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cycads - note photographed by andres serrano for nyt
I've been upset walking around downtown. and finally decided to look up why. and why it has not been made into a bigger deal. primer. just incase anyone else has noticed a difference in our skyline:
July 24, 2005
A 90-Year-Old Turns a Little White on Top
BY JOHN FREEMAN GILL
It was as if the Statue of Liberty had applied liberal dabs of white eyeliner while no one was looking. Or as if the top of the Sony Building, which many have likened to a giant piece of Chippendale furniture, had suddenly gone Danish Modern.
In recent weeks, residents of TriBeCa and the City Hall area have gazed perplexedly at the landmark Woolworth Building: the 1913 tower's slanting rooftops, that distinctive swatch of green against the sky of Lower Manhattan, had inexplicably turned white. The color had drained from the great Gothic skyscraper's cheeks.
"I was out on my roof, on the deck with my son, Henry," said Matthew Baird, a TriBeCa architect. "I looked up, and I was shocked; I was disappointed."
Mr. Baird, like many New Yorkers, said he had always understood that the cladding of the Woolworth's rooftops was copper, and that they had turned green from its interaction with oxygen. Consequently, the white paint confused him.
But Roy Suskin, the vice president of development for 233 Broadway Owners L.L.C., which owns the building, said, "What everyone thought was copper hasn't been copper since before 1950."
One of the four richly ornamented towers near the building's top was formerly a coal-burning chimney, Mr. Suskin explained. As a result, "Acid rain pretty much ate through the roof pretty quickly, and since then it's been covered in a green protective coating that matches the patina of oxidized copper."
The mysterious white paint job, then, is primer. Mr. Suskin said that the roof had been repainted at least once before, in the 1970's, and that by the end of the summer, weather permitting, the roof would receive a fresh green top coat of Karnak waterproof coating, a substance approved for the work by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Mr. Suskin added, "We're doing the best we can with a 90-year-old building."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 24, 2005
A 90-Year-Old Turns a Little White on Top
BY JOHN FREEMAN GILL
It was as if the Statue of Liberty had applied liberal dabs of white eyeliner while no one was looking. Or as if the top of the Sony Building, which many have likened to a giant piece of Chippendale furniture, had suddenly gone Danish Modern.
In recent weeks, residents of TriBeCa and the City Hall area have gazed perplexedly at the landmark Woolworth Building: the 1913 tower's slanting rooftops, that distinctive swatch of green against the sky of Lower Manhattan, had inexplicably turned white. The color had drained from the great Gothic skyscraper's cheeks.
"I was out on my roof, on the deck with my son, Henry," said Matthew Baird, a TriBeCa architect. "I looked up, and I was shocked; I was disappointed."
Mr. Baird, like many New Yorkers, said he had always understood that the cladding of the Woolworth's rooftops was copper, and that they had turned green from its interaction with oxygen. Consequently, the white paint confused him.
But Roy Suskin, the vice president of development for 233 Broadway Owners L.L.C., which owns the building, said, "What everyone thought was copper hasn't been copper since before 1950."
One of the four richly ornamented towers near the building's top was formerly a coal-burning chimney, Mr. Suskin explained. As a result, "Acid rain pretty much ate through the roof pretty quickly, and since then it's been covered in a green protective coating that matches the patina of oxidized copper."
The mysterious white paint job, then, is primer. Mr. Suskin said that the roof had been repainted at least once before, in the 1970's, and that by the end of the summer, weather permitting, the roof would receive a fresh green top coat of Karnak waterproof coating, a substance approved for the work by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Mr. Suskin added, "We're doing the best we can with a 90-year-old building."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company------------------------------------------------------------------------
spectacular mammatus clouds over Hastings, Nebraska (via Eyebeam reBlog)
What They Did Last Fall
By PAUL KRUGMAN for nyt op-ed Published: August 19, 2005
By running for the U.S. Senate, Katherine Harris, Florida's former secretary of state, has stirred up some ugly memories. And that's a good thing, because those memories remain relevant. There was at least as much electoral malfeasance in 2004 as there was in 2000, even if it didn't change the outcome. And the next election may be worse.
