POTD: Incense at Thien Mu Pagoda

From 2015 03 24 Hue

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the 400-year-old Thiên Mu Pagoda in Hué, Vietnam. It sits on a hill on a bend of the Huong (Perfume) River. The seven-story pagoda is one of the tallest religious buildings in Vietnam.

"A building near the rear of the complex houses a national relic: the car in which the monk Thich Quang Duc rode from his temple to Saigon on June 11, 1963. He stepped out of the car in an intersection, sat down in the lotus position, and burned himself to death in protest against the regime's violations of religious freedom." -- sacred-destinations.com

Football: Lake Highlands 63, Mesquite 28

From 2015 10 02 Mesquite vs Lake Highlands

The Lake Highlands Wildcats improved their District 10-6A record to 2-0 with a dominating 63-28 win over Mesquite Friday night. Mesquite drops to 0-2.

All the action, including the game, cheerleaders, drill team, colorguard, marching band and all the rest that make high school football the best value in sports entertainment, can be seen on Google Photos. Remember, without the band, it's just a game.

Repeat Tweets: Blocked Punt for a Touchdown

Repeat tweets from September, 2015:

• Sep 3 2015: Blocked punt for a touchdown by Berkner with 30 seconds left sends this game to overtime. Naaman Forest 30, Berkner 30. #txhsfb @BerknerHS
• Sep 3 2015: Final in overtime: Garland Naaman Forest 30, Berkner 33. It's a great time to be a Ram! #txhsfb @BerknerHS
• Sep 4 2015: 173,000 new jobs in August. Unemployment lowest since March, 2008. Wait for @PeteSessions's statement blaming Obama.
• Sep 5 2015: Surprising and heartwarming reaction in Germany to refugees. Boosts my faith in humanity.
• Sep 7 2015: Dallas Morning News Defensive player of the week: Berkner's John Lewis. If you missed the game, sucks for you. dallasnews.com

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

A Tale of Two Cities: Plano and Richardson

My inbox contained one of those civic booster stories that reads like something the real estate business is always generating: "Downtown Plano recognized as one of 'Great Places in America'". You read that right. Plano. It turns out that, beneath the hype, there are some secrets to success worth emulating. The story highlights the downtown DART station (public transit), the 1,000 residential units nearby (density), and streets redesigned to be cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly (walkability). Saying it's one of the "Great Places in America" might be over the top, but Richardson would be foolish not to recognize the good things happening just to our north.

Voters Guide: City Charter Amendments 61-70

Seventh in a series:

• City Charter Amendments Nos. 1-10
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 11-20
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 21-30
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 31-40
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 41-50
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 51-60
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 61-70
• City Charter Amendments Nos. 71-83

There are 83 propositions for amending the Richardson City Charter on the November ballot. I'm here with a voter's guide to tell you how to vote. You're welcome.

POTD: Sampan Races

From 2015 03 24 Hue

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Huong (Perfume) River in Hué, Vietnam. It shows a sampan race during the Spring Festival. Dozens of boats compete and thousands of spectators crowd the shore or watch from dragon boats in the river.

Explaining Your Water Bill

In today's edition of "Who's Not Listening To Me Now?" I return to something I wrote last month. It seems that my three graphs didn't convince everyone that recent high water bills are due to two things: dry weather and lawn watering.

Some people are still adamantly convinced that something is crooked. Facebook is full of horror stories of high bills that just have to be wrong. Kristin Takeda of The Dallas Morning News seems to publish something on the subject every day or two. WFAA did an investigation into "skyrocketing water bills." And now the Dallas Observer reports on the phenomenon in the city of Dallas, not just once but twice.