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Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
familiar details
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Kinda personal post today, its been a bad day.
Yesterday, Tuesday the 25th, your humble narrator was helping out on a Working Harbor Committee tour of New York Harbor. The goal of this tour was to encourage a group of inner city kids to continue their education beyond secondary school and to present the notion of a career in the maritime industries for their consideration. Several notable speakers made the case while I shot pictures of the event, and of course- passing tugboats and other watercraft. That's when the phone rang.
It was a Doctor, a nursing home staffer on Staten Island that had been caring for my Mom. He adjured me to make all haste toward their facility as her time was near. Trapped onboard the ship, however, I would either need to return to Manhattan and catch the Staten Island Ferry or jump ship and swim – the irony was that my actual location in the Kill Van Kull was a mere mile from their inland location. Within moments, the phone rang again, and the Doctor informed me that Mom had died.
from wikipedia
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long and 1,000 feet (305 m) wide between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States.[1] Spanned by the Bayonne Bridge, it is one of the most heavily travelled waterways in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Kill Van Kull connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end, and Bergen Point its western end. Historically it has been one of the most important channels for the commerce of the region, providing a passage for marine traffic between Upper Bay and the industrial towns of northeastern New Jersey. During the colonial era it played a significant role in travel between New York and the southern Thirteen Colonies, with passengers changing from ferries to coaches at Elizabethtown. Since the final third of the 20th century, it has provided the principal access for ocean-going container ships to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the busiest port facility in the eastern United States, and Howland Hook Marine Terminal.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My mother has been dying for nearly 10 years, with periods of intense illness followed by long lulls spent in a half life of pharmacological stasis. Her once vast intellect had shattered, her body weakened, and finally her physicians ordered her to give up the smart little apartment she had bankrupted herself for. She checked into a nursing home, which was her last mailing address.
Suffering from dementia, she ended up on the sixth floor, where the screamers are. Her life became something very close to my personal vision of hell- an institutionalized and undignified existence without a shred of freedom or self determination. Confused, sick, confined.
Don't get me wrong, the old lady was no angel, this isn't one of those stories. Just like every other post here, at your Newtown Pentacle, this description of her fate was neither good nor bad- it just is.
Today, a priest who never met anybody in my family will officiate at a ceremony in some town on Long Island that we have no connection to at a burial ground which adheres to a peripheral and unfamiliar religious system. He will speak in a language that nobody present will understand, and say prayers that were ancient when Rome was founded. At the end of it, the extended family will disperse to diners.
People will try to comfort me, offer open ended promises, and search my face for emotional cues to follow. Problem is that I'm a cold fish, very hard to read, and will appear aloof. Nobody can do or say anything right now, and the offers are appreciated, but one of the traits my Mom beat into me was "freak out later, take care of business now".
from wikipedia
The Jewish funeral consists of burial, also known as interment. Cremation is not considered a viable possibility. Burial is considered to allow the body to decompose naturally. Burial is intended to take place in as short an interval of time after death as possible. Jewish law forbids embalming. Displaying of the body prior to burial does not take place.
In Israel the Jewish funeral service will usually commence at the burial ground. In the United States and Canada, the funeral service will either commence at a funeral home or at the cemetery. Occasionally the service will commence at a synagogue. In the case of a very prominent individual the funeral service can begin at a synagogue or a yeshivah. If the funeral service begins at a point other than at the cemetery the entourage accompanies the body in a procession to the cemetery. The funeral itself, the procession, the burial, are referred to by the word levayah, meaning "accompanying."
Levayah means "accompaniment" because the funeral procession involves accompanying the body to the place of burial. Levayah is Hebrew and it also indicates "joining" and "bonding." This aspect of the meaning of the word levayah conveys the implication of a commonality between the "souls" of the living and the dead.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The great commonality of human existence is that nobody dies well. There is no "good death". As long time readers can attest, I understand the actual physical processes of death in arcane detail, and it ain't nice.
Mom, however, died in a bed with a team of experts doing their level best (within the legal restrictions of her wish to not be subjected to "heroic measures" commonly called a DNR order) to save her. How lucky, and wonderful an end, for in her last moments- Mom had regained control over her life again. That's something.
The Pentacle won't be updating with anything new for a day or so, your humble narrator has to engage with the funerary industrial complex for the next couple of days.
Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi, indeed.
from wikipedia
A do not resuscitate document is a binding legal document that states resuscitation should not be attempted if a person suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest. Abbreviated DNR, such an order may be instituted on the basis of an advance directive from a person, or from someone entitled to make decisions on their behalf, such as a health care proxy.
DNR documents are widespread in some countries and unavailable in others. In countries where a DNR is unavailable the decision to end resuscitation is made solely by physicians.
First, for almost every correct pronunciation of the name "Cooper"- as enunciated by Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman, click here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Peter Cooper is a name known to modernity as a place name, and as the founder of the Cooper Union academy on the Bowery, and ephemerally as a product of a degenerate Dutch and Anglophile ruling class called the "Knickerbocracy", which ran the City of New York well into the late 19th century.
He was a great deal more, and its odd that histories of the United States produced in the 20th century generally omit the name of this prominent industrialist- an opponent of slavery and proponent of Native American rights, father of a New York City Mayor and father in law of another Mayor– from discussion. His contributions to the Nation's industrial history are similarly overlooked.
A Newtown Pentacle posting of June,4 2009 revealed that the origins of his great fortune were founded along the loathsome Newtown Creek, where his industrial operations chemically converted animal tissue and bodily waste into useful products like glue and Jell-O brand gelatin (as a note: if you enjoy gealtin treats, NEVER inquire as to what it is actually made from, or the methodologies employed in manufacture– for you will strike this item from your diet forever. I warn you, and point out that similar warnings against investigating the realities of Chimpanzee Attack have been proven out in the past).
from cooper.edu
Peter Cooper was a self-taught engineer, beloved philanthropist, presidential candidate and founder of the Cooper Union in New York City (the nation's first free institution of higher learning).
Cooper had a number of patents and inventions to his credit. Builder and inventor of the famous "Tom Thumb" protoytpe locomotive, which was used to demonstrate the potential of steam-powered rail transport to leaders of the American transportation industry, he also obtained the very first American patent for the manufacture of gelatin (1845). He subsequently established a number of other patents for its manufacture and established manufacturing standards for its production. Some time later (1895), Pearl B. Wait, a cough syrup manufacturer, bought the patent from Peter Cooper and adapted Cooper's gelatin dessert into an entirely prepackaged form, which his wife, May David Wait, named "Jell-O." The rest is history…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cooper was instrumental to the B&O railroad, instigated the installation of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, and ran for president of the United States at the age of 85. The statue pictured above is sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and can be found alongside the Cooper Union university building in Manhattan. It shows a promethean and physically robust specimen, which is a somewhat inaccurate visual description. Thanks to the archives at that august academy of the arts, photos of the great man in life are available.
from wikipedia
Influenced by the writings of Lydia Maria Child, Cooper became involved in the Indian reform movement, organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission. This organization, whose members included William E. Dodge and Henry Ward Beecher, was dedicated to the protection and elevation of Native Americans in the United States and the elimination of warfare in the western territories. Cooper's efforts led to the formation of the Board of Indian Commissioners, which oversaw Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy. Between 1870 and 1875, Cooper sponsored Indian delegations to Washington, D.C., New York City, and other Eastern cities. These delegations met with Indian rights advocates and addressed the public on United States Indian policy. Speakers included: Red Cloud, Little Raven and Alfred B. Meacham and a delegation of Modoc and Klamath Indians.
Cooper was an ardent critic of the gold standard and the debt-based monetary system of bank currency. Throughout the depression from 1873-78, he said that usury was the foremost political problem of the day. He strongly advocated a credit-based, Government-issued currency of United States Notes. He outlined his ideas in his 1883 book Ideas for a Science of Good Government.
photo from cooper.edu
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 6.5 acre site of Cooper's glue factory, which picked up stakes and left Brooklyn in 1895, was sold by his descendants to the City of Brooklyn for $55,000 (that's $55,000 in 1895, by the way). Today, it's known as Cooper Park, which sits between Sharon and Olive Streets and Maspeth and Morgan Avenues in Greenpoint. The Glue factory was considered quote a nuisance by contemporaries- but one wonders how much of that reportage was driven by politics. Cooper was what modernity would classify as a liberal and progressive reformer, and was a bulwark against the trusts and Tammany. A powerful man gains powerful enemies- or as Stan Lee would put it- "with great power comes great responsibility".
from uua.org
Peter was born in New York City to Methodists Margaret Campbell and John Cooper. Their home was opened to traveling clergy. Peter later recalled that his "father's religion was of that kind that he feared everybody would go tumbling into hell." Although he abandoned his father's doctrine, he never strayed from the work ethic his father instilled in him from an early age.
John Cooper attempted several craft and merchandising occupations, with little success. Among other tasks, Peter had to "boil the hair out of the rabbit skins to be used in the manufacture of hats." This experience may well have inspired his later invention of gelatin, made by boiling animal skin and connective tissue. He began inventing early in adolescence. He devised a machine for washing clothes, which aided his mother greatly. He helped his family by finding new ways to net wild pigeons, construct shoes, make bricks, and brew beer. So occupied, he had little opportunity for schooling. "My only recollection of being at school," Cooper explained in his autobiography, "was at Peekskill [New York] about some three or four quarters and a part of the time it was half-day school." As he began to hone his entrepreneurial skills, his lively curiosity nevertheless helped him to acquire an informal education.
In 1808 Cooper was apprenticed to a New York coachmaker. Although he showed promise in this trade, he declined to take the loan necessary to set himself up in the business. Instead he took a job in Hempstead, Long Island with a manufacturer of cloth-shearing machines. There he obtained a license to make and sell the machines in New York. He then designed, patented, and manufactured an improved version of the machine. He recalled that "the first money I received for the sale of my machines was from Mr. [Matthew] Vassar, of Poughkeepsie, who afterwards founded that noble institution for female education, called Vassar College."
In 1813 Cooper married Sarah Raynor Bedell. Only two of their six children, Edward and Sarah Amelia, survived childhood. For a time he operated a grocery store in partnership with his brother-in-law. A jack-of-all-trades, he also ran factories to make furniture, glue, and isinglass. In 1828 he founded the Canton Iron Works in Baltimore, Maryland. This made his fortune. He set up other foundries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and a rolling mill in New York (which he later moved to Trenton, New Jersey).
In addition to the washing machine, Cooper invented a cutting device for lawn mowers, a torpedo boat, and the first American steam locomotive (named "Tom Thumb"). With his brother Thomas, in 1854 he manufactured the first iron structural beams. He also invented the first blast furnace, a compressed air engine for ferry boats, a water-powered device to move barges down the newly-constructed Erie Canal, a machine to grind and polish plate glass, and a musical cradle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just for giggles, I include this tangential link- which takes you to Archive.org's "Historic and Antiquarian Scenes in Brooklyn and its vicinity". Examine the "Suydam House" section, which is the 1700 farmhouse that was commandeered in revolutionary times as a barracks for Hessian soldiers, uses phrases like "Dutch pertinacity" and discusses the history of the site that the Cooper Glue Factory would be built on. Notable moments in the english language found within include:
"It is built as was the invariable practice of the old Hollandish settlers, in a gentle depression of the ground, where it would be protected from the sweep of the dreaded north wind. The airy site and broad prospect which so entice the newer occupants of Brooklyn soil, had no attractions for the phlegmatic and comfort-loving Dutch race."
"The Germans early entertained a fondness for the soil of Bushwick and Brooklyn, for even at this period they exhibited the strongest desire to escape from military control, and settle upon it. That they had then discovered its capacity for the manufacture and storage of lager beer is susceptible of some proof. Certainly all the frightful tortures which awaited the captured deserter did not deter them from attempting escape from British protection. Many of them settled in Brooklyn, and by their thrift and industry acquired not a little property.
One of the subjects of the Elector of Hesse Cassel, named Louis Warner, in some quiet Dutch fashion of his own, crept out of the watch and ward of his majesty, George the Third's soldiers, who zealously endeavored to return the dear subjects of the Elector to his paternal care. Louis pursued the occupation of milkman for a long time on the Luqueer farm, in Bushwick, now nearly covered by the building of Peter Cooper's glue factory, where he had bivouacked with his Hessian comrades for many months during the revolution. "
and finally from rebresearch.com, (click through to their page to see the various diagrams and photos referred to in the quotation)
1820-1865: Age 30, Peter Cooper buys a glue factory from Mr. Vreeland in Kipps Bay (Grammercy Park) Manhattan. Peter had bought glue from there knew the business to be a good one. He sells the grocery shortly thereafter to concentrate upgrading the glue factory. He's nearly killed several times in this. As business expands he moves the glue factory to Burling Slip, Brooklyn and later to Maspeth, Queens. In Maspeth, Queens, near Newtown creek, Cooper builds the large facrtory shown in the picture below. Peter Cooper invents the double boiler, a major innovation (see figure) that avoids burning the glue by heating it directly with a fire. Instead, in the double boiler water is heated by coal fire, and steam from the hot water cooks the glue. The double boiler is used to this day thoughout the food industry, and steam remains the most popular heat transfer fluid throughout the chemical industry. Using the double boiler Peter Cooper's begins to make glue in ten, different, standard grades. The lightest grade will be sold as edible gelatin as well as for glue use. Cooper invents a method for freeze-drying glue and similar products, 1845. (need technical details — how was this done in the 1800s?). Quality control is an important part of Cooper glue. Peter Cooper invents a vernier test for glue stiffness (see picture below); a weight is placed on a block of gelled gule, and one measures how far the weight sags. His test method for testing glue stiffness will be used till the 1950s.
Peter Cooper's glue works also produces animal-fat based oils and chemical products. Of particular importance is Neat's Foot Oil, a lighting and machine oil made from calves feet. It's comparable to whale oil, and is still in use today. Peter Cooper invents American Isinglass, a brightener and clarifier derived from fish oil; it is cheaper than Russian Isinglass, used to clarify wine and deserts. In 1865 Cooper retires from active involvement in the glue business. He sells the main factory and land to his son, Edward, his agent, William Serrell, and their children for $200,000. At this point, the Glue Factory is probably the largest in the country, and perhaps in the world. It is selling approximately $200,000 worth of glue per year, with distribution from London to South America. In the 20th century the glue works would leave Queens for Gowanda, NY. There reamins a small monument to the factory in Maspeth, Queens. His Grandson, Peter Cooper Hewitt will patent an improved chiller table for gelatin making.
Don't Know Jack
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Social obligations carried your humble narrator to the teeming streets of New York City's famous Chinatown over the weekend, where this enigmatic ovum was observed. Alien to my eyes, this is a Jack Fruit, which is apparently one of asian cuisine's most popular cultivars. Ignorant of the pacific tropics and their unique biota, my initial thought upon encountering the Jack Fruit was that it was a pod not unlike those utilized by the "Body Snatchers" during one of the many attempts to infiltrate human society by extraterrestrials during the 1950's. Turns out that the Jack Fruit has been a part of the Asian diet since Ashoka the Great ruled India in 250 BC. The name Jack Fruit is derived from the Portuguese term for it- Jaca, after the Malaysian Chakka.
from wikipedia
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus or A. heterophylla) is a species of tree in the mulberry family (Moraceae), which is native to parts of South and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is called Kanthal (কাঁঠাল) in Bangla, Katahar (कटहर) in Nepali, Panasa (पनस) in Sanskrit, Katahal (कटहल) in Hindi, Nangka in Bahasa Indonesia,Halasu (ಹಲಸು) in Kannada, Panasa in Telugu, Pala in Tamil (is one of the three auspicious fruits of Tamil Nadu),Chakka in Malayalam language, Phanas in Marathi language and पणस in Konkani language. It is well suited to tropical lowlands. Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world, seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Armstrong, the Newtown Pentacle's far eastern correspondent and expert on asian dessert items, simply states that the Jack Fruit is delicious. After a lifetime spent in New York City, with the limited compliment of American staple fruits (banana, citrus, apple, grape, peach, tomato) and their variants available, it is a real pleasure to see that the latest waves of immigration are expanding the variety of foodstuffs. I've seen other exotic and alien crops, Durrians and Yuca for example, on sale in Queens markets in the last couple of years. Even the local supermarket here in Astoria carries a remarkable variety.
from crfg.org
In Malaysia and India there are named types of fruit. One that has caused a lot of interest is Singapore, or Ceylon, a remarkable yearly bearer producing fruit in 18 months to 2-1/2 years from transplanting. The fruit is of medium size with small, fibrous carpels which are very sweet. It was introduced into India from Ceylon and planted extensively in 1949. Other excellent varieties are Safeda, Khaja, Bhusila, Bhadaiyan and Handia. In Australia, some of the varieties are: Galaxy, Fitzroy, Nahen, Cheenax, Kapa, Mutton, and Varikkha. None of these appear to be available in the US at this time.
Yet, even as the ever changing ethnic waves bring new and exciting comestibles with them, other traditions fall away. Corned Beef does not sweat in bar room steam tables anymore, I haven't seen the Krishnas making rice and beans in Thompson Square Park for a while, Jewish Deli is virtually extinct, and…
What ever happened to the Bear Claw?
do they still exist in sticky sweetness, within the City of New York?
more on this Bear Claw business to come…
Alive and well
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sorry for the lack of postings in the last few days, but the next big batch of photos and research has been occupying me, and I'm a little "written out" at the moment. As mentioned in previous posts, I'm attempting to control myself- to not allow an "all cemetery" Newtown Pentacle to emerge. Of course, that would indicate that there was some sort of grand plan governing when things appear here, or that these postings are following an agenda of some kind. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the weather has largely shut me down for the last month or so on the "gathering content" front lines. As is usually the case during this time of the year, I'm frustrated by my inability to be outside due to my vulnerable and weakened constitution.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The good news is that I was recently invited to take a series of shots indoors at JetBlue's Terminal 5 at JFK airport, while under the supervision of airport personnel which assured no hassle with security. Certain restrictions (don't shoot security or actual runways) applied, and the vast majority of the shots are in the hands of and controlled by a major metropolitan ad agency, but I'm authorized to share a subset of them publicly- which will be coming sometime this week. Proper postings will resume shortly, why not subscribe to the RSS feed found in the toolbar to the right so you don't miss anything? No spam or commercial crap from me, can't speak for wordpress but that's really not their style- and the nice bit about "push" services like RSS is that you'll be able to read the Pentacle on the gizmo of your choice.
