Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Flu Not a Worry in Far North Dallas

From the Centers for Disease Control:
The most recent FluView report for the 2014-2015 flu season shows that flu season is beginning in the United States. There are reports of flu illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths, and activity is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

CDC recommends an annual flu vaccine for everyone 6 months and older. There are documented benefits from flu vaccination, including reductions in illnesses, related doctors' visits and missed work or school. Vaccination also prevents flu-related hospitalizations and deaths. While some of the viruses spreading this season are different from what is in the vaccine, vaccination can still provide protection and might reduce severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death.

If you have not been vaccinated yet this season, get your flu vaccine now.
Source: CDC.

That's what the CDC says. But The Dallas Morning News didn't ask the CDC. They didn't ask local doctors or health experts. Instead, they asked area readers for their advice about the flu. The result is kind of like a typical online comments section.

After the jump, The Dallas Morning News readers' wisdom that the News passes on without fact-checking.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Someone Inconvenienced by President's Visit to City

Local resident [insert name] was inconvenienced yesterday when the President of the United States visited the city for a [pick one: vacation/fundraiser/official event]. Traffic was [pick one: congested/gridlocked/detoured]. Local resident [insert name]'s [pick one: wedding/birthday/bar mitzvah] had to be [pick one: moved/delayed/rescheduled/canceled]. Said another local resident [insert name], who may or may not have had anything to do with the affected event, "This just goes to show that the President is [pick one: insensitive/incompetent/a Kenyan Muslim socialist atheist]".

[Note to editors: There, I just wrote the template for your go-to story whenever the President leaves the White House on an otherwise slow news day. You're welcome.]

[Note to readers: You don't need a template to take to Facebook/Twitter to vent about the President. You're very good at doing that on your own. Don't count to ten. Don't think it over. Don't sleep on it. Just log onto Facebook now, now, now, and post away. Your Facebook friends will thank you for it. Trust me.]

Monday, December 29, 2014

Review: Gone Girl

Gone Girl
Amazon
From Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn:
Open quote 

A long exhale. 'What about Amy?' That is what I didn't take long enough to consider. I simply assumed I would bundle up my New York wife with her New York interests, her New York pride, and remove her from her New York parents -- leave the frantic, thrilling futureland of Manhattan behind -- and transplant her to a little town on the river in Missouri, and all would be fine."

After the jump, my review.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Frank (2014)

IMDB
Frank (2014): Band led by eccentric with large fake head goes to SXSW. Quirky as it sounds. Unlikable characters but ultimately touching. C+













Monday, December 22, 2014

Review: The Book of Strange New Things

Book of Strange New Things
Amazon
From The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber:
Open quote 

He closed the book. His hands were trembling. He knew that there was quite a decent chance that he would die in the next thirty days, or that, even if he survived the journey, he would never return. This was his Gethsemane moment. He clenched his eyes shut and prayed to God to tell him what He wanted him to do."

After the jump, my review.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Print the Legend (2014)

IMDB
Print the Legend (2014): Documentary of startups in 3D printing. The dream, growing pains, falling out, competition, lawsuits. Well told. B-












Thursday, December 18, 2014

Review: Lila

Lila
Amazon
From Lila, by Marilynne Robinson:
Open quote 

The child was just there on the stoop in the dark, hugging herself against the cold, all cried out and nearly sleeping. She couldn't holler anymore and they didn't hear her anyway, or they might and that would make things worse. Somebody had shouted, Shut that thing up or I’ll do it! and then a woman grabbed her out from under the table by her arm and pushed her out onto the stoop and shut the door and the cats went under the house."

After the jump, my review.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Altman (2014)

IMDB
Altman (2014): Documentary of the genre-busting director who reinvented film making. Hit or flop, an Altman film was always must see. B-













Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The World's End (2013)

IMDB
The World's End (2013): Think a cross between The Hangover and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But good. Craziest pub crawl ever. B-













Monday, December 15, 2014

No Room at the Inn in Richardson

NIMBYism rears its head again. The latest manifestation of this all too common human weakness is over group homes for people recovering from chemical dependency.

There are 22 such group homes in Richardson. Does the number surprise you? Perhaps that's because nothing much is going on in these homes that affects the rest of the neighborhood, at least not in a bad way. As Richardson Police Chief Jim Spivey told The Dallas Morning News, group homes "generate no more calls than single-family residences." One could argue that supporting recovering alcoholics affects the neighborhood and the whole community in a good way, but that's not how NIMBYism works.

