OTBR: A Japanese Restaurant in Paris

Latitude: 48.9445 N
Longitude: 2.2494 E

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".

Ever Change Your Mind?

I don't mean deciding maybe you want chicken instead of beef for dinner. I mean something more fundamental. A belief about what's real and what isn't. Like you can't deny any longer that evolution really is the best explanation for the diversity of life on Earth, or that the planet really is warming and humans have something to do with it. I've blogged before on the subject, identifying some major flip-flops in my own thinking over the years. All of those flip-flops were flip-flops in my judgment of the best strategy to deal with certain facts. Kind of like, when faced with a charging bear, changing my mind whether I should play dead or run like hell. None of my flip-flops were changes in my belief in the facts underpinning my beliefs. The bear is still a bear in any case.

After the jump, some recent readings on what it might take to change my mind about some fundamental facts.

Ron Paul and Texas Secession

Joeff Davis

Last spring, it was Gov. Rick Perry slyly suggesting that Texas just might want to secede from the Union if the Tea Party didn't get its way.

This winter, secession is again being talked about, this time prompted by the associations of another Texas politician. After the jump, does Texas Congressman Ron Paul -- and possibly future senator -- also believe in secession?

Will Dallas Ever Get Another Super Bowl?

Maybe I should say north Texas. But I'll call it the Dallas Super Bowl because that's the way the rest of the country views it and it's the rest of the country that's going to make the decision. So, will Dallas ever get another Super Bowl? The answer is yes. Not because Dallas is perfect. It isn't. It's because all cities are flawed. Patrick Kennedy identifies three characteristics the NFL looks for in picking a Super Bowl city:

1. Lively, interesting city
2. Warm weather in February
3. Big, kickass stadium

He then runs through the usual list of Super Bowl cities and points out how each one comes up short in one or more of these requirements (Indianapolis - 2012 - and East Rutherford, NJ - 2014 - obviously fail requirement #2). North Texas is neither significantly better nor worse than other cities in this regard. In no way are we disqualified. We'll get more Super Bowls, maybe not as soon as we'd like or as often as we'd like, but we'll get them.

After the jump, how Patrick Kennedy wants the Super Bowl experience to be simultaneously broader and smaller. Is he trying to have his cake and eat it, too? Maybe a little.

Early Look at Local Elections

The Richardson local elections on May 14 promise to offer important choices for voters. Whether those choices turn out to be controversial or highly contested is another matter. So far, there are no fireworks visible on the horizon. But it's still early.

After the jump, a look at how the school district and city council elections are shaping up.

Final Notes on Super Bowl XLV

The buildup to north Texas's Super Bowl XLV seemed to last for years. Correct that: it did last for years. So, it was hard to keep the actuality from being a letdown compared to the anticipation. But it's hard to imagine a bigger letdown than what north Texas experienced over the last week. One Steelers fan was asked where the Super Bowl XLV experience ranked compared to the previous 44 Super Bowls and he replied, about 47th. And that was before the outcome of the game was known. Ouch.

(For Packers fans, on the other hand, the final score probably made up for whatever disappointments they experienced in the lead-up to the game. But they are cheeseheads still in the warm afterglow of victory, so they are a poor judge of the week's happenings.)

After the jump, my own final notes on Super Bowl XLV.

Super Bowl Champions

NFL Shop

What?!? Too soon?

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Postgame update: That pregame prediction above turned out to be not too soon after all.
Final score: Green Bay Packers 31, Pittsburgh Steelers 25.
NFL Championship #13. Go Pack!

Worthy of note: Two of the five stars in the poster above were lost to injury in the first half. The Packers still found a way to win.