The Richardson City Council began consideration of a request for a Special Development Plan with a reminder of the vision for the Interurban Sub-district: "To create an edgy, mixed-use district built upon the existing bones of the district, focusing on adaptive reuse of existing buildings and targeted infill development. Exterior building materials should promote design creativity and unify the eclectic style envisioned for the Sub-district."
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Netflix
"Hindu temples stand,
throughout the Monkey Forest,
Nature's bandits close."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 04 06 Bali |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in the Monkey Forest of Ubud on the Indonesian island of Bali. About a thousand long-tailed macaque monkeys live in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is also home to three Hindu temples. Let's stipulate up front that the monkeys love stealing from the tourists and the tourists love seeing the monkeys do it. They can unscrew water bottles and unzip backpacks and purses and reach inside pockets. Keep your hats, sunglasses, cameras, food (especially food) to yourself and out of reach of the monkeys (better yet out of sight of the monkeys), and no one will get hurt (probably). Otherwise, all bets are off.
"Bali's Hindu charm,
Temple by Lake Bratan where
Nature and gods meet."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 04 06 Bali |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Bali is Indonesia's only Hindu-majority province. With its temples, music, dance, painting, and, of course, beaches and resorts, there's something for almost any tourist. Our photo is of Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. The temple complex is on the shores of Lake Bratan in the mountains near Bedugul in north-central Bali.
2024-02-08: Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) deserves a place in a "Profiles in Courage" for the 21st century. "A Princeton and Georgetown-educated PhD, a Marine veteran and a committee chairman, he had warned his GOP colleagues not to “pry open the Pandora’s box of perpetual impeachment.”" For that he was encircled and screamed at by his Republican colleagues.
In the Google Street View above, the fence around Dartmouth Elementary is in the foreground, and houses that are newly zoned to be outside the Dartmouth attendance zone are in the background. Right across the street from the school. This can't be the best solution Richardson ISD can come up with for needed school consolidation. I'm here with a better idea.
The Richardson City Council held a short meeting on February 19, 2024, where most of the substantive discussion took place behind closed doors, in executive session, which the public (and by that, I especially mean yours truly) was not privy to. So the rest of this blog post is based on conjecture.
The Richardson ISD announced that due to a severe budget shortfall, it is necessary to consolidate (i.e., close) five elementary schools. One of them is Springridge Elementary. Its students are to be reassigned mostly to Dartmouth Elementary. The big problem with that plan is that there isn't enough room at Dartmouth for all the students vacating Springridge.
The RISD's solution involves, first, reassigning 42 students who live in the Forestridge Elementary attendance area, but for various historical reasons were assigned to Springridge, back to Forestridge. And second, like dominos, changing an attendance boundary to reassign 113 Dartmouth students to Yale Elementary to create enough room to transfer the remaining 221 Springridge students to Dartmouth.
I thought I had a better solution.
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Disney+
"Five million souls live
with Ranjani's constant threat.
Lombok's restless heart."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 04 05 Lombok |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on the island of Lombok, Indonesia, about the same size as Bali, which is just to its west. Lombok is home to over 5 million Indonesians, one of whom is shown here. If Lombok makes the news in America, it's most likely because of a volcanic eruption. The island's geography is dominated by the 12,224 ft stratovolcano Mount Ranjani, an active volcano that had a large eruption as recently as 2010. One of the largest volcanic eruptions in world history occurred on Lombok in 1257.
"Volcanic islands,
Dragons roam in wild splendor.
Evolution's gift."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 04 04 Rinca |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on Rinca Island, home of Indonesia's Komodo National Park, populated by an estimated 5,700 giant lizards, or Komodo Dragons. We saw a dozen or so, from a safe distance. At least they told us we were safe.
The Richardson ISD Board of Trustees has a regular meeting Thursday, February 22, 2024. One of the (many) items on the agenda is this:
TOPIC Recommended Budget Reductions: Project RightsizeIn December, the Community Budget Steering Committee presented a series of recommendations to effectively “right-size” the budget...
The Administration Team will provide an update on the budget planning and recommendations for the Board’s consideration and feedback.
Source: Richardson ISD.
Donald Trump might be the Xenophobe-in-Chief, but both political parties are moving to the right on immigration. This will have a negative impact on GDP, posing threats to everything from Social Security to housing.
