Excerpts: The Grand Design

Excerpts from "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow:

the universe itself has no single history, nor even an independent existence.

Berkner Rams 67, Richardson Eagles 58

From 2011 01 Berkner Basketball

The Berkner Rams boys basketball team defeated the Richardson Eagles 67-58 Friday night in the Berkner gym. Berkner (19-7), ranked 12th in the state by TABC and undefeated (5-0) in District 9-5A play, led 22-9 after one quarter. Richardson dominated the second quarter, tying the game at 32 at the half. Richardson grabbed the lead 34-32 to open the second half. Berkner gradually regained control of the game, winning by 9.

Richardson's Torrance Carr led all scorers with 27 points. Xavier Thomas led Berkner's more balanced scoring with 22. Four Berkner players finished with double digits in scoring.

It's a great time to be a Ram! To see all photos, look here.

Civility: What's Not To Like?

President Barack Obama, January 12, 2011:

"And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy -- it did not -- but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud."

Dallas's own Jeffrey Weiss has issued a call for something he calls a "National Political Civility Month" to be honored in January each year. Why just a month and not the full year? He doesn't have a good answer. Still, it's a start. What's not to like? Who could argue against civility, against simple courtesy, against motherhood and apple pie, right?

After the jump, the argument against motherhood and apple pie.

Real Heroes, Real Suspicious: Round Two

A year ago, the Richardson Coalition, a political action committee formed to elect its preferred candidates to city council, created something called the "Real Heroes Award." Many people were suspicious of the PAC's motives (and by many people, I mean me and by suspicious, I mean dead certain). Their voting procedure, requiring the public to submit their email addresses to the PAC, smacked of an email harvesting scheme. I wrote about it here.

After the jump, THEY'RE BA-ACK!

Video Scoreboards: Dumb Idea That Won't Die

Who needs cheerleaders?

The RISD is preparing a bond package to place before voters in May. In early drafts of the package, $2 million was penciled in for new video scoreboards at the RISD's two football stadiums. That was reportedly whittled down to $400,000 by foregoing new video capabilities. In this time of state budget deficits threatening public school education, even that much is best deferred.

Even if I thought the RISD could afford them, video scoreboards are still a dumb idea, for reasons I explained a month ago. After the jump, the RISD refuses to let this dumb idea die.

Richardson to Dentist: This Won't Hurt a Bit

Over a year ago, the presidents of three homeowners' associations in southwest Richardson lobbied the city to stop "half-hearted" development. What is half-hearted development? The answer was kind of fuzzy, but presumably converting old fast food restaurants into doctors' offices is considered to be half-hearted redevelopment. And it's clearly not wanted.

What I said about this topic when it came up in November, 2009, can be read here. After the jump, what's new.

Coming to Richardson: A New York State of Mind

Paul Krugman -- Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist (I don't know which of those makes him more suspect to Texas readers) -- has been looking into the conventional wisdom that the Texas economy has been a great success in this recession. He compiles a telling graph showing unemployment trends for Texas and New York for the last decade. I challenge you to tell which state is which without looking at the legend. Krugman suggests that "the miraculous Texas immunity to the recession is mythical."

After the jump, Krugman's explanation for why Texas, for a long time, has had faster-growing employment and population than the Northeast.