Twitter Tracks: Hoops, NFL, Bush Station Real Estate and More

Twitter tracks from January, 2011:

• 2011 01 02 - Between the Folds (2008): Documentary of origami. Raises questions about what is art and shows surprising applications in science. See it.
• 2011 01 02 - In basketball news, Rice 71, TCU 60. Rose Bowl glory doesn't transfer to other sports. Good luck to Horned Frogs in the Big East. Go Owls!
• 2011 01 04 - The Grand Design, by Hawking and Mlodinow: M-Theory explains how universes spontaneously arise. Edges God farther out of the picture. B-
• 2011 01 04 - Bill McCalpin explains Form Based Code and its implications regarding Bush Station development plans (and mentions me!) http://goo.gl/gEt8F
• 2011 01 04 - DART Man finally gets his paved walk to Bush Station. But he still doesn't sound happy. Some people like to find fault. http://goo.gl/2IrQt
• 2011 01 05 - Goodbye Ian McCann and Jeffrey Weiss. You'll be missed. Headline: "The Dallas Morning News to Erect Paywall"
• 2011 01 05 - He knows demographics of his customers. Jim Moroney: "We're down to a core group that says 'You'll pry the paper from my cold, dead hands.'"
• 2011 01 05 - The miraculous Texas immunity to the recession is apparently mythical. http://goo.gl/fgUAl
• 2011 01 05 - Thanks for his service. Will others follow? "Longtime Richardson council member John Murphy won't seek re-election." http://goo.gl/0bMij

After the jump, more Twitter tracks.

Flashing Yellow Arrows Everywhere

By now, Richardson drivers are becoming quite familiar with the flashing yellow arrow on traffic signals at intersections with a left turn lane (at least before today's rolling blackouts, which turned many intersections dark). Richardson has been slowly converting intersections to the new standard for over a year now.

After the jump, now it's Arlington's turn.

The "debasing doctrine of equality"

Last April, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia declared April to be "Confederate History Month" in Virginia, neglecting in his proclamation the small detail of slavery. Last December, South Carolina went Virginia one step more blatantly racist. The Sons of Confederate Veterans celebrated the declaration of secession with a ball held in Charleston. I blogged about the shameful sesquicentennial here, and openly wondered whether Texans would have better sense than to celebrate their state's own blatant declaration of racism, which happened exactly 150 years ago today, on February 1, 1861. A day later, Texas published a "declaration of causes". Here's a typical paragraph:

"In all the non-slave-holding States, in violation of that good faith and comity which should exist between entirely distinct nations, the people have formed themselves into a great sectional party, now strong enough in numbers to control the affairs of each of those States, based upon an unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery, proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color - a doctrine at war with nature, in opposition to the experience of mankind, and in violation of the plainest revelations of Divine Law. They demand the abolition of negro slavery throughout the confederacy, the recognition of political equality between the white and negro races, and avow their determination to press on their crusade against us, so long as a negro slave remains in these States."

To their credit, today's Texans judiciously chose to ignore this shameful sesquicentennial, at least officially, at least according to this story in Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Still, Texans could have done even better by commemorating this despicable stain on American history with a day of atonement or at least by a vigil remembering the lives and deaths of those who suffered in slavery or died to end it. We should not celebrate infamous history, but neither should we suppress and forget it.

Winter Crushes an Early Spring

So much for the first daffodils in the Steger garden

From Flowers

After enjoying a sunny and warm weekend with temperatures in the seventies, old man winter came roaring back down the plains, bringing sleet and snow and temperatures in the teens to north Texas. The sub-freezing temperatures are expected to last for three days.

Coincidentally, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers arrived in town yesterday to prepare for next weekend's Super Bowl. Someone should have told the Packers they didn't need to bring the frozen tundra with them. Unfair.

Speaking of Zoning

Once again, the call is going out to pack the city council chambers to register opposition to rezoning the vacant land around the Bush DART Station. Personally, I'm less interested in how many people speak than in what they say. I'm not interested at all in self-appointed groups with inclusive-sounding names claiming to speak for unnamed others. Reportedly, an email from Richardson City Council member Bob Macy forwards a statement from a Richardson resident that captures my own attitude regarding the Bush Station zoning issue:

"We have lived in the Sherrill Park subdivision for almost 19 years and I am a member of the homeowners association. The board members were not elected to represent me on any zoning issues as it is not their charter. There is also a self appointed neighborhood association which also does not represent me and has no legal standing that I am aware of. I did participate in the election of the Richardson city council. They were elected to represent me on zoning issues."

Regardless where you stand on the issue of zoning around the Bush DART Station, it's important to keep the above in mind. After the jump, where the current discussion has missed that point.