Idle Thoughts: Early Voting

Tweets from May, 2019:

• 2019-05-01: Early voting at Richardson Civic Center:
  2015: 1,338 people voted early in person.
  2017: 2,476.
  2019: 3,999.
  That includes all Dallas County voters who voted at the Civic Center, not just City of Richardson voters. Draw your own implications.
• 2019-05-02: Avengers: Endgame (2019): It was a satisfying finale to the sage. Tons of characters, tons of action, a simple quest movie but with many complex interleaved timelines. Best parts were when it didn't take its absurdities seriously. Next best were the few scenes without CGI. B-
• 2019-05-02: RT Nancy Pelosi: "Barr is lying to the American people. #FreeMueller."
  Think how unprecedented this is. She's the Speaker of the House. He's the Attorney General of the United States. He works at the pleasure of the President of the United States. (Link)

After the jump, more idle thoughts.

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• 2019-05-03: "These people." He doesn't name who they are, but my money is on one particular one from Richardson. I don't think that one lives in the woods, but I'm pretty sure he's in a hole and doesn't know how to stop digging. (Link)
• 2019-05-04: "What should we do first if we learn an asteroid is headed to Earth?"
  1. Deny it.
  2. Admit it's coming, but point out that asteroids always have.
  3. Argue out that doing anything about it is too expensive. (Link)
• 2019-05-04: Abbott, Patrick and Bonnen are proposing a 16% hike in state sales taxes (6.25% to 7.25%). They think property taxes going up only a quarter as much is an outrage and reason to cap. It makes sense if you consider *who* pays more of each kind of tax.
• 2019-05-04: "Japanese national defense is back with a vengeance." Why that statement should worry the hell out of America and the world is answered in an understanding of history going back at least as far as the 1930s. (Link)
• 2019-05-04: The last time the horse that crossed the finish line first didn't win, it was a filly named Hillary.
• 2019-05-05: DePuy has a comfortable lead. I can't see voters on either extreme switching to the other extreme to stop her in a run-off.
• 2019-05-05: SMH. Just now (8:55 pm, Election night, after polls closed) I received an email from Franklin Byrd with subject, "Tomorrow's the last day to vote!"
• 2019-05-06: You (TV 2019): Boy meets girl. Boy is charming, if a bit creepy. Girl tends to fall for the wrong guys, and the wrong girlfriends. Things get worse from there, much worse. It's all just plausible enough to suspend your disbelief and go along for the wild ride. B+
• 2019-05-06: In the lede of the New York Times: "the first interracial baby in the British monarchy's recent history." This is 2019. Why is that the lede? What is wrong with the Times?
• 2019-05-07: "Science makes progress funeral by funeral." -- Max Planck, originator of the quantum theory in physics
• 2019-05-07: Trump didn't answer oral questions. Mueller's full report has not been sent to Congress. Mueller himself hasn't testified to Congress. AG Barr refuses to testify at a House hearing. Our Texas Senator Cornyn says "to move on." Time for him to move on. (Link)
• 2019-05-07: "The last time there was this much CO2 in our atmosphere, there were trees growing at the South Pole. Humans weren't yet a thing. In other words, we're living in uncharted territory."
  Yeah, but how about Sonic the Hedgehog's new teeth? (Link)
• 2019-05-08: So I started watching the Dallas Stars game about 2 minutes into the second overtime period. I am sure glad I didn't get emotionally invested in the game. But that almost goal needs to be reviewed.
• 2019-05-08: Knock Down the House (2019): Documentary about 4 women who challenged Dem incumbents in 2018. One is AOC but all four are worth watching. An inside look at retail politics. AOC won for many reasons but every Democrat should watch her dissect her opponent's out-of-touch mailer. B+
• 2019-05-08: Someone wrote, "The best way to measure education is by looking at our outcomes." He wasn't talking about standardized testing. I'm on board with the sentiment. How do we do that?
