A Dime For Your Thoughts

Something I hadn't noticed until it was pointed out by a perplexed for'ner: Many of our U.S. coins are not engraved with their actual monetary value. A dime simply states "dime," along with a profile of FDR, the year of minting, the "E pluribus unum" motto, a torch, and what looks like a side of broccoli.

Of course if you know your Latin you can translate "dime" into its root word, "decima," and providing you already know the dollar is divided into one hundred cents, presumably you could ascertain the dime is equal to a tenth of a dollar. Maybe.

A quarter at least states "quarter dollar," which gives its bearer a fair shot at deduction, assuming, again, a degree of prior knowledge. Same goes for the half dollar. The penny and nickel are more user-friendly, with their respective "one cent" and "five cent" engravings.

But mostly it sounds suspiciously like one of those "we know because we know" situations. Like understanding the New York subway system. Rough on newcomers.

Why is this? So the government can potentially change the value system without having to remint every last dime?

Without a Paddle

What's all this tommyrot about the newly-unleashed iPad conjuring up amusing images of feminine hygiene products in the minds of our presumably educated populace? Are such snickerings similarly inspired by the likes of padlock, paddlewheel, footpad, Paddington Bear, & Paddy Chayefsky?

Last time I checked my computer keyboard sported a numerical pad. Ha ha. Inside my desk drawer can be found a spiral notepad. If you're fortunate, the wheels on your car probably contain brakepads.

On the verge of hysterics yet? Room for one more in the padded cell.

Of course this is the very same culture where Oprah Winfrey, the most powerful woman in the country, can't even mention the word vagina on the air without giving it a cutesy spin, so what should I expect.

This is why Europe thinks we're stupid.

Rat

Certain images can make one feel in unity with one's surroundings, a member of the urban collective, connected to one's environment in a primal sort of way, a ripple of vitality, a sense of belonging, an affirmation of identity.


Such as a rat sniffing a pool of vomit on a subway platform.

New Planet, Old Habits

This photo from a post on WebUrbanist speculating about the potential colonization of Mars is one of those "worth a thousand words" moments.

Weekly playlist

Joni Mitchell: Hissing of Summer Lawns
Stevie Wonder: Talking Book
Jeff Beck: Truth
Beach Boys: Today!
Chet Baker: And Crew
Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds
Sir Douglas Quintet: Mendocino
McCoy Tyner: Fly With the Wind
My Fair Lady soundtrack
Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Gerry Mulligan: Best of (With Chet Baker)
Eric Dolphy: Outward Bounds
Miles Davis: Relaxin'

Beach Pneumatic Transit

There is an alternate, Jules Verne-approved, reality in which our underground transportation is pneumatically-powered and the subway stations feature gilded chandeliers and grand piano aquariums.

Ladies and gentlemen, the future that could have been -- the doomed Beach Pneumatic Transit. Frankly, I feel cheated.

The Getaway Scooter

Today's favorite news story:

Pa. Man Steals $50, Flees on Walmart Scooter

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Police say a Pennsylvania man in a hospital gown stole $50 from his ex-girlfriend at Wal-Mart, then tried to flee on a store-owned motorized shopping scooter. Thirty-two-year-old Craig David Jr., of Smithfield, was charged Wednesday with robbery and disorderly conduct. State police Cpl. Chuck Frey says David had just been released from a hospital for injuries in a domestic dispute Jan. 1. Frey says David had been hit with a frying pan and table leg.

David was still in a hospital gown Tuesday night when he met an ex-girlfriend who agreed to pay for his prescription medication. Instead, police say he grabbed $50 from her and scooted away. David remained jailed Thursday. He does not have an attorney.

A mere hundred word description, and yet I can envision the entire movie script in my head. In my version the "refuses to play by the rules" cop on the scene commandeers another scooter from a bewildered shopper and gives chase.

Weekly playlist

Bix Beiderbecke: Vol 1, Singin' the Blues
Can: Soundtrack
Mr Bungle: California
Van Der Graaf Generator: Still Life
Neil Diamond: Brother's Love Traveling Salvation Show
Metallica: Ride the Lightning
The Wacky World of Spike Jones
Godspeed You Black Emperor: Yanqui U.X.O.
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Goldberg Variations
AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
PJ Harvey: White Chalk
Van Dyke Parks: Song Cycle
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Apocalypse
Chet Baker: The Best of Chet Baker Sings
George Winston: Linus & Lucy - The Music of Vince Guaraldi
Billie Holiday: Lady in Satin
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses
Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingness' First Finale

The Freedom Tunnel

The Freedom Tunnel is an underground railroad passage in New York that runs beneath Riverside Park, from Penn Station up to Harlem. Built in the thirties by Robert Moses and quickly forsaken, it soon became a refuge for mole people and graffiti outlaws. Free from the fear of patrolling law enforcement, spraypaint artists could afford to spend more time on their craft, and as a result some of the artwork is pretty stunning. Occasional shafts of light give the tunnel a cathedral reverence.


Needless to say, I was properly floored by this photograph by one Irena Kittenclaw.

An impressive gallery of the tunnel and its graffiti can be found at Citynoise.