S2L77: Srinigar, Kashmir Valley

Srinigar, Kashmir
March 12, 1977

Staying on the houseboat Babar -- living in luxury, lounge room, dining room, bedrooms with private baths, roof deck, servants. Evening boat ride on Dal Lake!

The next afternoon a three and a half hour shikara boat ride to the Mughal gardens.

Trip to Gulmarg. Horse ride up to snow fields.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

The Vale of Kashmir is sometimes called Heaven on Earth for its natural beauty. Kashmir has lakes and snow-capped mountains, making it a prime vacation spot and a welcome break after my travels through the hot, dusty plains of northern India. We stayed on luxurious houseboats on Dal Lake.

More after the jump.

Mother (2009)

IMDB

Mother (2009): Korean murder mystery. Mother desperately seeks to clear her mentally challenged son. Tense, tragic, heart-breaking. B-

Review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Amazon

From The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami:

When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta."

Thus the mystery begins for Toru Okada, an easy-going young man in Tokyo who recently quit his unfulfilling job without knowing exactly what he was going to do next. On the phone is a mysterious woman with a sexy voice. Before long, Okada is in search of his lost cat, then his missing wife, then explanations for all the odd characters and implausible coincidences that complicate his simple life.

After the jump, my review.

The Turin Horse (2011)

IMDB

The Turin Horse (2011): Farmer, daughter and Nietzsche's horse in a post-apocalyptic barren landscape, a la Bergman. Dry as a dust storm. C-

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

DFW Airport has been serving north Texas since 1974, yet still has no direct mass transit connections serving it. DART brags that from its Belt Line Station on the Orange Line, it's just a "short, 4-mile ride over to Terminal A via a DART bus."

To be fair, this might be the last year I can badmouth DART's lack of light rail service to DFW Airport. DART says it's "hard at work building a state-of-the-art light rail facility at Terminal A. The DART Light Rail service will arrive at its permanent, Terminal A station in 2014."

That's still just the Orange Line. Which is fine if you're coming from downtown Dallas. But what if you're coming from, say, Richardson? You'll be waiting a while longer than 2014. After the jump, the dismal outlook.

First Day of Summer in the Steger Garden (2013)

From Flowers

Who Needs the NSA to Erode Privacy?

Ernestine: What's that Mr. Veedle? Privileged information?... that's so cute. You're dealing with the phone company, Mr. Veedle. We are not bound by city, state, or federal regulations. We are omnipotent.

Source: Lily Tomlin as Ernestine.

A lot of people are apoplectic over the NSA's surveillance program that captures metadata from phone calls (which numbers are calling which numbers). In the past, courts have ruled that persons have no expectation of privacy about this data, which seems to be a surprise to many. Look folks, this isn't news.

After the jump, privacy from the days of Ernestine to Twitter.

Indie Game (2012)

IMDB

Indie Game (2012): Nerds hope to get rich writing video games. Maybe if you're into Super Meat Boy or Fez. Even then, play, don't watch. D+

Who Is Encroaching on Nature Now?

In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World.

Source: Henry David Thoreau.

"My dream of a greater Spring Creek Nature Area may be over. My dream of a greater Richardson isn't." That's what I wrote back in April, 2011, when I saw bulldozers and construction cranes encroaching on the biggest, best chunk of natural area left in Richardson. Blue Cross plunked down a huge office building to the south. The City of Richardson accommodated it by cutting a wide gash through the forest for the Routh Creek Parkway. That big empty lot north of Renner Rd was rezoned for development (and now, two years later, major development is finally underway). The Spring Creek Nature Area was getting sliced up and hemmed in on all sides. Didn't anyone see what Richardson was losing?

In that blog post from two years ago, I conceded that my dream of preserving wildness was just another quixotic dream of mine. Sigh. But I challenged the city to think long and carefully before they allowed more development of the land surrounding the Spring Creek Nature Area. It has to be done right, I said, in a way that organically transitions between nature and neighborhood, in a way that enhances both park and commerce.

After the jump, so who's encroaching on Spring Creek Nature Area now?

Richardson: Suburb or City?

Off and on for a long time, I've blogged about what I call my quixotic dream to rip up Central Expressway through Richardson and replace it with a people-scaled grand boulevard or central park. I call it quixotic because I know it will never come true. Dallas and Plano and Allen and McKinney would never, ever, allow it. So, my calls to tear out Central in Richardson are mainly aimed at provoking thought. I'm playing devil's advocate in an attempt to get people not to reflexively think that adding lanes is the solution to all traffic problems. And when they do add lanes anyway, I want to get them to do it in a way that's least disruptive to the street networks and community the freeway passes through.

