New York News: The City Desk

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Apple's New Maps Place Brooklyn In Manhattan

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If it's September in Williamsburg, it's Kapparot, the quirky Orthodox Jewish ritual where no chicken is safe!

[desertpunk]

Columbus Monument in its new 'living room'

Columbus Circle art installation confounds, weirds out:

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

[desertpunk]

Plot to bomb Federal Reserve Bank of NY busted up: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/17/justic...ss_igoogle_cnn






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[desertpunk]

Wash. Post

Posted at 03:44 PM ET, 10/24/2012
Oct 24, 2012 07:44 PM EDT

TheWashingtonPost
Mega-storm threat growing for mid-Atlantic and Northeast early next week from hurricane Sandy
By Jason Samenow


Three models, three different scenarios. Left: the European model simulates a very strong storm off the Delmarva coast Monday morning with very heavy rain in the central and northern mid-Atlantic - with a projected landfall near Cape May later that day. Right, top: The GFS model turns the storm into the Gulf of Maine Tuesday night with a projected landfall near Portland later that night. Right, bottom: the Canadian model shows the storm making landfall near Boston Wednesday morning. (Stormvistawxmodels.com and MeteoCenter, Canada)


There is a consensus forming in weather forecast models that hurricane Sandy is unlikely to go out to sea. Instead, it more likely will merge with a strong fall cold front and transition into a powerhouse, possibly historic mid-latitude storm along the mid-Atlantic and/or Northeast coast Sunday through Wednesday.

The majority of models now take Sandy from its current position over Jamaica northward over the Bahamas before curving the storm towards either the mid-Atlantic or Northeast coast. Models disagree on where the storm will recurve and make landfall: simulations vary from the mid-Atlantic to Maine. There remains a chance, though diminishing, the storm will slide harmlessly out to sea.


GFS forecast ensemble members all simulate Sandy recurving towards the East Coast. (NOAA)

The location of the storm’s landfall is very important for determining exactly what local impacts will be. Not everyone will experience significant or dangerous storm conditions. But suffice to say, coastal regions from the Carolinas through eastern Canada are likely to get battered by tremendous surf and face a real risk of significant to severe coastal flooding. This storm will be a slow mover meaning large waves may pound the coast for lengthy time periods. Not to mention, the wind and waves will raise the water level, bringing ashore a multiple foot storm surge in regions close to where the storm makes landfall (assuming it does so).

Making matters worse, the storm will coincide with a full moon Monday night, meaning elevated tides above normal levels. Astronomically high tides have played a key role in historic coastal flooding events along the East Coast, such as the Ash Wednesday storm of March, 1962.

Inland areas in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, from Richmond to Washington, D.C. to New York City to Boston, may also deal with significant storm impacts. Heavy rains are possible along with punishing winds. But the track is key in determining exactly where and we cannot say which areas, if any, will experience these conditions.

As a hurricane transitions into a mid-latitude weather system, the storm’s core tends to unwind. This means the most extreme winds around the storm’s center diminish some, but very strong winds spread out over a larger distance, affecting a much broader region. In other words, sustained winds above tropical storm force (39 mph) will be possible for locations well-displaced from the storm’s center, meaning a high power outage risk.

Severe inland flooding is another possibility. But again, it’s impossible to pinpoint if/where this will occur. Recall that the inland flooding - as opposed to wind or storm surge - was the greatest cause of death and economic damage during hurricane Irene in 2011 bringing torrents to upstate New York and Vermont.


GFS snowfall simulation for storm (Weatherbell.com)

Finally, snow may be an issue at high elevation in the interior mid-Atlantic and Northeast as cold air pours down on the storm’s west and southwest flank. Some models suggest over a foot of heavy, wet snow could fall in places like western Maryland and central and western Pennsylvania. This amount of snow on top of existing foliage could result in tremendous tree damage and power outages.

Snow is much less likely at lower elevations as the storm wraps around some mild air from the tropics. However, it cannot be ruled out briefly towards the tail end of the storm as tropical air departs and cold air wins out.

