Meet Tincy Miller and Lois Parrott

There was another debate Tuesday night: the League of Women Voters (LWV) sponsored a forum for the candidates for the District 12 seat on the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), Geraldine "Tincy" Miller and Lois Parrott.

What's the SBOE? Knowing you'd ask, the LWV selected as the very first topic the audience question, "What is the mission of the SBOE?" Miller answered first: to manage and protect the Permanent School Fund (PSF), to define curriculum, and to review and select textbooks. Parrott agreed.

After the jump, what the candidates promised to do to achieve that mission.

Mayoral Referendum: Are We There Yet?

All of the quadrennial voters out there, the ones who see the inside of a voting booth only once every four years when the presidency is at stake, they will find their November ballot this year contains a question about Richardson city government, perhaps for the first time in their voting experience.

On the other hand, those voters who faithfully perform their civic duty for city council elections, school board elections, and bond elections may know they'll be asked to decide whether or not to change Richardson's city charter to call for direct election of the mayor. Still, even the voters who tend to follow local politics closely may still be confused about which way to vote.

No matter which group you fall in, this blog article is for you. I've probably blogged about direct election of the mayor more than any other single issue. I was against it before I was for it. Even after I said I was for it, I continued to list all the reasons you should be against it. Even though I said that I grudgingly accept it, I still have a hard time envisioning actually casting a "yes" vote in the voting booth.

So, if you came here looking for someone to tell you how to vote, you won't find that here. After the jump, a collection of all my thoughts on the subject that may or may not help you make up your own mind.

Review: Skios

Amazon

From Skios, by Michael Frayn

Please God it wasn't going to be too awful this year, prayed Nikki. All lectures, however unique and special, were of course awful, but some were more awful than others. There had to be a lecture. Why? Because there always had been one. There had been a Fred Toppler Lecture every year since the foundation had existed. They had had lectures on the Crisis in this and the Challenge of that. They had had an Enigma of, a Whither? and a Why?, three Prospects and two Reconsiderations of."

After the jump, my review.

OTBR: A Victorian House in San Francisco

Latitude: N 37° 45.924
Longitude: W 122° 28.206
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".

Homecoming: Berkner 50, Sunset 0

From 2012 10 12 Sunset vs Berkner

Richardson Berkner High School celebrated a big homecoming win as the Rams shut out Dallas Sunset 50-0 Friday night at Ram-Wildcat Stadium.

More photos after the jump.

S2L77: Singapore, My Landfall in Asia

Singapore
January 28 - February 1, 1977

We attended a Chinese celebration for a baby boy, eating a feast of roast duck, quail eggs and seaweed.

We visited Toa Payoh and Dr Lee's home. We had fresh coconuts from a tree in the yard.

At midnight we went to Bugis Street -- amazing!

We ate Indian food. The cost for seven people was $US5. Later we attended the outdoor Chinese opera.

We ate seafood at a beach restaurant on Sentosa - cockle shells, crab, prawns, squid, cuttle fish.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 01 29 Singapore

Whereas many things in Australia reminded me of America, my trip home was going to take me to places as unlike America as I could imagine. I was able to ease myself into all that by starting my journey in Singapore, exotic but more like America than any other country ahead of me on my journey to London.

After the jump, Singapore, a fine city.

Telecom Corridor, Meet Tulsa

Matthew Yglesias of Slate had reason to spend a few days in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and came away with a few compliments and a few cautions for Tulsa and cities like it all across the country.

Tulsa was a boom city of the 1930s oil industry. Lately, Tulsa is trying to reinvent itself as a high tech startup haven. Yglesias finds it "lamentable" that Tulsa is trying to lure high tech startups through public investment in a supercomputer. Yglesias argues that cities make a mistake by focusing on high tech. That's just one sector of the economy and it's far from being where all the growth is.

You really should read Yglesias' whole article. It's short. But if you don't have the time, or interest, at least read his conclusion. After the jump.

Karaoke Right Here in River City

Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of [karaoke] in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.

Source: With apologies to Meredith Willson.

In China, karaoke bars, known as KTV, offer a place where small groups can gather in private rooms with state-of-the-art video and sound systems for karaoke. KTV is ubiquitous in China. Apartments are small in China and standalone houses are uncommon. If you want to host a party, KTV fills a real market need.

Last year I had the good fortune to visit China. One night in Jiaxing, a city about 60 miles from Shanghai, we were treated to our first experience at a KTV establishment. A mixed group of locals and foreigners, all friends or acquaintances of our host, enjoyed a private party, not unlike parties I've experienced in private homes in America. There was food, there was alcohol, there was smoking (more common in China than I care for), there was singing (mostly by the Chinese, but still). All in all, a good time was had by all.

After the jump, is KTV coming to Richardson, Texas?

Texas State Fair Day (2012)

From 2012 10 State Fair

More photos after the jump.

CashAmerica and Pete Sessions - Update

Last January, I blogged that Congressman Pete Sessions' biggest campaign contributor was CashAmerica, "a big payday lender, a practice sometimes accused of offering short-term loans with exorbitant fees and usurious interest rates to people who can least afford it."

After the jump, look who else is noticing.