Hyde Park Blvd

This 45-mph ‘Mopetta’ beauty was built between 1956 and 1958 by Stuttgart-based microar manufacturer Brutsch. Via Oobjects.

A broader and darker perspective from Mark Taylor, the chairman of the religion dept. at Columbia, via the NYT Opinion blog.

An intro to the problems by Columbia Professor Andrew Delbanco in the New York Review of Books.

Valuable reading at a critical moment.

Swiss reader and close relation G$ snapped this Fiat 500, with his trusty Bberry. Proof that Italian cars don’t all rust to death and appropriate on this day of decision. Marchionne looks to muscle up by acquiring a US distribution channel (up until now called Chrysler) in anticipation of negotiations with Peugeot.

For Frango, via Ye Olde Evening Telegraph.

Blog comments are a source of unending delight — heat, light, humor, whatever. Yesterday, Gizmodo asked the musical question, “What’s the most important gadget (the biggest game-changer) of all time?”

Ignoring the fact that fans of Mel Brooks and the 2000 Year-Old Man know that the correct answer is ‘Liquid Prell,” Gizmodo readers responded with the following (first twenty answers):

1. The microchip
2. The telegraph
3. Fire
4. Fleshlight
5. Nokia 5170
6. Stick
7. Eyeglasses
8. Electricity
9. Modem
10. Camera
11. Cylons
12. Wheel
13. Toilet
14. Rocket
15. Printing Press
16. Battery
17. Bread slicer (greatest invention since… Get it?)
18. Computer
19. Clock
20. Women

Hard to beat fun at the old blog yard!

“Detroit” by Harry Callahan (1943). On the day before Chrysler goes belly up, it seems appropriate.

Hyde Park Progress is a local blog that provides a forum for what are, in more genteel circumstances, called ‘town-gown’ issues. It’s smart and thoughtful and a good way to keep up on the University and the community, especially for readers at a distance.

Current post is of particular interest, discussion of a ‘third narrative’ for the University and the South Side.

Eugene Atget, Place Du Terte, 1922

Wunderkammer, the on-line magazine, has an interview with designers (landscape and graphic) Shalansky and Lee on the subject of typography and culture. Thought-provoking, especially as electrons replace ink.