Entries tagged with “nyc”
A little more than a year ago, artist Christopher Niemann gave us a wonderful set of photographs of New Yorkisms made with Lego. Now comes word that he’s expanded on the original idea and made a book out of his creations.
Already ordered.
The Times has a profile of Ernie Anastos, the NYC anchor who’s infamous for the “Keep fucking that chicken” slip. On page three of the article, he addresses the faux-pas, and maintains that he said, “Keep plucking that chicken”.
Months later, he said that he is certain he said “plucking,” but that pretending it did not happen would have been a mistake. “If you keep saying, ‘I didn’t really say that,’ it doesn’t sound right,” he said. “This is New York. That particular word is practically ‘hello,’ the way it is used.”
A high school science project has allegedly discovered a new species of cockroach in NYC.
“[Closely-related] species don’t differ [by] more than one percent, [while] this cockroach is four percent different,” agreed Professor Mark Stoeckle. “This suggests it is a new species of cockroach.”
On how they collected specimens:
To conduct this study, Ms. Tan and Mr. Cost collected a total of 217 specimens between November 2008 and March 2009. They rummaged around in supermarkets, streets and in New York apartments, including that of Professor Stoeckle, where they found the new cockroach species.
“The superintendent of the apartment building was surprised when we wanted to save rather than squash the cockroach,” remarked Ms. Tan.
A study finds that New York is dead last in happiness. Connecticut and New Jersey follow.
All we need is a talking painting and a river of ectoplasm and we’ve got a real-life “Ghostbusters II”.
Tourists are just about the most annoying thing about growing up and living in NYC; so much so, that I try to steer clear of touristy spots most of the time. However, when I heard that the Brooklyn Bridge was to undergo repairs in late 2009, I actually got off my butt and made a trip to see it before the repairs made it all pretty. I also combed through my photo archives to see what other photos I had of it…
After taking a 20-minute helicopter ride, artist Stephen Wiltshire, who has autism, is drawing New York City’s skyline from memory.
I’m absolutely amazed by this since my memory isn’t that good and I have no artistic ability, which is evidenced by my drawing of that bloody pipe, which took me about 10 attempts to get right.
You can see other pictures of his progress and trip to NYC, and even a live stream when he’s drawing, on his website.
Gizmodo tells the story of a guy who brings his iPhone to Apple to be looked at because he’s getting a lot of dropped calls. Apple runs some diagnostics, finds that he’s dropping 22% of his calls, and tells him he’s actually getting better performance than most.
This is why I dumped AT&T. If my call went through (about 50% of the time), it would get dropped about 50% of the time if the call was longer than two minutes. I still find it amazing that AT&T can’t provide good coverage in the middle of NYC, while Verizon is excellent and T-Mobile is mostly good.
I’d bet you’d have better luck with signal at the top of a mountain than in the middle of NYC.
Gothamist has a story about a fish that’s been in a pet store for over 40 years. John Kuhner writes:
The New York Aquarium did not get back to us when we asked whether or not the fish could possibly be that old, but residents of Richmond Hill swear the fish has been there the whole time, in the same 75-gallon tank. When I walked around the block to go to the (excellent) Alfie’s Pizzeria, Louie, Alfie’s son, said, “That fish! That fuckin’ fish! Is that fuckin’ fish unbelievable or what? When we’re all dead and gone that fish will still be there.”
When the U.S. Presidents visit NYC, they stay in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. So what happens when an average woman gets upgraded to the Presidential Suite? She blogs about it and videotapes it with her laptop and uploads it to YouTube. The toilet is surprisingly plain, and the bed looks a little small for me, however, on the other hand, the living room looks to be bigger than my entire apartment. How come I’ve never been upgraded like that?
In my best Cliff Clavin voice: “You know Normie, it’s a little known fact that the current Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is actually the second incarnation of the famed hotel. The first was actually on the corner of 34th and 5th and was torn down to make room for the Empire State Building. The Waldorf Salad was also created there.”
My experience destroying iPods and phones is just short of legendary (example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4, and example 5). Just when I thought I had kicked the habit of dropping them into toilets, off balconies, and in front of buses, I managed to one-up myself.
In May, New York Magazine listed some of the items in the waters around New York, and I’ll be letting them know that they can add a red iPod nano (Gen. 2) to the list.
I was out for a run on the East River Esplanade, and as I often do, I was holding my iPod in my hand. For some reason, I believe to scratch an itch, I tried to transfer the iPod between hands, and was less than successful. It fell, broke free from the headphones, and bounced over the edge. By the time I had stopped my forward momentum (no easy task) and made it to the edge, it was no where to be seen. It had disappeared into the murky depths of the East River, never to be seen again.
As usual, “The Big Picture” comes through with a great selection of photographs remembering Sept. 11th.
Retail sales in NYC have fallen 8-10 percent from 2008, yet Apple has increased 2.5 percent and may be the highest grossing Fifth Avenue retailer.
Apple’s Fifth Avenue emporium probably has annual sales of more than $350 million, topping any of the chain’s other outlets, said Jeffrey Roseman, executive vice president of real- estate broker Newmark Knight Frank Retail in New York. The location is 10,000 square feet, putting its sales per square foot at a minimum of $35,000, based on Roseman’s estimate.
That’s the equivalent of selling one Mercedes-Benz C300 sedan per square foot. Apple may be the highest grossing retailer ever on Fifth Avenue, said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the retail leasing and sales division at Manhattan-based Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
About two weeks ago I was in both Tiffany’s and Apple at about the same time on successive weekdays, and the difference in the amount of people (and people actually buying) was beyond compare. I had no problem browsing every counter on the main floor and the third floor in Tiffany’s, and was constantly asked if I needed assistance. In contrast, every table in the Apple store was jam packed with people, sometimes three deep waiting to play with a Mac or an iPod/iPhone, and the line to purchase general items was 20 minutes long.