In his recent book "Steal This Vote" - a very judicious work, despite its title - Andrew Gumbel, a U.S. correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, provides the best overview I've seen of the 2000 Florida vote. And he documents the simple truth: "Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election."
Two different news media consortiums reviewed Florida's ballots; both found that a full manual recount would have given the election to Mr. Gore. This was true despite a host of efforts by state and local officials to suppress likely Gore votes, most notably Ms. Harris's "felon purge," which disenfranchised large numbers of valid voters.
But few Americans have heard these facts. Perhaps journalists have felt that it would be divisive to cast doubt on the Bush administration's legitimacy. If so, their tender concern for the nation's feelings has gone for naught: Cindy Sheehan's supporters are camped in Crawford, and America is more bitterly divided than ever. [...]
Best. Pork dumpling. Ever.
Momofuko (1st Ave, just above 10th street on the west side.) Oh my god. And the buns look like they might be even better. I will report on the rest of the menu as soon as I go again. Tomorrow.
Momofuko (1st Ave, just above 10th street on the west side.) Oh my god. And the buns look like they might be even better. I will report on the rest of the menu as soon as I go again. Tomorrow.
rude dude
Thousands of live Grateful Dead shows are available through the Internet Archive.
t-mobile exec on mobile device futures
Newsweek on zero energy homes
catch up on shelly berman, pat carroll and other tv game show giants
"On September 30, the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) will expire – unless Congress reauthorizes it. For over a decade, VAWA has saved lives, delivered justice to rapists, stalkers and abusers and has played a critical role in the programs of many NYWF grantees.
The New York Women’s Foundation is calling on you to add your voice and help preserve this crucial legislation now.
Read more about VAWA 2005 and how you can help save it by clicking on the link below:
link
The New York Women's Foundation was established in 1987 as a public philanthropy to be a voice for women and a force for change. We are a cross-cultural alliance of women helping low-income women and girls in the five boroughs to achieve sustained economic security through expanded opportunities"
The New York Women’s Foundation is calling on you to add your voice and help preserve this crucial legislation now.
Read more about VAWA 2005 and how you can help save it by clicking on the link below:
link
The New York Women's Foundation was established in 1987 as a public philanthropy to be a voice for women and a force for change. We are a cross-cultural alliance of women helping low-income women and girls in the five boroughs to achieve sustained economic security through expanded opportunities"
etymology request: "...some guy named lenny."
use : you wouldnt eat that just cause some guy named lenny told you to would you ?
interchangeable with joe schmoe. any body got anything on this ?
use : you wouldnt eat that just cause some guy named lenny told you to would you ?
interchangeable with joe schmoe. any body got anything on this ?
Interestingness. Flickr now has a photo stream of interesting images from the last 24 hours. Nice page. I'd be interested to know about the algorithm. Is it like page rank?
Iraq Affecting Mental Health of Troops
- By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 29, 2005
(07-29) 04:32 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday.
The survey of 1,000 troops found problems including anxiety, depression, nightmares, anger and an inability to concentrate, said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley and other military medical officials. A smaller number of troops, often with more severe symptoms, were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a serious mental illness.
The 30 percent figure is in contrast to the 3 percent to 5 percent diagnosed with a significant mental health issues immediately after they leave the war theater, according to Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a military psychiatrist on Kiley's staff. A study of troops who were still in the combat zone in 2004 found 13 percent experienced significant mental health problems.
via dailywarnewsblog
wish i'd have seen this when i was shopping for highchairs
In the era of the Warren Court, in the nineteen-sixties, the concept of judicial restraint was largely associated with the political right—with resisting judicial interference in the governance of sovereign states. In recent years, though, the political right has tried to use the courts to push its own agenda. If a newly constituted Court establishes an abiding commitment to judicial restraint, the right as well as the left is likely to suffer disappointments. Two years ago, in his Senate testimony, Roberts said, “My clients and their positions are liberal and conservative across the board.” He was speaking, of course, about his work as an advocate, not his future as a final arbiter of the nation’s laws.
