Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[TattleTeeny]

We just felt another about 30 minutes ago! Apparently a 4.0. Some of my friends have reported that there have been a few more (and/or aftershocks) all day, but I only felt the one this morning and the one a half-hour ago.

[Annber03]

Just saw the news on the Weather Channel about the earthquake, that's wild. Glad it doesn't seem like anyone's been hurt or there's any damage or whatnot thus far, though. Hope the aftershocks remain very minor, too. 

They showed footage from New York CIty, I think it was, and the camera was shaking. I just kept imagining how freaked out the people working high up in some of htose buildings must've been!

[oliviabenson]

Last earthquake was in 2011. I googled. That one I was walking up the subway steps and thought it was the train. Nope… it was an earthquake, everything shook.

 

Edited April 5 by oliviabenson

[annzeepark914]

We were home by the time the earthquake hit this morning but didn't feel anything. In 2011, I was sitting by a glass topped table & suddenly everything on it started rattling. Then I heard loud banging noises & thought my husband was hammering a wall upstairs. He came downstairs & said it was an earthquake (he'd worked in Los Angeles for several years so he recognized what was happening). Our damage was a break in the water pipe (under the front lawn) that goes into our house from the main pipe. A number of other front lawns here were dug up around the same time 

It would be interesting to see the paths the tremors took today to affect such a widespread area: the Mid-Atlantic to New England (from northern VA & southern MD to Boston & VT). 

@oliviabenson Was that in August 2011?

 

Edited April 6 by annzeepark914

[oliviabenson]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

We were home by the time the earthquake hit this morning but didn't feel anything. In 2011, I was sitting by a glass topped table & suddenly everything on it started rattling. Then I heard loud banging noises & thought my husband was hammering a wall upstairs. He came downstairs & said it was an earthquake (he'd worked in Los Angeles for several years so he recognized what was happening). Our damage was a break in the water pipe (under the front lawn) that goes into our house from the main pipe. A number of other front lawns here were dug up around the same time 

It would be interesting to see the paths the tremors took today to affect such a widespread area: the Mid-Atlantic to New England (from northern VA & southern MD to Boston & VT). 

@oliviabenson Was that in August 2011?

 

I don’t remember. 

[Yeah No]

14 hours ago, ABay said:

Friend of a friend reported feeling it in Killington VT. In southern CT, I thought a big gust of wind had hit the house and didn't think anything of it until my colleagues started asking if there'd been an earthquake. At least one of them reported items falling off a shelf. Earthquakes aren't common here, so even a little tremor is exciting. Like snow falling in Florida.

In the Hartford, CT area I heard and felt a rattling and thought maybe a big truck was outside the house.  I looked out the window and nothing was there so I was puzzled because it felt so close by.  A few minutes later a friend called me and told me about the earthquake and I said, "Oh, so that's what that was!"

[Yeah No]

15 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It's snowing here in Rochester NY right now.
"Spring" means that, thankfully, it's not sticking on the roads.

We had snow too, about an inch where I am.  Then it turned to rain and disappeared.  We usually don't get snow past March around here. 

16 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Personal perceptions are valid, and statistics don't matter if you are the one in a million, and stats that rise after an unusual drop (like during the pandemic) can feel alarming, and cause us to want to blame some group, but, in good news:
“NYPD Announces February 2024 Citywide Crime Statistics” (nyc.gov…february-2024-citywide-crime-statistics)

Actually the stats I've been talking about pertain to violent felony assaults and larceny, which are the things you care about if you're visiting a city as other crimes (except perhaps rape and murder) aren't going to be relevant to you.

And specifically the trends over several years and decades are what I'm talking about. Both of those crime categories are significantly up in NYC even as other types of crime have gone down.  So this is why my father used to say "statistics lie".  It's which statistics in which context that have to be looked at, not just a snapshot of one year or month.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about:

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2023.pdf

[annzeepark914]

Two 14 year old boys were killed within 33 hours of each other on Thursday, one near the Catholic University campus and the other in a metro station. Kids have always had fights but they used to be solved via fists. These days? Someone always seems to have a gun. Two young teenage girls were fighting over a sauce packet at McDonald's last fall & one of them solved the problem by killing the other. Just by coming to visit a city and not seeing any crimes take place doesn't tell the story. 

