3.13.2010
This has been a fun week. I enjoy architectural icons and how they evoke memories and symbolize a place. So my favorite stories this week involved the demolition of the Gwinnett is Great twin water towers and the death of Bruce Graham, the architect responsible for many of Chicago’s icons, including the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Tower.
And next week … pi/pie day, and March Madness is beginning … got to love that!
Enjoy my week in review!
Atlanta, Places, Icons: I realized that I love some silly things. Most are icons of places to me. As a child, I always knew I was at my grandparents’ home when I saw the Pineview GA water tower. When I lived in Chicago, I fell in love with THE Water Tower, and in Louisville, my in-laws live near Louisville’s historic water tower. As a twenty-something and even today, I always knew I was going home when I saw The Peach in Gaffney, SC, and that I was almost there when I saw the Gwinnett is Great twin water towers north of Atlanta. So I am sad that the Gwinnett is Great twin water towers will be demolished in the fall of 2010. They just aren’t needed anymore … well, I still need them.
Lynn Smarr, acting director of the county Department of Water Resources, said she plans to present county commissioners with a bid award from a firm that will demolish the twin water tanks that have greeted commuters for about four decades.
“We simply don’t need them any more,” Smarr said.
via Gwinnett water towers’ days appear numbered | ajc.com.
Architecture, RIP, Chicago: Before reading this article, I did not know the name Bruce Graham or that he designed the Sears Tower (Now Willis Tower) or Big John or the Inland Steel Building, Three First National Plaza, One Magnificent Mile and the 1986 expansion of McCormick Place. Chicago is my favorite North American city and I think I need to do a little research on him!
From that power base, he shaped a legacy that suggests the epitaph on the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren, who is buried in his masterpiece, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London: “Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.”
Graham’s best designs gave the lean, crisp modernist look brought to perfection by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe a Chicago-style muscularity that vigorously proclaimed the structural framework of his buildings, as well as Chicago’s raw industrial might.
via Cityscapes | Chicago Tribune | Blog.
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In a 2004 interview with the Port St. Lucie News, near where he had retired in Hobe Sound, Fla., Mr. Graham said that the 9/11 bombers would have been less successful hitting the tallest building in Chicago.
“If that plane would have hit the Sears Tower, the plane would have fallen, not the tower,” he said.
via Apostle of Architecture’s Power Left Mark on Chicago Skyline – WSJ.com.
Holidays: I never heard of pi day until my kids were in school. I love it! I think CNN’s picture of a girl nerd is quite humorous … but maybe they did not want to use a real nerd in the picture.
Approximately 3.14, the number has its own holiday on March 14 — 3-14, get it? — which also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday.
On Pi Day, one number ‘reeks of mystery’ – CNN.com.
March Madness, basketball, UNC, Davidson: I still love March Madness … sorry it has such an economic toll.
… during the first week of the tournament alone, workers distracted by March Madness (and that includes you, Mr. President) could cost employers as much as $1.8 billion in wages.
http://www.danpink.com/archives/2010/03/factoid-of-the-day-march-madness-means-less-business.
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Go, Wofford Terriers, and enjoy your first dance. (I am of course disappointed at that my beloved wildcats did not make it out of the first round of the SoCon tournament … but that is life … then again UNC did not make it out of the first round of the ACC tournament … again, that is life.)
On Monday night, the Terriers became known for something else in the Queen City. They earned their first NCAA men’s basketball tournament bid in school history with a 56-51 win against Appalachian State in a ragged, entertaining Southern Conference tournament final.
via In final, glee and heartbreak – CharlotteObserver.com.
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Ginyard said they knew it from the very beginning, the scars that would never heal, the players that would never come together, the instructions that would be hammered into their heads over and over again that would go unheeded.
Gardening: We are ready to go at the Teague Farm!
