Photo Credit: Roving Rube. Viewpoint: Middle of Times Square, looking east; 2/11/02 1:48 PM.

Notes (Roving Rube): The Rube remembers that when this sign was first put up, a half dozen years or so ago, it was a new kind of thing -- it turned itself into a new picture every so often, and seemed like some kind of cross between one of those 70's digital clocks where the numbers were on cards that flipped, and the old "3D" cards with the plastic prism covering. Only on a large scale.

Gradually it revealed itself to work on the principal of venetian blinds, and then the Rube wondered how reliable it was, as sometimes half of it would seem to get stuck on picture while the other moved onto the next.

This morning it seemed in particularly bad shape -- see the Alternate View -- and the Rube thought the winds from the cold front that was sweeping in had gotten in amongst the blinds and blown them every which way.

But when he came back from lunch, the mystery was revealed -- the workmen shown here were replacing the blinds, either from having cleaned them or putting in ones with a new picture....