Skyscraper followers will be happy to know that the Burj Dubai, although not completely finished, has topped out at the official height of 2,684 feet (that’s, like, half a mile) and is now officially the tallest building on the planet!
If you’re having trouble wrapping your mind around those numbers, you’re not the only one. Here’s some help:
Wow.
The folks over at This Is The Green Room did some computations to compare the views of midtown New York from the Empire State Building to the same view were it from the Burj Dubai. The difference is staggering:
While all of this is plenty fascinating, one has to remember that the geography of Dubai in no way required such an outlandishly expensive (impractical?) structure and since Dubai’s building craze was conducted with the same zeal as a 6-year-old pursuing ice cream, the country is basically in a big fat bankruptcy clusterfuck right now.
Oh, and note to Dubai: before you try to make the world’s new vacation destination, you may want to take a step back and realize that Islamic law prohibits just about EVERYTHING THE REST OF THE WORLD ENJOYS DOING ON VACATION. Just sayin’.
And lastly in my “Dubai, You Are Stupid” rant, is this little video from Gizmodo. What do you get when you build the world’s tallest building in a fucking desert?! Really, really dusty windows. And dusty windows need cleaning.
WPIX-11 (“Yes, we have news”) is reporting that since June 19, a SERIAL BUTT SLAPPER – pause and repeat – A SERIAL BUTT SLAPPER has been terrorizing women while riding the subway near stations in Crown Heights.
According to reports, the women said, “Harder!” but the man refused to slap “harder.”
No, I kid.
Apparently this subtlety-challenged individual has been leaving hand prints on all sorts of ladies’ asses aged 19-44, to which I say: Ageist! Sexist! Homophobe! Spread the love, asshole!
Honestly, though, I think these women need to calm down a little. Groping is the new flirtatious eye contact. Get with the ’00’s. If I didn’t routinely fondle strangers on the D-train at 4:00 AM on a Saturday, I wouldn’t have had half the meaningful 6-hour fuck parties relationships I’ve had.
These woman have been whining like they were kicked in the uterus or something so the police have said they’re working weally, weally hard on the case (yeah, right) but admit they haven’t made any arrests and THE BUTT SLAPPER IS STILL AT LARGE.
The Williamsbugh (sic) Savings Bank tower at sunset. Click pic to enlarge. Located at 1 Hanson Place on the edge of the Fort Greene (not Williamsburg) neighborhood of Brooklyn, it is the tallest building in the borough at 37 stories/512 feet. The top floors have been recently been converted to condos, including 2,300 square-foot full-floor penthouses directly below the clock; here’s a marketing shot from the building’s website:
As you can see, even a view from the building’s lowest converted floor – the 18th – would still yield pretty great city views.
Trivia: The lack of any tall neighbors means the hands on the building’s four clock faces were subjected to brutal and unchecked wind, which usually meant all four faces of the clock would display a different time. As part of the renovation/conversion contract, the giant hands were to be redesigned to withstand the winds they faced. Perhaps eager to show off their new achievement, the designers lined the hands with awful red lights that are far brighter than any of the building’s other exterior lighting. Oh, and sometimes they still display the wrong time.
I, for one, am going bat-shit crazy with all the rain and clouds and I don’t think I’m alone. As you can see from Gothamist’s handy chart, June has been rainy one but not the rainiest. And if that’s not depressing (we’re not even breaking records with this bullshit?), check out this bullshit:
By late 2011, we’ll have used up 212, 646, 718, 347, and 917. Daaamn.
Officials are now trying to determine whether to introduce a city-wide area code (currently, 917 is the only area code that serves all five boroughs) or an area code just for the outer boroughs, which are currently served by 718 and 347 (212 and 646 serve Manhattan exclusively).
A new five-borough area code is expected to last until 2017.
PS: Remember the “Seinfeld” where Elaine gets a 646 number and no one believes its a real number?
MAN: You’re probably one of those women who doesn’t like to give out her number. ELAINE: No, I’m not. Here you go. MAN: 646? ELAINE: It’s a new area code. MAN: What area? New Jersey? ELAINE: No, no. It’s right here in the city. It’s the same as 212. They just multiplied it by 3, and then they added one to the middle number. It’s the same. MAN: Do I have to dial a one first?
Elaine nods and the man crumples up her number. MAN: I’m really kinda seein’ somebody. ELAINE: Yeah? Well, so am I!
