Berkner: The End of a Winning Streak

From 2014 01 17 Skyline vs Berkner

The Berkner Rams' men's basketball team lost to the Skyline Raiders 65-62 Friday night in the Rams' gym. The defeat was the first district loss by the Rams since January 24, 2012 (Skyline 68-66), a winning streak of 24 games.

With the first half of the season now history, the Rams have sole possession of first place with a 6-1 record. There's a lot of basketball still to be played. Come on out and watch these talented young athletes put on a great show.

More photos after the jump.

S2L77: Not So Ancient Athens

From 1977 04 21 Greece

National Library of Greece

In the last installment, we toured ancient Athens. Today, we jump forward a millennium or two. Still in the past, but only a few decades and/or centuries. Practically yesterday, in other words.

More photos after the jump.

Anna Karenina (2012)

IMDB

Anna Karenina (2012): Sumptuous. Stylistic. Theatrical. Fans of Tolstoy won't like it, but if you must condense to 2 hrs, this will do. B-

Showdown: Berkner at Richardson

From 2014 01 14 Berkner at Richardson

It was the battle of the unbeatens in District 9-5A men's basketball. Berkner and Richardson, both sporting 5-0 records, met Tuesday night at the Eagles' gym to determine who would take sole possession of first place in the district. The game was played as high school basketball should be played, before an enthusiastic full house cheering every score.

In a wild game, the Berkner Rams prevailed 66-63. The Rams led by eight during the first quarter and by two at the half, then the Eagles led by eleven in the third quarter before the Rams came storming back in the fourth quarter to win by three as Richardson's three point attempt at the buzzer fell short.

A sad note: with 57 seconds left in the game, there was a collision on the court. Berkner's Torey Everett fell to the floor hard, where he lay for twenty minutes before walking off the court on his own power, but he sat quietly on the bench for the final seconds of the game. Let's hope he recovers quickly and fully.

More photos after the jump.

Review: The Warmth of Other Suns

Amazon

From The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson:

From the early years of the twentieth century to well past its middle age, nearly every black family in the American South, which meant nearly every black family in America, had a decision to make. ... Over the course of six decades, some six million black southerners left the land of their forefathers and fanned out across the country for an uncertain existence in nearly every other corner of America. The Great Migration would become a turning point in history."

After the jump, my review.

Survey Says: Recycle

The City of Richardson says it is committed to increasing recycling and wants residents' input to identify ways to improve the current recycling program. So, it's conducting a survey. Well, OK. The "survey" reads a little more like an advertising campaign to increase awareness of the existing recycling program, with questions like this:

Where do you currently get your blue bags? (Select all that apply.)

• Purchase them at Heights Recreation Center
  
• Purchase them at Huffhines Recreation Center
  
• Purchase them at the Senior Center
  
• Purchase them from City Hall
  
• Purchase them from the Municipal Service Center
  
• Redeem free offer listed in the Mayor's yearly residential recycling letter
  
• Picked up free bags at the Trash Bash
  
• Picked up free bags at the Cottonwood Art Festival
  
• Picked up free bags at the Wildflower! Arts & Musical Festival
  
• Picked up free bags at the Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA) Recycling Day
  
• Picked up free bags at Huffhines Art Trails event
  
• Picked up free bags at City Wide Pet Day
  
• Picked up free bags at the America Recycles Day
  
• I purchase them from the grocery store
  

The city doesn't need the survey to find out the answer to this question. Surely, the city has better information about how many rolls of blue bags are distributed through each of these outlets than any information this unscientific survey is going to collect. But maybe some people taking the survey will learn about a different, more convenient outlet, so OK, I get it. (Not only do I get it, I did it myself -- I used my blog post to spread useful information. You're welcome, City of Richardson. ;-)

Where the city just might learn something from its survey is from the open ended questions, the fill-in-the-blank for what the city could do to make recycling easier. After the jump, my own answer.

Russian Ark (2002)

IMDB

Russian Ark (2002): Fly-on-the-wall tour of Hermitage Museum. Balls, concerts, court come to life. All in single camera take. *Very* odd. B-