S2L77: Varanasi and the Ganges

Varanasi, India
March 2-3, 1977

A long drive arriving in Benares [Varanasi] at night, traveling through many villages lacking any electricity. Up at dawn for a tour of the Ganges River.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

"The city of temples", "the holy city of India", "the city of lights", and "the oldest living city on earth." That's Varanasi (formerly, Benares). The river running through it is the Ganges, India's longest river and Hindus' most sacred river. A boat ride on the river at sunrise reveals Hindus bathing in its waters, performing ritualistic purifications, and cremating their dead on funeral pyres on the river's banks.

More photos after the jump.

Traffic Light Mystery

Those flashing yellow unprotected turn arrows that caused confusion and mocking in Richardson when they were introduced two years ago are finally coming to Plano. Expect the same commotion to prevail there ... until it doesn't.

But flashing yellow arrows are not what I want to talk about today. It's plain old-fashioned green and red lights, specifically the traffic signal at the intersection of Yale Blvd and Campbell Rd. That's the scene in the photo below, looking north on Yale Blvd. The school bus across the street is southbound on Yale Blvd.

Source: Google Street View.

After the jump, has anyone ever seen another case of this traffic light sequence?

Playoffs: Berkner 66, Jesuit 57

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team met their District 9-5A foe Jesuit Rangers in the third round of the UIL playoffs Tuesday night in front of a standing-room-only packed house at the neutral site of Lake Highlands HS. Berkner had won the two regular season meetings between these two teams. It's been said that it's difficult to beat a team three times in one season. The Jesuit Rangers showed the truth of the saying. After the jump, how the third meeting played out.

Review: Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Amazon

From Drift, by Rachel Maddow:

Remember the words of James Madison: 'The Constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the Legislature.'"

After the jump, my review.

NIMBY versus NIABY

NIMBY is an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard." It's often used to describe a selfish attitude of neighborhoods that oppose some development or other simply because of its location -- that is, too close to them. There is a recognition of the need for the unpopular development, but also an insistence that someone else pay the price of living next to it. Landfills are a classic NIMBY target.

NIABY is an acronym for the phrase "Not In Anybody's Back Yard." It's a more universal stand than NIMBY, opposing some development or other as unwise no matter where it is located. NIABY would like to see the development not just moved out of one's own neighborhood, but canceled altogether. Drug houses are a classic NIABY target.

I can create scenarios where a NIMBY attitude can be right and other scenarios where it can be wrong. Same for a NIABY attitude. In this blog post, I resist the urge to issue blanket judgments. What I want to do is review various developments in Richardson and identify elements of NIMBY and NIABY thinking that they evoke. After the jump.