Cowboy Who?

Pardon me, just need a few more buckets of cottage cheese, and I’ll get out of your way. What’s that? This? Oh, just my three-month-old daughter I occasionally strap to my chest while running errands. Yes. Yes, I know. I’m amazing.

Nope. Mom stayed home. Probably caring for our other children, catching up on sleep, icing her nipples—you know moms, always doing mom stuff.

But me, I’m shopping at Costco with a baby snuggling on my chest, and wow, don’t we have our super cute shit together? I mean, seriously, how many other dads would take responsibility for their baby while also acquiring essential household items? How many other dads would risk having to change a diaper in public? How many other dads can use a baby carrier without getting their penis caught in the straps? Not many.

Selfie? With my daughter and me? Aw, heck… why not?!

Hey, maybe that mom over there with two young kids and a baby strapped to her chest could take the pictures for us. I know, I barely noticed her either.

Wait a second. Did she not bother putting on makeup this morning? Is she looking at a shopping list on her phone while letting her kids display age-appropriate behavior in public? Are those inorganic bananas in her cart? Despicable.

We better not bother her, she’s making this parenting thing look pretty difficult. Not me, though. I’ve got both my shoes tied, and—let me check—my baby is still alive. What else could you ask for from a dad?

More selfies? Can’t stop now! Line forms to the right, gang. Yup, toward the Raisin Bran.

Whoa, easy Costco shoppers. I’m just a regular guy who likes to buy cheap chicken, eighty-inch televisions, and eight-day Caribbean cruises from the same store. Just because I’m toting around a sleeping ten-pounder doesn’t mean I’m—wait a second—did I just kiss my baby on the top of her furry little head? Did you just let out an audible sigh of delight while clutching a five-pound tube of breakfast sausage? You tell me!

Uh-oh, looks like that mom is headed for the last rotisserie chicken. Quick, slow her down with unsolicited advice so I can beat her to that tasty bird!

Hell yes, I can push my cart against traffic! I’m a dad with a baby on his chest!

Phew, close one. What was I saying? Oh yeah, I’m no superhero. I’m just your average parent who puts his baby carrier on one strap at a time like everyone else. The only difference is once I drop my baby in the front I immediately exceed the low expectations of what Costco shoppers expect from a father and—bam—I’m the best dad in the universe!

Welp, look at the time. I better cut to the front of the checkout line and get this baby home. I’ll tell you what, I really like the way you’ve been admiring me and we have a few minutes to kill while those selfies get printed. What say we grab a chicken bake, and I’ll tell you about that time I rearranged my entire day to take my older son to a regularly scheduled dental exam.

No? Slice of pizza and a potty-training story?

Not even a churro?

I understand—I can be overwhelming sometimes.

All I have is anecdotal evidence, but the mosquitoes in my neighborhood have been oppressive during the last week or so. I can only remember, on rare occasions, being bothered by mosquitoes during a morning or evening walk. But in recent days they have been biting me with vigor, including through clothing, even while moving. My experience is apparently not unique. So why are the bugs so bad?

It is difficult to generalize, as there are about four dozen different species of mosquitoes that live around the Houston area. And I am no pest expert or entomologist, but the recent activity seems to have been triggered by the wet spell we experienced during the last 10 days of November, followed by spring-like warmth during the first 10 days of December. This likely signaled the mosquitoes to hatch at an accelerated rate, as if we we were seeing spring rains. Regardless, it is miserable in parts of the Houston region. Fortunately, relief is coming.

Said relief will arrive later this week with the first of several cold fronts that appear likely to plunge our region back into winter-like conditions. The first front arrives Tuesday night, to push nighttime lows into the 40s. If you think that sounds cold, then wait until the week of Christmas. There are strong hints that our first freeze is coming then, and it may be rather persistent. More on this below.

Monday

Before the cold weather arrives, however, Houston will see two more warm days. Today will be mostly cloudy, with highs likely topping out in the low- to mid-70s to go along with light southeasterly winds. As clouds continue to blanket the skies tonight, lows will only drop into the mid-60s. There will be a slight chance of rain late tonight as moisture levels increase along with the onshore flow.

Tuesday

This will probably be the last really warm day of 2022. We can probably expect high temperatures in the upper 70s to 80 degrees ahead a cold front that will move in later on. Storms will be possible on Tuesday afternoon and early evening prior to the front’s passage, but the better dynamics for severe weather lie to the northeast of the metro area. Rain totals will be on the order of one-half inch in Houston, but there is the potential for higher, localized accumulations. As for timing of the front itself, along with drier air, it probably will make it into the metro area some time between sunset on Tuesday and midnight, before pushing off the coast a couple of hours later.

Wednesday

Skies will clear quickly after the front. Highs on Wednesday will likely top out in the low- to mid-60s, with sunshine and breezy conditions. Look for gusts out of the north at up to 25 or even 30 mph. Lows on Wednesday night should drop into the mid-40s in the city, with colder conditions for outlying areas.

Thursday and Friday

These look to be clear and cool days, with highs perhaps around 60 degrees, and lows in the low 40s. Welcome back, winter.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

First we’re going to see an additional front move in on Friday, to bring more cold air. Then, by Saturday, the upper atmosphere may become more conducive to rising air. This should generate some cloud cover and rainfall, although I’m not overly confident in the details. For now, Saturday through Monday will likely see partly to mostly cloudy skies, with high temperatures in the 50s, and a daily chance of rain in the 30 to 50 percent range. So this period has some potential to be dreary, but again, we’ll need a couple of days to fine tune the details. Overnight lows will drop to around 40 degrees.

Later next week

Most of next week looks fairly chilly, with highs probably mostly in the 50s. There is a fairly strong signal in the models for an even deeper burst of colder air toward the middle or latter half of next week. This could push overnight temperatures below freezing—perhaps even into the 20s—by around December 22 or so. This really is at the edge of our reliable forecasting capability, so it remains speculative. Buy my sense is that the days leading up to Christmas are going to be quite cold, and possibly the holiday itself. How cold? I’d love to be able to tell you that, but I can’t. However, I do think we’re looking at lows probably between 25 and 40 degrees, so you can expect Jack Frost to be nipping at your nose.

This post, vote for the worst boss of 2022 , was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s time to vote on the worst boss of the year!

