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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Cuypers Library in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. The museum is home of thousands of masterpieces by artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer. But the Rijksmuseum is also home to a fantastic research library.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the gables of a row of canal houses in Amsterdam. The story we heard is that the style of these gables evolved over the decades and centuries, with older styles losing favor and new styles arising as the architecture fashion changed.
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#VeryTardyReview
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Ellen and I cruised the Mediterranean Sea with a Viking ocean cruise. Here are the daily posts we made reporting our progress.
1. Guess where we are.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a bicycle on a bridge over a canal in Amsterdam. Bicycles and canals seem to be Amsterdam's signature impressions. This one is doing its best to stand out.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a sculpture on a canal in Amsterdam: Vrouw met Stola (Woman with Shawl), by Pieter d’Hont. He made eleven copies beginning in 1957. This one was placed here in 1996, after previously having been vandalized and dumped in a canal. So the stories about bikes in the canals are true, and it's not just bikes that end up in canals.
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Source: Troy Oxford.
Tim Rogers of D Magazine wrote about the Central Expressway speed trap that exists called Fairview. If you don't know about Fairview, it's that's small city of 9,000 between Allen and McKinney east of Central Expressway. It makes up for its small size with hustle on the highway. Mile for mile, Fairview writes 3 times as many traffic tickets on Central Expressway as McKinney, and a whopping 35 times more than Allen.
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After the jump, more random thoughts.
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#VeryTardyReview
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the most famous of Amsterdam's canal houses: the Anne Frank House. Seventy five years on, tickets to enter the house, now a museum, still sell out days ahead of time. But tourists come by anyway to see the house from the outside.
Bonus photo after the jump.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is a classic look at Amsterdam's canal houses. There are miles and miles of canals in the old city center, all of them lined with canal houses.
The ad from Donald Trump, Jr., says, "My father is the Great MAGA King." It says the hat was "personally designed" by Donald himself. History lesson: since the United States Constitution was adopted in 1789, there has not been any serious movement for another King George III ruling America. Until now, maybe. My first thought was to mock Trump for not knowing American history, but on further thought, the lack of a monarchy in the USA may be what attracts him to the idea of crowning himself king. He's been President. How did that work out for him? Why not try king? His MAGA cult already stormed the Capitol for him once. Why would we think they would hesitate to toss out the Constitution altogether and genuflect to King Donald the First?
Where Am I Wednesday!
Fifty points to the first person to identify where this photo was taken.
Answer is after the jump.
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Given thorough review and amendments in 2020, Staff has no recommended additions or changes.Source: City of Richardson.
And with that, in 17 and a half minutes the Richardson City Council rushed through another biennial review of its Code of Ethics, making no changes.
Today's photo-of-the-day is of unidentified riders on the Windsurf ride on the Midway at the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park in Dallas. Despite appearances, the photo is upside right.
If you haven't caught the State Fair yet, you have only one more day to do so. It closes today.
All photos from the 2022 State Fair of Texas can be found on Google Photos.
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Midway at the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park in Dallas.
During the recent Richardson ISD school board election, I wrote a lot of blog posts (a lot) about the incendiary and false charges being leveled by extreme right-wing candidates against public education. But I have to say, nothing they wrote compares to this outrageous claim in a mailer by Angie Chen Button.
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Source: The Hamlet Syndrome.
Between the May public hearing and the June codification into ordinance, one Council Member flip-flopped his vote from "yes" to "no", denying a special use permit for a smoking establishment in Richardson. Now, in October, the Richardson City Council voted 6-1 to approve a special use permit for a smoking establishment for the same restaurant, reversing that 4-3 vote in June. This time, three Council Members flip-flopped their votes from "no" to "yes." The codification of this latest vote into ordinance will follow, assuming the Council is now done flip-flopping. Armchair psychiatry is stupid, but here I go anyway. What's with this Hamlet Syndrome on Richardson City Council?
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a caricature artist at the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park in Dallas.
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a steer entered in the Youth Market Livestock Show at the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park in Dallas.
Bonus photo is after the jump.
