POTD: One Last Cruise Before the Pandemic

From 2020 02 04 Bahamas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Western Esplande Beach in Nassau, Bahamas. In the background, you can see cruise ships docked side by side, filled with tourists like us. It was the occasion of one last cruise before COVID, although we didn't know it at the time. In Nassau, COVID was a far off news story. In a few short weeks, it would be the major news story all across the world. It would also shut the door on vacation travel for us for two years. But for now, in the Bahamas, it was the good times.

Book Review: On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder

From On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder:

Amazon

  Since the American colonies declared their independence from a British monarchy that the Founders deemed “tyrannical,” European history has seen three major democratic moments: after the First World War in 1918, after the Second World War in 1945, and after the end of communism in 1989. Many of the democracies founded at these junctures failed, in circumstances that in some important respects resemble our own."

Book Review: On Tyranny: Short book drawing parallels between modern America and Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin. Timothy Snyder lays out 20 simple ways each of us can fight the creep of fascism here in America. It's a how-to, a timely call to action.

After the jump, my full review.

Net Zero Roads for Richardson

Source: Aurecon.

Cities everywhere are trying to reduce their impact on global warming. The goals set are all variants of "Net Zero Carbon." Many of the actions needed to achieve that are outside the control of city government. They require advances in car battery technology, electric power generation (solar and wind), construction materials (steel and concrete). The City of Richardson should promote all such advances and take advantage when possible, but I'd like to see it adopt an idea that is not dependent on technological advances. It can be done today. It's under the control of the City. It offers benefits beyond its impact on global warming. It's a road diet for Richardson.

Surface (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Surface (TV 2022): Woman almost drowns, gets amnesia, tries to piece her past life together. Did she jump? Was she pushed? Who all is having an affair? What about that embezzling? Everyone lies. She eventualy works it all out, even if she keeps some secrets for Season 2. C+

Tax Increase, Tax Decrease, Who Can Say Anymore?

Here's how the City of Richardson's weekly PR email "Week in Review" put it:

The budget also includes a $0.05421 tax rate reduction, rolling the City’s tax rate back to levels last seen in 2006.

Source: City of Richardson.

That's a "tax rate reduction", right? The City says so, right there. Not so fast.

Julia (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Julia (TV 2022): Yet another Julia Child show, this one maybe the best of the lot. It focuses on the first season of her cooking show, featuring the drama behind-the-scenes even getting the show on the air. Sarah Lancashire captures what made Julia a unique star. B+

SBOE Waits for Right-Wing Reinforcements

It looks like the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is going to kick the can down the road, deciding to wait until next term to rewrite the Texas social studies curriculum (what we know as the TEKS). Why? It appears that the SBOE caved to pressure from right-wing Republican lawmakers who objected to the standards coming out of the curriculum committee. When the SBOE decided to delay, Republican lawmakers celebrated on Twitter, "The board voted to scrap the wokeified proposed changes to the TEKS." The likely explanation for delay is that right-wing Republicans hope that they can increase their majority on the SBOE next term and get proposals more in line with their politics.