Maybe someone moved -- or died -- and left all of this stuff behind. I don't know the story, only that there's a pantload of crap in back of this garage in the alley that runs between Linder and Central avenues in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood.

Some of my neighbors insist that the pile used to be as high as the bottom of the roof. Some of the stuff has been taken away, but whether any there's anything worthwhile left in here is debatable.

ChicagoScope feedback line: 312-683-5272. Send e-mail to ChicagoScope@gmail.com.

I shot some footage on my way home from work this week on Metra's Northwest line. The window is tinted green, so I decided to render this in black and white.

Did another test of the iPhone 3GS video camera while wheeling my way through the produce department at the Dominick's supermarket in Park Ridge. I shot this vertically to make it less obvious to store personnel I was capturing video.

Looks pretty good -- although a wider format would have captured more of the experience.

ChicagoScope feedback line: 312-683-5272. Send e-mail to ChicagoScope@gmail.com.

Apple's new iPhone 3G S doesn't deliver high-definition images, but what it lacks in fidelity, it more than makes up for with convenience and portability. Here's my first video, shot on my way into work in Chicago this morning.

I wish we could shut off the camera's autoexposure, but otherwise, I'm really pleased with the addition of video to iPhone.

ChicagoScope feedback line: 312-683-5272. Send e-mail to ChicagoScope@gmail.com.

On a recent work-related trip to New Orleans to attend the National Cartoonists Society convention, I joined with more than 100 other attendees to help with Habitat for Humanity efforts to rebuild affordable housing.

Before taking us back to the hotel, Habitat's driver took us through the still-devastated 9th Ward and we saw just how much still needs to be done to get this area back to something even remotely resembling a state of normalcy. Many communities are still without supermarkets or grocery stores.

The continuing impact of Hurricane Katrina was especially obvious as we crossed the Judge Seeber Bridge. Not only did the vantage point show exactly how high the water had been, but just a day or so earlier, malfunctioning gates allowed a New Orleans police officer to drive his car off the bridge and into the Industrial Canal below. His death sparked a wave of outrage over dilapidated infrastructure that had been in desperate need of repair even before Katrina hit the city.

Read a story about the death of Detective Tommie Felix in The Times-Pacayune.

View video "New Orleans Rebuilds."

ChicagoScope feedback line: 312-683-5272. Send e-mail to ChicagoScope@gmail.com.