S2L77: Lahore, Pakistan

Lahore, Pakistan
March 15, 1977

Srinigar to Jammu. 200 miles. Nine hours. Delays due to army trucks blocking narrow mountain roads.
Jammu to India/Pakistan border. Three hours at the border.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From the Heaven on earth that is the Vale of Kashmir, it was back to the hot, dusty plains of the Punjab, across the India/Pakistan border (crossing took three hours, a sign of trouble in the region), and on to Punjab's largest city, Lahore, home to millions. Like much of northern India, Mughal architecture dominates tourism, from the ubiquitous Red Fort to the tomb of Mughal Emperor Jehangir to the gigantic Badshahi Mosque.

From 1977 03 17 Pakistan

More after the jump.

The Glorious Fourth

From 2012 07 04 Breckinridge

Richardson's Family 4th Celebration 2012
Photos from 2012's celebration can be viewed on Google Photos.

Django Unchained (2012)

IMDB

Django Unchained (2012): Quintessential Tarantino. Over the top, exaggerated violence, cartoonish spaghetti Western with an attitude. B+

Repeat Tweets: Reward Good Trustees, Voters

Repeat tweets from June, 2013:

• 1 Jun 2013: MT @aviselk: "Irving ISD has private investigator looking into board President." Richardson ISD is well run. Reward good trustees, voters.
  
• 1 Jun 2013: Silver Linings Playbook (2012): Bipolar patient meets flipped out young widow. Somehow it works. Uncomfortable with a happy ending. B+
  
• 2 Jun 2013: Overheard: "I keep asking when they are going to hire a qualified person to run the Dyslexia program." And school board candidates. ;-)
  
• 2 Jun 2013: "We were put here on earth to help others. I'm not sure what others were put here for." -- W.H. Auden
  
• 2 Jun 2013: RT @SenTedCruz: "Obama Admin is using machinery of govt to target political enemies." Who needs evidence? Darrell Issa's "gut" is enough.
  
• 2 Jun 2013: Unfortunate choice of headline: "One-legged torso found floating in Venice lagoon has authorities stumped."
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Looking in the Kitchens of Richardson Restaurants

Did you know the City of Richardson's Health Department publishes restaurant inspection scores? Not on the front door of the restaurant, that's for sure (the city doesn't require restaurants to post them). Not on the city's "Dine Smart, Dine Local" promotional emails or website (the city doesn't include inspection scores with the tons of other information they helpfully provide on each restaurant).

The last time I looked at how the city handled this, I wasn't impressed. Hunting through the city's isolated restaurant inspection score website is the only way to find out what the health inspector thinks of your favorite restaurant's kitchen.

After the jump, technology comes to the rescue. If Richardson opens up its database, that is.

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.