A short history of New York City's sirens. In the first years of the twenty-first century, New York City police officers had six different siren noises at their fingertips to alternate and overdub as they attempted to bore through stagnant traffic. The “Yelp” is a high-pitched, rapidly oscillating, jumpy sound that suggests a small dog with large teeth has hold of your thigh and is not about to let go ..... . From
Cabinet Magazine.
posted by Rumple
on Aug 26, 2011 -
28 comments
The Memorial. "People talk a lot about the "healing process." Well, this is New York. In the aftermath of a tragedy of monumental proportions, the healing process has been noisy and rude, with elbows out, redolent of greed, power, and the darker forces that drive human existence. And most of the shouting has been about how to make a fitting monument to what happened here. But in a hundred years, all the shouting and all the politics will be forgotten. What will be remembered is what is built here, now, on these sixteen acres." [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Aug 19, 2011 -
37 comments
8 Hours in Brooklyn - Fantastic little compilation of slo-mo footage taken over the course of eight hours in BKLN. Extra good watched in fullscreen.
posted by dobbs
on Aug 14, 2011 -
12 comments
"I was thinking about the recession and what that meant for talented people who may have lost their jobs. Are you still a dancer if you are not paid to perform? Or are you still a chef when you don't have a kitchen to cook in? It is about people who walk the streets with this incredible skill who could just advertise their ability any time they wanted. Dance is always a part of them and they are always dancers"
Some dancers in everyday situations. Part of
Dancers Among Us.
(Via) Photographer Jordan Matter previously.
posted by djgh
on Aug 7, 2010 -
44 comments
The Anti-Defamation League has been
tracking religious extremism for several decades, including anti-Islamic violence in the United States after 9/11. Nonetheless, the organization
joined right-wing opposition earlier this week to the construction of
Cordoba House, a 13-story Muslim community center and mosque that may be built two blocks away from the site of the former World Trade Center. The ADL's alignment with calls for
"refudiation" by Republican celebrities Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, along with other members of the GOP who are
ramping up angry sentiments in voters during an election year, have puzzled and angered religious, political and cultural figures of various stripes, particularly within New York City itself.
[more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Aug 1, 2010 -
446 comments
The Real Good Chair Experiment - What happens if you leave 25 chairs around New York and watch to see where they go? The short film then continues with an interview with a few of the people who brought them home.
posted by flatluigi
on Jan 8, 2010 -
27 comments
Mention nude art, get suspended. 25-year veteran art teacher Pete Panse recommended several ways for his ninth grade advanced art students to improve their skills, one of which included nude life figure drawing sessions at other art schools. For this, the Middletown, NY School District Board of Education suspended him, pending hearings in which he may be fired. They'll be after our bathroom mirrors next.
[via DC Art News]
posted by brownpau
on Mar 9, 2006 -
78 comments
"It's good policy and good business." NYC's Employees Retirement System (5 funds managing $78.6 billion in holdings) is targeting Fortune 500 companies to adopt policies that specifically bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. One of them, CSX Corp., didn't even wait for their shareholder meeting, but immediately amended their policy in response.
These funds recently had
great success after a decade-long battle with Cracker Barrel Restaurants--infamous for firing gay and lesbian employees because they don't “demonstrate normal heterosexual values."
Here's wishing an especially happy holiday to employees of those
companies that have stopped discriminating and hopes for many more to join in. More info on this "shareholder activism" at
The Equality Project.
posted by amberglow
on Dec 24, 2003 -
4 comments
Goblins in upstate NY! Brought to you by Adventures in Midland. They have a very indepth, Live Action Roleplaying website. Funny pictures and all that. Go Too much too look at in one sitting... I feel like this has been posted here already, apologies if that's true.
posted by Slimemonster
on May 30, 2003 -
5 comments
Whose Christ is this anyway? While the Mayor of New York may object to what he perceives as an insult to Catholic belief--forgetting that his own adultery is not as yet deemed acceptable behavior in Catholic belief--many Catholics have no problem with a naked, black, woman Jesus.
posted by Postroad
on Mar 9, 2001 -
30 comments
