The Wheel

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Theeb (2014)

Theeb (2014): 10 yr-old boy with Arabs, Turks and an Englishman cross Arabian desert in 1916. Survival story as stark as the landscape. B-

Monday, August 22, 2016

Richardson's Budget - Black or Red?

It's August and that means it's time for Richardson budget roulette. Will the proposed city budget be balanced? You'd think that would be a simple question. Isn't the city required by law to have a balanced budget? Well, yes, but it all depends on the meaning of "balanced".

Last year when I looked at this question, I concluded that the city's 2015-2016 budget was indeed balanced and didn't require use of that sneaky asterisk ("plus reserved fund balance and other financing sources").

After the jump, reviewing that conclusion and looking ahead at 2016-2017.

Review: How Not To Be Wrong

Amazon

From How Not To Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg:

Proving by day and disproving by night is not just for mathematics. I find it's a good habit to put pressure on all your beliefs, social, political, scientific, and philosophical. Believe whatever you believe by day; but at night, argue against the propositions you hold most dear. Don't cheat! To the greatest extent possible you have to think as though you believe what you don't believe. And if you can't talk yourself out of your existing beliefs, you'll know a lot more about why you believe what you believe. You'll have come a little closer to a proof."

"How Not To Be Wrong" is not a book about math. Well it is, but only if you first understand that math is not about memorization of the times table. It's about a way of logically thinking about the world. "How Not To Be Wrong" also happens to be another of Bill Gates's book recommendations for this summer.

After the jump, my review.