Some New Ways of Looking At Your Blog

I had no idea that Blogger blogs could be looked at in all these different and fascinating ways...

Blogger calls them Dynamic Views for Readers

Blogger currently offers five dynamic views for its public blogs. These views are only accessible if allowed for by the blog author.

Here's my own blog in each view...

Postcards from Hell's Kitchen in Flipcard
Postcards from Hell's Kitchen in Sidebar
Postcards from Hell's Kitchen in Snapshot
Postcards from Hell's Kitchen in Timeslide
Postcards from Hell's Kitchen in Mosaic

As an example, the URL for accessing the Snapshot view for Postcards from Hell's Kitchen would be http://hellskitchennyc.blogspot.com/view/sidebar.

If you like one enough, you can save the URL in your bookmarks or "Favorite Places" and go to it every time... 

These views require modern browsers such as Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 3.5+, Chrome or Safari. Many elements of these views will not work should you have an older browser.

In all views, search is available in the upper right hand corner. Clicking on the arrow in the very top left of the header bar will slide the header bar across and allow you choose different views for the current blog as well as type in a new blog URL.

Here's more info on Dynamic Views for Authors

New York Subway 1986 NYC - Directors Cut

Here's a rare glimpse of underground Times Square, vintage 1986...



New York Subway 1986 NYC - Directors Cut

Another great find from JoeMyGod

Site of the Week: The Fix

New this week: TheFix.com

A new site dedicated to the recovery movement...

Including kicky stuff like: Biggest Celebrity Meltdowns and Kicking Hollywood's Butts.

Finding the Perfect AA Meeting... by Ruth Fowler:

"Before I got sober, I assumed AA would be a magical place full of kind, understanding people who had seen the worst side of life, learned from their hard knocks, and emerged as angels on earth to help those suffering from the same disease. But of course, AA is chockfull of the same people who piss you off in the real world—except worse, because we’re all addicts and alcoholics. At the same time, those moments when the rich actor dude from Malibu and the homeless bum from Culver City can share a coffee and laugh over shared experience—that’s what AA’s about. And along the way, we all meet the lunatics and snobs and whoever else turns up. But we also meet people who will inevitably come to be essential to your recovery. And it’s all good. Since, of course, there’s always another meeting to check out later on".


It's not all Twelve Steps, however. Many different treatments and programs are discussed and covered here.

The Fix only launched this week...

So, I'm only getting to know it when I have a chance to log in between other tasks...

But I can tell already, it's definitely worth bookmarking and keeping an eye on it...

Set the Tone: Trust Life

"'You can be happy right here, not tomorrow, not in ten minutes, but now. You can be happy right now'... Byron Katie said that, and she is right. Happiness is allowing yourself to be okay with what is, rather than wishing for, and bemoaning, what is not.. Obviously, what is is what is supposed to be, or it would not be. The rest is just you, arguing with life. Somewhere along the way you will have to learn to just Trust Life. (Read that, 'Trust God.') Why not start today?"

-- Neale Donald Walsch

Weekend Randoms

Whatever became of Mrs Ihrie's Potato Chips? A Google search shows an address in Baltimore but no webpage to be found. Are they still in business? I grew up eating those. I once wrote them a letter and Mrs. Ihrie's answered herself... We chatted on the phone a few times, too. Can't remember what it was all about?? Maybe I was doing a report in school and I interviewed her??

I'm loving the likely last wintery weekend of the year... Oh, how I do LOVE the cold winter!

51% of Americans are on Facebook? That's actually quite shocking...

I think Anthony Weiner would be a kick-ass NYC mayor. Christine "Term Limits" Quinn? Absolutely not.

The perfect Republican bumper sticker? Palin-Bachmann 2012! Can you imagine??

Will Ralph's Ristorante ever reopen on 56th and Ninth?... I miss their linguine with white clam sauce... Though I never quite forgave them for sneakily substituting broccoli with broccoli rabe in my carry-out order last time! (An accident? I think NOT!) The city just posted a brand new new violation notice or legal order or something on their glass door yesterday. Something about fire hazard ceiling tiles? The windows have been papered up for over a month now... Gone for good?

Count me among those who are NOT happy about AT&T's T-Mobile Buyout.

Still sad about the passing of John Scoullar. Condolences to Brad. I'll make a contribution to BC/EFA in John's name this week.

"Grief is the price we pay for love." -- Queen Elizabeth

Three more work weeks to Spring Break!

You can now follow Julie Halston on Twitter... And while you're there, follow ToddHellsKitch.

I swear Kathleen Turner has been replaced by a man doing a drag act. I was always convinced that the crusty old broad that was Lucille Ball in her later life was absolutely NOT the same person as the I Love Lucy Lucy. Now that I'm older, I'm still not convinced...

