effect of getting employees to work together to meet company benchmarks?

More importantly (for those of us NOT currently employed by ATP Oil & Gas) do the Volvos and mortgage payments give you the urge to FedEx your resume to ATP, pronto?

Ned

Now you see it...now you don't.

Sounds like a nifty magic trick, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, it was not so nifty when it happened to my voicemail.

Last weekend, they changed out the phone system here at Fox 26.

The benefits: being able to hear a pin drop?  I don't know; I can't tell the difference.

But I can tell you what DID get dropped: several voicemail messages stored on my phone.  Gone.  Vanished.  Poof!

A couple of them were pretty good story ideas and I had planned to follow up on them.  Only now they're all missing in action.

So if you left me a message and you haven't heard back, don't blame me!  Blame technology.

And then, when the finger-pointing is over, call me back and leave another message on the NEW voicemail system.  Hopefully, I'll be able to figure out how to retrieve it!

Ned

How would you like 30 gallons of gas, every year, absolutely free?

That's how much gas is lost, according to some estimates, by every single vehicle with a faulty gas cap.

175 pounds of pollution, annually, released into the environment, with absolutely no benefit to anyone...and that's per car!

Multiply that by the number of cars with missing or leaky gas caps (17 percent of vehicles, in one study) and you end up with a whole lot of gasoline, bought and paid for, vanishing into thin air.

About 147 million gallons of it, across the US, every year.  At $3.85 a gallon, that's more than half a billion dollars' worth of fuel, wasted.

So the next time you check your tire pressure, check your cap, too.  You might end up saving some green... while simultaneously saving the environment!

Ned

Sure, it's less expensive and more environmentally friendly.

But, for most of us... this fuel is no bargain.

It's E-85, a mixture of 85% Ethanol (an alcohol made from corn) and 15% gasoline.

It's made to run in Flex-Fuel vehicles, which, in turn, are manufactured to burn it.

The trouble is, E-85 is about 30-cents cheaper per gallon than regular unleaded.  And as gas prices skyrocket, people are tempted to "fill 'er up" with the E-85, which can deteriorate o-rings, gaskets and fuel lines, especially in older cars.

Next thing you know, you've got a fuel leak.  Say it happens in your garage at night.  Then your water heater (also housed in the garage) kicks on.  That spark could ignite an explosion and burn down your house.

Don't take my word for it.  Listen to expert Todd Hoffman, who explains it all in my story:

Expert: E-85 Fuel Bad for Incompatible Cars

With gas prices on the rise, experts are warning drivers about fuel that could be bad for your car. FOX 26's Ned Hibberd has this Only On FOX story.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/ContentDet
ail?contentId=6598029

Now, it's your turn.  Do you think most people are aware of the dangers of running E-85 through a non-Flex-Fuel vehicle?

Since regular unleaded contains some ethanol (about 10%) and that fact is usually noted on a sign at the pump, should the industry be more diligent in informing consumers that MORE ethanol content might not be good for their vehicles?

Or should consumers take it upon themselves to know what kind of fuel belongs in their tank?

Ned

Twentieth Reunions on college campuses are nothing unusual.

But the group that congregated around "Willy's statue" at the center of Rice University's campus was a little different.

This 20th reunion commemorated the most infamous prank in Rice's history: the 180-degree rotation of the one-ton statue in the dead of night, using only muscle power.

Here's university founder William Marsh Rice facing Fondren library for the first (and only) time in his 78 years of existence.

The 11 student pranksters pulled it off with a lot of engineering talent and a little luck, using a pair of wooden A-frames and three chain hoists.

I was on campus that day, and I remember watching an engineering crew turn the statue back around, with the help of a construction crane.

It took the professional crew three times as long, in the daytime, as it had taken the students to accomplish in the dark, without the crane.

Twenty years later, nine of the eleven pranksters returned to Willy's statue and so did I...

...to shoot a story on the anniversary.

If you miss the report on Monday night's Fox 26 News at Nine, you can do a search on our website to pull up the video.

Time has taken its toll on all of us...and here's proof.  In 1988, the conspirators were photographed at the statue and the results looked like this:

By 2008, the photo looked like this:

Notice NOT ONE of these 40-something-year old men, myself included, were game for climbing up into Willy's lap!

Ned

Ask any English major about O. Henry's famous short story, "The Gift of the Magi."

