The big city can get awfully lonely.
The cellist at the Powell Street BART in San Francisco was making beautiful sounds, wasted on Christmas shoppers, each vying for the best bargain. He looked shyly away as I placed money in his cello case.
It’s over.
The Ottoman Empire lasted some 300 years. The British Empire managed 200. The United States? 90 or so. Welcome to the Asian century.
Empires come and go. Nothing new in that. What is totally mystifying is how our politicians are trying to recreate an over-retailed, over-banked, over-leveraged, nation of sloths rather than letting the invisible hand of economics do its thing. We need $20 an hour plumbers and car mechanics a lot more than we need another mall. Sure, some will starve in the process. No bad thing. Have you checked American waistlines recently? They can be put to work making new roads. It may take years to learn the intricacies of mortgage backed securities, but you can learn to use a shovel in 2 minutes.
Whereas the French and British monarchies were the cause of their own demise, it’s the spread of unrealistic expectations by Americans, fueled by weak politicians, which has destroyed our empire. No one questions the decoupling of education, intelligence and success any more. The illusion of hard work is lauded as the be all and end all. Forget grey matter. You make cars in Detroit? You deserve upward mobility and success though your skill set took all of one week to acquire. By contrast, spend ten to fifteen years learning and applying a challenging profession – be it medicine or engineering – and you are automatically prey to the worst elements in our society. The same blue collar worker who steals at every opportunity thinks little of retaining a class action thief, posing as a lawyer, to get his share from you. The era of the barrow boy masquerading as capitalist has arrived.
In days past I would have been optimistic about the prospects of another Bastille Day, this time in the USA, whereby the corridors of political power are stormed and a few legislators and their legal cronies lose a head or two. There’s nothing like decapitation to focus the mind, if you get my drift. But once government consumes one half of the country’s GDP, and has one half of voters beholden to it, prospects of such curative surgery fall to zero.
America, I weep for you. It was good while it lasted.
Pull the other leg – it has bells on!
Life with(out) walls. Downtown San Francisco. 5D, 24-105mm @ 70mm, 1/8000, f/9.5, ISO 400
Well, truth in advertising was never the Evil Empire’s strong suit ….
As for new products, I understand Windows 7 will be named Walls and it’s June 2009 replacement is codenamed Balls. And one special feature has been added to the Zune for Christmas shoppers, one found on every version of Windows since that product’s release.
You can fool some of the people all of the time.
Downtown San Francisco. 5D, 24-105mm at 82mm, 1/1500, f/5.6, ISO 400
Mercifully, this potential customer is having second thoughts about depositing his cash with one of the greatest criminal conspiracies of our time.
A gorgeous day in San Francisco
Chinese city, Chinese owner, Chinese dog.
Union Square, San Francisco. 5D, 24-105mm @ 70mm, 1/160, f/6.7, ISO 400
Though fashionably attired for the nippy weather, this poor pug was pretty dehydrated, what with all the Christmas shopping, but his loving owner came prepared.
This year an ice skating rink has been installed in Union Square so I braved the rabid shoppers in Macy’s on the way to the top floor to snap this:
The ice rink. 5D, 24-105mm @ 28mm, 1/6000, f/5.6, ISO 400
Some are less fortunate than others, and even busy Union Square can be an awfully lonely place.
Mendicant. 5D, 24-105mm @ 35mm, 1/4000, f/6.7, ISO 400
Others disregard the hue and cry and do a quiet bit of computing.
Laptop guy. 5D, 24-105mm @ 50mm, 1/1000, f/6.7, ISO 400
After all that trudging about, nothing beats a corned beef on rye at Lefty O’Doul’s.
Lunch at Lefty’s. 5D, 24-105mm @ 24mm, 1/20, f/5.6, ISO 3200
And finally, vanity dictates a self portrait.
On Maiden Lane. 5D, 24-105mm @ 99mm, 1/90, f/6.7, ISO 400
Is that 24-105mm L zoom a corker or what?