• Today we’ll vote for the worst boss in each of four match-ups.
• On Wednesday, the winners will go head-to-head with each other.
• On Friday, we’ll vote on the finalists.
• The winner will be crowned next Monday.
• Voting in this round closes at 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday.

Voting is now closed. The results in this round were:

1. A Dreadful Duo
• the CEO is obsessed with me and wants me to be his emotional support — 61.16% (8,403 votes)
• my boss is angry that I couldn’t work while I was sick with Covid — 38.84% (5,337 votes)

2. A Perfidious Pair
• employer recorded audio and video while I was in bed — 55.82% (7,467 votes)
• governor yanked telework for state employees and my office is in chaos — 44.18% (5,909 votes)

3. A Terrible Twosome
• I work at Twitter — 63.65% (8,658 votes)
• my company advertises every job all the time to make sure we know we can be replaced — 36.35% (4,944 votes)

4. A Shameful Squad
• my boss only wants to hire attractive young women — 64.65% (8,328 votes)
• my company wants us to sign a loyalty oath — 36.35% (4,757 votes)

Jelle Peterse's company ships cheese all over the world, but they don't always get their cheese racks back. In this episode, we try to fix a supply chain problem. Gouda grief!

Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

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And that is why we need robot butlers BEFORE humans get replaced.

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Sometimes you accidentally advance the plot a little too far before meaning to and the sky turns crazy and all the plot-relevant characters go on The Final Mission before you were quite ready to leave.

Look every, it's a comic about Pokemon, the hot new game everyone is playing! *An aide whispers in my ear* WHAT

John Candy may no longer be with us, but he's still Canada's national treasure. Amongst his raunchy '80s peers, the Second City comedy alumnus had a gift. His warmth never failed to give us a smile when he appeared on-screen. His best films built on that endlessly loving part of Candy, turning him into an honorary family member, a silly babysitter for our darker days.

Despite his comedy prowess, his dramatic roles made us look at him in a new light. When he died in 1994 at 43, we lost decades of potential work where we could have deepened his craft. As a Canadian whose vibrant attitude borrows from the best in Candy, Ryan Reynolds understands what Candy means to all of us. Reynolds' production company is working on a documentary on Candy's life and legacy. For now, we have Candy's movies to remember him by when we miss his infectious laugh. These 15 films showcase him at his best. Regardless of what critics might have said at the time, only our love for John Candy matters.

15. Delirious

"Delirious" is as over-wrought and pointlessly intricate as the soap opera melodramas at the film's heart. That's part of the joke, but it's a joke that doesn't quite work all the time. But Candy's performance makes a weak movie into something watchable. His generally reasonable responses to becoming a reality-warping writer with a magic typewriter carry the film.

Yes, this is a gimmick made familiar by the classic "Twilight Zone" episode "A World of His Own." Some might think of the Will Ferrell-staring movie "Stranger Than Fiction." They're all worlds of metafiction where a humble writer changes the world with a word. But only Candy's version uses his deus ex machina to fix his past mistakes. He also actively chooses not to meddle in the minds of people around him. By the end, it's not quite a shaggy dog story, but it's close. Yet there's still the classic Candy message throughout its runtime: kindness matters more than cruelty.

14. Home Alone

Candy has what we'd call a glorified cameo in the first entry of the Wet Bandits vs. Kevin McCallister (Macauley Culkin) saga. But he still has moments that matter. As Kevin's parents realize they screwed up hard, it's Kate (Catharine O'Hara) who does her best to haul herself back home. Of course, it's an uphill push against Christmas traffic, so she has to resort to the kindness of strangers. Fortunately, the stranger who guides her on her mission is Gus Polinski (Candy), the Polka King of the Midwest.

Gus is the spiritual cousin of Del Griffith. As in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," we're taking some unorthodox trails back to the family home in Chicago. While Kate is beside herself at what she accidentally did to Kevin, it's cheery, garrulous Gus that keeps her sane. Like Del, Gus is no saint. He's a warm, caring guy with a few screwy family issues. The anecdotes he shares — leaving his kid at a funeral parlor or being on the road too long — are all too relatable for viewers. Candy's warm heart helps uplift the whole thing.

13. Heavy Metal

The animated 1981 anthology "Heavy Metal" used pretty much everyone from the Second City sketch comedy team to voice its early '80s weirdness. (Producer Ivan Reitman would continue to work with Candy and Harold Ramis in the following years.) Yes, the quality of the voice acting here is dodgy. Honestly, casting Candy in the "Den" segment as our lead, a horny teenager who wakes up in a Conan-style fantasy is a choice. Nonetheless, he gives it his all, infusing the kid and his shredded comic book body with eager innocence.

"Den" isn't the only segment to feature Candy. He's also a desk sergeant in "Harry Canyon" -- where his voice makes a lot more sense -- and a lusty robot in "So Beautiful & So Dangerous," which is less successful. Yet "Heavy Metal" overall is still a great trip of a movie. Its rotoscope art and bangin' soundtrack keep the project together. Although Candy might not be the focus here, it's still a key part of his film history. This wonderful oddity ranks higher than prior films on this list due to how well it showcases Candy's range.

12. The Rescuers Down Under

Gen X kids grew up with a lot of wonderful anthropomorphic critters. (I'm not saying that's why we have so many furries in our generation, but there might be a connection worth exploring!) Strangely, we had a good decade of comedy relief birds to love. Kehaar (Peter Capaldi) kicked us off in the late '70s in the traumatizing "Watershed Down," and "Secret of NIMH" gave us the lovable Jeremy (Dom DeLuise). But in 1990, Candy also gave us Wilbur, the dorky albatross that acts as the comedy sidekick to the Rescuers, in "The Rescuers Down Under."

Wilbur, in addition to looking like Candy, is just as eager and warm-hearted as his human counterpart. He jumpstarts his engine the moment he finds out this trip to Australia is a rescue operation for a kid. To compensate for being an affable dork, Wilbur gets to be a hero in his own right. He's one of the first on the scene to protect the eggs of the giant golden eagle Marahute (Frank Welker) -- even though his reward is to become a chew toy for the fledglings in the last moments of the movie.

