On Ya Bike, New York!

Rue Rossini bike share rack in Paris, France

Well, it has been a long time coming, but New York City has finally caught up with many other major cities around the world with the recent introduction of the new Citi Bike, bicycle sharing program. The system will see 10,000 bicycles spread among 600 bike racks ― most of which will initially be located on Manhattan below 59th Street, and in Brooklyn in an area roughly bordered by the East River, Atlantic Avenue, Nostrad Avenue and up around the Williamsburg Bridge (see map here…).

Alta Bicycle Share, is the company running the program, while Citigroup has paid $41 million for naming rights over the next five years―hence the name, Citi Bike.

It may seem counter-intuitive to introduce bicycles onto New York City’s traffic clogged streets, but in fact since 2007, the city has added more than 250 miles of bike lanes, and the number of New Yorkers commuting to work by bike is now approaching 20,000 people, according to Department of Transportation statistics.

Recently, around 32,000 cyclists took part in the TD Five Boro Bike Tour, organised by Bike New York and the New York City Department of Transportation. The event gave participants the opportunity of riding along a 40 mile, car-free route through all five New York boroughs.

Current Citi Bike rental fees

Annual membership to use the Citi Bike system is US$95.00. So popular was the initial offering that it sold out all 5,000 “founding memberships” in less than 48 hours. Annual membership signups for Citi Bike have now passed 8,000 participants, and this number continues to increase slowly but steadily.

If you are planning to make use of the bike share program, I strongly advise you to read through the relevant sections of the City Bike New York website, especially the FrequentlyAsked Questions and the Pricing section.

The city's Department of Transportation has been pushing the bike share concept for years as an affordable commuting option, however the program stalled twice over the last year―once due to a programming glitch, and again after Superstorm Sandy damaged many of the bicycles and stands late in 2012. Despite this, the push to create bike lanes and rental programs has propelled New York into seventh place in Bicycle Magazine's list of bike friendly cities.

An Accident Waiting To Happen?

So much for the good news. The less than good news is that riding bicycles around city streets―any city street―can be a very dangerous enterprise, and riding on New York’s streets may be even more so. According to a Rutgers University study New York City had the highest fatality rate from bike accidents in North America (from 2004 to 2009). In 2010, there were 368 bicycle related crashes, 19 of which resulted in a fatality. The Department of Transportation reports that in 97 percent of fatal bicycle accidents in New York City, the rider was not wearing a helmet.

Clearly it is incumbent on all bike riders to exercise great caution while on the road, whether they use Citi Bike or have their own bicycles.

Citi Bike share station (Image: Nancy Borowick)

So how do you stay safe?

• Be aware of your surroundings at all times.
• Wear a well secured helmet.
• Obey road signs and traffic laws.
• Don’t try to beat changing traffic lights.
• Be aware of other road users who may not notice your approach. Some of the worst offenders are people getting out of parked cars, and pedestrians talking or texting on cell phones.
• Don’t wear headphones, you want to hear approaching vehicles―especially those behind you.
• Use lights for night riding. I have a flashing white headlight, a flashing red tail-light, and always wear a bright yellow safety jacket fitted with reflective strips at night.
• Ride with the flow of traffic, not against it.
• Use bike lanes — that’s why they are there!
• Make yourself visible and audible. Equip your bike with a bell and lights, and wear bright colors.

I know some of these safety tips may not make you look trendy or fashionable, but they will increase your visibility and ability to stay safe. And just because the use of bicycle helmets is not mandated by law in New York, does not mean it is safe to ride a bike without one. Do yourself a favor―be seen and be safe.

For a real world look at how bike share systems work, take a look at this video from Melbourne, Australia: How To Use Melbourne Bike Share

More Information

City Bike New York…

Bike New York…

Melbourne Bike Share...

TED on Tuesday: Wade Davis: Wilderness Worth Saving

Two great TED talks for you today―both from National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis. The first is a short (6:35 min) talk called,

Gorgeous Photos Of A Backyard Wilderness Worth Saving, in which Davis urges us to save a stunning wilderness paradise in Northern Canada. Here, sacred headwaters are under threat because they hide rich tar sands. Apart from the tar sands, major energy corporations like Shell are targeting the area for the vast fields of oil and gas the region holds.

If the Keystone Pipeline, and other such developments go ahead, this stunning landscape is going to be changed in ways that are all too familiar. Wade Davis states in his talk that Imperial Metals, one of the largest mining companies in Canada “…has secured permits to establish an open pit copper and gold mine which will process 30,000 tons of rock a day for thirty years, generating hundreds of millions of tons of toxic waste that by the projects design, will simply be dumped in the lakes of the sacred headwaters.”

Davis goes on to say “…Shell Canada has plans to extract methane gas from coal seams that underlie a million acres, fracking the coal with hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic chemicals, establishing perhaps as many as 6000 wellheads, and eventually a network of roads and pipelines and flaring wellheads, all to generate methane gas that most likely will go east to fuel the expansion of the tar sands.”

It is a truly frightening prospect for one of the most beautiful places on the plant.

