Dr. Stone in the Superintendent Spotlight

The Texas Tribune hosted a forum, Superintendent Spotlight, that featured three school superintendents from north Texas. They were Michael Hinojosa (Dallas), Kent Scribner (Fort Worth), and Dr. Jeannie Stone, former superintendent of Richardson ISD. The discussion was moderated by The Texas Tribune's Evan Smith. This is the first time that I have seen that Dr. Stone has talked on camera since her departure from the RISD in December, 2021. Read on for Dr. Stone on learning during the pandemic, on mask mandates, on critical race theory, on equity/diversity/inclusion, on book banning, and on why she quit.

The Outfit (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Outfit (2022): Tense, psychological thriller out of the 1950s. A tailor is caught up in a gang war. Like a stage play, all action takes place in one shop in one night. The story goes from slow burn to boil over several times. Mark Rylance shines. Others are stereotypes. A-

Richardson Police vs City of Richardson

We've been following this story for almost a year. It was in April of 2021 that Richardson Police Officer Kayla Walker spoke at a City Council meeting to allege an illegal ticket quota system imposed on RPD officers. The City denied the allegation. Now Officer Walker and David Conklin have filed a lawsuit against the City. The Dallas Morning News and others have the basics of the story. The lawsuit itself can be found on the Dallas County Courts portal. It contains the details.

CODA (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

CODA (2021): Child of deaf adults is torn between keeping her family fishing business afloat and going to music school. Taut script that leads step by step to a predictable ending. Heartwarming, like a Hallmark movie, but not original. Featuring deaf actors is a nice touch. B-

Meaningless Council Boundaries Shift Again

"A public hearing on Richardson City Council boundaries will take place Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. in the council chambers." So says a story in The Dallas Morning News. That story leaves out the fact that the boundaries have about zero impact on politics in our city. Richardson doesn't have a single-member district electoral system, "the most common and best-known electoral system currently in use in America". Instead, in Richardson all council members are elected at-large. Whichever area of Richardson turns out the most voters can elect all council members for the whole city. Whichever racial or ethnic or religious group turns out the most voters can elect all council members for the whole city. Not a hint of that in the news story. The DMN story reads more like a press release from the City of Richardson. Which it probably was. So much for getting good local news coverage out of the area's only daily newspaper.

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By the way, the two options being presented to the public were drawn up by the City Plan Commission. Oh, it wasn't called the City Plan Commission. It was called the Council District Boundary Commission. Was it just a coincidence that the latter was made up of exactly the members of the former? Hardly. No other option was even considered. The City Council had an opportunity to live up to their adopted goal to "Promote avenues for public engagement and input," including "Evaluate opportunities to promote service of boards and commissions and to broaden the diversity of applicants." They could have recruited members of the public who haven't been picked for all the other boards and commissions. This could have been a good avenue for broadening public engagement and input. Like the headline says, the district boundaries are meaningless. What's the risk in picking some newbies for the commission? It's not like the commission can adopt anything. Adoption is still left to the City Council. But nyah. Those goals were always more PR exercise than promises to live up to. So go ahead. Study the two options like it means anything. Flip a coin. Pick either one.

The Adam Project (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Adam Project (2022): Pilot from 2050 travels back to 2018, teams up with himself as a kid to destroy the time machine and prevent the bad history to come. Steals from other sci-fi. It's really all about reconciliation with dad. Family-friendly fare. Smart aleck kid stars. B-

POTD: The Swing

The Swing, by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
   Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
   Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
   Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
   Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,
   Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
   Up in the air and down!

Source: The Swing.

Review: Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future

From Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert

That man should have dominion “over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,” is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. Choose just about any metric you want and it tells the same story. People have, by now, directly transformed more than half the ice-free land on earth—some twenty-seven million square miles—and indirectly half of what remains."
	Amazon

Kolbert opens her book with the prophecy of man's dominion over all the earth. Until very recently, that fact was considered an unalloyed good thing, a sign of God's favor, a sign of human progress. Only recently have we recognized the downsides to our dominion. Kolbert closes her book with this summary, "This has been a book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems." Those problems were originally introduced by us exercising our dominion.