11. Who's Harry Crumb

The critics were not kind to "Who's Harry Crumb" on its floundering release in February 1989. With due respect, they're so wrong. The subtitle for this movie is now "The Idiot's Guide to Knives Out." Why not? The premise is tailor-made for a young Benoit Blanc if he were loopy on edibles and not 100% sure of his skills.

In the film, Harry (Candy) is a private investigator whose boss assigns him to a high-profile kidnapping case -- finding the daughter of millionaire P.J. Downing (Barry Corbin). He's not supposed to succeed because (of course) his boss is in on the crime. But the kind and bumbling Harry makes an ally of P.J.'s youngest daughter, Nikki (Shawnee Smith), who has more than enough brains for both of them. The pair charmingly fumble through the best Rich Bastard tropes of the time: infidelity and wild escapes to Buenos Aires. In the end, Harry succeeds, even if by accident. Still, there's a spark of real insight in Crumb's mind. Honestly, he should've had a cozy mystery novel series launched in his honor. We'd have 50+ books by now, and we could read them all in Candy's iconic voice.

10. Splash

A fumbling young romantic crosses the path of a humanoid sea creature like nothing the world has ever seen. The creature is valuable to government researchers, and the young romantic's charming story takes some bittersweet twists as they and their friends work to rescue the creature and decide where their future together will take them. Nope, not "The Shape of Water!" I'm talking about the classic romantic comedy "Splash." Tom Hanks portrays our romantic young lead, Allen, whereas Candy plays his ride-or-die brother, Freddie. The creature? Well, that's Darryl Hannah at her youthful finest, embodying the mermaid that falls in love with a human man.

Without a doubt, this film is Hanks' showcase and a highlight of his early comedy era. But Candy is still here to be the emotional counterweight. He's a little bit of a lech, which now brings John discomfort. But his loyalty to his brother is vital. Freddie helps his brother heal a temporary breach between him and his mermaid love and ensures their happy ending at the cost of his.

9. JFK

Oliver Stone's rambling narration of the events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy in JFK is near-total fiction. However, that doesn't stop the movie from being an intriguing dispatch from a weirder reality. Yes, Candy's role in it is small. But it's a pivotal one and unusually ironic. He plays Dean Andrews Jr., a New Orleans lawyer who entangles himself in Jim Garrison's (Kevin Costner) attempt to pin the assassination on someone other than Oswald.

In real life, Andrews was a Candy-type character. His appearance is dead on, as Andrews was a fast talker inclined towards larger-than-life anecdotes. (Y'know, another Del Griffith.) But Stone tries to reshape Andrews into a shadowy figure, a man willing to manipulate the Garrison Investigation for secretive ends. Candy does a fascinating job, giving us a glimpse of an alternate universe where he would live long enough to follow Robin Williams' turn into more frequent dramatic roles. It's not enough to make us believe in what Stone is peddling here, but that's not John Candy's problem.

8. Stripes

A great way to make a really weird night for yourself is to watch "Full Metal Jacket" and "Stripes" back-to-back. They have a vaguely similar pace: The first half of basic training and the second half of war-is-hell hijinks. In this thin comparison, Candy's role as Dewey Oxberger runs analogous to Vincent D'Onofrio's Private Pyle. With, thankfully, a far better outcome for Dewey.

John Candy, as ever, gives Dewey a genuine personality. Dewey wants to get into shape so he can be one of the cool kids. The rest of his squad doesn't treat him like garbage for this, and there are no late-night abusive hazing rituals. The worst treatment he gets is mud wrestling with women for money. (Hey, who wouldn't?) Dewey stays broad and lovable throughout the film's runtime. As a war hero with a big, affable heart and a dead-on sense of humor (yes, we do fall in love with that, guys), Candy ends the film as the teen girl dreamboat we deserve.

7. Summer Rental

Certain movies herald annual events like eating Chinese takeout during the 24-hour "Christmas Story" marathon or watching "Halloween" while you suck down mini-candies meant for trick-or-treaters. For some of us, the turn of the season from spring to June's sweaty heat means we're putting "Summer Rental" on TV for the 30th-ish time. "Summer Rental" is the perfect example of the airy '80s comedy with jokes that haven't aged well and a pair of surgically-upgraded breasts that did.

In "Summer Rental," Candy is our fumbling, bumbling dad, who wants a nice summer holiday away from being an air traffic controller. His career explains why he's uptight and easily stressed out. But his behavior also leads to blowouts over trivial things like lobsters. The plot here is less interesting than watching Candy bounce off Rip Torn's Scully, a "pirate" and restaurateur who's slinging cheap fish sticks. It may not be critically beloved — few Candy movies are — but it's a relaxed, cheerful way to ring in the summer season.

6. Cool Runnings

Let's not pretend the classic feel-good movie "Cool Runnings" is a docu-drama. The movie is heavily Disneyfied to amp up a genuine underdog story about a four-man Jamaican bobsled team who has pretty much no chance to win at the 1988 Winter Olympics. But victory isn't the point. What matters more here is the effort and the desire to be recognized as something more than a joke. For once, it's a story about humans being good. Candy portrays the team manager Irv Blitzer. As he's done in prior films on this list, he knows exactly which heartstrings to tug on and when.

Irv's not real. However, Howard Siler, a former Olympic bobsledder who helped coach the fledgling bobsledders, inspired his role. This film gives him a subplot, which sees Candy starts as less than likable -- a former cheat who's a jerk to the people around him. But the team's dedication to the sport teaches him how to put other people's needs first. Not only does Candy get to act more than his usual fun fare, but his big heart still gets to save the day in the last act.

5. The Great Outdoors

It's easy to mentally bundle "The Great Outdoors" with "Summer Rental." But this time, Candy's Chet is just trying to relax. But he goes into a spooky old forest with bears and his grating brother, Roman (Dan Aykroyd). Despite casting the former Ghostbuster, there are few scares in these woods. Instead, we get human selfishness, abandoned mine shafts, and a pissed-off bald bear -- played by Bart the Bear, one of the industry's most famous animal actors.

Of course, this is also the land of the Old 96er, a steak-snarfing challenge that would've given "Man v. Food" pause. Naturally, Roman goads Chet into an attempt. (You've probably at least seen the panicking GIF of Chet and the scary butcher.) But as a second viewing makes clear, it's one of our first clues that there's another story under the silly family hijinks. Candy's loving nature elevates this film. Not even Roman can take advantage of Chet's kindness for long. "The Great Outdoors" spotlights one of Candy's nicest and funniest roles. But playing him off of Aykroyd adds an edge of morality to the proceedings we hadn't seen as developed in prior films.