Wade Davis: Gorgeous Photos Of A Backyard Wilderness Worth Saving

In the following much longer (22 min) 2007 talk, Davis examines some of the worlds endangered cultures, and expresses his concern over the rate at which cultures and languages are disappearing. Fifty percent of the world's 7,000 languages, he says, are no longer taught to children. Further, he argues that indigenous cultures are not failed attempts at modernity, nor are they failed attempts to be us ― they are unique expressions of the human imagination and heart.

Wade Davis: Dreams From Endangered Cultures

In 2009 Davis received the Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for his contributions to anthropology and conservation, and he is the 2011 recipient of the Explorers Medal, the highest award of the Explorers’ Club, and the 2012 recipient of the Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration.

More Information

Official Website... 

Cultures on the Edge... 

National Geographic... 

Wade Davis on Wikipedia... 

Armchair Travel: Venice In A Day

Joerg Niggli's creative interests include producing time-lapse movies using his own video footage and photographs. The films on his Vimeo page provide stunning images of Jordan via his videos of Amman, Petra, and Wadi Rum, while other videos include a hot air balloon flight over the Swiss and French Alps, and today's Armchair Travel video documenting a day in Venice, Italy.

Venice is one of the most interesting and lovely places in the world. Visitors with a special interest in architecture will find much to delight and occupy them, with a seemingly endless array of stunning architecturally significant buildings on every narrow street or facing the many canals that make Venice such a special experience. The city is virtually the same as it was six hundred years ago, which adds to its fascinating character, and although Venice has decayed since its heyday, the city's romantic charm remains to fascinate and seduce millions of annual visitors.

The Republic of Venice dates back to 827, when a Byzantine Duke moved to what is now known as the Rialto, and for the following 970 years, the city prospered as a centre for trade under the rule of a Roman-style Senate headed by the Doge. In 1797, the city was conquered by Napoleon, a blow from which it never fully recovered. Today, Venice remains a monument to the glory days of the Renaissance, and Joerg Niggli has captured the city’s charm, beauty, and stunning buildings magnificently in his short film.

Joerg writes, “A day in Venice (Venezia) in Italy, from daybreak to sunset in time lapse. It's really a great place and I hope I can share some of its magic with this short video.” Rest assured Joerg, you have.

Venice in a Day from Joerg Niggli on Vimeo.

The video was part of the selection of Artfutura 2012 and will be shown in large cities around the world.

Music: «Heart of Champions», Chris Haigh, with a licence from premiumbeat.com. 

Joerg Niggli adds that the video was recorded mostly using a Canon G10, with some wide angle shots taken with a Canon 7D. Post production was completed in Motion, After Effects, and edited and graded in Final Cut Pro X.

More Information

Joerg Niggli Website…

Joerg Niggli’s Vimeo Page…

Friday Photos: Long Beach, California

The Ocean Center Building at 110 West Ocean Boulevard

On the penultimate day of my 2012 visit to America, I went to Long Beach, California. I had never been there before, and wanting to get out of downtown Los Angeles, a trip to the ocean seemed just the ticket before a long flight back to Australia. Here are some snapshots of my visit.

For Sale? Yes, please. Long Beach, California

I assumed Long Beach was part of Los Angeles, but it seems Long Beach is a city in its own right. In fact it qualifies as the 36th-largest city in the United States, and the seventh-largest in California. In addition, Long Beach is the second largest city within the Greater Los Angeles Area, after Los Angeles itself. As of 2010, its population was just over 462,000.

Parkers’ Lighthouse, Long Beach, California

Long Beach apparently suffers from some of the worst air pollution in Southern California and the United States. Thankfully, on the afternoon I visited, non of this pollution seemed to be in evidence judging by the mostly cloudless, and ever present bright blue sky.

Lighthouse, Long Beach, California

The Port of Long Beach is the United States' second busiest container port and one of the world's largest shipping ports. Trade valued annually at more than $140 billion moves through Long Beach, making it the second-busiest seaport in the United States.

Carnival Inspiration (left), and Queen Mary (right), Long Beach, California

The RMS Queen Mary is a 1936 art deco ocean liner which is permanently docked at Long Beach. Roughly 200 ft (61 m) longer than the RMS Titanic, the former Cunard Liner is famous for being the fastest in the world from 1936 to 1952; for its distinctive art deco design, and for its use during World War II as a troop transport. It was purchased by the city of Long Beach in 1967, and converted to a hotel and maritime museum. Unfortunately, I did not have time to get any closer than this view, which is a pity. As a former ship yard worker, I would have loved the opportunity to go on board and give the ship a closer inspection.

The Carnival Inspiration, Long Beach, California

With the Carnival Inspiration berthed so close to the Queen Mary, it was a perfect opportunity to make a visual comparison between the old and new cruise liners. One imagines vast differences between the layout and facilities of each ship, but both no doubt have their champions, even today. If you had a choice, which would you prefer to sail on?