After the jump, why this is an issue now.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Fruitvale Station (2013)

IMDB
Fruitvale Station (2013): Unarmed black man shot by cop. Based on a true story, but politics aside, it's the drama that's compelling. A-













Thursday, December 11, 2014

Dead Man (1995)

IMDB
Dead Man (1995): Early Johnny Depp as William Blake on the run in the Old West. Quirky as all get out. Everyone is stranger than Depp. B+













Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Nonstop Love Surprisingly Unpleasant

Nonstop Love
Source: Dallas Morning News.

The parking garages at Love Field were filled up on Thanksgiving Day. Even the remote overflow lots were full. Why should this be? After the jump, really, why should this be?!?

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Poetry (2010)

IMDB
Poetry (2010): Korean grandmother struggles with poetry as her life falls apart. Quiet desperation with dignity. Moving. With justice. B-













Monday, December 8, 2014

All the Debt We Can Carry

Everyone knows the federal budget deficit is large and getting larger all the time. It's out of control, right? Well, what everyone knows and what's the truth sometimes bear little resemblance to one another. In fact, the federal budget deficit has been plunging in recent years, falling from nearly 10 percent of G.D.P. in 2009 to less than 3 percent in 2014, below the average experienced over the past 40 years. So much for what everyone knows.

Let's bring the discussion closer to home. What about the situation in the City of Richardson? After the jump, a look at what our community owes.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Somm (2012)

IMDB
Somm (2012): Quest to pass the Master Sommelier exam (in Dallas) that almost everyone fails. I'll never make fun of wine tasters again. B-













Thursday, December 4, 2014

OTBR: The Devil's Bread in the Czech Republic

Latitude: N 49° 06.066
Longitude: E 015° 13.356

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Columbia River Gorge

From 2014 11 08 Columbia Gorge

I knew the Columbia was a major river between Oregon and Washington. I knew gorge meant canyon, but probably smaller. That's really all I knew of the Columbia River Gorge. Planning to visit Portland, I Googled it. That turned up some photos, pretty but nothing a must-see. Or so I thought. Then I visited. Seeing the Columbia River Gorge in person is so much better than the pictures. The Historic Columbia River Highway threads through forests and around cliffs and past waterfalls. The 620-foot high Multnomah Falls is spectacular. So, in short, yes, the Columbia River Gorge is a must-see.

More photos after the jump.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Repeat Tweets: Stefani Carter Says Goodbye

Repeat tweets from November, 2014:

  • Nov 2 2014: "I lost my seat, partly because my consultants encouraged me to run for higher office." Stefani Carter, taking ownership for poor decisions.
  • Nov 10 2014: Shouldn't Dallas Morning News say somewhere that Richardson Real Heroes is a product of a political action committee? yourrichardson.dallasnews.com
  • Nov 10 2014: "Are The Concerns About Water Fluoridation Legit?" Short answer: No. fivethirtyeight.com
  • Nov 10 2014: Headline: "The Chicago Bears are dead. The Green Bay Packers killed them." Almost as satisfying as a Super Bowl win. ftw.usatoday.com

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Fort Worth Parade of Lights

From 2014 11 28 Fort Worth Parade of Lights

After enjoying the Fort Worth Water Gardens, we wandered up Main Street to the Tarrant County Courthouse, then back to Sundance Square where we had a sandwich before the parade. We took our seats just as the parade reached our spot on the parade route. The Parade of Lights is a notch above Richardson's Christmas Parade, but not as big a notch as you might expect. It's the lights that create the illusion of a bigger show. My favorite moment was when the lighted and decorated fire truck from Haslet, Texas, went by and someone behind us said, "I didn't even know we had a fire truck." Still, Fort Worth's Parade of Lights is fun to attend as is Richardson's Christmas Parade (Saturday, December 6, 9:00 am, Plano Rd). Now I can check Fort Worth's Parade of Lights off my bucket list and I didn't even know it was on the list in the first place.

More photos after the jump.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Fort Worth Water Gardens in Autumn

From 2014 11 28 Fort Worth Water Gardens

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday for some. For us, on the spur of the moment, we decided to go to Fort Worth to see the annual Parade of Lights. To beat the last minute traffic and parking jams, we arrived in plenty of time to stroll around downtown, starting with Philip Johnson's Fort Worth Water Gardens. It's been years since we were there. It's still impressive. I still think of it as the futuristic city in the science fiction film Logan's Run, which was filmed there in 1975.

