Council Recap: Municipal Campus Site Plan

At the August 21, 2023, meeting, the Richardson City Council was shown two draft designs for a redeveloped municipal campus. The Council generally favored the building placements of Option A, but with one controversy. That was a new entrance off Arapaho Rd between the library and a relocated City Hall with a drive that will go by the fountain. It's safe to bet that the building placements in Option A will be part of the selected site plan, but what to do with that drive is very much up in the air.

Below, after the diagram for Option A, are selected comments by the Council Members that I find illustrative of their thinking.

WAIW: Super Bowl XLV

Where Am I Wednesday!

Fifty points to the first person to identify where this photo was taken.

Answer is after the jump.

TIL: Taylor Swift is Underpaid

Are you in the camp of people who think celebrities (singers, actors, athletes) are overpaid? If so, I understand where you are coming from. But Paul Krugman, economics columnist for the New York Times, isn't so sure. He provides some facts that caused me to change my mind. Try changing your mind now and then. I highly recommend the feeling it gives you. Now Paul Krugman has me asking, is Taylor Swift perhaps underpaid?

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022): Scholar of storytelling (Tilda Swinton) visits Istanbul where she frees a genie (Idris Elba) who tells her 3,000 years of his life story. A romance, kinda, that never really ignites. Mostly oral storytelling illustrated with good CGI. B-

#VeryTardyReview

POTD: The Corinth Canal

From 2022 11 03 Athens

"Ancient dream fulfilled,
Grandiose feat is complete.
Corinth's isthmus split."
—h/t ChatGPT

This photo-of-the-day was taken at Greece's Corinth Canal. A canal there was attempted as early as the 7th century BCE but wasn't successfully built until 1893. "The canal was dug through the Isthmus at sea level and has no locks. It is 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) in length and only 24.6 metres (80.7 feet) wide at sea level, making it impassable for many modern ships. It is currently of little economic importance and is mainly a tourist attraction." Hence, our visit.

POTD: The Neighborhood of the Gods

From 2022 11 03 Athens

"By the gods' side, dine.
Baklava's gold layers shine.
Plaka's blessings found."

—h/t ChatGPT

This photo-of-the-day, showing "L" walking away from the camera, was taken in Plaka, "the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the...slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens. It is known as the 'Neighborhood of the Gods' due to its proximity to the Acropolis and its many archaeological sites."

Bonus photos of our dinner in Plaka at a sidewalk cafe beneath the Parthenon are after the jump.

Painkiller (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Painkiller (TV 2023): Dramatization of the opioid crisis, with OxyContin as the examplar of how overprescribing a legal drug to boost sales revenue is ravaging America. It's a drama. Characters are one dimensional. Richard Sackler, shown as the greedy, uncaring, CEO of Purdue Pharma, is real. So is the harm. Subtle, it's not. B-

POTD: The Glare

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"Off shiny glass wall,
Death ray pierces rooftop screen,
Aimed at Nasher's art."
—h/t ChatGPT

This bonus photo-of-the-day was taken in the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. Almost twelve years after it first appeared, "The Glare" is still there. "The Glare" is the sun's reflection off the shiny glass facade of Museum Tower next door and down through the Nasher Sculpture Center's "delicately calibrated roof screen", thereby endangering the art within its galleries. This photo shows three metal sculptures by Mark di Suvero. Behind them, on the wall, you can see "The Glare" and the shadows of the roof screen. The dispute over how to fix the problem, and who should pay, remains unresolved a decade after the problem was first discovered.

TIL: Hispanics are a Plurality in Texas

Few observers of the state’s demographics were shocked when, in 2022, Census Bureau estimates revealed that Hispanics had become a narrow plurality in Texas. At 40.2 percent of the state’s population, they just edged out the non-Hispanic white population of 39.4 percent. The state will never be the same!

Source: Texas Monthly.

That's what I learned in a Texas Monthly article by Richard Z. Santos. He adds the million dollar question: "Texas Is Now a Majority-Minority State. Why Haven’t Our Politics Changed?" He never satisfactorily answers that question. After the jump, the litany of reasons that each contribute to an answer.

The Watcher (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Watcher (TV 2022) Not a horror movie, or ghost story, or stalker movie. It's a mystery, with lots of creepy neighbors, each suspected and maybe cleared, all the way to a not-so-pat ending. Great cast, all getting into their over-the-top characters. For fun, not scares. A-