[Yeah No]

21 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Two 14 year old boys were killed within 33 hours of each other on Thursday, one near the Catholic University campus and the other in a metro station. Kids have always had fights but they used to be solved via fists. These days? Someone always seems to have a gun. Two young teenage girls were fighting over a sauce packet at McDonald's last fall & one of them solved the problem by killing the other. Just by coming to visit a city and not seeing any crimes take place doesn't tell the story. 

Thank you, that's it in a nutshell.  I'm hearing those stories here in CT too.  People threatening people with guns at gas stations (one just last night), "friends" shooting at each other in shopping malls and Walmart - two of them places I visit regularly.  Mostly very young people.  And it's happening more and more often.  This was never the case until very recently or I am sure the news up here would not have hesitated to make it "breaking news".  It's very disturbing.

I heard a news story several months ago about a man on a scooter in Queens that was indiscriminately shooting at pedestrians, and one of them was killed.  Wow, that really stuck with me because since when do you have to worry about getting shot just walking around a street?  Interestingly when I searched for the article about that shooting (which is here), I found other similar stories, in fact, one that happened in Brooklyn just last month.

My husband went down to Manhattan today to meet with his sister.  I'm sure he'll be fine but I have to admit I am still concerned, although not any more concerned than I would be if he were going down there on a regular work day.  But I have to admit I am more concerned now than I used to be years ago.

[StatisticalOutlier]

Quote

Wow, that really stuck with me because since when do you have to worry about getting shot just walking around a street? 

I'm sure it's statistically much more likely to be hit by a car that drives up on the sidewalk, or runs over you in the crosswalk.  Or an e-bike, these days. 

There's no doubt people are doing some crazy shit these days, but they've always done crazy shit.  What are the odds of a given person being a victim?  That's what the news media doesn't report, and frankly, societal consequences aside, that's what most people should be concerned about.

4 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Just by coming to visit a city and not seeing any crimes take place doesn't tell the story. 

What was originally asked was: "Is it as bad as the news media portrays it?"  And people gave their personal experiences without regard to what the news media reports.

To be fair, the instances you're citing (in DC, and not NYC) are from news media reports.  You said you haven't gone into DC in four years.

And back to the odds of being a victim, one of the incidents you cited was, "Two young teenage girls were fighting over a sauce packet at McDonald's last fall & one of them solved the problem by killing the other."  I'm obviously concerned that this type of nonsense happens, but not on a personal level.  A detective testified:

Quote

"Liggon [the victim] and another girl began hitting the 16-year-old suspect, and as they tried to get into the vehicle, the suspect 'lunged' at Liggon with a 7½-inch pocketknife, hitting her in the chest and the abdomen, he testified."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/16-year-old-girl-fatally-stabbed-washington-dc-mcdonalds-dispute-sauce-rcna102359

I'm not going to argue with anyone over sweet-and-sour sauce, and even if I did, I'm not going to hit anybody, and I'm definitely not going to try to get into her vehicle to continue hitting her.  This incident has nothing to do with whether it's dangerous to visit Washington, DC.  Unless maybe to advise, "Don't hang out at McDonald's at 2:00 in the morning if there are teenagers around," or "If you're hitting someone, don't follow them into their car so you can continue hitting them."

[Ancaster]

On 4/5/2024 at 4:31 AM, Yeah No said:

That's true.  I don't feel as safe even here in CT for that reason.  We have had our increase in gun crime here too.  But even in the "bad old days" of crime in NYC we didn't worry that every other person might be carrying a gun and might use it.  Today it's different.

 

Fifty per cent of the people walking around NYC are armed?  That seems unlikely.

On 4/5/2024 at 8:01 AM, partofme said:

I miss living in nyc.  I had to move to NJ six months ago because the rent got to be too much in nyc but I was never scared there, I always felt the news exaggerated things.  I read somewhere that the crime rate is about 50 times lower in nyc than it is in Alabama.  We had an earthquake a half hour ago here in NJ, now that was scary.   

What could that even have meant?  Apart from comparing a city to a state, without details (statistics, sources) I can't learn any useful information from it.

Edited April 6 by Ancaster

[oliviabenson]

Apparently there might be aftershocks for as long as a week.

[Quof]

30 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

Apart from comparing a city to a state, without details (statistics, sources) I can't learn any useful information from it.

The crime rate is calculated using population figures - the total number of people or the number of people per square mile/kilometre/or other measure of area (population density) - so it is possible to compare a city to a state.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Two 14 year old boys were killed within 33 hours of each other on Thursday, one near the Catholic University campus and the other in a metro station. Kids have always had fights but they used to be solved via fists. These days? Someone always seems to have a gun. Two young teenage girls were fighting over a sauce packet at McDonald's last fall & one of them solved the problem by killing the other. Just by coming to visit a city and not seeing any crimes take place doesn't tell the story. 