Playing "Follow the Money" with History

Source: Boston Seaport.

Boston Tea Party or Amusement Park Ride

The culture wars being waged in state legislatures around the country are making teaching an impossible profession.

There’s a rock, and a hard place, and then there’s a classroom. Consider the dilemma of teachers in New Mexico. In January, the month before the state’s Public Education Department finalized a new social-studies curriculum that includes a unit on inequality and justice in which students are asked to “explore inequity throughout the history of the United States and its connection to conflict that arises today,” Republican lawmakers proposed a ban on teaching “the idea that social problems are created by racist or patriarchal societal structures and systems.” The law, if passed, would make the state’s own curriculum a crime.

Source: The New Yorker.

This all reminds me of when I used to "help" my sons with their history lessons in elementary school.

Lucy and Desi (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Lucy and Desi (2022): Amy Poehler's documentary about DesiLu, the original power couple in Hollywood. Talented, ambitious workaholics. Doesn't shed much new light on the well-publicized famous couple. This homage pairs nicely with last year's drama "Being the Ricardos." B-

TIL: Education is an Art, not a Science

Today I learned education is an art, not a science. Before I get to how I learned that, let's go back to last week, when I couldn't understand why Richardson ISD needed to hire a consultant to develop an RISD Graduate Profile. Here's a profile that I offer to RISD, for free. A graduate is a person who is curious. Period. That's it. If you aren't curious, you haven't been educated. If you are curious, you're set for lifelong learning. QED.

Lead Me Home (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Lead Me Home (2021): Oscar-nominated documentary short. Portrait of homelessness on West Coast. Lets the people and encampments do the talking. It's a big problem now and it's just getting bigger as it's swept under the rug. B+

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My ranking of the five nominees:

• Lead Me Home: B+
• Three Songs for Benazir: Life in a refugee camp in Afghanistan. Focus is on Shaista and his wife Benazir, two normal kids in a world that's messed up. B+
• Audible: Follows a high school football team of deaf players. Doesn't heroize or exploit. The kids have the dreams and tragedies of everyone. B-
• The Queen of Basketball: Portrait of “Lucie” Harris, the first women's basketball superstar. Great subject, mostly her talking. B-
• When We Were Bullies: Not available. Grade TBD.
  (Update: May 20, 2022: Film maker relives an instance of him bullying another kid in his childhood and interviews old classmates about what they remember. Tactless bullying the kid all over again, in adulthood. C-)

Turning Red (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Turning Red (2022): Pixar. Adolescent girl's anxieties strain her relationship with mother. Outbreaks turn her into a giant red panda. She works through it. It's all part of growing up. 13-year-old girls should like it. Mothers, maybe not. Boys? Dunno. Lost on younger kids. B-

Robin Robin (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Robin Robin (2021): 32 minute Oscar-nominated animated short. Orphaned robin is raised by a family of mice who sneak into houses for crumbs. Nothing special here, but executed well. Sweet, funny, uplifting, family-friendly. B+

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My ranking of the five nominees:

• Robin Robin (UK): B+
• Boxballet (Russia): Beat-up boxer falls in love with a beautiful ballerina. Opposites attract. B+
• The Windshield Wiper (US, Spain): Asks "What is Love?" and answers in vignettes that show a lack of connection. B-
• Affairs of the Art (Canada): Pickled animals. Stuffed pets. Macabre art. One strange and creepy family. B-
• Bestia (Chile): Ceramic doll with a bullet hole in her head recreates atrocities of the Pinochet regime. Jarring. B-

How Does RISD Measure Success?

Source: RISD.

Graduation. Then What?

The RISD Board of Trustees passed a motion, 5-0 (with District 1 trustee Megan Timme absent and the District 5 seat vacant), to partner with "Engage 2 Learn" in the development of an "RISD Graduate Profile." My first reaction was, "What? Don't we already know that?"

