Dallas radio vet Jody Dean has a suggestion for management about the giant video board at Cowboys Stadium: Hang a sign on it saying, “Hit sign, win suit.” Dean, the new announcer at the Dallas Cowboys stadium, is only partly joking about the screen, which was hit by an opposing punter a couple of weeks ago, touching off an NFL controversy. Dean is breathing easier in general this week after drawing some rough reviews for his opening-game performance in the announcer role. Saturday night, he contends, he was much better: “This time, I didn’t wet my pants.” But the stadium’s acoustics still need work, he says: “They have a lot of ‘slapback,’ because of all the hard corners. They need to get that mix right.” Meantime, Dean predicts the juice and the buzz surrounding the new stadium–including the controversial video board, pictured here–might be worth an extra couple of touchdowns for the ‘Boys each home game this season. Says Dean: “At a Thursday night client party, Jerry Jones told people, ‘I paid that punter to hit that board!’ ” The Cowboys owner was only kidding–Dean thinks, anyway.
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1.) Forget about buying popcorn there. It’s only sold at selected venues and, like me, you might be directed to three of them–on three different levels–and still never find one. 2.) No videocams allowed. 3.) The video board is so amazing, it may cause conflicted feelings. Watch the action on the field–or on the giant Mitsubishi screen? But if you’re doing the latter, why not just stay home and watch the game on TV? 4.) If you’re 6-feet or better, leave your knees in the car. The seats–at least in the Lower Hall of Fame level–are amazingly comfortable, but there ain’t much legroom. 5.) You gotta visit the Hall of Fame-level restroom if you get a chance, if only to use the paper hand towels. They’re as thick as terrycloth, embellished with a blue-and-silver Cowboys star. 6.) Don’t toss your ticket in the trash, or you could wind up sleeping in the stadium. For some reason the attendants insist on scanning your ticket before you’re permitted to exit. 7.) Mark well where you park. They need more signs flagging the different areas in the lots. Until they get ’em, one wag advises, you might consider leaving bread crumbs.
I’m just kidding about the poaching of ideas, b/c in actuality they are more like memes or thought viruses spreading and taking hold to approach the necessary issues of the day, but the Harvard Business Review is starting to seriously address the issue and impossibilities of forever growth:
Economists describe this new model in many ways. One way is to use human cellular structures as a metaphor for economic growth. Call it cellular economic theory.
What do cells tell us about business? Well, consider that cells that grow continually and exponentially (like we’ve been taught our economies should grow) are a form of cancer. We know intuitively and logically that continuous growth can’t be sustained in living things. It’s likewise unsustainable (and undesirable) in business.
and the relevant examples:
For example, a brewery in India is using cellular economic thinking to grow its bottom line without producing and selling more beer. Instead it’s using chaff and grain detritus to create fertilizer and biofuels–regenerating resources to lower their own production costs while widening the life cycles of their inputs.
KATIKA, a Swiss wood furniture maker, is reforesting at a rate greater than their production, using profits from their sales today to ensure the availability of resources later. In the meantime, their reforestation projects create local jobs and other sustainable benefits (home for wildlife and food, CO2 reduction) while increasing the value of formerly degraded land holdings.
This travel piece has been making its way around the wires, and many of our country’s finest daily newspapers, for the last few weeks. It’s confirmation that Dallas has yet to expand its image nationally much beyond J.R., the Cowboys, and the JFK assassination.
And one Deseret News reader had a couple more attractions to add to the list:
Just left that area 2 years ago for Denver. What a delightful move it has been for us. Not even any fire ants here. If you want “snooty” then you will love Dallas.
When will those new bridges turn us into a tourism magnet?
Valerie Elizabeth has been wearing the same little black dress every day this month. It’s gotten her lots of attention because the Associated Press picked up the story. She’s inviting people to vote on her best look. Me? I’d rather just re-watch this tangentially-related episode of Seinfeld.
UPDATE: Silly me. I neglected to mention that it was D Magazine that launched her summer media blitz, when she was named the Max Factor Face of Dallas in June.
