Kinetic Loop

Chicago is still the best city for traders. One hedge fund manager “prefers not having to fight for a cab, a dinner reservation or an apartment, as is the norm in most other financial centers.” A trader in Manhattan said he wouldn’t consider moving to Chicago. “No, it’s windy and cold!” he said. Keeps the prices down.

A downtown dentist “put up prostitutes and pimps in condominiums he owned in a downtown apartment tower.” People in every downtown apartment tower are nodding, thinking it must be the unit next to them because that would explain a lot.

Police talk a man out of jumping into the Chicago River. “They were both empathetic and were able to dissuade him from jumping.” The CPD must have had empathy training recently. (”The officers were EMPATHETIC. You get that? They responded with EMPATHY.”) The man works for the only airline that’s doing things right.

And some elevator stuff below, inspired by Ian’s photo:

From an article on avoiding elevator breakdowns: “Door operators undergo tremendous wear and tear in daily operation. Each time the elevator stops, the door operators are activated at least two times, more frequently if occupants manually hold the doors open. Some elevator maintenance companies report that nearly 75 percent of their service calls are for malfunctioning door operators.” Sometimes I keep the elevator doors open to finish a conversation with someone, but I won’t do it anymore.

Check out the ‘Exploring Otis’ (dirty!) video on the Otis site. S’quick.

Have you read The Intuitionist yet?

The Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation is having their second annual fundraising cruise on the Chicago River on June 25th. “The idea was taken from the ever-successful National Association of Vertical Transportation Professionals New York Region Dinner Cruise.” Good times.

How much energy does an elevator use?

Sometimes I don’t take the elevator. Sometimes I take the few dozen plus flights of stairs to my apartment, and when I’m gasping for breath on 20, I think about Robert Redford in Barefoot in the Park and, of course, Ghostbusters. Oh, and that Sydney episode of The Biggest Loser, when the contestants had to swim, bike, run, and then climb about 40 flights.

…from a considerable distance.

Taken with a telephoto lens from the river, near River City.

333 N Michigan. You can almost hear the Morricone.

Marquette Building.

I took this at 1600 ISO a couple nights ago. The panels on this building reflect the light, so whenever the hue of the sky is lavender or orange or midnight blue, the building changes color with it. I liked the gathering clouds behind it and how the panels stood out from the rest of the structure.