More photos after the jump.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Now is Good (2012)

IMDB
Now is Good (2012): Girl with cancer and a bucket list touches lives despite her hard exterior. Formulaic. Checks every tear-jerker box. C+












Thursday, November 27, 2014

Review: The Worst Hard Time

The Worst Hard Time
Amazon
From The Worst Hard Time, by Adam Johnson:
Open quote 

Ike Osteen's life spans the flu epidemic of 1918, the worst depression in American history, and a world war that ripped apart the globe. Nothing compares to the black dusters of the 1930s, he says, a time when the simplest thing in life -- taking a breath -- was a threat."

After the jump, my review.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

High School Basketball Tips Off

From 2014 11 25 Coppell vs Berkner

Now that the last notes of Gridiron Echoes have faded away, it's time for basketball. The Berkner Rams boys basketball team has a growing reputation to live up to. Last season, they had an overall record of 24-8, were District 9-5A co-champions and had a deep run in the state tournament. There were about 250 Class 5A schools in Texas in 2013-2014. Berkner made it to the final sixteen. Sweet!

Now it's a new season, a new district, a new roster, and new challenges. After the jump, the Berkner Rams take on the Coppell Cowboys in a non-district game.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Burt's Buzz (2013)

IMDB
Burt's Buzz (2013): Man behind the lip balm. Unambitious man lives alone in the woods. Icon not tycoon. Movie never gets below surface. C+













Monday, November 24, 2014

Eastside Gives Up on Mixed-Use

Eastside Gives Up on Mixed-Use. That's not what Steve Brown says, but it would be an accurate headline for his story in The Dallas Morning News, despite his own characterization of plans at Eastside as "mixed-use":
Developers in Richardson have disclosed details of the first phase of a prominent new mixed-use development on North Central Expressway.
The planned apartment and office project is part of the Eastside development located near the southeast corner of North Central and Campbell Road.
After the jump, why the Eastside expansion is not mixed-use.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Oregon Coast

From 2014 11 07 Oregon Coast
Last summer, we visited the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers north of St. Louis, where Lewis and Clark camped the winter before setting off with the Corps of Discovery through the American northwest. This fall, we visited Astoria, Oregon, and the Oregon coast, where Lewis and Clark reached their goal and they camped the winter before making the long journey back east. We didn't follow Lewis and Clark's route up the Missouri. We flew to Oregon, a luxury Lewis and Clark couldn't even imagine. It was affecting to stand at the beginning and end of their epic journey.

More photos after the jump.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Jobs (2013)

IMDB
Jobs (2013): One sick asshole. To family, friends, employees. Does design genius make up for it? Movie doesn't answer. Or even try. C+












Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Committees and Commissions

According to The Dallas Morning News, Richardson resident David Chenoweth "has filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's office over the Charter Review Commission not providing time for public comment at all meetings." He is hanging his case on Section 3.10 of the Richardson City Charter.
Section 3.10. - Open meetings.
All meetings of the city council and all committees thereof shall be open to the public except as otherwise permitted by state law, and the rules of the city council shall provide that citizens of the city shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at any such meetings, in regard to any matter there considered.

After the jump, why he is mistaken.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Missing Picture (2013)

IMDB
The Missing Picture (2013): Depiction of life under Khmer Rouge using clay figurines. Jarring, haunting, but figures lessen the horror. C+













Monday, November 17, 2014

Portland's Pittock Mansion

From 2014 11 06 Pittock Mansion
Let's reach for comparisons. Scott lived in Pasadena, California. Now he lives in Portland, Oregon.

Pasadena has the Caltech Beavers. Oregon has the Portland State Beavers.

Pasadena, home of the New Year's Rose Parade, calls itself the City of Roses. Portland, which has held the Portland Rose Festival annually since 1907, also calls itself the City of Roses.

Pasadena has the Gamble House, a National Historic Landmark built in 1908 for David Gamble of the Procter & Gamble Company. And Portland has the Pittock Mansion, a National Historic Landmark built in 1914 for Henry Pittock, publisher of The Oregonian. Gamble House is high in the hills above the Rose Bowl. Pittock Mansion is high in the hills overlooking downtown Portland.