Last week, Rodger Jones, editorial writer of The Dallas Morning News, wrote about my quixotic dream on the News' transportation blog. He paired my attention to Central Expressway in Richardson with the attention that is being given to tearing out IH-345 in downtown Dallas. Patrick Kennedy, the CarFreeInBigD guy behind the calls for the IH-345 tear-out, ripped Rodger Jones but left me alone (I think -- Kennedy rambles a lot).

I'm going to overlook most of what Kennedy said because he focused on IH-345, but I do want to respond to one thing he said about suburban freeways. After the jump.

Listen Up, RISD

June 15, 2013, Joint Run-off Election
Richardson ISD Place 4 Board of Trustees:
Lanet Greenhaw - 76% (3,463)
Rachel Chumney - 24% (1,100)

You just had a close escape, RISD. Now, listen up. After the jump.

Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget

Question: What qualifications and experience do you have to oversee the RISD's $250 million budget?

Rachel Chumney: The best thing that I can do in this role is the fact that I'm a good researcher, I'm wise, and I'm fiscally conservative, and I'll research the dickens out of something.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 51:00).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone whose qualification for managing a $250 million budget is that she will "research the dickens out of something" might not be ready to be put in charge of the RISD budget, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 51:00). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 49:45). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  

Advocacy for Public Schools

Question: An important role for a board member is legislative advocacy on behalf of all of the children of RISD. Give an example of your efforts over the past year or two.

Rachel Chumney: The first thing I do is I vote. I have voted since I was eighteen years old. I stay on top of things. I am committed to using my vote.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 40:43).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone whose resume of legislative advocacy highlights the filler "I vote" might not be ready to be school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 40:43). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 39:33). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?

Question: Do you support or oppose moving sixth grade out of the elementary schools and into a more traditional middle school environment?

Rachel Chumney: I oppose it. Middle school is awful and children need to be in middle school as little as possible.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 35:12).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who thinks middle schools are "awful," whatever that means, might not be a good fit for school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 35:12). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer explaining why she opposes moving sixth graders into junior high (starting 37:06). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Review: 86: A Collection of Poetry

Amazon

From 86: A Collection of Poetry, by William Gordon:

Hart  
I've much too much to ever tell --
My feet have chilled on steps from hell,
My lips are blue and frozen shut --
I now carefully skate when I used to strut,
Working my way out of a very dark place --
Step by step with the wind to my face,
I walk on ice in fear but soundly --
A deep cold frost on those around me,
Trudging onward in spite of my doubt --
A relentless search for the one way out,
In pursuit of the warmth of the setting sun --
Lost on a journey I should have never begun"

Poetry by Richardson's own William Gordon. My review, after the jump.

5 Broken Cameras (2012)

IMDB

5 Broken Cameras (2012): Documentary of Palestinian village resisting Israeli settlements. Important history. Not compelling filmmaking. C+

North Central Expressway: Feed Me

Feed me, Seymour
Feed me all night long.
That's right, boy!
You can do it!
Feed me, Seymour
Feed me all night long.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Cause if you feed me, Seymour
I can grow up big and strong.

Source: Audrey II, Little Shop of Horrors.

Richardson has its own giant man-eating plant that demands to be fed so it can grow ever bigger: North Central Expressway. Like any good movie monster, it hides in wait before eventually attacking despite all the good intentions of our protagonists.

Recently, in a blog post titled, "Punching Through Central at Palisades," I was encouraged in my quest to tame North Central Expressway for the benefit of neighborhoods on both sides. The vision for development of the Palisades business park was a sight for sore eyes. Besides mixed-use architecture, the developer envisions a pedestrian bridge across North Central Expressway to the Galatyn DART station.

I was further encouraged by talk from Richardson City Council members. They are saying that "East/west, intra-city permeability through the US 75 Corridor must be meaningfully improved by providing for safer, more attractive and comfortable pedestrian and bicycle mobility." And they plan on telling TxDOT that very thing, in no uncertain terms, right?

The City Council on Monday [April 1, 2013] discussed updates to a vision statement draft for the US-75 corridor to present to the Texas Department of Transportation as it conducts a study on the corridor from I-635 to SH 121. The study is expected to be complete in September 2015, with several major milestones in 2014.

Source: City of Richardson.

TxDOT gets it, right? After the jump, a look to our north and what TxDOT is up to there.

S2L77: Golden Temple of Amritsar

From 1977 03 02 India

It is Amritsar that I mark as the start of my route through the lands of troubles to come, troubles that affect the region and the world to this day. Fortunately for me, my travels were in 1977, before there was a hint (at least to this naive Western traveler) that storms were just over the horizon. During my visit to Amritsar, the Golden Temple of the Sikhs, built in 1604, was resplendent, open to all, and peaceful. The peace was not to last.

