Fashion: Is there any hope for me?

Here's some more Hadley Freeman for you, this time addressing the age-old question of heels: why, how, why, what, why, why, and–the big question–why? Enjoy.

Yes, We Can!

Here are some shots taken with my cellphone at Rockefeller Center on the historic eve of November 4, 2008. Barely minutes (which I guess would make it seconds) after I took these shots, the little blue Obama-meter started a slow, slow climb (they were really dragging it out) and hit 270 Electoral votes. It paused. People were excited. Then, slowly, slowly (very theatrical, milking the drama, they were) it resumed its ascendancy, and everyone knew that Barack Obama had won the Presidency. And then people were very, very excited.
It's nice to be a part of something like that, every once in a while. Or every lifetime or so.
There were also many tourists there, particularly from the northern-most reaches of Europe, observing the Americans and their election. And a Japanese t.v. crew. Hey, everyone was excited.
The flags were set up around the famous Rockefeller ice rink, which had a map of the country projected (or drawn, not sure) on it with the states turning blue or red as votes were counted.

Bugspotting

A few summers ago, in my old apartment, a dragonfly very similar to this one flew in through the kitchen window. It was large, about 3 to 4 inches long. My cat caught it. I finally managed to get it back out the window, worse for wear, I'm afraid, and I did not feel very confident of its chances for survival.

If I had known about http://www.odonatacentral.org, I would have looked it up and figured out what exactly was frantically flying around my kitchen. To this day, I feel bad about the poor thing.

There are quite a few bug i.d. sites. One of my favourites is http://www.whatsthatbug.com. Take a look at their Bug Love and Unnecessary Carnage pages. The people who run this site are very anti-bug killing, and so I am. Catch and release if you must, but insect murder is only excusable in cases of imminent death - for you, not the bug. And those cases are pretty rare, even in the tropics and places like Australia, where I grew up, and where the bugs are too large to kill with requiring a major clean-up operation afterwards, so why bother. Keep a glass jar on hand for catch and release purposes. Works a charm, it does.

Here's another good site: http://bugguide.net. With all these wonderful insect resources on the interwebs, there's no need to rush madly about with a tennis racket like Woody Allen in "Annie Hall". Bugs are charming and fascinating. Just look at this moth from Mexico: isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in your entire, complete life?