Request for More Parking in Richardson

It's not just downtown Dallas towers that are adding parking. The owners of a Telecom Corridor office building plan to construct a four-level parking garage to add more appeal to the project. The three-story Campbell Commons office campus in Richardson was built in 1998 at 1201 E. Campbell Road.

Source: Dallas Morning News.

I saw that and scratched my head. Why does that old office building need more parking? Why would today's tenant need more parking than the tenant who occupied the building twenty years ago? I can think of only one reason. Employers today are cramming more workers into less space than employers did in the past. And that can be for one of two reasons.

POTD: Easy Riders

From 2016 02 11 Jodhpur

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Jodhpur, India. People feel joy the same way all over the world. That is all we need to know for today.

Trumbo (2015)

IMDB

Trumbo (2015): Heavy-handed treatment of 1950s Hollywood blacklist. IOW, just like the true history. So-so drama, but important history. B-

POTD: World's Top Hotel

From 2016 02 11 Jodhpur

Where would you guess the world's top hotel is located? New York? London? Tokyo? Not even close. Greece? Vietnam? Cambodia? Believe it or not, you're warmer. Those are in the top five. Would you ever have guessed Jodhpur, India? Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Umaid Bhawan Palace Hotel, voted the top hotel in the world in TripAdvisor's 2016 Travelers' Choice awards. We didn't stay in this hotel, but we can dream. The photo was taken from Mehrangarh Fort, four miles from the hotel. Top hotels stand out.

Poverty, Inc. (2014)

IMDB

Poverty, Inc. (2014): Eye-opening. Poor countries don't need world's surplus food and clothes. They need jobs and access to markets. A-

Tragedy in Dallas

Many others have spoken, but I feel compelled to offer my own thoughts on the deaths of five Dallas police officers and the wounding of seven other officers and two civilians at a protest march in downtown Dallas.

Most of all, it was a tragedy. Five law enforcement officers lost their lives protecting the public. Their families and friends lost loved ones. The wounded and their families were also touched by tragedy. They deserve our gratitude and support.

POTD: Jodhpur, the Blue City

From 2016 02 11 Jodhpur

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Jodhpur, India, known as the "Blue City" for its many houses painted blue. No one knows why they are painted blue, but it's been this way for hundreds of years. Many theories abound. Today houses are painted blue because Jodhpur is known as the "Blue City." Funny how that works. Kind of like how no one knows why some people are famous. They remain famous for being famous.

Jaco (2015)

IMDB

Jaco (2015): Jaco Pastorius, world's greatest electric bass guitar. Troubled genius I never heard of. Needs more music, less talking. C+

Lights Out for Red Light Cameras

Richardson's red light camera program hit a roadblock in June when a Dallas County district court judge sided with a plaintiff who sued the city over the program (case DC-15-00289 in the 134th District Court).

According to one account, the judge "shut down the city's renegade photo enforcement system over several flagrant violations of state law." According to another interpretation (see William J. McCalpin's comments), "The City's problem is that it relied on the State passing laws that were constitutional, and the judge evidently believes that Texas' statutes ( Chapter 707 of the Texas Transportation Code and provisions contained therein, and Section 29.003(g) of the Texas Government Code ) were not constitutional."

I'm not going to try to settle this difference of legal opinion myself. I'm more interested in another aspect of all this.

OTBR: A Split-Log Boardwalk in Finland

Latitude: N 61° 53.826
Longitude: E 023° 12.408

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".