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"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it
never will."
— Frederick
Douglass.
Frederick Douglass is not wrong, just incomplete. He was referencing slavery. It took a Civil War to get Texans (and other Southerners, but I live in Texas so let's keep this close to home) to concede their power to hold other human beings in bondage. When it comes to much less consequential matters, people sometimes concede power without a second thought. Sometimes they might not even realize that's what they're doing. The Richardson City Council is in process of ceding power to the Mayor, without a demand. It's an implicit power that Richardson Mayors have wielded since forever, soon to be made explicit by a compliant City Council. See "Committee Appointments" in "Council Recap: Rules of Procedure" for details.
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| From 2023 04 01 Darwin |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on our visit to Darwin, our last stop in Australia. The interior decorator on the Viking Mars cruise ship that we traveled on had a monochrome design fetish, as the bookshelves in various public rooms were ordered by color. Just wanting to mess with their heads, I sometimes swapped a book from one shelf to another, just to see how long it would take before the staff put things back in Viking's preferred order. I was never disappointed.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
"Jaws in midair snap.
Darwin's wild heartbeat revealed.
River spectacle."
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| From 2023 04 01 Darwin |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken about 45 miles from Darwin, Australia. It was taken from a boat on the Adelaide River, billed as the "Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise." Was it spectacular? See for yourself.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
Source: Nationhood Lab.
The last few days have seen a confluence of gun tragedy. A shooting death in the church of Joel Osteen ("church" used loosely) in Houston and a shooting death (and 21 wounded) at a Superbowl rally in Kansas City. More and more, mourning for the dead has barely begun before new dead take their place in the headlines.
"7. REVIEW AND DISCUSS COUNCIL RULES OF PROCEDURE"
With that innocuous wording, the Richardson City Council took up a question that has long puzzled me. That is, why don't City Councilmembers drive change in the City of Richardson? I attributed it partly to lack of will, but also partly to confusion over whether they even have the power to set the agendas for the City Council meetings. If it's not on the agenda, they can't deliberate it, they can't make motions for it, and they can't pass the motions that bring change.
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"Car stops, man offers
to show us Thursday Island
On his Thursday off."
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| From 2023 03 30 Thursday Island |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on Thursday Island, in the Torres Strait between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea. It's Australia's top pub, that is, its northernmost pub. There's not much else on the island so my guess is that it gets a lot of the island's business.
Ellen and I were hiking up to what's left of the historic, hilltop fort when a man in a car stopped and offered to give us a lift. He worked for the Australian border service and had the day off. So he gave us a panoramic tour of the hilltop, then offered to drive us around the rest of the island. We took him up on his offer and received the best personal tour available.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
"Safe zone amid waves,
Jellyfish safely kept out.
Lone camper's haven."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 28 Cairns |
Another port in Queensland, another (almost) empty beach. Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. There is one lone camper on the beach. Beaches in Queensland are plagued with jellyfish, whose stings are painful. This beach has one safe zone for swimming. Halfway down the beach, you can see the floats for a net used to keep swimmers separated from the jellyfish. In the foreground you can see one lone camper sitting in the sun and enjoying reading a book.
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The Richardson City Council held a worksession February 5, 2024, to receive an update on the new City Hall and Library projects. The schematic design of City Hall is now complete and design development is beginning. There are enough details for the City Council and the public to have a good idea of what our new City Hall will look like. The new Library is farther along, with construction to begin in March, 2024.
The City Council and City Plan Commission (CPC) held a joint worksession February 5, 2024, to review progress on updating the City's Comprehensive Plan. Regular readers know just how much importance I place on this opportunity to reform Richardson's outdated regulations that limit a denser built environment, mixed-use developments, transit-oriented developments, missing-middle and affordable housing, and safe streets for bicycles and pedestrians.
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Source: DALL-E.
The Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, March 10, 2024. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right? Regardless, I've ranked the movies in order of my preference for "Best Picture."
"Empty Queensland beach,
First-aid stations ready for
Jellyfish stings."
