Urban Studies

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Old Print Article: “Two Of Poly’s Freshmen Kidnapped By Sophs, Small Riot This Afternoon,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1902)

October 28, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

Old Polytechnic: kidnappings, beatings, riots, etc.

Freshmen and sophomores at Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn had a Christmas tradition, right around 1900, of kidnapping and beating the snot out of one another–and the police and press seemed to find it amusing. This school desperately needed to go co-ed and fast. In the December 18, 1902 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, that year’s “festivities” were detailed. An excerpt:

“Two Poly freshmen were pounced upon by a crowd of sophs at the Polytechnic Institute on Livingston street this morning and before their classmates could come to their assistance they were kidnapped.

Tonight these freshmen will be made to sit in a corner and eat bread and milk at the Arena, in Thirty-second street, Manhattan, where the sophs will hold their annual Christmas dinner. They will also be made to sing and do other stunts for the entertainment of the class of 1905.

The kidnapping of these freshmen led to a general mix up of the sophomores and freshmen this afternoon at the institute. The fight started in the building but members of the faculty interfered and ordered the boys to the street.

Polytechnic's Electrostatic Laboratory, site of scientific discovery and brazen kidnappings.

A minute later all the available freshmen were being walloped in the street by the sophs. The fighting became so rough that policemen were summoned and stopped it.

When the policemen arrived three of the freshmen were tied up, and the sophs claim they would have been kidnapped had not the cops interfered.

‘Go on down there in the alley and have it out, boys,’ advised one of the cops, and a dozen eager sophs signified their willingness to accept this advice, but the freshmen claimed they were outnumbered.

‘Wait until to-morrow,’ said a florid, cheeked and red haired freshman, with a mashed hat and disheveled necktie. ‘We’ll kidnap the entire class of ’05 when our men get together.’

The sophs gave the defeated leader the laugh. The cops and the crowd, including some of the Packer girls, joined in the twitting of the routed army of freshmen, and seemed to enjoy the scrap immensely.

‘It’s a shame to stop this, boys,’ said the policemen. ‘Clarke’s men don’t sweep the asphalt half as clean as you boys.'”

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“The Students There Are A Grievous Lot, Hopeless, Unattractive, And Not Even Young”

October 28, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

"The one advantage though of having to deal with such primitive little shits is that they don't ask stupid questions about the Algonquin." (Image by Bain News Service.)

From the always interesting Letters of Note comes this missive that Dorothy Parker wrote in the early 1960s when she was teaching at CalTech. The students were apparently not the best and the brightest, at least in Parker’s estimation. An excerpt:

“I am horrified to think what a pig I have been about writing, but it honestly is no reflection of lack of thought or love. I have been busy teaching a class at Cal Tech. The term just ended and I am celebrating my manumission by writing to you. The students there are a grievous lot, hopeless, unattractive, and not even young. I threw my hands up the second week when one of the brighter lights defended Peyton Place as a work of substance and value. The one advantage though of having to deal with such primitive little shits is that they don’t ask stupid questions about the Algonquin. They have apparently never heard of the hotel or me.”

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Featured Video: Carving A Pumpkin With A Gun

October 27, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Guns aren’t just for killing people anymore. (Thanks Reddit.)

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“The Bill Clinton Platter Is An Aromatic Spread Of Mixed Meats, Lentils And Oven-Baked Bread”

October 27, 2010 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

In 2004, when Bubba was still a fat, ruddy bastard.

Bill Clinton is on a strict vegan diet these days, which is bad news for certain restaurants. According to an amusing article by David Segal in the New York Times, eateries where the former President has stuffed his piehole continue to benefit from his visit for years. An excerpt:

“Bill Clinton has dined at Bukhara, an upscale restaurant in New Delhi, on just two occasions, but the afterglow of those visits has never worn off. The clientele, it seems, won’t let it.