Sign of a Thaw in RISD Board Room?

Every month, the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees holds a regular meeting, as well as a worksession, and sometimes a special called meeting. The public can attend. Agendas are published. Video is available. It's all very transparent. Except for those pesky agenda items labeled "Enter Closed Meeting." The Texas Open Meetings Act allows secret meetings on a narrow range of subjects. The board agenda only needs to state what the subject of a secret meeting is. No detail is required, no minutes, no video. That leads to a cottage industry of speculation of what's going on behind closed doors. This month's RISD board meeting was different in one significant way. It's time to speculate about what it means.

TIL: Who Deserves Rights is Evolving

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Source: Declaration of Independence.

All men? Self-evident? 246 years ago, those unalienable rights didn't extend to women and even less so to Blacks. Try to predict what will be considered "self-evident" rights 246 years from now. It's hard. The only thing I'm sure of is that the notions of "common sense" will appear much different to our descendants than they do to us today.

Ala Kachuu (2021)

IMDB

Ala Kachuu (2021): Oscar-nominated live-action short. Kyrgyz girl who dreams of higher education is kidnapped and forced to marry. A cultural practice there openly accepted as proper, we see as barbaric. Depressing. Well-acted. Beautiful cinematography. Best of 5 nominees. A-

 

 

 

 

 

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My ranking of the five nominees:

• Ala Kachuu - Take and Run (Switzerland/Kyrgyzstan): A-
• The Dress (Poland): Portrait of a lonely hotel maid with dwarfism. A-
• On My Mind (Denmark): Portrait of a man who uses karaoke to deal with loss. B+
• Please Hold (US): Man is unjustly incarcerated in an automated, robotic prison. B+
• The Long Goodbye (UK): Wedding in immigrant household is interrupted by a raid. B+

The Courier (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Courier (2021): Cold War spy movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is a businessman recruited to smuggle secrets out of USSR. Game gets riskier as his friendship with a Russian spy grows. Not a James Bond action movie. Instead it's based on real life, meaning the stakes are real. B+

The King's Man (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The King's Man (2021): A prequel no one needed. WWI fan fiction. British aristocratic spy puts himself in the center of every important event of WWI. Really bad history. Over the top, but not in a knowing, wink-wink way. Probably baffling to many. A waste of time. C-

TIL: Why Sea Level Rise is not the Same Everywhere

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Years ago, I saw a photo of a buoy in a harbor somewhere, with a caption saying the sea level was the same as it was 100 years ago. "Proof" was provided in a photo of the same buoy from 100 years ago. The sea level was indeed the same in the two photos. The photos were offered as proof that global warming and sea level rise were all a great hoax. What gives, I thought?

That was years ago, but that "proof" always bothered me more than it ever seemed to bother climatologists. This month, Wired magazine published an article that answers the question that's bothered me all these years. What gives? Read on.

Thank a Poll Worker Today

The life of a democratic republic hangs in the balance. No, I'm not speaking of Ukraine. I'm speaking about American democracy. Our democracy rests on a foundation of free and fair elections. Those are becoming more difficult to run. Even before the 2020 election, a majority of Americans didn't trust elections. The 2020 election only made things worse. The loser refused to concede. 147 members of Congress voted to overturn the election results. A mob of insurrectionists invaded the US Capitol to force the matter. Election "workers became the target of vote-rigging conspiracy theories that put them in physical danger and threatened their livelihoods." Nineteen states enacted new voting regulations in 2021, increasing the red tape not just for voters but for election workers as well in an effort to eliminate suspected voter fraud. Some want laws that would enact jail time and/or big fines for election workers who make innocent mistakes.

Is it any wonder that getting people to work at polling places on election day is getting harder and harder? Like a vicious circle, accusations of fraud lead to fewer people willing to accept the risk, which in turn leads to understaffing at polling places, which leads to more mistakes, which ends with accusations of fraud multiplying.

