Repeat Tweets: Sports and Politics and Stuff

Repeat tweets from October-December, 2011:

• 2011 10 04 - The Island of Lost Maps, by Miles Harvey: Map thief's tale padded to book length with historical anecdotes, most lifted from other books. C-
  
• 2011 10 05 - Tea Party's choice in GOP primaries is down to this: Romneycare vs In-state tuition for illegals. Hold your nose and pick. #letdown
  
• 2011 10 06 - Headline: "Perry Campaign Says Economic Specifics Can Wait." Really? Campaign tanking, all focus on n-word, & his best argument can wait???
  
• 2011 10 06 - Headline: "Bachmann: Perry used jobs fund to reward backers." Really? Earth to Bachmann: Perry already sinking. Time to swing aim to Romney.
  
• 2011 10 06 - Go Caltech! #1 in the world according to Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
  
• 2011 10 06 - Kasra Persian Restaurant got a score of 82 from RIchardson Health Dept this week. Low end of "Good" but I know they can do better.
  
• 2011 10 06 - BBQ beats Shawarma. This week's matchup of Dine Smart Dine Local restaurant health scores: Sonny Bryan 91, Afrah 89.
  
• 2011 10 06 - 2010: A-Rod strikes out. 2011: A-Rod strikes out. Last out for the Yankees two years in a row. Rangers face Tigers in ALCS!
  
• 2011 10 07 - Did Harry Reid pull the nuclear option in the Senate Thursday night? Well, yes, if by nuclear option you mean... http://t.co/UGMHgFBo
  
• 2011 10 07 - Weekend NFL tip: Count on the Cowboys' Tony Romo to have a mistake-free Sunday this week. http://t.co/hoKAN817
  
• 2011 10 07 - Brewers beat Diamondbacks in extra innings! Dare I hope for a Brewers/Rangers World Series? http://t.co/9FxrNVzj
  
• 2011 10 07 - Final. Sunset 6, Lake Highlands 37. #txhsfb http://t.co/aUniWMd9
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Spring Creek Trail Extension is Open

From 2011 12 Spring Creek Trail

On November 9, 2011, Richardson officially opened the 1.3 mile extension to the Spring Creek Trail. The extension begins at the trailhead at the southeast corner of Renner Rd and US 75 and extends north under Renner Road, then turns west under US 75, then north again to the President George Bush Turnpike, then west to Alma Rd. Slowly, but surely, Richardson is punching those holes in those suffocating freeways that divide up our city. The trails open up a surprising amount of nature in our urban setting to residents smart enough to park their cars and hike or bike to take advantage of it.

More photos can be viewed here.

Tear Down Central Expressway - cont.

All around the world, highways are being torn down and waterfronts reclaimed; decades of thinking about cars and cities reversed; new public spaces created.

Source: New York Times.

Michael Kimmerman, of The New York Times, reviews the cities around the world that are rethinking highways. Madrid is nearly finished burying a highway and restoring a river to create a six mile long park called Madrid Río. Seoul uncovered five miles of a paved-over river to create the Cheonggyecheon recreation area. San Francisco decided to take down the Embarcadero Freeway and not rebuild it after it was heavily damaged in the 1989 earthquake.

After the jump, the outlook close to home.

I'm an NFL Team Owner

Green Bay Packers.

I hope Santa was as good to everyone as he was to me. He made me an owner of an NFL team. That's right. I was given a share of Green Bay Packers, Inc. That makes me a part owner of the NFL's only non-profit, community-owned franchise.

OK, I know what the cynics are saying. The stock pays no dividends. It can't be sold. It can't even be given away (except to an immediate family member). It doesn't come with rights to buy game tickets. I'm an owner of a piece of paper. What's the big deal?

After the jump, the benefits (and drawbacks) of being an NFL team owner.

Setting the Agenda

Last week, I asked a whole bunch of nosy questions about how agendas for city council meetings are set by the City of Richardson. Bill McCalpin of Rumorcheck.org did his best to answer my questions. He doesn't work for the city; he isn't involved in setting agendas himself; he does have years of experience observing what happens around city hall. I can't say for sure he's right or wrong (if I could, I wouldn't have needed to ask my questions in the first place). But his answers sound plausible.

After the jump, my own understanding of how the process probably works.

Christmas in Richardson (2011)

From 2011 12 Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

More photos after the jump.

Ride DART to the Stars Game

We drove to the Arapaho Center DART station. We chose to drive instead of walk. Because we're lazy, not because we didn't want to get our shoes muddy. 'Cause we wouldn't have. Anyway, we got to the train platform just as a train was arriving. It was an Orange Line special event train going direct to Victory Station. Right at the American Airlines Center. Sweet. After the game, another train was pulling into the Victory Station platform just as we walked up. A Red Line train back to Arapaho Center Station. Sweet. DART -- all in all, a great service.

Oh yeah, the Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators 6-3. Sweet.

Pedestrian Access to DART Stations

I should probably know that when a blogger begins by saying, "Today I vent about ...", that I should quit reading then and there. But how can I resist when the blogger is a member of The Dallas Morning News editorial board (Rodger Jones), and his subject is pedestrian access to the DART stations in Richardson? Jones vents that he can't easily walk from his residence west of US 75 and Renner Rd to the PGBT DART station. There are no sidewalks (yet). I can't tell exactly who Jones blames for this, but it's some combination of the City of Richardson, NTTA and DART.

After the jump, does he have a point?

Review: Moby Dick

Amazon

From Moby Dick, or, the whale, by Herman Melville:


I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts."

A few days ago, in my review of The Art of Fielding, I recommended that you also read Moby Dick. That wasn't just a perfunctory compliment to a classic novel everyone thinks they know already, but if they ever read it at all, it was probably way back in high school. No, I really mean it's worth dusting off and reading Moby Dick again. And just to show that I wouldn't ask you to do something I wouldn't do myself, I've been re-reading Moby Dick.

After the jump, my review and excerpts.

Questions for Rumorcheck.org

Rumorcheck.org is a Richardson-based website with a lofty goal: "countering a pernicious side effect of the Internet -- the creation and mass distribution of statements that have little or no basis in fact."

Rumorcheck.org has done a creditable job of fulfilling its mission. Building on that reactive mission, it now is expanding its mission with a more proactive purpose as well:

While RumorCheck got its start in examining and usually refuting the groundless rumors that swirl around, over time, we have seen the need for other types of content here on the RumorCheck website. Some time ago, we added an "Editorial" section for more editorial content that was perhaps not based on any single rumor.

Now RumorCheck is adding what we think will prove to be its most exciting feature: a Question & Answer (Q & A) section in which we will answer general purpose questions about how local government works.

Source: Rumorcheck.org.

After the jump, a question that has been nagging at me for a long time.