4. Uncle Buck

"Uncle Buck" and the next entry are tied in this ranking. As Buck Russell, Candy is at his best and funniest. It's not a surprise to find out that his top-rated films are John Hughes productions. No clearer is that fact than here, with Candy thrust into the center of a family with flaws, where his unique brand of warmth and humor helps everyone feel like they can be a better version of themselves.

Buck isn't much of a role model. But he's something much better: a good, flawed dude who ultimately tries to do his very best for everyone he cares about -- even if he's picked the wrong thing to do. Forget Yoda. Sometimes trying really is as good or better as succeeding. "Uncle Buck" is also Macaulay Culkin's first big hit as youngest son Miles. His persistent attitude with Buck is a highlight. Buck's best scene, though, is when he turns up at school to defend Maizy Russell's (Gaby Hoffmann) imagination from an off-brand Miss Trunchbull.

3. Spaceballs

Mel Brooks' sci-fi parody "Spaceballs" might be a bit overloved. Throughout its runtime, it's clear that Mel isn't a big sci-fi fan. Beyond its "Star Wars" inspiration, The jokey costumes and gags take from only the most well-known sources. But Mel certainly understands movies, not to mention the industry itself, and the most on-point laugh is still Yogurt's push for merchandising. He also has a great cast to deflate the George Lucas machine and fittingly cast Candy as our serial number-free Chewbacca.

Fuzzy space dog Barf (Candy) is his own best friend and soon becomes ours too. His silly antics and loyalty to Lone Star keep the movie from turning into something too cynical. He's the background character we all want more of, and in a way, "Spaceballs" makes a clever bookend to Candy's work on "Heavy Metal." This film is about not taking things too seriously and loving things enough that light teasing is ok. Brooks' lesson is one some "Star Wars" fans still need to learn. That aspect keeps this movie and Barf's happy sidekick vibes still relevant and vital.

2. Only The Lonely

We all knew John Candy for his comedic work and joy, but his sincerity was just as important. His father figure-like roles act as replacements for the troubled people in our lives. We loved his imperfect character who taught us valuable lessons. Perhaps too much sincerity is cheesy, as critics didn't care for his painfully sincere Danny in 1991's "Only the Lonely."

The heavy emotional beats here are more serious than the usual tones of his films -- making this into an old-time melodrama, the sort of film that used to star Bette Davis and Claude Rains. Given that approach, it's no surprise that Candy's equally melodramatic mother is played by screen legend Maureen O'Hara. (She was a queen of Hollywood long before she became John Wayne's go-to movie love.) "Only the Lonely" is purposefully out of time, a throwback to black-and-white romances that offered a slight sting on their way to a happy ending. Candy plays this movie as straight as Cary Grant and it works! With a heart as honest as Candy's, it's a movie that needs revisiting today.

1. Planes, Trains, And Automobiles

There isn't much of a bloodthirsty argument over which John Candy movie is the best. Sooner or later, it's Thanksgiving time and we're riveted once again watching him and Steve Martin verbally choke each other out. In "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," Candy is Del Griffith, a kind and annoyingly daffy fellow who helps the uptight Neal Page (Martin) get home for the holidays.

The world has moved on since the analog days of phone booths and manually flagging down taxis. Still, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" is as fresh as your aunt's mouth after her second bottle of cheap wine. Underneath the snapped insults is a love for our starring characters and humanity. Neal's adventure with Del is a relevant and timeless story. Del is our reminder to be kind to each other, that it's hard work, and that we're all carrying our unique pains. Martin is magnificent here, but it's Candy's spotlight. His lasting message is that we can and should be better. But -- as importantly -- it's okay to laugh when things get tough. Sometimes, it's downright necessary. Thankfully, we have Candy's immortalized work to remind us of that.

Read this next: The 14 Greatest '80s Romantic Comedies Ranked

The post The 15 Best John Candy Movies, Ranked appeared first on /Film.

This year’s municipal elections in Austin are an apt case study of a generational and ideological conflict that has become central to urban politics in America’s largest and fastest-growing cities. In races across Austin, where the median home price is now north of $600,000, younger candidates calling for changes to the city’s notoriously restrictive zoning code to allow for more housing have faced off against older challengers more reluctant to change the “character” of established single-family neighborhoods.

The battle over housing overlaps with a simultaneous battle over environmentalism. On one side there is an older generation of environmentalists who cut their teeth fighting to protect Austin’s natural resources, most notably the city’s iconic Barton Springs, and are instinctively skeptical of new development, making them natural allies of neighborhood associations. On the other side is a younger generation of activists who see dense development as key to reducing sprawl and car dependence. The latter view tall, mixed-use developments as an unqualified environmental asset that makes it easier for people to get around by foot, bike, or public transit.

In the city’s November election, candidates who ran in support of allowing more apartments and other types of low-cost housing finished first in the races for mayor and five council seats. In four races, however, these candidates secured less than 50 percent of the vote, setting up runoffs on December 13. In two of these contests—the mayoral race and a race for a city council district that covers many of the most desirable neighborhoods in Central Austin—the older generation is still fighting to keep change at bay. 

The Council race—for District 9—is a quintessential battle between an older neighborhood preservationist and a younger urbanist. The mayor’s race between Kirk Watson and Celia Israel is not nearly as easy to categorize in ideological or generational terms, but the coalitions that have formed to support each candidate reflect two very different Austins.

Kirk Watson, who was already mayor of Austin from 1997 to 2001 and served 14 years as a state senator, is hardly an anti-growther. In fact, his record-smashing fundraising this year reflects the support he enjoys from the city’s real estate and business community. But Watson is also supported by the neighborhood activists and Boomer environmentalists who have fought tooth-and-nail against changes to the city’s land use regulations. How do we explain this apparent contradiction?

To Watson, the contradiction is central to his brand as a consensus-builder. He owes his political career to striking a compromise between conservationists and developers. On one hand, Watson pushed policies as mayor to discourage development in a large swath of West and Southwest Austin to protect Barton Springs. But he also promoted development downtown, wooed big corporations to Austin with tax incentives, oversaw the establishment of a shiny new airport, and supported the creation of a community based on smart growth principles on the site of the former airport in East Austin.

