Spectre (2015)

IMDB

Spectre (2015): You watch 007 for exotic locations and action, not plot or characters. On those low expectations, Spectre delivers. C+

POTD: Jama Masjid, Delhi

From 2016 02 04 New Delhi

Delhi's Jama Masjid is one of the largest mosques in India (maybe the largest, but who knows? Wikipedia says "one of the largest" so that's what I'm going with). The previous two photos-of-the-day were taken outside this 350-year-old landmark, so it's only fair that today's photo takes us inside.

OTBR: A Swanky RV Resort in Arizona

Latitude: N 32° 40.134
Longitude: W 114° 31.938

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

RISD Bond Chatter

What are people saying about the RISD bond election? Not much, from what I can tell. I've seen no formal activity (yet) by any "Vote YES" or "Vote NO" committees -- no yard signs, no emails or direct mail, no robo-calls (thank goodness). Social media has the usual chatter, but not a whole lot compared to recent controversies. Opposition to the bond, what there is, seems to fall into several categories.

Abortion

Usually, I don't cover hot-button issues like abortion. So much has been said on the subject, there's nothing new I can add. And I'm a man so I don't feel empowered to impose my beliefs on others who might personally face this situation. Nevertheless, The Dallas Morning News's Jeffrey Weiss's always thoughtful Facebook feed suckered me in. To preserve my thoughts (which might be of interest to a distant future me, if no one else), here's what I had to say on the subject. I'm not including the context that prompted me to jump in, but I think what I say can stand alone.