I take the Metro when I have to go into the office three days a week and have never encountered any problems. When they’re have been instances of someone being hurt or when there’s been a crime or even a health related incident, trains have changed to single tracking or we would have to get out at the stop and wait until it was resolved or they provided other means for us to get to our destination. In the 25+ years I’ve ridden Metro, the number of these incidents I can count on one hand.

I work near across the street from the FBI building. It’s Northwest DC, the safest part, I guess. DC was a ghost town during the first two years of the pandemic. But I’ve never encountered anything or anyone that made me feel unsafe. And I’m someone who put in BLONDE highlights in my hair after 9/11 because people were killing Indians thinking they were Muslims. I can’t expand because it veers into off topic subjects we can’t discuss.

 

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I'm sure it's statistically much more likely to be hit by a car that drives up on the sidewalk, or runs over you in the crosswalk.  Or an e-bike, these days. 

There's no doubt people are doing some crazy shit these days, but they've always done crazy shit.  What are the odds of a given person being a victim?  That's what the news media doesn't report, and frankly, societal consequences aside, that's what most people should be concerned about.

What was originally asked was: "Is it as bad as the news media portrays it?"  And people gave their personal experiences without regard to what the news media reports.

To be fair, the instances you're citing (in DC, and not NYC) are from news media reports.  You said you haven't gone into DC in four years.

And back to the odds of being a victim, one of the incidents you cited was, "Two young teenage girls were fighting over a sauce packet at McDonald's last fall & one of them solved the problem by killing the other."  I'm obviously concerned that this type of nonsense happens, but not on a personal level.  A detective testified:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/16-year-old-girl-fatally-stabbed-washington-dc-mcdonalds-dispute-sauce-rcna102359

I'm not going to argue with anyone over sweet-and-sour sauce, and even if I did, I'm not going to hit anybody, and I'm definitely not going to try to get into her vehicle to continue hitting her.  This incident has nothing to do with whether it's dangerous to visit Washington, DC.  Unless maybe to advise, "Don't hang out at McDonald's at 2:00 in the morning if there are teenagers around," or "If you're hitting someone, don't follow them into their car so you can continue hitting them."

Mama was right. Nothing good happens after midnight.

[Anela]

On 4/5/2024 at 2:22 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

Also FWIW there are probably a lot of guns being carried illegally everywhere in NYC.but my husband and I just go about our business.  There are probably a lot of guns being carried everywhere in every state. 

We’ve had permitless carry since 2022, in Ohio.  😔

I kind of want to add to the conversation, but I also don’t. I think those immigrants are probably very scared, and people with mental health issues are more likely to be the victims of violence. 

I’ve dealt with violence in my home, as a child, and an adult, from very English people.  And in this middle of nowhere Ohio town, that’s been built up a bit over the years, but I still can’t walk or drive anywhere - some people are quick to point to section eight housing (apartments) when it comes to any crime, like home-owners can’t be criminals. I grew up in council housing in England, mostly, which I think is the same, and I say something when I see that.  I never had a problem in council housing. Neighbours look out for each other. 

several years ago, I remember hearing on the news, that two sisters were fighting at thanksgiving, and one stabbed the other. Eleven years ago, the former fire chief was responsible for a murder-suicide, that took his wife’s life, too.   2019, a local woman was murdered in her home, and nobody knew, because she didn’t like people anymore, but her niece lived close by, and tried to keep an eye on her.  She eventually called the police, when she hadn’t seen her outside for a while.   This woman left the state when she was young, got her degree, and was politically active,  moved back to this town to take care of aging parents who were sick, and was killed in small-town ohio.  Her house is next to the local school, where dad sometimes walks our dog. Men shot each other at a gas station last year, because people can be idiots, and some think they get to use guns to sort out their differences.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone talk about someone meeting their 2a rights/type of gun or bullets they have, on next-door or in local groups on FB, when yet another person posts a picture of a stranger who works door-to-door, or someone just walking down the damned street.  I don’t walk in this neighborhood anymore, and I used to walk during the day at times, but mostly late at night. 
 

With certain people in positions of power, whipping people into a frenzy, leaving them in fear of their fellow citizens, it’s horrible, and the guy with the “don’t tread on me” flag, one street over from me, can go fuck himself. 