Taxi town
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When the intrepid shutterbug wanders around the back streets and hidden lanes of Long Island City (in particular) and North Western Queens (in general), the sheer number of Taxis observed is astounding. In the post WW2 period many, many Taxi garages and dispatchers relocated their fleet garages (mainly from the west side of Manhattan, whose rising real estate valuations priced such large footprint business out of the borough) in the area due to its proximity to Manhattan and the easy (free) egress offered to the business districts of the shining City by the Queensboro Bridge. Also, the land was cheap, by New York standards.
The inexpensive nature of the land in Long Island City during the last half of the 20th century presents an inexplicable paradox given the paradise that LIC – south of the bridge- is reported to have been during the 1970's and 80's by comment threads at LIQCity.
I just can't let this one go, by the way. A general excoriation of this blog and me personally has been detailed in the comment thread there by a few dedicated trolls who have focused on half a sentence in a 1,000 word post that was part of a 3,000 word sum up editorial at the end of the year.
When confronted to back up a statement, I supplied primary source material and was then told "don't believe what you read". So far, they've made intonations and accusations about my sexual preferences, called me amateur, lazy, gullible, self promoting, on drugs, like a spoiled 2 year old, an untalented liar, having written a "disgraceful and distasteful article complete with racist undertones", making false claims about having lived in NYC all my life, and one anonymous poster has suggested "Think about it. A few years ago it was an Italian neighborhood. It's okay to use that locution, right? Well, not for nothin', but only idiots would try to get away with anything around here". To my ears, that is the epitome of racist undertone- suggesting that stereotypical organized crime elements kept LIC safe and are exactly the sort of thing that they are all so upset about. I respond here, as comments at Newtown Pentacle are moderated and require you to sign your name, and I don't participate in acrimonious flame wars.
Notice that at no point do they supply anything besides anonymous anecdotes in argument. The difference between these "anon" posters and myself is that I sign my name to things that I write, and can back up what I say. I fully expect to be connected to global terror and accused of being a sexual predator before the weekend is over. Also, the notion that I would use the tragic death of a car service driver to "promote myself" is anathema and personally offensive. I take my battles outside, to the street, where it counts. Coward.
from nyc.gov
What is the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission?
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), created in 1971, is the agency responsible for licensing and regulating New York City's medallion (yellow) taxicabs, for-hire vehicles (community-based liveries and black cars), commuter vans, paratransit vehicles (ambulettes) and certain luxury limousines. The Commission's Board consists of nine members, eight of whom are unsalaried Commissioners. The salaried Chair/Commissioner presides over regularly scheduled public Commission meetings, and is the head of the agency, which maintains a staff of approximately 400 TLC employees assigned to various divisions and bureaus. The Hon. Matthew W. Daus was named as Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's designee to the Chair of the TLC in June 2001 and was unanimously confirmed by the New York City Council on August 22, 2001. He was then reappointed by Mayor Bloomberg in July 2003 and was again unanimously confirmed by the New York City Council on July 23, 2003.
The TLC licenses and regulates over 50,000 vehicles and approximately 100,000 drivers, performs safety and emissions inspections of the more than 13,000 medallion taxicabs three times each year, and holds numerous hearings for violations of City and TLC rules and regulations, making it the most active taxi and limousine licensing regulatory agency in the United States.To find out more about the TLC, or to review the agency's procedures, rules and regulations and programs, you may review the constantly updated information available throughout this web site, or you may call the TLC's Customer Service Hotline at 311.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Omnipresent, the New York City Yellow cab is available for hire and will take you just about anywhere. A point is made, by your humble narrator, to converse with Cab drivers. Often, the conversation will involve their native country – which is what I'm really interested in- or their "immigrant story". Eye opening, some of the stories I've been told about life in the far and middle east have changed my perceptions and corrected certain misconceptions acquired through ignorance and cultural prejudices. Ultimately, the one thing all cab drivers seem to have in common is a shared hatred of the Van Wyck.
from nyc.gov
The Following Vehicles are Currently in Use as New York City Taxicabs
- 2009-Ford Crown Victoria Stretch
- 2009-Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
- 2009-Saturn Aura Hybrid
- 2009-Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
- 2009-Volkswagen Jetta Clean Diesel Sedan
- 2009-Lexus RX400h
- 2009-Toyota Camry Hybrid
- 2009-Toyota Prius-48 mpg city
- 2009-Toyota Highlander Hybrid (4WD)
- 2009-Saturn Vue Greenline
- 2009-Nissan Altima Hybrid
- 2009-Ford Escape Hybrid (2WD)
- 2009-Mercury Mariner Hybrid (AWD)
- 2010-Ford Crown Victoria Stretch
- 2010-Volkswagen Jetta Clean Diesel Sedan
- 2010-Lexus RX450h
- 2010-Lexus HS250h
- 2010-Toyota Camry Hybrid
- 2010-Toyota Prius-48 mpg city
- 2010-Toyota Highlander Hybrid
- 2010-Nissan Altima Hybrid
- 2010-Ford Escape Hybrid (2WD)
- 2010-Ford Fusion Hybrid
- 2010-Mercury Milan Hybrid
- 2010-Mercury Mariner Hybrid (AWD)
The following are the approved for use as Wheelchair Accessible Taxicabs:
- 2007-Eclipse Mobility Dodge Caravan
- 2007-Eldorado National Mobility Chevrolet Uplander
- 2007-2008 Autovan Toyota Sienna
- 2007-2008 Freedom Motors Toyota Sienna Kneelvan
- 2008-2009 Freedom Motors Toyota Sienna Kneelvan
Additional vehicle models come on the market from time to time that may comply with TLC rules. Any questions about a vehicle model not listed above, or about any vehicle retirement issue, should be referred to TLC hack site at (718) 267-4501.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Because of the presence of the fleet garages, one will observe hundreds of smashed and destroyed vehicles which have been towed home for repair. Self employed on the whole, the shift drivers of New York's Taxi fleets must maintain and pay for their own health insurance. When they are sick or injured and can't work, they don't get paid. I've often wondered why the city doesn't offer a buy-in to the generous and inexpensive (due to the size of "the plan") health insurance plan enjoyed by other employees of the City, to help these defacto city workers afford coverage. During the transit strike a few years ago, the municipality depended heavily on these folks, it would only be fair to thank them somehow. Taxi drivers, however, are a maligned and oft abused group.
from yellowcabnyc.com
For the city's cabbies, the quest for a bathroom is no potty joke.
Finding bladder relief is a daily dilemma for the city's 44,000 cabbies, who typically work 12 hour shifts and cruise miles away from their garages. And the hunt for a toilet is getting harder as new bike lanes and MUNI meters make it harder to jump out without getting ticketed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman (note: this was a film shoot in progress, down in LIC)
Cab drivers are victimized by anybody who feels like it. During the last quarter of the 20th century, it became an increasingly dangerous job. Casual racism and derogatory comments are suffered by drivers, as well as robbery and theft of services. Drivers often say that the reason they don't want to go to some outlying area of the city is fear of the passenger exiting the vehicle with the meter still running. Also, as a cab at the middle and end of its shift is carrying a decent amount of cash, they are prime targets for robbery. The city also preys upon the yellow cabs, with NYPD ticket blitz tactics and an ever shifting mosaic of rules and regulations.
from nyc.gov
Are drivers required to know how to get to any destination in New York City?
Drivers are required to know the streets of Manhattan as well as major destinations in the other boroughs. Additionally, all New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission licensed taxi drivers must have a map available to them when on duty. If they do not, they are in violation of TLC rules and regulations. In addition, as per TLC rules, they are required to know the "lay of the land", that is, have extensive knowledge of the NYC area. Taxi drivers are not permitted to refuse service, because they do not know how to reach a destination. They must consult their 5-borough map to identify the best route to any destination within the 5 boroughs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Like all New Yorkers, I count on yellow cabs being available as soon as I step off the curb and stick my hand out. A preference for mass transit is enjoyed here at Newtown Pentacle HQ, but every now and then when time is short and the vagaries of the MTA cannot be counted on, a Taxi is the way to go. As mentioned above, I make it a point to chat with willing drivers, and have learned many interesting things about the modern taxi industry, which contrasts with the experiences of an uncle who owned and drove a Checker cab in NYC for 30 years (retiring in the mid 70's). Once, a modern driver shared his "drivers manual" with me, which was fascinating.
from wikipedia
The first taxicab company in New York was the New York Taxicab Company, which in 1907 imported 600 gasoline-powered cars from France. The cars were painted red and green. Within a decade several more companies opened business and taxicabs began to proliferate. The fare was 50 cents a mile, a rate only affordable to the relatively wealthy. Previous taxis, including the one that killed Henry Bliss in 1899, were electric.
By the 1920s, industrialists recognized the potential of the taxicab market. Automobile manufacturers like General Motors and the Ford Motor Company began operating fleets. The most successful manufacturer, however, was the Checkered Cab Manufacturing Company. Founded by Morris Markin, Checker Cabs produced the large yellow and black taxis that became one of the most recognizable symbols of mid-20th century urban life. For many years Checker cabs were the most popular taxis in New York City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The drivers manual, and this was back in the 1990's so it's a bit of a hazy memory, had a table towards the back of the book which described flat fees and regulations for a New York City Taxi to charge when a passenger wants to go to a locale wildly outside of the NY area. At least back then, a cab (which had the right of refusal for such exo-destinations) could be hailed, and the driver told "I need to go to Kansas City". The driver could only be expected to drive a certain number of hours per day, would have to provided with accommodations and meals, and would be expecting quite a bit more than the usual buck or two tip. A longtime fantasy of mine has been to take a trip to San Francisco in an NYC yellow cab with a documentary film crew- the fare of said trip, back in the '90's, would have been (as I said hazy memory, I might be flubbing this number) around $3,800 + fuel, hotels, meals, and tip.
from pubadvocate.nyc.gov
On-duty New York City taxis, or yellow cabs, must take passengers to any destination within the five boroughs, Westchester County, Nassau County and Newark Airport. Unless traffic is tied up or the passenger requests otherwise, the driver is required to take the shortest route. To complain about a cab or cabbie, or find out about lost items, call the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Because there are over 40,000 licensed taxi drivers and over 11,000 licensed taxi cabs, try to have the following information ready: the driver's name and license number and the taxi medallion number. In addition to yellow cabs, for-hire vehicles (FHVs) carry passengers around town. FHVs, commonly used in all five boroughs, serve passengers by prior arrangement and cannot stop for a hailing customer. FHVs come in three styles and price ranges: car services, black cars, and limousines. The NYC diamond decal on the windshield of licensed FHVs distinguishes them from unlicensed gypsy cabs. Write to the Taxi and Limousine Commission at the above address with complaints about FHVs. Your letter should include the license plate number, the name of the dispatch company, the date and time of the incident, and a brief description of the incident. Allegations of overcharging will be addressed immediately, other complaints less rapidly, and incidents that involve the police will take longer.
Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm
Taxi and Limousine Commission
40 Rector Street, 5th Floor (212) NYC-TAXI (692-8294)
note: the above photo is "highly processed" and is a composited shot of something like six individual photos "photshopped" together. Just in the name of full disclosure, as I wouldn't want to be accused of being a "liar" – photo by Mitch Waxman
from wikipedia
By the mid-1980s and into the 1990s the demographic changes among cabbies began to accelerate as new waves of immigrants arrived in New York. Today, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, of the 62,000 cabbies in New York 82 percent are foreign born: 23 percent are from the Caribbean (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and 30 percent from South Asia (India, and Pakistan).
Some drivers became puzzled about why the TLC isn't scrutinized for profiling the demographic make-up of cab permit holders, while drivers are scrutinized for superficial evaluation, mis-characterized as racism.
The production of the famous Checker Cab had stopped and although there were still many in operation, the Chevrolet Caprice and Ford Crown Victoria became the industry top choices. Large frame, rear-wheel drive, former police cruisers, available at auctions provide a steady supply of used, well-maintained cars for cab fleets nationwide.
The working conditions of cabbies have changed as crime in New York has plummeted, while the cost of medallions has increased. Fewer cabbies own their taxicabs than in previous times. The TLC bureaucracy involved makes single-cab and small-fleet operations less attractive.
In the cold waste 2
from Vernon Blvd., Queensboro – photo by Mitch Waxman
Despite fingertips bleached to parchment white by biting wind and polar conditions, the cold waste beckons, and your humble narrator perseveres.
The relict shores of Ravenswood's 3rd world persist in atavist glory at Vernon Blvd. and 44th drive, near the Gordon Triangle, which is what passes for a city park in this stronghold of the Oligarchs.
Brutal realities confront one here, 1 and 2 family homes still can be found, abutting vast victorian mill buildings converted to warehouse duty in the early 20th century. Fingerprints, left by the fattened digits of the masters, greasily smear across the neighborhood- every "available" sign on a relict warehouse is a signal of avarice and intent.
Taxis parked – photo by Mitch Waxman
At 46th avenue, the brick horizon opens, and a glimpse of the shining city is offered. Soon, this viewpoint and vantage will be occluded by yet another high rise spire, a warehouse offered to white collar laborers. Where will the unwashed who cook- and clean- and build- live and work when this 3rd world is gone- ground beneath the jeweled heel of progress?
The children of these new residents- where will they play and go to school? What will happen to the fragile infrastructure of 19th century streets, where wounds to the modern asphalt reveal victorian cobblestones? Why is the municipality not requiring the construction of new subway stations and schools, or at least sewers, from these Oligarchs for the rapacious profits they will garner from these grand projects?
Soil remediation tent – photo by Mitch Waxman
All the poisons in the mud will leach out, in the end.
The parable is exemplified at Anable Basin, at 5th street, where a second attempt at remediating the industrial history and unmentioned past of Ravenswood and Hunters Point is underway. This extant of the QueensWest development, whose previous metastasizes eradicated the historic district between the LIRR powerhouse and the LIRR Gantry docks, is troubled by environmental concerns that have postponed the plans of the masters.
Lessons learned there have been incorporated by the municipal chamberlins and chancellors, to avoid such expensive delays in a newer and larger project called Queens South just beginning at Hunters Point.
Megalopolis and Brownfield – photo by Mitch Waxman
Home sweet hell, New York City, the vast human hive.
The cement goddess is mother and home, school and prison, always a battleground- it produces children who are survivalist predators. When we walk the earth, New Yorkers are tigers amongst simpler peoples who didn't have to endure living with… other New Yorkers.
There is a mind set amongst the rich in New York, and there always has been, that the poor can be saved by example- by having the poor live "as we do". All of the afflictions of poverty can be alleviated- if not cured. Progressive Reformer or New Law Tenement or Urban Renewal or Gentrification or Upzoning, call it what you want- but Caesar is building the new Roman slums in an entirely inorganic fashion. This neighborhood used to be an industrial center, and then a junkyard, and that's the reason why the ground is poison.
The industrial revolution happened. Here.
Testing Wells- May 30, 2009 – photo by Mitch Waxman
I am not a fan of vertical tower dwellings whose price of entry is designed to bring a non homologous population into an existing ethnic neighborhood as I can predict what will happen a generation or two from now, but I don't own the land.
True ownership allows untrammeled discretion- if I own a car, I can set it on fire if I wanted to. If I own a house, I can knock out all the walls if I wanted to. If I could erect a forty story statue of my little dog Zuzu directly across the river from the United Nations building- that would robotically defend the city against giant Cat or Squirrel attack of course- it would be my business- because its my property. Why, though, would the City of New York instead encourage me to build an apartment house on a contaminated site instead of accepting the nature of the place and dedicating it to some acceptable usage? Could it just be the installation of a certain demographic and tax bracket into an overwhelmingly low and middle income neighborhood would benefit the status quo over in Manhattan?
Again, I'm just some guy, who doesn't own anything. They're rich guys, and in modern America, rich means you're right- so what does it matter what I think?
Waste Barrels- June 29, 2009 – photo by Mitch Waxman
I've been haunting this place for a while.
Fascinating little project they have going on, which has actually activated some community activism amongst the new residents of Long Island City- the Tower People. Not bad folks these Tower People, on the whole, despite being a denigrated group referred to with smirks and winks by long time LIC'ers. Degreed and lettered professionals on the whole, they are a legion of bankers and lawyers who exist in the warren shadows of Manhattan's financial district and turbulent midtown by day, but they turn Long Island City from a neighborhood into a dormitory.
A narrow enough lensing of the past can create causality from coincidence, but if you think that Battery Park City or Jersey City is city planning at its best, you're going to love the new Long Island City.
Brownfield Work Site – photo by Mitch Waxman
The only buy-in for the community at large to enjoy are the production of riverfront parklands, which are remarkable, from which you may admire Manhattan while ignoring Queens stretching out behind you.
A recent article found at Queenscrap describes the cost of maintaining NYC parks at an astounding $10,000 per acre. Using this metric, Calvary Cemetery would need to raise $720,000 per year for groundskeeping, the average suburban golf course would have yearly expenditures measured in the millions, and a midwestern farm would incur costs in the tens of millions to maintain their lands let alone harvest them. I do believe that the journalists out there should take a close look at the Parks Dept. if this number is accurate. Just to be clear, as acreage is an old fashioned measurement not used commonly in the urban setting, that's a square which is 208 feet and 8 inches on a side. The riverfront parks associated with Queens West will cost as much as $100,000 per acre.
Brownfield Work Site – photo by Mitch Waxman
9.5 acres, and owned by Rockrose Development (which has recently transformed itself into another corporate entity), this is the future home of four residential towers. As of April 2008, some 80,000 tons of contaminants had been removed from the site at a cost of $31 million. Standard Oil sited an oil refinery here in the 1860's, and the soil is contaminated with Benzene, Petroleum Distillates, and volatile organic chemicals whose detected presence – in trace amounts- would cause the regular NYFD to evacuate and call in their HAZMAT teams.
Additionally, generations of untreated sewage and industrial pollution swirl and mix with the water table of the East River in the deeply cold gravels and blackened mud beneath the place. Sources also reveal that the "clean fill" being used to replace the contaminated substrates that were removed in the remediation process emanates from the tunnel being bored out from under the East River by the "East Side Access" project.
Who can guess, what it is, that still may lie hidden down there?
Brownfield Work Site – photo by Mitch Waxman
All the poisons in the mud will leach out, in the end.


