POTD: Rural Cambodia

From 2015 03 20 Tonle Sap Lake

Today's photo-of-the-day is from rural Cambodia, outside Siem Reap, near Angkor Wat. Good times.

American Sniper (2014)

IMDB

American Sniper (2014): Hawkish tale of unreflective man with simple sense of duty with a soul deadened more by war. Selective history. B-

Remembering Rodger Jones

According to CultureMap Dallas, soon some big names will be leaving The Dallas Morning News in an employee buyout of the newsroom. The purpose, according to top editor Mike Wilson, is to convert the newspaper into "a website which delivers vital information to North Texas quickly and also curates and produces a great city newspaper." For that, the News is "going to need new skill sets, which are now mostly print and need to be mostly digital." In short, the old guys with ink-stained fingers need to be encouraged to retire.

POTD: Angkor Wat

From 2015 03 19 Angkor Wat

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Angkor Wat, a 12th century temple in Cambodia. "It was originally founded as a Hindu temple for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century." You can see the process of that transformation to this day, as carvings of Hindu gods were chiseled into carvings of the Buddha. Sound familiar? Today, the whole complex of temples is more a world heritage historic site than a center of religious activity.

Q&A: Strategizing in Secret

I read somewhere that the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) had agreed to discuss the method used to determine how much member cities pay for water. Then I read that the Richardson City Council went into closed session to consult with the city attorney to discuss the "1988 North Texas Municipal Water District Regional Water Supply Facilities Amendatory Contract."

Question: Are those two things related? And why would consultation with the city attorney on a water issue not just be done in open session?