January 25, 2007
Extra, Extra

- Bundle up: Arctic air is coming in and it'll be very cold tonight - WABC 7 says "by midnight it will be 18 degrees with a wind chill of zero degrees" - and tomorrow
- Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: airplane emergency at JFK, a stolen armored car in Queens, and a bank robbery in Midtown.
- Has Exxon been dumping "100 million gallons of partially treated ground water - water laced with the known carcinogen benzene and other poisons" into Newtown Creek every year?
- Only in New Jersey, Kids, Only in New Jersey: the state "has warned squirrel hunters near a toxic waste dump about consuming the critters because they could be contaminated with lead."
- $7.58 for an expresso-sized soup? Welcome to lunch in Midtown.
- Nerve has an amusing transit-themed piece today: Sex Advice from Subway Performers.
- Helmut Wimmer, the artist behind many of the 1970s-era paintings at the Hayden Planetarium, died back in March in Florida-- but his death wasn't reported in New York until today. You can see some of his artwork here and here.
- The 2nd Avenue subway Stage One construction is starting next month-- boring tunnel machines will begin up by 96th Street.
Lights from I Am Legend, in DUMBO, via Gothamist Contribute. Email your pix to photos(at)gothamist(dot)com if you want us to use them.




Re the NJ squirrel hunting story -- you realize that the persons being warned against ingesting squirrel are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe, who hunt and fish in the area?
Sort of turns your standard Gothamist "those Joisey B&T hicks story" into a bit of a racist rant, doesn't it?
"expresso"
expresso?
Seriously, what do you have against the few Native Americans left in the US? You should probably read the whole article before going into the hackey NJ jokes.
Loosen up those sphincter muscles kids. Where exactly is Jake poking fun at Native Americans in that sentence?
Toxic Waste & New Jersey: That's all you need for a punch line.
Toxic waste and NJ ... unfortunately, most of the toxic waste in New Jersey comes from New York City: the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island.
If something's good from NJ, NYC takes credit for it ... if something from NYC is bad, blame NJ. NJ's winning in the end, though - New York City is probably the lamest city in the US now, where no neighborhood or borough produces anything culturally relevant. haw haw.
what the f*ck is an expresso?
I'll join in the chorus...it's espresso, guys!
The mispronunciation / misspelling is so ubiquitous that I've even seen it spelled expresso at a supposed coffeehouse. It's hardly the end of the world, but everyone should know that espresso drinkers are a fiesty bunch!
Those tunnel machines can be so boring sometimes :P
don't be so mean...this is what merriam-webster had to say:
Main Entry: espres·so
Pronunciation: e-'spre-(")sO
Variant(s): also ex·pres·so /ik-'spre-(")sO/
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -sos
Etymology: Italian (caffè) espresso, probably literally, coffee made on the spot at the customer's request
1 : coffee brewed by forcing steam or hot water through finely ground darkly roasted coffee beans
2 : a cup of espresso