Breakthrough in Student Housing!

Source: Chicago Fit Performance.

Recap: In the November 14th episode of this long-running drama, the City Council withdrew their opposition to an application for a planned development just north of UT-Dallas consisting of three components: A) a student-oriented apartment part, B) a mixed apartment/retail part, and C) a limited-service hotel part. But before voting on it, they directed staff to draw up an ordinance requiring part B construction to begin before a certificate of occupancy could be issued for part A. The landowner and developers reluctantly agreed to this condition. The alternative was clear: denial. The case was continued until December 12, when, if all went as expected, there would be a legal ordinance everyone could agree to and it would be voted into law. That was the plan anyway. What actually happened December 12?

Roar (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Roar (TV 2022): Eight short stories, all about women, all by Cecelia Ahern. Satire, dark comedy, quirky character studies. All very watchable, if easily forgotten. B-

Emancipation (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Emancipation (2022): Will Smith gets beaten. Viewers get hit over the head with film's message: slaves weren't given freedom, they fought for it. Like super heroes. Movie is determined to create a new narrative. This mostly made up story is not subtle. But neither was slavery. B-

POTD: Horses, Free if not Wild

From 2022 07 06 Kinderdijk

Today's photo-of-the-day is of horses on the bank of the Rhine River in Netherlands. They look so wild and free, even though they were certainly on some farmer's land whose fences were out of sight for me traveling along the river.

POTD: A Bridge Too Far

From 2022 07 06 Kinderdijk

A modern bridge, not the Bridge Too Far

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Rhine River in Netherlands. If you're of a certain age, you might remember the epic war film "A Bridge Too Far". It depicted a failed Allied military operation in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II. Thousands of Allied soldiers were air dropped behind enemy lines. The objective was the bridge at Arnhem. Capturing that would cut off the German army from retreat and give the Allies a safe crossing of the Rhine to invade Germany. The problem was that the road to the bridge was a single lane across marshy land, with several key bridges to capture on the way to Arnhem.