Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
sights and glories
Not sure if this thing sucks or blows, but I think that it probably just blows.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted recently at the LIRR Hunters Point station, an esoteric bit of kit, which was boldly labeled as the TC 888 and which bore the branding of something called “ESSCO.” Certainty exists that shortly after hitting “publish” on this post, one of my rail fan pals will leave a comment or send an email describing this device in brain dissolving detail, but your humble narrator is focused simply on a single query.
Does it suck, or does it blow?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To me, it looks like something which really blows.
That’s a jet engine at the wide part of the funnel, and the fuel hatch had writing stenciled on it that advised “Kerosene Only.” Also, a lack if any sort of receptacle for the resultant materials which might be produced by an interval of powerful sucking, nor a visible connection to a feeder mechanism designed to interact with other external equipment, suggests that it probably doesn’t suck at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, this pinkish orange Track Cleaner must in fact blow, and there’s no doubt that the jet engine must be able to blow chunks of trash and other debris from the trackbed. One cannot tell you if Hunters Point was getting blown, or just storing the device temporarily.
Either way, it’s clear that it doesn’t suck, and that its job is to blow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
There are two Newtown Creek walking tours coming up.
Saturday, June 28th, The Poison Cauldron
With Atlas Obscura, click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, June 29th, The Insalubrious Valley
With Brooklyn Brainery, lunch included, click here for tickets and more info.
to see
If I were taller, I could have been a baller.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, one was contemplating perspective, and I wondered what the City of Greater New York must look like to our current mayor. Striding around in cyclopean fashion, able to cross the East River in two great steps, it must be fantastic to be that tall. Your humble narrator is “low average” in height, so I’ve always wondered what perspectives are enjoyed by a true giant. Don’t get me wrong, I’m only talking about height, not gravitas or other intangible efficacies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I always notice the giants while onboard the subway, not just because they have to stoop when entering the car. They’re the ones who appear to be standing up while actually sitting down, and these are folks who can’t help but look down their nose at everyone else. The only thing people of enormous stature need to fear, other than low ceilings, are the sudden appearance of Jewish pre-teens named “Dov” or “David” who are carrying slings – but that’s kind of a cat and dog natural enemy thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s always been my understanding that driving the massive mountain of flesh and bone along through the world exacts a cost, cardiovascular wise (there are miles of veins and arteries within them), and that the very tall are at a significantly higher risk for certain ailments (like bird and lightning strikes) – so there’s that. Still, it would be great to see things from an Olympian perspective, wouldn’t it?
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
There’s a Newtown Creek walking tour, and a Magic Lantern show, coming up.
Wednesday, June 11th, Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show with Brooklyn Brainery.
Click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, June 15th, DUPBO – Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp
A FREE tour, courtesy of Green Shores NYC, click here for rsvp info
strange pursuits
Why be a jerk?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This morning, the first thing I saw was an older woman (late 50’s, I’d guess) disposing of some garbage by throwing it into the tree pit in front of my house.
As it would be an impossibility for one such as myself not to chide or comment on such an act, I offered “Hey, where do you live? I’ll come to your place and throw garbage in front of your house.” She smiled, and kept on walking, never once thinking that she should pick up her discarded shit and drop it into the litter basket on the corner which was within eye shot.
What the hell is wrong with people? How is this ok?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One attempts to live a life which will have minimal negative impact upon others. All of my efforts in recent years are bound around the idea of “What would Superman do” in any given situation, a moral rubric which serves me pretty well in ethical gray areas. If the Kent wouldn’t do it, why would you?
The human infestation hereabouts, however, doesn’t seem to subscribe to any other dictum than selfishness and wild abandon in the public space. All the while of course, as they leave a stream of litter behind them, they’ll tell you that Queens is going to hell in a a hand basket and that “things aren’t the way they used to be.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s not a law and order kind of thing, we’d all need a personal cop to keep us in line if it were. The depersonalizations of modern life, led by corporatists and sophist political operators, are where I ascribe blame. Somebody else’s problem is all of our problem in tight quarters like New York City. Where things have gone to hell in a hand basket is precisely between our ears, and I have no idea what Superman would do with that.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
admittedly supercilious
Vampire target #1, Long Island City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you ask our local elected officials, or the commander of the local NYPD precinct house, they will deny that hordes of stinking Vampires congregate on Vernon blvd. nearby its intersections with with 45th Road and 45th Avenue in LIC, shortly after sunset. It’s part of their responsibilities, to hide such things from the citizenry.
The war torn intersection on Vernon is where the New York Blood Center’s LIC facility is located, and the plague of vampires drawn to it nightly might just be the reason that the “Bloods” gang is so prevalent in the Queensbridge Houses, just a few blocks away. The Bloods have a bad reputation in the neighborhood, but they are amongst the finest Vampire fighters that Queens has ever produced autochthonously.
from nybloodcenter.org
The coordinated leadership of NYBC’s geographic blood services operations ensures some 2,000 units of blood products are collected each day and distributed to more than 20 million people in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Our National Cord Blood Program at the Howard P. Milstein National Cord Blood Center has distributed cord blood units throughout the U.S. and internationally, with more than 4,900 units shipped to 220-plus transplant centers in 38 countries spanning six continents. World-class researchers at NYBC’s Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute lead the way in pioneering blood research focused on global health issues, from HIV and hepatitis to malaria and thalassemia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in the day, as it were, it was the Italian Gangsters who did battle with the undead around these parts. Mafioso proficiency in battling the undead is the reason why the Vatican has long tolerated the presence of the Black Hand in Italy, after all, but things have changed and the old guard has given way to the new. Rumors are that the night time security personnel employed by the Blood Center in LIC are all ex military, with a preference given toward those who were assigned to duties in the Philippines (due to the huge Aswang problem which plagues the island nation). Word has it that were their exploits and experiences made public, the nation itself would be shaken to the core.
from greinermaltz.com
Long Island City, NY, May 2, 2005 — New York Blood Center (NYBC), one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit, blood distribution and service organizations has just inked a long-term lease for a 76,000 sq. ft. commercial property in Long Island City, NY.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By vampires, I don’t mean some shimmery Hollywood pretty boys, nor the bizarre Goth subculture encountered in certain Manhattan parlor and clubs. I mean stinking ghasts and objectionable revenants cloaked in the pallid soils of the graveyard, who hang about lonely crossroads and stalk isolated travelers or lonely mendicants. Personally, I spend the twilight hours safely ensconced in Astoria, behind hanging mats of garlic and cruciforms. There’s only so far that famous vibrant diversity of Queens can be embraced, after all, and I for one wish to see the bloodsuckers stay in Manhattan, where they belong.
from nypost.com
New York vampire hunter Joel Martin is A-positive that hundreds of bloodsuckers walk among us, often hanging — right-side up, that is — at downtown watering holes.
“It’s not at all like the ‘Twilight’ movies, but they’re right there in the city,” the Long Island occultist asserted. The downtown Draculas can be found in Gothic-themed bars in SoHo, TriBeCa and Greenwich Village, he said.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
obsequious jackanape
A quick one today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted the other day on Vernon Blvd. in Hunters Point’s tower town. I’m a bit ragged from this weekend’s back to back tours with Atlas Obscura and Brooklyn Brainery, so forgive a humble narrator’s inability to supply a meaningful post today. Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 