If anyone thinks there is a grain of hope left for Lenox Lounge in Harlem, forget about it! Read the latest article from The NY Daily News. Richie Notar is now publicly speaking about his plans for the vintage Harlem establishment. Notar told Community Board 10 “he does not want to change much.” However, Notar confirms he will change the name to Notar Jazz Club.
By the way, Notar and Alvin Reed crossed paths for the first time according to the article. That had to be interesting.
After reading the article, all I could think about is “what a pity that Notar does not see any value in saving the Lenox Lounge brand?” There are plenty of smart business people who have taken on well-known brands and successfully lifted those brands higher. Say Fiat? Say Izod? How about Puma? Guess Richie Notar is a play-it-safe-kind-of-a-businessman?
An Indiana man convicted of setting fire to a mosque in Ohio told a judge on Wednesday that he committed the crimes because Fox News and conservative talk radio had convinced him that “most Muslims are terrorists.”
Randolph Linn, 52, accepted a plea deal in which he pled guilty to all charges in connection to setting a fire in the prayer room at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo on Sept. 30. Under the deal, Linn is expected to serve 20 years in prison instead of 40.
“And I was more sad when Judge [Jack] Zouhary asked him that, ‘Do you know any Muslims or do you know what Islam is?’” one mosque member who attended the hearing recalled to WNWO. “And he said, ‘No, I only know what I hear on Fox News and what I hear on radio.’”
“Muslims are killing Americans and trying to blow stuff up,” Linn also reportedly told the judge. “Most Muslims are terrorists and don’t believe in Jesus Christ.”
Linn claimed that he had consumed 45 beers in the 6 hours before leaving his Indiana home to set fire to the mosque, which he had discovered while working as a truck driver.
After his arrest on Oct. 2, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ava Dusten said that Linn had told officers, “Fuck those Muslims… They would kill us if they got the chance.”
Linn is due back in court on April 16, 2013 for a formal sentencing.
A survey released by Fairleigh Dickinson University earlier this year determined that Fox News viewers were actually less informed that Americans who watched no news at all. In fact, at least seven studies in recent years have confirmed that Fox News viewers are more likely to be misinformed than other Americans.
Barranquilla Mayor Elsa Noguera De La Espriella and Tampa’s Bob Buckhorn. (Image courtesy of the city of Tampa.)
I keep up on general news (especially music-related) coming out of Barranquilla, Colombia, because it’s where my parents are from. I love going there for the annual carnival, which I wrote about for Sounds and Colours. It’s QUITE the party.
So you can imagine my surprise when I received a press release today about Barranquilla’s sister city in the United States. Because that city is Tampa. Tampa? Yes, Tampa.
Apparently, Barranquilla and Tampa have been sister cities since 1966. The two cities agreed to collaborate through the “Sister Cities” program “for the mutual benefit of their citizens and communities by exploring educational, economic and cultural opportunities.” (By the way, for you random trivia buffs, Tampa is also the Sister City of: LeHavre, France, Oviedo, Spain, Vera Cruz/Boca del Rio, Mexico, Izmir, Turkey, Agrigento, Italy, and Ashdod, Israel.)
Apparently the “Sister Cities” thing isn’t a permanent affair because on Dec. 6, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn joined Barranquilla Mayor Elsa Noguera De La Espriella to reaffirm the Sister Cities partnership. Buckhorn presented Noguera De La Espriella with a painting of Old City Hall by local artist Arnold Martinez as a gift.
Ed. note: My dad had this surgery for Parkinson’s disease seven years ago. I’m glad they now offer it for Alzheimer’s!
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2012) — Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the first such operation in the United States. The device, which provides deep brain stimulation and has been used in thousands of people with Parkinson’s disease, is seen as a possible means of boosting memory and reversing cognitive decline.
It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s horrific. On Dec. 3, a man was pushed into the subway tracks and killed. Here are some tips from my friend Rich, who as a former graffiti writer, has been on the subway tracks, as well as inside the tunnels:
If you happen to fall or get pushed into the subway tracks:
– If you don’t hear a train coming down the tunnel, and don’t see any lights, you can try to climb out of the tracks.
The height is a lot higher than you may think, and will take some real effort. Hopefully someone can help you out. Take off any backpacks/bulky coats (again, assuming you have time. There is a difference between falling into a subway track at 5:30 pm and 3am).
-If you can make it to either end of the track, it might be a little easier to climb out using step railings. Go to the end that the first car would end up at, since you have a better chance of the train stopping by then.
– If the train is barreling down the tunnel, and you have no time to climb out, don’t freak out and keep reaching out, or if someone who is trying to pull you up is not able to, make them let go. You do not want to be caught half-way up as the train crushes you between platform and subway car.
What you want to do is lie down FLAT and STRAIGHT, AGAINST the wall UNDER the subway platform. Don’t curl up, and this will push you out closer to the train.
There is a relatively good amount of space under there.
The train will likely stop, and likely not move until rescue teams arrive, though perhaps some MTA workers might try to come to you to make sure you’re ok.
