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This is the permanent home of all the posts I wrote in April 2006. This archive is part of grubbykid.com, a weblog.

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April 30, 2006

• Does this train go to 9/11?

  I've had this problem too - it's all just an attraction, now (via)

• If you haven't seen Stephen Colbert's keynote at the White House Correspondents' dinner, you should. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 (transcript)

April 29, 2006

April 28, 2006

• Check out Mike and Rion, an Paris-based ex-pat blog by Mike (ne Meccapixel) and Rion

• If the USA was occupied by a foreign nation, What would we have done?

  read the comments, more reasons not to dig on the French; the Brits turned tail and over the Channel before Germany had finished with France, and have been constantly invaded by everyone from the Romans, the French, and the Dutch, so why do Americans make fun of the French?

April 27, 2006

• Commercial: Shalom!

  best line ever, I brought the fish...

• Living in a seven foot wide house

Updated Penn Station Design

According to the New York Times and the New York Observer, the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation (more info) unveiled the fourth (yes, fourth) design for the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Station (Penn Station), this time by Skidmore Owings and Merrill. It is deja-vu all over, again. A good resource to follow the history is this Wired New York's thread.

Delving into the environmental impact study dredges up plans for a 700' tower and a new home for Madison Square Garden, but let's focus on the Station first, and then what the EIS says.

For those following at home, the second design was showcased by David Childs with SOM back in 1999, and more recently (due in no doubt by behind-the-scenes machinations) in July 2005 a new developer and architect - HOK New York and Jamie Carpenter Design Associates unveiled a new design.

Which brings us back up to speed to today, where David Childs and SOM are - in no doubt due to the smashing success of 7 World Trade - back in the city's and (more importantly) developer's good graces; thus now SOM is re-redesigning Penn Station, this time shedding the project of any sort of technical whopp-de-doos, and sticking with two barrel vaults, which while not exactly sexy from the "God-view" hold promise as monumental space for daily straphangers.

So, I wanted to see what all of the designs looked like together. In chronological order, here are the three designs I could find:

Poking around the Moynihan Station Draft Environmental Impact Statement (27 April 2006), I found some interesting tidbits which I don't think has been reported yet.

Continue reading "Updated Penn Station Design"

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Rani Roomba's Day in New York City

Hilarious video about Rani Roomba's Day in New York City on Vimeo (via).

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April 26, 2006

• Haunting photo essay about Chernobyl

  photographer Paul Fusco exclaims that he felt he was examining "a different race of people"

Reactor No. 4

Reactor No. 4, originally uploaded by MarkNelson

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April 25, 2006

• Some Residents of Silver Spring, MD are upset about American Apparel's "Racy" Photos

• Gothamist's coverage of Satmar Grand Rebbe Death

  again, the Hasidim are so interesting and such a part of Brooklyn, this is big news

So Long, Jane Jacobs

1916 - 2006

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April 24, 2006

• Amazingly succinct overview of how Phone companies want to take over the Internet over at TPM

  AT&T, Verizon, and a host of others want to make the Internet into a bunch of gated communities, don't let it happen

April 23, 2006

April 20, 2006

• The Golden Fire Hydrant (photo) which saved the Mission
  

  didn't see this during my tribute

April 19, 2006

• I swore I saw this before but the Urban Ninja is pretty sweet
  

• via Waxy, check out these Sesame Street Video Clips, especially R.E.M.'s Furry Happy Monsters, the The Yip Yip Martians meet a telephone (classic), and Big Bird misses Mr. Hooper (still hard to watch)

  while you are at it, check out this MetaFilter thread with more videos

April 18, 2006

• A photoessay: Serial No. 3817131

  photos of Israeli female soldiers during their mandatory two-year military service

• New York Times on the Surviving Huge Quake, and Century That Followed

• For a good over view of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, check out the PBS special The Great San Francisco Earthquake, part of the great American Experience series

• The San Andreas Fault goes out to sea at Point Reyes National Seashore and is one of the most beautiful landscape in America. Check out Flickr Photos tagged with Point Reyes

• 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Photographs

• From the USGS: Quake: 1906 San Francisco Quake

Telegraph Hill

Telegraph Hill, originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk

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1906 San Francisco Earthquake

1906 San Francisco Earthquake, originally uploaded by v a l l e

See other 1906 Earthquake photos in Flickr.

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April 17, 2006

April 16, 2006

April 15, 2006

• Molly the Cat Alive!

  finally, the cat trapped in a wall is rescued... time for the silly season

April 14, 2006

Packaging

Packaging, originally uploaded by plemeljr

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April 13, 2006

• How the U.S. Mint in San Francisco was saved during the 1906 Earthquake

From the Municipal Building

Guess Where, originally uploaded by plemeljr

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Night Lobby

Night Lobby, originally uploaded by plemeljr

See more photos from my Tour of 7 WTC.

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April 12, 2006

7 World Trade Photos

Looking Out, originally uploaded by plemeljr

I was lucky enough to get a tour of 7 World Trade center by SOM last night through Open House New York. Check out the photos I took, and all my photos of 7 WTC.

