Of Mayors and Constitutions

As previously reported, there's a petition circulating demanding a referendum on a change to the Richardson city charter calling for the direct election of the mayor. I've already offered my opinion on this question from different angles.

After the jump, reviewing the viewpoints, and adding a new one.

Review: The Book of Nothing

Amazon

From The Book of Nothing, by John D. Barrow (2001):

When there is an infinite time to wait then anything that can happen, eventually will happen. Worse (or better) than that, it will happen infinitely often."

After the jump, my review and excerpts.

OTBR: Spring Flowers in Estonia

Latitude: N 58° 23.346
Longitude: E 022° 51.132

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Review: 1Q84

Amazon

From 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami:

If you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand it with an explanation."

That quote sums up both the message and reading experience of 1Q84. This is a mystery story, but not a whodunnit. The question is not so much "who" dunnit as what the "it" is. The novel eventually gets around to answering that question, sort of, but only at the surface level. The deeper meaning, well, readers are going to have to figure that out for themselves. That's how it should be.

After the jump, my review.

Election of the Mayor: Rumors and Hearsay

A petition is circulating demanding that the City of Richardson call a referendum for changing the way the city chooses its mayor. Currently, at the beginning of each term, the city council elects one of their members to serve as mayor. The petition demands that the mayor be directly elected by the voters instead.

Rumors are also in circulation. After the jump, I fulfill my duty, not to check the truth of the rumors, but to give them legs by passing on what I've heard through the grapevine.