L. A. Winter Afternoon

I took the photo above yesterday afternoon in Manhattan Beach. After taking it, I walked down the pier on the right, hoping to find somewhere to sit and re-read the best new philosophy book I've read in a really long time (probably since reading John Haugeland's "Having Thought"). I wasn't able to find anywhere suitable to sit, but my disappointment in this regard was tempered by the sighting of five dolphins just off the end of the pier. They didn't jump out of the water or anything, but it was exciting nonetheless.

The one thing you can't tell from the photo above is that it was quite windy out. Not windy or cold enough to justify measuring the wind chill factor, of course, but, then again, maybe the wind chill factor isn't such a great measurement to begin with.

To be honest, though, if it isn't obvious, I have ulterior motives in mentioning the wind. On the one hand, I wanted to work in a link to that Slate article, because it concerns a topic that I've had several conversations about in the past (with PJ, and with Nat and Josh): namely, whether the wind chill factor really measures anything worth measuring. On the other hand, I also wanted to mention the wind because I've noticed that I tend to try and take photos that portray the best aspect of things. It is often quite smoggy out here, for instance, but I haven't yet taken a photo of the smog, and even if I did I'd be inclined not to post it. A more honest documentarian would photograph the best and worst of things, and everything in between, however. I'm going to try and overcome this weakness on my part.