POTD: Dolphin Discovery

From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Dolphin Discovery in Cayman Islands. I don't know what to call it — an outdoor aquarium, an amusement park, a prison for animals? The park itself tries hard to emphasize its ecological bona fides ("The only one that loves dolphins more than you is Dolphin Discovery"). On the other hand, not everyone agrees that things are so good.

The Red Turtle (2016)

IMDB

The Red Turtle (2016): Shipwrecked on tropical island, just a man and a red turtle. Animation. No dialog. Simple, lovely, elegant fable. B+

OTBR: Rock Lake, Minnesota

Latitude: N 46° 10.482
Longitude: W 093° 53.832

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".

Restaurant Ratings - The Good and the Bad

I've long urged the City of Richardson to improve the usability of the work done by its Health Department in inspecting restaurants. They can get back in the kitchen. The public usually can't.

Things I'd like to see:

• The health department rating displayed in each restaurant's front window. To its credit, the city has worked with Yelp to display a city health department rating for each restaurant along with other info such as address, map, and contact info. Kudos for this, but I'd like to see the rating when I walk in the door.
• Inspection ratings incorporated in all promotional material the city provides for restaurants (e.g., its "Dine Smart, Dine Local" advertising)
• A better presentation of the health inspection ratings on the city's own website

Recently, the city made some efforts on the third item. I took a look.

Battle of the Sexes (2017)

IMDB

Battle of the Sexes (2017): Feminist icon for more than a tennis match. My admiration grows seeing the back story. #EqualPay #Equality A-

Repeat Tweets: San Francisco Hits 104°

Repeat tweets from September, 2017:

• Sep 1 2017: "San Francisco hits 104°, breaking the city's all-time heat record, NWS says."
  Just throwing this out there, but maybe we ought to again consider the possibility that burning fossil fuels is changing the climate.
• Sep 1 2017: RT @WalkableDFW: "car dependence makes our regional economy incredibly fragile."
  So does corn, the power grid, and our supply chains for just about everything. We are one disaster away from, well, disaster.
• Sep 1 2017: RT @WalkableDFW: "which is why localized food and power production is mission critical."
  Choices. Localized food brings its own costs. 200 years of reducing cost thru comparative advantage and the globe is in precarious balance.
• Sep 1 2017: Infinite Jest: 20-yr-old classic that takes 20 years to read. Great book...for literature majors. I'm too hard; there are hidden gems. C-

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

POTD: An Angel in Hell

From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Devils Hangout Gift Shop in Hell, Cayman Islands. The name comes from cooled lava flows visible from the parking lot of the gift shop that must have reminded some early tourism promoter of burnt-out hellfire. That's an angel posing in front of the gift shop. Awww.

Bonus photo after the jump.

A Hologram for the King (2016)

IMDB

Hologram for the King (2016): US IT salesman has midlife crisis in Saudi Arabia. Starts exotic, ends preposterous. No reason to care. C+

One of those rare movies based on a book (reviewed here) that matches it in quality — in this case, mediocre.

POTD: Little Boxes

From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the cruise ship pier at Cozumel, Mexico. I'd name the ship, but they all look just the same.

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

Source: Malvina Reynolds.

Tanna (2015)

IMDB

Tanna (2015): Tribal conflict on South Pacific island. Arranged marriage vs forbidden love. Universal tale based on true story. Lovely. A-

Regionalism and Sprawl

I am constantly adding to my collection of dirty words. These are the motherhood and apple pie virtues that I used to think were non-controversial. Virtues like tolerance and compromise and civility all have come under attack from conservatives. What I thought made American democracy great is being dismantled virtuous brick by virtuous brick. Liberals can play this game, too. Self-described "libtard" Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer adds "regionalism" to the list of dirty words. Schutze equates regionalism with sprawl. Sprawl is bad, so regionalism must be too.

the leadership of [Dallas] is so evenly divided between the old-school champions of sprawl, which they call regionalism, and the new-school champions of cityhood.
...
During the old establishment's 20-year war for [the Trinity Tollroad], the main justification for it was that it would promote regionalism. By offering regionalism as a selling point, the old guard betrayed its utter unawareness that people on the other side of the paradigm think regionalism is the problem. And there you have it.

Source: Jim Schutze.

POTD: Playa del Carmen Beach

From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the beach at Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on the Yucatan peninsula. This seems a fitting photo for the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. As the days grow shorter and colder, it's good to remember that in the Tropics, it's always summer.

Bonus photos after the jump.

mother! (2017)

IMDB

mother! (2017): Stimulating blend of religious myths. Most intense episode of Fixer-Upper ever. Writer's block is a bitch for the muse. A-

Toni Erdmann (2016)

IMDB

Toni Erdmann (2016): German. Eccentric father inserts himself into daughter's business. Quirky at times. Original symbolism. Let's talk. B+

POTD: Cenote Multun-Ha

From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Multun-Ha cenote on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Multun-Ha cenote is a cave with water. Think of a sinkhole where the roof has not collapsed. There's no sunlight. There's no outside sound. The water is clear and cool. It's a refreshing escape from the Yucatan's hot sun above.

