POTD: James Bond's Hotel

From 2016 02 12 Udaipur

Today's photo-of-the-day is of the City Palace in Udaipur, India. The palace plays the part of a hotel James Bond stays at in the movie Octopussy.

Embrace of the Serpent (2015)

IMDB

Embrace of the Serpent (2015): Amazonia in 1909, with shaman and scientist, false messiah and rubber barons. Heart of Darkness. B-

POTD: Octopussy's Floating Palace

From 2016 02 12 Udaipur

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken from the shore of Lake Picchola in Udaipur, India. It shows the Taj Lake Palace. The hotel was the setting of the island home of James Bond's nemesis, Octopussy. Bond swims up to the palace disguised as a crocodile. Well, OK then.

P.S. It seems like maybe we've been following James Bond around.

Who Got Snookered on Plano Road?

At its July 25 meeting, the Richardson City Council approved a zoning change to accommodate the development of a 43-unit community of apartments and/or townhomes on 2.7 acres on the east side of Plano Road south of Arapaho Road.

Who are these new apartments/condos going to be marketed to? According to the city staff report accompanying the zoning change request, it's senior citizens.

The applicant's intent is to provide a residential project for the City's aging community that is different than the other available types of housing such as patio homes, independent living facilities, and assisted living facilities. The applicant has developed other senior housing in the City including the Twin Rivers independent living facility at Belt Line Road and Glenville Drive and the Twin Rivers assisted living facility on Plano Road, just south of Campbell Road, which is currently under construction. The applicant states that there is a market for seniors who desire to purchase, rather than rent, a low maintenance home without stairs.

Source: City of Richardson.

The developer did the Twin Rivers senior living community. Each planned unit will have only one story, perfect for seniors who no longer want to navigate stairs. So, seniors it is, right?

OTBR: Estonian Sunset

Latitude: N 59° 12.840
Longitude: E 023° 32.772

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".