Well, 32-year-old Kevin Patterson does, but I assume it’s worth it because he lives in the hip/desirable/swank neighborhood of… the Upper West Side?
Kevin said that he moved into this jail cell walk-in closet from a place that was “four or five” times as big and his creative masochism decorating just won him top honors from Apartment Therapy in the “Teeny Tiny” division.
I swear to god if I’m 32 years old and paying $1550 a month for a 210-sqaure-foot studio, my friends better smack some serious sense into me.
Here are some pics:
From doorway.
From window.
Click the above to enlarge.
The innovations (he mounted a mop to the rear of that mirror, for example), more pics, and the floor plan are here.
The outcome was not surprising but the path was: the bill received support from five Republicans and several members who voted against the bill in 2007.
Much of the bill’s support can be linked to the work of the Assembly’s first openly gay member, Manhattan’s Daniel O’Donnell. The Times ran a brief profile of him yesterday and described his tenacious, aggressive, and sometimes flirtatious approach to gaining his fellow colleague’s support.
One of his targets was Assemblyman Greg Ball:
He stopped Mr. Ball’s parents while they were visiting the Capitol, and asked them to urge their son to back the measure. He cornered Mr. Ball in a statehouse elevator, and taunted him: vote for same-sex marriage, or you won’t get invited to my engagement party.
Mr. O’Donnell has even told Mr. Ball, a square-jawed former Air Force captain, that he was “the best looking guy in the Assembly, and he owed it to the gays to vote yes.”
“Did I think that overt flirtation was going to get Greg Ball to vote yes?” Mr. O’Donnell recalled. “Didn’t know. But I was going to try.”
And, since I know you want it: here’s a photo of Greg Ball (and yes, he’s handsome).
To read more of Daniel O’Donnell’s profile go here. More on the Assembly’s vote here.
No date has been set for when the Senate will tackle the bill.
At the observation deck at 30 Rockefeller Center – AKA The Top of the Rock. Taken through an archway looking down at the street, approximately 850 feet below. Note the garden on the left hand side of the photograph. Click pic to enlarge.
Flowering magnolia tree. I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than a magnolia tree in bloom. Taken several years ago in City Hall Park, NYC. Click pic to enlarge.
“I saw this cow running up the street with the police chasing him. I knew the police would eventually win, but he had good spunk.” – William Barksdale, 72. (NYDN)
“Queens. Loose cow. 103 Precinct. 109 Avenue. E.S.U. reporting a loose cow at the location.” – 911 Dispatcher. (NYT)
I feel like when it comes to escaping, slaughterhouses are the opposite of jails: if you manage to escape, you deserves to be released and apparently the NYPD agrees! An anonymous source told NY Mag,”We always think that once they’ve escaped, they’ve earned the right to go free.” The police will now deliver the cow to the ASPCA.
The Chrysler Building, taken several years ago. It’s not a very original pick but it’s definitely my favorite building in NY (suck it Empire State Building!). Click pic to enlarge.
Gothamist via NewYorkology is reporting that the 2009 Macy’s Fourth Of July fireworks orgy will be based in the Hudson River – ie, between Manhattan and NJ – to mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing up the river.
The barges that launch the fireworks are usually in the East River – ie, between Manhattan and Brooklyn/Queens – although the Hudson was used for the firework’s debut in 1958 and remained there the following year, also, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of Hudson’s journey.
I know I have no right to claim ownership to this celebration but somehow I feel cheated that they’re giving a better view to Jerseyans than to outer borough New Yorkers.
There’s no word on whether this switch is a one-year event or a permanent change, although history would suggest that it will just be for one year.
Celebrating the 400th year since Hudson, an Englishman working for the Dutch, made his journey is apparently part of the larger NY400 celebration. From “the official website of the Government of The Kingdom of The Netherlands for the celebrations of NY400”:
This year we celebrate 400 years of enduring friendship between the Netherlands and the United States. Four hundred years ago, a Dutch ship called the Half Moon guided to the shores of what is now New York City with Captain Henry Hudson at the helm. This led to the establishment of New Amsterdam and the New Netherland colony. Some 167 years later, in 1776, the Dutch were the first to salute the flag of the United States of America. NY400 celebrates the free spirit, openness, entrepreneurship and tolerance of those Dutch-American pioneers, and their continued relevance today and beyond.
Who knew we were such butt buddies with the Dutch?! Haven’t they heard that we invaded Iraq without provocation?!
