Poop on the stupid media

Happy Birthday to the Arch.

St Louis Arch

I have been up in the famed St. Louis Arch on several occasions. Long lines, claustophobic "elevator" and narrow viewing windows are all made worthwhile by the view at the top. I like the Arch and I have minor feelings of passing guilt about posting this on the "Poop" blog.

It was the first sentence of this article that merits this posting. That sentence reads as follows:

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- When architect Eero Saarinen was creating the design of this city's famed Gateway Arch, he constructed his first model out of pipe cleaners.

Wow...Eero Saarinen created the design out of pipe cleaners. Imagine the talent it must have taken to actually bend a pipe cleaner into the shape of an arch. Genius!

Wire clothes hangars would have been good, too - but granted you would have to straighten those first. They also require significantly more effort to bend.

In another interesting development, it has been discovered that Benjamin Franklin created the design for the lightning rod using pipe cleaners as well...granted his design did not require bending said pipe cleaners and was, therefore, much less sophisticated. Eero must have been the first designer to actually use the pipe cleaner with bends. For that, Eero, we salute you on this blog page. SALUTE!!