From The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples, by David Gilmour:
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I was astounded by the next words of Signor Rossi, who twenty years earlier had been minister of education. ‘You know, Davide,’ he said in a low conspiratorial voice, as if nervously uttering a heresy, ‘Garibaldi did Italy a great disservice. If he had not invaded Sicily and Naples, we in the north would have the richest and most civilized state in Europe.’ After looking round the room at the other guests, he added in an even lower voice, ‘Of course to the south we would have a neighbour like Egypt.’ "
Cramming 2,500 years of history and culture into a dense 400 pages, this book focuses on Italy's divisions. It's a wonder that Italy ever came together into a single modern state. That didn't happen until the 1860s. Maybe it hasn't happened yet. B+
After the jump, my full review.
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At the end of a five hour meeting held at the Richardson Police Department, the Richardson City Council voted 6-1 to approve a special use permit for smoking for the "Another Time & Place" restaurant. I applaud the City Council for where they ended up in the vote, but how the Council got to "yes" was embarrassing. The pre-bout betting line was anything but a sure thing. In the end, the lopsided vote belied the jabs and uppercuts that preceded it during the Council deliberations on the matter. Brawl is an overstatement in comparison with, say, a Dallas City Council meeting, but it was a dustup by Richardson standards, where Council Members usually show deference to one another and votes are often unanimous.
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#VeryTardyReview
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Today's photo-of-the-day is of Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park in Dallas.
Bonus photo of Big Tex from head to toe (and Big "L") is after the jump.
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park in Dallas.
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#VeryTardyReview
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#VeryTardyReview
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Today's photo-of-the-day is of a map in a brochure we received in the mail from Viking Cruises advertising their European river cruises in 2023-2024. Think of it as our wish book. Where will we go? The Rhine? Danube? Elbe? Seine? Rhone? Douro? Wait. What happened to the Volga? We had a great vacation in 2018 on the Volga, sailing the "Waterways of the Tsars", but I don't see us getting to go back again. That red oval on the map (added by me) encircles the terra incognita that Russia has become for Western tourists since Vladimir Putin decided to become Ivan the Terrible.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Amsterdam. Why the Grand Café of the Crown Prince would have the Statue of Liberty over its door was never discovered. The outdoor seating area offered great views of the street scene. We just had appetizers and dessert. Bitterballen was new to us. Apple strudel wasn't, but it is hard to imagine improving on the Grand Café's version.
Bonus photo after the jump.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Amsterdam. It captures many aspects of the Amsterdam experience in one photo: canals and canal houses, bicycles, and views of church steeples. Look at how those bicycles are parked. A side benefit of getting cars off the streets is that not only do you need less pavement for cars to drive on, you also need fewer parking lots and garages to park them. Amsterdam remains one of our favorite cities.
After the jump, more random thoughts.
What's the best form of government? Winston Churchill reportedly arrived at the answer from the opposite end of the spectrum. "Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." That settles the question. Or does it?
In The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik reviews Jedediah Purdy's book, "Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy Is Flawed, Frightening-and Our Best Hope."
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Where Am I Wednesday?
Fifty points to the first person to identify where this photo was taken.
Answer is after the jump.
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The City of Richardson's zoning ordinances allow for special use permits for smoking establishments after ensuring "safeguards as are necessary to protect adjoining property, as well as the public health, safety, morals and general welfare." A Richardson restaurant owner applied for a special use permit. His application was considered by the City Plan Commission, where it was approved 5-2 and will be considered next by the City Council. I want to examine those two negative votes more closely.
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| From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam |
Today's photo-of-the-day shows the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Amsterdam. But the real focus is on the bicycles. Amsterdam is a city of bikes. And canals, of course, but it was the bikes that surprised us. They are everywhere. They are used not just for exercising, but for commuting to work and school and shopping and dining. Central city pedestrians (like us) learn quickly to look left and right first for bicycles, then for street cars, finally for the real cars. What looks chaotic at first quickly settles into a natural rhythm. Amsterdam turned out to be our favorite city.