Shopping outlet at Shoreline Village, Long Beach, California

I did not have time to check out other attractions around Long Beach, but the 5-acre (20,000 m2) Aquarium of the Pacific is located nearby, as is the Long Beach Convention Center, and the Shoreline Village, where these two images (above and below) were taken―as were the two photos above of Parker’s Lighthouse. 

Waiting for my ship to come in at Long Beach, California

Downtown Long Beach is located approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Downtown Los Angeles. I got there by boarding a Metro train somewhere downtown, and riding it to Long Beach. I enjoyed my visit, although it was far too brief, and given the chance I would like an opportunity to spend several days in the area exploring further.

More Information

Thanks to Wikipedia for the background information used in this post. See the full Long Beach Wikipedia entry here...

P.S. Click on the images to view full size. 

Adelaide Central Market

~ At 3.15am on Saturday, 23rd January 1869, a group of market gardeners made their way to a site between Gouger Street and Grote Street, Adelaide and started to sell their produce. Over 500 people are said to have attended that first market day with all stock selling out by 6.00am!

From such a successful beginning, it was not long before the Adelaide Central Market officially opened one year later in January 1870. Thirty years later, in 1900, the first stone was laid to build the Central Market façade, which still stands today.

I have been going to ‘the market’, as most people call it, for as long as I can remember. First, as a child, along with my parents who shopped there every week, and then as an adult, either on my own or with other family members. Currently, Friday evenings are my preferred visiting hours, and shopping is always preceded by a meal in the Asian food hall close to the main market.

Originally known as the City Market, the facility was officially named the Central Market in August 1965. Despite two major fires (one in 1925, and the other in 1977), the market continues to offer almost every variety of fresh fruit and vegetable available in South Australia.

Also available from more than 80 stalls are a wide range of fresh and processed meats, continental deli’s and cheese outlets, seafood stalls, and others specialising in nuts, confectionary, coffee and other specialty foods. And of course, let’s not overlook the bakeries, patisseries, and numerous cafés and restaurants,

For more than 140 years, the Central Market has been the food Mecca for multicultural cuisine and fresh produce in Adelaide, and today the Central Market is South Australia’s most visited tourist attraction.

For those of us who live in Adelaide and shop regularly there, the market is more than a tourist attraction, of course. This is the one place were all classes of people meet and greet each other, rub shoulders with celebrity chefs, indulge their love for fresh fruit and vegetables, and soak their senses in the myriad aromas that waft around the cheese stalls and coffee stalls, and the many other outlets. The market is also a great meeting place for families and friends. Getting together for a meal at Lucia’s, or a coffee and cake at Zuma’s Café, or maybe a cheap, freshly made Won Ton soup in the Asian food hall is a standard occurrence among regular market aficionado’s.

Events & Activities

A wide range of events and activities are scheduled each week at the market. Some traders offer product samples in ‘try before you buy’ promotions, while others present short classes, and product/produce demonstrations each week.

Central Market Tours

With a 30 year background as a chef and 20 years as a stall holder in the Market, Mark Gleeson conducts Central Market Tours that aim to provide participants with an exclusive experience interacting with suppliers, producers and retailers of South Australia’s vibrant food industry. Tour guests receive a level of history and product knowledge of the Adelaide Central Market, not available by others. For more information or to book your tour, visit Central Market Tour… 

Top Food & Wine Tour

There are several tour operators in South Australia that also offer tours of the Central Market for your enjoyment.  For more information on tours of the Market, visit Top Food & Wine Tours… www.topfoodandwinetours.com.au

Trading Hours

Tuesday: 7am - 5.30pm

Wednesday: 9am - 5.30pm*

Thursday: 9am - 5.30pm

Friday: 7am - 9pm

Saturday: 7am - 3pm

*Optional trading day, not all stalls open

Closed Public Holidays

More Information

Adelaide Central Market… 

TED on Tuesday: How Bad Architecture Wrecks Cities

James Howard Kunstler is an American author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, a history of American suburbia and urban development, and the more recent The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes. In the latter book he argues that declining oil production is likely to result in the end of industrialized society as we know it and force Americans to live in smaller-scale, localized, agrarian (or semi-agrarian) communities.

Kunstler doesn’t hold back as he unloads on both these themes in this very entertaining but important TED talk, which he delivered in 2007. Kunstler also believes that public spaces should be inspired centres of civic life, and the physical manifestation of the common good. Unfortunately, America, he argues, is in danger of becoming a nation of places not worth caring about.

James Howard Kunstler calls suburban sprawl “the greatest misallocation of resources the world has ever known,” and his arguments focus directly on urban development, drawing clear connections between physical spaces and cultural vitality. His confrontational approach and propensity for doomsday scenarios make Kunstler a lightning rod for controversy and critics. But his magnificent rants are underscored with logic and his books are widely read, particularly by architectural critics and urban planners.

“The upside of Kunstler's anger is that he's getting people to sit up and take notice.”

~ Outside magazine

Note: This talk contains numerous ‘F’ bombs, so if you are offended by coarse language you may want to skip this weeks TED on Tuesday.

More Information

James Howard Kunstler's website… 

James Howard Kunstler's blog... 

