November 19, 2007

On a cold November day in Central Park... oh, no!

It was like this, chilly and dreary, but beautiful to a photographer:

DSC06560.JPG

But wait. Let's take a closer look at those pedestrians:

DSC06560_2.JPG

Why? Just: Why?

14 comments:

Original Mike said...

I couldn't agree more, Ann. Why would someone, walking through that beautiful scene, be talking on a damn cell phone?

rhhardin said...

39 degrees is my personal cutoff for Bermudas when commuting on the bike. This is a matter of knee protection. Below 39 I put sweat pants over them.

Walking could easily go much lower though.

With Bermudas in the rain you don't have wet cuffs flapping against your ankles, and your legs dry faster than long pants would when you get inside.

You'd think any sex that wears skirts would know that legs stay acceptably warm in the cold.

rhhardin said...

Joe Queenan had a nice essay somewhere about walking the wrong way around the Central Park jogging path smoking an area-clearing cigar.

It came up on Imus.

It was probably a decade ago, when you could still joke about Nazis.

Simon said...

Perhaps the flight deck was a little too cold but the undercarriage was a little too warm...

Ron said...

You loooooove him....you want to daaaaaaaaaaaaaate him...

Meanwhile, Larry, Moe and Curly in the back are just staring a mugging...

ricpic said...

Pungent smoke, drifting embers:
Telltale hot chestnut sign.
Yellow ochre old November:
Gracious and resigned.

Unknown said...

We have about 4 1/2 inches of snow.

former law student said...

Ann -- what do your students wear to class? One of the guys in my 1st year section wore shorts, a t-shirt, flip flops, and a Bulls cap every day, spring winter and fall. He said he grew up in the cold, and as long as it wasn't cold enough to have snow on the ground, he was comfortable like that.

Ann Althouse said...

I don't see too many law students in shorts -- maybe none here in Brooklyn. You know, I don't really pay attention to what the students wear. I have other things to think about in class. When I'm out walking around, I'm in a very visual mode (with camera in hand). In class, it's about words.

Jeff with one 'f' said...

This is just an outgrowth of the Boomers' infantilization of adulthood... the idea that adult men should walk around wearing workman's dungarees and undershirt and posit the practice as a form of rebellion. Ye shall reap what ye sow! And how!

Simon said...

Ann Althouse said...
"In class, it's about words."

I hadn't pegged you as a closet textualist. ;)

Chip Ahoy said...

*because it's cold but only half cold
*because long pants are such a bother when you're trying to walk fast.
*when you get overheated you can unzip the top but you cannot unzip the bottom
*they're easier to take off when it's time to shower -- just flick them across the room.
*last chance to tan the legs
*sweat pants are in the wash
*pretending it's still summer
*simply doesn't know any better
*hasn't a woman to set him straight
*has a woman but she's worse
*thinks his legs are his best asset
*spilled coffee on his pants and decided to just get on with it.
*didn't realize the weather changed
*entertains some strange idea we can't possibly imagine but is otherwise perfectly sane.
*is not sane
*this is just one leg in an iron man competition triathlon.
*is a sales rep for running shorts
*believes self to be fashionable
*his mum dressed him
*they started out long pants but were ripped along the way
*polar bear club
*is proving something
*lost a bet
*endurance challenge
*aggressively anti-fashion
*is attempting to provoke
*seeks sympathy
*likes attention
*is trying to become invisible
*is on drugs
*is a professor
*became bankrupt but still exercises
*method actor

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Because Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked the bottoms off his pants.

Nataraj Hauser said...

Why? How about, because he wants to?

Enough said, because the rest, prior to deletion, was snarky.