Report from the hinterlands of cuisine ...
Boulder Creek, which is somewhat culinarily challenged, had a new restaurant open recently. The Blue Sun has new owners, and has expanded service to include dinner ... and meat! I was all a-twitter.
All I'm gonna say about that is they don't even know how to procure and cook broccoli. Lord, I hope they kept the pancake recipie from the old management.
Boulder Creek, which is somewhat culinarily challenged, had a new restaurant open recently. The Blue Sun has new owners, and has expanded service to include dinner ... and meat! I was all a-twitter.
All I'm gonna say about that is they don't even know how to procure and cook broccoli. Lord, I hope they kept the pancake recipie from the old management.
flipbook
My mother’s visit was the occasion for several out-of-the-ordinary dining experiences for me:
We went to the new cafeteria at the Modern along with my sister and her two children. It looked like a long line and too much hassle, but they seem to have the crowd-moving down to a science. You look at the menu posted on the wall while you wait on the line, which moves faster than you’d think. They allow entry only as others leave; then you order at a counter and get a number; then they bring the order to wherever you find to sit. Typical museum fare, but fresh and of good quality and not quite as over-priced as you might expect. Generally efficient for such a tourist-filled madhouse.
The same group also did well at Gino’s in Bay Ridge, a popular pizza parlor that also knows how to move ‘em in and out. The pizza is great and the other standard Italian dishes not bad either.
Trying to come up with a Sunday evening strategy I called the Boathouse in Central Park but was told they were completely booked. Mom & I then tried walking from the hotel over to the nearby Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to see if we could get in to any of the fancy new places there. They have a “dining concierge” who informed us that the only restaurant open was the V Steakhouse, the latest Jean-Georges Vongerichten venue. It turned out there was no problem getting in. Apparently Sunday is not hot at this tourist spot; at least the place was open, but virtually empty at 7:00 pm. I guess that’s early for NYC, but the large room was still less than half full when we left. It was an attractive room, with a nice view and beautiful, almost Tolkienesque tree-shaped columns, but otherwise rather traditional with lots of dark wood and red velvet in classic steakhouse form. The food was fine but pretty straightforward; tourists don’t want weird steaks. It seemed more like a business move than a real inspiration for JGV.
Later in the week we did manage to get into the Boathouse, a place that owes its cache to its picturesque location on the Lake in Central Park. We happened to get there right at 5:30 when they were opening for dinner and seating walk-ins; the place filled up quickly. The food was better than I might have expected: good corn chowder with shrimp; crab cakes; flounder; decent wine list; good bread and attentive service. Again, for a tourist-trap it was efficient and of high quality, if not cheap.
We had good Malaysian delivery from Banana Leaf upstairs with Mike & Linda, and a typically fine meal at Alias, though the food may have been overpowered by the company, as mom got to meet various DMTree-ers in a swirl of conversation and wine. For a lady who will turn 84 next month she held up well, but she may have had enough fine dining to last for a while. At Annapoli, a local Bay Ridge diner where we had breakfast (and I wouldn’t normally go for any other meal) she fixated on the place-card advertising their buffalo burger, and we had to go back to have it for dinner. It was no more than acceptable but it was the cheapest meal we had the whole time, and provided a genuine working-class Brooklyn eating experience, including a $2.95 side salad that could have fed the German army, assuming they want a lot of lettuce and a few weak tomatoes. Good thing I didn’t order the “large” version.
A slightly different stratum of the neighborhood was in evidence at brunch on mom’s last day here, when we went to the French bistro Saint Germain. I’ve had mixed experiences there. It used to be a well-reviewed bistro, but despite genuine French ownership it’s been dumbed-down, with a pathetic wine list, cloying sauces and a reliance on prix-fix deals. I once had a great cassoulet there, but generally find steak frite and breakfast to be the only reliables. For brunch it made a good send-off for mom and the crowd was a bit more cultured than you’d find in most of the local spots, which are peopled by the folks Bill refers to as the “dems and does” (as in “them and those” not democrats or deer.) An dats all.