• 2019-05-09: North Texas had a narrow escape when voters rejected @KatrinaPierson when she ran for the Texas legislature. (Link)
• 2019-05-09: I would want to see the whole Richardson Square site, including the abandoned Sears store, redeveloped together, or at least a master plan for it. I would support something like Eastside, or if additional residential is too much for neighbors, than something like Restaurant Park.
• 2019-05-09: And Richardson Sq would be a good location to include some affordable housing in a mixed-use development.
• 2019-05-09: "@timmytyper Elvis, Madonna, Beyonce, and the Byron. What about this is hard to understand?"
• 2019-05-10: Bluebird, Bluebird: Detective story set in a pot of boiling race relations that is east Texas. Stereotypes and a too pat resolution, but a quick, enjoyable read. Reads like a TV police procedural. Selection for "Richardson Reads One Book." B+
• 2019-05-10: When your genealogy hobby has produced a family tree that looks like an Avengers movie - way too many characters to keep straight, all with weird looks and habits - maybe it's time to move on to a new hobby.
• 2019-05-11: "@AOC just became the youngest woman to ever preside over the House of Representatives."
  In a cosmic prank, the first duty to befall her was to recognize Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert. (Link)
• 2019-05-11: Try ghost-voting for your wife in the November election and see how accommodating the legislature is about that. #NowThatsVoteFraud
• 2019-05-11: Long Shot (2019): Rom-com with Seth Rogen as speechwriter for Sec. of State Charlize Theron. Surprisingly, the movie works despite its preposterous premise and a gratuitously gross key plot point. Charlize Theron on molly looks like it was as fun for her as for the audience. B+
• 2019-05-11: Book review of Ben Shapiro's "The Right Side of History": "a nuance-free narrative that dismisses counterarguments and distorts 3,500 years of history."
  I haven't read the book, but book Ben Shapiro seems to be the same as Twitter Ben Shapiro.
• 2019-05-13: Wine Country (2019): Six women travel to Napa for a 50th birthday. What happens is less party than mid-life crisis and group therapy. Could have been better if they had picked a lane, either lol comedy or Albee's Virginia Woolf. Instead we get Thoreau's quiet desperation. C+
• 2019-05-13: BBC's Andrew Neil to US conservative Ben Shapiro: "Thank you for your time and showing that anger is not part of American political discourse."
  Priceless. (Link)
• 2019-05-14: Look at Angie Chen Button's turnaround between last session and this. 59% rating on education last session. 100% this. What happened? She was almost dumped by the voters last November. Elections have consequences. (Link)
• 2019-05-15: The Wandering Earth (2019): Chinese sci-fi blockbuster. Sun is dying. Salvation lies in rocketing Earth to another solar system. Things go haywire using Jupiter as slingshot. Preposterous. Absurd. Silly. Non-stop crises. Stock characters. But better than Snowpiercer, barely. D+
• 2019-05-16: Love, Death & Robots (2019): Sci-fi anthology series. Animation and blended animation/live action. Stories are hit or miss, too many with gratuitous nudity or battles or violent monsters. None really thought-provoking. But entertaining escapism for 10-15 minutes at a time. B-
• 2019-05-16: "How Does A Ponzi Scheme Lure So Many Victims?"
  A PSA about financial investment, not GOP presidential campaigns. (Link)
• 2019-05-21: Bodyguard (TV 2018): British war veteran with PTSD picked as bodyguard for ambitious Home Secretary. A thriller with terrorism, assassination, and blackmail. Plenty of whodunnit head-scratching. Maybe best, it packs an emotional punch as our hero deals with his own demons too. A-
• 2019-05-23: The Hustle (2019): Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway play simple cons on rich dupes on the French Riviera. Because the cons are so simple, the only mystery is what is going to be the big twist, which by the time it comes, you might have lost interest. Wasted talent but watchable. C+
• 2019-05-25: Never have I ever...brushed my teeth while stopped at a red light.