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| From 2025 03 17 Central Thailand |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at Wat Mahathat, the Temple of the Great Relic, a Buddhist temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand, north of Bangkok. Age and benign neglect resulted in this Buddha statue getting enveloped by tree roots, making me think of the patience of Zen meditation.
A bonus side view of the Buddha is after the jump.
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| From 2025 03 17 Central Thailand |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at Wat Mahathat, the Temple of the Great Relic, a Buddhist temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand, north of Bangkok. The young monks, perhaps even without knowing it, recall a detail from the temple's origins.
According to Wikipedia, "The history of Wat Mahathat starts in 1374 when King Borommarachathirat I erected a temple at this place, bearing another name. ... His nephew and successor Ramesuan (1369-1370, 1388-1395) expanded the site in 1384 to build a great temple, while he was here as a monk between his throne offices. During this time the temple got its present name."
"Young monks in saffron,
walking where kings once knelt down —
Centuries converse."
— h/t ChatGPT
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Netflix
Institutional jealousy: a situation where one organization competes with another because of perceived threats to its status, authority, resources, or reputation.
Early voting is open. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4. If you live in Richardson, your ballot will have 17 Texas constitutional amendments on it, and if you also live in the Richardson ISD, it will have three RISD bond propositions for you to vote for.
In general, Texas constitutional amendments serve one of two purposes. Either they are giveaways to the rich (ask yourself if Scrooge McDuck would be for them or not), or they are panders to the GOP base. They are placed on the ballot by the legislature, which is in the firm control of business interests and/or the far right of the GOP. (Just last week, the Texas GOP voted to censure five of its own members in the Texas House for being insufficiently conservative. These included north Texas representatives Angie Chen Button, Jeff Leach, Morgan Meyer, and Jared Patterson!) Still, there are some amendments I find to be reasonable. To find out which, read on. Also, at the end, I'll have something to say about those RISD propositions.