Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

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From The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce

Harold felt winded. If he moved so much as a limb, a muscle, he was afraid it would trigger an abundance of feeling he was doing his best to contain. Why had he left twenty years pass without trying to find Queenie Hennessy?"

After the jump, my review.

OTBR: A Wheat Field in the UK

Latitude: N 52° 18.702
Longitude: E 000° 19.710
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 last month that are "off the blue roads".

Repeat Tweets: Lyin' Ryan

Repeat tweets from August, 2012:

• 2012 08 06 - I wish Richardson would spend a tenth of the effort keeping residents informed about redevelopment plans as it does about mosquito spraying.
  
• 2012 08 06 - The Second Amendment was our Founding Fathers' biggest Fail, except for that whole thing about Slavery. #no-one-is-perfect
  
• 2012 08 08 - Life of Super-Earths, by Dimitry Sasselov: Surprising pairing of alien worlds and the origin of life. Easy read on the latest science. C+
  
• 2012 08 09 - "Nancy Brinker’s Komen shakeup too little and way too late" http://t.co/z0UcBcX7
  
• 2012 08 09 - Headline: "July Set Mark as U.S.’s Hottest Month" Weather isn't climate blah, blah, blah. OK, expect lots more weather like this. http://t.co/kI3nmPGv
  
• 2012 08 09 - Breaking: Greenhouse gases lead to global warming leads to extreme weather. ... Breaking news from 1997, that is.
  
• 2012 08 11 - Romney/Rand 2012: Bold VP pick by Romney -- a woman and an atheist for VP. But how is that possible? Isn't Ayn Rand dead? ... oh, nevermind.
  
• 2012 08 11 - McCain/Palin 2008. Romney/Ryan 2012. Why does the GOP keep putting their preferred candidate in the second slot of the ticket?
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Allen Eagles 24, Southlake Carroll Dragons 0

High school football is back in action. The Allen Eagles inaugurated their new stadium in style Friday night with a 24-0 shutout of the defending state champions Southlake Carroll Dragons. Attendance exceeded the 18,000 seating capacity of the stadium, as several thousand standing-room-only attendees lined the railings along the wide concourses of the new stadium.

What Does $60 Million Buy?

$60 million buys an 18,000 seat high school football stadium. That's the price tag approved by the voters of the Allen school district for a new stadium for the Allen Eagles football team. The Eagles' first game in their new stadium will be Friday night against the defending state champion Southlake Carroll Dragons. Naturally, it's a sellout.

After the jump, what $60 million does not buy.

Continental Inn Opens In Richardson

That's right. A new hotel. In southwest Richardson. And what a nice hotel at that. "Handsome." "Beautifully decorated." "Contemporary design." "Tropical surroundings." I don't know how I missed this news when it happened, but better late than never. Here it is. Enjoy.

October 12, 1960

The Dallas Continental Inn, recently completed in Richardson, opened to the public last weekend, and Texas-Oklahoma football fans quickly filled the handsome new Electronic City motor hotel and gathering place to capacity.

Dallas Continental Inn is located on the west side of Central Expressway off Floyd Rd., only a few minutes from downtown Dallas. There are 60 rooms now, with ground space for an additional 40. The rooms are beautifully decorated in either turquoise or

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Source: The Richardson Echo.

Magnet Schools and Racial Segregation

Last week, I blogged about one person's fear that the Richardson ISD (RISD) is restricting enrollment at one elementary school to students who speak Spanish. (That person was misinformed, but it did prompt some good discussion about the RISD's enrollment policy.) Yesterday, I blogged about the efforts of the RISD to get out from under decades-old federal court supervision regarding racial segregation.

All this talk made me wonder about the effects of magnet schools in Richardson. After the jump, what I always thought the purpose of magnet schools was and what now has me questioning that.