Since that first meal, in 2000, so many customers have uttered some variation of ‘Give us what the president had,’ that the restaurant has started serving a mixed-meat sampler — a one-off prepared for Mr. Clinton and his guests — as a nightly special. The Bill Clinton platter, as it is known, is an aromatic spread of mixed meats, lentils and oven-baked bread.

Price: 5,000 rupees, or about $110.

For those who can’t handle that much minced lamb and chicken tandoori, a night at Bukhara can still have a Clintonian cast. Just ask for ‘the Clinton table,’ the six-seater said to be Mr. Clinton’s perch of choice in the middle of the restaurant, with an unhindered view of the open-air kitchen.

But be sure to call ahead.”

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

October 27, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

Not the sukkah from the Craigslist ad, but it is a pretty damned nice sukkah. (Image by RonAlmog.)

Sukkah for sale – $200 (Flushing 11367)

My family has outgrown our tubular 8 x 6 sukkah. We need an 8 x 8. Willing to barter. Comes with schach.

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The Origin Of The Phrase “Computer Bug”

October 27, 2010 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

"A researcher using tweezers located and removed the problem: a 2-in. long moth."

Longform posted a link to a 1984 cover story from Time magazine about the growing importance of software designed for personal computers. It’s a pretty standard story of the era, but it contains one interesting fact: It explains how the phrase “computer bug” was coined. Maybe everyone else on the planet knows this story, but I didn’t. An excerpt:

“Grace Hopper, one of the pioneer programmers, created COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language), which is the most widely used programming language for mainframe computers.

Now 77, Hopper works at the U.S. Navy’s computer center in Washington. Since the 1982 retirement of Admiral Hyman Rickover at 82, Commodore Hopper is the Navy’s oldest officer on active duty.

She gets credit for coining the name of a ubiquitous computer phenomenon: the bug. In August 1945, while she and some associates were working at Harvard on an experimental machine called the Mark I, a circuit malfunctioned. A researcher using tweezers located and removed the problem: a 2-in. long moth. Hopper taped the offending insect into her logbook. Says she: ‘From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.’

(The moth is still under tape along with records of the experiment at the U.S. Naval Surface Weapons Center in Dahlgren, Va.)”

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Featured Video: Balloon Boy Dad Does Infomercial

October 26, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Richard Henne, the jackass Balloon Boy dad, has apparently invented an inane product called Bear Scratch, which is a scratching post for humans with itchy backs. The infomercial is actually dumber and scarier then pretending  your child has been carried off by a runaway balloon. Thanks Los Angeles Times.

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Featured Video: “Bridge Over Troubled Water” Karaoke

October 26, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

I’m too poor of voice and self-conscious in nature to perform karaoke, but I love watching amateurs sing their hearts out, even more than I like listening to a lot of professional singers. I think what gets me is that karaoke is a chance for people to show a sincerity that is often otherwise discouraged in life. Watch this gentleman sing Bridge Over Troubled Water (in what’s likely not his first language). How many pros have this level of commitment and passion?

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Old Print Article: “Tom, The Trick Elephant, Killed In Central Park,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1902)

October 25, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

"Tom's death sentence was passed upon him some time ago, and the execution was carried out with great secrecy." (Image by TheWB.)

I fear making Afflictor into a pachyderm graveyard, having already posted about the executions of Old Timey elephants Topsy and Big Mary, but I found an interesting story in the October 3, 1902 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, with the subtitle: “Six Hundred Grains of Cyanide of Potassium Given to Him in Buckets of Bran.” It seems Tom the Trick Elephant, who had previously been a performer for P.T. Barnum, had grown unpredictably violent in the Central Park Zoo, and it was determined that he needed to be put down. An excerpt from the sad and colorful details:

“Whistling a lively tune but with a sad heart and an effort, to keep the tears from his eyes, Billy Snyder, the elephant trainer at the Central Park Zoo, this morning fed two buckets of bran mush to Tom, the world famous trick elephant, and in just fifty-six minutes the big beast lay stiff and stark upon the floor of his cage. For many years Snyder had carried Tom’s breakfast to him, and he said afterward that he felt guilty this morning when he gave the beast poison in his food–600 grains of cyanide of potassium. Tom made a brave struggle against death, but could not withstand the powerful drug.