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Find a Caregiver
0 caregivers with Hospice Care experience found near Chinese Camp
Hospice care is specialized to help individuals and their loved ones through the advanced stages of terminal and chronic illnesses. The most common illnesses requiring hospice care are cancer, AIDS, heart disease, neurological disease, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer disease. Hospice care is centered around pain management and comfortable living as opposed to cures and treatments. The care is usually home based, and addresses the spiritual and emotional aspects of dying. Doctors, nurses, social workers, and religious figures team up to best support the hospice patient.
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Cat6 Shielded Stranded PVC Cable
24 AWG | 550MHz | ETL Listed | RoHS Compliant | CM Rated | For Making Patch Cables
Stranded Shielded Cat6 Ethernet cable is best suited for making custom-length cables in environments with electromagnetic or radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI). More flexible than solid conductor cable, stranded Cat6 is what most commonly used Ethernet patch cables are made from. This cable is sold by the foot, order just what you need. Stranded Cat5e is commonly terminated with an RJ45 connector. Cat6 is certified for gigabit Ethernet.
- PVC Jacket
- Overall Foil Shield
- 24 AWG Stranded Bare Copper Conductors
- Tested up to 550 MHz
- Meets Cat6 Standards
- RoHS Complaint
- ETL Listed
- CM Rated
- Max Continuous Length: 1000 FT
Please note: All products that are bought per foot are non-returnable.
Any amount of cable you order above the maximum continuous length of 1000 FT will be sent in separate pieces.
Proposition 65
WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including phthalates, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment in the European Union. It stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive.
REACH, a European Union regulation addresses the production and use of chemical substances and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment. It stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of chemicals.
The WEEE Directive set collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods in the European community. It stands for Wate Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.
* The following information is for information purposes only. It does not guarantee that the product adheres to the following standards. Please check the product description for specific certifications.