Random Thoughts: Tom Brady's Retirement

Tweets from February, 2022:

• 2022-02-01: Local New York City TV station news announces Tom Brady's retirement. How a news story can be true but still slanted at the same time.
• 2022-02-01: One of my several daily emails from Donald Trump: "I have something important to tell you but you CANNOT share this with anyone." DON'T tell TFG, but I'm going to share. I can buy a lottery ticket for a lunch at Mar-a-Lago. Do any of these lotteries ever award anything to anyone?
• 2022-02-01: Gov. Abbott in nice weather and Gov. Abbott staring at a winter storm. Different stories then and now.
• 2022-02-02: Munich: The Edge of War (2022): Dramatization of Munich Conference on eve of WWII. Fictional characters and events turn it into a thriller and add suspense. Neville Chamberlain gets an overdue sympathetic treatment. Hitler is still a monster. Good acting throughout. B+
• 2022-02-02: Fact check: Quote tweeted by GOP congressman came from neo-Nazi convicted for child porn, not Voltaire. Uh oh. Pro-tip: If a quote from a famous historical figure sounds like it's perfect to make your point, it's probably fake.

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Girls5Eva (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Girls5Eva (TV 2021): 4 members of a '90s girls group reunite to give fame another try. A TV sit-com where the 4 characters never jell. There's no reason to believe they were ever friends. The wit is forced, like jokes picked up from the rejects on the floor of a writers' room. C-

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021): Skewers Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell as frauds who care more about money and power than Jesus. Jessica Chastain's Tammy Faye is treated more sympathetically, more willing dupe who does care about people. She deserves Best Actress nom. B-

"Affordable" Housing Coming to Plano

There are different definitions of "affordable housing." One apartment project in Plano is described in The Dallas Morning News: "The development would include 128 units set aside for households at or below 60% of the area’s median income. The remaining units would have no income restrictions. The median income for the city is approximately $95,000 a year."

More important than the exact definition (for me) is that at least Plano has some developments with a target for affordability. Any project that comes before Richardson's CPC or City Council seeking a zoning change should be required to meet a target as well.

TIL: The Return of Great Power Rivalries

Source: Diplomacy.

The 20th Century dawned as a true multipolar world. The world in 1914 was dominated by Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia, the Ottoman Empire. But when the sun set at the end of the 20th Century, we lived in a unipolar world, a Pax Americana.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has an opinion piece in the New York Times in which she updates us on what's happened in the first twenty years of the 21st Century.

Marry Me (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Marry Me (2022): Rom-com with regular guy Owen Wilson and worldwide celebrity Jennifer Lopez. Implausible opposites-attract premise but the leads sell it, making suspension of disbelief possible. Predictable, sure, but easy to watch. J.Lo gets several singing opportunities. B-

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Nightmare Alley (2021): Surprisingly, not a horror movie. A carnival grifter running a con as a mentalist sets his sights on richer marks until the stakes get deadly. The story arc is too pat, but the look and feel are superb. 1940s film noir just like the great movies of old. B+

First Impressions of RISD School Board Candidates

The Richardson ISD has called an election for school board trustees for May 7, 2022. Three of the seven seats on the board will be decided. The deadline for candidate filings has closed. We now know who will be on the ballot. Nine candidates have filed for the three seats. It's too early to make recommendations, but it's not too early to have first impressions. As they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Here are mine.

Explore the Core with the Mayor(s)

Richardson Mayor Paul Voelker led a walk today, accompanied by two former mayors (Gary Slagel and Steve Mitchell), the mayor pro tem (Janet DePuy), and about two dozen members of the public. We "explored the Core" as the mayor put it. We walked from the Lockwood District, across Belt Line Rd to the Heights Shopping Center, across Central Expressway to historic downtown Main Street and on to Greenville Ave., then south Polk Street, then back to the Lockwood Distilling Co. for drinks. We stopped frequently for the mayor to explain the history and ongoing and planned redevelopment.

