Results tagged “nowgothamist”

As you read this, you’re probably sitting in a super air-conditioned office, apartment, or café. Our advice to you is to stay put and allow us to remind you that it’s the hottest day of the year out there. In fact, Central Park is going to be the hottest it’s been since 1933 , the last August 1st when the scales tipped 100 degrees. Now Gothamist Health isn’t going to pretend to understand how the weather works, what with pressures and fronts and various Nino’s. But we do know that weather like this can seriously knock you on your ass. The mercury’s predicted to hit 102 degrees today but will feel well above that, with the heat index hitting 112!!! The Office of Emergency Management stresses the need for New Yorkers “to limit heat exposure and conserve energy.” Oh what would we do without the wiseness of our leadership? In response the OEM's warning, Bloomie’s gone and declared a state of heat emergency and an excessive heat warning will be in place from today at noon until tomorrow at 8 pm.

We love investigative reports from the local news, and this one from Eyewtiness News was particularly disturbing. Did you know that the Center for Science in Public Interest is trying to get the word out about how caloriffic Starbucks drinks are? As in, that Venti Banana Coconut Frapuccino with whipped cream is over 700 calories! Now, the layman would say, "Hmm, it has bananas... it has coconut... it has sugar... it has whipped cream... it's probably not great for my diet," but is the layman going to resist that mix of caffeine, ice, and the aforementioned items? And we doubt that layman is going to the Starbucks Nutritional Information page to find out how many calories are in the various drinks. Now Gothamist totally understands why we're not losing our winter hibernation weight.

- The holdout juror that caused the San Diego college student's terror trial to be a mistrial compared his situation to that of 12 Angry Men

(Boys and) Girls Just Want to Have Sun

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. That means there are on average at least 18.824 insane people who keep going to Knicks games expecting to see a 19-51 team win. Add to that the fact that TV ratings are actually up 8% and it might be time to get another lock for your door.

The total insanity of the breakdown in talks between World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of NY and NJ gets the workup today. Basically, NY State is saying Silverstein better build or they'll take him out. Not just remarks from Governor Pataki saying that Silverstein "betrayed" New Yorkers, just also this one from Port Authority vice chairman Charles Gargano:

"We fully expect Larry to begin construction on the Freedom Tower in April. This is a commitment he made to the public and to the Port Authority and we expect him to fulfill that commitment. And if he does not, then we want him to move out of the way."

Now Gothamist has images of Silverstein being physically hauled away from Ground Zero - will he chain himself to the fencing? Anyway, Silverstein claims that internal strife at the Port Authority helped doom the talks. And the Post's Steve Cuozzo says that Osama "must be laughing in his cave" over this tomfoolery and wonders why it took so long for people to question whether Silverstein had even dough for the project - good point! (Cuozzo also criticizes the PA and governor for claiming Silverstein was extorting them - Silverstein was just being a businessman - an untelegenic one, but a businessman.) The Daily News says that Silverstein needs to come around, while faulting NY State for how they handled the situation.

In August, we told you about the Vendys, the first annual streetfood awards sponsored by Streetvendor.org. The awards are a wonderful idea-- they celebrate the hard working people that produce some our city's most delicious food, and help dispel those old notions that everything you buy on the street is poisonous, tastes bad, or both. From the looks of it, the four finalists are tightly matched:

And another watering hole is leaving. McHale's, one of the great old school pubs in midtown, has announced that it is going to close its doors on January 1 to make room for a 42-story high-rise. The bar, located on 46th and Eighth, has been open for more than fifty years, the last three of which it was paying rent on a "handshake deal" with the landlord (who just sold the six-story building for $30 million).

that someday Law & Order will filter to the highest levels of government. We just didn't figure that it would be in this way: Fred Thompson, who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch, has agreed to be an adviser to President Bush for the Supreme Court justice selection process. Apparently, one term in the Senate and a role on America's longest running cop-and-lawyer show can launch you into guiding one of the most important decisions for our country! Now Gothamist wonders if Thompson can do anything about Tom Delay's complaining about L&O mentioning him in an episode...or if writers will be trying to say anything about the current administration!

Various federal officials want to take back $169 million in 9/11 funds because they went unused. Now Gothamist understands that the government is looking for money all over the place, but trying to take $169 million from NYC just seems wrong. Especially when the money was earmarked for victims. Which is not to say that the NY city and state governments aren't at fault for not figuring out how to distribute the money in a timely manner (and the Government Accountability Office reportedly found "$44 million was improperly spent by New York bureaucrats who failed to follow guidelines" because the money was spent towards victims, not towards administrative costs). Oh, and then another $125 million for other victims' funds is being targetted to be withdrawn because the amount of claims for funds was much smaller than the $125 million. New York politicians on both sides of the aisle are in a tizzy, claiming that President Bush promised (he promised, guys!) not just $20 billion, but actually $21.4 billion, while his spokesman says that there's no money beyond the $20 billion. Gothamist would make a crack about the cost of the Iraqi War, but we'll refrain, as we will never, ever, ever understand how the government works. And, yes, New York might be money grubbing, but, damn it, we ought to be.

Last week, the The National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers opened its second Juan Valdez coffee shop in Manhattan (the first opened in Washington, D.C. earlier in September). There are plans to open 300 of these shops worldwide in the next three years.

Occasionally we field questions here at the Gothamist newsdesk. Here's one hot out the inbox:

Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim�.and The Ramones?

Meanwhile, Newsday reports the MTA's top counterterrorism official as saying, "It's physically impossible to check every bag. In reality, the best detection that you have are the employees and the people who ride the trains." Now Gothamist has even more reason to be nosy on subway cars! Now, we will stare without shame, and even dare to rummage through the bag that someone has plopped onto the empty seat. Newsday also has tips on your encounters with patrol dogs ()

- And the GOP and Democrats are trying to use NYC symbolism to their advantage for the election this fall. Brother, Gothamist would rather they deal with our terror funding now and stop using NYC as a pawn. When NYC gets used, we want to have a little fun, at least.

Now Gothamist knows what it's like to have a serious connection with our cellphone - there are so many phone numbers in there. But when a gun is being waved at our face, we'd probably give it up - would you?

In an effort to class itself up, the International Herald Tribune will be refusing to run any more ads for escort services. Damn damn damn. Now Gothamist will only have the Village Voice and New York Press for more downmarket escort resources.

PowerPoint, the bane of many an office wonk's existence ("I can animate this slide with builds and sound effects - just give me an hour") gets reinterpreted by David Byrne in his new book and DVD, David Byrne: E.E.E.I. (Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information). Unlike office wonks, David Byrne gets to look at PP with new eyes and use it in funny, "artistic" ways, like using an outline of Dan Rather's head (unless you work in network TV news) or photos of Dolly the sheep and create a book and DVD with similar far-out slides. His enthusiasm for PP can be read in his essay for Wired's September issue: "." Byrne's essay is followed by one from Edward Tufte that calls PowerPoint evil. Well, of course, it is - it's from Microsoft.