Drones are Ready. Red Tape Is Also

Source: City of Richardson.

On January 7, 2025, the Richardson City Plan Commission (CPC) approved, but only with a special permit, ZF 24-33, "a City-initiated PD Amendment to the Collins/Arapaho TOD and Innovation District Form Based Code Planned Development to allow a 'Drone Operations and Maintenance Center' as a permitted use in the Employment Sub-District."

Do you even know what a Drone Operations and Maintenance Center is? I didn't. And, judging by the discussion by the CPC members, neither did they. I have three comments.

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024): Joker on trial for murders committed in earlier movie. Is he criminally insane or just evil? Critics hated it. Audiences avoided it. But I liked it. It was a powerful depiction of how our criminal justice system fails the mentally ill. And...it's a musical! B+

Max

Charter Review: Sneak Preview of Changes

Source: Arefin Shamsul Facebook.

On December 2, 2024, the Richardson City Council appointed eleven members to a Charter Review Commission to review and suggest changes to Richardson's City Charter. I've been presenting my own suggestions (see links at bottom). The Commission held their first meeting Thursday, January 16, 2025. It was an orientation meeting. Nothing much was supposed to happen, and nothing was made of it when it did, but guessing how things will go tells me we got a sneak peek at some big changes that will be coming to Richardson's Charter. I'll get to those eventually, but first some scene setting.

POTD: Souvenir Hunting in Bodrum

"Crowded stalls abound,
Colors, scents, and voices call,
Bargains all around."
— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 16 Bodrum

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Bodrum, Turkey. "L" is souvenir hunting in the Bodrum Grand Bazaar.

POTD: White Peacocks are not Albino

"Feathers pure as snow,
Against Bodrum's ancient walls,
Graceful as the past."
— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 16 Bodrum

Today's photo-of-the-day is of a white peacock on the grounds of Bodrum Castle in Bodrum, Turkey. The castle was built "by the Knights of St John (Knights Hospitaller) as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium. A transnational effort, it has four towers known as the English, French, German, and Italian towers, bearing the names of the nations responsible for their construction. The chapel was built around 1407 and the first walls completed in 1437."

Oh, yeah, about that white peacock. "These birds are usually not albino, as they're sometimes called, but rather leucistic, meaning they're born with a genetic condition that strips them—or parts of them—of pigment."

Black Doves (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Black Doves (TV 2024): Keira Knightley plays a spy-for-hire married to an unwitting UK Foreign Minister in an action-thriller/black comedy. The plot details require too much explication in the wrapup of the last episode, but I'll forgive it. Supporting cast is great. B+

Netflix

TIL: Ranked-Choice Voting in the Texas House

Source: The Texan.

The Texas House's first order of business of the 2025 term was to elect Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) Speaker in a runoff over David Cook (R-Mansfield). Ana-Maria Ramos (D-Richardson) had been eliminated after coming in third in the first round of voting.

That got me thinking about how this election might have played out if the Texas House used ranked-choice voting (my favorite system), sometimes called instant-runoff voting.

Maria (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Maria (2024): Biopic of last 7 days of opera star Maria Callas's life. Oscar bid by Angelina Jolie. Callas comes across not as bigger than life, but as a sad, faded star, looking for something, needing something, but what? She doesn't know and neither does the director. C+

Netflix

Anora (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Anora (2024): Worker in a strip club gets involved with the immature son of a Russian oligarch. The relationship goes too far, the parents find out and send some heavies to put a stop to it, who get more than they expected subduing Ani. Mikey Madison deserves the Oscar buzz. Movie deserves its R rating. B+

In theaters

City Charter: Transparent Appointment of Boards and Commissions

Source: Arefin Shamsul Facebook.

On December 2, 2024, the Richardson City Council appointed eleven members to a Charter Review Commission, as required by law every ten years to review and suggest changes to Richardson's City Charter. Here, in a series of posts, I am presenting my own suggestions.