For years, I've criticized parts of the City's redevelopment efforts, but I have to admit that the mayor makes the best spokesman for the City's efforts in this area. While I'm not ready to concede on all points, I'm also not saying categorically I was right and the City was wrong. If the City had waited until everyone was pleased, possibly nothing might have ever gotten done. As President Theodore Roosevelt said about the construction of the Panama Canal, "I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate, and while the debate goes on the Canal does too." Richardson downtown redevelopment does, too.

Review: The Midnight Library

From The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

‘Between life and death there is a library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’ "
	Amazon

That excerpt tells pretty much the whole story. Woman attempts suicide. Between life and death, she's given the chance to see all the lives she might have lived. Does she find the ideal life for her? Does she rekindle her will to live? She does learn an important life lesson. It's a straightforward story, not very deep.

Binge Watching the RISD School Board

After the sturm und drang of school politics in 2021, I was looking for things to settle down in 2022. So I thought it was time to check in on a Richardson ISD school board meeting. Here are my random observations of the first three hours of the February 15th meeting. Yeah, it was a long meeting. Watching it felt a little like binge-watching a not-particularly-compelling season of a TV show on Netflix.

Death on the Nile (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Death on the Nile (2022): Kenneth Branagh's homage to Agatha Christie. An old time whodunnit with no emotional stakes. Look elsewhere for an anti-colonialist message film. This is just a romp in 1937 Egypt with a bunch of rich foreigners played by a cast of rich celebrities. B+

The Book of Boba Fett (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Book of Boba Fett (TV 2021): Was a bounty hunter, now a crime boss on Tatooine, or maybe a frontier sheriff. We're never sure. Then we switch to the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda. Battle tactics are laughable. Plot is there to justify screen time for old Star Wars characters. C+

Drive My Car (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Drive My Car (2021): Japanese. Wife of stage actor/director dies suddenly. Husband deals with unanswered questions with help of a Chekhov play, fellow actors, and a young woman assigned to be his driver. The action is in their heads. Layers of symbolism. Sad. Wise. Powerful. A-

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021): Too many monsters/villains. Too many battles where no one wins, no one dies. Best part is the banter, at times sounding like a parody. Electro: "There's gotta be a Black Spider-Man out there somewhere." Needs more banter. Needs Miles Morales? B-

POTD: Wall Carvings in the Tomb of Rameses III

From 2019 11 22 Valley of the Kings

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was taken inside the tomb of Rameses III. The tomb is richly decorated with wall carvings and paintings. "During his long tenure [1186 to 1155 BCE] in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of the Late Bronze Age collapse, Egypt was beset by foreign invaders and experienced the beginnings of increasing economic difficulties and internal strife which would eventually lead to the collapse of the Twentieth Dynasty."

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: The Main Draw in the Valley of the Kings

From 2019 11 22 Valley of the Kings

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was taken at the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun ("King Tut"). This tomb is the only one of the several dozen tombs in the valley that was discovered intact by modern archaeologists, in 1922. All the others had been looted long ago. Of course, the modern archaeologists emptied Tut's tomb as well (we no longer say looted), all but for one item, Tut's mummy. I had to admit that the boy king looked pretty good for being 3,351 years old.

Bonus photo of the king himself after the jump.

Fargo - S01 (TV 2014)

Rotten Tomatoes

Fargo - S01 (TV 2014): Winter in Bemidji, Minnesota, where a mousy insurance salesman accidentally hires a hit man. Dead bodies pile up as things go from bad to worse. Engrossing black comedy with a large cast of quirky characters. I can't think of a thing to improve it. A+

#VeryTardyReview

Sweet Jesus, $47 Million? Partial Payment Request

The weekly Richardson City Council agendas are a rich source for conspiracy theories. An especially rich vein are the descriptions of the topics to be discussed in the secret Executive Sessions. Monday's agenda has this tantalizing nugget: "Consultation with City Attorney regarding JP — KBS Holdings, LLC Payment Request".

