Few places on Earth have historically played such an important role in global trade and commerce as Samarkand. It’s an honor to be here today — not just to remember the history, but the opportunities for the future.

We watched “Below,” which is the top show on Netflix right now. I heard it was like Jaws but with a giant killer squid, so obviously I was sold right out of the gate. Turns out it’s more like Free Willy with a giant killer squid. The show takes a hard left turn in the final two episodes and becomes a climate change sermon where PETA activists rescue a squid from an evil white male corporate guy or whatever. It abandons almost every random subplot it establishes early on with no attempt at any kind of coherent resolution. A Somali guy who spends most of the show trying to kill one of the main characters turns out to have a heart of gold and gets unofficially adopted into the family or something. Plus there was a random evil white girl with hair over her face (à la The Ring and every other horror movie from the years 1998 to 2017), which turns out to be just a local girl from a neighboring island who for some reason shows up in your room at night drenched in water and haunts you? It’s never explained how or why she would do that. Anyway, it’s one of the worst shows ever made. There is so much unmitigated slop on streaming. I usually assume every show will suck so I don’t waste my time. But this time I suppressed that instinct because the Jaws With A Squid logline was too much to resist. I will not be fooled like that again.

A McDonald's in Paris is being vandalized and looted right now on an AFP live feed

Thinking about wood being the most rare resource in the universe and Christ being a carpenter

genuine question: why does every Windows PC start at the "C" drive? wtf happened to A and B?