Richardson Library Shifts Into OverDrive

The Richardson Public Library is one of the gems of the city's services to residents. For about a year now, it's offered eBook lending, but didn't support the Amazon Kindle device. That wasn't the RPL's fault. Amazon has been slow to open the Kindle up for such services. OverDrive, the service the RPL uses to manage eBook downloads, offered support for the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony Reader and various cell phones and the Apple iPad and PCs, but the obvious hole in their support was the missing Kindle.

This week, all that changed. OverDrive announced support for the Kindle.

After the jump, what this means for the Richardson Public Library ... and me.

Richardson's Top Forty

Not musical hits. Things to do.

The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.

Source: Brenda Ueland

The Richardson City Council caters their meals at their work sessions, so they already have the first two of those recommendations covered. As for getting somebody to love them, politicians might as well get a dog. The electorate may vote you into office, but they'll never love you.

So, instead of following Brenda Ueland's advice quoted above, the Richardson City Council came up with their own list of the most important things to do in the world. They burdened themselves with forty.

After the jump, the top forty.

Netflix, Qwikster and the Dumpster

RT @FakeAPStylebook: "The past tense of 'Netflix' is 'Netflucked.'"

33 1/3 LP vinyl records. 45 RPM singles. Cassette tapes. CDs. VHS tapes. DVDs. Blu-ray Discs. Except for the very last one, I made my way through each of the earlier generations of physical media for music and movies. Until now.

After the jump, how Netflix's latest move marks a milestone in the entertainment delivery industry, a milestone like none of the ones that went before.

Must See Television According to My DVR

Big week for television. The Emmys were handed out Sunday. The new television season debuts this week. It's time to check that the DVR season passes are up to date.

After the jump, a comparison of what Hollywood thinks I should be watching with what my DVR is actually capturing for me to watch.

Is Richardson Working on the Right Problems?

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Joseph Heller's classic novel "Catch 22." In it, there's an unforgettable scene in which the protagonist, Yossarian, a bombardier in World War II, treats his fellow crew member Snowden's leg wound during an aerial bombing mission:

Next he began binding the compress in place with a roll of gauze. The second time around Snowden's thigh with the bandage, he spotted the small hole on the inside through which the piece of flak had entered, a round, crinkled wound the size of a quarter with blue edges and a black core where the blood had crusted. Yossarian sprinkled this one with sulfanilimide too and continued unwinding the gauze around Snowden's leg until the compress was secure. Then he snipped off the roll with the scissors and slit the end down the center. It was a good bandage, he knew, and he sat back on his heels with pride, wiping the perspiration from his brow, and grinned at Snowden with spontaneous friendliness.

'I'm cold,' Snowden moaned. 'I'm cold.'

'You're going to be all right, kid,' Yossarian assured him, patting his arm comfortingly. 'Everything's under control.'

Source: Catch 22.

I won't print the spoiler here, even for a 50 year old book, but you don't have to be a fan of "Catch 22" to guess that everything is not under control. Everything is not going to be all right. Yossarian, in fact, has been working on the wrong problem all along.

After the jump, why the Richardson city council's goal setting exercise reminded me of Yossarian's first aid.

Excerpts: The Origins of Political Order

Amazon

From "The Origins of Political Order," by Francis Fukuyama:

Thomas Hobbes lays out the basic 'deal' underlying the state: in return for giving up the right to do whatever one pleases, the state (or Leviathan) through its monopoly of force guarantees each citizen basic security."

After the jump, my review and more excerpts.

About that Page 99 in the CAFR

As expected, the Richardson City Council approved by a 7-0 vote a 2011-2012 budget that technically is a smidgen in the red for the year, but is cyclically balanced in that it uses excess reserve funds from last year to cover the deficit.

Still, there are some who point to the 2010 CAFR, especially page 99, as the smoking gun evidence of chronic deficit spending in Richardson.

After the jump, a look at the infamous page 99 (and page 100).