[...]

[desertpunk]

CBS Local

Forecasters Warn Of ‘Huge Weather Event’ On Track To Hit Area This Weekend

Early Reports Predict 5 Inches Of Rain, 65 MPH Wind Gusts For NYC Possible



NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A potentially huge weather event could hit the Tri-State Area as early as Sunday night. The storm system is forecast to linger in the area through Tuesday and could bring with it severe winds, rains and storm surges.

Forecasters are keeping a close eye on Hurricane Sandy as the storm spins near Jamaica. The track of the storm is a bit sketchy, but is expected to solidify in the next 24 to 48 hours, CBS 2′s Lonnie Quinn reported Wednesday evening. A cold front was set to advance east from the northern Plains states, and if it arrives in time, the front could push Hurricane Sandy out to sea. But if the front lags behind, the East Coast, including the New York City area, could be in for a direct hit.

The worst case scenario, as displayed in the European model for the storm, had the hurricane slamming the New York City area with 5 inches of rain from Sunday through Tuesday, and wind gusts of 65 mph. A storm surge would also erupt in that model, and some snow could also be seen. The weekend is forecast to be a wash-out, Quinn said Wednesday evening.

National Hurricane Center Chief Hurricane Specialist James Franklin said a hit on the Northeast was growing more likely, and some other models are beginning to match up to the European model. “We are starting to see more and more indications that as we go look into the early part of next week that the guidance has been shifting a little bit closer to the northeast, increasing the threat there,” Franklin said in an Associated Press interview broadcast by 1010 WINS. AccuWeather meteorologist Dave Bowers concurred, forecasting that there is an excellent chance that this storm hits our area. The system could bring tropical storm-force winds and flooding when it reaches the Tri-State, Bowers said.

Emergency officials in the area were preparing Wednesday. “We’re carefully monitoring the forecast in cooperation with our partners with the National Weather Service,” said New Jersey Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Mary Goepfert. “We’re in touch with the county Office of Emergency Management, and we’re starting discussions regarding ramping up resources and assets in the event the storm should hit the state.”

Sandy has already caused widespread damage across the Caribbean. On Wednesday evening, it was causing torrential rain, 38-foot waves and winds of 80 mph in Jamaica

[...]

Perfect storm?

[printingray]

Tomorrow, it will be sunny with temperatures in the 40s, but a gusty wind blowing 10-20 mph. For the weekend, expect flurries on Sunday morning and dry weather for Halloween.

[desertpunk]

Nanny Held in Stabbing Deaths of Two NY Children

Oct. 26, 2012



New York City police this morning released the names of two children who were stabbed to death in a vicious attack allegedly by their nanny in the family's Upper West Side apartment.

The children's bodies were discovered in a bathtub by their mother. Their nanny was found lying unconscious nearby with apparently self-inflicted stab wounds to her neck, the NYPD said.

Lucia Krim, 6, and 2-year-old Leo Krim were killed in the attack. Both children were taken to a local hospital Thursday evening and pronounced dead.

The nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, 50, is in critical but stable condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital and has no criminal record, according to ABC station WABC. Ortega worked for the family for about a year. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed at this time.

A preliminary police investigation had not yet yielded a possible motive for the deaths.

The children's father, Kevin Krim, a CNBC executive, was on a business trip in San Francisco at the time of the murders. He flew home Thursday night and polcie picked him up at the airport and rushed him to his family, authorities said.

The children's mother, Marina Krim, and her other child, a 3-year-old daughter, were returning from a swimming lesson to the luxury La Rochelle apartment building on the city's affluent Upper West Side at approximately 5:30 p.m. Thursday, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters. When they found the second-floor apartment dark, she went back downstairs and asked the doorman if the nanny had left with the other children only to be told that was not the case.