text:
- Home
- About
- Research
- Get Involved
- Events
- Contact
- COVID-19 Resources
The impact of vibrations from very tall buildings, wobbly bridges and floors on people's health and wellbeing is to be researched in a new £7.2 million government-funded national research facility at the universities of Exeter and Bath.
By recreating the vibrations using virtual-reality simulators, a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, physiologists, psychologists and medics, including PenCLAHRC's Dr Vicki Goodwin, will explore how people can experience different symptoms of motion sickness such as tiredness, low mood, difficulty concentrating and lack of motivation if they are working in a building that sways slightly in the wind.
Despite looking rigid in appearance, tall buildings flex in...Read more
A team of Cochrane authors based in the UK and led by Dr Kerryn Husk from PenCLAHRC, have carried out a review investigating the health benefits of contact with the natural environment.
The team found that, whilst the majority of quantitative studies reported no effect on health and well-being, there was limited evidence to suggest positive effects on self-reported health, quality of life and physical activity levels. Small numbers of participants reported increased mental fatigue and greater feelings of anxiety.
The review comes at a time when there is growing research and policy interest in the potential for using the natural environment...Read more


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For the first rain and pure fall day at home this season, soup was on the menu. Honestly it was purely a concoction of what was in the fridge. After separating two rotisserie chickens the other day I had two chicken carcasses to be boiled. After that it was simply what vegetables needed to be used.
The kids both had seconds and enjoyed every bit of vegetables. Not to mention the smell of roasting chicken throughout the house was mouth-watering. I decided to use a wild rice/quinoa mix inside the soup as opposed to noodles or dumplings. It was just as tasty and much healthier.
Chicken and Wild Rice Quinoa Soup:
- About 6 cups water
- 1-2 chicken carcasses
- 1 tsp salt
- dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp parsley
- 1/2 cup dry wild rice/quinoa mix or just quinoa
- 4-6 cups vegetables your choice (I used broccoli,carrots,mushrooms,onions, and celery)
If you do not have a chicken carcass just use chicken stock or broth. Place chicken bones and water in a pot with a lid. Simmer for about 1 hours. Remove lid and allow to cool about 1 hour.
Using your hands pick off any pieces of chicken and remove all bones and fat from the pot.
Return your chicken stock and chicken pieces to the stove and turn to a medium heat. Place all raw vegetables, rice, and seasonings to the pot. Simmer for about 30-45 minutes until vegetables are tender. Taste as you go for additional seasonings.
Serve steaming hot and enjoy the warmth on a cold day!


