In case you missed it

1. SUPER MOON

You may or may not be aware that I love space factoids.  Additionally, I love easily accessible, visually pleasing imagery of otherwise complex concepts.  Luckily, today we were privy to the ultimate mash up of both.  In case you missed it, this past weekend saw THE BIGGEST MOON in 18 years.   Yes, Super Moon, as both huffpo "journalists" and astronomers are referring to it, is being generally extolled as AWESOME (duh), has been accused of causing the Japanese tsunami/earthquake (not true, although my fact checking quest did lead me to some other nuggets of space.com knowledge), and generally prompted some fantastic photos.

My only regret is that Gen returned to St. Louis before I could use any yo gen your butt is so big when you moon people that it's a super moon putdowns. 



2. MAPS

In light of its clear faults and lackadaisically developed female characters, I’m not going to admit to loving  the movie Gangs of New York but I will say that I do have a weakness for period dramas with fight scenes involving numerous extras.  In addition to Daniel Day-Lewis's thespian skills (earns a spot in your heart despite psychologically damaging Leonardo DiCaprio as he’s on the cusp of his current fat-face I-take-myself-way-too-seriously phase) my favorite scene is at the end following the corny burial where you see the city of New York slowly rise up at a distance.  Yep, I relish a graphic device that solidly helps you picture a physical setting or geographic mass as its evolves through time and human/natural interference.  [Gen, this helps explains why I squeezed your hand so hard during the CGI effects laden movies at Gettysburg battlefield and the Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site and why this book has been on my amazon wishlist for some time (which reminds me, why is there a Jayhawks snuggie on there that I keep deleting and keeps showing back up at the top?)]. 

Anyhow, having digressed...  I thought this nytimes.com application today was pretty sweet. 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/21/nyregion/map-of-how-manhattan-grid-grew.html?ref=nyregion

Happy 200^th Anniversary Manhattan Rectangular Street Grid!!!

3.  Plugs for homies...

Check out The Urban Institute’s newly unveiled blog…

blog.metrotrends.org

AND check out my friend’s brilliant, thoroughly researched, wittily titled, law review piece. 

[Max, no way is that really your full name?  Do you want me to help you … I don’t know… legally change it maybe?}