A Most Wanted Man (2014)

IMDB

A Most Wanted Man (2014): Germans, jihad and CIA in a cerebral le Carré spy thriller w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman. What more could you want? B+

Showdown: Richardson 80, Berkner 74

From 2015 01 09 Richardson vs Berkner

In an early season battle of District 10-6A unbeatens, the Richardson Eagles men's basketball team outlasted the Berkner Rams 80-74 at the Rams gym. Richardson jumped to an early 7-0, but Berkner battled back to take a 33-31 halftime lead. Richardson came out strong again after the break, outscoring Berkner by 12 in the third quarter. Berkner rallied back in the fourth quarter but could never quite close the gap.

More after the jump.

Further Thoughts on the Center of Dallas

Yesterday, I mused on the implications of an assertion by urban designer Patrick Kennedy:

The center of town has shifted to swaths of 635 and 75 up through Plano. The center of town is no longer Dallas, but the North Dallas border.

Source: StreetSmart.

Kennedy had a prescription for how Dallas could wrestle the center of town back south to Dallas: Densification. Transit. Walkability. The implications to me were that Richardson needed to steal a page from Kennedy's playbook in order to hold the center of town in Richardson.

Being the center means that there is something in all directions. Today let's complete a tour d'horizon.

Center of Dallas is Now in Richardson

Professional urban designer (and unprofessional gadfly) Patrick Kennedy makes an audacious claim about Dallas in the D Magazine blog StreetSmart:

My fundamental point of this work and one I make over and over again in my various presentations is that we’ve been applying suburban thinking to the downtown area, which has in effect, forced it to compete with the suburbs. That’s a fight it cannot win. And has effectively suburbanized it (while ruralizing South Dallas as Peter Simek has correctly pointed out) as the center of town has shifted to swaths of 635 and 75 up through Plano. The center of town is no longer Dallas, but the North Dallas border.

Source: StreetSmart.

Kennedy doesn't say by what measure the center of town has moved north (population? economic activity? traffic? world classiness?), so it's impossible to confirm or falsify the audacious claim. But Kennedy is the unofficial leader of the "tear down IH345" movement in Dallas as well as a member in good standing of the "Kill The Trinity Tollroad Project." He makes a living from this stuff (or, if not from his gadfly work for D Magazine, at least from other stuff related to urban design). So, when he says, "I do know cities," we probably ought to listen. So, let's make him king for a day and just assume he does know what he's talking about. Let's just assume he's right -- the center of Dallas is now somewhere in or near Richardson -- and consider the implications.

Overtime: Richardson 71, Mesquite Horn 65

From 2015 01 06 Mesquite Horn vs Richardson

What a game! The Richardson Eagles men's basketball team defeated Mesquite Horn 71-65 in overtime Tuesday night in the Eagles gym. There was never more than a one point difference in the score at the end of each quarter. But someone had to win and eventually the Eagles prevailed in overtime. With the win, the Eagles move to 2-0 in District 10-6A while the Jaguars drop to 0-2. Don't expect the Jaguars to stay down long.

More after the jump.

OTBR: Tidal Waters in New South Wales

Latitude: S 32° 11.538
Longitude: E 152° 27.480

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".

North South Divide In Richardson

The north gets CityLine and Palisades Village. (I've had some reservations about some of the details of these developments (ahem), but I do like their scale and density.) The south gets a restaurant row (maybe), a 7-Eleven gas station and now (maybe) yet another drive-through fast food restaurant.

File No./Name: ZF 14-39 / Drive-thru Restaurant
Property Owner: Jason Ricks / BH Dallas Portfolio LLC
Applicant: Jarrod Blake
Location: 811 S. Central Expressway (See map on reverse side)
Current Zoning: C-M Commercial with special conditions
Request: A request for a change in zoning from C-M Commercial with special conditions to PD Planned Development to allow a restaurant with drive-through service and other site modifications on property located at 811 S. Central Expressway, the northeast corner of Central Expressway and Spring Valley Road.

Source: City of Richardson.

After the jump, what's going on here?

District 10-6A Basketball Tips Off

From 2015 01 02 North Mesquite vs Berkner

Now that the college football bowl games are over (technically, the College Football Playoff National Championship game is not a bowl game), it's time to turn our attention to high school basketball. In the tip off game for District 10-6A play for both schools, the Berkner Rams defeated the North Mesquite Stallions 80-57 Friday afternoon at the Rams' gym. Torey Everett led all scorers with 23 points.

It's a great time to be a Ram!

More after the jump.

Repeat Tweets: St Louis Police Upset

Repeat tweets from December, 2014:

• Dec 1 2014: Headline: "St Louis police upset over Rams players' Ferguson protest." THAT is why they're upset? Not for shooting an unarmed black teen?
  
• Dec 1 2014: Headline: "GOP staffer quits after backlash to her criticism of Obama daughters." I was wrong. There IS a limit to the shit GOPers can say.
  
• Dec 2 2014: Final: Jesuit 59, Berkner 53. #txhshoops
  
• Dec 5 2014: MT @JustinWolfers: "this year, the economy has added 2.65 million jobs, more than any year since 1999." GOP blames Obamacare. Or Malia.
  
• Dec 5 2014: 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-
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

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.