*** Edit: Oh yuck, the stupid Onion video embed starts playing automatically, that's incredibly annoying. If you'd like to watch the video (and you should) just follow the link instead, sorry about that.
Ben sent along this great Onion video today - those who cower in fear before adult language may want to think twice, but believe me, it's worth it:
And don't even get me started on the whole "politicians now have to wear an American flag pin" thing.
current weather: Mostly Clear, 47, Wind: calm; it feels a little weird with daylight savings time getting extended like this... it's dark when I get up now
I actually learned about this via a post on Autoblog of all places, but a user named Citylover in the SkyscraperCity Forums went through the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection available online from the Indiana University Digital Library and picked out a bunch of really awesome color photographs of American cities during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Cushman was an amateur photographer and University of Indiana alumnus.
And contains pictures of the following cities (not in this order):
Atlanta - 1951 Austin - 1959 Baltimore - 1940 Buffalo - 1941 Chicago Cleveland - 1941 Dallas - 1953 Denver - 1952 Des Moines - 1959 Harrisburg - 1941 Indianapolis - 1963 Kansas City - 1953 Los Angeles - 1952 Nashville - 1951, 1963 New Orleans - 1951 New York City Providence - 1941 Sioux Falls - 1958 Salt Lake City - 1958 St. Louis - 1949, 1966 Tulsa - 1952 Wichita - 1951
You know, it's largely because of photographs like this that I first felt inspired to do the photography roadtrips. And photos like this also really drive home the fact that photos that may not be particularly interesting today become interesting in the future. Do you have any betamax or vhs tapes of television shows from the 80s or 90s? Sure, the video quality sucks, and there are better ways to watch the programming if you can get your hands on it, but all of a sudden the advertising becomes really interesting.
What I think I really get out of those photos is that I need to take more regular streetscape pictures. Frequently I will exclude immediate ground surroundings because I'm more interested in skyscrapers or landscapes, but a lot of what makes these photos interesting in the future is the people on the street, the cars, and things like that.
And as usual, what I really love here is that these are high resolution color photographs taken before my parents were even born in some cases.
I think I personally find the Cleveland, Harrisburg, Buffalo, and Chicago photos most interesting because I'm more familiar with them. The hotel I stayed at in Austin was actually very close to where the Austin photo was taken. I'm also particularly struck by just how different Chicago, Denver, and Dallas look today.
For some reason it just blows my mind that the Cleveland pictures were taken just before the American entry into World War II and they look like they could have been taken yesterday (minus most of the skyscrapers).
Also, you can really see how darkened by soot many American skyscrapers were up until the 1980s, especially in Baltimore, but surprisingly enough the Terminal Tower in Cleveland looks strangely clean.
Anyway, great stuff!
Aside: the 33 World Buildings Poster they offer on their site is really cool, I may need to add that to my Christmas list :).
I have a few small items, and then some more videos today, which probably deserve more explanation than they're gonna get.
First off, Gregg mentioned to me on Saturday that he had heard about a possible hernia patch recall, for people that had hernia surgery within the last few years. I found an article in the New York Times on the topic which has successfully given me the willies:
"Since then, the Food and Drug Administration has received reports of more than 80 injuries and other problems possibly related to it, including several fatalities." [emphasis mine]
I couldn't even remember the name of the doctor that did the surgery, but fortunately Dad did so I'm going to try and make a phone call in the next day or so and see if I'm affected. Kinda scary to have something inside you get recalled.
Basically, a flight landing at Akron-Canton Airport on Friday had a particularly bumpy landing. One of the passengers made a (somewhat smartass) comment while walking off the plane:
"that was a terrible landing. The pilot must be drunk.''
But get this: because of his comment, the blood alcohol level of the flight crew was tested, and the flight delayed (none of the flight crew had alcohol in their systems). Then the passenger was arrested, and charged with inducing panic, which is a felony. He appears in court on Wednesday, and a conviction could carry an 18 month jail sentence.
What the hell? I realize he hasn't even been in court yet and I sincerely hope that this will be significantly reduced or thrown out, but 18 months in jail for a smartass comment?
I'm not saying he should have said that, but c'mon... There's a big difference between making an offhand comment about a bad landing and making jokes about bombs in the security line.
Maybe it's nothing, but I get bothered by this sort of thing, I don't like the sort of country the USA seems to really want to turn into sometimes.
Hmm... I've written a little more than I anticipated, so I think I'll hold off on the videos (three of them) that I was going to post today. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime I will share another bit of the Look Around You saga, "germs."
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
fusionpanda's journal
amused
anxious