POTD: Undredal

"Fjord hugs quiet town,
Goats outnumber village folk.
Brown cheese slowly cures."
— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 07 09 Flam

Today's photo-of-the-day shows Undredal, Norway. "Undredal is a small village in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The popular tourist destination of Undredal is located along the Aurlandsfjorden which is a branch off the massive Sognefjorden in Norway's 'fjord-country.' It sits along the Aurlandsfjorden, about 5 kilometres south of the mouth to the Nærøyfjord."

Book Review: The Vegetarian

From The Vegetarian, by Han Kang:

Amazon

"As far as I was concerned, the only reasonable grounds for altering one’s eating habits were the desire to lose weight, an attempt to alleviate certain physical ailments, being possessed by an evil spirit, or having your sleep disturbed by indigestion. In any other case, it was nothing but sheer obstinacy for a wife to go against her husband’s wishes as mine had done."

TIL: Manufacturing in America is Going Strong

The appeal of MAGA is an imagined past where America used to make things, before globalization took all the manufacturing overseas. Today I learned that the basis for that belief is just wrong. The graph above shows why. America is still making stuff — about ten times more today than we made in 1947, in inflation-adjusted dollars. That's stuff made right her in the USA, not in China. What gives? Why don't we have ten times more Americans working to produce those goods? That's because of a growth in productivity. While we're making ten times more, the number of Americans working in manufacturing has stayed pretty much flat from 1947 to 2025. Productivity growth through technology, not globalization, is the more important story here.

Nosferatu (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Nosferatu (2024): Remake of the 1929 Gothic horror classic. Faithful to the original, meaning it won't be scary enough for modern audiences. A dark, soulless story that marches relentlessly to its inevitable conclusion. Beautiful noir cinematography. C+

Peacock

Fountain of Youth (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Fountain of Youth (2025): Big budget, treasure hunt, adventure movie in the tradition of Indiana Jones, but with only a fraction of the wit and charm. Ignore the plot details stretched beyond plausibility and just go along for the ride and it can be fun. B-

AppleTV+

Saturday Night (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Saturday Night (2024): Dramatization of the chaos before air time of the first episode of SNL. Somehow, the show made it to air. Some actors nail their original cast roles. Lorne Michaels is portrayed as having no control. Probably best for big fans. So-so or worse for the rest. C+

Netflix

POTD: Fortun

"High above the world,
Norway carves its winding road
through the mountain pass."
— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 07 08 Sogndal

Today's photo-of-the-day shows Fortun, Norway, a village on the Sognefjellsvegen, the highest mountain pass road in northern Europe.

POTD: Sognefjellshytta

"Through cabin windows,
a frozen lake lies silent;
white upon more white."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 07 08 Sogndal

Today's photo-of-the-day shows the view out the windows of the Sognefjellshytta, "a serviced private tourist cabin in Lom municipality in Innlandet county, completed in 1947." The cabin is located in Norway, near the highest point of the highest mountain pass road in northern Europe.

A bonus photo showing the highway is after the jump.

The Coming Disorder of Robert's Rules

The Richardson City Council, adding to its long history of misjudgment, has just elected Ken Hutchenrider as Mayor Pro Tem. One of the main duties of Mayor Pro Tem is to chair council meetings in the Mayor's absence. What can go wrong? Richardson City Council meetings have never been a shining example of parliamentary procedure. Often things are confused, and sometimes just plain wrong.

Transparency: "The Room Where It Happens"

Part 3 of 3.

Source: Hamilton: An American Musical.

No one really knows how the game is played
The art of the trade
How the sausage gets made
We just assume that it happens
But no one else is in the room where it happens.

Source: Hamilton.

In the first two parts of this (too long) blog post (Part 1, Part 2), I congratulated Mayor Amir Omar on trying to add transparency to the council's decisions. And I applauded Jennifer Justice and Joe Corcoran for joining him in voting against moving the decision-making process into secret. And I didn't applaud Hutchenrider, Barrios, Dorian, and Arefin who all voted to continue excluding the public from witnessing the council conduct this important business.

Today, I'll examine the result of the council's closed-door session, their pick for Mayor Pro Tem for 2025-2027. I could have led with that two days ago, but I seriously think the process used (closed instead of open) was the more important story. Mayor Pro Tems come and go. The principle of transparency is forever. My mission is to rescue "transparency" from the lip service that politicians pay it, and give gravity back to the word, so people take it seriously again.