OTBR: Saguaro with a Helping Hand

Latitude: N 32° 40.848
Longitude: W 111° 11.736

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".

POTD: Hanoi Elder - II

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Hanoi. It shows another Vietnamese elder at Thay Pagoda, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Vietnam, dating back to the 11th century. He kindly served hot tea to us Western visitors. This temple is also the ancient home of water puppetry, which for centuries has been performed in a pavilion on a lake adjacent to the temple.

POTD: Hanoi Elder

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Hanoi. It shows a Vietnamese elder at Thay Pagoda, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Vietnam, dating back to the 11th century. He kindly served hot tea to us Western visitors. This temple is also the ancient home of water puppetry, which for centuries has been performed in a pavilion on a lake adjacent to the temple.

Seven Takeaways from the Charter Election

Richardson voters approved all 83 city charter amendments by wide margins. Here are seven takeaways from the election.

What's a Non-Traditional High School?

What's a non-traditional high school? Talk to three people and you'll probably get six different answers. One frequent answer is wrong. It's the one thing a non-traditional high school is not. So, before we get into Richardson ISD's decision to build a non-traditional high school, let's start by asking just what a non-traditional high school is and isn't.

Repeat Tweets: World's Top Research University

Repeat tweets from October, 2015:

• Oct 1 2015: "The world's top research university? It's Caltech -- again." That's good but US needs to invest more in research. latimes.com
• Oct 1 2015: What we're doing (following NRA's policy prescriptions) isn't working. It's time for a change.
• Oct 1 2015: "Rules Chairman Running for Whip: 'Process is Broken.'" That's @PeteSessions, hiding a hammer behind his back. myajc.com
• Oct 2 2015: Final. Mesquite 28, Lake Highlands 63. #txhsfb
• Oct 3 2015: @Rangers, I'm not getting back on your bandwagon until you get the third out in the ninth inning of the clinching game of the World Series.

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Richardson Charter Amendments - How to Vote

There's an election in Texas on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. Among other things, there are 83 propositions for amendments to the Richardson city charter. Some people want you to vote all "YES". Some want you to vote all "NO". I'm here to help you navigate between these all-or-nothing positions. You're welcome.

Bat Boy: The Musical at RHS

From 2015 00 00 Miscellaneous

Bat Boy The Musical at RHS: Halloween treat. Quirky update on age-old story of being different, a freak. B&W. Great voices and production.

GOP Debate: Bad Questions, Bad Answers

There has been a lot of commentary on the recent GOP presidential debate on CNBC. The Wheel doesn't usually do national politics, but we make an exception for this remarkable television show. First, let's look at the questions. Then, the answers. Then, the fallout.

Qualified Voter vs Registered Voter

Qualified voter vs registered voter. Is there a difference? Does it matter? It matters because Proposition No. 50 in the upcoming Richardson city charter amendment election changes the requirements for a person to serve as mayor or council member. The current charter requires a person to be a "registered" voter. The amended charter calls for a person to be a "qualified" voter.

One person in social media complained that the change "waters down" the requirements. Another (and by another I mean me) said the change, if anything, toughens the requirements. Who is right?

POTD: Hanoi Tube Houses

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Hanoi. It shows typical houses in central Hanoi, called tube houses. The explanation is that street frontage is expensive, encouraging homeowners to build deep rather than wide, tall rather than sprawl.

Review: Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh

Amazon

From Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh, by Mo Yan

Eggs were such a rare treat that the old women had to show us how to peel them first. Clumsily we peeled away the shells, only to find feathery little chicks inside. They chirped when we bit into them, and they bled. When we stopped eating, the old women took switches to us and demanded that we keep eating. We did."

Yikes! Reading these short stories, the reader quickly realizes that we're not in Kansas anymore. We're in China at the hands of one of China's most acclaimed authors, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Mo Yan.

After the jump, my review.

POTD: Ethnology

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Hanoi. It shows a treasure I found in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

A Strong Mayor for Richardson

Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer thinks he knows why the City of Dallas can't get big things done. It's the weak mayor.

By tightly husbanding control of the city in the office of city manager -- a person hired, not elected -- the city fathers here have maintained their own access while effectively shutting off access for the larger electorate. It's not that voters can't ever get anything done, but they can only get little things done, on the scale of new stop signs and storm sewer repairs.