Edited April 6 by Anela

[oliviabenson]

It seems like there is a lot of crime because of SM. In NYC we have no bail and too many drug addicted people/mentally ill floating around receiving no help. Even if they commit violent crimes no bail/no jail. Only thing that gets them arrested is murder. Never mind all the open drug use on the subway. Cops do nothing. I blame the soft on crime politicians.

Am I scared to take the subway? Yes, especially after 7-8 pm. It’s completely different since COVID. 

[partofme]

5 hours ago, Ancaster said:

What could that even have meant?  Apart from comparing a city to a state, without details (statistics, sources) I can't learn any useful information from it

I may have gotten the percentage wrong but it’s from this article https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2024/02/28/alabamas-homicide-rate-is-more-than-double-new-york-city/

There are also articles like this that talk about how nyc is a lot safer than small town America   https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-07/is-new-york-city-more-dangerous-than-rural-america

 

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, partofme said:

I may have gotten the percentage wrong but it’s from this article https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2024/02/28/alabamas-homicide-rate-is-more-than-double-new-york-city/

There are also articles like this that talk about how nyc is a lot safer than small town America   https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-07/is-new-york-city-more-dangerous-than-rural-america

 

Seattle gets brushed with the same dirty brush. I swear there are people who think Seattle and Portland are on fire all the time. It's so ridiculous.

[oliviabenson]

Friend of a friend rented a small illegal basement apartment for $1500. I about fainted. So expensive…

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, partofme said:

I may have gotten the percentage wrong but it’s from this article

Wrong by a not insignificant factor of 20X.  And it's the murder rate, not the crime rate.

FWIW, I really enjoyed the articles you linked to, which delved into the "why do we think what we think when the data don't support it?" conundrum.  People just can't stand details, and even those who can stand them generally don't really understand them, and statisticians and the people who analyze statistics are all about the details.  It must be a terribly frustrating job.

 

[Yeah No]

21 hours ago, Ancaster said:

Fifty per cent of the people walking around NYC are armed?  That seems unlikely.

Perhaps, it was a figure of speech.  But I think it may shock us to learn just how many people are packing these days.  And I'm sure it's a lot more than it used to be.  Guns, legal and illegal are out of control these days.

21 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I'm sure it's statistically much more likely to be hit by a car that drives up on the sidewalk, or runs over you in the crosswalk.  Or an e-bike, these days. 

There's no doubt people are doing some crazy shit these days, but they've always done crazy shit.  What are the odds of a given person being a victim?  That's what the news media doesn't report, and frankly, societal consequences aside, that's what most people should be concerned about.What was originally asked was: "Is it as bad as the news media portrays it?"  And people gave their personal experiences without regard to what the news media reports.

I think the odds are higher of being a victim in NYC if the statistics I posted mean anything.  Just how much higher I don't know.  Violent assaults and the like are up significantly from any perspective and over any period of time going back to 2001.  And those are the types of crimes people visiting a city are the victims of more often.

And I don't know about NYC these days, but just going by when I stayed there for a few nights last Summer I was shocked at how little reporting there was on crime on the TV news.  I only heard one story about a man jumping to his death from a building, and that's arguably not a crime in the sense we're talking about.  Here in CT they report a lot of crimes and there's never a two or three day stretch where you don't hear anything.  But even so I suspect that the TV news isn't even reporting that many of them because there are so many.  They only report the worst ones, but that doesn't mean there weren't other incidents that could have been reported.  I sometimes see additional incidents reported on local websites that were not reported on TV.  So I actually think it's just the opposite - that the media is not exaggerating these things.  They may make a big deal out of them but that's not the same thing.
 

Quote

I'm not going to argue with anyone over sweet-and-sour sauce, and even if I did, I'm not going to hit anybody, and I'm definitely not going to try to get into her vehicle to continue hitting her.  This incident has nothing to do with whether it's dangerous to visit Washington, DC.  Unless maybe to advise, "Don't hang out at McDonald's at 2:00 in the morning if there are teenagers around," or "If you're hitting someone, don't follow them into their car so you can continue hitting them."

My husband is a professional driver.  He often has to be out at 2:00 a.m. in the morning in NYC and elsewhere.  He is sometimes in need of gas at odd hours and might have to use a rest room in a fast food restaurant if he has no other choice.  He tries his best to avoid going to gas stations and fast food restaurants at night these days.  He never used to have to do that but it's gotten so dicey he won't risk it.  We are hearing about gas station crime almost every week these days in CT all over the state.  I don't think he's being overly careful.  He's pretty much a fearless guy so if he thinks it's bad you know it must be bad!