Parallels to Richardson in "The Accommodation"

"The Accommodation," Jim Schutze's classic 1986 history of race relations in Dallas, was reviewed here yesterday. Richardson is only mentioned a few times in the book, peripherally. Still, several paragraphs from the book reminded me of Richardson.

Review: The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City

From The Accommodation, by Jim Schutze

In 1950, for the second time in a decade, the City of Dallas was in serious danger of racial warfare. The dynamitings of Black middle-class homes had started again. None of the measures adopted after a wave of bombings ten years earlier had had lasting effect. The tendency of the city for organized and violent white aggression against Blacks seemed ineluctable. It was the chain that tied the city to a bloody past."

Amazon

This is Jim Schutze's classic 1986 history of race relations in Dallas. Peter Simek in "D Magazine" called it "the most dangerous book in Dallas." It was long out of print, rumored because of pressure by Dallas's white oligarchy. Now it's been re-released. From slavery to Jim Crow to the 1980s, it lays out how Dallas was run, leaving a legacy we still see today. It's eye-opening, a great read, a must read.

Munich: The Edge of War (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Munich: The Edge of War (2022): Dramatization of Munich Conference on eve of WWII. Fictional characters and events turn it into a thriller and add suspense. Neville Chamberlain gets an overdue sympathetic treatment. Hitler is still a monster. Good acting throughout. B+

Random Thoughts: Just a Ploy for More Money

Tweets from January, 2022:

• 2022-01-01: "Dallas recorded a 13% drop in homicides in 2021." Wait, what? Didn't the National Fraternal Order of Police just scream about "SKYROCKETING MURDER RATES." You don't think it was just a ploy for more money, do you?
• 2022-01-02: Guys, ask yourselves, "Have I told my wife even once this year, I love you?"
• 2022-01-03: RT: "Donald Trump releases a statement endorsing Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán for re-election, saying he 'truly loves his Country.'". A good pairing to my blog post about Anne Applebaum's article in The Atlantic: "The Bad Guys are Winning."
• 2022-01-04: Don't Look Up (2021): Two astronomers detect a comet headed towards Earth and can't convince anyone to care. Of course, half of America consider it Fake News. A satire that doesn't quite land because today's reality is satire. If it hits, we'll deserve it. Loaded with stars. B-
• 2022-01-05: The Matrix Resurrections (2021): Tired franchise resurrected with nothing new to add. Lots of dialog about how dead characters are alive again. Token "bullet time" fights. Overstuffed with world-building. No chemistry between Neo and Trinity. Keanu Reeves's hair is still good. C+

After the jump, more random thoughts.

The House (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

The House (2022): Three 30-minute stop-motion animations. Same house, different timelines. House is either haunted, infested with fur bugs, or infested with deadbeat renters. Not much in the way of plot. Quirky and weird. Kind of movie college kids might like to watch stoned. C+

The Righteous Gemstones - S01 (TV 2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Righteous Gemstones - S01 (TV 2019): Satire of a family of spoiled, selfish preachers at a megachurch. Plots involve blackmail and a heist but mostly it's the complicated family dynamics that drive the story. Blasphemous. Gratuitous nudity. Crude humor. Meh. C+

#VeryTardyReview

Richardson Doesn't Want Your Help Redistricting

Redistricting, or drawing new political boundaries, is something that happens every ten years after the Census is completed. The City of Richardson has to complete this exercise for City Council districts, but because of our at-large election system, the stakes are low. Creating districts that stretch and snake this way and that in order to predetermine the outcomes of elections is not an issue here. The City Council voted last Monday to appoint members of the City Plan Commission to a district boundary commission. The City Council missed an opportunity for opening an avenue for public engagement and input.

POTD: Inside the Burial Chamber of a Pharaoh

From 2019 11 22 Valley of the Kings

Today's photo-of-the-day is from deep inside a mountain in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was taken inside the (empty) burial chamber of Pharaoh Rameses IV (died 1149 BCE). The tomb was looted by grave robbers probably about three thousand years ago, along with the mummy of the pharaoh, so we thought it OK to smile and pose for photos. What? Too soon?