It Opened Strange Doors That We'd Never Close Again
The Perfecting Equilibrium Digest, September 11-17, 2024
She had an horror of rooms, she was tired, you can't hide beat
When I looked in her eyes, they were blue but nobody home
Well, she could've been a killer if she didn't walk the way she do
And she do
She opened strange doors that we'd never close again
She began to wail jealousy's scream
Waiting at the lights, know what I mean
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
Comment of the Week
Steve Ross remembers September 11, 2001: We had left NYC for Boston in midsummer. Me to work with Tom Johnson at Boston University and to be closer to my parents as my dad was about to go to a nursing home. (Steve’s wife) Rachel had left her job at AON, on 100th floor of World Trade Center Tower Two.
First word I had was when I reached the airport stop on the subway, on my way into campus. Flights had been canceled and people were piling into the train.
When I got to BU, everyone was watching the TV in the huge student lounge. Tom asked if the fires could be put out. I had examined the tower structure for my construction disaster book in 1983. I told him the towers would collapse in an hour or two.
Rachel lost many friends that day. None had to die. When the first tower was hit, AON activated its evacuation plan. But when employees hit the 38th floor sky lobby, Port Authority cops forced them back upstairs.
BTW, the Port Authority police evidently had no response plan for this, despite a terrorist attack 20 years earlier. The plaza was getting clogged with evacuees from the first tower. They had no plan. AON, an insurers of major catastrophes, had a plan. But the Port Authority was not even close to being on the same page.
I can tell you more horrible details about her co-workers. Those who forget history...
Perfecting Equilibrium Stories
Wolfen Warm film with the Pentax 17
Wolfen Warm film has a 1960s color palette. It's an interesting film for nostalgic work. This was an early roll with the Pentax 17, so the film is exposed at the box ISO. After this I started keeping the exposure dial at -1/3, and got better results.
Easter Eggs
My brain is a peculiar place; it likes to play word association, and then play back songs with those words. Here are the songs playing in my mind as I wrote these articles.
Next on Perfecting Equilibrium
Friday September 20 - Foto.Feola.Friday Vlog: More images from the Pentax 17; this week Tri-X, Kodak’s famous black and white film
Sunday, September 22 — The 2024 Election is Irrelevant: Every election is pitched as The Most Important Decision of Our Lifetime…and then isn’t. But this election features 20th Century Candidates and 20th Century issues while the burgeoning Information Age changes the political geography.