Let me make sure you understand exactly what the above means…in the 5th Ave store, if you want to buy a Mac, iPhone, or iPod, you do so at small, dedicated “kiosks” around the main floor; if a salesperson assists you in deciding which third-party radio/iPod dock you should buy for your iPod or whatever else they sell there, they check you out right there with your credit card using a wireless doohicky; the only people standing on the general cash register line are people who are paying cash, or who are buying boxed products and weren’t lucky enough to get help from the roving Apple staff…even with 10+ cash registers servicing the line, it was still 20 minutes.
After my visits to both Tiffany’s and Apple, I bought more Apple stock. The difference between the day it opened and the middle of a major recession was nil.
New York’s “birth certificate”, a letter dated Nov. 5, 1626 that related recent events in New Amsterdam to the Dutch Parliament, is headed to NYC for visit:
In between reports that some children were born and that summer grains were sown and reaped, the letter discloses that the settlers “have purchased the Island Manhattes from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders.”
This reminds me of The Mannahatta Project, which has an amazing interactive map that shows what Manhattan might have looked like in 1609.
The Manhattan Airport Foundation
They seek to replace Central Park with an airport.
Davenport, Iowa has an airport. Tallahassee has one. And so does Lexington, Kentucky. But New York City doesn’t. Amazingly, there is still a large, undeveloped and underutilized site in the center of New York City. In fact, this site has remained undeveloped for so long that many of us forget it even exists. It’s called Central Park.
They’re tearing down Yankee Stadium, why shouldn’t Central Park be next?
NY Times maps NYC homicides 2003-2009
Just an interesting look at the city. And don’t forget that NYC is the safest big city according to the FBI.
NYC drivers rated number 1 as angriest and most aggressive
As a native New Yorker, this makes me effing proud.
Flight 1549 passenger gets his luggage back
That’s the flight that crash landed in the Hudson River. Shockingly, things have shrunk, smell, electronics don’t work, and valuables are missing.
Paul Krugman on Times Square’s new pedestrian mall
As far as I know, nobody goes to that part of Manhattan anyway — it’s too crowded.
Come to think of it, didn’t Yogi say that?
New York Magazine details what’s in the waters around NYC
The list of 28 things include teredos and gribbles, shipwrecks, a Formica dinette, and 1,600 bars of silver worth about $26 million.
The silver sounds tempting, but you have to contend with the dead bodies.
Cow escapes from NYC slaughterhouse
Wait a second…there are slaughterhouses in NYC? I had no idea.
Create-your-own NYC Air Force One flyover photo
Every once in a while I just heart the Daily News.
Mt. Everest to get mobile phone service
Will have both GSM and CDMA service.
In related news, I can’t get a good signal in my apartment in the MIDDLE OF FREAKING NEW YORK CITY!!
People who sit in the disability seats when I’m standing on my crutches
Pictures of…wait for it…people who sit in the disability seats when a guy is standing near them on his crutches.
Hi, I’m An Asshole is the best.
We got about 8 inches of snow overnight and it was still coming down when I left for work this morning. When a large snowfall occurs, I usually alter my route to work to take advantage of cleaner sidewalks, but something about Park Avenue has always bugged me.
Here in NYC, all buildings are responsible for clearing the snow from their sidewalk when it snows. The larger the apartment building is, and the more well off the residents are, the better the snow removal is. For example, a small 4-story walk-up building with 12 apartments is going to wait until the superintendent gets around to it, while a large block-long condo building is going to have their 24-hour maintenance staff shovel once an hour with an electric shovel. This is why on days like today, I head to Park Avenue as quickly as possible to walk on their clean, and wide, sidewalks.
Looking West towards Park Avenue on 62nd Street
There’s only one small issue with that plan.
A paper airplane thrown from the 31st floor
Nice little flight, and good soundtrack for it.
Tonight, some co-workers and I ventured to the way-upper-west-side and had dinner at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.
We started off with some very good spicy chicken wings. I’m not sure where they get their chicken from, but they were some of the largest, meatiest chicken wings I’ve ever had. I’m thinking whoever raises their chickens is working with Barry Bonds “trainer”.
I got a half-rack of baby back ribs (with mac-n-cheese and fries on the side), and they were quite good. They make them with dry-rub and were nice and tender, but not too tender. The pulled away from the bone easily, but didn’t fall off without some help. They had a nice variety of bar-b-que sauces on the table and the mac-n-cheese was very well made…nice and crusty with some sort of spice on top (maybe cayenne?).
The atmosphere is exactly what I want in a ribs place. Lots of unfinished wood, hubcaps and old posters/advertisements on the wall, The Rolling Stones playing on the stereo, and wooden tables with hand-carved names in them. The place was fairly crowded for a Wednesday night at 7pm, but it wasn’t crazy, and the service was pretty good.
There is one minor downside to it…it’s located at 131st Street and Riverside. It’s not ridiculously out of the way, but there are places that are just as good that are a lot more convenient for people that live in mid-town Manhattan or the outer boroughs.
I left stuffed. And isn’t that exactly what you want from a bar-b-que joint?
Rating: 8/10
All I wanted was a quick glass of water. What came out of the tap was less than appetizing.
It looked more like skim milk than water.
I know it’s just aeration due to apartment living, but it still looks ugly. When it finally cleared up, it looked like someone hocked a luggie in it.
Looks like I’ll be stopping by Bed Bath & Beyond, again, and picking up some Brita water filter stuff.
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