Retweets ≠ Endorsements

Retweets ≠ Endorsements. Unless they do. Sometimes a person retweets a message that he or she finds absurd/outrageous/despicable (pick any that apply) without intending to imply agreement. But sometimes, they do intend agreement. It depends. It sounds complicated, but it's usually easy to tell them apart in practice.

Idle Thoughts: Early Voting

Tweets from May, 2019:

• 2019-05-01: Early voting at Richardson Civic Center:
  2015: 1,338 people voted early in person.
  2017: 2,476.
  2019: 3,999.
  That includes all Dallas County voters who voted at the Civic Center, not just City of Richardson voters. Draw your own implications.
• 2019-05-02: Avengers: Endgame (2019): It was a satisfying finale to the sage. Tons of characters, tons of action, a simple quest movie but with many complex interleaved timelines. Best parts were when it didn't take its absurdities seriously. Next best were the few scenes without CGI. B-
• 2019-05-02: RT Nancy Pelosi: "Barr is lying to the American people. #FreeMueller."
  Think how unprecedented this is. She's the Speaker of the House. He's the Attorney General of the United States. He works at the pleasure of the President of the United States. (Link)

After the jump, more idle thoughts.

POTD: Church of the Nativity in Krokhino

From 2018 08 17 Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the former village of Krokhino, Russia, along the Baltic-Volga waterway. When the canals were built connecting the Baltic Sea to the Volga River and on to the Caspian Sea, Krokhino was flooded. The ghostly Church of the Nativity still stands in shallow water along the waterway.

After the jump, a photo of the photographer.

POTD: Kizhi Island

From 2018 08 16 Kizhi

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Kizhi Island, in Lake Onega in northern Russia, the second largest lake in Europe, after Lake Ladoga, also in northern Russia. Churches on the island date back at least to the 15th Century. Today the entire island forms a national open-air museum and UNESCO world heritage site.

The 22-dome Church of the Transfiguration has two legends. One is that it was built on the site chosen by none other than Peter the Great, on a visit in the early 1700s (although modern historians agree that any visit by Peter at all is unlikely, to say nothing about him locating the site of the church). The other legend is that it is built entirely of wood (although we distinctly witnessed carpenters hammering away as part of restoration work).

Bonus photos after the jump.

POTD: Windows of Mandrogy

From 2018 08 15 Mandrogy

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Mandrogy, Russia. The photos are of various windows in the village.

Verkhnie Mandrogi, or "Upper Falls," was once a small village on the banks of the Svir between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The town was ruined during World War II and disappeared from maps for many years. But in 1996 an enterprising Russian, Sergei Gutzeit, got the idea of reconstructing it as a sort of open air museum about traditional Russian villages for the benefit of travelers taking river cruises between St. Petersburg and Kizhi. It has a small hotel and several houses built of brightly painted pine logs, windmills, vodka and bread museums, craftspeople (potters, weavers, jewelers, etc.), a moose farm, a stable, an archery range, trout and carp fishing, and a small zoo featuring bears, raccoon dogs and other animals.

Source: Viking River Cruises.

Bonus photos after the jump.

City Council Runoff Voters Guide

Runoff election day for Richardson City Council is Saturday, June 8, 2019. Early voting runs from Tuesday, May 28, until Tuesday, June 4. One place is on the ballot: Place 3. All registered voters in Richardson are eligible to vote. The candidates are Janet DePuy and Dan Barrios. I explained the issues that mattered most to me in the Voters Guide published before the May 4 election. I won't repeat that here. Instead, let's jump right to the recommendation.

POTD: Mandrogy, Russia

From 2018 08 15 Mandrogy

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Mandrogy, Russia.

Verkhnie Mandrogi, or "Upper Falls," was once a small village on the banks of the Svir between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The town was ruined during World War II and disappeared from maps for many years. But in 1996 an enterprising Russian, Sergei Gutzeit, got the idea of reconstructing it as a sort of open air museum about traditional Russian villages for the benefit of travelers taking river cruises between St. Petersburg and Kizhi. It has a small hotel and several houses built of brightly painted pine logs, windmills, vodka and bread museums, craftspeople (potters, weavers, jewelers, etc.), a moose farm, a stable, an archery range, trout and carp fishing, and a small zoo featuring bears, raccoon dogs and other animals.

Source: Viking River Cruises.

Ignore the vodka museum and the moose farm and focus solely on the landscape. I was struck by how much the river cruise on the Svir River reminded me of northern Wisconsin. In hindsight, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised — both are at about the same latitude and the northern forests at that latitude stretch pretty much around the world. The cottage in the woods on the lake is as much a staple in Russia as it is in Wisconsin.

OK, I admit that house in the photo above is not typical of Wisconsin. But check out the bonus photos after the jump. If the cottage and the lake don't say Wisconsin, I don't know what does.

Review: Normal People

Amazon

From Normal People, by Sally Rooney:

In school he and Marianne affect not to know each other. People know that Marianne lives in the white mansion with the driveway and that Connell’s mother is a cleaner, but no one knows of the special relationship between these facts."

And so begins the story of Marianne and Connell, two young people in school in west Ireland growing up, growing apart, and growing together again, over and over.

The Hustle (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Hustle (2019): Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway play simple cons on rich dupes on the French Riviera. Because the cons are so simple, the only mystery is what is going to be the big twist, which by the time it comes, you might have lost interest. Wasted talent but watchable. C+

POTD: St Petersburg Canals

From 2018 08 14 St Petersburg Canals

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the canals of St Petersburg, Russia. Historical. Beautiful. Magical.

Bonus photos are after the jump.