URGENT NEWS BULLITEN

Check out today's posting (20 April 2007) on the Buenos Aires CDPB. A must.

Triple Yellow

Down by the Anheuser-Busch brewery, a large truck yard holds the trailers which bring huge amounts of supplies. Looks like AB has a contract with Yellow Freight to haul all their stuff. Why Yellow? The color is traditionally associated with sunlight, egg yolks, jaundice and, to us English speakers (maybe it's just Americans), cowardice. No positive associations with beer. But of course you don't see Yellow Freight trucks in Budweiser ads, just the Clydesdales.

TOMORROW'S POST: Glass Gumdrops, Naked Dancers and R. Buckminster Fuller

Thursday Arch Series

What is it? Few St. Louisans recognize it. It is the very top of the Arch, photographed from the levee beside the river with a telephoto lens. The Arch is triangular in cross section with one point facing down. The small slits are the windows of the vertiginous observation deck, looking straight down over 600 feet. For a great picture of the view from those windows, check out U "R" Us' post of April 13.

TOMORROW'S POST: Between Orange and Green

Floodwall As Art

Down on the riverfront, under the railroad bridge that crosses the Mississippi just south of the Arch, there are sections of flood wall. They barely contained the Great Flood of 1993, when the river was 20 feet ( 6 m) over what we consider flood stage. Check that link for an amazing areal photo of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on our northern edge - it looked like a sixth great lake. Also check these pictures - the waters came very close to the feet of the Arch, which is on a hill way over the river.

The authorities allowed graffiti artists to decorate a section of the floodwall, maybe for good luck. Click on the image above to get a better view.

TOMORROW'S POST: Thursday Arch Series

State of Grace

I don't know exactly what this business does or even whether it's still open. The name is intriguing. Grace. Safety. Security. It makes me think of a bomb shelter in the basement of a church or a big league sports team's insurance policy on a star athlete. The mint, rose and orange colors are pleasing, like the hues in a bowl of jelly beans. I'd buy my alarm system from them on aesthetic grounds alone.

TOMORROW'S POST: Painted Birds, a Wall and a Railroad Bridge

Watch Out, Donald Trump

My, how the mighty have fallen. Or is there more to it? This storefront realtor at the corner of Virginia and Pestalozzi in south St. Louis could be an undercover hangout for the X Men. the Lord Almighty or the Knights Templar. Why doesn't the realtor just create his/her own property, buyers and sellers? Or take it a step further. If you're omnipotent, why hang out a shingle? I dunno. Ask these guys.

TOMORROW'S POST: Grace Safety and Security

Weekend: trompe l'oeil

It's been a great week in Las Vegas and Death Valley National Park, one of the most desolate, beautiful places in the United States (interested in pix? Email me.). Home to The Lou today. So, no links and discussion. This is the west face of the building I posted yesterday. It's hard to see in this lo-res image but the inscription on the pedestal of the arms-outstretched figure (is that a pigeon in her left hand? A real one or a painted one?) says PEACE. And so our wish to you, something often hard to find here in Las Vegas, a city build on desire and fantasy.

TOMORROW'S POST: The Almighty