...more recent posts
The Guardian is running an article on the seven wonders of the web. They are, according to the article: Google, Yahoo, Project Gutenburg, Multimap, Ebay, Amazon, and Blogger. The only one I hadn't heard of is Multimap. At first glance it looks pretty useful. My own list would probably tend more towards: Google, Google Images, Google Groups, and uh.... Google, Google, Google, and Google. God I hope they are profitable. I think I'd even send them money if they asked. As Jason Kottke famously opined: "Google is the default command-line interface to the Web."
Put my mother on the train back to Boston this morning. We had a full couple of days. Alex took us on a walk through Central Park one day. We ended up at the MET which is very enjoyable with a knowledgable guide. Yesterday we walked down to the site. Absolutely crammed with people at Broadway and Fulton. The debris removal is far enough along now that you really can't see anything. If you're not familiar enough with the area to detect the presence of a giant absence then the view is not too powerful. Looked like they are constructing a wooden ramp to a viewing platform at that location. When completed (next few days is my guess) it will provide a good look at the remaining destruction. Not sure if this is helpful or not, but clearly people want to see. I think it's a bit more than gawking, but surely there is some of that.
We stopped in to see the lobby of my favorite NYC building, the Woolworth building, but were unceremoniously turned away. "It's a federal building now, you'll have to leave immediately." What! When did this happen? The lobby is one of the great architectural gems of the city. Built by Cass Gilbert in 1913, this 792 foot tall building was the tallest in the world from it's completion until 1930 when the Chrysler building went to 1046 feet, followed one year later by the Empire State which held the record all the way until the WTC passed it in 1972. The Empire State is 1250 feet tall and the World Trade had stood at a mighty 1368. That's on the way to being twice as tall as the Woolworth which is now, again, one of the tallest structures in lower Manhattan. In other words, those things were frickin' huge. Out of scale huge. Massive.
Many New Yorkers (and others) never liked the WTC. From an architectural standpoint they were decried as horribly ugly boxes blighting the Manhattan skyline. I always liked them, but maybe because I don't remember a time without them. I mean not counting the past few months of course. I think I've mentioned before that from my desk I have a great view of lower Manhattan. It's certainly less impressive now, but some of the smaller giant buildings - most notably the Woolworth - are now returned to their place at center stage. Hopefully the closing is some sort of over reaction and the Woolworth will be reopened to visitors. At least the lobby. I'll have to look into this claim that it is a federal building. I can't believe that. Perhaps it has been designated as some sort of landmark, and thus under federal protection in this time of crisis, but I don't think the feds bought it. I'll report back if I find out more.
Here's an interesting aerial shot of the top of the Woolworth poking through some low lying clouds.
O.K., I didn't say I wasn't going to post at all. Here's a great Robert Cringely on building his own supercomputer for $6000.