On Wikipedia... 

Monday Movie: International Space Station at Night

In today’s Monday Movie, we spend four minutes flying around the earth at a speed of 27,685 km/hr (17,500 mi/hr), enjoying views captured by a succession of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).

The ISS is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit, and despite speeding its way through space at an altitude ranging between 330 km (205 mi) and 435 km (270 mi), its pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components can often be seen with the naked eye from the earth.

Knate Myers has put together this video, View From the ISS at Night, from footage made freely available on various government space related sites, and it offers a unique view of the planet, that few humans have had the joy of experiencing for themselves.

Knate lives in Albuquerque, NM, and writes on his Vimeo profile, that he has a passion for photography. Knate adds:

I love living in the southwest. It's a thrill to capture the sky, the storms and the stars out here. I especially love staying up all night, photographing the night sky far away from the city lights. I try to photograph in such a way that the results have just a slight twist from the ordinary. I want my photos to look the way I see them in my head.

While Knate uses video from other sources in this film, his Vimeo page contains numerous short time-lapse films that he has captured himself, all of which are worth checking out.

View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.

More Information

Knate Myers on Facebook… 

Knate’s website… 

Knate at 500px.Com… 

Music by John Murphy - Sunshine (Adagio In D Minor)

Performed by the City Of Prague Philharmonic, available at Amazon…

Image Courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory,

NASA Johnson Space Center, The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth…

In Review: Dara Reang Sey Hotel, Phnom Penh

Dara Reang Sey Hotel, Phnom Penh

~ My flight from Athens, Greece, got me into Phnom Penh, Cambodia (by way of a transit stop in Bangkok, Thailand), at 6:00am local time early in February 2011. The haze that hung over the country as the plane approached Phnom Penh, provided plenty of warning for the heat and humidity that assailed me as I left the plane at the modest Phnom Penh International Airport.

After passing quickly through Customs, and paying twenty American dollars cash for a Cambodian visa, I was ready to begin my month long visit.

Thankfully, the driver sent to pick me up from the airport (for a $10 fee), was ready and waiting, and in no time at all he was weaving his way through Phnom Penh’s teeming streets towards the first of my five nights at the Dara Reang Sey Hotel.

Phnom Penh was chaotic. There were few traffic lights, lots of uniformed police, military, and other official types standing around, but few of them seemed to be doing much of anything―other than keeping a watchful eye on the passing river of tuk-tuks, bicycles, trucks and buses, vans and pedestrians, and the multitude of motorcycle riders. What few automobiles I could see, appeared to belong mostly to international non-government agencies of one type or other.

Large, comfortable bed in air-conditioned room.

I had booked a ‘Superior Single Room’ at the hotel, at the princely sum of US$26.67 per night. This included taxes and service charges, although breakfast would cost me an average of three dollars extra per day.

While many new international hotels are appearing on the skyline around Phnom Penh, the majority of the city’s hotels are for the most part, ‘housed’ in old, generally run-down looking buildings that may not seem like much at first glance, but which turn out to be quite well appointed given the general poverty that surrounds them.

The Dara Reang Sey Hotel is no exception. My nightly room fee of $26.67 is more than most Cambodians make in a month, so I had no reason to complain as I settled into my accommodations. While writing this entry, I thought it wise to check current prices at the hotel, and to my amazement, there has been no change in pricing since my stay there more than two years ago.

Bathroom was clean and well stocked

The Dara Reang Sey offers rooms in two categories: Standard, and Superior Rooms. Standard rooms range in price from $20/night (single occupancy), to $40/night for three people. Superior rooms range in price from $26.67/night (single), to $43/night for three guests.

Room amenities across all categories appear to be exactly the same, namely, air conditioning, mini-bar, telephone, Cable-TV, and bathroom. However, you should check specifically that these facilities and room rates are correct.

Under the Facilities section of the hotel website they write:

“There are 3 triple rooms, 33 double rooms and 7 single rooms all with air conditioning and 6 fan rooms, most of the rooms have a bathroom with hot shower, cable TV, mini bar and some with balcony Prices range from US$15-$35 all with air-conditioning room.”

The bold emphasis in the above quote is mine. I suspect some things have been ‘lost in translation’, which may account for the discrepancy in prices and facilities, so again you are advised to check with the hotel when making your booking.

The hotel does not have WiFi, or even wired Internet access in the rooms, but access to the Internet was free via computers located near the reception area. Numerous Internet cafés can be found near the hotel, and these all seem to charge a very modest $1.00 per hour.

Restaurant

Image courtesy of hotel website

The hotel has its own restaurant, which is open daily from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. The restaurant serves inexpensive Khmer, Chinese, Vegetarian, Western and Thai dishes. I ate breakfast here each morning, and rarely paid more than $3-$4 for a very generous meal.

The restaurant is at street level and has plenty of seating arranged on the sidewalk, from where you can watch the unfolding tapestry of street life in Phnom Penh. One of the drawbacks of sitting this close to the public however, are the beggars that will inevitably approach you while you are relaxing or eating. These unwelcome approaches are not confined to this hotel of course, but are a daily fact of life for western visitors wherever they may be in Cambodia―which is, after all, one of the poorest countries in South-East Asia.