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One of my dear friends (and biggest promoters of my business), passed away on Christmas Day, less than 2 weeks ago. Her name was Margaret (Peggy) Hooper (nee McNulty) and Seema & I will miss her dearly. When I first started my business in 2006, Peggy used to come by and give me the history of the Island, teach me about Dyngus Day and acclimate me to the culture of Western New York.
A couple of years ago, Peggy entrusted me to print all the flyers and invites for her 50th High School Reunion – She graduated from Riverside High School because Grand Island did not have a high school at the time.
Before her funeral, her daughters came by to visit me and entrusted me to print out her prayer cards for everyone. I was honored to be of service. Here is the excerpt from her prayer card, a wonderful reminder that we should live life with care and kindness, making the most of each day:
I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I'd like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.
I expect to pass through life but once,
If therefore, there be any kindness I can show,
or any good thing I can do to any fellow being,
let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it,
as I shall not pass this way again.
I will miss Peggy very much and thank her for making my life better.
With gratitude and warm wishes,
Fahim Mojawalla
The post In loving memory of Peggy Hooper, my dear friend & client appeared first on Island Ship Center.
Source: ISC Posts


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Brick Repair Fraser MI
Brick Repair Fraser, MI
Did you know that 8 million bricks were used to build the Great Wall of China? While, we know that it didn't take that many bricks to build your home, it shows just how durable bricks can be when it comes to building a home. Even though bricks are extremely durable, there may be times where repairs are needed. If you are in need of brick repair in Fraser, MI, our team at Brickworks Property Restoration is the perfect partner for you. Over the last 11 years, we've been providing brick repairs in Fraser, MI for clients big and small.
Effective Brick Chimney Repair Fraser, MI
Have you failed to use your chimney over the last few years because of the brick chimney damage that has occurred on your property? The good news is that rather than chimney replacement, our brick repair experts can fix or replace your damaged bricks. Our brick repair in Fraser, MI is built to last so that you can use your chimney for years to come. With our repairs, we make sure that the replacement brick matches the exact style, size, color and texture of your existing brick so that no one will even know it was repaired.
Top Notch Brick Porch Repair Fraser, MI
When hosting guests, are you embarrassed to spend time on your brick porch because of the damage that you've ignored for so long? When it comes to brick repair in Fraser, MI pertaining to your porch, our staff at Brickworks Property Restoration are the expert team that you should choose to work with. To start things off on the right foot, we offer a free brick porch consultation to evaluate the damage that has occurred. Brick repair in Fraser, MI is a part of our business that we have a passion for. What is great is that our brick porch repair options are much more affordable than having to replace the entire brick porch. Rest assured that the materials used to handle your brick repair in Fraser, MI will be the highest quality around.
So, if you are in need of brick repair in Fraser, MI, our dedicated staff at Brickworks Property Restoration are eager to help you every step of the way. Specializing in brick chimney and brick porch repairs, you'll finally get the most out of your house for many years in the future. To request a free estimate on your brick repair needs in Fraser, MI, pick up the phone and call our brick specialists at (586) 868-3234. Our partnership and a commitment to brick repairs instead of total brick replacement will allow you to save money on this home improvement project.