Watson’s balancing act back then proved wildly popular, at least among the small subset of Austinites who participated in city politics. He got 84 percent of the vote in his 2000 reelection, triumphing over three token opponents. When he decided the following year to quit mid-term to run for state attorney general, he was given a hero’s farewell at City Hall, with well-wishers packing council chambers and then-City Manager Jesus Garza gushing, “Your leadership enabled us to complete in four and a half years what we have tried to do for decades.”

In the mayor’s race Israel has cast herself as a progressive, underdog challenge to the “good ol’ boy” establishment represented by Watson.

At first glance, Celia Israel—a four-term outgoing state representative—does not seem to offer a stark generational or ideological contrast with Watson. At 59, she is on the border between Boomer and Gen X. Her record in the Legislature has largely been that of a mainstream Democrat—she is no AOC. In 2016, she declined to endorse an application for an affordable housing project in her district that had drawn opposition from surrounding homeowners in northwest Austin.

However, in the mayor’s race Israel has cast herself as a progressive, underdog challenge to the “good ol’ boy” establishment represented by Watson. In nearly every public remark, Israel, who grew up in El Paso and moved to Austin in the early ‘80s to attend UT, reminds her audience that she is the daughter of a truck driver and a teacher’s aide. She relates her own experience as a renter to those struggling with meteoric rent increases, although that narrative ran into some trouble when the Austin American-Statesman reported that she only began renting so she could move into the city limits to run for mayor; she also owns two houses.

Israel has been embraced by urbanists, housing advocates, and younger progressives as the candidate of change. Her campaign has centered on addressing the housing crisis by reducing zoning barriers to allow more and different types of housing. This is an election, she likes to say, about “who gets to live here.”

In the early stages of the campaign, many insiders, particularly of the older generation, dismissed Israel’s candidacy on the assumption that Watson was unbeatable. “This isn’t an election, this is a coronation,” one City Hall veteran told me in June. And Watson’s fundraising machine seemed to bear this prediction out.

But Watson and his allies have come to the startling realization that many of the things that made him near-invincible 20 years ago may have since become vulnerabilities. That was brought into sharp relief when the results of the general election came in and Watson finished in second place, collecting 35 percent of the vote compared to Israel—who’s lately proved a solid fundraiser herself— at 40 percent. The results painted a stark geographic divide, with Watson dominating in wealthy areas of West Austin and Israel winning handily across liberal Central Austin and racially diverse East Austin.

---

Throughout the campaign, Israel and her supporters have challenged Watson both over his record as mayor and his current platform.

The measures Watson took two decades ago as mayor to discourage development in affluent West Austin have been recast by some as environmental racism, especially given the gentrification and displacement that has occurred in the minority neighborhoods of Austin’s east side.

To many progressives and housing advocates, Watson only made matters worse when he released a housing plan this summer that proposed allowing each Council district to adopt its own zoning reforms. Backlash was fierce, with critics viewing his plan as a wink to West Austin neighborhoods suggesting they’d be able to wall themselves off from new housing. Israel decried it as a “return to redlining,” prompting Watson to update the plan with assurances that he also supported citywide housing reforms.

Watson’s long-time advocacy for expanding I-35, the congested highway that splits Texas’ capital, was once an uncontroversial economic development and traffic relief proposal, but now the idea draws opposition from progressives and environmentalists who believe that expanding highways tends to just induce more driving in the midst of a climate crisis. Israel has hammered Watson for supporting the state’s current plan, which calls for adding two high-occupancy lanes on each side of the highway through Central Austin.

Finally, there is the simple issue of identity. Many progressives just aren’t interested in electing another older white man. Austin has only had one woman mayor, Carole Keeton, who served from 1977 to 83. And although it’s majority non-white, Austin has only had one non-white mayor: Gus Garcia, who served for two years after Watson left the position in 2001. Israel would be the first openly gay mayor in Austin’s history and the city’s first Latina mayor.

Watson still has a good chance of ultimately winning the runoff. Turnout for such elections is extremely low and older and whiter than the general electorate. In recent weeks, Watson has begun making appeals to conservative voters who likely supported third-place Republican candidate Jennifer Virden in November, describing himself as the candidate who is going to “shake up City Hall,” which he accuses of neglecting “basics” such as crime, homelessness, and traffic. Watson is not-so-subtly portraying himself as the candidate who will put a stop to what some view as the progressive excesses associated with city council, notably its 2019 decriminalization of homeless camping and its 2020 reallocation of funds from the police department to social services. A super PAC set up to support Watson has drawn major contributions from conservative billionaires such as oil tycoon Bryan Sheffield and local tech mogul Joe Liemandt.

Whether or not Watson pulls it off, the closeness of the race underscores that, as any longtime Austinite will tell you, this city is not what it used to be.

Editor’s Note: The Observer has corrected the partisan identification of a former Austin mayor.

The post Tense Runoff Election Pits Old Austin Versus New appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Here lean against me
while I lean against the window
trying to steady the world.
Something jittery as the day begins,
a hesitation, a catch in its step,
its uncertain breath.

My friend the librarian always told me that the world
was more than anyone deserved,
more trouble and more beauty.
She said she never understood
why she felt responsible for it,
as if she needed to give it
a good spin every morning
to keep it going, to stop
that wobble that she felt.

And then what, I asked her.
“Just hold on,” she said,
“hold on with everything I have.”

Telling me that was like handing it to me.
As when she handed me a book
she thought I might like, or one
she thought I ought to read.

In Memory of Monty Jones

I have known Monty Jones continuously since 1964, Baylor University. I tried to read everything he had written. He won the poetry award at B.U. in 1968. Because he taught me how not to write poetry, I had the same achievement in 1969.

We visited in Balmorhea, Texas in 1969, his first high school teaching job. Our paths diverged but we didn’t lose connection.

My last e-mail from him was two days before he died on October 22, 2022 at Seton Hospital, Austin.

He was a friend.

We shall not see the likes of him again soon.

Fleet Lentz
Author, A Backseat View from the Phantom

The post Poem: Steady the World appeared first on The Texas Observer.

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Now, when *I* feel like an impostor, on the other hand, it's just irrational.

