City Skies, the Ken Burns Effect, Coffee

Welcome to the end of another work week.  Time flies, it really does.  As I walk through Georgetown's campus and find it all prepared for a graduation that is not mine, and look at my calendar to find I've been working here for exactly 10 months, that's the only conclusion I can reach.  (Another example of time flying... Started this report this morning, didn't finish til 12:45. All work and no play.)

Lots of excitement around Wednesday's report.  Two readers reflected on how much their younger selves would have loved to stumble on a real-life mystery like that in their own home.  Another was reminded of childhood adventures, though his were less hypothetical, as he reflected on trips to the Winchester Mystery House, which he describes as "the incredible product of a deranged woman who, from the time her husband died until the time she herself croaked, kept adding rooms and staircases-to-nowhere and trapdoors and reverse fireplaces and all kinds of weird stuff to the house."  I've never been, but I remember seeing it on some sort of scary homes special on the Travel Channel or something.  Looking at it now, I am reminded of the thrilling and wildly original novel House of Leaves, which centers on a house larger on the inside than it is on the outside.

One reader is actually a wealth of resources for today's report, having also provided some excellent links to city skylines.  First, he sent over an Atlantic photo series on night sky views focused around London, though including some other UK cities, as well.  I am struck first by how many Ferris wheels there are in the series, beyond just the now iconic London Eye.  Is the UK particularly rich with Ferris wheels, or do they just make neat things to photograph, I wonder.  I was also disappointed to see that a photo featuring the BT Tower in London did not make the cut.  Though not as iconic as some of London's other towers, it was right near where I lived when I studied there, and thus served as a guiding star home on many a night when the exact route to where I lived was a bit foggy...  The second link provided by this reader also features a skyline with a missing tower.  I have heard it noted of the Eiffel Tower that, while it provides the best view of Paris, photos taken from the top always miss one element of the City of Light, namely the Eiffel Tower.  Still, even without an appearance from the Tower itself, this interactive Paris panorama is a great way to look around the city.

To close things out for the week, two shorter items, both found via Andrew Sullivan's "The Dish."  First, Ken Burns reflects on storytelling.  Burns is, of course, a master of turning massive events, histories, or pastimes into interesting stories, even when footage is limited to slow pans and zooms across still photographs.  So his two cents is probably worth something.  And second, good-ish news for the coffee addicts among the readership.  The Washington Post reports on a study that argues that heavy coffee drinkers show potentially prolonged lifespans.  But even on Causal Friday, correlation is not causation, as the commenters have been quick to note.  The best comment, by far, though, is the reader who notes that, regardless of her own prolonged lifespan, those around her have a better chance of living longer when she has her coffee.  Touche, sassy reader, touche.

Hope the rest of your Friday (30) Rocks.  (It's Tina Fey's birthday!)