Bonus photos after the jump.

All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins

All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins (2016) is one of Yayoi Kusama's signature Infinity Mirror Rooms. It was recently acquired by the Dallas Museum of Art. Believe it or not, it's a thing. The DMA will charge non-members $16 for a special exhibition ticket, which permits the holder to 45 seconds in the infinity mirror room. That's right — 45 seconds. It's easy to make fun of this new artwork because of that, but taken all by itself, without the ridiculous price, it is kind of a cool thing to experience. It certainly would be if you just stumbled on it without any advance hype. Heck, the title alone is interesting. Anyway, I liked it. #KusamaPumpkins

BHS HOCO "GLOCO" FTW

Translation: Berkner's Homecoming (theme: "Glowcoming") For-the-Win.

The Berkner Rams won their Homecoming game against the Garland Owls 35-16 Friday night. Excitement came on the last play of the first half as the Rams stopped the Owls on a fourth-and-goal from the one yard line to preserve a 21-0 halftime lead. After stretching the lead to 28-0 in the third quarter, the Rams held on to win 35-16.

More photos from the game are after the jump.

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

IMDB

The Magnificent Seven (2016): Seven Samurai > 1960 version >> Three Amigos > 2017 version. And McQueen>>Pratt. No reason for this remake. C+

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

IMDB

I Am Not Your Negro (2016): James Baldwin tells story of America through the lives of Medgar, Malcolm and Martin. Unresolved still today. A-

Handsome (2017)

IMDB

Handsome (2017): Comedy detective tale. Quirky, maybe a little. Funny, not really. Mystery, not that either. Really nothing here. C-

POTD: Ixmoja

From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the ancient Mayan city of Coba on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The largest pyramid at Coba is Ixmoja, standing 138 feet (42 meters) tall. It's 40 feet taller than the better known and much more visited El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza. Unlike Chichen Itza, this pyramid can still be climbed by random tourists. The steep 120 step climb is worth the view of the jungle canopy that you get from the top. Then you can crab walk your way back down.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Richardson Needs More Apartments

Richardson needs more apartments. Or at least, more low-income housing, which tends to be multi-family. Instead, the multi-family housing that is going up all over Richardson is not affordable for many of the workers needed to support Richardson's boom.

Richardson's City Council has withstood the opposition to new apartments, but only to a point. Even the Richardson City Council won't address the elephant in the room — the lack of low-income housing. The result: restaurants in booming developments like CityLine are having trouble finding workers. Those employed at, say, State Farm and Raytheon can afford to live in all the new upscale apartments at CityLine. Those employed in CityLine's restaurants cannot.

Friday Night Lights are Bright Again

It's September, it's Friday night, and that means high school football. The Berkner Rams had their home season opener spoiled by the Naaman Forest Rangers 20-14 at Wildcat-Ram Stadium.

More photos from the game are after the jump.

Ingrid Goes West (2017)

IMDB

Ingrid Goes West (2017): Expected a comedy. Got a portrait of a sad stalker who wants a friend. Needs some Aubrey Plaza quirkiness. C+

Local Property Taxes Carry More of the Load

School districts made a big pitch during the recent Texas legislative session for more state funding for public schools. The pitch's argument often went something like this: if homeowners don't like their property taxes always going up, it's because the amount the state chips in is always going down.

"More and more of the burden for financing our schools is ending up on the backs of our local taxpayers," said Richardson ISD School Board President Justin Bono. "They're finding other priorities for it. We wish and try to press that public education should be a priority." Bono says the state used to provide 50 percent of a district's funding just less than 10 years ago. By next year, the state's funding will only account for a mere 20 percent of the district's revenue.

Source: Fox 4 News.

On its face, that sounds like it should be an effective argument. Effective, meaning persuasive to reasonable politicians in Austin, who might not have been aware that more and more funding for schools is coming from local property taxes. Then I read something in Vox that opened my eyes.

OTBR: Prairie Dog in Boulder

Latitude: N 40° 02.328
Longitude: W 105° 14.298

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".

Single Member Districts are not the Way to Diversity

Single member districts are not the way to diversity. Maybe elsewhere, with different geography and demographics, but not in the Richardson ISD, anyway. Carol Toler of the Lake Highlands Advocate has been asking RISD trustees (current and former) about RISD adopting single member districts. Toler first raised the issue in an interview with new RISD board president Justin Bono. Bono responded reasonably in my opinion:

I don’t know that single member districts would accomplish what proponents want or make a board more effective, just given how our district is laid out. Our board would welcome a more diverse pool of candidates and colleagues, and we’re focused on getting more diversity on strategic planning committees, diversity of backgrounds and geography as well, so that there is a greater pool of potential board candidates. Ultimately, it has to be the right time for any candidate to step into board service.

Source: Lake Highlands Advocate.