New York City. As seen from 7500 feet in the sky.

NYPD Arrests Nearly 100 Subway Break Dancers

The crackdown begins. The NYPD is busy busting up subway dancers.. apparently New Yorkers are having a tough time dodging ‘flailing legs’—so much so that cops have arrested 100 of the leg owners with charged them with disorderly conduct.

There are some incredible moves being busted in the underbelly of New York City though, as videos like this can attest to. Commuters don’t seem to mind seeing those flailing legs.  I am actually disappointing that on my many visits to the Big and somewhat rotting Apple I have never seen such talent on display. Instead I always seemed to get a little too close to someone with a mysterious odor or a dreaded mustache breather..

After reading about the police crackdown on free wheeling dance moves, the only thing I am left saying in my mind are quotes from the Jerky Boys when “Jack” called Nelson about his need to dance. I don’t think Jack would survive very well in a subway with banned dancing..

Nobody puts baby in the corner.

NYPD Arrests Nearly 100 Subway Break Dancers

If there is anything cool about Jimmy Fallon's TONIGHT show it's this..

…it is returning to New York City after 42 years.

Now that is cool.

Him as a host? Not sure about that.. time will tell.

But glad it’s back in New York City…there ‘TONIGHT’ begins.

Watch Zombies Emerge From Subway Grates and Terrify New Yorkers

New York City appears to be ground zero for horror movie or TV promotions.. the CARRIE promo where a coffee shop got attacked by a possessed soul.. the demon baby scaring passersby.. and now this: “Zombies” terrifying New Yorkers.

Is nothing real?
You were real Truman..

Watch Zombies Emerge From Subway Grates and Terrify New Yorkers

This man was beaten by New York City ‘police’ because he was jaywalking. He apparently, also, did not understand the orders they were saying to him..

You can read more at the New York POST ..

Perhaps the worst of the story, as reported by the POST:

He was cuffed and and taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. After several hours, he was hauled off to the 24th Precinct station house.

His 41-year-old son, a lawyer who would not give his name, first said at the station house Sunday night that did not wish to discuss his feelings about the incident.

“I don’t want to talk about anything like that in front of all these cops,’’ he told the Post

But walking farther down the street, he said, “The cops are playing games. They won’t tell me what he’s being charged with.”

He first heard his dad had been busted in a 6 p.m. phone call from cops, who asked if the elderly man needed medication but would not say which hospital he’d been taken to. So the son went to the station house, where he said he got a similar run-around.

Finally, he found out on his own that his dad was at St. Luke’s and had been arrested for jaywalking.

“Oh, great! Beating up on an 84-year-old man for jaywalking,’’ he said.

Neither the hospital nor the cops would allow him to see his dad until after 10 p.m., explaining that since he’d not been admitted, he was not a patient, but a “prisoner.’’

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lights up

And unlike in Philadelphia, no one was hurt.

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lights up

Where the lonely people in New York City go after they die..

What happens when a homeland New Yorker dies? SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE writes about Hart Island, a place you never want to be .. 

Hart Island is 131 acres and has been uninhabited for years..

It’s on the Western Part of Long Island.

And since 1869, the location has been used as a burial grounds for those who could not afford the luxuries of higher priced funerals and caskets..

According to the eerie report from SMITHSONIAN, 2,000 people a year are buried there, with about 850,000 in all over the past 100+ years..Even more: Dismembered body parts constitute a small minority of the burials. SMITHSONIAN REPORTS:

An estimated one-third of the burials are of very young children. With one exception—“special child baby 1 1985,” the first child to die of AIDS in New York City—the bodies are buried in mass graves.. 

The New York City Port Authority has released a stunning photograph of workers placing the spire on top of One World Trade Center.. They are 1,700+ feet above the ground in the photo. Just contemplate that.. The image is amazing, and surely enough to cause persons acrophobia to look away with fear..

The picture was taken on May 10, 2013. The building is set to open in 2014—when it will become the tallest building in the Western world and third tallest on the planet..

Changing demographics put Jewish delis in a 'pickle'

Ii will note that the LA TIMES used the pickle pun. I didn’t like the pun but went with it, couldn’t think of anything else. I thought “Changing Demographics put Jewish deli buns on the run.”  I also thought “You Say Tomato, I say Schmaltz-spread.” 

Either way, interesting story from the LA TIMES.

CBS NEWSYORK: While most of Manhattan had its power restored about four days after Superstorm Sandy, persistent problems in some places continue to make life miserable more than two weeks later for hundreds of elderly and ill residents who have been forced to live in cold, dark high-rises. As CBS 2’s Amy Dardashtian reported, those residents were demanding answers Tuesday night. At Knickerbocker Village — a housing complex bounded by Monroe Street, Market Street, Catherine Street and Cherry Street on the Lower East Side – a hallway stunk of rotten eggs Tuesday night.

