Rantings of a New Yorker

There continues to be a strong connection between religiosity and poverty. From the NY Times op-ed piece.

Why is this important, you ask? Glenn Beck is fond of warning his viewers that America is sliding towards some sort of mutant totalitarian amalgam of socialism and fascism (oxymoronically ignoring the fact that through most of the early 20th Century Nazis and Communists were at each others throats) but Beck seems to have learned [...]

Flickr user, Straatis, has a nice collection of photos of New York City, broken down by years.  If you’ve got some time, consider browsing this phenomenal collection.  I miss the days when kids were actually allowed to play and create their own adventures. 1948 – Boy Jumping into the Hudson River by Ruth Orkin 1938 [...]

Ever wonder what Manhattan looked like before it was full of buildings and skyscrapers?  The Mannahatta Project has done that for you.  An interactive map and website, you can explore all points in Manhattan to see what it used to look like. “The goal of the Mannahatta Project has never been to return Manhattan to [...]

The 1940s is considered the golden age of New York City and Life Magazine has a nice gallery of photos of the time. LIFEembedDrawGallery(23782);

The mastodon pond in Montgomery was recognized as an historic site on June 17.  It is important because the pond is the location of the world’s first complete prehistoric mastodon bones were found. The site covers two acres, including the pond, which was left behind from the 1801 excavation of the mastodon skeleton.  Noted artist [...]

2,300 years ago, a meteorite hit just outside of Long Island, possibly triggering a tsunami that covered most of New York City. Katherine Cagen of Harvard University believes that she has found evidence in the Hudson River between the borders of New York and New Jersey. The evidence included deformed rocks; rare microscopic “nanodiamonds”; and [...]