Don’t try to crawl out unless you are directed to do so in a safe manner.
Yes, it’s dirty and disgusting down there, but it’s a lot better than being crushed into human Spam.
Do not try to lie down in between the track rails to let the train go over you.
While there have been cases of people surviving this way, there are mechanical components underneath the train carriage that can snag up on your coat or backpack and drag you, causing you serious harm.
As you all know, there is a live 3rd rail, usually against the opposite wall from the platform. The electricity on this rail will KILL you.
But if for some reason, you end up stuck on this side of the track when the train is barreling down the tunnel, the rail usually has a wooden beam over it that is *safe* to step on.
(By *safe*, I mean it’s certainly better than stepping on the metal of the 3rd rail itself).
Hopefully, this beam is structurally sound.
You will also notice there are indentations on the wall. If you stand up super pressed against the wall in these gaps, you have a much better chance of not being hit.
(If you are wearing a backpack/purse, remove it. Throw it away. It’s not worth getting tangled over).
— Extra tip:
If you are trying to hold the door for your kid/friend, etc, most people’s arm strength cannot stop the doors from closing. You can get caught and dragged.
Use your foot (hopefully with a sneaker or boot, and not heels on it) at the bottom of the open door. This provides a lot more friction to stop the doors from closing than trying to use your hands/arms.
— Extra extra tip:
If you are inside the subway tunnel, it is far more deadly in there, as the gaps for safety are much much smaller.
It’s a lot more difficult to see where the 3rd rails are, and the trains will be zooming by a lot faster.
If you are in there for some reason (which I can’t imagine why, unless you have a can of silver spray paint or are escaping from zombies),
some paths have elevated platforms against the wall. Lying flat against the wall on these platforms will help with you not getting hit, but it’s a close shave.
If you don’t extend beyond the edge of the platform (again, watch out with that backpack), you should be ok. Beware of the “suction” the train forms when it zooms by you. It can pull you into the moving train.
Though I’m 6’2 and 230 lbs, I don’t sleep on the subway platform.
Whether it’s kids/gangs acting stupid, or some mentally deranged individual having a violent fit, I don’t sleep on anyone. Even with headphones on, I keep an eye out, and watch out for who is around me.
The man who was recently killed by that train could have survived if he just lied down beneath the platform.
He probably had no idea, and thought the only chance was to climb out.
via Liz Caldas & the “Sandy Help LB” group on Facebook:
Moms & Dads! Help your kids connect with kids on the ground and still in the dark in Long Beach. Send in cards like these and they will be included in stockings….or stuff your own stockings and send to: 120 West Park Ave Suite 103 Long Beach NY 11561….no later than December 10th.
Stockings could have headlamp-flashlights, prepaid VISA or Home Depot cards, deodorant, anything else you think could help and fit in a stocking.
The following article in National Catholic Reporter touches on a conversation on climate change held at Catholic University of America. The talk brought together academics, bishops, church leaders and climate activists to explore and engage papal teaching on creation and the environment.
Fordham’s Christiana Peppard, a professor of theology who is writing a book on, Valuing Water in an Era of Globalization, is quoted in the article:
That the church sees issues of climate and the environment through “the language of fundamental rights, including the ‘right to life,’” Peppard told NCR, “is a call to awareness in our American context,” where often right-to-life talk singles out abortion.
Read the whole article here. And read about Peppard’s research here.
… From her Gramercy Park apartment, where she had been without power for several days, Kelly Warren, 48, and a friend lugged 500 pairs of new socks and underwear bought at Walmart to the Rockaways. Her guilt at being largely spared the storm’s wrath was compounded by being up-close to the destruction of an area already struggling with poverty, she said. It made her only more keenly aware of privilege.
“I’m driving in my big Lexus coming down here,” Ms. Warren said, betraying her self-consciousness as she stood in a parking lot amid people riffling through donated clothing. I said, ‘Thank God the car is dirty.’ ”
This excellent article by Reuters reveals “a gulf between what many people expected the [American Red Cross] to do in times of crisis and what it actually delivers.”
Key points:
Like Hurricane Katrina victims, Hurricane Sandy victims feel let down by the charity.
— The sense of letdown is all the more stark because the Red Cross, the fifth-largest charity in the United States by private donations, is viewed by many as the place to donate money when there is a major disaster at home or abroad.
— Part of the perception problem may be the massive media and advertising campaigns that the Red Cross runs when there is a disaster.
— These campaigns appear to give the impression that the charity can be all things to all victims. Many of Sandy’s victims said in interviews that this was their view before disappointment set in.
— Frustration with the Red Cross is palpable throughout the Occupy movement. “The Red Cross is useless,” said Nastaran Mohit, who runs the Occupy medical clinic in the Rockaways with volunteer doctors. “They come to me every day asking, ‘How can we help?’ “I say, ‘Send me people.’ And they tell me they’ll get back to me.”
Barranquilla Mayor Elsa Noguera De La Espriella and Tampa’s Bob Buckhorn. (Image courtesy of the city of Tampa.)
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