The Square (2013)

IMDB

The Square (2013): Documentary of Arab Spring in Egypt. Exhilaration. Disappointment. Perseverance. Which way does arc of universe bend? A+

Goodbye, Tom Thumb

Goodbye, Tom Thumb. Oh, the name might remain, but big changes are coming to the traditional supermarket, no matter what name is above the door.

The private equity company Cerberus Capital Management announced that it was acquiring Safeway. Cerberus already owns Albertsons. Safeway already owns Tom Thumb. With all of these under one ownership, you can bet changes will come in order to compete. Whether or not the name Tom Thumb stays or goes is only a minor matter.

After the jump, what to expect from the new Tom Thumb overlords.

S2L77: London - II

From 1977 05 10 England

1977 was the year of the Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. When I visited in May, the capital of the British Empire was already decked out and large events were already in rehearsal for the June celebration. The queen has since celebrated her golden jubilee (2002) and even her diamond jubilee (2012), but that silver jubilee still stands out.

More photos after the jump.

Changing My Mind About Freeways - ctd

Yesterday, I wrote about how I am forced to rethink freeways, to at least consider the possibility that freeways through cities aren't some Frankenstein's monster, the unintended consequences of legislative sausage-making. I am forced to consider the possibility that freeways through cities were a deliberate attempt to solve a problem that was already apparent to urban planners of 1939 -- that America's cities were becoming clogged by automobile traffic.

After the jump, what does all this have to do with Richardson? Or Dallas?

Changing My Mind About Freeways

I'm always on the lookout for facts that make me rethink my preconceived notions. I think I might have found one regarding highways.

More than once, I've written about the "fact" that the Interstate Highway System was not originally intended to cut through cities. My thinking was influenced by articles such as one by Eric Jaffe in The Atlantic.

Eisenhower himself didn't realize the Interstate Highway System would cut through American cities until a few years after construction began. Ike had wanted a national road network like the one he'd seen in Germany during World War II. But he'd also wanted these roads to stop at the doorsteps of cities, not push right past.

Source: The Atlantic.

The conventional wisdom is that in order to get the interstate highway system built, Ike had to get the votes of urban congressmen, and to get those votes, he had to direct some of the construction their way, in the form of freeways in their urban districts. The argument has a certain logic.

After the jump, a contrarian opinion that deserves consideration.

Dirty Wars (2013)

IMDB

Dirty Wars (2013): Bush. Obama. Secret orders. Covert ops. Cover-ups. War on terror spins out of control. Kill list grows without end. A+

OTBR: A Personal Observatory in Australia

Latitude: S 37° 37.050
Longitude: E 144° 20.580

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: Best Musical Ever

Repeat tweets from February, 2014:

• Feb 2 2014: Hairspray at BHS: '60s music and student activism, what more could you ask? Hilarious & inspiring. All voices owned the house! Best ever!
  
• Feb 3 2014: New 2014-2016 UIL District 10: Richardson, Berkner, Lake Highlands, Pearce, Highland Park, Mesquite, Mesquite Horn, North Mesquite. Wow!
  
• Feb 4 2014: MT @SenTedCruz: "If a President can choose which laws to follow, ..." Get local police to strictly enforce jaywalking while you're at it.
  
• Feb 4 2014: Our Lake Wobegon climate. Headline: "2013 Marked the Thirty-seventh Consecutive Year of Above-Average Temperature." grist.org
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Early Spring in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

Daffodil? Jonquil? Narcissus?
Daffodil! Also, narcissus. All clear?

Basketball Playoffs: Atascocita 71, Berkner 49

From 2014 02 28 Regional Semifinals

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team's magical season came to an end in Waco Friday night when they lost to the Humble Atascocita Eagles 71-49 in the Regional Semifinals (round four) of the Texas UIL state tournament.

The Rams have a lot to look back on with pride -- an overall record of 24-8, District 9-5A tri-champions with a district record of 11-3, and winners of the first three rounds of the state tournament. There are about 250 Class 5A schools in Texas. The best 128 teams started the tournament. Berkner made it to the final sixteen. Sweet! It's a great time to be a Ram!

More photos after the jump.