It Gets Worse

I'm talking CityLine of course. Every time I think it couldn't get worse, Richardson's city planners prove me wrong. Two months ago, it was "Residential Uses Not Allowed in Mixed-Use". That was the decision "to build 32 single-family, detached homes in back of a CVS." That a zoning change was even needed to build residential in a so-called mixed-use, transit-oriented urban community was just a small sign that something is very wrong with the planning of this whole area. Worse, the desire was to build a compound of single-family homes walled-off from a traditional suburban strip shopping center. The ad hoc Frankenstein's monster that CityLine is evolving into is something to behold.

POTD: Stepwell

From 2016 02 07 Ranthambore

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Chand Baori, a thousand year old stepwell in Rajasthan, India. "Stepwells are wells or ponds in which the water may be reached by descending a set of steps."

Bonus photo after the jump.

Review: Spare Parts

Amazon

From Spare Parts, by Joshua Davis:

She remembered West Phoenix as a place that she wouldn't drive through by herself. It was a poor area and the better schools were elsewhere. So she was surprised to see an underwater-robotics team coming out of that neighborhood. 'There aren't oceans in Phoenix,' she pointed out diplomatically. 'No, ma’am,' Lorenzo Santillan said. 'But we got pools.'"

"Spare Parts" is the 2016 selection for "Richardson Reads One Book." As such, it carries the burden of high expectations. Does it live up to recent prior selections?

• 2015: "We Are Called to Rise" C+
• 2014: "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" B-
• 2013: "The Book Thief" A-
• 2012: "One Amazing Thing" C+

After the jump, my review.

Repeat Tweets: The Budget Deficit Is Too Low

Repeat tweets from April, 2016:

• Apr 1 2016: "The budget deficit is too low." Not an April Fools story. vox.com
• Apr 2 2016: Texas is stingy with tax dollars for public schools and Medicaid. Not for private events like Final Four in Houston.
• Apr 4 2016: As Trump drops and Cruz rises on betting markets, odds of a Dem win in November have stayed the same. predictwise.com
• Apr 4 2016: 23 years from the Four Tops to NWA. How does that even happen?

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

You're Going to Hate it Here

90% of time I will stop recruiting a kid when the parents complain about the High School coaches. I don't want somebody else's headache.

Source: Gary Lowery.

Gary Lowery is an assistant football coach at Hampton University. His tweet teaches a lesson that's applicable to much more than football.