Tom’s death sentence was passed upon him some time ago, and the execution was carried out with great secrecy. Only a small audience witnessed the killing of the famous beast, the general public being kept  in ignorance of the time for the execution. Those present were Parks Commissioner Wilcox, Director Smith of the zoo,  Dr. Edward N. Leavy, the park veterinary, Drs. Morill and Fisher, nerve specialists, Keepers Bill Snyder, Pete Shannon and John Rowley, chief of the taxidermy department of the American Museum of Natural History.

The bran tasted funny. (Image by Sklmsta.)

Those invited to the execution arrived at the arsenal at 8:30 o’clock and went to Director Smith’s office. From there they went to the elephant house and waited outside until the poison had been administered. For the last week Keeper Snyder  has been feeding Tom two buckets of bran every morning at 9 o’clock, containing some foreign substance, generally corn or barley. This was to get the animal used to change, for elephants are very intelligent and suspicious, and Director Smith did not want the experiment to fail. At just 8:44 o’clock Snyder and Chief Rowley entered the elephant house went into Tom’s cage. The big beast was chained by the fore and hind feet. Snyder walked up to him and patted him gently on the trunk. Snyder was whistling merrily when he entered the cage, but there was a tone of sadness in his voice when he called out: ‘Here’s your breakfast, Tom.’

Just six minutes after the last pail had been fed to Tom he suddenly rolled over and fell on his left side, snapping off the left tusk as he fell. Those who were witnessing the execution thought that death was coming without a struggle, and one of them had just remarked that ‘it was all over’ when the beast arose to his feet again. Tom staggered as if intoxicated and his huge body swayed from side to side. He began to trumpet loudly, his tail swished nervously and he was plainly feeling the effects of the deadly poison. Then he had three falls in rapid succession, but he recovered each time and stood on his feet again. ‘He’s a hard one to kill,’ remarked Snyder.

At 9:12 o’clock there came a spasm which foretold death, and the big eyes closed and Tom lay there in semi-comatose condition for some minutes without moving a muscle. It was not until 9:40, just fifty-six minutes after the poison was administered, that Dr. Leavy, who had entered the cage, pronounced Tom dead.

‘Tom tried to kill me more than once,’ said Snyder, ‘but I don’t hold nothing against him. Anyway, I’m glad it’s over, for we were good friends once.'”

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

October 25, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

"These skewers prevent the eater from getting their hands covered in buttery filth."

NEW!! 10 pc. Corn Skewers – $1 (NNJ)

Be a hit this Thanksgiving with your guests with these awesome corn skewers. Also great for barbecues, these skewers prevent the eater from getting their hands covered in buttery filth while trying to enjoy their corn. A great buy at a great price.

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“Truth Be Told, I Wasn’t Aware Sony Was Still Producing Cassette Walkmans”

October 24, 2010 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

The invention that made Greg Kihn music portable. (Image by Kafziel.)

Twenty-two years before Apple’s iPod started a personal music revolution, Sony caused one of its own with the Walkman. First produced in 1979, the radio-cassette player became ubiquitous, eventually selling more than 400 million units. Understandably, Sony has just announced it will cease producing the Walkman, though a Chinese company will continue manufacturing and selling the item in Asia and the Middle East. Serkan Toto of CrunchGear has the story. (Thanks HuffPo.) An excerpt:

“Truth be told, I wasn’t aware Sony was still producing cassette Walkmans. But the company today announced it will stop manufacturing and selling these devices in Japan – after 30 years. Sony says the final lot was shipped to retailers in April this year, and once the last units are sold, there will be no cassette Walkmans from big S anymore.

The first Walkman was produced in 1979. The picture shows the TPS-L2, the world’s first portable (mass-produced) stereo, which went on sale in Japan on July 1 that year and was later exported to the US, Europe and other places. Sony says that they managed to sell over 400 million Walkmans worldwide until March 2010, and exactly 200,020,000 of those were cassette-based models.”

