POV: Your kids "put away" the hose.

Pulled a total Dad move and loaded up 4 panels of OSB in the minivan by myself. A pyrrhic victory.

Thank you Texas A&M for releasing the handy muscadine reference chart we all need.

Thank you Texas A&M for releasing the handy reference chart we all need.

Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.

Just starting veraison for the muscadines.

Sometimes you go on the roof and find out your tenant cut the lines to the AC system and replaced it with a $500 mini-split from Amazon.

So that's where the money for the libraries went.

Conveniently timed when the Zoo is facing possible cuts from the city budget.

Denton, reliably bad about urban planning, considers apartment moratorium. Texas tightened rules on moratoriums recently though: "The moratorium can last only 90 days unless the council votes to extend it, [it can't last] more than 180 days in aggregate, according to the league."

An 8-unit townhome development. Doesn't look like they're using hte 8-unit building code (fire sprinklers and alarms here), which I'm guessing is because they're be limited to 7,500sqft of area.

Um, this is the top contender? "Ford spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel...having taken 140 trips total since 2016. He also spent more than $40,000 on travel in 2023, including a 14-day trip to Spain and a five-day visit to Hawaii."

I was on a real tear back in 2015.

Sometimes I worry about society.

Donating to this seems very high leverage. Support the posting-to-policy pipeline for building codes, elevator reform, and the like by signing up for a donation, recurring if you can:

Cities could plant street trees, remove parking requirements, upzone/infill, and add bike/bus lanes on local streets without any kind of state permission but those remain in the realm of the impossible

MP Materials is pushing forward with its planned $1.25 billion "10X" rare earth magnet factory that will bring more than 1,500 jobs to Northlake, state and county records show. bit.ly/4w8zsj9

Man running for mayor thinks mayor should have more power. News at 11.

oh wow

I guess this is what the Fed studies now. Ironically, Rep Romero (quoted in the article) was the chief opponent of the small lot subdivision Bill in the 2025 session. He very nearly killed it. www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/f...

We don't build safe streets in Dallas so we're looking at making pretend ones in a park. Not a bad on its own but a sad contrast to the real streets. candysdirt.com/2026/07/13/r...

"Germans can pay....through Ikea...a stupefying $0.35 per watt." If solar is so much cheaper in most of the world, how come grid power is so expensive compared to the US?

Eleven years ago I started taking the train to work in Dallas, which radicalized me in about 2 trips.

wrote this week about my fascination with Houston's two-story strip malls and what they do (and don't) provide www.chron.com/culture/arti...

POV: It’s 30°C/63%RH outside, you’re staying hydrated and tossing your water bottle in the correct bin.

DART has released finalists for its new president and CEO: - Nathaniel P. Ford Sr, Chief Executive Officer, Jacksonville Transportation Authority - Dee Leggett, Director of Business Operations, Herzog Transit Services - Monica Tellez, President/CEO, Central Ohio Transit Authority

Any architects who are AIA members and interested in getting involved in code development and in scissor stairs? If so, I may have an opportunity for you! Email me at [email protected]

Next should be unifying building codes across Texas (or at least prohibit requiring FARS in any building).

I forgot this passed and came into effect 7/1/26. Happy unified food truck rules day, Texas. www.click2houston.com/news/local/2...

You're not allowed to like the weather in Miami, New Orleans, or Brownsville.

When you suggest that maybe we don't need a dedicated police helicopter unit in the era of 4-5 figure drones.

Garbage service is funded through user fees so of course it's unaffected. Police and Fire are the lion share of the budget yet untouchable so they're unaffected.

My first apartment in Dallas was $568 for 1,000sqft ($887 in 2026 dollars) candysdirt.com/2026/07/06/d...

I'm not into this phenomenon where dust blows from the Sahara all the way to Texas.

The problem with demand subsidies.

Every new detail of this is worse than the last.

Didn't seize enough. Apparently fireworks set fire to the artificial turf at one of the highschools.

We're back in "only go to shaded parks" season again.

Another list conflating wealth, income, and immigration status with something else.

Decent article about the recent "Y'all street" phenomenon. Sounds like we get some back office jobs for big name companies and secondary listings which is nice, in contrast to the huge buzz some attach to it. File it with "silicon prairie"

Is anybody aware of any academic work on how transit construction translates into VMT reductions, especially in more effective transit-building countries like in Europe or Asia? I was speaking with a professor who deals with fire engineering, who was interested in literature that could speak...

$499 for 180w panel. Oncor says: “From Oncor’s perspective, plug-in or ‘balcony’ solar that operates independently of the electric grid would be outside of our scope, so we’re not able to provide an official comment on those types of systems and their legality within the Texas electric market.”

Asking "do we need a strong mayor system?" is the wrong question. Instead, start with "why do we get the outcomes we do" and you will find that Dallas has structured a narrow and weak electorate that leads to easily manipulated elected officials. Many council members win office with <3,000 votes

Update: FARS is being removed from NFPA 1. Hopefully the IFC and Uniform Plumbing Code will be in the next cycle. bsky.app/profile/rand...

Dallas people who want something to do: We're starting this as a monthly series. May move to weekly if it proves popular. We'll do two teas each evening. Come hang out. Bring your own mug or use our tasters. We are very casual.

The environmental center is like Samuell Farm: You drive forever and then get completely surprised by this little gem.

In the midst of a lot of very bad and dumb things for Downtown Dallas, this is a very cool thing to see.

Can't have trees because the roads are so big the cars go too fast so need clear sight lines. One of a thousand barriers to cooling and climate mitigation. oakcliff.advocatemag.com/2026/06/tree...

The grain elevator has the "mega" but the reproduction oil derrick has the "ominous".

Getting reminded there are big complicated systems I know nothing about.