ETA:  Speaking of gas station crime where people are having their cars carjacked or being held up for money at gunpoint, one news report said that 2 specific gas stations at a busy intersection in a town around here had a total of 33 car jackings and unattended vehicle thefts since the beginning of this year.  Yep, you got that right, 33 incidents, and that was as of some time in MID MARCH, not even April!  And many happened in BROAD DAYLIGHT.  And this is not a very high crime town historically!  I was SHOCKED as we definitely didn't hear about most of those on the news until that story.  And why the police haven't assigned a special detail to that area is beyond me.  I thought the report might have been in error but I checked it out online.

Edited April 7 by Yeah No

[Yeah No]

10 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

It seems like there is a lot of crime because of SM. In NYC we have no bail and too many drug addicted people/mentally ill floating around receiving no help. Even if they commit violent crimes no bail/no jail. Only thing that gets them arrested is murder. Never mind all the open drug use on the subway. Cops do nothing. I blame the soft on crime politicians.

Am I scared to take the subway? Yes, especially after 7-8 pm. It’s completely different since COVID. 

Thank you.  This is exactly the type of thing I'm hearing from my BFF in NYC even down to it being completely different since Covid.  This is why she now avoids the subway like the plague in the evening.  And she was another fearless person that rode the subway day and night before that.

[ECM1231]

Gee, I really opened up a can of worms with my initial question. But thank you all so much for weighing in. I've got mobility issues, so for me, taking the subway or the railroad is not an option at this point in time. We'd have to either take an Uber (prohibitive from here) or my husband will have to drive. Curiously, we were taking our son to JFK Airport this afternoon for a business trip, and I asked him about the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. He said we'd been there when he was a child. My husband agreed with him, but that's not a trip I'd forget. We'd been to the Bronx Zoo several times and the Coney Island Aquarium, but never the Botanical Gardens. So, my son agreed that maybe it was a grade school trip. 

[Mondrianyone]

8 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

I asked him about the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

There's also a very beautiful botanic garden in Brooklyn, on Eastern Parkway. Possibly you got them confused? I took a wreath-making class there close to Christmas one year, and it started to snow midway through. The walk to my car through the Japanese garden was one of the more magical experiences I've had. If you can get to that one more easily than the one in the Bronx, I'd really recommend it. The Victorian conservatories are so gorgeous.

[ECM1231]

@Mondrianyone, no I've never been to any botanical gardens in NYC. That I know for sure. The reason I was asking about the NY Botanical Gardens is b/c we have a wedding to attend there in July and I mistakenly thought it was in Manhattan. 

My thing is aquariums; I don't know why. Any city we visit, if it has an aquarium, I have to visit it. We've been to the ones in Boston, Mystic, Coney Island, and of course Sea World in FL. 

[Mondrianyone]

12 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

The reason I was asking about the NY Botanical Gardens is b/c we have a wedding to attend there in July and I mistakenly thought it was in Manhattan. 

Sorry, I got a little dizzy going through the crime-in-the-subway debate. But if you ever do get a chance to go to the one in Brooklyn, take it! There's a magnificent museum right nearby as well.

[Blergh]

On a different topic. .in different US locales from the NYC area. .

OK, I don't know how many posters are going to be in tomorrow's TOTALITY path or at least near where the sun will start 'crescenting'.

 

However, as a 2017 vet, let me offer a tip to make the most of the experience: if one's in an uncloudy area, find a spot with leafy trees and watch for the 'crescents' to form on the ground under the leaves! It's a cool (and safe) way to observe the phenom and one doesn't risk any eye damage via looking at El Sol during this time.

Oh, if one DOES get to experience Totality,then (and only then) one may look up and see for oneself what sky looks like but be careful to look down BEFORE Totality's over because that first unfiltered ray with it coming back can cause damage!

[emma675]

2 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

My thing is aquariums; I don't know why. Any city we visit, if it has an aquarium, I have to visit it. We've been to the ones in Boston, Mystic, Coney Island, and of course Sea World in FL

I spent the night in the Georgia aquarium last year. A friend loves the ocean and had a milestone birthday last year, so she rented the aquarium overnight and had a slumber party. We slept in the room with the shark tank; the wall in front of us was glass and the ceiling had glass windows, so the sharks were in front of and above us. As someone who is not a fan of deep ocean water, it was kind of a long night for me. What's funny is that some of the ladies in our group were loud snorers and the sharks circled around the windows where those ladies were sleeping. The next morning we got to tour all of the behind the scenes labs, feedings, enclosures, etc. It was pretty amazing. 