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| From 2023 03 27 Townsville |
Another port in Queensland, another empty beach. Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The beach is empty in part because of the presence of jellyfish. Beaches in Australia have first-aid stations with bottles of vinegar to douse yourself with if you happen to fall victim to these beautiful but nasty sea creatures. Oh, also, beware of the crocodiles.
After the jump, a view of Townsville.
"Reef's empty allure
spoiled by fear of jellyfish.
Caution in the waves."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 26 Airlie Beach |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia, the self-proclaimed "Heart of the Reef." The "reef" referred to is, of course, the Great Barrier Reef. The beautiful beach is empty, perhaps because swimming is definitely not recommended without a wet suit because of the high risk of jellyfish stings.
The City of Richardson held its annual State of the City Address on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, highlighting the City's achievements in 2023. I'm here to give my instant feedback.
2024-01-01: "At age 20, we worry about what others think of us.
At age 40, we don't care what they think of us.
At age 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all."
-- Ann Landers (1918-2002).
At age 20, we thought Ann Landers was embarrassing.
At age 40, we conceded that she sometimes knew what she was talking about.
At age 60, we missed her dearly.
Recently, a spill of detergent from a car wash into a tributary of Richardson's Cottonwood Creek turned the water red. The good news is that, according to the City of Richardson, "the spill has been successfully cleaned, and water quality tests show normal results."
My compliments to the City of Richardson for its reaction and its communications about this incident. My compliments also to Councilmember Dan Barrios for elaborating about the spill in his own Facebook posts.
Now, it's my own turn. I want to elaborate on something Barrios said.
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I do have niggling questions regarding French court trials. Are people allowed to interrupt testimony and give soliloquys repeatedly? Are prosecutors allowed to use more time explaining their theory of the crime than asking witnesses to testify as to the facts of the case?
"Brisbane's pride shines bright.
A photo frozen in time:
Lions' hopeful start."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 24 Brisbane |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The "Lions" being cheered for by the skywriting (or "barracked" for, as this is Australia) are the Brisbane Lions of the Australian Football League (AFL). This photo was taken at the beginning of last season in March, 2023. It's old news now, but in September, 2023, the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood Magpies played before a capacity crowd of 100,024 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the AFL's Grand Final. It was a close match won by Collingwood 90-86. Here's hoping that America's Detroit Lions in the National Football League have a happier result in their own NFL Western Conference championship game this Sunday. Go Lions.
"Nature and steel meet.
City's heart in river's bend.
Brisbane's beauty shines."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 24 Brisbane |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. That's the big bend of the Brisbane River in the foreground, the Botanic Gardens on the left, and the skyline of Brisbane's city centre in the background. Brisbane is a walkable, beautiful, vibrant city.
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The 2024 Oscar nominations, as always, snub some worthy movies. This year, however, only one movie that received an "A" grade from The Wheel didn't make the Oscar Best Picture list. More on that later.
The Richardson ISD will hold an election for Board of Trustees on May 4, 2024. Two seats are up for election: Single-member Place 1, currently held by Megan Timme, and At Large Place 7, currently held by Chris Poteet.
Chris Poteet is the only candidate who has filed to run, according to the RISD's elections filings page. Megan Timme's plans are unknown by me. No challenger has yet filed for either seat yet. Deadline to file is February 16, 2024.
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"Manfredi tempts with
Italian dishes sublime.
Next time, translate first."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 22 Newcastle |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at sea aboard the cruise ship Viking Mars, sailing from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. They say you should travel and experience new places, people, and cuisines. That's how Ellen and I ended up in Manfredi's®, a specialty restaurant featuring Italian dishes, with an appetizer of Carpaccio di Polpo in front of Ellen. Who knew it translates to thinly sliced octopus served raw? We didn't. Did she eat it? You'll have to ask her.
"Surfers carve the sea.
Newcastle's big waves dance high.
Kangaroos in flight."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 22 Newcastle |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Surfest in Newcastle "is the largest surfing festival in the southern hemisphere," according to its own marketing material. Our day in Newcastle happily coincided with the 2023 festival.
Today's bestest good news: Today I Learned that so-called peak carbon emissions may be at hand, thanks to the growth of solar and wind power.
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11° and snow. This is what Dallas woke up to this morning. It's like Christmas morning. It's how we know the Packers were here and left a lump of coal in Jerry Jones's stocking and flew home to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