Most of my evening meals were also taken here and I can certainly vouch for the ‘inexpensive’ claim. One of my journal entries notes: Dinner tonight was chicken salad, beef and noodle stir fry, two Heineken beers, a bowl of free peanuts, and some papaya fruit slices – all for just $10.00.

Modest facilities in my Dara Reang Sey hotel room

I rarely spent more than $10-$12 for an evening meal, and often spent less. As for the chicken salad and fresh fruit slices: I know, I know, don’t eat fresh fruit or salads while travelling in Asia―let alone other strange and exotic meals.

To heck with that, though. Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and immerse yourself as much as possible in the local culture, and if you do end up suffering from the local equivalent of Delhi Belly or Montezuma’s Revenge (which I did), put it down to experience―and have another fried grasshopper!

Finally, most of the staff at the hotel spoke English, with their proficiency ranging from basic to very good. All staff worked hard to ensure that my stay at the hotel was pleasant, safe and incident free―which it was, and I will conclude by stating that I would have no hesitation staying at the Dara Reang Sey Hotel again.

Note: There are two Dara Reang Sey hotels in Cambodia, with information about both available from the same website. The one reviewed here is in Phnom Penh, and the other is in Seam Reap. To book either of the hotels, select ‘Seam Reap’ or ‘Phnom Penh’ from the drop down menu under the Hotel label on the website’s main page.

More Information

Dara Reang Sey Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Online: http://www.darareangsey.com

Skype: dara.reangsey.hotel.pp

Email: booking @ darareangsey.com 

Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5?

Way back in June 2011, in a piece called My Smartphone – My Life (about the uptake and use of smart phones like the iPhone, Blackberry and other devices), I mentioned some of the problems I had been having with my iPhone 3GS unit.

Despite its many limitations―that have only grown worse after each major iOS update―I still have that phone. I have been ‘making do’ with it for the past two years while I waited to see how the device, and its many imitators would evolve.

Yesterday, I finally made the move to replace the iPhone 3GS. But instead of purchasing the latest iteration of this groundbreaking Apple device, I made the move to the latest Galaxy S4.

Yes, dear reader, I am officially over the iPhone. There, I said it. And the sky didn’t fall in.

I have had the Galaxy less than twenty-four hours, so don’t expect an in depth review of the phone here. However, I will certainly write more about the device once I familiarise myself with its design, user interface and standard applications.

While I have moved on from the iPhone (at least for the next two years), I am still firmly attached to my iPad 2. I have looked at Samsung’s flagship tablet device, the 10.1 inch Galaxy Tab 2, and see no reason to upgrade to either that or the latest iPad. At least, not yet. As someone who is not wedded to one particular company and their products, it will be fascinating to watch how tablet devices evolve over the next couple of years.

In my final paragraph for My Smartphone – My Life, I wrote, “…these are the early days of smart phone development and use, and I for one, am quite sure that these ubiquitous devices will only get smaller, faster, cheaper and more powerful over the next five years. I am also sure that … there is no turning back to the ‘old days’ to embrace anything less than state of the art, when it comes to modern phone technology.”

Today, I feel like I have embraced what I consider to be the latest ‘state of the art’ smart phone technology with my purchase of the Galaxy S4. Only time and practical experience will confirm whether I have made the right choice. I console myself with the knowledge that by the time I am ready to upgrade to a newer smart phone in a couple of years, the technology will have progressed exponentially to… who knows what? There is one thing I am sure of: it was way past time I upgraded from the iPhone 3GS, and whatever I ultimately think of the Galaxy S4, it already looks and feels light years ahead of my old 3GS unit.

I would love to hear your opinions regarding the relative merits of my decision. What do you think? Did I make the right choice? Over to you, folks, iPhone 5 or Galaxy S4 - or should I have changed to something else entirely?

TED on Tuesday: Deep Sea Diving…in a Wheelchair

Image courtesy Sue Austin website...

Multimedia, performance and installation artist Sue Austin challenges our notions of what disability is. Sue is the founder and artistic director of Freewheeling, an initiative aiming to further the genre of Disability Arts.

Sue states: "My studio practice has, for sometime, centred around finding ways to understand and represent my embodied experience as a wheelchair user, opening up profound issues about methods of self-representation and the power of self-narration in challenging the nexus of power and control that created the ‘disabled’ as other."

When Sue got a powered wheelchair more than sixteen years ago, she felt a tremendous sense of freedom. However, others looked at her as though she had lost something precious―her ability to walk and move about freely. On the other hand, for Sue Austin, the power chair gave her precisely that ability. By adding modifications and additions to her chair, Sue is able to create art, and just as importantly, travel and explore the world in ways that almost defy the imagination.

This talk, filmed at TEDxWomen 2012 includes stunning footage of Sue as she dons an oxygen tank and breathing apparatus, and turns her powered wheelchair into an underwater vessel that propels her across vast ocean floors, and amongst schools of multi-coloured fish. In doing so, Sue Austin reshapes how we think about disability, and proves once again, that where there is a will, there is always a way.