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The title of this blog comes from a Gaelic expression -"putting on the poor mouth"-which means to exaggerate the direness of one's situation in order to gain time or favour from creditors.
14 November 2012
More Tim III
Posted by jams o donnell at 12:01 am
5 comments:
- Andrew MacLaren-Scott said...
This is getting a bit disturbing because in that shot Tim looks almost the double of my mother in the old photos taken when she was about 27. Honestly. No comedy intended. It's spooky.
- 12:24 am
- Syncopated Eyeball said...
So Andrew's mother was beautiful.
- 2:42 am
- jams o donnell said...
Wow THat is a strange coincidence Don.
She must have been a beauty Syncy
- 10:15 am
- Andrew MacLaren-Scott said...
She was indeed, quite beautiful from the pictures I have seen
- 1:49 am
- jams o donnell said...
I can imagine Don
- 9:30 am
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The hits from abroad keep coming, with a star-studded list of imports from London seen on Broadway this spring. At times it seemed as if the West End had simply relocated itself west of Broadway, where Amy's View, Closer, Marlene, Not About Nightingales, The Iceman Cometh, The Weir, and Via Dolorosa were all on the boards at once, with an A list of performers, directors, and designers in tow.
Amy's View is the first entry in a pair of plays by David Hare, who was also seen on Broadway this season in his one-man show Via Dolorosa. Directed by Richard Eyre, Amy's View also gave New York audiences their first real chance to see Dame Judi Dench perform, and perform she does in the role of Esme Allen, a middle-aged actress at a turning point in her career.
Bob Crowley's sets of an English country house, with projections by Wendall K. Harrington, were lit by Mark Henderson, who primarily used ETC Source Fours with some PARs and fresnels overhead. He also added patterns with double gobo overlays in Source Fours to dress black fabric around the proscenium. "The room interiors are very realistic, yet contemporary," says Henderson. He added two 5kW fresnels stage left to indicate light coming in from the garden.
The last scene in the show is the most striking, and takes place in a theatre within the theatre. Lit from above with striplights, two large layers of white silk upstage fall dramatically, one a beat after the other, to reveal a painted backdrop of a big theatre (the backdrop was added for the New York production, since the Barrymore Theatre is less deep than the stages at the Royal National Theatre and in the West End where the play had previously been performed). "The backdrop is not lit specifically," explains Henderson, who used small PAR-36 lamps. "Some of the instruments are actually painted on."
Henderson's color palette was selected to give the play a contemporary feel, with apricot (Rosco 317) and straw (Rosco 09) for sunlight, and scarlet (Rosco 24) added for a sunset look. A cool blue (Rosco 78) was used to simulate moonlight. David Weiner served as Henderson's assistant LD.
Henderson also lit The Iceman Cometh, a revival of Eugene O'Neill's classic play of hope and despair directed by Howard Davis, designed by Crowley, and imported from the Almeida Theatre. Performed at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and starring Kevin Spacey, all of the action for Iceman takes place in a rundown bar with tall brick walls where bedframes and chairs hang as if on the second floor.
The look is intentionally dowdy, with very little color in the show, except for a bit of straw (Rosco 09). "The open white with lack of intensity looks dirty," says Henderson. Globes hanging on pillars on the set also provide light and add a soft, mellow look. These go off as "daylight" takes over.
With approximately 40 cues in a four-and-a-half-hour production, he had time to create interesting tableaux at the end of each scene. "The lighting picks out the relationships that are going on. I brought the whole thing down, then brought up the back wall and highlighted the actors with Source Fours low from the front." The ETC fixtures replaced the birdies (small PARs) used in London.
Over the bar, a row of birdies provides extra light for the actors, while the overhead rig includes additional ETC Source Fours, with a few fresnels and PARs. An ETC Obsession 2 console was used. "The cues are small shifts of emphasis on isolated pockets of action, to help shift your attention," Henderson says. Bobby Harrell was assistant LD.
The most provocative play of the season is Closer, written and directed by Patrick Marber, and starring Natasha Richardson in a foursome of two couples that cleverly captures the sexual mood of fin-de-siecle London. Lit by Hugh Vanstone (most recently seen on Broadway with Art and The Blue Room), Closer has a single set designed by Vicki Mortimer. In London, a raised platform defined the playing area, but at the Music Box on Broadway this was done away with, leaving a large open stage where the furniture and props from each scene collect around the actors, like the emotional baggage of the complex relationships the audience is witnessing.
"The design of the back wall is intentionally obscure," says Vanstone, who used PAR cans to provide crosslight from ladders on the sides of the stage to light the back wall. Only at the end of the play does the lighting reveal that the wall's design is a juxtaposition of memorial plaques for the dead. When the audience finally sees them, Vanstone gives them an abstract look, using 75W half-silvered household bulbs strung on cables. "It almost looks as if it is a gallery exhibit," he notes.
"The basic rig is very simple," Vanstone continues. He used ETC Source Fours as an area wash from the front truss with Lee 202 and 281 color correction. "I'm very fond of this for acting area light," he says. His sidelight wash is Lee 201. Automated luminaires were also used, with six Strand Pirouettes added for tight, concentrated beams, two each from the front (on the front truss), back (on the #3 electric) and overhead (on the #1 electric). In addition, three Vari*Lite(R) VL5s(TM) were used as flexible fill light from the sides and overhead. "They are used in most scenes, but the audience never sees them move," says Vanstone, referring to the automated fixtures.
In a clever scene of online sexual banter, the dialogue is projected on a large videoscreen so the audience can read the lines. "The screen is self-lit," says Vanstone. "I only lit the people." Each of the 12 scenes in the play has its own look, with City Theatrical EFX2 projectors used to add broken water patterns in an aquarium scene where the color palette includes green-blues (Lee 131 and Rosco 73). Strand Beamlites add bright pools of downlight in an art gallery where the light is primarily white with a touch of lavender (Rosco 57) backlight. Both of these scenes also have an MDG Atmosphere haze generator to add ambiance to the aquarium and a smoke-filled feeling to the gallery.
For the scene changes, Vanstone used white neon in the floor around the bottom of the walls. "It was tricky to light the scene changes, as there are so many. I wanted to make them interesting without revealing the stage crew moving the furniture." As is his wont, "There is nothing there that doesn't need to be there. There is no place to show off in Closer, where the lighting very closely follows what the scenes require. The Blue Room [see "The best of Britain," March LD, page 62] was much more showy."
At the Cort Theatre, Mark Jonathan lit Pam Gems' Marlene, which had been seen at the Lyric Theatre in the West End, and on tour in the UK. Based on the last years in the career of "La Dietrich," Marlene was played by Sien Phillips. In the first act, the lighting was intentionally exposed with ETC Source Fours hung on light towers in a dressing room. Additional Source Fours were hung on the side front-of-house positions, with two Vari*Lite VL7(TM) automated luminaires to add beams of varying width and multiple colors. Two VL6s(TM) were hung overhead. Ian Rubin was assistant LD.
"The play is about an icon at the end of her life," says Jonathan. "The backstage scenes allow you to see into her life and see how she lived a fantasy existence, like a film star. Yet the lighting has to treat her like an icon and create an endless number of moods that go with her emotions." As an interesting aside, Jonathan explains that Joe Davis was Dietrich's real-life LD and that she insisted he use Strand's Cinemoid 36, Surprise Pink. "This brought the old yellowish stage lighting back to white. Our lighting is much whiter these days."
Act II features Dietrich in concert. "It is set in the 1960s and had to have a period feel," says Jonathan, who gave the lighting a completely different look for the concert. "It's what you don't do in the concert section that counts. No gobos, yet the followspot is very important. You don't see the other lights any more."
As Phillips changed costumes throughout the concert scene, the lighting highlighted the dresses. "She wears a fur coat, then a dress of tiny glass beads which soak up the color. It looks like different dresses as you change the light. It glints back at you or becomes that color," says Jonathan, who used soft pink and purple as well as a more garish gold. "I used modern equivalents to approximate the old Surprise Pink using a much cooler light source." In fact, he mixed pink (Lee 157) with blue (Rosco 385).
He also used MDG Atmosphere haze generators. "The haze is very important to give dimension to the light, and make it look as if she is trapped in beams of light, especially when she is talking about Germany and her objection to the Nazi regime. The light is very dramatic and austere." As Phillips sang "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" the lights faded very slowly, leaving the audience with the image of Dietrich's face floating in the light.
Directed by Trevor Nunn, Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales was performed at the Circle in the Square in New York. It took place on a single prison set designed by Richard Hoover, with lighting by Chris Parry. "Trevor wanted this prison to be very harsh, very controlling and dehumanized," says Parry, referring to his notes from the director. " 'Control' is a useful word for the metaphor of this show, as everyone is being controlled somehow." The lighting was used to define different areas on the set, which had the cell block at one end and the warden's office at the other. Klondike, an airless room with steam heat used to punish prisoners, was in the middle. The set was also monotone, with everything in shades of gray. A painted drop of a prison corridor gave depth to the set and was backlit with 500W Strand Coda floods in two shades of blue (Lee 201 and Lee 161).
"I devised ways of breaking up the long space," Parry notes. His color palette reflected the harshness required by Nunn, with Lee 201 and Lee 202 color correction filters used in ETC Source Four ellipsoidals and PARs. Three Strand Pollux 5kW fresnels were used behind the cell block, along with one 2.5kW HMI fresnel used to change the quality of the light when police arrive near the end of the second act. "The HMI is still very cold, bright, and harsh, but it offers a different quality of light when the outside world breaks in."
Much of the action takes place in the cell block, which Parry gave two looks, daytime when the prison lights were on, and evening after lights-out. DHA gobos of prison bars came from the front while a DHA grille gobo (borrowed from Les Miserables) added the texture of an overhead catwalk. After lights-out, the cell block was lit from below. "The conceit is that maybe there's another layer of prison down there and the light filters up. This is the only time there is slightly warm light. It's a very dim brown-gray."
Twenty-six PAR cans placed along the top of the cell unit pushed light downward onto the prisoners. "As they take up the chant for a hunger strike these get brighter and brighter until they are at full intensity. Trevor wanted the passion and emotion to build to the point where it snaps off," Parry says. "Then there is an instant blackout at the end of Act I."
To create the overheated, oven-like feeling in Klondike, Parry added a red glow which emanated from under floor grates and a blue glow from above to create a square area on the floor. "The lighting is not very complicated, but depends on mystery," notes Parry, who used low levels to create a murky atmosphere. MR-16s under the floor highlighted the radiator pipes. The fog used in the scene added a physical presence to the space. "With the fog, you can use the physicality to define the area you want the audience to see. You can see the patterns of the light in the air as well as on the floor."
Via Dolorosa is David Hare's emotionally moving recollection of a trip to the Middle East, directed by Stephen Daldry, with sets by Ian MacNeil and lighting by Rick Fisher. Like The Weir, this production was also imported from the Royal Court (both were performed at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End while the Royal Court's own theatre in Sloane Square was under renovation).
Set in Israeli and Arab territories, Via Dolorosa transpired on a bare stage, where the lighting changes were very dramatic. "For Israel, I wanted to make it look like it wasn't lit, like the light was just there," says Fisher, who used a mix of Source Four ellipsoidals, PAR-64s, and Altman 2kW fresnels with barndoors. His colors were very pale tints, such as straw, CTO, and CTB. "I wanted the light in the piece to be subtle," he explains.
"There is no scenic change when we go to the Arab world, so the lighting had to carry us there," he continues. And it did so, wrapping the audience in a cocoon of an Arabian night, with the ambiance so strong the smell of Middle Eastern spices could almost be detected. Fisher used LEDs and small worklights to give the idea of small encampments in the distance, and all overhead light gave way to sidelight or light from behind the proscenium arch. "I even used power strips with glow indicators to break up the darkness." Fisher's lighting for Gaza brightened as Hare moved from place to place in the Arab territories.
The only real scenic element in the piece (other than a few odd tables and chairs) was a scale model of Jerusalem. In London, this rose from beneath open floorboards in the stage, while in New York, a section of a false back wall of the theatre opened to reveal the model with its gilded Dome of the Rock mosque. "What I like about this piece is its integrity," says Fisher, who used a 4kW HMI in the grid to light Hare's journey to Jerusalem.
At one point, the only light on the stage was Hare's desk lamp. "This adds rhythm and visual relief as well as shape to the piece," says Fisher. He also used an MDG Atmosphere machine and an MDG 3000 with CO2 propellant and DMX interface. Tyler Micoleau was the assistant LD.
Winner of the British Olivier Award for Best Play last year, The Weir is a quirky slice of Irish life written by Conor McPherson, directed by Ian Rickson and imported from the Royal Court in London. Rae Smith provided the set and costume designs for a five character evening that takes place in a rural Irish town. Paule Constable's small lighting rig used just 65 instruments, mostly ETC Source Four ellipsoidals, with a few Strand fresnels, Cantata zooms, ETC Source Four PARs, and an ETC Expression 3x console.
"The set is bits of a bar in a bleak Irish landscape," explains Constable, who placed all of the lighting instruments out of sight to accentuate the emptiness of the place. "We didn't want to revert to naturalism or use tricky lighting. We wanted to keep it simple." There are 19 lighting changes, each lasting six to seven minutes. "It always looks slightly different, yet the audience should not be aware of the changes."
Her palette of Lee 206 and 223 orange color correction in New York was chosen to give the Source Fours more of a tungsten look. "We used older instruments in London that were perfect for what we wanted," she explains. Extra units were added, as the stage at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York is wider than the stage at the Ambassadors where the show was performed in London.
"In London, the play glowed in an intimate black environment, while in New York it was more like looking into a box--there was more of a barrier which made the play look bleaker," says Constable, who thinks this season's transatlantic exchange of designers is a good thing. "For a long time American designers came to London and it had an influence on our work; now we have been going to New York more. It makes it a dialogue, not just a monologue."
Four Star Lighting provided the rigs for all these shows, with the Vari*Lite automated luminaires from Vari-Lite New York. (All but Marlene, Not About Nightingales, and Via Dolorosa were still running as of presstime.) With so many British imports on Broadway, one might well wonder what was going on in London--audiences may just have to wait until next season to see.


