Future of High-Speed Rail is in Richardson's Hands

Artist rendering, D Magazine

The future of high-speed rail in Texas is in Richardson's hands. Overstatement? Sure, but it's not completely wrong, either. The "hands" I'm referring to belong to our own Richardson City Councilmember Jennifer Justice. She's a member of the Executive Board of the North Central Texas Council of Governments. NCTCOG allocates billions of federal dollars for transportation projects. In contrast, the Richardson municipal budget is about $400 million. A hot project under consideration by NCTCOG right now is an elevated high-speed rail line through the City of Dallas going west to Ft Worth and southeast to Houston.

FAQ Reveals Inconsistent Treatment in Project RightSize

RISD FAQ, edited

The Richardson ISD is working on a plan to reduce expenses by closing four schools. The district website has a page with FAQs. There is one question whose answer I find difficult to accept. The question is about teachers, but my difficulty with it can be seen by replacing "staff member" with "student." When RISD says, "RISD will not remove a staff member at one campus to replace them with another," they are demonstrating the "people-first" approach they are taking, at least as regards staff members. Good for them. But why not demonstrate the same "people-first" approach for students? Why not say, "RISD will not remove a student at one campus to replace them with another"? The argument for this is even stronger for students, as RISD exists for the children, even more than for the staff.

Council Recap: Outdoor Storage is the new "Edgy"

The Richardson City Council began consideration of a request for a Special Development Plan with a reminder of the vision for the Interurban Sub-district: "To create an edgy, mixed-use district built upon the existing bones of the district, focusing on adaptive reuse of existing buildings and targeted infill development. Exterior building materials should promote design creativity and unify the eclectic style envisioned for the Sub-district."

Einstein and the Bomb (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Einstein and the Bomb (2024): Docudrama about Einstein's contribution and attitude towards the development of the atomic bomb. It gives insight into the man, not the scientist. Restricting dialog to words found in Einstein's speeches and papers weakens the drama in the dramatic re-creations. C+

Netflix

POTD: The Monkey Forest in Ubud

"Hindu temples stand,
throughout the Monkey Forest,
Nature's bandits close."
—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 04 06 Bali

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in the Monkey Forest of Ubud on the Indonesian island of Bali. About a thousand long-tailed macaque monkeys live in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is also home to three Hindu temples. Let's stipulate up front that the monkeys love stealing from the tourists and the tourists love seeing the monkeys do it. They can unscrew water bottles and unzip backpacks and purses and reach inside pockets. Keep your hats, sunglasses, cameras, food (especially food) to yourself and out of reach of the monkeys (better yet out of sight of the monkeys), and no one will get hurt (probably). Otherwise, all bets are off.