Are You Smarter than a Texas Legislator?

Apparently, Texas House members are not smarter than a fifth grader. Nor are Capitol staffers. And they aren't even smart enough to be embarrassed, instead acting as if there is something wrong with the questions asked, not with their inability to give correct answers.

What am I talking about? It's a letter sent to all Texas House members by Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) containing thirteen sample questions from the middle school standardized STAAR tests. Wu admits he missed "two or three" of the questions. He said some Capitol staff "gave up."

Really? I took the test. I think I did better than Wu (I can't say for sure because Wu didn't provide answers). Before I say any more, pause here and take the test yourself. Don't hurry. It's not timed.

After the jump, I give my own impressions of the test. Spoiler alert: I also give my own answers.

Final Four: Fort Bend Travis 59, Berkner 52

The Berkner Rams men's basketball season came to an end Friday night, when the team lost to Fort Bend Travis High School 59-52 in the semi-final game of the UIL State Championship in Austin.

Thanks, Rams, for the best season in Berkner High School history (tied with the 2005-2006 Rams, who also made it to the Final Four). The Rams finish with a 33-6 overall record, a perfect 14-0 District 9-5A record, the District 9-5A championship and a six-game run in the state championship tournament resulting in a Final Four appearance. It's a great time to be a Ram!

S2L77: Holi, Festival of Colors

Agra, India
March 4-5, 1977

Up at dawn for the long drive from Benares to Agra, normally a two-day drive being made in one because of the Holi festival of colors. We spent the day virtually trapped in the hotel as Indians celebrated outside by throwing dye-colored flour on all passers-by.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

More photos after the jump.

OTBR: A Date Palm in Melbourne

Latitude: S 37° 45.180
Longitude: E 144° 56.538
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".

City Council Road Trip

Observant audience members at the February 25 Richardson City Council meeting might have noticed this item buried deep in the consent agenda:


If you hoped to learn what that was all about, you were out of luck. It received no discussion (consent agenda items never do). The Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) remains a deep mystery to me. All council deliberations are supposed to occur in public. In this case, either there was some communication going on beforehand, or the council is a peculiarly incurious bunch, or else mental telepathy is allowed by the TOMA. I'm going to go with prior communication. (Update: I have since discovered a memo deep in the Agenda Handout, not in the consent agenda, that explains the reason for the cancellation. A *very* observant audience member would have noticed this. My bad.) In any case, the council voted unanimously to "consider cancellation" of the March 4 council worksession, by which I think they in fact canceled it, without anyone doing any, you know, actual consideration, at least out loud.

After the jump, what it was all about. Sort of.

RISD Election: Put the Popcorn Away

The deadline to file to run as as candidate for the school board of the Richardson ISD (RISD) was March 1. It turns out that wasn't the only deadline of consequence. Another was March 4, the deadline to withdraw. One candidate who had filed to run withdrew in that three day period. Why didn't he withdraw before the March 1 filing deadline? The more you know about the candidate, the less surprised you ought to be.

After the jump, the disappearing candidate.

Repeat Tweets: Talking Back

Repeat tweets from February, 2013:

• Feb 1 2013: 38 references to Afghanistan vs 178 to Israel in Senate hearing on Hagel. Amazing lack of interest in war by @SenTedCruz and GOP senators.
  
• Feb 1 2013: Headline: "Stocks hit 5-yr highs on upbeat jobs report." Meanwhile, @SenTedCruz introduces bill to repeal Obamacare.
  
• Feb 1 2013: Read and retweet my warning not to believe anything @SenTedCruz quotes, without checking the context for yourself.
  
• Feb 1 2013: RT @BetseyStevenson: "Over the past 3 months the private sector added 624K jobs, while the govt lost 24K jobs." So much for bloated govt.
  
• Feb 1 2013: RT @ryanavent: "Employment now up 5.5m from low in Feb 2010. That's plus 6.1m private jobs, minus 600k govt jobs." So much for bloated govt.
  
• Feb 1 2013: "Reduced govt spending [is] a drag on recovery. The public sector lost 9,000 jobs last month." So much for govt bloat. tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
  
• Feb 2 2013: High school men's basketball. Final: Berkner 53, Pearce 48. It's a great time to be a Ram! #txhsbb
  
• Feb 2 2013: Little Shop of Horrors at RHS: Intimate setting works well. The macabre has never been this much fun. Feed me! www.marksteger.com
  
• Feb 3 2013: Headline: "Watch the Throne: No. 1 ranking awaits Indiana" after #3 Hoosiers beat #1 Michigan. sports.yahoo.com
  
• Feb 3 2013: Bye Bye Birdie at BHS: A+ all around -- orchestra, lead singers, chorus, choreography, comic acting (Shriners hilarious). Best sound ever.
  
• Feb 3 2013: Caltech's baseball team beat Pacifica 9-7 Saturday. The win ended a 228-game, 10-year losing streak. Go Beavers! www.usatoday.com
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.