Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Philosophy Department Library Stamp



University of Chicago
Philosophy Department
Library
Stuart Hall 216
1115 E. 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637

Burke


Conservatism gets cleaned up.

11th and L St, NW, Washington, DC.

Photo by Melody.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Thoughtless Arrangement of Appliances

Over the past few weeks, Melody looked at something like half a dozen apartments in DC and Northern Virginia. Many suffered from thoughtless arrangement of appliances. Here are two examples (photos by Melody):


The refrigerator blocks half of the kitchen window.


Melody said that she couldn't reach the washer wedged behind the dryer. Maybe you're supposed to climb on top of the dryer to put your clothes in the washing machine?

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The End of Summer


Yesterday was the first day you could tell that summer was ending. Not only were undergrads moving mattresses into grubby apartments, but it got a little chilly in the evening.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Where's Trump-o?


See if you can find Donald Trump in this picture from the first round of the US Open.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

New York Rodeo





The Painted Pony Rodeo, Lake Luzerne, NY.

Jay said that it's a telling fact about a rodeo that a clown is in charge of safety.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Spending the Night in Midway Airport


Last week I got stuck in Midway Airport for 15 hours. There was nonstop lightning and heavy rain all afternoon and evening, and by midnight the airplane crews were obligated to call it a night. My flight was cancelled, but they appropriated a new flight to handle all of the passengers from my airplane that was supposed to leave at 6:40 the next morning. So I decided to spend the night. They put out maybe a hundred cots that were all occupied by the time I decided to go looking for a place to sleep:



I wandered around the gates looking for a spot to set up a little bivouac, but all of the obvious spots (including everything near a wall outlet) were taken. After a couple of laps around the terminal, I spotted a small space behind a Northwest Airlines desk that was isolated and semi-private. When I walked back into the space to investigate, I found that it had a covered floor socket, and that someone had stashed a folded cot behind a storage locker. So I set up a little makeshift capsule hotel for myself and got some fitful sleep under the bright flourescent lights.



The cot had one absurd design flaw: whenever you shifted your position at all, it made a loud, comical squeaking/stretching sound. I managed to drive off a person who was sitting about 20 feet away by continually readjusting my position on the cot. And there was noticeable annoyance in the larger areas where the cots were assembled, because there was a loud squeaking always coming from some cot as people were trying to fall asleep.