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I always build my snowmen with internal organs made of fluid-filled edible polymers. Freaks the kids out when springtime comes.

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The CD-ROM format continually promised to make floppy disks obsolete.  First introduced in a usable form in 1986, the CD-ROM's 650MiB capacity was enormous when 1.2MiB 5.25" floppies were largest available removable media at the time and hard drives maxed out at around 50 MiB.  While CD-ROMs were standard equipment on current PCs by 1995 and the principal method for software installation by that year, the PCs reliance on floppy disks for operating system installation lasted for much longer than anyone anticipated.  How long you ask?  Let's find out.Read more »

Good afternoon. We’re jumping in on a weekend afternoon to highlight the potential for thunderstorms overnight as a weak front moves into the region and stalls out. This should mostly be an issue for areas along and north of Interstate 10. The main threat should occur after midnight, so we don’t expect any disruptions for activities on Saturday afternoon and evening.

For the Houston metro area you can expect a warm evening, with temperatures in the 70s. Skies will be mostly cloudy, and there’s about a 20 percent chance of showers. These conditions should persist through about midnight.

After that time it appears that line of showers and thunderstorms—perhaps broken, perhaps not—will sag southeastward toward Houston. Some of the latest modeling indicates these storms will reach Harris County by around sunrise on Sunday. It’s likely that this system will lose its oomph as it progress southward, with decreasing storm and rain chances south of Interstate 10 on Sunday morning.

For inland areas, which is to say areas north of the Interstate 10, rain totals may be around 1 inch, give or take. Isolated areas may pick up as much as 2 or 3 inches. The front should stall near the coast on Sunday morning. Some additional light to moderate rainfall will be therefore be possible on Sunday, with an otherwise mostly cloudy day and highs in the 70s.

We’re still expecting a strong cold front on Tuesday night to bring a prolonged stretch of cooler and more seasonal weather. Look for full details on that, and more, on Monday morning.

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The temperatures may not feel too much like the holiday season outside right now, but we are only a little more than two weeks away from Christmas Day. One of the best aspects of this season in Houston is the increasing number of light shows to help mark the holidays.

Our partner, Reliant, has presented the Galaxy Lights display at Space Center Houston for several years now, and it’s something I always enjoy experiencing with my family. This year, Reliant is also presenting Lightscape at the Houston Botanic Garden, which is where we held our Fall Day event in September. This is just the second year for Lightscape, which is set in the natural landscape of the garden near downtown Houston. They’re both great! If you’re thinking about going, here are a few thoughts from my trip to Galaxy Lights and Matt’s trip to Lightscape to help you plan your visit this year.

Galaxy Lights, presented by Reliant

I visited this display, interwoven inside and outside of Space Center Houston in Clear Lake. The light displays are as brilliant as ever. Galaxy Lights, presented by Reliant, showcases a crystal fireworks show, which is one of just two in the world, a high-tech kinetic light display inside the museum, and several areas to walk through outside—one of which they describe as the “Deep Space Backyard.” There are plenty of pathways to meander down, and enjoy the sights, as well as interactive play areas for kids. All told, it can take about 90 minutes to fully take it in.

My favorite part of the walkthrough is the previously flown Falcon 9 rocket, built and launched by SpaceX for NASA. It is beautifully lit up at night, and this display also features tributes to the other partners on the International Space Station. The Galaxy Lights event is open now through January 1, from 6 to 10 pm. It will be closed on December 24 and 25. Tickets should be purchased online, ahead of your visit. Use code ReliantGL22 for $5 off per ticket for weeknight visits.

Lightscape

Matt visited Lightscape presented by Reliant at the Houston Botanic Garden, which he described as an airy, pleasant experience with a focus on art and light. Visitors walk a path through the garden that is lined with immersive installations, such as a stunning bluebonnet field that is exclusive to Texas and the staple “Winter Cathedral.” There’s fun near the end as well, where you can build your own s’mores!

While the Lightscape is a newer addition to Houston’s holiday light scene, it has quickly made a name for itself among the best holiday displays. The event opens at 5:30 pm each day, with the last timed entry at 8:30 pm, and the garden closing at 10 pm. The full experience takes about 45 minutes. Lightscape is open on select nights through January 1. You should purchase tickets online ahead of your visit. Use code SCWLIGHTS22 for $5 off per ticket for weeknight visits.

Weather

Since both shows are mostly outdoors, an important consideration for your visit is weather conditions, and we’ll have you covered at Space City Weather. If warmer conditions are your preference—shorts weather, if you will—then we recommend you visit by Monday night. After that it looks like Houston will see more seasonal conditions for this time of year, when you’ll probably want a sweater for the evening. Fortunately, rain chances look low for most nights for the foreseeable future.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

The post Life Sentence appeared first on The Perry Bible Fellowship.

Try out my quantum mechanics course (and many others on math and science) on https://brilliant.org/sabine. You can get started for free, and the first 200 will get 20% off the annual premium subscription.

Correction to what's on the screen at 9 mins 35 seconds: In the lower equation, the h-bar is missing. Sorry about that!

Correction to what I say at 3 mins 39: it should have been phosphorescent materials, not fluorescent. (Same basic principle, but the lifetime of the states is longer for the former than for the latter.)

What is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, how does it work, and what does it mean? Is it really a quantum principle or is not just fourier transforms? I'll sort it out for you.

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00:00 Introduction
00:19 Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
02:00 What Does Quantum Uncertainty Mean?
04:44 Is Uncertainty All About Waves?
09:02 What's Quantum About It?
11:50 Recap
13:14 Check Out My Quantum Mechanics Course

#science #physics #quantum

Truth be told, I’ve never really felt like I fit the mold of the Democratic Party. As a proud senator of Arizona, I’ve always voted for what I think is right, whether my high-powered colleagues agree with me or not. That’s why, today, I—Kyrsten Sinema—am proud to announce that I have made the decision to leave the…

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During a trip to Galveston this past October, I was given a gallery tour of the Galveston Arts Center by Curator Dennis Nance. The main gallery featured a solo exhibition by Dallas-based multimedia artist Kris Pierce. I am familiar with the time-based video work Pierce has shown in North Texas, but this properly large solo exhibition is an expanded viewing experience of his work, both in dimension and discipline. I caught up with Pierce to ask him some questions about the show, his process, and how technology is shaping our view of the world.

