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| From 2025 09 17 Khiva |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Juma Mosque in Khiva, Uzbekistan. It dates to the tenth century and was rebuilt in 1788, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures. It looks unused today because it's undergoing reconstruction yet again.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
You may remember Stefani Carter. The former Texas state representative for parts of Richardson swept into office in the 2010 tea party wave. The ambitious politician who attempted to climb to statewide office (Texas Railroad Commission) in 2014 only to discover that the moneyed interests had other candidates in mind. Who then scrambled back to her legislative race in north Texas but lost her seat when GOP voters abandoned her in the primary for Linda Koop. Who then got a cushy job on the board of directors of Monty Bennett's hotel chain. Monty Bennett himself, one of the biggest supporters of right-wing political causes in Texas. You might know of his "newspaper", The Dallas Express (use of scare quotes intentional).
The last time we checked in on Stefani Carter was 2024, when we reported on why shareholders were upset with Monty Bennett's board for how they were running the company. She's in the news again, this time for resigning "without dispute" from the board of directors. There's no indication if she was given a going-away party.
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Netflix
#VeryTardyReview
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HBO
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AppleTV+
It takes about two hours of driving on I-20 into east Texas to get from Richardson to Gilmer. What do they have in common? At first glance, maybe nothing. Taking a closer look, maybe a lot.
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| From 2025 09 17 Khiva |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Itchan Kala, walled inner town of the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan. As the sun sets, the desert air cools, and dining on the rooftop is a pleasant way to spend an evening on the Silk Road.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
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| From 2025 09 17 Khiva |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan. From round, clay ovens called tandirs comes an aroma of fresh naan. Bakers, faces protected from the heat of the ovens, press round loaves of bread onto the hot clay walls of the tandir, where the the bread puffs and blisters from the intense heat. From the landscape to the architecture to the people, Khiva reminded me of Tatooine from Star Wars. (I mean that as a compliment.)
Bonus photos are after the jump.
Source: City of Richardson.
I've already covered the Richardson City Council's deliberation on applying for grants from CDBG and creating a UDC ("Council Recap: CDBG and UDC Spell PROGRESS").
The agenda also had an item for how to honor individuals or organizations. There were two parts. The first is awarding a "Key to the City." The second is namiing a City asset like a building after a person. At the time, I said I'd cover these when a final draft policy came back before council in a week or two for approval. But I don't expect the final policy to differ much from the draft policy we saw. The design of the "Key to the City", on the other hand,...
Let's celebrate. For the first time in a while, every substantive agenda item deliberated by the Richardson City Council had an outcome I liked. And I'm not easy to please, I know. The three topics were CDBG, UDC, and Naming Things. The first two will take a long time to implement. I'll cover those in this week's council recap. The third will be decided when it comes back to council in a week or two. I'll cover it at that time.