More Information

TED Online…

Sue Austin’s website...

Sue Austin on Twitter...

Freewheeling...

In Review: Gone To New York

~ I have only read one other book by Ian Frazier, and that was his paean to the American prairies called Great Plains - a book I thoroughly enjoyed and reviewed here…

When I saw a copy of his 2005 collection of essays about New York City, Gone to New York: Adventures in the City making the decision to buy it was easy.

Gone to New York collects together twenty-two essays that examine aspects of life in New York City that are by turns, poignant, funny, serious, and insightful. The essays come from a variety of magazine sources, including the Atlantic, and The New Yorker, for which Ian Frazier continues to write as he has since 1973. Each story in the book contains a year of publication, and these range from Antipodes (1975), to the 2005 essay, Out of Ohio.

Along the way we meet a succession of New Yorkers, each of which is unique in their own way. There’s George Willig, the man who scaled the World Trade Center in 1977 using handmade clamping devices; we learn about Clifford Holland, that man for whom the Holland Tunnel is named;  we meet Martin Tytell, who at 83 years of age in 1997 (when the essay Typewriter Man was written), may have been the last manual typewriter repair man in New York City. We visit crime scenes, take bus rides, walk Canal Street, and stop to remove plastic bags from trees.

Two of the most touching stories are To Mr. Winslow (1993), and Street Scene (1995). In the first essay, Frazier writes about Allyn Winslow, a forty-two-year-old drama teacher who was shot and killed one June morning, after refusing to hand his new bicycle over to four teenagers. In three brief pages, Frazier documents the creation of a memorial to Mr. Winslow, that appears over several days on the exact spot at which he died. He records items as they are added to the memorial by locals, who in most cases didn’t know Allyn Winslow personally, but who were still moved to remember his passing.

Then, over a period of five months, Frazier traces the gradual breakdown of the memorial as summer rains, vandalism, ongoing park maintenance, and winter storms slowly eliminate signs of the original location, so that eventually all trace of it disappears. And thus, with its final disappearance, one is left to wonder if anyone―apart from the writer―still remembers Mr Winslow.

Image courtesy of Bag Snaggers...

[Image Right: The actress and singer, Bette Midler using a Bag Snagger to remove plastic from a New York City tree. Background to this photo is recounted in the essay, Bags in Trees: A Retrospective.]

In Street Scene, Frazier watches as a woman administers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an elderly woman who lies on a Brooklyn sidewalk. Assisting her is a young male who counts off “One, two, three, four, five,” as he in turn administers chest compressions in an attempt to keep the elderly lady alive. Eventually, an Emergency Medical Service truck arrives and the paramedics take over the life-saving work of the volunteer rescuers. Ian Frazier watches as the male and female part without a word, and go their separate ways. At least Frazier has enough presence of mind to approach the man to thank him for what he had done.

He then runs after the woman, who was by now well down the block: I tapped her shoulder and she turned and I said thank you. Her eyes were full of what had just happened. There were tears on her upper cheeks. She said something like, “Oh, of course, don’t mention it.” She was … an ordinary-looking person, but glowing beautifully.

Earlier this month in my piece Reflections From The Window Seat, I asked the question, “…when you travel, where do you prefer to sit: window, aisle or middle seat?.” I added that I am definitely a window seat traveller, and went on to elaborate further about why. In Frazier’s essay, Route 3, I was delighted to read this: I usually travel to and from the city by bus. Most bus commuters sensibly occupy themselves with newspapers, laptops, CD players, and so on. I always try to get a window seat and then look at the scenery. If this were a ride at an amusement park, I would pay to go on it.

Frazier then goes on to describe in detail the bus journey along Route 3 between his home and the city, and I got a lot of satisfaction knowing that I had found a kindred spirit when it came to the joys of window seat travel. Even if the journey was only between workplace and home.

It probably isn’t necessary to be a New Yorker, or to have visited the city, to get the most out of the twenty-two essays in Gone To New York, but it helps. Having said that, most people reading this have been to New York City, if only through the medium of Hollywood movies and countless television shows. It should not be too hard to imagine yourself walking along Canal Street with Ian Frazier, as he points out some of the streets quirkier characters, and grumbles about the plastic bag tangled in the branches of the tree you are passing under. Speaking of which, here is an American television news item which includes Ian Frazier and his friend Bill McClelland using a Bag Snagger to remove plastic from trees.

Gone to New York: Adventures in the City is a delightful read, and is well worth seeking out either online, or through your local bookstore.

More Information

Ian Frazier at Wikipedia…

At The New Yorker…

At The Atlantic…

Ian Frazier on Facebook…

Bag Snaggers.Com…

New York City, Six Months After Sandy

Image courtesy Wikipedia. Author: Hybirdd

~ The modern, relentless 24 hour news cycle, has a voracious appetite. Most news stories, unless on the scale of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, and Washington, DC, quickly disappear from the front pages of newspapers or as the lead story of nightly news bulletins.