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April 11, 2006

• Dark Miracle, about Trinity test site and the Manhattan Project, is a successful example of micropatronage which we will see more examples of

April 10, 2006

Si, se Puede!

Flags, originally uploaded by plemeljr

I only caught the end of today's massive Immagration Rally (more info) in Lower Manhattan which culminated in a march to City Hall to protest the GOP's anti-immigration bill - HR 4437. Now, the Senate Republicans just scuttled a bill last week which would have made the puntative House bill a sure-shot, but it doesn't mean that it won't come back. But that is for later musings, because I want to talk about today's rally.

I want to stay positive. I only caught the last half-hour of the march down Broadway in TriBeCa, but there were thousands of people screaming, "Si, Se Puede" - Yes, we can, (old slogan from the migrant workers rights days) and chanting for America. Whatever you want to think about the marchers, lack of patriotism is the furthest from what was on display today. Often forced to work multiple jobs, today's immigrants share a special love for America, as a gateway for their, and their children's future.

There were Mariachi's playing tunes, horns playing the Mexican national anthem, people waving flags from Mexico, Ireland, the Dominican Republic, a Cuban flag (or two), but mostly American flags. The Stars and Stripes were all over the place. Literally. In the above photo, both American and Mexican flags wave side-by-side which was a common occurrence throughout the march.

Where the protests against the Iraq War, and President Bush in general, had a ethereal quality to it due to the intangible nature of the subject, the affect the putative House legislation was palpable. While Iraq is just some country in the Middle East, and what percentage of any Iraq protest are military (active or retired), people at today's rally knew all too well their precarious lot in America. While all too often exploited by employers, immigrants continue to strive for, and build, their America.

American Flags, originally uploaded by plemeljr

While the rally could have easily turned angry or sullen, the feeling in the middle of the throng, and it was a throng as thousands upon thousands marched, was euphoric; cooks, children, mechanics, and all sorts of people marched for their slice of the American Dream: the dream of a new sort, of prosperity, of freedom from a host of ills befitting the world. There was a distinct earnestness to the march, a serious but jubilant population who so often are marginalized or not acknowledged at all. People who fix your cars, cook your dinner (no matter if it is French, Italian, or Greek), people who clean your offices, who build your fancy condo's; these are people who, while may (or may not) have entered the country illegally, are the backbone of the workforce.

This is the face of America:

This is America, originally uploaded by plemeljr

We are America, and no matter what, that is what was on display today.

See the rest of the photos I took using the Si, Se Puede tag and see other's photos from today.

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April 9, 2006

April 6, 2006

• Net neutrality amendment shot down

  welcome to the two-tiered Internet - the telcos would have killed the Internet if thay had a chance in the beginning, relegating the world into Compuserve-verse and AOL-verse (can anyone say IM?). Now that the cat is out of the bag, they want to put it back, and then kill it

• An Art-History Professor Explains to His 4-Year-Old Daughter Why the Fair Market Value of Her Picture Is Actually Far Less Than That of a Thousand Words

• If you haven't seen this Chappelle episode, you should: I'm Wayne Bradey, Bitch!

• Underground Station Breaks - using Zoetrope in the subway to show advertisements

  this happens on the PATH also, as I found out last month riding to Hoboken for the first time

April 5, 2006

• Hasidim Riot! Hasidim Protest Cellphone-While-Driving Arrest

  Number 1 rule: Don't Fuck with the Hasidim

April 4, 2006

• On Authentic Media: Death to User-Generated Content

  Amen

• Anonymity and Online Community: Identity Matters

• The Simpsons Movie Teaser

  excellent

• Danah Boyd's appearance on O'Reilly Factor

  I linked earlier to one of her (many) intereesting articles last week.

April 3, 2006

New York Times Online Redesigns

NY Times Redesigns, originally uploaded by plemeljr

What is surely going to be the most talked about item today (Monday) - besides the Cleveland Indians taking the heat to the Chicago White Sox before the rain came down - is the redesign of the New York Times Online. While Khoi Vinh disavows being the point-man, the result shows much of his influence. Just comparing NYTimes.com to The Onion and you can see similarities. I hope another pass by Khoi can refine its' rough edges, but the redesign speaks for itself.

At first-blush, this is a much-needed and beautiful redesign - I really can't wait to see where this goes from here. I have always felt that the print version of the New York Times is a wonderfully rich document, especially items such as the magazine; the web version always stood out as a sore thumb, the bastard without design.

What is interesting - and to my knowledge new - is the Topics Section, which seems be a rudimentary stab at a more semantic web; while NYTimes.com is nothing close to Harper's semantic markup, perhaps this is a first stab. I could be wrong - it could only be an index, but I see more and more articles with information linked inline to these "topic pages;" something to be on the lookout for, at the very least.

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April 2, 2006

• Extremely well-written article on Scientology by Rolling Stone (via)

  I should start my own tax shelter religion, too

• Design Observer has a great gallery of New York Magazine's High Priority Section

  New York Magazine constantly produces top-tier design which often goes ignored

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