Author: Jeff Tabaco

Project Rebirth is documenting the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, using time-lapse cameras that have been capturing images of the site since March 2002.

The heart of Project Rebirth is six 35mm time-lapse motion picture cameras, situated around the site, each shooting one frame of film every five minutes, 24 hours a day. Running full-time since the six-month anniversary of the attacks, these cameras will each capture 244 frames a day until the reconstruction is completed. Time-lapse technology (the same technique used in nature films to depict the blossoming of a flower in a matter of seconds) will ultimately enable the multi-year process of rebuilding and rebirth to unfold before our eyes in less than 20 minutes. The time-lapse footage of the buildings rising will be intercut with the workers, allowing audiences to experience our rebuilding and rebirth, through the sheer effort and determination of those whose hands, muscles, and minds represent the country’s effort.

Check out the progress by clicking on “View the Latest Film Trailer” on the Project Rebirth website (requires Flash). (Link via towleroad.)

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy reading the “Primary Sources” section of The Atlantic? (Oh, it turns out, yes, I have.) It always has several interesting tidbits of information. In the October issue, there’s a neat data map on telephone call traffic between the U.S. and other countries. Did you know that based on volume of international calls, the U.S.’s fourth most frequent calling partner is the Philippines (behind Canada, Mexico, and the U.K.)?

But what I really wanted to mention was another item in this issue: a blurb about a Congressional Budget Office study on the fiscal impact of gay marriage.

While most people are wondering how gay marriage might influence American culture, the family, and the institution of marriage, the Congressional Budget Office has calculated what it might do to the deficit. If America’s approximately 600,000 cohabiting homosexual couples tied the knot and the federal government recognized their marriages, the CBO finds, the effect on taxes and spending would cut the deficit by $350 million to $450 million annually over the next five years. A large proportion of the new crop of joint tax filers would be hit with the marriage penalty, raising Uncle Sam’s share of their earnings. Meanwhile, spending outlays for Social Security and health care would increase only modestly or, under some assumptions, actually decline. But before socially liberal deficit hawks reach for another snort of champagne, they should remember that the windfall from same-sex marriage is insignificant alongside a federal deficit expected to hit $445 billion for fiscal 2004.

» “The Revenue That Dare Not Speak Its Name,” The Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 2004.
» “The Potential Budgetary Impact of Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages,” Congressional Budget Office, 21 June 2004.

Seen today at McDonald’s (I had a salad, thank you very much): a man wearing a t-shirt that on the back read “We’re here to pick up chicks!” I rolled my eyes and wanted to ask if his shirt was helping or hurting his cause. But then he turned around and I saw that the front was emblazoned with the name of some cheerleading group. Ahh, got it. And just like that he went from being potentially oafish and offensive to potentially cute and fun. Funny how that happens. Also seen at McDonald’s: a woman wearing a shirt that on the back read “Why?”

I have no idea what that’s about.

Tall caramel macchiato, check. Cinnamon scone, check. I am now ready to ease back into the workweek. I trust everyone had a good weekend? [Special shout outs to my (two or three) Florida readers, dealing with Hurricane Frances.] Our holiday was pretty chill. Last night I went to the Kennedy Center; the Millennium Stage performance was by Signature Theatre, which gave a preview of some of the musicals they’re working on: One Red Flower, now playing at their theater in Arlington; The Highest Yellow, about Felix Rey, the doctor who treated Vincent Van Gogh; and another show still in development, based on Edgar Allan Poe.

A couple of the songs from One Red Flower, which is based on letters home during the Vietnam war, were really heartfelt and had me on the verge of tears, while another song asked the question, “What are we fighting for?” and you can’t help but think of the situation we’re in today. For me the definite highlight of the evening was a song from the Poe musical: a setting of the poem “Annabel Lee.” Arranged for four singers, it starts out in a haunting minor key, then eventually and unexpectedly gets a major lift for the last chorus. Simply beautiful.

Choire Sicha writes in the Observer about the appeal of that rare breed, gay Republicans. Here’s a bit on the Log Cabin Republican “Big Tent” event last week in New York:

With their uniformly short hair, their near-uniform body weight of 175 pounds and their tightly knotted ties, one was sometimes overcome with the urge to be fucked right into a suburban kitchen. Perfect credit! Great jobs! Superb lawns! It’s morning in George Bush’s America, and Mr. Gay Republican is ready to tap the ass of Mr. Right.

That’s when I knew I had to keep reading.

» “Your Cabin or Mine? Looking for Mr. Right-Wing” (via Shane).

I must’ve really been out of it last night. Coming home from work, I absentmindedly transferred to the wrong Metro line (Green instead of Yellow) at Gallery Place. Thankfully I realized my mistake sooner rather than later. Retracing my path back to L’Enfant Plaza to get on the Yellow, I thought I had everything under control, but when I got there, for some reason I promptly forgot to switch directions using the opposite platform. Argh! Perhaps my hunger-induced lightheadedness and the fact that I was so engrossed in reading Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair, which had put me in a surreal state of mind, had something to do with it. So instead of my usual commute comprising two lines and one transfer, I ended up transferring a total of four times before finally arriving at Pentagon City. Yowza.

Anyway, thank goodness it’s Friday. Our office closed at 1 p.m. today to let everyone get an early jump on the holiday weekend, so this afternoon I was out enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Have a fun weekend, kids.

There’ve been a couple of NPR pieces dealing with the intersection between the Republican National Convention and Broadway musicals: “GOP Visit to Broadway Strictly ‘PG-13’” from yesterday’s Morning Edition; and “Musical Politics for the GOP Convention” from Monday’s All Things Considered, whose page also has a link to “Rod’s Dilemma,” a witty song composed by the folks at Avenue Q during the run-up to the Tony Awards earlier this year. The message is especially apt now as well: vote your heart.

By the way there’s also a play now running called “I’m Gonna Kill the President!” A Federal Offense. Hmm. I’m thinking the Republicans are skipping that one too.

The iPod arrived yesterday. It comes in such neat packaging. The box is a cube, but flips open like a huge ring box. (Oh, Apple, this is all so sudden… yes, I do!) But now it has to wait for the iBook to get here, since I can’t download iTunes onto my current Windows laptop in the meantime. iTunes requires 2000 or XP, and my laptop has ME, the quickly forgotten lovechild of Windows versions. Remember ME? Yeah, whose bright idea was that?

[Update (15:22): Whoa, the iBook is here! Well, it’s waiting at the front desk of the condo building, to be exact. I only just now got an e-mail from Apple notifying me of the tracking number, but apparently it had been shipped a few days ago. I wasn’t expecting it until next week. Nice!]

In other news, the new iMac G5 is out. Mmm, pretty. Oh, and Thom made me promise not to become an annoying Apple evangelizer. Not to worry, I’m not quite there. Yet.