At least 285 people were killed along the path of the storm in seven countries. In the United States, where media organizations and some U.S. government agencies nicknamed the hurricane "Superstorm Sandy," the storm affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard. The most severe damage occurred in New Jersey and New York, when the storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines, and cutting power in and around the city. Damage in the US was estimated at over US$71 billion.

Six months after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Cuba, and worked its way up the east coast of the United States to New York City and beyond, devastating coastal communities in its path, little if anything is heard about the ongoing recovery efforts still underway in these coastal communities. In New York City for example, vast stretches of beach front along the Atlantic reaches of Staten Island and Coney Island in particular still look much like they did soon after the storm struck.

Clipping from amNY...

While I don’t have a complete list of locations and infrastructure that are still closed or under repair, six months after Sandy, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Immigration Museum remain off the tourist circuit. The Statue of Liberty is due to open by July 4, but no date has been set for the reopening of Ellis Island.

Of the numerous subway stations and tunnels that were flooded by the almost 14 foot storm surge, the new South Ferry station seems to have suffered the most, when 15 million gallons of salt water poured into it, causing around US$600 million in damage. In response, the old 108-year-old South Ferry station has been reopened while the new station is repaired―a process that may take as long as two or three years!

To my knowledge, the one remaining subway line to be affected by Hurricane Sandy is the A-train. This currently runs as far as the Howard Beach station, with free shuttle buses operating non-stop between this station, and Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue. I assume, rail service is also affected at the other end of the Rockaways, at Rockaway Park Beach. More information about this service can be found at the MTA.INFO site…

Elsewhere along the coast, work is continuing apace to get New York’s beaches ready for the 2013 summer season. Despite being one of the worst affected areas, Coney Island is already open for business―or most of it anyway. The main outlet for Nathan’s Famous, a Coney Island business famous for its hotdogs, and for the annual hotdog eating contest they run remains closed, although its other branch location on Boardwalk West is open. 

Photo: M.T.A. / Patrick Cashin / via Wikipedia

The nearby New York Aquarium at Coney Island was flooded, and will have a limited opening this spring, but there is no timetable for the re-opening of Nathan’s. Meanwhile, Rockaway beach and Jacob Riis Park should be open by May 25 (Memorial Weekend), but it looks like Fort Tilden will be closed for the summer.

And then there is one of my favourite New York City locations―the South Street Seaport area around Pier 17. After a long day walking the streets of lower Manhattan, I have spent many a warm summer evening relaxing and taking in the sights and sounds around the South Street Seaport.

The viewing ‘decks’ of the shopping mall on Pier 17 provide some of the nicest views of the Brooklyn Bridge―especially if you time your visit to coincide with the magic hour or two around sunset. Then the view and the wonderful photographic opportunities are unbeatable. Sadly, though, not only did the South Street Seaport Museum suffer extensive damage, but the Pier 17 area itself was badly affected by the storm.

Negotiations are currently underway with the Howard Hughes Corporation (which owns the Pier 17 area), to build a modern shopping mall, incorporating a rooftop garden and concert area, and other facilities. I can’t say I am excited by the new design for the building which features copious amounts of glass, and seems out of place at a ‘seaport’ location, but maintaining the seaport there is better than having yet another skyscraper dominating the skyline at the foot of Manhattan.

In the meantime, I understand the current shopping facilities at Pier 17 will continue to operate as best they can through summer 2013, until construction of the new building commences later this year. 

I am sure the above is just a small part of what remains to be done to repair and replace damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in the New York City area. But I hope it serves as a reminder that although the news cycle has moved on, thousands of people along the whole length of Sandy’s path are still dealing with the aftermath  of the storm every day, and will continue to do so for many years.

James Buchanan's Wheatland, Lancaster, PA

~ During my stay in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I went to check out Wheatland, the home of America’s 15th President, James Buchanan. With my usual impeccable timing, I managed to walk the mile and half from my hotel to Wheatland on the one day of the week the home was closed. Thankfully, the ten acre site is unfenced and visitors are free to wander the grounds and examine the exterior of the house and gardens, and the various outbuildings at leisure.

Constructed in 1828 by William Jenkins, a local lawyer, Wheatland, or the James Buchanan House, is a brick, Federal style house which was once surrounded by 22 acres of sculpted gardens and landscaped grounds. Today Wheatland shares its ten acres with the Lancaster County Historical Society.

James Buchanan purchased Wheatland in 1848, and lived in the house for next two decades―except for several years during his ambassadorship in Great Britain and during his presidency. Speaking of which: in complete contrast to the constant travel that modern presidential hopefuls embark on, Buchanan did not tour the country as part of his 1856 campaign. Instead, he conducted it from Wheatland as a "front porch campaign". In this age of instant communications, it boggles the mind to try and imagine how anyone could run a successful campaign for President from his front porch!

After his death in 1868, Wheatland passed through a succession of owners before it was acquired by a group of people who set up a foundation for the purpose of preserving the house.