[fairffaxx]

If any of you aquarium fans are able to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it's very well worth your time.  The petting pool alone!

Edited April 8 by fairffaxx

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

My thing is aquariums; I don't know why. Any city we visit, if it has an aquarium, I have to visit it. We've been to the ones in Boston, Mystic, Coney Island, and of course Sea World in FL. 

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is cool.
Here in Rochester NY the Strong Museum of Play has a small but very cool aquarium with weird looking fish that my little grandson loves. 

 

7 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Oh, if one DOES get to experience Totality,then (and only then) one may look up and see for oneself what sky looks like but be careful to look down BEFORE Totality's over because that first unfiltered ray with it coming back can cause damage!

According to my local weather person here in Rochester:

• Eclipse: 2:07 to 4:33 p.m. 
• Totality / Darkness Timing: 3:20 to 3:24 p.m. (3 minutes and 38 seconds)
  — when it "should" be safe to look at the corona without safety glasses.
  I'm 99% sure I'm skipping that part. I don't trust myself to get it right.

10 minutes ago, Blergh said:

as a 2017 vet, let me offer a tip to make the most of the experience: if one's in an uncloudy area, find a spot with leafy trees and watch for the 'crescents' to form on the ground under the leaves! It's a cool (and safe) way to observe the phenom and one doesn't risk any eye damage via looking at El Sol during this time.

Yes! I had a photo of the crescent leaf shadows from 2017.
But that was in August.
Our trees have no leaves yet. Maybe twig shadows?
But I'll be viewing from my apartment balcony without any tree shadows. 

[Blergh]

The Chattanooga Freshwater Aquarium is worth having to book ahead to buy tickets for a pre-ordained time! Seriously, it has virtually every kind of critter connected to freshwater streams, rivers and estuaries.

BTW, when I was there ages ago, I had to laugh at the reaction of schoolkids getting grossed out seeing ducks relieve themselves under water. How did they think ducks did their business- by waddling on land to mini outhouses? LOL

If nothing else, it's an entertaining and educational experience (and it's close to Chattanooga's River Walk and within easy distance of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Rail Station)!

[Yeah No]

6 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

@Mondrianyone, no I've never been to any botanical gardens in NYC. That I know for sure. The reason I was asking about the NY Botanical Gardens is b/c we have a wedding to attend there in July and I mistakenly thought it was in Manhattan. 

If you do happen to go to the one in the Bronx, it is absolutely beautiful, although by July the initial beauty of Spring will have waned somewhat.  But it is still gorgeous, especially the huge glass conservatory.

 

4 hours ago, Blergh said:

Oh, if one DOES get to experience Totality,then (and only then) one may look up and see for oneself what sky looks like but be careful to look down BEFORE Totality's over because that first unfiltered ray with it coming back can cause damage!

Here in my area of CT we're only getting a 92 - 93% eclipse.  Unfortunately they say it won't really make the sky go dark.  I've seen other eclipses like that and I do think the sky got a little darker for a while so we'll see.

For anyone interested, I heard that Warby Parker is giving out free "eclipse viewing glasses".  I doubt I'll get over to the mall to get a pair in time, though.

[EtheltoTillie]

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

 

 

According to my local weather person here in Rochester:

• Eclipse: 2:07 to 4:33 p.m. 
• Totality / Darkness Timing: 3:20 to 3:24 p.m. (3 minutes and 38 seconds)
  — when it "should" be safe to look at the corona without safety glasses.
  I'm 99% sure I'm skipping that part. I don't trust myself to get it right.

 

Shapeshifter, I was wondering about your eclipse plans--you're in the totality path.  I'm most curious about how dark it will be.  Please report back. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Shapeshifter, I was wondering about your eclipse plans--you're in the totality path.  I'm most curious about how dark it will be.  Please report back. 

Will do! I'll be eclipse-focused from about 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. ET today.

Yesterday the parking lots by the Lake Ontario beach were nearly full with smiley tourists out for a pre-eclipse stroll.
Motels have been booked to capacity since the eclipse dates opened a year ago.
Wegman's stores are closing for an hour to give their employees an opportunity to experience the eclipse. 
Our garbage was picked up early so the garbage men could have the afternoon off.