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So even a blogpost needs a teaser? Naw... it's just that I took a lot of photos and even several videos of the KL Alternative Bookfest that I'd like to upload and post on the blog but I seem to have run out of space on my hard drive. Only 300megs left!
I'm going out to buy a new drive tomorrow so I'll blog about KLAB then.
Other things to get tomorrow: a Mawi haircut. All this long hair is driving me crazy!


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Who I Use To Be
I was talking with one of my good friends from my last job the other day and we concluded the conversation by saying that we both feel like we are who we use to be and we are happy about that. My dear friend was telling my about her difficult break up and we were talking about my hard time after losing my job.
If you are new to this little blog then you probably missed the post about how I lost my job in August. The funny thing about that little post is that it was the hardest post I have written since I started this blog and to this day one of my most popular posts. I was asked what my favorite post of 2012 was and I said my 'Changes of ALL Kinds' post. My faithful readers filled my inbox as a result of that post and I really felt the love from the blogging community. Little did I know, but it would set the stage for the next few months and be my turning point.
So what has changed since that post those many months ago?
It is amazing, and until recently I hadn't realized it. My last job can be summarized like a bad relationship. When you are in it all you can see are the positive things about it and you focus on the things that you love about it. But it is your friends and family that see what it is doing to you and see that you are not who you use to be. It isn't until after the 'breakup' that you can step back and see how bad it actually was.
Now I can step back and I see that this is where I am supposed to be.
-In my small town
-At my new job
-Enjoying my new car
-Spending sweet time with friends and family
-Growing with Christ
-Traveling with amazing friends
-Traveling with amazing friends
-Enjoying singleness
-Building relationships
-Being independent again
**Photo taken on my recent trip to Hawaii
**Photo taken on my recent trip to Hawaii


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I found this awesome article with a huge list of curious Disney movie facts- where I find most of my information these days- on Buzzfeed! Knowing random and crazy facts about classic films makes watching them even funnier. It also reminds us that while we were either teething or clapping along to these films, there were hundreds if not thousands of adults who were either working their butts off to make them, or somehow enraged by them.
My favorite ones are:
Check out the full article here.
My favorite ones are:
- Princess Aurora is the Disney princess with the least dialogue ever, and has only 18 lines. Considering she's asleep for most of her story
- More than 400 Jack Skellington heads were used for the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. It's true. Just like in traditional 2D animation, there have to be many transitions between facial expressions in order for the character to come to life. (Roughly 24+ per SECOND.) Now imagine them stopping to move everything a bajillionth of an inch between each photograph.
- Christian Bale voiced Thomas in Pocahontas. I am not even joking, I had a big crush on this "extra" character- probably because he sounded like an American psycho...
- The actor who voiced Optimus Prime in Transformers also voiced Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.
- A biologist sued Disney for defamation of hyenas in The Lion King. This is like when Alice in Wonderland came out and schools wanted to ban the book because it "promoted thoughts on independence in women. Or when the movie was acused of being a brain washing tool to get kids to do drugs.
- Mickey was originally supposed to be called Mortimer Mouse. Is it bad that I kind of like that name, better?
Check out the full article here.


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A little history …..
I decided when I was 11 that I needed a tri female rough collie. After searching, we found a breeder within an hour of us. Jackie let me pick from 3 of the tri puppies she had available. I decided to name her Dixie, Hailey's Heart of Dixie. A year later Jackie introduced me to Junior Showmanship and I was hooked. Dixie never loved the ring but she never complained either and was such trooper until my visit to Southland.
I went to Southland with Dixie's breeder, she was picking out a male from a repeat breeding of a spectacular litter. After arriving it was brought to our attention that there was another puppy, a blue boy, that was available. He came home with me as my first show prospect. Dillon turned out to be a phenomenal JRs dog. He was a great first dog, I so wish I had been able to utilize him as he deserved.
Southland Roselyn's A'Legacy "Dillon" and I summer 1997
Southland's Roguish Rhett x Ch Tartanside Sophistication
CH Abbeyhill Roselyn Th' Gambler "Maverick"
Maverick was my first smooth and my first champion. His sister went Winners Bitch at the National in 1998.
In his first litter Maverick was bred to CH Bo-Dandy's Kisses of Aryggeth and gave me
CH Roselyn's Raisin' the Stakes "Kane" finished from the Bred-by class and I received my first Bred-by medallion.
4 others from that litter finished.
Kane was bred to CH Bit O'Heaven Icon of Roselyn "Raven" Raven finished quickly owner handled. Together they produced "Ryan"
CH Roselyn Mirror Image finished exclusively from the bred-by class on my 19th birthday.
CH Accolade's Respect My Athoritay "Cartman"
Cartman was a very special boy. He was never happier than in the ring and was a dynamite show dog. He finished with specialty and all breed majors and made it to the final cut of the 2007 CCA specials.


