The New York subway is also notable for being among the few rapid transit systems in the world to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is the only system to hold that distinction among the ten busiest systems in the world in terms of annual passenger traffic. The system itself has more annual boardings than those in cities such as London, Paris, and Mexico City. It has nearly twice as many daily riders as every other rapid transit system in the United States combined.
Though it is known as "the subway", implying underground operations, about 40% of the system runs on above-ground tracks (the system is almost entirely underground in Manhattan, as well as portions in the other boroughs), including steel or cast iron elevated structures, concrete viaducts, embankments, open cuts and surface routes.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The New York subway over ground?
Jellycat mountains in Anthropologie?
Jellycats for K.I.D.S., Anthropologie, West Broadway, New York City, originally uploaded by Gordon Gerard McLean.
New York’s West Broadway Anthropologie store is partnering with Kids in Distressed Situations for the holiday season. Anthropologie customers can pick a new toy from a range of furry friends, pay a small price and rest assured that it will make a child’s day with the help of K.I.D.S.
K.I.D.S. efficiently distributes new high quality merchandise for children, youth and adults to more than 1,000 grassroots non-profit agencies. K.I.D.S. donates new product because studies show that new items combat the psychological effects, discrimination, and barriers underprivileged children face when given used or poor-quality merchandise. New items promote dignity and self-esteem in young children, as they often compare themselves to their peers.
K.I.D.S. solicits specific items requested by our agency partners from year-round donors - manufacturers, retailers, and licensors - with whom it has long-standing relationships. After products are solicited and secured, they are shipped in intervals directly from the location of storage to the recipient agency at no cost to the recipient.
One hundred percent of all product donated goes directly to needy children through a broad range of programs and services without jurisdictional or regulatory red tape, as K.I.D.S. responds to direct requests from the local agencies or first-responders to disasters. Tens of thousands of volunteers each year facilitate the sorting and distribution of product in local communities.
About 85 percent of donations are distributed in the U.S. and about 15 percent overseas. In the U.S. K.I.D.S. serves African Americans (59%), Anglo Americans (22%), Hispanics (17%), Native Americans and Asians (1% each). Internationally, World Vision distributes clothing, shoes, books and toys from K.I.D.S. chiefly to children in Africa, South and Central America and Asia.
New York City's taped up telephones?
It is fair to assert that most New Yorkers are probably indifferent to the decline in payphones in the subway system. Despite the fact that cell phones generally do not work in the city's subways, I would think that most cell-phone carrying straphangers (the nickname for a standing bus, train or subway passenger) are connected to the world constantly enough to a point where the brief time spent out of touch is a welcome respite, at least for a little while.
The danger is not so much in declining numbers of subway phones but with the fact that many of those remaining either do not work at all or function unpredictably. A 2006 Straphangers survey found that 29% of payphones in the subway system were useless. One need not think too hard to imagine scenarios in which access to a working telephone might be critical in a space where cell phone service does not work.
Heather Wilner, a Verizon spokeswoman, said: "The difficulty comes when people don't report problems. A lot of times, when the phone doesn't work, they just walk away."
Timothy O'Brien, a spokesman for the authority, said Verizon "is very good about coming out when they get a report." The bigger problem, he said, is that the 4,400 pay phones in the subways are abused by riders.
"People act out their frustrations on our phones,” he said.
But with clogged coin slots, smashed handsets and toll-free numbers that don't go through, it’s little surprise.
The Dakota Indian on 72nd Street?
The Dakota, constructed from October 25, 1880 to October 27, 1884, is an apartment building located on the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
The architectural firm of Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was commissioned to do the design for Edward Clark, head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The firm also designed the Plaza Hotel.
The building's high gables and deep roofs with a profusion of dormers, terracotta spandrels and panels, niches, balconies and balustrades give it a North German Renaissance character, an echo of a Hanseatic townhall. Nevertheless, its layout and floor plan betray a strong influence of French architectural trends in housing design that had become known in New York in the 1870s.
According to popular legend, the Dakota was so named because at the time it was built, the Upper West Side of Manhattan was sparsely inhabited and considered as remote as the Dakota Territory.
However, the earliest recorded appearance of this account is in a 1933 newspaper story. It is more likely that the building was named "The Dakota" because of Clark's fondness for the names of the new western states and territories. High above the 72nd Street entrance, the figure of a Dakota Indian keeps watch.
Istanbul's stray cat semi-pets?
In addition to an inordinate number of people, vehicles, tulips, flags and festivals, Istanbul is also the home to millions of stray cats (and dogs and pigeons).
Stray cats are a natural part of the urban landscape. From early morning to late evening, you will see butchers, shopkeepers and housewives putting out leftover food for the neighborhood cats and dogs. They are seen and treated as community owned "semi-pets."
The Golden Gate and America's favorite?
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and State Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed in 1937, and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. In 2007, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.
Dublin's Ha'Penny Bridge and the RMS Titanic?
The Ha'penny Bridge, known later for a time as the Penny Ha'penny Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge built in 1816 over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland.
Originally called the Wellington Bridge (after the Duke of Wellington), the name of the bridge changed to Liffey Bridge. The Liffey Bridge remains the bridge's official name to this day - though it is still commonly known as the Ha'penny Bridge.
Before the Ha'penny Bridge was built there were seven ferries, operated by a William Walsh, across the Liffey. The ferries were in a bad condition and Walsh was informed that he had to either fix them or build a bridge. Walsh chose the latter option and was granted the right to extract a ha'penny toll from anyone crossing it for 100 years. Initially the toll charge was based, not on the cost of construction, but to match the charges levied by the ferries it replaced. A further condition of construction was that, if the citizens of Dublin found the bridge and toll to be "objectionable" within its first year of operation, it was to be removed at no cost to the city.
The toll was increased for a time to a Penny Ha'penny (one and a half pence), but was eventually dropped in 1919. While the toll was in operation, there were turnstiles at either end the bridge.
In 2001 the number of pedestrians using the bridge on a daily basis was 27,000 and, given these traffic levels, a structural survey indicated that renovation was required. The bridge was closed for repair and renovations between 2001 and 2003 and was reopened sporting its original white colour. The structure was rebuilt to retain as many of its old components as possible. The repair work was carried out by Harland and Wolff, makers of the RMS Titanic.
