In this thoroughly moving piece on The Online Photographer, Peter Turnley describes taking a photograph of a firefighter on September 12, 2011, and years later finally learning more about the man.

I’ve been trying to avoid rehashes of the 9/11 attack – believe me, I remember that day – but new stories are pretty irresistible, so here’s another: did you know that the F-16 pilots that were scrambling to catch the last plane didn’t have time to load any live weapons, so they were ready to fly their plane right into the passenger jet? Holy. Shit.

In lighter news, Jay-Z’s The Blueprint turns ten years old today. I still listen to that album all the time. Just incredible. I’d argue there wasn’t a finer album released in the ’00s. My indie bones want to give a hat tip to The Arcade Fire or Wilco, but, man, The Blueprint is a monster.

Finally, my brother Joseph turns 27 today. That’s the best thing about today. Happy birthday, bro. The Bengals even won, so that’s like a little present right there.