The Newtown Pentacle

Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi

Archive for September 2012

antediluvian plateau

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Passing through Long Island City’s “Tower Town” on the way to the East River Ferry, your humble narrator made a point of shooting some “in progress” shots of ongoing construction. The building at the right of the shot above is going to be a school, and construction on the Hunters Point South project seems to be moving along as well.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Last that I heard, there is still an awful lot of plumbing going on. Part of the project, an enormous residential development, will demand the presence of gas mains and water (sanitary, potable supply, and waste water retention and management) infrastructure. From what I’ve been able to observe, this seems to be most of what’s going on here at the moment.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One cannot help but feel remorse at the loss of the rail to barge infrastructure and facilities that once operated here, and the loss of such amenities in this more environmentally sensitive modern age.

Of course, now that the East River coastline of Manhattan has been fully converted to residential and recreational usage- where would the rail and barge driven agricultural and manufactured products of Long Island have to go?

Written by Mitch Waxman

September 5, 2012 at 12:15 am

bronze lions

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Spotted recently on the veritable bleeding edge of Astoria and Sunnyside, a humble narrator could barely withstand the amount of reflected light this “cool car” was bathed in. A sunny morning, this Viper GTS and its spectacular detailing nevertheless seemed aglow as if with some otherworldly light.

from wikipedia

The Dodge Viper (renamed ‘SRT Viper’ as of MY 2013) is a V10-powered sports car, manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler. Production of the two seat sports car began at New Mack Assembly in 1991 and moved to its current home at Conner Avenue Assembly in October 1995.

Although Chrysler considered ending production because of financial problems, chief executive Sergio Marchionne announced and showed on September 14, 2010 a new model of the Viper for 2012. All Vipers are V10 powered with a manual transmission.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Gray, wrinkled, and definitely worse for wear- this sort of car would be a ridiculous thing for one such as myself to be seen in- this is a young mans automobile. It would be ridiculous to see an older person climb out from behind the wheel, although it would require one to afford it.

from caranddriver.com

The Viper GTS/R is a street legal concept race car. Like the non-concept GTS-R race car that was introduced in 1996, the GTS/R concept’s 8.0-liter V-10 engine is dry-sumped and delivers 500 horsepower, 50 more than the standard motor. This concept car is also just over three inches lower than the current GTS coupe, the rear wheels were moved three inches backwards, and the A-pillar was positioned three inches forward. The interior is all-new and constructed largely of clear-coated carbon fiber.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It reminded me for all the world of the sort of plastic model kits which were slaved over in childhood.

Luckily, the folks over at revell.com have a viper model kit on sale for those of us with lesser means and lowered expectations.

Written by Mitch Waxman

September 4, 2012 at 12:15 am

certain phases

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

This is another one of the shots I’ve been chasing all summer. It is not an easy thing to photograph a lit up moving thing from another moving thing, at night, and capture the background in acceptable sharpness- even on Maritime Sunday.

20th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Just starting the “develop” process on the shots gathered at today’s Working Harbor Committee event, the running of the 20th annual Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition. The winner of the race is pictured above and below. That’s Kirby Marine’s Lincoln Sea.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It will be a couple of days before the entire set of photos is ready, but I figured that it made sense to rush a couple out for today. Happy Labor Day.

Project Firebox 51

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Spotted this one on Russell street in Greenpoint, a hard to find H.P. TEL Firebox, hidden in plain sight.

The last time I saw one of these models was in Bushwick way back in 2010. Check out the post here.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Quoting from the post mentioned above:

It seems that when the fire system, pipe and pump wise, was first laid down in the early 20th century, technological infancy limited the number of streets that could be served by high pressure lines. Reserved for high rises, factories, and high density tenement blocks- the high pressure water common today was only available in certain areas. However, should the need arise, a fire chief carried a key that would access one of these “H.P. TEL” fireboxes which would send a command back to the firehouse to throw open the valves that would pressurize the lines flowing through its district.

The TEL stands for telegraph, apparently, and the whole scheme ceased to be necessary sometime in the 1950′s.

Written by Mitch Waxman

September 1, 2012 at 12:15 am