Wheatland was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. It was designated a contributing property to the Northeast Lancaster Township Historic District in 1980. The foundation and the adjacent historical society merged in 2009.

Wheatland was opened to the public on May 5, 1936 and was dedicated "as a new presidential shrine, taking its place with Mount Vernon, Monticello and The Hermitage," in October 1937.

Architecture and Décor

As already noted, Wheatland is built in the Federal style. Wikipedia has this to say about its construction:

As no documents on the actual construction are known to exist, the person or persons responsible for the design of Wheatland have remained anonymous. However, the architecture of Wheatland, as well as its location on the property, indicates someone who was skilled in classical architecture. Design elements, like various lunette windows, also show the influence of various architectural guidebooks that were prevalent in the early 19th century.

Former privy built well away from main house!

The Grounds

On the grounds, behind Wheatland, stand a privy, a smoke-house  and a carriage house. A stable used to stand on the property but was replaced by the carriage house in the late 1880s; an ice-house also no longer exists.

A bathroom, complete with bathtub, shower and a bidet, was installed in the west wing in 1884. Until this was done, the household and guests had to visit a large square privy built well away from the main house―for obvious reasons.

Making the best of a poor situation, I am happy I took the trouble to see Wheatland, but I am disappointed I did not have an opportunity to enter the house to get a sense of life in the mid-1800s. Again, Wikipedia offers this:

The interior of Wheatland is furnished as it would have been in the mid-19th Century, with most of the furniture being original to the house. As Wheatland has never been significantly altered or remodelled  other than the installation of modern lighting and heating, it provides an accurate view of the lifestyle in the Victorian era.

If you are visiting Lancaster, don’t do as I did―make sure you visit James Buchanan’s Wheatland while it is open! Having said that―unless I have missed it―the official website does not mention specific opening hours, just the start of the first and last guided tours. It is probably safe to assume that opening hours are 9 AM-5 PM, but don’t take my word for it, call 717-392-4633 to confirm this for yourself.

The Hours of Operation noted below are taken directly from the official site:

April through October
Tours are offered Monday through Saturday, on the hour, starting with the 10 AM tour.  The last tour begins at 4 PM.

Closed
Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Years Day.

And just to prove that my outing to Wheatland was not a complete waste of time, here is a brief video documenting my visit:

More Information

Wikipedia…

Lancaster History Org…

TED on Tuesday: Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson

In my family and extended family, I count at least nine members who are involved in various fields of education, either as teachers, instructors, or some other capacity. Across the same family there are members who sing, play musical instruments, paint, write poetry, and dance. One is a screenwriter, and another is currently undertaking a film making course.

I myself, am a singer-songwriter with a couple of albums to my name, and I guess I can add video maker to my credits if I include the numerous short videos I have put together documenting my various travels. It goes without saying then, that questions examining the nexus between education and creativity are of great interest to myself, and other members of the family.

Today’s TED on Tuesday features a talk by Sir Ken Robinson, who makes an entertaining and forceful case for creating a modern education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

“I believe this passionately: that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.” ~ Sir Ken Robinson

Posing the question: Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Further, he argues that students with restless minds and bodies―far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity―are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. Or worse―diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder), and  medicated into submission.

Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative was published in January 2009. He is also the author of the best selling The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

Take a look as Sir Ken Robinson delivers one of the most popular TED talks on education and creativity:

Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France

I visited the Musée de l’Orangerie, in Paris during my stay in the ‘City of Lights’, in December 2010. The Museum is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, located on the banks of the Seine in the old orangery of the Tuileries Palace, on the Place de la Concorde near the Concorde metro station.

I first encountered two of Monet’s magnificent Water Lily masterpieces when visiting the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Although I had seen photographs of some of these paintings often enough, nothing prepared me for the sheer joy I experienced standing before these masterpieces of shadow, light and colour.

Claude Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45, rue Laffitte, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature. The term Impressionism, is derived from the title of his painting: Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant).

Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s through the end of his life in 1926, Monet worked on several "series" paintings, in which his subject matter was depicted in varying light and weather conditions. Using his own gardens (with their water lilies, pond, and bridge as inspiration), Monet’s Water Lilies date from this period.

In 1922, Claude Monet signed a contract donating the Nymphéas series of decorative panels to the French government. With input from Monet, the Nymphéas were arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. The eight paintings are displayed in two oval rooms, and are viewed under direct diffused light as was originally intended by Monet.

In what I can only assume is a very unconventional method of mounting the paintings, the eight massive canvases have been glued directly to the walls.

Monet died of lung cancer on 5 December 1926 at the age of 86, and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. His home, garden and water lily pond were bequeathed by his son Michel, to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1966. Through the Claude Monet Foundation, the house and gardens have been open for visits since 1980, and are a ‘must see’ for all devotees of Monet’s work.

According to the museum's website, the Orangerie was originally built in 1852 to shelter the orange trees of the garden of the Tuileries. Today, while it is most famous for being the permanent home for eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet, the Musée de l’Orangerie also contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Rousseau among others.

Here is a brief look at some of those magnificent works of art:

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