POTD: River Seine at Night

From 2022 12 25 Paris

"Eiffel's steel soars high,
Institut's dome kisses the sky,
Seine's waters sigh."

—h/t ChatGPT

Today's photo-of-the-day is from a bridge over the River Seine in Paris. In the distance is the Eiffel Tower. In the midground is the dome of the Institut de France, a French learned society, grouping five académies, including the Académie Française, established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. In the foreground, on the river, are tour boats.

Closeup photos of the Institut de France and the Eiffel Tower are after the jump.

Remembering Jeffrey Weiss

"Every religion is crazy, by definition, to a nonbeliever." — Jeffrey Weiss

I miss Jeffrey Weiss. He wore multiple hats at The Dallas Morning News. For a while, he covered the Richardson ISD. Remember the days when The Dallas Morning News assigned reporters to Richardson? I do. For a while, he wrote for the Religion section of the newspaper. Remember when The Dallas Morning News even had a Religion section? I do. Writing for "Politics Daily" way back in 2010 (see, I told you Weiss wore many hats), Weiss called for a movement against “political nastiness,” coining the term "civilogue" for more civil speech in the public square. I do miss Jeffrey Weiss.

The Creator (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Creator (2023): It's 2065. Humans are at war with robots and simulants. A mashup of Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, 2001, and too many others. Morphs from an anti-AI film to something more complex, with an undercurrent of anti-imperialism. Looks great. Events sometime strain credulity. B-

Elemental (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Elemental (2023): In Element City, fire, water, earth, and air characters co-exist. Lessons about the immigrant experience and metaphoric ethnic tolerance abound. It's also a romcom (opposites attract), but with friendship more than romance and not much comedy. Still, it's Pixar and family-friendly. C+

Council Recap: Library and Campus Plan

At the September 18, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, the Council heard an update on the Public Library design and the Civic Center Campus site plan. I'm a big fan of what I saw for the Library. (I say "saw" because of the recorded video, a neat feature the City Council should consider for all City Council meetings.) Still, I think the preferred campus site plan (Option A2) has a problem with traffic flow that could be easily and significantly improved, as I'll diagram later.