She went back upstairs and discovered her two children stabbed in the tub. The nanny was found on the bathroom floor with stab wounds to her neck, and a kitchen knife was close by, police said. The mother's screams could be heard emanating from the apartment, Kelly said.

No charges have been filed and the investigation proceeded "aggressively," Kelly said, but the "operating assumption" was that the nanny's wounds were self-inflicted.

Horrible.

[desertpunk]

NYC rocked by murders of two children

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Frankenstorm rush


http://evgrieve.com/2012/10/it-has-begun.html

[desertpunk]

Election night at Times Sq.

image hosted on flickr

Barack Obama Re-Elected, Times Square - NYC by Adrian Cabrero (Mustagrapho), on Flickr

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Snow's a-comin':

Blizzard warning now issued: http://www.google.org/publicalerts/a...=US&source=web

10"-14" possible...

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image hosted on flickr

Powerful U.S. Winter Nor'easter Coming Together by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, on Flickr

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Massive Blaze At Pratt Institute

CLINTON HILL — Pratt Institute students were devastated after a predawn fire tore through the top floor of the school's 126-year-old Main Building Friday morning and destroyed priceless student work stored there.

Classes in the building were canceled Friday morning after the massive fire erupted about 2:15 a.m. on the top floor of 200 Willoughby Ave., the main building on Pratt Institute's Brooklyn campus, which houses studios, classrooms and administrative offices, Pratt and FDNY officials said.

Maria de Los Angeles, a 24-year-old painting major from Santa Rosa, Calif., said she's financially ruined because the blaze destroyed all her paintings and prints, which were stored in one of the many studios there used for senior thesis projects.

"I was planning to sell these to pay my bills. That’s what I do every summer. But now I don’t have anything left to work with. I lost everything," de Los Angeles said, briefly pausing to hold back tears.

She lost between $3,000 and $5,000 worth of work, she said.

De Los Angeles attends Pratt on several scholarships and her mother makes about $800 a month working on a farm in California, de Los Angeles said.

"I come from a poor family. They're not going to be able to pay to help me," said said. "It's a big hit. I can paint fast and come up with new work, but financially it hurts."

[...]
Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2013...#ixzz2L8IBcDkO

[desertpunk]

Dov Hikind Is Sorry If You Were Offended By His Blackface Costume

Assemblyman Dov Hikind apologized. Sort of.

First, Hikind held a press conference and said he was sorry if anyone was offended that he dressed as a black basketball player, in blackface.

He issued that qualified apology in response to a very public backlash against him after a photo of him at a Purim Party, in costume, was posted online.

Later, in a radio interview with Zev Brenner, Hikind said he didn't mean to offend anyone, and began to criticize his critics, equating wearing blackface with non-Jews dressing up as Hassidic rabbis for Halloween. Callers to Brenner's show also defended Hikind.

Hikind also said his critics simply don't know the meaning of Purim.

Later, he wondered aloud whether he'd dress up as an Indian or gay person for next year's Purim celebration.

[...]

[eyeofodin]

Funny! The artist was a student at my school for a few weeks back in the fall. He was very quiet about his art

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Columbus Monument in its new 'living room'

Columbus Circle art installation confounds, weirds out:

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

COLUMBUS CIRCLE | TATZU NISHI - DISCOVERING COLUMBUS by roccocell, on Flickr

[Simfan34]

Is that what it was? Weird... I thought it was just a platform that allowed you to get up close.

[desertpunk]

St. Patrick's Day. It happened.

image hosted on flickr

St. Patrick's Day NYC 2013: East Village, McSorley's by Scoboco, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

St. Patrick's Day NYC 2013: East Village, McSorley's by Scoboco, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

St. Patrick's Day NYC 2013: East Village, Paul's Burger by Scoboco, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

St. Patrick's Day NYC 2013: East Village, St. Marks Ale House by Scoboco, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

St. Patrick's Day NYC 2013: East Village, Third Avenue by Scoboco, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

St. Patrick's Day NYC 2013: East Village, McSorley's by Scoboco, on Flickr