From the NYT: Some LEED certified buildings aren’t who we thought they were.
The council’s own research suggests that a quarter of the new buildings that have been certified do not save as much energy as their designs predicted and that most do not track energy consumption once in use. And the program has been under attack from architects, engineers and energy experts who argue that because building performance is not tracked, the certification may be falling short in reducing emissions tied to global warming.
Okay, “stars” may be too strong a word. But I think you’ll find Ray Balestri‘s performance — miming a conversation over dinner in the background of this season 5, episode 5 scene from Weeds (a walk-on part purchased at a raffle at a Dallas charity event) — riveting. That’s him in the background during the first half of this clip, at least during one of the camera angles.
I’ve nibbled around the edges of this subject a little here, mostly in regards to how we much more varied wants are in relation to needs, meaning that needs are much more apt to generating common cause. As a wealthy society (and even worse, one that still thinks it’s wealthy living beyond its means and off past successes), we all want different things, many of which materially or carnally related.
But, when we are reminded of what our basic needs are, shelter, food, safety, and work our way up that latter towards more abstract notions but nonetheless every bit as necessary for “the good life” like improved quality of each of the above, community, family, friends, human interaction, commerce, etc. and when any or all of those needs are threatened, I theorize that we will be able to once again build more livable cities, when our individual priorities no longer compete between your desire to own a new F-650 and my wanting to walk across the road without being run down like a opossum on a country road.
The real underlying question in reality however, is at what price survival? Without further ado, the Indian Minister of the Environment raises similar points:
“For us this is about survival. We need to put electricity into people’s homes and do it cleanly. You in the west need to live with only one car rather than three. For you it is about luxury. For us survival.”
Lest you forget, the “10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas” contest — or, as we affectionately refer to it, the “10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas” contest — is chugging along. Three more women were eliminated. But Charity Beaver wasn’t one of them. I know I speak for semi-aquatic rodents everywhere when I say, “You go, Ms. Beaver!”
No one is more interested in our impending move downtown than you are. We know this. Which is why we’ve consolidated our scrapbook of moving pics on this page. Check out the new time-lapse video by Gustav Schmiege, and pay special attention to the :50 mark, at which point they saw a hole in the floor. Also of note is the 1:40 mark. Not sure what happened there. I guess that construction worker decided it was time for his closeup.
And don’t worry. We’ll keep you abreast of future developments. I’m particularly looking forward to the hanging of the outdoor signage.
1. The good folks at SMU have abandoned plans for a pedestrian bridge leading from DART to the Bush presidential library. You know who wouldn’t have given up? The good people at Baylor. They would have built a bridge–over a moat with magic fish–that rivaled the Golden Gate. Of course, Waco lacks anything remotely similar to DART. And yet the city gets mentioned in every single news report about the library. Go Bears!
2. In incredibly sad news, a pregnant woman who was struck by lightning on Thursday not only lost her baby–she, too, died yesterday at Parkland.
3. Does your letter from an outfit called Property Tax Assessor–with promises of hundreds of dollars they can save you on propery taxes for a mere $55 fee–sound too good to be true? It is. The form they offer to work this miracle? You can get it for free on the Tarrant County Appraisal District website. Oh. And they overstate how much you can actually save. Obviously.
At least that’s what this repetitive press release from the National Business Travel Association says. Dallas is ranked No. 3 among cities that impose the highest total taxes per day on travelers, and No. 5 for the highest “discriminatory” travel taxes (those on lodging, car rentals, and meals). I’m guessing this is partially a state matter — since Houston and San Antonio are right there with us on the lists.
(Oddly, Portland, Oregon, is No. 1 for the lowest tax burden, but also No. 1 for the highest discriminatory taxes. Oregon has no general sales tax.)
UPDATE: A helpful FrontBurnervian suggests that spankin’ new sports arenas here and in Houston and San Antonio, and the taxes that we approved to help pay for them, are the culprits.