Repeat Tweets: Depp and DiCaprio Together

Repeat tweets from December, 2013:

• 1 Dec 2013: What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993): Depp and DiCaprio together, back when they played ordinary, believable characters. Less is more. A-
  
• 1 Dec 2013: With the losses by Skyline and Jesuit, District 9-5A is out of the football playoffs. It's now time for basketball to take center stage!
  
• 4 Dec 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "Restoring economic growth ought to be a bipartisan objective." So should ensuring every American has health care. #wacko
  
• 5 Dec 2013: Headline: "Tom Pauken Drops Race For Governor." He finally realized that voters don't want a candidate whose top issue is the Vietnam War.
  
• 6 Dec 2013: MT @ezraklein: "Unusually strong jobs report today. +203,000 jobs. Unemployment down for the right reasons." GOP blames Obamacare.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Auld Lang Syne: Jesuit 65, Berkner 68

From 2013 12 31 Jesuit vs Berkner

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team bid goodbye to 2013 with an always close 68-65 win over the Jesuit Rangers on the afternoon before New Year's Day at the Berkner gym. It's a great time to be a Ram!

More photos after the jump.

The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

IMDB

The Hobbit - Smaug (2013): Tolkien would recognize it. Jackson added love interest, some humor and lots of mind-numbing CGI action. C+

Lookout, TCEQ is Coming to Plano

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has prepared a draft permit which, if approved, would establish the conditions under which the new Lookout Trash Transfer Station (LOTS) must operate. The TCEQ has made a preliminary decision that this permit meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. Naturally, dissatisfaction with this decision is directly proportional to proximity to the site.

After the jump, the next act in this long-running drama.

S2L77: Delphi

From 1977 04 21 Greece

Delphi was believed by ancient Greeks to be at the exact center of the world. It was the home of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle of the ancient world. It was also the site of the Pythian Games, the precursor to the modern Olympics.

More photos after the jump.

Merry TubaChristmas - 2013

From 2013 12 24 TubaChristmas

TubaChristmas was celebrated in Thanksgiving Square in downtown Dallas at noon on Christmas Eve, the 36th annual performance of about 200 tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums and baritones. Oh, the joyful sound!

More photos after the jump.

Duck and Cover - ctd

In reaction to the controversy over the comments of the Duck Dynasty guy, Phil Robertson, in a GQ interview, I said I was reading Isabel Wilkerson's "The Warmth of Other Suns." That book is getting better and better the farther I read. Wilkerson spells out plenty of reasons why blacks in the Jim Crow South would not say "Those doggone white people" to a white person, reasons different from the conclusion of Phil Robertson that blacks were happy with Jim Crow.

Blacks living in the Jim Crow South had good reason to distrust *all* whites -- a single careless comment to the wrong person at the wrong time and their livelihoods, their homes, even their lives could be lost. I'm surprised that this is a controversial statement today for anyone, but it seems to be, given some of the reader reaction I've received to my original post. Apparently, the mythology that blacks were happy with racial discrimination persists to this day.

After the jump, another passage from Wilkerson that provides another example of this.

HS Basketball District Play Tips Off

From 2013 12 20 Lake Highlands vs Berkner

District 9-5A basketball tipped off its 2013-2014 district season with rivalry games in Richardson. The Richardson Eagles defeated the Pearce Mustangs 61-51 at Pearce High School, while across town at Berkner High School, the Rams defeated the Lake Highlands Wildcats 76-62. Berkner had a balanced offense, with four players in double figures. Lake Highlands' Jamarice Preston led all scorers with 19 points.

More photos after the jump.

Duck and Cover

Recap: in an interview with GQ, Phil Robertson, star of A&E's reality TV series "Duck Dynasty," compared homosexuality with raping barnyard animals. A&E, not keen on being associated with that sentiment, suspended Robertson. Some thought that was a violation of free speech and attacked A&E for, I dunno, exercising their own freedom to choose whom to give TV time to or something. The critics of A&E find themselves in the (I hope) uncomfortable company of the Westboro Baptist Church: "A&E suspended Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty 4EVER for telling you fags won't go to heaven. Hello?! GOD HATES FAGS."

Anyway, Phil Robertson's backwards views on sexual orientation are not what I wanted to talk about today. After the jump, his backwards views on race.

RALC Appreciation Luncheon

RALC Executive Director Katie Patterson welcomes attendees

The Richardson Adult Literacy Center (RALC) held its annual Volunteer and Student Appreciation Luncheon Wednesday at the Richardson Public Library. The potluck luncheon featured dishes from sixteen countries around the world. I particularly recommend the mole poblano.

The RALC provides free English as a second language (ESL) instruction to adults who live or work in Richardson or the Richardson Independent School District area. Please consider volunteering or donating.