William Sarradet (WS): Your exhibition at the Galveston Arts Center features a fascinating balance between painting and video. How does it feel to show this work in Galveston?

Kris Pierce (KP): Galveston is a really interesting place! There’s a fascinating dynamic between its resident population and its influx of visitors, especially given the high traffic area where the Galveston Arts Center is located. I think that environment creates opportunities for a diverse audience to see and interact with the work.

I’m naturally attracted to visceral, kinetic things. And I think that manifests in the work in unexpected ways, like stolen TikTok videos, Snapchat filters, animated Gifs, arcade components, and video game environments. I think the aesthetic of that world naturally bleeds into the paintings as well. For people that don’t normally engage with art, those types of things may provide a familiar entry point, especially for younger generations. Galveston is the perfect platform for connecting with that audience. Bikers, spring breakers, day drinkers, and vacationing families are all fine folks that may not intersect with art as often. That wider audience, along with your traditional art seeker, is highly appealing to me. 

WS: Your work explores a range of generational themes. How do you sort through the right imagery to express concerns of collective psychological shifts?

KP: I think generally I approach imagery as material. There’s a layer beneath the aesthetic that captures the culture of the moment. To some degree, it’s hard to articulate what may qualify something as capturing the collective zeitgeist. In digital space, hashtags are one way that the collective “we” choose to collate things we deem of importance. It’s a cheat towards separating what is and is not socially valued. The images and language that sustain feel likely to become evocative of their era. Generational images of the past rose to the top through less democratic means, but nonetheless their ability to capture the “spirit of 60’s,” or whatever era, provides a point of intersection, similarity, or difference that says something about where we are as a society.

WS: Your exhibition features many paintings, some of which contain digital hardware like LCD monitors. The focal point of the show is a sculpture which displays a video feed as it streams inside of a live virtual world. Tell me about how you describe your virtual environments to viewers.

KP: I think the distinction I would make would be in relation to the term “time-based media,” which is how you would typically define content you view on a screen. In contrast to that, I would describe Vampire Jukebox (the central work in the exhibition) as real-time. Historically, time-based implies things move in a linear fashion, while real-time content is dynamic in nature. Being able to use modern tools (like a game engine) as a platform, allows me to plug into any number of inputs to create a live stream of data, images, and really whatever, to populate and drive the work. 

A lot of this happens on the back end, specifically using code to access data from various sources, or in this case, Twitter. Because the projected component of the sculpture runs in real time, the work constantly evolves. Video sources, text inside the piece, and other components stay fresh in a way that a purely linear time-based work couldn’t. I think of these virtual environments as a mirror of what is happening across the web, just recontextualized within the work. It’s akin to a living organism. Its real-time nature makes the work topical and relatable in ways that wouldn’t have been possible ten years ago. You get a different experience each time you see the work, an experience assembled from the vast social hive our society is building this very moment. The possibility of realizing that inside the work is exciting to me. 

WS: Did you look anywhere in particular for writings or theories about technological impact on society?

KP: The central theme of the exhibition relates to an emerging psychology term referred to as “Main Character Syndrome.” In short, it refers to an online phenomena where people act out fictionalized versions of their lives across social media. You’ll also hear the term “Main Character” or “Main Character Energy” used a lot across social media to describe people who project a degree of tone-deaf self-importance or narcissism. This Main Character label can of course be used to describe any number of people across time, but in regard to technology, the phenomenon emerged amid the pandemic as a way to reclaim one’s sense of self in a world that has felt extremely isolating.

Technology has provided a unique stage for people to act out their Main Character fantasy. TikTok is the most active platform for Main Character content creators. A quick search for #maincharacter shows the scope of how this manifests itself, sometimes in really sweet and endearing ways, and other times in ways that feel completely unhealthy. There’s been a lot of writing as of recent on “Main Character Syndrome,” especially given the rise in cults of personality that have dominated popular culture over the past 8 years. All of that heavily informs the work in the exhibition and my larger studio practice.

WS: How is networked technology shaping humanity’s collective consciousness, particularly in the U.S.?

KP: The core content of these “businessman paintings” comes from the chauvinistic cartoons that were common in magazines, comics, and newspapers of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The Western male archetype perpetuated by these cartoons was one whose behavior, no matter how offensive or degrading towards others, could be chalked up as nothing more than “locker room talk,” and could be pushed off by the idea that  those within a position of power were “just boys being boys.”

The same way that memes today perpetuate class constructs within our society, these comics conditioned what was acceptable behavior for this power class — behavior that capitalist society peddled as its archetype of success. The Western male image of this era is singular. It is one in which social groups are othered in a way that we are supposed to laugh at.

This “harmless” Mad Men-era male seems to have manifested into increasingly dangerous aspects of our lives, including politics, global dynamics, and war. It projects across television, Twitter, in state leaders, tech bros, and industrial titans, in what feels like a bizarro new Gilded Age. This attitude sewn and signed off on in our past is extended into this new class of playboys and represents another manifestation of the “Main Character” persona.

These works use this coded history to set up visual relationships exploring these ideas, where we’ve been, where we are, and the dynamic between these fictional characters and their real-world manifestations. I see it as a way to reorient and reclaim history’s one-way conversation.

 

Kris Pierce: Party Line is on view at the Galveston Arts Center through January 8, 2023.

William Sarradet is the Assistant Editor for Glasstire.

All photos by William Sarradet unless otherwise noted.

The post Main Character Syndrome: a Conversation with Kris Pierce appeared first on Glasstire.

German authorities arrested 25 suspected members of Reichsbürger, an extremist organization influenced by QAnon conspiracy theories that espouses a doctrine similar to that of far-right groups in the U.S, in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. What do you think?

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New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

Ana Chandler points south to a dip in the Davis Mountains. Often, when she and her husband are sky-watching, “Omega Centauri appears in that notch,” she said.

Omega Centauri is a globular star cluster—millions of stars so crammed together that their light merges. It’s just one of a skyful of reasons the Chandlers moved from Central Texas to this spot between Fort Davis and the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory.

Six or eight nights a month, weather permitting, the Chandlers open the roll-off roof of their observatory and focus 25- and 30-inch reflecting telescopes on whatever objects are on their current list.

