Recent Blog Posts
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“Who Did This?! My Office! NOW!
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There’s a scene in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times — well, quite a few actually — but in this one in particular, our hero picks up a flag that’s fallen off the back of a truck onto the street. As he hurries after the truck, waving the flag to get the…
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The World is Better for This
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I had a little fun with an earlier post, imagining that a patchup job on the side of a building near me was in fact a prehistoric cave painting. To make up for that, I’m sharing an image of an actual work of art on another wall. Here it is:…
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Urban Anthropology
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You know about the cave paintings in Lascaux in southwestern France, right? Hundreds of depictions (primarily of large animals) created between 17,000 and 22,000 years ago, covering the walls and ceilings of a vast underground network of natural chambers. That cave region is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What…
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The Dark Side of the NE Corridor
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Amtrak recently unveiled the NextGen Acela, an upgrade to their high-speed rail service linking Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and D.C. Some early reviews were ecstatic. Other evaluations, from passengers in the cities Acela actually serves, were appreciative if not overwhelmed. The new trains look marvelous but it’s a bittersweet moment.…
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Freedom’s Just Another Word…
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The Freedom Plaza Story: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part4 A multi-billion dollar residential/entertainment complex called Freedom Plaza has been proposed for a long-vacant Manhattan site. Its developers have promised it will be a gamechanger for New York City, providing millions in revenue, thousands of jobs, hundreds of affordable…
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More Boomer Humor
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Seriously, I don’t want to give the answers to this puzzle away but I have to pay tribute to the Times for acknowledging the perils that go along with being a supergenius. Note the modest plea for assistance lower left. And I only learned recently that the “E” stands for…
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Helheim Yes, I’m Worthy!
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I went out for a run Tuesday morning, determined to make it through one of my longtime four-mile routes for the first time in months (been laid up after surgery). This route plays out as a series of personal touchstones marking my time in New York. I go through Madison…
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Benedict Darlin’
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On the subject of calories not counting when you’re traveling (you knew that, right?) On the left of the image is an Okie Benny — a biscuit topped with a poached egg, cheese, friend country ham, and gravy, then accompanied by hash browns. This is available at a restaurant in…
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