Here's my eclipse-inspired Wordle post of the day:
(in a spoiler tag for now so no one clicks on the link who has not yet done their Wordling for the day)

Spoiler

https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3u89l9?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share

Let me know if you hit a pay-wall, and I'll post the text and emojis of the comment too.
Comments don't have "gift" links, but I don't think they're behind the paywall since their content is not copyrighted.

Here's an eclipse photo someone else posted from 2017.
It shows leaf shadows:

And here is mine from Aug 21, 2017, 30 miles north of Chicago:

Unfortunately there are no tree leaves here now in Rochester, NY.

Edited April 8 by shapeshifter

[shapeshifter]

Today's NY Times' Metropolitan Diary section included a bit of an antidote to our collective nervousness about potentially violent encounters these days:

Quote

Dear Diary:

I am 84 and have been fortunate to spend decades devouring Manhattan’s cultural scene. I have slowed down a bit now because of my age and balance issues, and I keep my social and cultural events confined to daylight hours.

Not long ago, though, I was invited to an evening gathering that I just couldn’t resist. The late hour meant taking a cab home, something I mostly avoid.

As the cab pulled up, I noticed that the driver was very scruffy, and my anxiety increased. But I needed to get home, so I pushed my trepidation aside and got in.

Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by the sound of my favorite opera duet.

“Oh,” I said with great astonishment, “‘The Pearl Fishers.’”

“You know your opera,” the driver replied. He began to sing along with the recording beautifully and continued until we got to my home.

When we arrived at my building, he waited until I was safely inside the front door. It was the best cab ride I had ever had in more than 50 years of living in Manhattan.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.i00.wtse.kO9QwdKD1yRu&smid=url-share

 

[EtheltoTillie]

23 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Today's NY Times' Metropolitan Diary section included a bit of an antidote to our collective nervousness about potentially violent encounters these days:

 

I read that yesterday.  A great story.

[Yeah No]

29 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Today's NY Times' Metropolitan Diary section included a bit of an antidote to our collective nervousness about potentially violent encounters these days:

 

A nice story but how sheltered do you have to be as a resident of NY to let a "scruffy" cab driver worry you?  That wouldn't even register on my radar and forgive me, but it sounds vaguely classist and even prejudiced.  It's like the reaction my husband used to get from rich passengers when he first started limo. driving that a heavy-set Irish-looking guy knew so much about New York architecture and history, not to mention classical music.  Like it shocked them that he actually had a brain and some culture.

[Yeah No]

On 4/6/2024 at 7:48 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

FWIW, I really enjoyed the articles you linked to, which delved into the "why do we think what we think when the data don't support it?" conundrum.  People just can't stand details, and even those who can stand them generally don't really understand them, and statisticians and the people who analyze statistics are all about the details.  It must be a terribly frustrating job.

I missed this the first time - I agree with you in general, but I believe that based on the statistics I posted there are valid reasons to be more concerned these days about being the victim of certain types of crime when visiting NYC (specifically the types potentially involving innocent people walking on streets or in subways).  And I know how to read statistics.  Note that this doesn't mean being paralyzed with irrational fear out of proportion to the reality and staying home to avoid any danger.  But it does warrant increased caution and vigilance at the very least.  YMMV. 

[oliviabenson]

I didn’t get any eclipse glasses so I think I’m staying indoors lol. I’m already practically blind.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Today's NY Times' Metropolitan Diary section included a bit of an antidote to our collective nervousness about potentially violent encounters these days:

Quote

Dear Diary:

I am 84 and have been fortunate to spend decades devouring Manhattan’s cultural scene. I have slowed down a bit now because of my age and balance issues, and I keep my social and cultural events confined to daylight hours.

Not long ago, though, I was invited to an evening gathering that I just couldn’t resist. The late hour meant taking a cab home, something I mostly avoid.

As the cab pulled up, I noticed that the driver was very scruffy, and my anxiety increased. But I needed to get home, so I pushed my trepidation aside and got in.

Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by the sound of my favorite opera duet.

“Oh,” I said with great astonishment, “‘The Pearl Fishers.’”

“You know your opera,” the driver replied. He began to sing along with the recording beautifully and continued until we got to my home.