Spurred by the recession and the trendiness of locally grown produce, many people planted vegetables for the first time this past year. But rookie mistakes, combined with a particularly cruel growing season that included late blight and heavy rainfall, have many now wanting to throw in the trowel. Experienced gardeners say early spring is the perfect time to correct last year’s mistakes.
via Fixing a Failed Vegetable Garden – WSJ.com
Atlanta: Glad someone is betting on Atlanta!
Betting on Atlanta – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com.
Davidson-Stephen Curry: Steph has received some really nice coverage both locally and nationally this week. He really is a great kid.
And on a night such as Saturday, when life comes together, life is good.
via Stephen Curry gets royal treatment at home against Charlotte – CharlotteObserver.com.
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Stephen Curry alone scored 40 points in that first-round game against Gonzaga. The finger-point—following Curry’s final shot, just after the ball swished through the hoop—is the reason we love the tournament.
via Back Page ‘I Was Just So Proud’ | Parade.com.
Culture, retail, cars: Very cute … but will I ever give up my “safe” volvos …
“From the start of the 21st century, the small-car buyer is someone who has had their assumptions about the world challenged,” he says. “Whether environmental, political or economical, they’re reacting to a broader change.”
Small Victory: Mini’s Countryman SUV – WSJ. Magazine – WSJ.
Atlanta, trivia: Does anyone remember the blue streak of the Atlanta Journal … We always had the Constitution delivered and bought the Journal so we could get the Blue Streak with the closing stock quotes … had not thought about that in a while … I do not remember any sections printed on colored paper in Atlanta. Do you have any memories?
Another use of color that has disappeared is the red streak or blue streak down the outside gutter of the front page. The old Evening Star in Washington used a red streak on its final edition to alert buyers that the final stocks tables were inside. In Chicago, the old Daily News used a blue streak to denote its first edition, heavy with sports coverage, and a red streak for the day’s final.
Davidson, trivia:
The “Davidson College” started life as the “Saugus” when it was built in 1913. The car’s original floor plan was a 12 section-1 bedroom-1 compartment configuration. “Saugus” was assigned to the Southern Pacific Railroad which operated principally in the American Southwest. In 1935, at age 22, the car was temporarily withdrawn from service to be rebuilt with the addition of an air-conditioning system. Upon returning to service in August of that year, with a cooler interior and sporting a new 10 section -2 bedroom -1 compartment configuration, the car was also given a new identity and christened the “Davidson College”. As Pullman generally strove to assign these cars to routes near their namesake institutions, the “DC” was assigned to the Southern Railway for use on its passenger trains in the Southeast.
via Pullman Sleeping Car “Davidson College” (1935-1961) – Around the D.
politics, irony:
What the Tea Party folks maybe don’t realize is that their rally is on a collision course with another circus that’s coming to town on the same day, namely, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey one.
Tea Party Anti-Health-Care Circus To Collide With Actual Circus, Elephants.
tv, movies, Jane Austen: I thought this a funny blend of tv – House, movies – P&P, and Jane … Enjoy!
YouTube – Pride and Prejudice – House MD.
Culture, Twitter: Very interesting … Conan has decided to randomly follow one of his followers … and she has put it to good use … directing all her followers to charity sites.
Apparently somebody failed to get Killen the requisite rulebook that states faux-celebrities must behave like self-absorbed ninnies. Without it, she is doing something that these days seems like the stuff of fiction: She’s comporting herself like a decent, normal human being.
via Conan O’Brien follows one random person on Twitter – chicagotribune.com.
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Unfortunately, she and her fiance very quickly have proven that they are indeed not decent, normal human beings … and are quickly moving into the faux celeb/self-absorbed ninnies category … but I will keep an open mind … she started off so well!
Hey, Conan, what are you doing Sept. 25?
If you aren’t busy, a young bride-to-be and her betrothed wonder if you might be his best man? Just think about it. You’d look good in a tux.
via Conan O’Brien: Best Man for Twitter Couple? – ABC News.
