RISD Election: Put the Popcorn Away

The deadline to file to run as as candidate for the school board of the Richardson ISD (RISD) was March 1. It turns out that wasn't the only deadline of consequence. Another was March 4, the deadline to withdraw. One candidate who had filed to run withdrew in that three day period. Why didn't he withdraw before the March 1 filing deadline? The more you know about the candidate, the less surprised you ought to be.

After the jump, the disappearing candidate.

Repeat Tweets: Talking Back

Repeat tweets from February, 2013:

• Feb 1 2013: 38 references to Afghanistan vs 178 to Israel in Senate hearing on Hagel. Amazing lack of interest in war by @SenTedCruz and GOP senators.
  
• Feb 1 2013: Headline: "Stocks hit 5-yr highs on upbeat jobs report." Meanwhile, @SenTedCruz introduces bill to repeal Obamacare.
  
• Feb 1 2013: Read and retweet my warning not to believe anything @SenTedCruz quotes, without checking the context for yourself.
  
• Feb 1 2013: RT @BetseyStevenson: "Over the past 3 months the private sector added 624K jobs, while the govt lost 24K jobs." So much for bloated govt.
  
• Feb 1 2013: RT @ryanavent: "Employment now up 5.5m from low in Feb 2010. That's plus 6.1m private jobs, minus 600k govt jobs." So much for bloated govt.
  
• Feb 1 2013: "Reduced govt spending [is] a drag on recovery. The public sector lost 9,000 jobs last month." So much for govt bloat. tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
  
• Feb 2 2013: High school men's basketball. Final: Berkner 53, Pearce 48. It's a great time to be a Ram! #txhsbb
  
• Feb 2 2013: Little Shop of Horrors at RHS: Intimate setting works well. The macabre has never been this much fun. Feed me! www.marksteger.com
  
• Feb 3 2013: Headline: "Watch the Throne: No. 1 ranking awaits Indiana" after #3 Hoosiers beat #1 Michigan. sports.yahoo.com
  
• Feb 3 2013: Bye Bye Birdie at BHS: A+ all around -- orchestra, lead singers, chorus, choreography, comic acting (Shriners hilarious). Best sound ever.
  
• Feb 3 2013: Caltech's baseball team beat Pacifica 9-7 Saturday. The win ended a 228-game, 10-year losing streak. Go Beavers! www.usatoday.com
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Playoffs: Berkner 66, Austin Anderson 52

State Bound!

Final Four! The Berkner Rams men's basketball team traveled to Waco this weekend and returned with the Region II championship trophy. They'll travel to Austin March 8-9 to play in the Final Four!

Berkner won a thriller Friday night over Spring Westfield 64-58 in overtime. On Saturday the Rams beat Austin Anderson 66-52.

Next stop: the Frank Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus in Austin for the UIL State Championship. 128 teams started this tournament. Only four remain. Two semi-final games will be played Friday and the championship game between the winners will be played Saturday night. It's a great time to be a Ram!

More photos after the jump.

Richardson Idol Canceled

The upcoming season of Richardson Idol has been canceled due to a shortage of contestants. As of the 5:00 pm, March 1, deadline for filing to run in the City of Richardson's May 11 City Council elections, only one race was contested, the newly created elected mayor's position.

After the jump, the winners by default for the other six races and, most important, what will replace Richardson Idol in this spring's TV lineup.

S2L77: Varanasi and the Ganges

Varanasi, India
March 2-3, 1977

A long drive arriving in Benares [Varanasi] at night, traveling through many villages lacking any electricity. Up at dawn for a tour of the Ganges River.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

"The city of temples", "the holy city of India", "the city of lights", and "the oldest living city on earth." That's Varanasi (formerly, Benares). The river running through it is the Ganges, India's longest river and Hindus' most sacred river. A boat ride on the river at sunrise reveals Hindus bathing in its waters, performing ritualistic purifications, and cremating their dead on funeral pyres on the river's banks.

More photos after the jump.

Traffic Light Mystery

Those flashing yellow unprotected turn arrows that caused confusion and mocking in Richardson when they were introduced two years ago are finally coming to Plano. Expect the same commotion to prevail there ... until it doesn't.

But flashing yellow arrows are not what I want to talk about today. It's plain old-fashioned green and red lights, specifically the traffic signal at the intersection of Yale Blvd and Campbell Rd. That's the scene in the photo below, looking north on Yale Blvd. The school bus across the street is southbound on Yale Blvd.

Source: Google Street View.

After the jump, has anyone ever seen another case of this traffic light sequence?

Playoffs: Berkner 66, Jesuit 57

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team met their District 9-5A foe Jesuit Rangers in the third round of the UIL playoffs Tuesday night in front of a standing-room-only packed house at the neutral site of Lake Highlands HS. Berkner had won the two regular season meetings between these two teams. It's been said that it's difficult to beat a team three times in one season. The Jesuit Rangers showed the truth of the saying. After the jump, how the third meeting played out.

Review: Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Amazon

From Drift, by Rachel Maddow:

Remember the words of James Madison: 'The Constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the Legislature.'"

After the jump, my review.

NIMBY versus NIABY

NIMBY is an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard." It's often used to describe a selfish attitude of neighborhoods that oppose some development or other simply because of its location -- that is, too close to them. There is a recognition of the need for the unpopular development, but also an insistence that someone else pay the price of living next to it. Landfills are a classic NIMBY target.

NIABY is an acronym for the phrase "Not In Anybody's Back Yard." It's a more universal stand than NIMBY, opposing some development or other as unwise no matter where it is located. NIABY would like to see the development not just moved out of one's own neighborhood, but canceled altogether. Drug houses are a classic NIABY target.

I can create scenarios where a NIMBY attitude can be right and other scenarios where it can be wrong. Same for a NIABY attitude. In this blog post, I resist the urge to issue blanket judgments. What I want to do is review various developments in Richardson and identify elements of NIMBY and NIABY thinking that they evoke. After the jump.

Playoffs: Berkner 81, Mesquite Horn 54

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team defeated the Mesquite John Horn Jaguars 81-54 Friday in the second round of the Texas UIL state playoffs. It's a great time to be a Ram!

Update: The Richardson Eagles advanced to the third round of the playoffs also with a thrilling, buzzer-beating, back-court basket by Nylan Yancy. Watch it here.