Sakura Matsuri, the annual festival celebrating Japanese culture and the blossoming of BBG’s 220 cherry trees, will culminate this weekend.
I’ve gone most (all?) of the 4+ years I’ve lived in Brooklyn and really enjoyed the scenery every time. (Sadly, due to lack of planning, the above photo is not mine.) Unfortunately, this may not be the festival’s best year: last week’s warm temperatures jump-started the blooming and this weekend’s weather doesn’t look so great. If you do decide to attend, however, the BBG’s cherry blossom map is showing that the vast majority of cherry blossoms are still in peak bloom.
Admission to the garden and the festival is $12 for adults, although you can get in for free between 10 AM and noon on Saturday.
Of note:
A) The ass.
B) His non-anonymous’ized e-mail address, which appears to be a variant of his name.
C) The poster identifies himself as the owner and also “a licensed real estate person.” Does he make all of his sales with this ass?
D) Despite the implication that this roommate relationship is going to become sexual – or at minimum involve a lot of exhibitionism – he’s still charging $700/month to live in buttfuck.
E) The ass.
Update: You have to check out what comes up when you Google that guy’s e-mail address and I also highly recommend visiting his MySpace page (face pic!) (And yes, I have way too much time on my hands…)
The documentary, which examines closeted anti-gay lawmakers and that I posted about here, premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival last week and has already pissed off former NYC Mayor Ed Koch. The 84-year-old lifelong bachelor has always denied being gay or, of late, refused to address questions about his personal life, but being essentially outed in the film is not what upset him – it’s the distortion of his record: the film apparently claims that Koch’s “record on AIDS and gay rights was virtually nonexistent” and Koch sees it differently.
“It’s a [bleep]ing outrage,” Koch told Page Six yesterday. “Bella Abzug and I, in the early ’70s, introduced in Congress a bill that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
When he was elected mayor in 1977, one of his first acts was to ban such discrimination by city agencies. “And when we later said the law applied to contractors doing business with the city, the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army sued me,” Koch said.
“In 1984, I was the first mayor to march in the Gay Pride Parade. I was the first mayor to appoint openly gay judges…”
I’m going take Koch on his word for the above but note that those points don’t contradict the criticism that has been leveraged against him. Specifically, Koch’s Wikipedia page notes that Larry Kramer, among others, have criticized Koch for essentially ignoring the NYC AIDS epidemic of ’82-’83, presumably out of fear that it would lend credence to the rumor of his homosexuality.
While I’ve already expressed that I’m excited for “Outraged,” I’m hoping Koch isn’t too central to the film. I kinda feel bad that people are still hounding this 84-year-old about his sexuality and even if he did ignore the NYC AIDS epidemic of ’82-’83 – a topic on which I am decidedly ignorant but will acknowledge is an obviously selfish and egregious act of self-preservation at the expense of others – surely there are still bigger fish to fry in the ocean of closeted politicians who screw the LGBT population. (Right?)
It will be interesting to see if and how other subjects of the film respond.
The famous Woolworth Building in its neo-Gothic glory. The structure was the world’s tallest building from its completion in 1913 to 1930. This photo was taken from West Street, showing the western and southern sides of the building.
The Times has a rather amusing profile of a charmingly “New York style” subway rescue.
[Chad] Lindsey said he sensed a train was approaching, because the platform was crowded. “I dropped my bag and jumped down there. I tried to wake him up,” he said. “He probably had a massive concussion at that point. I jumped down there and he just wouldn’t wake up, and he was bleeding all over the place.”
He looked back up at the people on the platform. “I yelled, ‘Contact the station agent and call the police!’ which I think is hilarious because I don’t think I ever said ‘station agent’ before in my life. What am I, on ‘24’?”
And what do you do after you rescue an unconscious man from the subway? Take the next train without even having the paramedics clean the stranger’s blood off of you, of course.
And Mr. Lindsey did just that – returning to the anonymous sea of people that is New York and escaping the notice of the police, the “station agent,” or the paramedics; he remained anonymous until a friend revealed his identity. “It was quite a New York day,” Mr. Lindsey said. Yes, indeed.
(No seriously, this is pretty scary. I think the only thing that I find more frightening than stampedes are prison riots; I guess it’s just chaos in general.)
Posted by Mark 
C’mon Seattle. Share some sun.
Gothamist
…but not for the reason you’d expect.
Play Happy. 