LADY GAGA'S IN TOWN TONIGHT

Before the show, fans lined up to be able choose the best seats. 

Early Baseball Greats - Their Cards

Tobacco companies were leading producers of baseball cards by the mid 1880's although the cards first began appearing in the 1860's as promotional vehicles for various trades. For the tobacco companies, the cards served to protect the cigarettes in the pack as well as to promote the brand. Many cards, like the following, were colorful drawings of leading players.

John Montgomery Ward 

"Monte Ward" pitched the second perfect game in baseball on June 17, 1880, for the Providence Grays -- only five days after the first perfect game had been thrown by pitcher Lee Richmond for  a Worcester team.

Edward Nagle Williamson 

Outfielder Ned Williamson held the single season home run record from 1887 until 1919 when Babe Ruth surpassed his total.

Charles H. Getzein

Sometimes referred to as Getzin,  "Pretzels" Getzein pitched for 4 different National League teams between 1884 and 1891. His total 277 complete games still ranks 58th for Major League Baseball.

Adrian Constantine Anson 

"Pop" or "Cap" Anson was a superstar hitter in his day, and the first player to log over 3,000 career hits --  in his nearly 30 years of playing from 1872 through 1897. 

L.F.  Lawton 

Jack Lawson's San Francisco Haverly's team was part of the California League.

Walter Harold Nagle

Pitcher "Lucky" or "Judge" Nagle started his major league career in 1911, first with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then with the Boston Red Sox. 

? Hoffman

Outfielder Hoffman was apparently part of the lesser known Raleigh Team in the North Carolina League.

Zachariah Davis Wheat

Zach Wheat was a leading hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers between 1909 and 1927.

Frank Baker

Baker was listed as 3rd baseman for the early Philadelphia Athletics with a salary of $5,000 in 1910 and $6,200 in 1911.

Robert Altman's Unfinished Thriller

At the time of his death in November 2006, Robert Altman had still not commenced filming what was known as "Altman's Untitled NY Art World Film,"  a thriller about a murdered NY painter and his fellow-artist younger brother.  
The project had been announced in late 2003 as a spring 2004 production and was slated to star James Franco opposite Salma Hayek.   This rare Capitol Films production broadsheet below outlines the intriguing plot.

Horn & Hardart Funbook

These excerpts are from a Horn & Hardart 1920's booklet of contemporary cartoons and jokes on the Automat lifestyle.

A Miscellaneous Comment 

Thinking the unthinkable about the disappearance Flight MH370

It just may be that the real reason to hijack this airplane was to gain possession of a Boeing 777. This was very clever capture of this airliner. This notion has gained credence over the six days following its disappearance.

There is some speculation that Flight MH370 is to be used in a 9/11 style attack on the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, one of  worlds tallest buildings and the pride of Malaysia. If this were so then the hijacked flight would, with all is transponders turned off, have already hit the Petronas Towers before anyone knew there was a problem with the aircraft. 

There is a real possibility that some group wanted this aircraft so they could attack a target, somewhere in the world, with a weapon of mass destruction, You can pick on your own from a basket of chemical, biological or in the extreme, nuclear possibilities. 

It  looks like this is a far fetched notion. It seems to be in the same group as an extraterrestrial kidnapping. But it is not. Someone went to a great deal of effort to turn off aircraft communication systems. Someone went to a great deal of trouble to hide this aircraft as it changed course and flew to who knows where. 

Several agencies have said "You can't just fly a Triple 7 and not have a radar trace,"  One senior US official, citing information Malaysia has shared with the United States, told CNN that" here is probably a significant likelihood" that the aircraft is on the floor of the Indian Ocean.

Anyone who plans the capture of a Boeing 777 and doesn't crash it where their actions get noticed has other plans for the plane, They would have a place to land this plane already prepared in advance. It is time to stop thinking that this was a crime of opportunity. Someone made this happen. 

It may be entirely likely that whoever hijacked this plane plans to spoof another Boeing 777's flight and become that flight as ascertained by taking over the transponder, UHF and VHF radios, automatic beacons, GPS and computer communications systems of the spoofed plane. The original plane would be destroyed in a dark zone as the former Flight MH370 takes its place, on its way to deliver a deadly cargo somewhere in the world. 

At first glance it seems unlikely that this could happen. At first glance it would have seemed unlikely that the world could lose Flight MH370. 

No Power - No Peace Getting Around

Day Two  And More After Sandy

On Tuesday my wife who is a building manager, had to look at some of the buildings that she and her company manage nearby and close to the river.

At that point in time, second day after the storm, these dwellings became an ad hoc office and meeting place for some of the managers. 

The area had two advantages, better than spotty cell phone reception and the ability charge phones in the cars. 

These buildings were flooded during the surge and the water not only came in from the Hudson River but also welled up through the drains. The basements had to be pumped out. 

In this building there were two basement garage attendants. Both of them noticed the water was coming in and one of them decided that he would patiently wait until the water subsided. The other attendant saw how quickly the water was filling the garage and he made for the stairs. After he went up 10 or more steps the attendant turned around and saw his friend standing on a car roof just above the rising water. This all happened in less than 20 seconds.  Needless to say the garage filled to the ceiling and the attendant that stayed behind drowned. 