 In it, a husband and wife scheme to give each other meaningful Christmas presents.

The husband pawns his prized pocketwatch to purchase elegant combs for his wife's beautiful, long locks.

The wife, meantime, chops her hair so she can sell it to a wigmaker.  This, so she can buy her husband a gold chain for his pocketwatch.

So much for man and wife second-guessing each other.  At least their intentions were noble.

But I was recently reminded of a similar situation, minus the noble intentions, which I stumbled upon while reporting a story.

I found myself in a Houston body shop, interviewing a man for a news report.  There on the shop floor sat a wrecked Dodge Viper, its entire back end crushed like a Coke can.

"What happened HERE?" I asked the body-shop guy.

He smiled (smirked, maybe) and related this story:

A woman and her husband were rushing to get to an appointment.  She was driving her BMW, following him in his Viper.

As they barrelled down the streets of Houston, a welcoming green traffic light suddenly turned menacingly yellow.

Now, this wife KNEW her husband.  She knew him well.  And she was certain he would gun it to beat the light.  So she gunned it, too.

The husband, meantime, KNEW his wife.  And he knew she would slam on the brakes rather than risk running the light.  So he slammed on the brakes, too.

And her BMW rear-ended his Viper.

I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall in their home, that night.  Title this story, "The RIFT of the Magi!"

Both husband and wife guessed each other's reaction.  Both were right.  And both cars were ruined.

Truth, you see, IS stranger than fiction.

Not even O. Henry could have invented that story.  Even though he DID live in Houston for a time.  In the 1800's.  Well before Vipers, BMW's and traffic lights.

-Ned

They say a picture's worth a thousand words.  But I discovered this week that for some people, it's actually worth a million.

I was preparing a story in West University Place when a dozen or so students came to our Fox 26 live truck.

They said they were participating in a Scavenger Hunt organized by the "Young Life" ministry.  And they asked if they could take a picture with me.

They told me a photo of them posing with a celebrity was worth a lot of points in their Scavenger Hunt.  Not 100,000 points.  Not 500,000 points.  A MILLION points.

Let me put that in perspective for you.  If every point were a dollar, it might look like this:

I gently informed them that a photo of me, along with $3.99, would buy them a grande Latte at Starbucks.

But who was I to deny these eager youngsters a million points?  We all gathered in front of the Fox 26 logo on the back of the truck, and... FLASH!

They got their photo.  And, presumably, their points.

And I heard them exclaim, ere they rode out of sight...

Okay, so I made up that last part.

Ned

It sounds like a headline out of the dearly-departed Weekly World News: a Houston woman suing her ex-husband, claiming she never knew during their 7-year marriage that he...was a she.

Here's the story, in case you missed it:

Husband's Sex Secret Could Cost Him His Kids

ONLY ON FOX: Her divorce was granted three years ago, so why is a Houston woman now suing to have her marriage declared null and void? FOX 26's Ned Hibberd explains. http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?
contentId=6003532

Check it out...and then check back in here, and let me know what you think.

Who's lying?  Who's telling the truth?  Who's right and who's wrong?

And most importantly, what should the judge decide, with regard to the children?

Ned

I ran across a web video that gave me the "warm and fuzzies," and I wanted to share it with you.

For anyone caught in a dead-end or "meaningless" job...the short video, "The Simple Truths of Service," can be inspirational.

Here it is:

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

The video profiles a grocery store bagger with Down Syndrome who made one small change in his daily routine, with a view toward creating value for his customers.

And it worked.  Overwhelmingly.  According to the video, customers stood in long lines at the register where this particular teenager was bagging groceries, even though there were other lanes open with no lines.

What was this young man doing, that other baggers were not?

For that, you'll have to watch the video!

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

Then come on back to my blog and let me know what you think?  Are there ways you can bring this brand of "extra" service to your job?

Any suggestions for those of us "in front of the camera" as to how we might better satisfy you, the viewers-- our customers?

Ned

Here's one little way you can put your stamp on the Lone Star State, or at least its plates.  License plates, that is:

http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/services/vehicle_titl
es_and_registration/vote_plate.htm

Go and vote for your favorite Texas license plate design, and maybe your choice will win!

Final results will be released by TxDOT after the voting closes at noon on Feb 11, 2008.

Now that you've voted...spill!  What's your favorite and why?

Ned