Richardson City Council Cuts Back its Schedule

If the council approves changes to its schedule, it would skip work sessions on fifth Mondays. In addition, the proposed schedule also would omit meetings on MLK Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day, the Monday that falls during the Richardson and Plano school districts’ spring break, the Monday following Independence Day and the meetings that fall on the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Source: The Dallas Morning News.

After the jump, four reasons why this is a good thing.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

IMDB

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013): Starships swim, garbage trucks fly, Kirk struts. Safe, formulaic, campy, non-stop bloodless violence. C+

Basketball: Richardson 75, Lake Highlands 64

From 2014 01 03 Richardson vs Lake Highlands

Before a small crowd at Lake Highlands High School on Friday afternoon, the Richardson Eagles improved their district record to 3-0 with a 75-64 win over the Lake Highlands Wildcats, who dropped to 0-3.

More photos after the jump.

S2L77: Ancient Athens

From 1977 04 21 Greece

How much has ancient Athens changed in the last 35 years, compared to the 2,500 years before that? Dunno. I know some of the statues around the Parthenon have been moved to an indoor museum in Athens to protect them from air pollution (that is, those statues that weren't already carted off to the British Museum in London centuries ago). But beyond that, I'm not sure how the tourist experience is different at these sites. Do these photos look out of date in any way? If anyone who has been there recently has anything to add, let's hear it.

More photos after the jump.

Repeat Tweets: Depp and DiCaprio Together

Repeat tweets from December, 2013:

• 1 Dec 2013: What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993): Depp and DiCaprio together, back when they played ordinary, believable characters. Less is more. A-
  
• 1 Dec 2013: With the losses by Skyline and Jesuit, District 9-5A is out of the football playoffs. It's now time for basketball to take center stage!
  
• 4 Dec 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "Restoring economic growth ought to be a bipartisan objective." So should ensuring every American has health care. #wacko
  
• 5 Dec 2013: Headline: "Tom Pauken Drops Race For Governor." He finally realized that voters don't want a candidate whose top issue is the Vietnam War.
  
• 6 Dec 2013: MT @ezraklein: "Unusually strong jobs report today. +203,000 jobs. Unemployment down for the right reasons." GOP blames Obamacare.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Auld Lang Syne: Jesuit 65, Berkner 68

From 2013 12 31 Jesuit vs Berkner

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team bid goodbye to 2013 with an always close 68-65 win over the Jesuit Rangers on the afternoon before New Year's Day at the Berkner gym. It's a great time to be a Ram!

More photos after the jump.

The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

IMDB

The Hobbit - Smaug (2013): Tolkien would recognize it. Jackson added love interest, some humor and lots of mind-numbing CGI action. C+