In the gloaming

The world's greatest webcam (current view) has, at this moment, a gorgeous picture of early-evening wintertime Manhattan. (Update: that link now fixed.) Everything glowing.

Why aren't all exterior webcams set at this height? What good is a webcam on top of a skyscraper, for crying out loud? This webcam is perfectly positioned -- you see up the street for several blocks, but it's also close enough to the ground that you can see what people are wearing, and thus deduce the weather.

I've been to this corner. The cam is inside a small office on the second floor, near the ceiling. You can stand on the opposite corner and wave to your friends in California -- at least I do, when I go to New York.