Eerie parallels, right? I knooooow. It's weird.

More photos of the Pittock Mansion after the jump.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Late Autumn in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers
The chrysanthemums are at their peak.

From Flowers
The freeze took the elephant ears and wandering jew. (Can I still say that?)

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Dallas Unveils World's Saddest Bike Sharing Program

From 2014 08 23 Chicago
"Dallas Unveils World's Saddest Bike Sharing Program." So says Eric Nicholson of the Dallas Observer. I don't have anything to add to his excellent Unfair Park blog piece on the deficiencies of Dallas's bike rental system available only in Fair Park. I just wanted to share my photo of Chicago's Divvy bikes. Ride on.

It turns out I do have something to add. After the jump.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Keep Portland Weird

From 2014 11 05 Portland
"Keep Portland Weird." Portland stole the slogan from Austin, but Portland wears it authentically, so it's all good.

There's Voodoo Doughnut in Old Town (the "crotch" of Portland), the place with the maple bacon doughnuts that keep people lining up out the door 24/7. Voodoo Doughnut's partner, Rogue Ales, once created a Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Weird.

There was the Guy Fawkes Day anti-corporate, anti-government, anti-whatever protest march in Chinatown. It reminded me of The Wild One: "Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?" "Whadda you got?"

There was the burrito maker at the food cart outside the Portland Building whose main interest in the November election was the Oregon referendum on legalizing marijuana. It passed.

There are the transit options -- light rail, streetcar, bike lanes, and ubiquitous Car2Go Smart cars. Oh wait, having transit options isn't weird, is it, unless you live in, say, north Texas, where TxDOT/NCTCOG/NTTA/... all conspire to build ever more freeways to cater to cars and sprawl. Whoa, keep the blood pressure under control. You're in Portland, remember. Chill. Bottom-line, Portland is very friendly to car-free tourists. Smile.

And Portland is just the right amount of weird.

More photos after the jump.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

IMDB
Grand Budapest Hotel (2014): Quirky. Eccentric hotelier, murder, inheritance battle, art theft, fascists. Lots of cameos. Works for me. B-













Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Gridiron Echoes (2014)

In celebration of another successful marching season, the Mighty Ram Band of Berkner High School put on their annual Gridiron Echoes concert in the school's newly renovated auditorium Tuesday night. And what a marching season it's been.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

OTBR: Great Australian Bight

Latitude: S 32° 27.450
Longitude: E 123° 56.328

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Monday, November 10, 2014

Tunnel of Love in All the Wrong Places

As reported by Steve Brown of The Dallas Morning News, the area around Dallas Love Field is about to boom. Reconstruction of the terminal is nearly complete. Southwest Airlines is adding non-stop flights to destinations all over the country. Developers have plans for new offices, apartments, hotels and retail. So, what is the City of Dallas considering in reaction to all the traffic that's expected? Build a tunnel. Like one in Richardson.

The details after the jump.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Repeat Tweets: Silver Screen Slayer

Repeat tweets from October, 2014:

  • Oct 1 2014: Silver Screen Slayer at PST: Silly parody of '30s private eye, Nazi spy movies. Jokes about Hollywood Jews and gays not as funny as rest. C+
  • Oct 1 2014: Wonder if any Dallasite who argued it was *insane* to allow flights from West Africa to US is now arguing to shut down DFW airport. #Ebola
  • Oct 2 2014: Headline in Sydney Morning Herald: "Caltech: the university ranked higher than Harvard, Oxford and Standford." Double ouch for Stanford.
  • Oct 2 2014: J. Fred Bucy, Jr. resigned from Intrusion's Board of Directors. A name from the past -- forced out of TI in 1985. prnewswire.com
  • Oct 3 2014: The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, by Bob Shacochis: Murder mystery, war novel, mostly a psychological study. Long, complicated, messy. B-
  • Oct 3 2014: Jacquielynn Floyd: "In Liberia mistrust of authority and misinformation allowed Ebola to rage out of control." Glad we don't have that here.