We went to the new cafeteria at the Modern along with my sister and her two children. It looked like a long line and too much hassle, but they seem to have the crowd-moving down to a science. You look at the menu posted on the wall while you wait on the line, which moves faster than you’d think. They allow entry only as others leave; then you order at a counter and get a number; then they bring the order to wherever you find to sit. Typical museum fare, but fresh and of good quality and not quite as over-priced as you might expect. Generally efficient for such a tourist-filled madhouse.
The same group also did well at Gino’s in Bay Ridge, a popular pizza parlor that also knows how to move ‘em in and out. The pizza is great and the other standard Italian dishes not bad either.
Trying to come up with a Sunday evening strategy I called the Boathouse in Central Park but was told they were completely booked. Mom & I then tried walking from the hotel over to the nearby Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to see if we could get in to any of the fancy new places there. They have a “dining concierge” who informed us that the only restaurant open was the V Steakhouse, the latest Jean-Georges Vongerichten venue. It turned out there was no problem getting in. Apparently Sunday is not hot at this tourist spot; at least the place was open, but virtually empty at 7:00 pm. I guess that’s early for NYC, but the large room was still less than half full when we left. It was an attractive room, with a nice view and beautiful, almost Tolkienesque tree-shaped columns, but otherwise rather traditional with lots of dark wood and red velvet in classic steakhouse form. The food was fine but pretty straightforward; tourists don’t want weird steaks. It seemed more like a business move than a real inspiration for JGV.
Later in the week we did manage to get into the Boathouse, a place that owes its cache to its picturesque location on the Lake in Central Park. We happened to get there right at 5:30 when they were opening for dinner and seating walk-ins; the place filled up quickly. The food was better than I might have expected: good corn chowder with shrimp; crab cakes; flounder; decent wine list; good bread and attentive service. Again, for a tourist-trap it was efficient and of high quality, if not cheap.
We had good Malaysian delivery from Banana Leaf upstairs with Mike & Linda, and a typically fine meal at Alias, though the food may have been overpowered by the company, as mom got to meet various DMTree-ers in a swirl of conversation and wine. For a lady who will turn 84 next month she held up well, but she may have had enough fine dining to last for a while. At Annapoli, a local Bay Ridge diner where we had breakfast (and I wouldn’t normally go for any other meal) she fixated on the place-card advertising their buffalo burger, and we had to go back to have it for dinner. It was no more than acceptable but it was the cheapest meal we had the whole time, and provided a genuine working-class Brooklyn eating experience, including a $2.95 side salad that could have fed the German army, assuming they want a lot of lettuce and a few weak tomatoes. Good thing I didn’t order the “large” version.
A slightly different stratum of the neighborhood was in evidence at brunch on mom’s last day here, when we went to the French bistro Saint Germain. I’ve had mixed experiences there. It used to be a well-reviewed bistro, but despite genuine French ownership it’s been dumbed-down, with a pathetic wine list, cloying sauces and a reliance on prix-fix deals. I once had a great cassoulet there, but generally find steak frite and breakfast to be the only reliables. For brunch it made a good send-off for mom and the crowd was a bit more cultured than you’d find in most of the local spots, which are peopled by the folks Bill refers to as the “dems and does” (as in “them and those” not democrats or deer.) An dats all.
eater
i hope they arent enjoying bringing me the news that the old puffys i knew and loved is gone, gone, gone.
i hope they arent enjoying bringing me the news that the old puffys i knew and loved is gone, gone, gone.
artbot: the robot talent show / dublin
mit geek warning: "I commented to one MIT doctoral candidate that I'd always enjoyed meeting MIT people and never found them to be obsessive nerds. She pointed out that, by definition, I had been meeting the minority of MIT undergrads who actually had enough social skills to talk to people. Well said, but I still dig the MIT crowd."
mit geek warning: "I commented to one MIT doctoral candidate that I'd always enjoyed meeting MIT people and never found them to be obsessive nerds. She pointed out that, by definition, I had been meeting the minority of MIT undergrads who actually had enough social skills to talk to people. Well said, but I still dig the MIT crowd."
a bridged
