River Wild (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

River Wild (2023): Five young people go on a white-water rafting expedition. The rapids turn out to be the least of the dangers they face. Standard action thriller. No character development. The only question is how many will die and how. There was a maybe better 1994 version. B-

Towards an Award-winning Comp Plan

After the long 3.5 hours the Richardson City Council and City Plan Commission devoted to updating the Comprehensive Plan, there were three comments that stuck with me.

Joe Corcoran: "I do think that if the Comp Plan was just, hey, here's five reinvestment zones, I kind of consider it a little bit a failure, not to be dramatic. But it's important to talk about all this other stuff as well."

Joe Costantino: "I'm not for less studying, I'm just like, understanding how some of the other bullet points are going to be fleshed out...How are those other areas going to be studied?"

Dan Barrios: "I'd like to see that whatever comes out of this is something that hopefully is an award-winning plan. We have a lot of great things in Richardson, and I hope this is one of those things we can add to it. Because it'll either be great or we're going to look back 10 years from now and go 'Wow, where did we go wrong?' "

Source: The Wheel.

POTD: Brain Tumor

From 2022 11 03 Athens

"A moment in time,
Cyclist's journey continues,
Seated man's unknown."
—h/t ChatGPT

This photo-of-the-day is from Athens, Greece. It was taken at the foot of the ancient Acropolis. There's a story here, but I didn't pause to learn it. Neither did the cyclist. Therein lies another story.

POTD: All Alone at the Parthenon

From 2022 11 03 Athens

"Alone 'midst ruins,
Time's river flows endlessly,
Parthenon's witness."

—h/t ChatGPT

This photo-of-the-day is from Athens, Greece. It shows the Parthenon, the most crowded tourist spot in Greece. When we take tourist photos, we work hard to compose shots with the tourists out of the frame of the camera, unless we are deliberately taking photos of the tourists themselves. It's complicated. But I was happy with this shot showing "L" all by herself in front of the Parthenon.

A bonus photo, showing the side of the Parthenon, is after the jump. You'll see what I mean about the crowds. I wanted them in this second shot.

Our Little Angel

No context.

Mayor Bob Dubey: "Our little angel, our Charlie's Angel"

How Comprehensive is the Comprehensive Plan?

Recently, I've been meddling in the City of Richardson's efforts to update its Comprehensive Plan. To decide who is off the rails—them, me, or maybe neither—I've decided I need to back up (to first principles), or pull up (for a birds-eye view), to understand just what the City thinks is included in this effort.

Jury Duty (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Jury Duty (TV 2023): Mockumentary follows a trial where everyone is an actor except one juror. Crazy things happen that would not in any real courtroom. Humor is in the unknowing juror's reactions. Last episode spoils the magic, revealing how the audience was tricked, too. C+

Council Recap: Planning a Comp Plan

The Richardson City Council and the City Plan Commission held a rare joint work session July 31. The main topic on the agenda was "REVIEW AND DISCUSS THE ENVISION RICHARDSON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE AND COMMUNITY SUMMIT ONE." That took almost all of the 3.5 hours the meeting lasted.

Random Thoughts: Black Mirror

2023-07-01: In the "Black Mirror" episode "Beyond the Sea" (S6, E3), astronauts on a deep space mission get R&R by periodically transferring their consciousness to replicas on Earth. If this technology exists, why wouldn't NASA use it the other way around, sending replicas into space and keeping the humans safe on Earth, except when needed in space?

2023-07-03: Life would be easier to figure out if it were accompanied by melodramatic music like in bad movies.

2023-07-03: I'm reminded of when I taught high school in Australia in 1976. I told my students that in honor of the upcoming American bicentennial, there would be no school on July 4. An initial burst of excitement was quicky followed by irritation when they realized July 4, 1976, fell on a Sunday.

What To Do with the Doghouse When Fido Dies

In Facebook's "Richardson Urban and Neighborhood Discussions", Andrew Laska shared an announcement by the City of Richardson about open houses to gather community feedback about the City Hall/Comp Plans. He offered his own priorities, the first one (two?) of which were "1) Legalize missing middle housing. 1a) Legalize ADUs."