On Wednesday:

An uptown electrified friend offered  hot showers, wifi to check our email and place to charge our devices. Our nephew, who lives three blocks away from this friend, offered his Jeep so we could have transportation for the duration. The biggest obstacle to all this help was getting there since the subways weren't running. 

The journey began with us sharing a cab with the woman who was working in a nearby restaurant. We move fairly quickly  from downtown below Canal to 30th St.

But when we got to 33rd St. encountered gridlock likes of which we've never seen. 

So at 36th Street we left the cab and carrying laptop with some wine and other stuff  walked the crowded streets for over a mile. 

At times the gridlock was bad that some cars took to pushing their way on to the sidewalk. 

At the end of that night we were clean, charged, well fed and had a handle on our burdgeoning emails.

Day Four Views 

On Thursday I walked down to the Battery Tunnel and back again. In that time I saw the news being created at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, somehow renamed while I wasn't paying attention to The Hugh Carey Tunnel.

Politicians out in full force. New York's Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Congressman Jerrold Nadler and someone who I don't recognize all had a comment about the progress of cleaning up the effects of storm Sandy. 

The smaller Battery Park Tunnel was still very flooded on this day. 

It looked like it was going to be awhile before things returned to normal.

No matter where you walked downtown pumps were in place doing their job.

Last Day

The only area that had electricity was Battery Park City and some of the area north of BPC. By chance we found an electrical and wifi oasis where the new tribe of digital nomads was gathering. Here the Conrad hotel opened a spare room where they installed extension cords and allowed people to join their wifi network. It makes one very aware how dependent we have become on digital communications and  informational technology.

This is our last night without power. We sat and played Boggle by candlelight. For a short while I was upset that some people in Manhattan got their power back hours before us.

Soon afterward it became apparent that our travails were insignificant compared the hardships and loss suffered at the New York and New Jersey Shores and on Staten Island. We had gotten by, others are still coping with an unprecedented disaster. This holiday season give a little something to the Red Cross and agencies to help our neighbors. 

No Power - No Peace

No Power - No Peace - Part 1
The First Night

Life in Darkened Downtown Manhattan
As A Result of Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy and her subsequent evolution into a monster Hurricane/Nor'easter storm may signal a meteorological paradigm shift of monumental significance.

Having said that what follows is a set of personal observations of effects of that shift on a small portion of New York City.

On Sunday November 28th 2012 the subways were closed 24 hours before the storm and it's tidal surge were to hit the New York - New Jersey area. This rare action was done as a preventive measure in case the worse should happen. At the time I thought this meant a minor inconvenience of a day or so. After all we have had hurricanes batter New York before and after a few days they were filed away as just another hurricane.

My first hint that I was not going have electricity was a Sunday night robo call from the utility Con Edison, known locally as Con-Ed. In that call they said they would make a preventive move and turn off my electric power for a short time at during the Sandy tidal surge. It was also announced that areas to shut were near me but not necessarily my neighborhood. 

Hurricane Sandy, with a cheerful and warm name, barged her way into the area bearing destructive gifts. We followed the storms progress on television. Sometime before 9 PM the lights briefly blinked. Occasionally I had seen this kind blinking when Con-Ed shifted power from section or another. 

Then my lights did something very peculiar. The lights went from normal brightness to a deep orange and then bounced back. I looked out the window and watched in horror as the lights in the office building across the street went out one by one. The street lamp went out. My lights did the orange dip again, went bright for a moment and then there was darkness. 

An odd view greeted me when I walked outside. It was a full moon and shown through the clouds with a diffuse lunar light.

The Candle Age came back to New York. 

At Home we brought out our ancient candle collection of whole and stubby candles.

Outside, New York City set up cars blocking the roads to traffic heading toward Battery Park. 

A very small number buildings had electricity. Either these buildings had their own generators or were part World Financial Center or Battery Park City complexes.

The water had reached its full height by the time these pictures were taken. This set is at Barkley Street and Greenwich Ave. 

At Park Place and Greenwich small groups of residents  had  gathered. As quickly as the tidal surge rose it began to fall but left flooded basements and tunnels in its wake.


The next segment is Part 2
Neighborly Chicken Soup.

No Power - No Peace - Getting By In the Dark

Day One After Sandy

Tuesday we called our neighbors and asked for left over defrosting chicken and warming refrigerated vegetables. With these ingredients, I cooked a fresh and hearty soup.   

And that night we served chicken soup with bread and wine by candle light for the half of our building that had not left. so we served dinner for 10. 

There are no pictures from the dinner but it had an atmosphere of it's own.

More candles

Two years ago I received a Red Cross crank driven radio and flashlight as a gift. Upon receiving the radio I was told: "May you never really need this". But during the blackout it came in handy. 

We felt we knew what has happening without running down our iphones and suffering with very spotty coverage. Even our landline would go out from time to time.