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| From 2025 09 19 Bukhara |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at the Ark of Bukhara. According to Wikipedia, it's "a massive fortress located in the city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, that was built in the 5th century CE. The Ark's current structure began to develop during the 16th century under the Shaybanid Uzbek dynasty, while all of its existing buildings were constructed in the last three centuries."
Bonus photos are after the jump.
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| From 2025 09 19 Bukhara |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken along the banks of the Amu Darya, historically known as the Oxus River. It is the largest river in Central Asia, flowing through Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The oddest thing about the river (to me) is that it doesn't flow anywhere. Not to the ocean. Not even to an inland sea. Because of global warming and, even more, because of insatiable human demand for water for agriculture, today the Amu Darya just peters out in western Uzbekistan. Its mouth is in a dried-up area of what was once the Aral Sea.
This photo shows the desert the Amu Darya flows through. On this side is Uzbekistan. On the far side is Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan welcomes tourists. Turkmenistan, not so much. Signs warn visitors to stay on your side. Such has been life in Central Asia for millennia.
Source: h/t ChatGPT.
The Richardson City Council met June 15, 2026, with an agenda that did not presage anything particularly comment-worthy. But public comments spurred discussion that proved me wrong. One was about water rates. One was about an unwelcome business in the neighborhood. And another was about the state overriding local control on zoning matters. Much of the night's deliberations turned on the same question: when Austin tells Richardson what it can no longer regulate, should the city comply narrowly or surrender broadly?
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Netflix
#VeryTardyReview
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HBO Max
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| From 2025 09 17 Khiva |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a child with a chisel cutting into a board in a courtyard in Khiva, Uzbekistan. So many questions. Shouldn't he be in school? How many hours a day does he do this work? How much does his finished work sell for in the market? I feel bad that I know so little about this. A short search with Google suggests that child labor during the cotton harvest used to be a significant problem, but by 2022, the international "Cotton Campaign" coalition announced it was ending its global boycott of Uzbek cotton after concluding that state-imposed forced labor in the cotton sector had largely been eliminated. Of course that is not what my photo is all about. It's about one child in a city making a wooden craft.
Bonus photo after the jump.
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| From 2025 09 17 Khiva |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a passing parade of locals cosplaying Khiva nobility in Khiva, Uzbekistan.
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HBO Max
#VeryTardyReview
Source: ZF 26-08 (enhanced by ChatGPT).
On June 8, 2026, the Richardson City Council approved a special development plan and special permits for the motor vehicle body shop and motor vehicle storage lot in the Interurban District, including all City Plan Commission conditions such as fence screening so vehicles are not visible from public view and completion of required improvements within 180 days of the ordinance's effective date. The vote was unanimous.
"I wish I knew how to quit you" — Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) to Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain.
