As part of some inane photo-op, the FAA sent a low-flying 747 trailed by a fighter jet into Manhattan this morning. And they didn’t bother to tell anybody, since evidently we’ve all forgotten about 9-11. From City Room:
An Air Force One lookalike, the backup plane for the one regularly used by the president, flew low over Manhattan on Monday morning, accompanied by two F-16 fighters, so Air Force photographers could take pictures. But a lack of awareness about the flyover led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, and perplexed officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other authorities were inundated with calls from anxious ferry passengers, office workers and residents.
‚”People came pouring out of the buildings, the American Express Building, all the buildings in the financial district by the water,” said Edward Acker, a photographer who was at the building, 3 World Financial Center. ‚”And even the construction guys over by 100 North End Avenue area, they all got out of their buildings. Nobody knew about it. Finally some guy showed up with a little megaphone to tell everyone it was a test, but the people were not happy. The people who were here 9/11 were not happy.”
Mr. Acker added: ‚”New York City police were standing right there and they had no knowledge of it. The evacuations were spontaneous. Guys from the floor came out, and one guy I talked to was just shaking.”
Even the markets dipped shortly after 10 a.m., though it was unclear if the alarm over the planes was a factor. Starting at 10:02 a.m., three main market indexes started dropping precipitously. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 40 points in 10 minutes, starting 10:15 a.m., before it rebounded more than 50 points.
Well, you did it pigs. The US has declared a public health emergency over this whole Swine Flu strain that’s crept up from the backlots of Mexico and hunkered down in 8 or so high school students from Queens. I wonder how the dude who lives in Williamsburg with his pet pig is feeling about all this. It’s used to, “Oh my god! Is that a pig? How cute!” but might now face screams and discrimination. Here he is in McCarren Park in happier times: (note the Rottweiler’s cautiousness. it knew)
A cyclist was hit by a livery car last night at the corner of Roebling and No. 11th. He was hurt pretty bad (lots of blood), but was moving and in the care of emergency personnel within minutes of the accident. A bystander told me he didn’t think the bicyclist stopped at the intersection and the driver just didn’t see him until impact. Bike was ruined, but luckily the dude made it out alive. Click through for a few photos.
My old bike was run over by a minivan a couple of months ago (H8 u, minivans), so I got a new one. A beach cruiser, in fact. It’s quite awesome. The old one was locked up for a while but a few days ago I decided to set it free. I leaned the rusty, bent and barely functional old Ross up against a street sign and waited for someone to take it.
It’s still there!
Does nobody want this piece of crap which some might call a “fixer-upper”? It’s the perfect “oh hey we’re in a recession” summer cruiser to go along with that prohibition era mustache of yours! Let’s see how long it holds out. I’m predicting Wednesday.
Tonight @ the Opera House Lofts, Brooklyn Salsa celebrates their one year anniversary. As sponsors of the Pomp party last night, I’d expect a lot of the same (newly salsa addicted) crowd.
What to expect from the boys:
Sunshine, Fresh Chips, Firepit, Rooftop, DJ’s, RockNRoll, Booze, Basement, Ping Pong, Air Hockey, Bad Kid Stuff, Friends and all the BROOKLYN SALSA you can stick in your face! BBQ’s will be set on fire at 6pm with a DJ spinning sunny brazilian grooves, Modelo in hand. Music til 2am… Come Hungry and ready to party!
Make sure to dig into the Tropical, it’s my personal favorite.
Pulled Pork, the folks who brought you last week’s doppleB√ÑNGER (with one of our current loves– HATCHMATIK), are bringing it once again at the semi-secret party room at Lovin’ Cup. Not to mention live painting from Chris Rini. Flavorpill says:
The Burg’s best all-purpose party adds Detroit to its roster with the help of Subtrak. To clarify that equation, the Motor City label delivers Ryan Brogan, Chris Alker, and Christian Bloch from its stable of techno- and house-spanning selectors to Pulled Pork’s no-slouch residents Gunnie and T. Clute. Tonight’s special guest Mike Servito (Ghostly/Spectral) knows his way around his hometown’s signature style as well as anyone (as attendees of One Step Beyond might recall ‚Äî Servito spun our party at AMNH last year).
Check the retro preview, and do a little mid-afternoon dance (right around 2:27, I did. And again at 6:01). Also, there’s been talk of free fortune cookies… I’ll be there (tequila induced) shaking it, fo’ sure!
RSVP to rsvp@pulledporknewyork.com.
Just when we were getting excited about a nice, warm weekend….. SWINE INFLUENZA. You know all those rightwing anti-immigration airbags are going to have a field day with this one. From Alternet
* Mexican government announces fatal swine flu outbreak
* New mixture of viruses never seen before
* Some Mexico City residents don surgical masks
A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has broken out in Mexico, killing as many as 60 people and raising fears it is spreading across North America.
The World Health Organization said it was concerned about what it called 800 “influenza-like” cases in Mexico, and also about a confirmed outbreak of a new strain of swine flu in the United States. It said about 60 people had died in Mexico.
Mexico’s government said it had confirmed that at least 16 people had died of the swine flu in central Mexico and that there could be another 45 fatal victims.
The government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas on Friday after it noticed a higher number of deaths involving flu-like illness than normal in recent weeks.
The CDC said it will issue daily updates at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/investigation.htm
