S2L77: Fatehpur Sikri

Agra, India
March 8, 1977

The hotel reception desk lost my room key. I was locked out for an hour while attempts were made (unsuccessful) to unlock the door with various "master" keys. My key was finally located in the room next door.

Source: Personal travel notes.

From 1977 03 02 India

Why I thought it significant to comment on a lost room key, but not say a word about Fatehpur Sikri, I'll never know. As bewitching as the Taj Mahal is under the light of a full moon, Fatehpur Sikir is, for me, the most haunting site in India. Twenty three miles west of Agra, it was the capital of the Mughal Empire in the late 1500s. It was a planned city, built and abandoned all within a couple of decades, leaving this haunting red sandstone ghost town for tourists to wander and imagine what life must have been like in the imperial court of the Mughal Empire of Akbar the Great.

More photos after the jump.

Politics is Not Here to Please You

Politics is not here to please you.

Source: Ezra Klein.

By that, Ezra Klein was referring to the dysfunction in government in Washington, with one side insisting that all would be well if the President would just lead and the other side insisting all would be well if Republicans in Congress would just compromise. Klein says the polarized state of politics in Washington is not difficult to understand; it's just difficult to fix. That may not please those who demand simple, immediate solutions, but then, politics is not here to please you.

After the jump, applying that lesson to Richardson politics.

Review: The Book Thief

Amazon

From The Book Thief, by Marcus Zuzak:

She was the book thief without the words. Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."

Life in Nazi Germany for a young girl. Ugly and glorious, a story each generation needs to relearn.

After the jump, my review.

Richardson's Concrete River

A story in the Atlantic, "L.A. Wants to Turn Its Concrete 'River' Into a Real River," tells about efforts in California to remove most of the concrete from the river channel of the Los Angeles River (poured in the 1930s for flood control) and restore the natural habitat of the river. This story gives me an opportunity to correct a misconception I had about Richardson's own concrete 'river.'

After the jump, an update on the construction in downtown Richardson on the Floyd Branch of Cottonwood Creek.

OTBR: An American-Themed Diner in the UK

Latitude: N 52° 20.778
Longitude: W 000° 10.602

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".

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

IMDB

Zero Dark Thirty (2012): Torture porn. Controversial history. Little dramatic tension. I thought death of UBL would be more satisfying. C+

Protecting Richardson From More Apartments

Junior:
Tell me a story, tell me a story
Tell me a story, remember what you said
You promised me you said you would
You got to give in so I'll be good
Tell me a story, then I'll go to bed

Father:
Once upon a time I remember long ago

Junior:
Don't go back in history your memory's kinda slow

Source: Lyrics by Terry Gilkyson.

"Protecting Richardson From More Apartments." Uh huh. That's the story that we're being told. Not from a PAC but directly from the candidate himself, Amir Omar. Who wants to be mayor. Who has hired a high-priced political consultant to achieve that for him. Who has said he conducted telephone polls to determine the issues that are relevant to our residents. So protecting Richardson from more apartments must be one of those issues that plays well with voters. So, that's our story. But does the story match the history?

Let's go back in history to find out. After the jump.