Monday, August 11, 2025

Richardson Town Hall at Tzu Chi

Source: Mark Steger.

Mayor Amir Omar and Councilmember Dan Barrios held a town hall meeting at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. About 100 persons attended. I grade the exercise an "A" for turnout, participation, and openness of the mayor and council member in their answers to questions raised by the audience. The two hour time allotted to this seemed right to me, but there wasn't enough time to get to all the questions.

Sunday, August 10, 2025

POTD: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

"First night together,
Rome glows with celebration.
Chestnuts crack and steam."


— h/t ChatGPT
From 2024 12 22 Rome

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Piazza Navona in Rome. It was the first night of our whole family being together to celebrate Christmas in Rome. A holiday tradition all over Italy (and in plenty of other places in the world) is roasting chestnuts (castagne arrosto) over open charcoal braziers. They are served piping hot in paper cones. Here, a stranger enjoys the tradition.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

Saturday, August 9, 2025

POTD: Piazza Navona

"Now the square holds us,
not in flesh, but in recall.
Rome keeps what we lost."


— h/t ChatGPT
From 2024 12 22 Rome

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Piazza Navona in Rome. It was the first night of our whole family being together to celebrate Christmas in Rome. Little did we know it was to be the last such family vacation. We ate at an outdoor restaurant in the piazza. The piazza "is built on the site of the 1st century AD Stadium of Domitian and follows the form of the open space of the stadium in an elongated oval. The ancient Romans went there to watch the agones ('games'), and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis' ('competition arena')."

Bonus photos are after the jump.

Thursday, August 7, 2025

POTD: Richardson's Budget Workshop - Day 2

The Richardson City Council held a two day budget workshop to set the 2025-2026 budget.

On the first day, they reviewed the General Fund. on this, the second day, they focused on the five other largest funds: water/sewer, drainage, solid waste, golf, and hotel/motel.

The City summary of budget recommendations from Day 1:

  • Property tax rate remains unchanged. Because of rising property values, this will result in new tax revenue.
  • Senior Tax Exemption increase from $145,000 to $160,000
  • 2.5% merit-based pay adjustments for all employees and an additional 2.0% in April 2026 for sworn public safety
  • Increasing the minimum starting salary for full-time and permanent part-time positions to $21.00
  • No change to the Streets and Alleys Rehabilitation, Facilities Maintenance, or Parks Maintenance Programs
  • No change to the Economic Development Fund

The Pitt (TV 2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

The Pitt (TV 2025): Hour by hour, a day shift in a hospital ER in Pittsburgh. Lots of fast talking by impressively talented doctors. Watching each episode is like binging an entire season of another show. There's no overall plot; each patient, each doctor has a story. The whole is so much more than its parts. A-

HBO Max