Frank is back for a couple weekends at El Centro. So, I swung by for an early dinner. It was packed at 5:30pm. I can only eat heavy Mexican food when it's cold. And this might be the last cold weekend of the season...

From freeze framing the DVR I learned : Batmobile license plate is 2F-3567 Gotham 1966 (or is it 1968?) "Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed. Let's move on out..."

I ate an entire bag of potato chips today. Utz. Wavy. All 3 and 3/4 oz!

Rest in Peace: John Scoullar

Broadway performer, John Scoullar (1949-2011) died Friday morning at 10:30am at his home in Hell's Kitchen. John was well known as a composer, lyricist, playwright and dancer as well as a talented chef!

Deepest sympathies to his partner, Bradshaw Smith, and to John's son Nicholas Amadeus.

With Rick Cummins, he wrote the musical and dramatic adaptations for an upcoming production of  Antoine St. Exupery's "The Little Prince" which will open The New Victory Theater's fall season this October 2011.

With playwright Joseph Kavanagh he wrote "Old Fashion Bargain Days" at Playwright's Horizon, "Canticle" at Hartman Conservatory Theatre, the musical "The Legend of Finn McCool" and "Hello, Dears", in which he starred, at the Players Theatre.

John began his performing career at the age of 12 with the American Tour of the Bolshoi Ballet and made his Broadway debut in "Over, Here" with the Andrews Sisters. Original productions of "King of Hearts", Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" and "Truckload" followed. (See John Scoullar on the Internet Broadway Database.)

Off-Broadway credits include "Hot L Baltimore", "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater", "The Crazy Locomotive" and "The Red Blue Grass Western Flyer Show".

He also served as choreographer and consultant for a few pre-Broadway workshops.

In his successful and delicious side catering business, his signature desserts were featured on the menus of many New York area restaurants, insider parties, and in popular restaurants from Manhattan island to Fire Island.

He is survived by his son Nick Amadeus, daughter-in-law Faryl Amadeus, his partner Bradshaw Smith of Broadway Beat, and his favorite waitress Rose Elaine Polansky (nee Murtel).

Bradshaw Smith, who held John at the time of his passing,  points out, "In one of his plays he wrote, 'You get only two choices in life, the one you make and the one you live with'... John's choice was to live a full and extraordinary life!"

Donations in his name can be made to Broadway Cares / Equity Fight AIDS, a favorite charity.



44 Sunsets was written by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar for the upcoming original production of "The Little Prince" due in New York this Fall.

John Scoullar was born in Providence, R.I., July 26,1949 and died in New York on March 25, 2011. Rest in Peace.

TGIF Music Break: Cazwell's Get My Money Back

The Truth About NYC Municipal Employees

Our new NYC Comptroller has a lot on the ball...

Here's a new report published on his website on the real financials behind the NYC Municipal work force...

Municipal Employee Compensation: New York City
by Frank Braconi, Ph.D. Chief Economist
A Report from Retirement Security NYC, an initiative by Comptroller John C. Liu

Some excerpts from the Report Summary:

Regarding public school teachers:

- NYC public school teachers earn less than private, for-profit sector
employees with similar education, even adjusting for the teachers’
shorter work year. See Pages 15-16


- Both male and female public school teachers are paid less than workers
with similar education in the private, for-profit sector. See Pages 15-16

- The public-private wage gap for male public school teachers is larger
than for female teachers. See Pages 15-16

There's more:

General:

- Without adjusting for age, education, or any other demographic factors,
the average full-time government worker in NYC earns 17 percent less
than the average private, for-profit employee. See Page 10

- The wage distribution is “compressed” in NYC government, i.e.
there is less disparity between lower and higher income earners.
See Pages 11-12

- The wages of City workers on average are lower than their private
sector counterparts even though City workers are more highly
educated. See Pages 10-12

- City employee benefits do not offset the adverse pay differential for
highly-educated City workers. See Pages 26, 29

- Large private, for-profit employers (those with more than 1,000
employees) pay wages that are 13 percent higher on average than
small and midsize private employers. See Page 7

- The City of New York is the 11th largest employer in the nation.
See Page 8

View entire Municipal Employee Compensation in New York City here.

Site of the Week: Weather Underground

Some people think weather posts on blogs are boring...

... Not with the weather that we've been having world wide...

I've been recommending Weather Underground to friends for years... I first learned of it from a local Hell's Kitchen blogger. (The once prolific  Mr. Nosuch.)

Personally, I've been a paid supporter of Wunderground for years... I rely on their weather update emails constantly. When they say there will be a thunderstorm in midtown in 25 minutes?... They mean it.