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I haven't done the Gallery in ages because well I'm lazy and I forget. This week's theme is black and white and since I've been missing my Grandparents a lot recently I knew exactly what I'd post. I'm very lucky to have three of my grandparents still living and it's hard being so far away from home. Below are my maternal and then paternal grandparent's wedding photos.How awesome are the dark nails and a tiara! My Grandma Bess is the original Jewish Princess :) I also just love how genuinely happy they both are in this photo.
I have the exact same shape face as my Grandma Jane and I love her hair. Massive hugs to my Grandpa Lee who is in the hospital right now; he's a tough cookie at 93 and I know he'll be back to his old self soon. It's also their 66th wedding anniversary tomorrow! Happy anniversary! xoxo


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This companion is about leadership in disaster recovery.
Recovering from a...
This minute records the content of a debrief meeting for the Waimakariri Earthquake Support Service (WESS). The purpose of the meeting was to give those involved the opportunity to reflect on the service, before memories faded. It also allowothers to appreciate what had happened in the Waimakariri District.
Broken Link? Let us know


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down coat with signature silverfox fur collar
This October, Mackage will donate $100 from this purchase with a commitment of $10,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. BCRF's mission is to advance the world's most promising research to eradicate breast cancer. For more information, visit BCRF.org
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- Black/Black: matte black Metaluxe zipper, black silverfox fur, black rib, black leather
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- Royal: matte black Metaluxe zipper, natural silverfox fur, black rib, black leather
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- FITTED – Our signature fit, closest to the body.
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- Coat length from shoulder to hem: 29" / 73.7 cm
- Shell (Woven): 100% Polyester. Lining (Woven): 100% Polyester. Filling: 90% Duck Down, 10% Feathers (Pekin Duck, Anas Platyrhynchos Domesticus). Finland Silver Fox Fur (Vulpes Vulpes Fulva). Water repellant and water resistant.
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Shipping costs are on us (certain exclusions apply) and there is no customs fee/duty. Please try items in the comfort of your own home. For up to 14 days, if you don't like them, or they don't fit, just visit one of our Flagship Stores to return the item or request a return online. Sale and Promotional items purchased online cannot be returned in stores. Final Sale items are not eligible for return, refund or exchange. We offer a Lifetime Warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. It's all part of our commitment to exceptional quality. For customer service please call 1-855-622-5243 Monday-Friday from 9:00AM to 5PM (EST).


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August 1 afternoon update on incident involving MV Blue Puttees
Following underwater inspections of the MV Blue Puttees by divers, it has been determined that the vessel has sustained some damage to its bulbous bow, a piece of equipment used for vessel operating efficiency. While the vessel's integrity has not been compromised and is able to sail, the bulbous bow must be repaired in accordance with regulatory requirements.
As a result of this information, Marine Atlantic plans to sail the vessel to Halifax to allow dry dock repairs to take place, once it has been released by authorities. Unfortunately, based on the current analysis, it is estimated that the vessel will be unavailable for service until the end of August. Once the vessel is in dry dock, a clearer picture of potential time frames will become more apparent.
The removal of the vessel from service will have an impact on Marine Atlantic's sailing schedule for the coming weeks. While three vessels will remain in service, the removal of the capacity offered by the MV Blue Puttees will result in challenges. A revised schedule is currently being drafted. Customers will be contacted through Marine Atlantic's customer contact system with updated sailing times. Customers will be provided with as much notice as possible to allow their travel plans to be adjusted.
Marine Atlantic thanks affected passengers for their patience. Further updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.
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Media Contact:
Darrell Mercer, Corporate Communications
Telephone: (709) 772-0073 or (709) 727-2405
E-Mail: [email protected]


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By Jelila
For The Bali Times
SEMINYAK ~ Do things add up in your life? Are you gaining value and satisfaction from what you buy and choose? Discover how to deeply fulfill yourself emotionally and physically, here.
When we go shopping, we spend our money not just on things but on the feelings that we subconsciously feel that having those things will give us. For example, we may buy a shiny new car not just to get around but to make us feel more important. Or we buy a new dress because we seek admiration from others. Or a kitten because we need love and touch.
If we can discover the missing feelings we are looking for, we can fulfill the hidden-feeling need, without needing to spend money to get it. Often the things we buy do not actually fulfill the hidden need, anyway.
Quick Quiz – Feel Good
List 5-10 things that you want. Now, write next to the things the feeling that it would bring you.
For example, Felicity listed the following things, and discovered some hidden feelings she also wanted:
Thing I want     How I would feel if I had it
Cash in bank     Security, safety, support
Enough money for nice clothes Enjoyment, comfort
Nice place to live     Health, home, comfort, peace
Nice car   Comfort, enjoyment, ease
Everything my child needs    Peace, satisfaction, pride
Plenty of money for travel   Freedom, comfort, support, love
Success    Wisdom, freedom
Try it for yourself. To give yourself the feelings that you lack, simply embrace that you do not have them, using the process below. This releases your need for those feelings – and paradoxically, enables you to then experience them. Notice how Felicity feels she needs wisdom and freedom in order to experience success.
Bali is a very spiritual place and when we come here, we may depart from our habitual "action and doing†identity that we usually inhabit in our working lives in places like Singapore and London, and visit not only a beautiful new location but a beautiful new area of self – the higher self.
This is a special experience in Bali. However, if you find yourself inexplicably wanting to divest yourself of possessions and property, or losing things, weight or cash, you may have a problem which I see in some of my clients, which is that the higher self or consciousness part of you has judgments against the physical world and secretly wishes to escape. When you lose things, become a vegetarian (dislike of the flesh), want to walk around with bare feet (desire for freedom), you may be subconsciously expressing the desire to be free of the physical world. This can quite easily be overcome. However if you don't realize it, you may end up as a potless sage meditating at the top of a mountain. (My wish for you is to be a dynamic and rich sage, enjoying manifesting marvels for all!)
At the deepest level, this problem brings the desire to exit the body and the world, to return to the place of light, where all is bliss and there is no pain or suffering. Now, this is an erroneous idea, a mistake on the part of the higher self – who is not infallible, by the way – because the world is only full of pain and suffering if we decide it is so, which then creates that for us. One reason why the higher self or consciousness experiences suffering is because it feels it doesn't add up to much and is insignificant.
Try this simple and deeply comforting meditation, which I have designed to show you what I mean, and to help overcome this imbalance. You can try it right now; it brings a very nice feeling. This might be nice to do with your child, also.
I am Something Meditation
Relax, breathe, place your hands on your heart, and get in touch with the place just under your heart which is the seat of your soul. Feel and sense the essence of you. Gently affirm to yourself: "even though my essence cannot be touched, smelled, seen, heard or tasted, or sensed physically, it is … something.†Stay with the feeling of "being something.†When ready, affirm: "I AM … SOMETHING.†Repeat. Enjoy the feeling. When ready, gently return.
How was that for you? It makes a bridge between consciousness and reality. For many of my clients it brings relief as it overcomes a major judgment – that without physical expression, we are worthless. This is not the case – our consciousness is eternal; we continue to exist without any physical expression. However, physical expression helps us to know ourselves because we can then sense, see, touch who we are. It is important for the higher self to know its own intrinsic value, because if your higher self has valued itself at zero (or a low value), when you visit that identity or part of yourself (i.e. when you visit Bali), you will have trouble holding onto anything that you perceive is worth more than zero. If you subconsciously believe "I am worth nothing,†that is what you will create. We can only attract what we believe is equal to ourselves, both in physical possessions, cash and feeling. If we believe we are valuable, the world reflects value to us. If we give ourselves love, believe we are equal to love, the world reflects that to us. If we give ourselves support, believe we are equal to support, then the world shows us that. The world is a mirror and to see in it what we desire, we must first give that to ourselves.
Belief Change
Try this simple process to give yourself all the feelings you felt you lacked, in the quiz above:
Feel that your feet are connected to the ground. Invite every part of yourself to be present. Say aloud:
I choose not to feel "security, safety, support, enjoyment, comfort…†(list all the feelings you lack).
I love myself when I do not feel "security, safety, support, enjoyment, comfort…â€
And I embrace it, and I surrender.
As the new information settles, you may feel momentarily woozy. Take it slowly, rest afterwards, drink water.
Other beliefs:
I am not sure that I am able to fulfill all my needs
I am not capable of fulfilling my expectations
I do not have wisdom, freedom and success
I am not sure that I am really enough
Next issue: The Princess and the Pea
Jelila practices in Bali a: Wellbeing Spa, 66B Jalan Laksmana, Seminyak. If you have a question you would like help with in this column, email email@example.com.