Events

I've walked on the Queen's Walk along the Thames about a half-dozen times, but on a day like today, I just had to do it again. This time, though, I had the beast with me, so I could do this: And this: When I last photographed Tower Bridge on a sunny day, the painting crews hadn't finished yet. Today it looked perfect.

This is the Brompton Oratory, South Kensington, London, just today: So what's the problem? The sun. It's out. In early April. And when I took the photo about two hours ago, it was 20°C outside. More early-April madness: Just look, will you? Londoners eating lunch outside. Insanity! The weather is so freakish that I've actually got a mild sunburn. A sunburn! In London! I don't even think they sell sunscreen in the UK. But I'm going to go have a look—just to make sure for myself that the weather really is...

Because coming to the UK and not moaning about something would be like going to Wrigley and not having an Old Style, here goes. My troubles began last night when my plane arrived fifteen minutes early at Heathrow, and then we had to collect our bags from the spot where the baggage handlers had them waiting for us when we got through Border Control. This got me through the airport from touchdown to the Tube in 40 minutes, which is unacceptably efficient. The Tube itself cost almost £2 all the way to...

Chicago Public Radio is calling Chicago's 43rd Ward for Michele Smith. I don't have the final figures, but so far it looks like she spent over $1.4m—or around $150 per vote. I hope it's worth it.

I counted the Rs. I counted the blanks. I thought of the likelihood that Terence could form any other words out of what I left him. And then, of course, it turned out he had a D: I feel like Bill Buckner all of a sudden.

In my final installment from beautiful Hempstead, N.Y., I present two buildings that sprouted from parking lots. This one, behind Emily Lowe Hall, sits in what used to be the faculty parking lot south of Weed[1] and Adams. So far, no one has coughed up the requisite millions to rename it, so it's called "New Academic Building:" Seriously, I'm not making up the name: For comparison, here's a photograph taken from above the Hofstra Fair in May 1992. The new building in the photos above is in the parking...

Voters in Chicago's 43rd Ward, including I, will choose a new alderman in today's general election. The two candidates, Tim Egan and Michele Smith, have spent $387k and $1.1m respectively. Is it really worth $1.4m to become an alderman? The ward has a population somewhere around 50,000, or about 1/12th of a U.S. Congressional district, and aldermen have almost no power in city government. Of course, they do have power over things like snow removal contracts and liquor licenses. So possibly both Smith...

Can they arrest you for criticizing the war? Can they send your state's national guard to fight, even if your state opposes it? Can they make you open your house to a few soldiers, and call you a traitor if you don't? And can the soldiers go through your things while they stay in your house? And if one found something illegal in your sock drawer, should you go to jail? And if you got a lawyer, can they prevent her from using legal "tricks" to keep you free? Can they ruin your reputation on the Evening...

Here are a couple more photos from the Hofstra, as promised. Also as promised, they might not mean anything to people who didn't live there, but to us alumni, they might bring back either memories or today's lunch. First, the original Unispan, looking north from the apex over Hempstead Turnpike: The north-central Student Center stairs, leading down to the Small Clubs Office (which has since become a game room): And when you need that massive dose of greasy pizza in the afternoon, where better to get a...

More Hofstra photos are coming soon. Before I get to those, here's an image from my drive home from O'Hare this afternoon. It's the last Cabrini Green high-rise in its death throes: The site, on Division between Halsted and Larrabee, contained the last two high-rises of a blighted urban complex that covered over 2.5 sq km and had some of the worst crime in the city. The Encyclopedia of Chicago describes the history: The large new apartments and large swaths of recreation space failed to mend the area's...