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Miscellaneous Media: Postcard To Mr. And Mrs. R. Rightnour, Douglassville, PA. (1964)

October 23, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

Front of card: "Vive La Difference."

(Purchased at a Brooklyn flea market for a quarter.)

Hi folks,

I have at least three of these women chasing me every nite.

I hope none of them catch me.

Never expected this trip to Miami Beach to be so nice.

Joe & Ann

More Miscellaneous Media:

  • Postcard to Mr. and Mrs. Jay Groff, Quarrysville, Pennsylvania, 1976.
  • Postcard to Mrs. Frank Houston, Cincinnati, 1986.
  • Christmas postcard to Mrs. Frank Houston, Cincinnati, 1985.
  • Postcard to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Houston, 1976.
  • Playbill of No, No Nanette. (1971)
  • Brochure from Rio Motel in Wildwood, New Jersey. (2004)
  • Jim Otto 1965 Topps football card.
  • Miniature Aircraft Quarterly. (1998)
  • Howeird Stern 50 Ways to Rank Your Mother LP. (1982)
  • A Knight’s Hard Day. (1964)
  • The Lowbrow Reader remembers Ol’ Dirty Bastard. (2004)
  • LP record about the 1972 Oakland A’s.
  • Madison Square Garden professional wrestling program. (1981)
  • Spy magazine. (1989)
  • Artis Gilmore ABA basketball card. (1973-74)
  • San Francisco cable car ticket stub. (1990s)
  • Bronx high school newspaper. (1947)
  • Mad magazine. (1966)
  • Vancouver Blazers hockey guide. (1974-75)
  • John Hummer NBA card. (1973)
  • Carolina Cougars ABA Yearbook. (1970)
  • The Washington Senators MLB Yearbook. (1968)
  • Ugandan currency with Idi Amin’s picture. (1973)
  • Tom Van Arsdale basketball card. (1970)
  • “Okie from Muskogee” sheet music. (1969)
  • California Golden Seals hockey magazine. (1972)
  • Beatles Film Festival Magazine (1978)
  • ABA Pictorial (1968-69)
  • Tom Seaver’s Baseball Is My Life. (1973)
  • Hockey Digest (1973)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1964)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1939)
  • Buffalo Braves Yearbook (1972-73)
  • New York Nets Yearbook (1976-77)
  • “Tom Dooley” sheet music.

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    Featured Video: Deaf-Owned KFC In Egypt

    October 22, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

    This cool video shows the inner workings of a KFC restaurant in Cairo which is run almost entirely by a hearing-impaired staff. Deaf customers sign their orders and hearing customers point to their choices on a counter-top menu.

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    Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

    October 22, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    Human and gorilla skeletons.

    Leather Skeleton Vanson (Limited Edition) – $250 (Brooklyn)

    It’s been worn twice! It’s a size 54 which is basically an XL. It’s worth almost $1,000. Here’s a link to the official vanson website if you don’t believe: http://www.vansonleathers.com/detail.aspx?ID=268. Mine is the limited edition with the with the bullet hole design in the front and back and blood exiting the bone in the back. I’m selling it for a quater of the prcie but I need cash so serious people only thanks.

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    Old Print Article: “Acquittal Of The Bellevue Nurse,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1901)

    October 22, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

    An 1866 sketch of the Bellevue morgue, the first morgue in New York City. (Image by Stanley Fox.)

