Coincidence, or inspiration?

Given that the Suddeutsche Zeitung ran my photo of the gasoline infrastructure being swallowed up by the jungle on Monday, and that only one blog post earlier I signaled Camilo José Vergara as an important photo-chronicler of collapsing American architectures, I'm wondering just where the New York Times came up with the brilliant idea to run some of Vergara's photos of defunct gas pumps on the op-ed page today, Friday, the 13th.

"I have often been amazed by the ways harsh and aggressive forms are taken over by the natural world," Vergara writes. Amen to that, and boy do we love scooping the Times.


Also in the NYT today, our nomination for humanitarian-of-the-year award goes to one Mr. Louie Brundidge, mentioned in the final graphs of a story about flood devastation in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the Cedar River is as much as 17 feet over its banks and the entire city center is below the surface. A guy named Demenick Ankum "drove to his house on 19th Avenue to save anything he could. By the time he finished packing, his car was underwater. He had to pay a neighbor, Louie Brundidge, $10 to rescue him from the house in Mr. Brundidge's red aluminum boat."

How's that for your fabled midwestern hospitality? Thanks so much, Louie, you are a gentleman and a patriot, valiantly upholding the values our great nation is known for. We're sure your mother was proud to have you.