When we arrived at my building, he waited until I was safely inside the front door. It was the best cab ride I had ever had in more than 50 years of living in Manhattan.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.i00.wtse.kO9QwdKD1yRu&smid=url-share

 

 

Expand  

 

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

A nice story but how sheltered do you have to be as a resident of NY to let a "scruffy" cab driver worry you?  That wouldn't even register on my radar and forgive me, but it sounds vaguely classist and even prejudiced.  It's like the reaction my husband used to get from rich passengers when he first started limo. driving that a heavy-set Irish-looking guy knew so much about New York architecture and history, not to mention classical music.  Like it shocked them that he actually had a brain and some culture.

Your response got me thinking…🤔💭🙇‍♀️💬
In addition to likely being a bit "classist," the person who used the term "scruffy" was 84-years-old.
He also said he avoided taking cabs, but didn't explain why.
You also thought he might be "prejudiced," which kind of comes with the territory at age 84 today, but perhaps at 84 he himself had experienced frightening prejudice as a possibly gay man?

Regardless, I had "fun" looking up the history of NYC cabs, but could not find much regarding dress-codes then and now. 

But TAXI: A History of the New York Taxi Cab does have a couple of great 19th century images and an amusing comment that is a bit of family lore, so might be embellished:

Quote

I also remember my dad keeping his money from fares in a cigar box on the front seat! That would NEVER happen today! My dad was around 6’-5” and went about 345 lbs. He only ever got ATTEMPTED to be robbed 1 time. The passenger reached around and held a knife at his throat and demanded the cigar box of money. My dad said here it is and when the guy moved the knife away to get the box, my dad grabbed his arm and literally pulled him over the front seat and THROUGH the windshield! When the cops arrived they asked him what happened and he said he had to hit the brakes hard and the guy just flew over the seat! This all happened about two blocks from our house so the cops knew my dad from the neighborhood. All in all a good outcome, except for the crook.

https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2022/07/taxi-a-history-of-the-new-york-taxi-cab.html#comment-372601

 

[PRgal]

@Yeah No A lot of people are very sheltered.  And I think some children of immigrants can be even more so at times.  My parents grew up working class and lower middle class, and I think they did their best to isolate me from some people.  They meant well.  They didn't want me to see too much suffering, and would have freaked out at the idea of me taking a gap year in a developing country (gap years weren't really a thing in '98 when I graduated from high school anyway).  It's one thing to, say, sort food at a food bank or something like that, but to be fully hands on for longer periods of time?  They wouldn't have liked it.  I remember being told to "stay indoors" after a music theory exam at a high school that didn't even look like it was all that inner city.  I don't know why.  And when Chinese Canadians moved out of Chinatown and into various suburban communities, I was warned not to go to Chinatown.  They believed the suburban Chinese communities were safer.  I'm being honest, that's what they said.  Unless it was lost in translation somewhere.  

[oliviabenson]

If budget cuts go through the library will be open m-f and limited hours 

Weekends out. So if you work you probably will not go to the library at all. 

[Browncoat]

Incidentally, nasa.gov is livestreaming the eclipse from all along the path of the eclipse.

Sadly, it's pretty cloudy here, and only supposed to be about 88%, so I might only get to see it via NASA's website!

 

[shapeshifter]

18 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Incidentally, nasa.gov is livestreaming the eclipse from all along the path of the eclipse.

Sadly, it's pretty cloudy here, and only supposed to be about 88%, so I might only get to see it via NASA's website!

 

Cloudy here too.😕

But that’s supposed to mean total darkness in a little over half an hour from now.
So hopefully all the out-of-towners can bond over that phenomenon.

[PRgal]

22 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Incidentally, nasa.gov is livestreaming the eclipse from all along the path of the eclipse.

Sadly, it's pretty cloudy here, and only supposed to be about 88%, so I might only get to see it via NASA's website!

 

Same.  People are driving south to Niagara Falls from Toronto to view it.  But it's also really cloudy here.  

[oliviabenson]

I didn’t get any solar glasses so I’m staying indoors 

[ABay]

It's mostly cloudy here, too, as always when there's something interesting happening in the sky.

It's getting a little dim now. We're supposed to get 90+% coverage around 3:30.

[Browncoat]

The clouds here thinned out a little so we could see it a little bit, but only for a couple of minutes.  Even like that, and even at just 88% coverage, it's still pretty cool.

But I'm loving NASA's coverage!

[Suzn]

Something I want point out about the crime rate for different cities/states.  Even the the crime rate in NYC is lower than some other area that doesn't take into account population density for any geographic area.  So, in a square mile of NYC, I'm sure there are more crimes occurring than in a square miles of many areas with a much higher crime rate comparing only total population.