    If you were a patient at Bellevue Hospital in 1901, it was wise to finish your supper if the nurses ordered you to. That was the fatal lesson that patient Louis H. Hilliard may have learned. One thing for sure is that so-called “lunatics,” in general, take a beating in this jaw-dropping article from the March 1, 1901 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:

    “The judge declined to find Jesse R. Davis, a Bellevue Hospital nurse, guilty of killing Louis H. Hilliard, a patient, in the hospital. Davis, with two other nurses, was charged, it will be remembered, with beating Hilliard brutally and strangling him with a sheet because he would not eat his supper. There is a widespread belief that the nurses in the charity hospitals are brutal and when Hilliard died and bruises were found on his body and one of the bones in his throat was broken, people were ready to believe that the attending nurses had killed him. The Grand Jury decided that the evidence against the nurses was sufficient to warrant charging them with the crime. But the trial jury, which heard both sides of the case and saw the witnesses for the defense and for the prosecution, concluded, as already intimated, that the crime had not been proved.

    Bellevue Hospital a half-century later. (Image by Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc.,)

    The case of the prosecution depended on the testimony of two lunatics and of a newspaper writer, who had feigned lunacy for the sake of getting inside of the hospital to gather material for a sensational article. He has made sensation enough, but the jury has decided that it is like most of the sensations created by newspapers which depart from the legitimate business of printing the news to the business of making it. Scandals manufactured to sell extra editions do not bear examination. The newspaper writer told two different stories of what happened in the hospital. They could not both be true. The jury concluded that it would not believe either. The lunatics who testified gave their evidence in a simple straightforward manner. Though it is unusual to admit such witnesses to the stand it is not unprecedented and the Supreme Court of the United States has held that they ought to be allowed to testify, for otherwise attendants of the insane might do anything they chose with those under their care and escape punishment if they did it when none but the lunatics was around. The testimony of such witnesses, however, has to be sifted by the jurors just as that of the sane witnesses.

    The Davis jurors did not believe what the lunatics swore to any more than they believed the man who had feigned insanity. Their action is not such as to encourage prosecuting officers to put lunatics on the stand. And this is fortunate, indeed. While the testimony of such people may be legally competent it ought not to be used save under such conditions as those which the Supreme Court has said justify recourse to it, namely, when none but lunatics have seen the things which it is desired to prove. And even then a jury ought to be warned by the court against a conviction on the uncorroborated testimony of those whose minds are diseased and who are not legally responsible for what they say and who may have no sense of moral accountability. The testimony of the lunatic is no better than uncorroborated circumstantial evidence, and should not be treated differently. The twelve sane men who tried Davis deserve the thanks of the community for declining to believe such testimony. And they deserve thanks, also, for refusing to believe that men in training for the care of the sick would kill a patient on no greater provocation than his refusal to eat his supper. There are many inhuman creatures in this city, but it is not credible that they are attendants in the hospitals. The nurses do use force in handling the insane. Indeed, they have to do it when the patients are violent, but it is incredible that Davis and two other Bellevue nurses are guilty as charged in the indictment. If it is necessary to call lunatics to make out a case against the other two nurses their trial might be better abandoned.”


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    Alain De Botton And The Art Of Airport Writing

    October 21, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Alain de Botton is filthy rich due to a trust fund.

    The Swiss-born British-based philosopher Alain de Botton spent a week as writer-in-residence in the middle of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. It’s a loud, bustling place that wouldn’t seem conducive to writing, but oddly those are usually the best places to write. De Botton provides a pretty good explanation as to why it works this way. (Thanks to Boing Boing.) An excerpt:

    “The best place I ever worked was Heathrow Terminal 5, where I had a desk right in the middle of the departures hall. I was invited to the airport to be a Writer in Residence (and later wrote a book about the experience, A Week at the Airport). The terminal turned out to be an ideal spot in which to do some work, for it rendered the idea of writing so unlikely as to make it possible again. Objectively good places to work rarely end up being so; in their faultlessness, quiet and well-equipped studies have a habit of rendering the fear of failure overwhelming. Original thoughts are like shy animals. We sometimes have to look the other way – towards a busy street or terminal – before they run out of their burrows.”

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    Twenty-Year-Old Female Criminology Student Becomes Mexican Police Chief

    October 20, 2010 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Pink crosses memorialize women murdered in Ciudad Juarez. (Image by iose.)

