POTD: The Night Watch

From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam

Today's photos-of-the-day are from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The first photo shows "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt van Rijn from 1642. It's the best known painting in the Rijksmuseum's vast collection of Old Masters. Almost everyone is familiar with it. But how many photos ever show what people see when they stand with their backs to the famous painting? The second, bonus photo does just that. I think the building itself is an Old Master. Follow me for other unusual views of famous places. ;-)

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Woman Standing in Front of Van Gogh's Sunflowers (X2)

From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam

Today's photos-of-the-day are from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. On the left is Isaac Israels's painting from 1920, "Woman Standing in Front of Van Gogh's Sunflowers". It inspired my own photo shown on the right. How did I do?

Two Month Countdown

Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around
Money money money money money money
Money money money money money money
Get a little money money money
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
That clinking clanking clanking sound
Is all that makes the world go around
It makes the world go around!

Source: Cabaret.

The mid-term elections are over. Did you think you'd get a break from election campaigning? Silly you. The former guy's announcement from Florida says otherwise. Closer to home, Friday will be exactly two months from January 18, 2023, the first day for Texans to file for a place on the General Election Ballot for local political office. If you are considering a run for school board or city council, you've got a lot of work to do before then. You can't afford to wait until after the holidays to get started.

The Zoning Process in Richardson is Broken

Zoning is a subject that puts people to sleep, until they wake up in a start to discover something going in next to where they live like a huge warehouse distribution center. Then, zoning is the most important thing in the world to them. Zoning classifies privately-owned land into different zones — residential, commercial, industrial, etc. It's what controls what can get built next to your house. The most common forms of zoning have been around for a hundred years (e.g., Euclidean zoning) and have worked well, or at least have worked understandably, until recently. Now, zoning has become hopelessly confusing. A satisfactory successor system has yet to emerge. Let's take a current case in Richardson as Exhibit A (or more exactly Exhibit Zoning File 22-11).

Of AEDs and Zoning

If you squint your eyes, it kind of looks like a city zoning map.

What do automated external defibrillators (AEDs) have to do with land use zoning? Well, nothing, but that didn't stop Richardson Council Member Ken Hutchenrider from going down a rabbit hole November 14 while deliberating a zoning change request (Zoning File 22-11). The trap was laid by City Manager Don Magner and Director of Development Services Sam Chavez. City staff has been hostile to this zoning change request for years. The property owner keeps coming back with revisions trying to meet the City's objections. The City keeps coming up with new ones. The latest is particularly egregious.