Culture, Miss Manners, Supreme Court: Little Billy didn’t ask me… But I think it rude of “little Billy” to trick some famous people … if not because they may not respond to legitimate “little Billy”s in the future.
Starting in the early 1990s, prankster Bill Geerhart posed as a 10-year-old boy to ask ridiculous questions of famous persons, including missives asking each of the justices about their fast food tastes.
via Supreme Court Justices Reveal Their Secret Fast-Food Preferences – Law Blog – WSJ.
Politics, Lawyers: .. I agree with Ken Starr on this one …
“In our country, lawyers must be willing to take on unpopular causes, even to the extent of representing individuals who would try to destroy our system. That’s part of America’s enduring moral strength and the greatness of the national commitment to justice. It’s ‘justice for all,’ as the Pledge of Allegiance puts it. That’s why we call our Department of Justice by that lofty name, and not the ‘Department of Federal Law Enforcement’ or the ‘Department of Federal Prosecution.'”
via Ken Starr’s Liberal Lovefest – Page 1 – The Daily Beast.
Supreme Court, politics: I agree with Roberts on this one.
“It does cause me to think whether or not it makes sense for us to be there,” Roberts said. “To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I’m not sure why we’re there.”
via Chief justice chides State of the Union as ‘political pep rally’ – CNN.com.
tv: “Bones” is one of our family’s favorites.
The fictional cases can’t compare to what she’s handled in real life, though. Reichs testified at the United Nations tribunal on genocide in Rwanda and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. Her hardest assignment, “physically and psychologically,” she said, was identifying remains found at Ground Zero after 9/11, “13-hour shifts, digging through rubble. Everybody was fragile and wanted to help.”
via ‘Bones’ Inspiration Kathy Reichs Inspires Girls in Science — Politics Daily.
Movies, tv: I remember how fun it was to find Hitchcock’s cameos when I was a kid!
Even casual fans of Alfred Hitchcock are familiar with the director’s cameo appearances in his films, a quirk that began in 1927 with Hitch’s fifth film ‘The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog’ and quickly became one of the director’s cinematic trademarks.
via Alfred Hitchcock’s Many Many Movie Cameos – Inside Movies.
This post brought out a great discussion of 1960’s childhood tv memories – The Fugitive…and Get Smart…Mission Impossible … “I Spy … the Prisoner (the show with the giant blobby white ball floating along behind the man … very surreal – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TfdA9fWb_g )
Book club: Has anyone ever participated in an online book club? The Book Club : The New Yorker.
Technology: Still trying to figure this out…20 Real-World Uses for Google Wave | Mac|Life.
Art: My niece Anne Marie Dollar, a graphic artist, found this. Pretty cool.
Colosseo Letterpress Poster: Reimagining the Roman Coliseum with type.
Apple:
The survey is framed like a serious inquisition into the possibility of iPhone addiction having disastrous social effects, but those involved are reluctant to actually brand iPhone addiction a medical problem on par with alcoholism or drug addiction. In fact, Tanya Luhrmann, who oversaw the survey, said, “I don’t think it is really unhealthy. I think they really like their iPhone.”
Culture: Interesting article for the WSJ.
Aware that high-pressure jobs can make for hot tempers, some professions offer pre-emptive anger management. A few state bar associations now require “civility” training for lawyers renewing their licenses.
via Demand for Anger -Management Grows. But Does It Work? – WSJ.com.
Bookshelf, Daniel Pink: I really like Dan Pink and am reading Drive now.
To my amazement (and delight), Malcolm Gladwell has selected Drive as the March pick for the New Yorker Online Book
via 7 Rules for Writing | Daniel Pink.
Movies, Culture: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Data Underload #12 – Famous Movie Quotes | FlowingData.
So enjoy your March … plant a garden, buy munchies for March Madness, think about Lent, take a spring break vacation, get your taxes done. And did you notice I did not mention the iPad …
-d
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