    According to an article from an Australian news service, a 20-year-old criminology student has been named Chief of Police in a Mexican border town near Ciudad Juárez, Mexico’s most violent city, simply because no one else wanted the job. It may sound like an offbeat human-interest story, but the violence in that city, particularly against women, has long been horrific. An excerpt:

    “A 20-YEAR-OLD female criminology student has been named police chief of a northern Mexican border town plagued by drug violence because no one else wanted the job.

    Marisol Valles became director of municipal public security of Guadalupe ‘since she was the only person to accept the position,’ the mayor’s office of the town of some 10,000 people near the US border told local media yesterday.

    Ms Valles is studying criminology in Mexico’s most violent city of Ciudad Juarez, some 60km west of Guadalupe.

    Raging turf battles between rival drug gangs have left some 6500 people dead in Ciudad Juarez alone in the past three years.

    Much of Chihuahua state has suffered from the spiral of drug violence, including in Guadalupe, where the mayor was murdered in June and police officers and security agents have been killed, some of them beheaded.”

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    Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

    October 20, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    Bed of nails, India, 1907. (Image by Herbert Ponting.)

    Bed of Nails Coffee Table – $200 (Mount Vernon)

    Yes, you heard right. It’s a large 4′ X 4′ table, that is also a bed of nails. The glass rests above the nails and is supported by pylons. Not intended for laying on!!!!

    The table can either be used as a coffee table or as a large table to sit around depending on the length of the legs. Most recently I used it for a kitchen table. So to use it as a coffee table, you could shorten the legs.

    This is a really odd table that was my first (and only) attempt at building something artistic. However, now that my wife is pregnant, this table is too dangerous to keep at home with a baby running around. So I’d love to give it to somebody who will appreciate it.

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    “At This McDonald’s The DNA Liquid Is Contained In An Orange Box The Size Of A Large Paperback Book”

    October 20, 2010 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Ronald McDonald: Spraying people with his DNA. (Image by M.Minderhoud.)

    The New York Times’ John Tagliabue has filed an interesting article about McDonald’s high-tech attempts at crime prevention at one of their Rotterdam restaurants. It involves employees activating an alarm that sprays criminals with DNA and alerts police that a crime is in progress. (Thanks to Gizmodo.) An excerpt:

    “At this McDonald’s the DNA liquid is contained in an orange box the size of a large paperback book, mounted over an entrance door. ‘You don’t smell it; you don’t see it; nobody knows it’s there,’ said Jean-Paul Fafie, who has managed the McDonald’s for the last 12 years.

    The system and the all-important warning sign seem to have successfully warded off any potential robbers. But there were kinks to be worked out.

    ‘In the beginning, it went off many times, even when there was no robbery,’ Mr. Fafie said. ‘And the police came every time.’

    The false alarms were caused by employees who forgot, or never knew, about the protocol for secretly activating the system — removing a 10 euro bill from a special bill clip kept behind the counter.

    ‘We didn’t train our counter people properly,’ Mr. Fafie said sheepishly. As for a potential thief, he said, “we hope he’ll think twice before coming in.’”

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    Listeria: Blossom Restaurant Prices (1935)

    October 19, 2010 in Urban Studies | Permalink

    The Blossom Restaurant, photographed by Berenice Abbott.

    30¢

    • Three pork chops

    25¢

    • Pig Head
    • Sirloin Steak with Onions
    • Roast Loin of Pork
    • Roast Fresh Ham
    • Pig Knuckles

    Men who loaded up on food at the Blossom could head to the Sig. Klein Fat Men’s Shop, which sold “underwear to fit any size man.”

    20¢

    • Oxtail Goulash
    • Hung Goulash
    • Ham or Bacon and Eggs
    • Beef Steak with Onions
    • Lamb or Mutton Chops
    • Corned Beef and Cabbage
    • Yankee Pot Roast
    • Spinach and Eggs
    • Buttered Noodles
    • Corned Beef Hash and Beans
    • Vegetable Loaf
    • Stuffed Peppers

    15¢

    • Lamb Stew
    • Hamburger Steak with Onions
    • Breast of Lamb
    • Pork Tenderloin
    • Corned Beef Hash and One Egg
    • Beef Stew

    10¢

    • Vienna Roast with Green Peas
    • Meat Balls with Beans
    • Franks with Kraut
    • Pigs Feet with Kraut

    5¢

    • Soup with Bread

    Luc Sante Is Buried Under Tons Of Books

    October 19, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

    The Walk of Ideas in Berlin. (Lienhard Schulz.)