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Saying Goodbye to Stefani Carter

Tuesday, Linda Koop won election to the Texas House District 102 seat currently held by Stefani Carter. Koop defeated Carter in the GOP primary. Before the vote Tuesday, Carter made one last pitch to the voters -- not for Koop but for Greg Abbott, GOP candidate for governor. Carter wrote an opinion piece for the Texas Tribune making a case why minorities should support Abbott. Mostly it was standard GOP boilerplate (e.g., twisting opposition to public education into support: "providing quality public education"). Nothing about Carter in that part of the opinion piece. It was the rest that reminds voters what they don't like about Stefani Carter.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

  • Young Women's Christian Association: For years, the YWCA operated a recreation center at Collins Blvd and Plano Rd in Richardson. I don't remember the neighborhood having any beef with that. The YWCA shut down and sold the property a number of years ago.
  • Town North Presbyterian Church: For years, TNPC has operated a church on Plano Rd north of Collins Blvd. This August, a zoning change was requested and granted to allow TNPC to sell part of their church property to someone who plans to construct an assisted living center on it. Again, no beef from the neighborhood. No one spoke against allowing this residential addition to the neighborhood.

After the jump, the third thing.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Highland Park 55, Berkner 10

From 2014 10 31 Highland Park vs Berkner

Berkner's season continued its nightmarish ways on Halloween night, as the Rams lost to Highland Park 55-10. Berkner had a strong start and led 10-6 after one quarter, but it was all Highland Park from then on.

Fans who attended the game were rewarded with seeing one of the top bands in the state perform their last halftime show before their big events in San Antonio. The second half was eerily quiet as Berkner's Mighty Ram band left the stadium to drive overnight to San Antonio, where they compete in a Bands of America Super-Regional on Saturday and in the State marching band competition on Tuesday.

More photos after the jump.

Friday, October 31, 2014

High School Football Playoff Tie-Breakers

If you found this page with a search looking for Texas high school football playoff tie-breaker rules, well, the short answer is that you probably won't find them on the Internet. The UIL doesn't set the rules. Each district sets their own rules. Your best bet is to call your school's athletic director and ask him or her. Now, on with the story.



It's that time of year again. With only a couple of games left in the Texas high school football regular season, everyone starts considering which teams will earn playoff berths. Who's in? Who's out? Corbett Smith of The Dallas Morning News highlights the situation in District 9-5A, which includes mostly Frisco schools, which just might end in a seven-way tie for first place. All schools would share the championship, but three of them wouldn't make the playoffs. How crazy is that?

After the jump, what's wrong with this?

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Worrying About Our SBOE

Burning oil to run cars also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Some scientists believe that this carbon dioxide could lead to a slow heating of Earth's overall climate. This temperature change is known as global warming or climate change. Scientists disagree about what is causing climate change. Many people, however, worry that climate change might cause environmental problems, such as increased storm activity and rising sea levels.
That's a passage from a proposed social studies textbook for use in Texas. Publishers want their books bought in Texas, so they do their best to meet the demands of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), which oversees textbook adoption. (Tincy Miller represents Richardson on the SBOE and is up for re-election November 4.)

In an October 20 work session, the SBOE reviewed public comments on the proposed textbooks. After the jump, my own unsubmitted comment:

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Review: The Orphan Master's Son

The Orphan Master's Son
Amazon
From The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson:
Open quote 

His whole life, he'd been assigned to work details without warning or explanation. There'd never been any point in asking questions or speculating on why -- it never changed the work that had to be done. But then again, he'd never had anything to lose before."

That's life in North Korea.

After the jump, my review.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Bishop Arts District

From 2014 10 20 Bishop Arts District

My photos of the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff are unexciting, for two reasons. One, don't go to the Bishop Arts District on a Monday, when many of the businesses are closed. Unless you want to get a lot of photos of buildings and not people. Two, I'm just not very good at taking candid photos of people. My bad. But even though my photos of the Bishop Arts District are not exciting, the Bishop Arts District itself is. More, please.

More unexciting photos after the jump.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Musical Chairs in Richardson Real Estate

"State Farm's move to Richardson will leave behind big blocks of empty office space." That was the headline to a story in The Dallas Morning News revealing the ugly secret behind the big win for Richardson.

After the jump, how the game is played.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Before Midnight (2013)

IMDB
Before Midnight (2013): Falling in love made first two movies good. Being in love doesn't. Lots of talk about state of relationship. C+













Friday, October 24, 2014

Before Sunset (2004)

IMDB
Before Sunset (2004): Don't look up old girlfriends. It's awkward at best. Slow to get going but redeems itself in end. Lots of talk. B-