Friday, February 24, 2023

MLB Spring Training is Here

From MLB

I remember listening to spring training games on the radio from Wisconsin. I remember Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, and, yes, Bob Uecker, who all played for the Milwaukee Braves when I was young. I'm that old. I remember shoveling snow from the grass in the yard to make enough room to play catch. I remember baseball.

David Letterman: "Is that right?"
Bob Uecker: “Whether it’s true or not, I’m going to tell the story.”

Thursday, February 23, 2023

TIL: George Washington Burned New York

Source: Wikipedia
.

General George Washington ordered the burning of New York City in 1776 after his retreat from the city before the advancing British. Well, that's not exactly historically proven. The headline in The Atlantic article by Daniel Immerwahr is less definitive: "Did George Washington Burn New York?" There's a lot of circumstantial evidence saying he did and he wanted his involvement kept secret.

What Immerwahr does make clear is that total war is a tactic as old as, well, war itself. And the side telling the story always blames the other side for engaging in it, never themselves. And that includes George "I cannot tell a lie" Washington.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (TV 2022): Anthology of creepy stories with graveyards, rats, nightmares, haunted houses, etc. Most stories have a long buildup with little to no payoff. Spooky maybe, but no horror. No surprises in this old cabinet. C-

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Cunk on Earth (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Cunk on Earth (TV 2023): Philomena Cunk, the fictitious host of this satiric documentary about the history of humanity, says outrageous things with such a deadpan delivery that it's hard to know how her interview subjects keep a straight face. Meanwhile, viewers at home keep thinking, "She's not wrong." A-

Monday, February 20, 2023

POTD: Würzburg Power Station

From 2022 07 10 Rothenburg and Wurzburg

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Würzburg, Germany. It shows a modern power station for the City. Normally, I take photos of historic sites and buildings. This one caught my eye because of the lone woman, barely visible, sitting on the steps down to the river. I thought the closeup of that made for an artsy photo. That photo is after the jump.

Sunday, February 19, 2023

POTD: Alte Mainbrücke

From 2022 07 10 Rothenburg and Wurzburg

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Würzburg, Germany. That's the historic city center of Würzburg in the background. In the foreground is the Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) over the River Main, built in the 15th Century.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Saturday, February 18, 2023

First Impressions of Candidates for Local Elections

The deadline to file for a place on the May ballot was February 17, 2023. The lineup for elections for City of Richardson City Council and Richardson ISD Board of Trustees is now set. Here are some mentions of the candidates in opposed races from The Wheel's archives. There is more to draw on, but these will do for first impressions. Some of these are from endorsements from past elections. Do not take any of these old quotes as an endorsement in 2023. Which candidates are worthy of endorsement in 2023 remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

Friday, February 17, 2023

TIL: A Servile War

Source: Starz.

This week, I've been exploring various rabbit warrens prompted by Lee Roddy's 1977 book, "Gallant Christian Soldier: Robert E. Lee". First, I examined Lee's purported flawless character. Then I examined Lee's purported military genius. I found both lacking. Today, I want to examine something Lee said in a letter to his wife. I want to thank Lee Roddy for including it in his biography. I learned something from it at least.

Thursday, February 16, 2023

More About Robert E. Lee

Gallant Christian Soldier

Amazon

Yesterday, a book that caught my eye at the Richardson ISD Council of PTAs Used Book Fair sent me down the rabbit hole in search of the real Robert E. Lee. It's been said that the South lost the shooting war, but won the PR war. Lee's reputation was burnished after the Civil War by advocates of the Lost Cause. Yesterday's book review was of Lee Roddy's 1977 book "Gallant Christian Soldier: Robert E. Lee", an example of the genre that was still going strong a century after Lee's death. Personally, I had long ago rid myself of any belief that slave owner Robert E. Lee had a flawless character, as Roddy maintained in his biography of Lee. But I was still willing to grant that Lee was a masterful strategist and tactician on the battlefield. Today, my explorations down the Lee rabbit hole rid me of that belief as well.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

What I Bought at the PTA Used Book Fair

Gallant Christian Soldier

Amazon

The Richardson ISD Council of PTAs had its annual used book fair last weekend. If you've never been, you don't know what you're missing. There are thousands of books, of all genres, for sale at steep discount prices, a treasure hunt where you never know what you'll find. The book that caught my eye, the book I just had to buy, was the one with the big Confederate flag on the cover. I just had to take this one off the shelf...for review, let's say.