    The excellent writer Luc Sante has an interesting article, “The Book Collection That Devoured My Life,” in the Wall Street Journal, about his compulsive book-collecting. Sante isn’t a bibliophile with a yen for first editions; he’s just a guy who loves the printed word and can’t keep his hands off of anything with two covers, even if it’s a volume he’s unlikely to read. Sante also comments on the digitization of books and the ascension of e-readers. An excerpt:

    “These days it may appear that books, per se, are doomed. The electronic readers are ever lighter, smaller, and more sophisticated. Google is undertaking to scan and digitize every book in the world — not without some resistance. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying that even the reading devices are pointless, since according to him nobody reads anymore, at least not in the sense of sequentially taking in long and complex works. I have nothing against the readers, and may find myself buying one eventually — they’d come in very handy on trips, the way the iPod does. I’m all in favor of the comprehensive digitizing of the world’s books, since that would very much ease small points of research (and I’m not worried about losing control of my copyrights, since it’s unlikely many people would read entire books online that way). As far as the decline of reading goes, I am nervous, but also believe that matters of taste and inclination do swing around on long orbits.

    But I would very much miss books as material objects were they to disappear. The tactility of books assists my memory, for one thing. I can’t remember the quote I’m searching for, or maybe even the title of the work that contains it, but I can remember that the book is green, that the margins are unusually wide, and that the quote lies two-thirds of the way down a right-hand page. If books all appear as nearly identical digital readouts, my memory will be impoverished. And packaging is of huge importance, too–the books I read because I liked their covers usually did not disappoint. In the world of books, all is contingency and serendipity. Books are much more than container vessels for ideas. They are very nearly living things, or at least are more than the sum of their parts.”

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    “This Video Console Will Be Channeled Into The Store Of Her choice”

    October 19, 2010 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

    This two-minute clip taken from the 1967 short documentary “1999 A.D.” reliably predicts the future of Internet shopping–yet still manages to be antiquated in a wildly sexist way. The movie was produced by Philco-Ford, which was a pioneering battery, radio and TV manufacturer.

     

    Old Print Article: “An Opium Smoker Arrested At Coney Island,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1887)

    October 18, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Opium den in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1880s. (Image by Louis Philippe Lessard.)

    I knew that there were people in the 19th-century who were opium eaters, but I wasn’t aware that it was a competitive sport. According to this odd article in the June 15, 1887 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, you could win championship medals for cooking opium in national competitions. Also: Montana was apparently an opium hotbed in the 1880s. Who knew? An excerpt:

    “A confirmed opium fiend has been discovered among the performers at a Coney Island music pavilion. He is the possessor of two championship medals for cooking opium, won in national contests among opium eaters. Word was brought to Police Headquarters on Wednesday that an opium den was in operation at Frank Reeber’s on the Sea Beach walk. Officer James Boyle went to the place and found that Charles Sheppard was the only opium smoker in the place, and that he had his ‘layout’ in his bedroom. He and the layout were taken before Justice Newton, and Sheppard was let go by his own recognizance. Yesterday morning, with hollow eyes and shaking limbs, he appeared before the Justice and begged for the return of his layout, saying that without it he felt as if wild horses were tearing him apart. The Justice told him he might take a cell and ‘hit’ the pipe, and he eagerly agreed to give up liberty for the boon of smoking. He was not allowed to do this, however, but later in the day upon his explanation that he must have the opium and that he was lessening the dose to cure himself gradually of the habit, his layout was returned. He went directly to his room and lying on his bed in a mild ecstasy of anticipation began preparing and cooking the pellets. He is but 19, and contracted the habit two years ago in Montana.”

