POTD: Fun on the Funicular

"Funicular climbs,
Wellington's view unfolds wide,
Top of the city."
—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 11 Wellington

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the top of the funicular ride in downtown Wellington, New Zealand. Travel tip: buy a one way ticket. We paid for a round trip only to discover that a stroll through the botanic gardens at the top is all downhill, finishing back down in the central business district. Our funicular return tickets were never used. I know — first world problem.

Cigarette Girl (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Cigarette Girl (TV 2023): Indonesian. A mystery. A romance. A tragedy. Dying man sets his son in search of a woman from his past. Old letters reveal family secrets dating back to the Indonesian mass killings of 1965. Everybody loves somebody, but nobody is married to whom they love. B-

A Thousand and One (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

A Thousand and One (2023): Young, single mother gets out of prison and wants to get her young son out of foster care. A heart-wrenching drama with an arc that leads to a gut punch at the end. Excellent acting by Teyana Taylor. B-

Maggie Moore(s) (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Maggie Moore(s) (2023): A police procedural about a small town sheriff investigating the deaths of two women with the same name. A better than average black comedy with a romantic element with John Hamm and Tina Fey. Nick Mohammed brings the comedy as the sheriff's sidekick. An easy watch. B+

Council Recap: Bob and Lynn Townsend Bridge

At the November 13, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, the Council approved a resolution naming a new park "Twin Rivers Park" and naming the bridge there "Bob and Lynn Townsend Bridge." The vote was 7-0. An uncontroversial action. So why did it feel like some people were left feeling more than a little frustrated, if not with the result, then at least with the process, or lack of one? And why did Mayor Bob Dubey feel a need to apologize?

Angie Chen Button and Vouchers

This week, the Texas House voted in favor of an amendment stripping school vouchers from a school funding bill. You can read elsewhere how significant this vote is (in the short run, very; in the long run, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), but here I want to report on how my Texas representative, Angie Chen Button (R-Richardson) voted.

POTD: Logs and Lumber on the Dock

"Lumber on the dock,
Tauranga's tale unfolds here,
Shipped dreams but which way?"
—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 09 Tauranga

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the port of Tauranga, New Zealand. According to IBIS World, online retail, IT security, and sports administration are among some of the growth industries tipped to boom over the next five years in New Zealand. But forestry is more photogenic, so the photo you get is of lumber stacked up on the docks waiting to be shipped overseas. Or, maybe that's wrong. Maybe the lumber is waiting to be picked up and delivered to New Zealand's construction industry to be turned into homes. You see, I heard that New Zealand exports logs and imports lumber. Why they don't cut the logs in New Zealand I'm sure can be somehow explained by David Ricardo's economic law of comparative advantage, but I'm sure I've lost you now, so let's drop it. I was just struck by the pretty picture of logs and lumber on the dock.

POTD: Genealogy in New Zealand

"On Tauranga's shore,
Ellen, kin reunited,
Photobombed by fate."
—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 09 Tauranga

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Tauranga, New Zealand. Ellen poses with her DNA cousin and her husband. From DNA results, they know they are distantly related, but try as they might they have been unable to find a common ancestor. They suspect it's someone in Scotland, maybe in the 1700s. As I was taking this photograph, Mother Nature, as she is wont to do, serendipitously photobombed it with a young woman heavy with child, preggers as they might say in New Zealand (and if they don't say that, I apologize).

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023): Based on a true-crime nonfiction book, this is a multi-faceted story, as large as the Osage murders themselves and as intimate as the marriage between Ernest (Leo DeCaprio) and Mollie (Lily Gladstone). Scorsese succeeds in it all. A-

Council Recap: Kayla Walker Lawsuit

Coming out of an executive session during the November 6, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Arefin made this motion: "I move that the City Manager be authorized to execute a mutually satisfactory settlement agreement in Walker at al. v City of Richardson, Texas, et al. civil action on 3:22-CV-01164-X pending in the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division and any documents related thereto." Seconded by Councilmember Joe Corcoran and approved unanimously without comment, this motion at 10:59pm closed the book on a sorry story of Richardson's history.