The Beginning of the End for DART

With the runoffs to Dallas City Council races over, three incumbents were defeated. There are, perhaps, many reasons to cheer the overturning of the old guard in Dallas. But the future of DART for Richardson is not one of them.

As reported in December, 2016, the Dallas city council voted unanimously on a resolution that did not include the Cotton Belt line as one of its transit priorities. Then, it named Patrick Kennedy to the DART board. Kennedy is opposed to converting the Cotton Belt line to passenger service from Richardson to the DFW Airport. I concluded with, "Richardson is going to have a fight on its hands to get that Cotton Belt line developed." Developments since then have only gotten worse. It's not just the Cotton Belt line at risk, but the whole DART system.

POTD: Let's Go Fly a Kite

From 2016 10 09 Alexandria

A belated Happy Father's Day to all fathers. Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Washington Monument in Washington, DC., where a father is flying an eagle-shaped kite with his two girls.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

Heathers: The Musical at PHS

Heathers: The Musical at PHS: Cliques, bullies, damaged kids. Black comedy with a body count. Meaty subject for high school. Powerful.

Another photo after the jump.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

IMDB

Fantastic Beasts (2016): Magical suitcase mixup in 1920s NYC. Hogwarts meets Jumanji, Ghostbusters, Alien & MIB. See any of them instead. C-

POTD: Congress In Her Hand

From 2016 10 10 Washington DC

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Washington, DC, where for a brief moment, Ellen held Congress in her hand. All in all, a better arrangement that maybe should have been made permanent.

Passengers (2016)

IMDB

Passengers (2016): Think Robinson Crusoe in space. Or The Martian with fewer challenges to solve. Or a love story with a jerk of a guy. C-

The Future of Education

As always, society is engaged in a great battle for the future. Education is ground zero. The New York Times reports on how the heads of tech giants like Netflix, Facebook, and Salesforce are using philanthropy to try to improve education.

In the space of just a few years, technology giants have begun remaking the very nature of schooling on a vast scale, using some of the same techniques that have made their companies linchpins of the American economy. Through their philanthropy, they are influencing the subjects that schools teach, the classroom tools that teachers choose and fundamental approaches to learning.

Source: New York Times.

POTD: No Glory

From 2016 10 09 Alexandria

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the streets of Alexandria, Virginia.

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017)

IMDB

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017): In Egypt, Russia, even America, democracy retreats. Here, it's Hong Kong. Hope lies in youth. B+

OTBR: Blueberries and Stones in the Czech Republic

Latitude: N 49° 07.494
Longitude: E 015° 15.450

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 (not actually) last month that are "off the blue roads".