Optical illusion crane

For the past few weeks, workers have assembled, used and dismantled a large crane across the street from my office building in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Several of the attorneys at my office have found ourselves checking on the crane several times a day. A reason I find it interesting is that it seems like it is too big and heavy to lifted from the fulcrum next to the cab--it's a naturally occurring optical illusion. When it was laid out on the ground, the crane was considerably more than a block long. Only when one walks close to the crane can one appreciate the mass and thickness of the metal and the steel cables of the crane. Even the turnbuckle (if that is the right word) looks like it weighs many hundred of pounds. Somehow, though, the crane was able to lift off the ground, and then, once it's in the air, it was capable of carrying extremely heavy looking equipment to the roof of the building across the street. Just for fun, I'm sharing a few of the images of the crane. Click on the images to enlarge them.

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Snowy shades of gray

St. Louis had a late-March snow yesterday, leading to some grumbling about the interruption of the long-anticipated Spring. But this was a wind-blown sticky snow that gave rise to some extraordinary photo opportunities. Many of these photos were color photos that looked as if they were taken with black and white film. For instance, this photo of a side entrance to the St. Louis Zoo.

My favorite photo, however was taken by my 10-year old daughter Charlotte, who gave me permission to post it here. This is a completely unretouched photo of a statute in Forest Park. It had a startling 2-D look, especially in this photo (click to enlarge):

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Annie Leonard tells the story of Citizen’s United in 9 minutes

Annie Leonard does a great job of summarizing the problem with Citizen's United in this eight minute video. If you agree, please do consider it sharing it with others. You'll find more of Annie's well-crafted stories at her main website, named after her first project, "The Story of Stuff." Consider, for instance, her no nonsense examination of the false-solution of "Cap and Trade." I had joined a loud chorus critical of Citizen's United with this post.

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The law and … comic books?

On my way home today, I heard on All Things Considered a piece about how Japan Disaster Strikes Home Among Anime Fans.One Philadelphia conventioneer this past weekend said,

"We're not just worried about our anime being cut off," he said firmly. "We're actually concerned for the people there."
The latter sentiment is obvious and welcome. But I can't wrap my ahead around the anime part. I happen to be not just anime-averse, but moved to the point of actually passing judgment on fans and applying more than salty adjectives to the medium. But Japanimation aside, NPR followed that segment with one just as interesting. Melissa Block spoke with blog authors (and attorneys) James Daily and Ryan Davidson about their blog Law and the Multiverse. The two turn their
attention to the hypothetical legal ramifications of comic book tropes, characters, and powers.
Sidebar: I only watch one sitcom on television - The Big Bang Theory - in which the nerdy characters talk occasionally about comic book character. I laugh because the writing and acting are quite funny, but never having developed any interest in comic books past the age of maybe 12, I can't relate to Sheldon Cooper et al on that particular recurring thread. Nor can I relate to the nerdy lawyers on NPR and their musings on how the law would affect the statute of limitations and time traveling super heroes. Or can I? I recall a discussion in high school (I actually only observed and didn't participate ...that time) in which friends were debating the merits of a phaser (Star Trek's Starfleet issue, Type-2) over a Space 1999 stun gun (this would have been around 1977, pre-Star Wars and definitely before Battlestar Galactica ). The back-and-forth went on for a while before someone mentally slapped his forehead and blurted out, "Guys! We're arguing about fictional weapons. They're not real!" [caption id="attachment_17156" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Collage by Erich Vieth (using some of his own comic books)"][/caption] I don't recall having a what-if conversation about fictional characters or fictional items at any time since that incident. I think that sealed how silly the whole idea was to me. A cynic was born that is trying to come out again as I creep toward curmudgeon age. I'll try to beat him back with a stick. Or set phasers on stun. [To be fair to the attorneys, from the NPR article]:
But is there any practical side to this? Yes, says Daily. The blog lets them "educate people about the law." And, adds Davidson, they can use "rich, detailed stories" when doing it.

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Who paints better abstract art, professional artists or children?

Several years ago, I admitted my lack of appreciation regarding most abstract art. That voice in my head often says, "a child could have done that." And now this proposition has been tested. The result: People usually, but not overwhelmingly prefer the abstract art of professional artists to that done by children (and art done by animals). The results were reported by Discover Magazine.

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