In 1983, [Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale] and his militant followers headquartered themselves in the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, and started accumulating weapons. After several futile negotiations, Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army to enter the Golden temple in order to subdue Bhindranwale and his followers. In the resulting Operation Blue Star, the shrine was damaged and many civilians were killed. The State of Punjab was closed to international media, its phone and communication lines shut. To this day the events remain controversial with a disputed number of victims; Sikhs seeing the attack as unjustified and Bhindrawale being declared the greatest Sikh martyr of the 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia.

One of a continuing series.
Start: Around the World in 800 Days
Previous: Delhi
Next: Srinigar, Kashmir Valley

OTBR: A Field of Snapdragons in California

Latitude: N 34° 39.288
Longitude: W 120° 26.160

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".

"Full-Fledged, Boot-Licking, Lackeydom"

Offered without comment.

Kevin Chumney, husband of the candidate for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD board of trustees, Rachel Chumney, in a public comment elsewhere on this blog:

Mark: thank you for being so brave in standing up for these poor, defenseless politicians. How dare these parents and kids fight for their legal rights and question their elected officials. It's downright un-American! I have always chalked up your nonsense to the fact that your not very bright, but you've now crossed over to full-fledged, boot-licking, lackeydom.

Source: Kevin Chumney.

Attendance at School Board Meetings

Question: How many school board meetings have you attended in the past two years?

Rachel Chumney: I have attended about three or four board meetings, most of which have been attended since I have filed for office. I have to say I don't think I have been missing much. The board meetings are not very interesting.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 25:57).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who doesn't think school board meetings are interesting, who didn't even attend any school board meetings before deciding to run for school board herself, if you think such a person might not be a good fit for school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 25:57). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 27:15). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

See also:

• The Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Technology in our Schools
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Mahatma Chumney

Kevin Chumney: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win." M. Gandhi

I'm not comparing Rachel to Gandhi (though she has lost a bunch of weight during this campaign), but that quote pretty much sums up our experience with this campaign. We have had several reports of similar personal attacks that would appear to be coordinated. Rachel and her supporters have never made any kind of personal attack on her opponent and have run a positive campaign solely on issues. I think this kind of personal attack speaks for itself.

Source: Facebook.

"Never made any kind of personal attack."
"Have run a positive campaign."
As Seth and Amy might say, Really!?!

Let's have a look, shall we? After the jump.

Technology in our Schools

Question: What are your thoughts concerning how to provide technology upgrades to the schools for classroom instruction?

Rachel Chumney: This is something that I have to admit I need to learn more about. I'm not sure we're lacking in this area. I feel that like on the elementary level which I'm most familiar, we're doing ok. I'm not sure about the junior high level and the high school level.

Source: RichardsonISDVideo
(starting 16:30).

A runoff election for Place 4 on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees will happen on June 15 (early voting June 3-11 at Richardson Civic Center). The runoff is between incumbent Lanet Greenhaw and Rachel Chumney. I endorsed Lanet Greenhaw in the joint election on May 11. I endorse her again in the runoff. The question above is one reason why.

If you think that someone who admits to not knowing what's happening in junior highs and high schools might not be ready to be school board trustee, then you might want to look beyond Rachel Chumney for a better candidate.

Look, Rachel Chumney is a nice enough person. She's just not qualified for school board. Don't rely just on the quote I found telling. Listen to Chumney's whole answer (starting 16:30). Then, compare with Lanet Greenhaw's answer (starting 18:31). No contest. Vote for Greenhaw.

• The Dallas Morning News VOTER GUIDE
  
• League of Women Voters of Richardson VOTERS GUIDE
  

---

Previously:

• That Other Election: RISD Place 4
  
• Preparation for School Board
  
• Experience with Racial or Religious Minorities
  
• Attendance at School Board Meetings
  
• 6th Grade: Elementary School or Middle School?
  
• Advocacy for Public Schools
  
• Managing RISD's $250 Million Budget
  

Repeat Tweets: NPR Liberal Know-it-all

Repeat tweets from May, 2013:

• 1 May 2013: Overheard: "Mark reminds me of an NPR liberal know it all. You can argue with a know-it-idiot, but it is best not to."
  
• 1 May 2013: RT @SenTedCruz: "In my short tenure, my focus has been on fighting for conservative principles." Conservatives, he's making you look #wacko
  
• 1 May 2013: .@amiromar's latest mailer is the worst. Says @lauramaczka's "apartment policy" envisions Richardson becoming an "inner city." Disgusting.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

IMDB

Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Bipolar patient meets flipped out young widow. Somehow it works. Uncomfortable with a happy ending. B+