They are visual astronomers, Jim Chandler explained. They actually look through eyepieces rather than attaching cameras and other equipment to capture images and data. “There’s just something about billion-year-old photons directly hitting your retina,” he said.

The Chandlers are part of a group of amateur astronomers in Limpia Crossing, a development of about 110 houses spread over several hillsides, that is the nearest residential neighborhood to McDonald Observatory. Jim Chandler said only about 50 homes are occupied by full-time residents.

When the development started to take shape in the 1980s, professional astronomers worried about what it would do to their dark skies. For the most part, the observatory is surrounded by ranchland and the Davis Mountains State Park. Limpia Crossing had a minimum lot size of 5 acres, but its lights still could dim the future for serious astronomy.

What the observatory leaders soon realized was that in Limpia Crossing they had natural allies: people who’d chosen this part of West Texas for its dark skies, quiet, and relative absence of fellow human beings. Some were McDonald Observatory employees, retirees, or volunteers. Many took pride in being the closest neighbors of the world-class observatory and in helping keep conditions right for its work.

“They get it,” said Stephen Hummel, coordinator of McDonald’s Dark Skies Initiative, aimed at convincing governments, businesses, and residents in surrounding counties to limit light pollution by reducing and shielding exterior lighting. 

At one time, as many as 20 Limpia Crossing residents were astronomers, though locals say their numbers have decreased in recent years. The Texas Star Party, one of the largest annual gatherings of amateur astronomers in North America, happens practically next door.

“When you drive by, you can see domes throughout the neighborhood,” said Katie Kizziar, assistant director for education and outreach at McDonald. “It’s a place where people retired and moved out there and built their own [observatory] domes. We benefit from that—we get them to volunteer to run telescopes at our star parties.” 

“There are a crew of people in Limpia Crossing who bought their houses so they could look at the night sky,” said Steve Odewahn, a resident astronomer at McDonald. “Various residents over the years have contributed to scientific knowledge through their observations.” 

Limpia Crossing resident Jimi Lowrey has a 48-inch scope, one of the largest amateur telescopes in the world. About a dozen years ago, on a particularly clear night, he spotted a possible planetary nebula—that is, a star in its death throes that is surrounded by a glowing ring of gases that it is throwing off. Astronomers at McDonald and elsewhere helped verify the newly documented sky object.

Another local, astral photographer Allen Gilchrist, does work that is “extremely useful and immediately relevant,” Odewahn said. Gilchrist, a retired oilfield services researcher from Houston, moved to Limpia Crossing and built his observatory in 2011. 

The path to his house follows rutted gravel roads across hills and through a low-water creek crossing. Homes of all sizes and various architectural styles dot the slopes, along with several horse pastures and one walled compound complete with lots of crosses and what look like minarets. The McDonald domes are visible in the distance.

Recently, Gilchrist showed off his own Stonecrest Observatory, explaining the mechanics of the dome, 12-inch reflecting telescope, and photographic equipment. “I take images that can be used to make pretty pictures, but they can also be used in research,” he said. “I will come out and spend a good part of the night taking images. The next day, I get the data and process it.”

A few years ago, he spent several hours on the 107-inch telescope at McDonald, tracking Comet Neowise, acting as a remote observing assistant for prominent research astronomers in Austin. Then, about 18 months ago, he became interested in variable stars, so-called because their brightness changes over time. The result was an article he co-authored in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers.

At the Chandlers’ house, Ana’s special interest is something called super-thins—galaxies seen edge-on that lack the typical bulge in the center. A super-thin “is just a streak in the sky,” she said. Over the years, she researched them and developed a list of them to look for. “I thought, let’s see how many can I see in my lifetime? Several hundred by now.”

“Various residents over the years have contributed to scientific knowledge through their observations.”

“You look for 20 and see a few of them,” her husband said. “It depends on the darkness of the sky, the quality of the dark.”

The quality of the dark around McDonald Observatory has been preserved and even enhanced in recent years by two large-scale nonprofit efforts.

In the 1990s, the Nature Conservancy began putting together the Davis Mountains Preserve to protect this “sky island”—a ring of mountains with higher, cooler elevations that sustain different flora and fauna than the surrounding Chihuahuan desert. Working with ranchers and other landowners, the Conservancy bought more than 33,000 acres and protected almost three times that much land with conservation easements and other arrangements. Their work has helped area ranchers fend off development pressures, protected habitats for many rare species of plants and animals, and helped keep skies dark for the astronomers.

Jeff Francell, director of land protection for the Conservancy’s Texas chapter, said the development of Limpia Crossing “certainly was a justification” for the efforts to protect the Davis Mountains. Right now, ownership of big land parcels in and around the preserve is stable, he said. But if that changes, there is still land without easements that could be sold and subdivided. If that seemed imminent, he said, the conservancy would go to work on it.

In April, the entire Big Bend region plus an adjacent area in Mexico was formally designated as the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve, the largest such reserve in the world. McDonald Observatory and the Davis Mountains Preserve make up the core of the reserve, with the strongest protections against light pollution. Hummel said all counties and cities within the reserve have outdoor lighting ordinances and all parks and public lands have lighting management plans. McDonald provides technical guidance and in some cases donates light fixtures.

Hummel said oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin are the largest source of light pollution affecting McDonald currently. But several companies “have worked with us to reduce light pollution by adopting better lighting practices,” he said. Thanks in part to those changes, he said, “light pollution as seen from the observatory has fallen by approximately 20 percent over the past two years.”

At McDonald’s visitor center, gift shop employees Angie Otoupal and Carol Crook were excited to get in new supplies of Astronaut ice cream, a popular freeze-dried treat. They weren’t as excited to talk about Limpia Crossing, where they both live.

“Some [residents] are just here a few months a year,” Crook said. “Some are more or less hermits. They want to get away and concentrate on their focus, whether it’s geology or astronomy or making quilts.” 

Nor is it always an easy place to live. Residents dig their own wells. Gravel roads can be slippery. “We’re used to power outages, not having the internet, no cell coverage. You have to go to the mailboxes”—up on the highway—“to get bars,” she said.

But, Otoupal acknowledged, “I do love to go out and look at the stars” and enjoy the quiet. “It’s why I’m here.”

The post A Subdivision for Stargazers: Limpia Crossing Residents Look Aloft appeared first on The Texas Observer.