To get big things done, like a grand public vision for the river, we would have to have what Houston has -- a strong mayor system. To accomplish a great dream, a city needs someone at the helm who can steer a course but who also can be kicked off the ship if he steers a course the public doesn't want.

Source: Dallas Observer.

Given that Richardson's council-manager form of government (a.k.a. weak mayor) is similar to that in Dallas (originally, our city charter was based on Dallas's of the time), and given that Richardson voters are about to decide whether to amend our city charter, it's probably worth a moment of our time to think about Schutze's thesis.

Leviathan (2014)

IMDB

Leviathan (2014): Things are not good in Russia. Petty corruption, family dysfunction & of course vodka. Book of Job on the Barents Sea. B+

Texas Prop 6: The Right to Hunt

The Wheel hasn't made recommendations for the Texas State Constitutional amendments on the November 3rd ballot. But there is one recommendation we read that is too good not to pass on. Besides telling you how to vote (or not), it explains the time wasted by the Texas legislature pandering to the base.

POTD: Ho Chi Minh?

From 2015 03 28 Hanoi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Hanoi. It shows Ho Chi Minh. Or Colonel Sanders. Or maybe just some random Vietnamese guy riding his bike. You decide. By the way, it's probably easier to find a photo of Colonel Sanders in Hanoi than a photo of Ho Chi Minh. KFC restaurants are everywhere.

In the background is the Maison Centrale (Central House), also known as Hoa Lo Prison, built by the French in the late 1880s to hold Vietnamese political prisoners agitating for independence. But that's not the name Americans know it by. It was known as the "Hanoi Hilton" by American prisoners-of-war during the Vietnam War. Today, what's left of it is a museum.

Prohibiting Public Input

Ken Hutchenrider, chairman of the Richardson Vote YES Campaign Committee, explains why he thinks it's necessary to amend the city charter to prohibit public input at emergency city council meetings.

Another change grants the City Council the right to prohibit public input when it calls an emergency meeting. An emergency Council meeting has been called only once in recent history, and that was when the City agreed to house and offer services to refugees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It seems appropriate for the Council to keep its focus on the issue at hand when it is an emergency.

Source: Ken Hutchenrider.

He chose the wrong example. I can't think of an emergency more in need of public input than an offer by the city to house refugees in our community. Where? How many? How long? All questions for which public input could be critical in getting the answers right. Surely, Richardson's reaction to this emergency wouldn't have been negatively impacted due to a short delay to let Richardson residents speak to the council before the council acted.

CitizenTownHall.org

There's a new blog about Richardson politics: CitizenTownHall.org. (Kudos on the domain name. I'm surprised it was still available.) The blog claims to be "created by and for the fine people of Richardson, Texas." (OK, fine. Don't name names.)

What will the blog be about? It says, "Here we discuss issues that affect our quality of life, our pocketbooks, and our rights as citizens. What we have discovered has taken years of research, dogged determination in digging up the facts behind the stories, and collecting documented evidence that can help protect our lifestyle and the city we have come to love." (If that reads a little like someone who writes prolifically on Facebook, well, maybe yes, maybe no. She doesn't say.)

Will the new blog have something to say? Certainly. Will it add anything of value? That remains to be seen.

Aurora: Light, Video & Sound

From 2015 10 16 Dallas Aurora

Aurora, a one-night-every-two-years event in the Dallas Arts District, bills itself as "An Immersive Free Public Art Event of Light, Video & Sound." That really doesn't tell you what Aurora is all about but it's about as accurate a description as any I could give. It was certainly popular. Some people say it was too popular for its own good, which reminds me of the quote from the late, great Yogi Berra: "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

The city had traffic barricades aplenty. Perhaps a big map/sign in each block would have helped orient those who just stumbled upon this without knowing what was what. We had done some homework before going so we sort of knew what to expect and just kind of wandered the Arts District. Serendipity worked well for us.

We had a great time. We ate before we went. We rode DART. We strolled the whole Arts District without worrying too much about trying to see things with long lines. Instead, we found things like the young singers in the Booker T. Washington courtyard theater. Uncrowded, relaxing, beautiful.

Two thumbs up from us.

More photos after the jump.

State Fair of Texas (2015)

From 2015 10 15 State Fair of Texas

More photos after the jump.