This New York Times article highlights the Weather Underground's secret weapon: Volunteers

[One personal weather site in Alameda, CA] and over 20,000 like it worldwide are part of the largest network of weather stations ever assembled, according to the meteorological Web site Weather Underground.

The network is part of an audacious plan to crowd-source weather measurement and, Weather Underground hopes, to snatch viewers from its larger competitor, the Weather Channel’s Weather.com. In the last six months, Weather Underground has averaged about 14 million unique visitors a month in the United States, while Weather.com attracted about 42 million, according to Quantcast, an online metrics company.
 

Here's the latest Weather Underground forecast for Hell's Kitchen and vicinity...

Check em out... Bookmark em! Get alerts. All free.

Why Our Billionaire Mayor is a Failure

Two scholars make the case that with Bloomberg, underneath all the billionaire's publicity machine and self promotion lies a Mayorty with little to show for itself.

"There's no there there".

Have a look at this NY1 Inside City Hall video clip of the Manhattan Institute's Fred Siegel and Sol Stern articulating their case.

Here is their NYPost opinion piece... Bloomy's Bubble Bursts

Image by Leah Tiscione for the New York Post.

Set the Tone: Don't Betray Yourself

"If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself".
-- Rollo May

Congratulations to Joe.My.God

Congratulations to longtime fellow NYC blogger buddy Joe.My.God on receiving the first ever GLAAD media award for Outstanding Blog...

This is GLAAD's first ever blogging award...

Much deserved, Joe!

Saturday in New Yawk

Have a great weekend...

Lady Donothing's Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe'

"i cut all the fat off the corned beef before i slice it. easy dinner to fix. boil corned beef. no simmer. take out and cover to get cool for slicing. add carrots. simmer about 1/2 hour or longer. how soft do you want the carrots? then add potatoes, cook another 1/2 to 45 min then cut cabbage up in wedges and add to pan and cook another 1/2 hour or until cabbage is to your taste. slice corned beef and put on top. serve from pan. leftovers are even better the next day.

"directions are on the package of the corned beef. buy thin ones -- not big thick fat ones.

"try it you might love it. do you like cabbage?????"

-- Lady Donothing, in an email about her St Patrick's Day dinner for sixteen people. I thought it would make an ideal guest post...

That way, too, I can search for it online when I'm in the mood!

Friday Fun: The President's Speech Spoof

Go Thank a Teacher Today

Well... *DUH*!

The New York Times is reporting today that a study indicates that the U.S. must raise status of its teachers...

Teacher status in the US needs to be raised...?

*Ya Think?*

Something about the recent campaign of many leaders (Chris Christie, Michael Bloomberg, Scott Walker, Arne Duncan among them) has done nothing but to demonize, demean and demoralize teachers...

Go thank a teacher today...

Soldier of Love Tuesday

Soldier of Love by Sade

Set the Tone: What Would Love Do Now?

"What would love do now? When you ask this question, you will know instantly what to do". 

-- Neale Donald Walsch

Simple Sunday

A steak. And a nap.

It's Time

It's time to spring the clocks forward an hour tonight...

Time to sign this petition against Wisconsin Governor Walker... And sign a few more petitions on The Petition Site

It's time to enjoy another weekend to relax, and reorganize...

It's time to get up to Trader Joe's to stock up on more nuts and stuff... (72nd Street store open at 8am!)

It's time to call my parents for the regularly scheduled Saturday AM call...

Time to thank God for my parent's continuing good health and independence...

It's time to read the weekend New York Times...

It's time to take down the recycling...

It's time to thank NYC Comptroller John Liu for cutting off  the Department of Education's humongous corporate gift to Teach for America in lieu (pun intended) of teacher layoff threats... Hey Comptroller: You want a list of some other corporate contractors who are raking in too much money from Bloomberg's DOE?

It's time to donate to the Red Cross for Japanese earthquake relief.

Time to read Ralph Marston: "No matter what may have happened... Get over it... And get going toward the best you can imagine".

It's time to eat weekend breakfasts at home to save money.

It's time to pick up the fluff and fold laundry...

It's time to get the weekly lottery tickets... (C'mon Mega-Millions)

It's time to ignore Charlie Sheen... I felt like the act of following him on Twitter was enabling him... Unfollow, now.

It's time to remind you again to set your clocks tonight...

TGIF!

Pull your pants up!


Do your laundry!


It's Friday!!


... And have a stellar weekend, peeps!!


From AllTop.

'America is Not Broke' Declares Michael Moore

Read Michael Moore on America's economy...

"America is not broke.

"Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

"Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined.

"Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true."

Read him or watch his speech here.

