Independence Day seemed like an appropriate time to be brave. So, I took off on my bike and rode through Times Square. The traffic wasn't too bad but it is an intense ride. I guess I'll never be a bike messenger. In case you didn't notice there's a giant Eddie Murphy head in Times Square to promote his new movie.
Not in a writing mood this week. Here are bits of two bridges, two islands and two waterfalls.
On Sunday afternoon I was doing important consumer research in Madison Square Park when I realized the sky would soon be right for a rainbow. I walked over to the west side and, sure enough, there was a faint rainbow over the Empire State Building. Seeing how faint the rainbow was, I adjusted the image to bring out the colors. The result wasn't very attractive but at least the rainbow was clearly visible. I put both images on Flickr and people went crazy for the adjusted image. It is now the most often favorited item on my photostream. Go figure.
Looking up through a new, hopefully temporary, artwork at Union Square. Same view, different focal points.
Troy, New York allegedly has the largest Flag Day parade in the country. It is held the Sunday before Flag Day. I did not know this when I drove into Troy on that Sunday morning. A little bit of googling shows that Three Oaks, Michigan also claims to have the largest, and oldest, Flag Day parade. An estimated 60,000 people watched Appleton, Wisconsin's 57th annual parade last year.
Although I left a half-hour before the parade began, there didn't seem to be nearly that many people in Troy. By "largest" Troy could have meant largest people watching a parade. I don't say that to be snarky, it was just kind of shocking to see so many obese people. It was heartbreaking to see kids the same age as my nieces, but 2-3 times their weight.
PS 19 on East 12th St. is adorned with several signs by the school's students imploring passers-by to keep the school quiet and clean. One of the signs had an extra note of encouragement from Stevey Ray, "the sometimes here sleeping homeless man that always cleans up after himself".
I had occasion this evening to browse through my pictures from a couple of years ago when I came across these two. It doesn't appear that I ever put them up here. A building was being renovated on West 14th St. and the two ghost signs were visible for a few days.
The Super Bowl champion Giants haven't gotten their stripe! If you start walking uptown on Broadway from Battery Park you'll see these granite stripes with an inlaid date and name or event in the sidewalk. They mark the occurrence of each ticker-tape parade. There were a lot of ticker-tape parades from the 1920s through the 1960s. Sometimes two in one week! It seems as if every visit by a head of state or semi-important person of the day was occasion to party.
After the return of the moon-landing Apollo 11 astronauts and the Mets World Series championship in 1969 the parades stopped until 1977. Maybe it was the decline of the city's finances, or maybe wiser heads realized nothing could top the Miracle Mets. In the intervening 39 years there have only been 16 parades.
The most recent parade, on February 5th, celebrated the Giants' Super Bowl victory. There are a number of blank granite stripes patiently waiting to have their ticker-tape parade dates added. The parade for the Giants would go in the stripe above, which is in front of the Woolworth Building. What's holding them up? I might have to call 311 to find out.
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