OTBR: On a Qatar Sand Dune (Again)

Latitude: 24.6790 N
Longitude: 51.3246 E

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".

Repeat Tweets: Mavs, CWS and a Road Trip

Repeat tweets from June, 2011:

• 2011 06 01 - Judging by my inbox, looks like Rick Perry is lending his mailing list to Newt Gingrich. Evidence that Perry is *not* running for President?
  
• 2011 06 03 - Maybe you missed it watching the Mavs celebrate at buzzer, but Dwyane Wade flopped after missing that last second shot. Down he went. Again.
  
• 2011 06 03 - Scott Coulson, band director at Mesquite Poteet HS, is retiring. Great band program. Great kids. Great director. Hats off.
  
• 2011 06 03 - Mavs fans, how's it feel knowing the whole country wants your team to win. Or the other team to lose. Except this guy. http://t.co/vZAbDyy
  
• 2011 06 03 - Toy Story 3 (2010): Looking back, I probably should have watched this with a 5-year-old. Spoiler alert: Lotso is Darth Vadar. C+
  
• 2011 06 04 - Looks like Richardson has its eye on some property between Belt Line and Spring Valley, Hyde Park and Floyd. New park? http://bit.ly/jyqcvN
  
• 2011 06 05 - Nowitzki threw the ball away on second last possession, then missed a jumper at the buzzer. But he didn't flop on either. Give me that, huh?
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Steger Fest 2011

I wish I were going to "Steger Fest." Hey, I wish I knew something about "Steger Fest." Anything. Well, in fact I do know something. I know that Giggity was the headliner Friday night. And they do a nice cover of "You May Be Right (I May Be Crazy)". But that's all I know.

Come on, Steger, Illinois, get with the program and put up a webpage for "Steger Fest." I know I'm not the only person looking for information on the premiere summer festival for villages along the border of Cook County and Will County, Illinois.

Chinese History and Texas Education

Members of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) lately have been making direct appeals to the public to rally support for their vision for education in Texas. Recently, for example, I blogged about Thomas Ratliff's appeal to voters to contact their state representatives to ask them to quit making our schools try to do more with less. Ratliff argued for more local control: "In my opinion, the term 'Independent School District' is misleading at best. In fact, I would argue there's hardly anything 'independent' about them."

After the jump, David Bradley's turn.

Redistricting Musical Chairs - The Appeal

When last we heard from the Dallas County Commissioners Court, lame duck Commissioner Maurine Dickey was quacking over a new district map. I said then, "Presumably, she was upset that the Democrats, newly holding a majority on the Commissioners Court, were drawing a new map that might result in one of the two previously safe Republican seats ending up in Democratic hands."

After the jump, some further thoughts on the subject.

Checking In With The SBOE

Let's check in with the SBOE - the Texas State Board of Education - you know, that government body that The Dallas Morning News's Jacquielynn Floyd once called a "whacked-out troop of underqualified ideologues ... [who] make us look like a bunch o' goobers in the eyes of the whole nation." That was thanks in large measure to SBOE chairman Don McLeroy, the Bryan dentist who once argued that the good fit between humans' upper teeth and lower teeth is evidence of Creationism (apparently, he never saw my children's orthodontist bills). Texan voters and their schoolchildren scored a rare victory at the ballot box in 2010 when McLeroy was defeated by Thomas Ratliff in the Republican primary, who went to win the general election.

After the jump, catching up with Thomas Ratliff.

Beth Van Duyne Elected Mayor of Irving

In Richardson, the city election may be a fading memory, but in Irving, it is still headline news. Saturday, Beth Van Duyne was elected mayor in a campaign described by KERA as nasty and expensive. The two candidates in the June 18 runoff spent more than $850,000 to win the mayor's office. It makes our little dust-up in Richardson, viewed as expensive here, now sound like a bargain.

After the jump, a look into the parallel universe of Irving.

Does Richardson Need An Independent Auditor?

Does the City of Richardson need an independent auditor? I'm sure some readers are already saying, "D'oh, yes." But bear with me as I think out loud. The answer is not self-evident to me.

After the jump, some pros and cons.

Father's Day in the Steger Garden (2011)

From Flowers

More photos after the jump.

Tort Reform and Cost Control

Given that rising health care costs is a big component of our federal budget, and given that Governor Rick Perry is dropping hints that he'll run for President, it isn't difficult to predict that Perry will cite tort reform as an example of how Perry knows how to keep rising health care costs from bankrupting the country.

After the jump, a single graph that Perry will have a hard time explaining.