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    Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

    October 18, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    "If it shoots, stabs or goes with it, I'll buy it." (Image by Kafziel.)

    I buy Flags, Rifles, Helmets, Swords & other Military items!

    Do you have old rifles (any long-barrels: muskets, flintlocks, breach-loaders, etc), swords, bayonets, flags, uniforms, medals, helmets or ANY war stuff collecting dust in your house? Grandpas WW2 relics? Nazi stuff that’s just too creepy to display? Great Uncle’s string of ears he cut off at Okinawa that scares your kids? Hitler’s personal mustache comb? Dad’s massive collection of guns that he collected for fighting “commies”? Pile of rusty shotguns in your garage? Propeller of a Viet Cong plane stuck in your attic?

    Sell it to me! I’m not a store, so there’s no waiting on paperwork and arguing, I don’t need to know why do you have a Romanian WW2 tank in your basement collecting dust, I just want it!

    Russian Imperial or German pre-1945 items are always bought at top price! US Propaganda ww2 posters, original photographs, even coins, I’ll give you an offer on ALMOST EVERYTHING!

    If it shoots, stabs or goes with it, I’ll buy it. I come to you anywhere in NY, always pay in CASH and I am discreet and professional.

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    Miscellaneous Media: Postcard To Mr. And Mrs. Jay Groff, Quarryville, Pa., 17566 (1976)

    October 17, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    "Redfish Lake, Idaho--Sawtooth National Forest. The lake is on U.S. 93 in the Sawtooth Mountain Range. Mount Heyburn on the right is over 10,000 feet elevation. Camping and lodge facilities are available."

    (Purchased at Brooklyn flea market for 25 cents,)

    “Dear Pee-paw and Mee-maw,

    Thought you’d enjoy seeing where we went camping last week. We rented a trailer and spent two nights here. Had a marvelous time! The area is so beautiful–we also visited a couple of mining ghost towns. Very interesting. Drove home through Sun Valley. It was a relaxing two-day vacation and we sure hated to come home. Hope this finds you both well!

    Much love,

    Susan and Bruce.”

    More Miscellaneous Media:

  • Postcard to Mrs. Frank Houston, Cincinnati, 1986.
  • Christmas postcard to Mrs. Frank Houston, Cincinnati, 1985.
  • Postcard to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Houston, 1976.
  • Brochure from Rio Motel in Wildwood, New Jersey. (2004)
  • Jim Otto 1965 Topps football card.
  • Miniature Aircraft Quarterly. (1998)
  • Howeird Stern 50 Ways to Rank Your Mother LP. (1982)
  • A Knight’s Hard Day. (1964)
  • The Lowbrow Reader remembers Ol’ Dirty Bastard. (2004)
  • LP record about the 1972 Oakland A’s.
  • Madison Square Garden professional wrestling program. (1981)
  • Spy magazine. (1989)
  • Artis Gilmore ABA basketball card. (1973-74)
  • San Francisco cable car ticket stub. (1990s)
  • Bronx high school newspaper. (1947)
  • Mad magazine. (1966)
  • Vancouver Blazers hockey guide. (1974-75)
  • John Hummer NBA card. (1973)
  • Carolina Cougars ABA Yearbook. (1970)
  • The Washington Senators MLB Yearbook. (1968)
  • Ugandan currency with Idi Amin’s picture. (1973)
  • Tom Van Arsdale basketball card. (1970)
  • “Okie from Muskogee” sheet music. (1969)
  • California Golden Seals hockey magazine. (1972)
  • Beatles Film Festival Magazine (1978)
  • ABA Pictorial (1968-69)
  • Tom Seaver’s Baseball Is My Life. (1973)
  • Hockey Digest (1973)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1964)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1939)
  • Buffalo Braves Yearbook (1972-73)
  • New York Nets Yearbook (1976-77)
  • “Tom Dooley” sheet music.

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