CBS NEWSYORK: While most of Manhattan had its power restored about four days after Superstorm Sandy, persistent problems in some places continue to make life miserable more than two weeks later for hundreds of elderly and ill residents who have been forced to live in cold, dark high-rises. As CBS 2’s Amy Dardashtian reported, those residents were demanding answers Tuesday night. At Knickerbocker Village — a housing complex bounded by Monroe Street, Market Street, Catherine Street and Cherry Street on the Lower East Side – a hallway stunk of rotten eggs Tuesday night.

The Saturday morning Frankenstorm update

• Accuweather has a running live blog as events develop about Sandy..


• Henry Margusity has a great blog and you can also find up to date information from him on Twitter


• Here are all of the latest maps and coordinates of Sandy


• The Weather Channel has great coverage of the storm


• And finally here is a goodnews feed andphoto wire feed

All of those links are worthy to look at now and as the storm continues. 

Here at Coal Speaker base, it appears as though Sandy is going to be making a direct run for my neck of the woods. As she does she is going to be bringing hell and high water to numerous mid-Atlantic states. 

I worry about the storm surge in New York City, along with the underground subway system. I really do. They are prepping for disaster, but I don’t know if they are ready for catastrophe (which we all hope to hell does not occur).. 

The wind will be a major issue. I doubt my power will stay on, though I hope it fends for its electrical life as Sandy hovers over.. Also a fear: The rain. Last year Lee and Irene dumped enough to flood out so many places here in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware.. Remember though 8 to 12 inches of rain fell over a week. This time the rain will be just as heavy and fall within 3 to 4 days. That will make situations much faster and dramatic. Flash flooding instead of a slowly creeping water line.. All this while power is out..? This is going to be a truly devastating storm for so many people..

If only divine intervention could toss it out to see.. Or Governor Chris Christie’s mighty blow from his 500 pound bag of wind. Neither appears likely at this point.

A 70-foot deep sinkhole is causing a massive stench in NYC

The smell is so bad that it is reportedly even making residents sick, though officials in NYC are not ready at all to admit that.

As a Coal Regioner, I have smelled bad smells. Centralia. Sulfer. All that. I cannot even imagine what a 70-foot-deep sinkhole in a sewer may smell like.

A 70-foot deep sinkhole is causing a massive stench in NYC

A hurricane nearly hit New York City last year, but new analysis shows what would happen if one hit head on

And you know it will happen one day. It almost seems like it’s overdue for a large one, don’t you think?

The LA TIMES reports on what would occur. (easy for them to say, they just have earthquakes and wildfires to deal with, someone else’s misery is their favorite kind.. I kid Rene Lynch, I kid)

But in all seriously, the LA TIMES reports  that New York City is at risk for a major strike from an Atlantic storm, and it could cost $168 billion with a b if it happened.

Indeed, that will not be the weekend to be in the big apple.

NEW YORK CITY: TORNADO WARNING

Also now: 3.1 million homes and businesses are without power

NEW YORK CITY: TORNADO WARNING

Another Reuters image (this photographer had to be having fun watching).. of the revelers, seemingly grown adults, playing water slide on the streets of New York City. Looks fun.

And it looks like the Irish pubs that stayed open last night in the city had customers.. 

The moment it occurred: A hurricane passes directly over New York City

New York City during Irene.. I absolutely LOVE this AP photo..

Eugenics never died: New York City Schools Chancellor says that 'birth control' is the solution to schools being overcrowded..

A wise crack that wasn’t wise.

A joke that didn’t hit the mark..

And perhaps an example of the continuation of a new form of eugenics..

Eugenics never died: New York City Schools Chancellor says that 'birth control' is the solution to schools being overcrowded..

COUNTING DOWN IN A SLUSHY NEW YORK CITY

Just got a message from co-Tumblr user I often talk to from New York City, who is one of many in a crowd just below the giant ball in New York City, waiting for 11:59 pm when he is able to count down to a new year and kiss his girlfriend. Of course until then he’s drinking few liquids, as the bathrooms potentials besides streets and snow piles are rare…

But he is having fun. And hopefully you are too.

And hopefully 2010 will turn to 2011 and we will all be able to breath a sigh of relief. We made it. Another year over. A new one just begun..

Of course in Australia, last year’s problems are already this year’s. And soon here it will be, too.

Snipers and Snooki: Not all stories lead to the other

Times Square nixes ‘Snooki’

And

Times Square Security High on Holiday Eve

Perhaps it’s the counter-snipers and undercover agents that didn’t want to see Snooki inside a ball dropping to the ground in Times Square tomorrow night..