Daily Office: Friday
¶ Matins: Midnight finds me unprepared with an interesting link, so I have to go with this nonsense, which I link to as such. (Laff riot!) I’ve been chatting with a friend about the election, more and more convinced that the United States is a broken wheel, an idea that will never work again.
¶ Lauds: I knew about Stella, but not about Mary, who, like her mother, Linda Eastman McCartney, is a photographer. I came across her name at the Guardian site, where she talks about her best shot (below).
¶ Prime: Feeling jazzy? Dreaming of kidney beans? Well, then, download some Mad Men-inspired wallpaper. (via kottke.org)
¶ Tierce: David Gonzalez writes about the “morality” of double-parking — the theory being one of justification by acclamation: “everybody does it.”
¶ Vespers: Boy, do I need to lie down! I’ve just scrolled through all fifty-four pairs of New York’s then-and-now photos showing recent changes in local streetscapes. (via kottke.org)
Oremus…
§ Matins. Actually, what’s more upsetting than the Palindrone is the stream of comments at Cake Wrecks. About the WTC cake, you understand. An astonishing number of good-natured commenters insist either that the cake is not for sale or that it is not going to be eaten. Since when to either proposition?
§ Prime. Adman Patrick Scullin advises colleagues on the proper way to answer a certain inevitable question:
And when your friends, neighbors and relatives who watch “Mad Men” ask you about advertising and the constant drinking, perpetual smoking and incessant sexcapades, nod your head knowingly and tell them it’s all true– except we don’t wear hats these days. That would be absolutely mad.
§ Lauds. Taken on a rainy day at the races at Cheltenham, it’s pretty neat.
When you visit Ms McCartney’s Web site, be sure to check out the “Limited Edition” photos.
§ Tierce. Routine law-breaking usually means that the community is not ready for the law in question, and that the law, no matter how apparently vital to public order, will probably do more harm than good by corroding respect for law in general. Conservatives are generally more honest about the danger of laws that ask too much, while liberals are too easily tempted to believe that people will re-shape their behavior according to the laws.
Prior to 1950, there was a wonderful law in New York City that did not, somehow, ask too much. It simply prohibited overnight street parking altogether. Nobody did it.
§ Vespers. There is still plenty of room for development in Manhattan, especially on the West Side below 60th Street. But the city will probably never recover from the design nightmare of its grid system, which makes New York very largely a city without vistas. To walk down Park Avenue toward the Helmsley and MetLife buildings is to wish for many more such opportunities.
It’s true that vistas seem to require the authority of popes, or that of such secular counterparts as Baron Haussmann. Or modern French Presidents. (What d’you suppose Sarkozy’s legacy will look like? Will he stand still long enough to sign off on a few grands travaux?