Pick Up Sticks Wednesday

Thanks to Nicomar for sending...

Embrace Your Uniqueness

I'm decidedly strange... Maybe even nuts... These are my hints...

I just saw on Twitter that Vermont is having one more heavy snow storm. My first thought?: I wish I was in Vermont right now...

I can watch Charlie Sheen go into his recent bizarre tirades and completely understand him... And in an odd way find his dynamism attractive. I've always been drawn to those highly intellectual, addictive, over the top, life of the party types... And I'm a step away from going there, myself... That's the way I roll... I know this...

(Image from track_abandoned) 

Yesterday morning in AMNY, I read this account of how Mike Tyson starts his day:


Are you a morning person? Yes … You get the best out of me in the morning.

When is bedtime? I go to bed at around 8 o'clock. I wake up around 2 to 4. I work out... In the wee hours of the morning, I might go out and walk around three miles or something.

How did you get in shape for the series? I became a vegan for like two years already.

All sounds completely perfect to me...

A March blizzard?... An 8pm bedtime?... Mike Frikkin Tyson? ... and "the Drug Called Charlie Sheen"...? Yes to all!

Yup... I'm a nutjob...

Set the Tone: Make a Point

"If a man wants to read good books, he must make a point of avoiding bad ones; for life is short, and time and energy limited."

— Schopenhauer

Need An Architect?

Here's my friend Brian Blackburn all published and everything in DesignNJ

"If you own a painting by Pablo Picasso, you build a room around it. If you own an entire blue-chip art collection, you build a house around it... The world-class collection includes not only a Picasso canvas but paintings and sculptures by the likes of Alexander Calder, Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter and Roy Lichtenstein, among others...

Brian Blackburn, of David Estreich Architects, a full-service architecture and interior design firm based in New York City, a member of the American Institute of Architects, in collaboration with Thomas C. Burger, a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. The home was renovated and enlarged with a more-than-passing nod to the style of Frank Lloyd Wright. The new footprint “broke the box” with a kitchen wing and a bedroom wing to form what David Estreich calls a broken pinwheel. “The idea was to give the home a low-key face in the front and a courtyard in the back for entertaining,” he says, “and also to meld the residence into its landscape in a very Wrightian way...”

"The 10,000-square-foot home has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms...." "

Public Service Announcement: Blood Pressure Monitor

A friend who is a school nurse insists that the best blood pressure monitor is the old fashioned kind... With the velcro cuff and the little bulb thing that you pump by hand.

I once tried an electronic version and the results were so wildly inconsistent that we declared it unreliable and it went right back for a refund....

CVS has one on sale today (I don't know how long the sale is in effect, or if that is the regular price)...

So I picked up Blood Pressure Monitor: Self Taking for $16.99.

Model #BPAG1-20CVS
CVS Item # 800232

They are behind the pharmacist's counter...

I recommend you get one to keep around the house... For yourself or a dizzy friend, relative or neighbor...

Good Morning Weekend

Saturday Morning! I awoke with enthusiasm at 4:30am... Let's see how much enthusiasm I have left at noon... ? I'm tired just thinking about it...

Actually, a couple 24 hour stores are open so I'm gonna get some shopping done... And there's always the weekend chores!

Also been updating Facebook and visiting friend's blogs...

Have a great weekend, everyone...

L'Animateur - The Animator - Der Trickzeichner

1,2,3: What Makes a Good Blog?

Take what you want and leave the rest from this How-to article on 43 Folders...

What makes for a good blog?

1. Good blogs have a voice. Who wrote this? What is their name? What can I figure out about who they are that they have never overtly told me? What's their personality like and what do they have to contribute -- even when it's "just" curation. What tics and foibles fascinate make me about this blog and the person who makes it? Most importantly: what obsesses this person?

2. Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But, their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that they can't stop reading and writing about it. They make and consume smart forebrain porn. So: where do this person's obsessions take them?

3. Good blogs are the product of "Attention times Interest." A blog shows me where someone's attention tends to go. Then, on some level, they encourage me to follow the evolution of their interest through a day or a year. There's a story here. Ethical "via" links make it easy for me to follow their specific trail of attention, then join them for a walk made out of words.

Read more.

Site of the Week: ICanStalkU.com

Here's how to disable geo-tagging in your smartphone if you are at all concerned about inadvertently publishing a photo with too much information. And you should be!...

See ICanStalkU.com

Twitter is Dead

Sadly, Twitter has become a business for businesses...

The little guys, like you and I, can't even access our Twitter archives anymore...

Which were once searchable...

Now we're viewed as consumers...

Personally, I think, Twitter is at a turning point and it's all down hill from here...

Magical Meet of Two of My Favorite Icons