where are they hiding New York's screwba lls?

“...worth reading. This was reprinted from one of my favorite magazines, 'Time Out New York.' The rest of the article is called 'Vanishing Acts' and it is a retrospective of some of the traditional things associated with New York City that are being phased out by changing times. Some of the items written about are, subway token booths, phone booths, street clocks, Times Square sleaze, cobblestone streets, seltzer bottles, stickball and many other things. This was a small part of it:


You can't help but wonder if our kinder, gentler city is missing something- namely an ample supply of nut jobs. Sure, a few brave oddballs trigger the occasional "only in New York" double take: the West Village stalwart who parades about the neighborhood shirtless, his boa constrictor draped around his neck; the Times Square jollymonger who lets you abuse and berate him for a buck. But, something's amiss.
Call it nostalgia, but it seems they don't make freaks like they used to. Wherefore art thou, Moondog? The blind street performer was known as "the Viking of Sixth Avenue" to the midtown commuters who stepped gingerly around his caped, spear-wielding form. Sure, the horn-helmeted singer-poet was a screwball, but a screwball of substance-an accomplished musician, he wrote the Janis Joplin hit "All Is Loneliness" and recorded albums for CBS. He died in 1999 at 83.
Other street freaks have repaired to the internet: Take George Urban, alias "Ugly" George, who gained a measure of infamy in the 70's and 80's on Channel J, the Channel 35 of its day. The Ugly George Hour Of Truth, Sex And Violence was a glimpse of the sleazy, reality TV future, as George, dressed in silver lame, took his video camera on a weekly quest for nubile young women who'd flash their boobies. ( And you thought "Girls Gone Wild" was innovative?) He's now peddling dirty movies on his web site (www.uglygeorge.com), but that reduces his status from street-freak to mere cyberperv.
The 1990's signaled the end for much of New York's 'whack pack', many of whom disappeared without a trace. What became of the East Villager who asked Avenue B passersby: "Pardon me, but do you have some Grey Poupon?" Or, another East Village bloke who, on weekend nights, sat in front of his street level picture window and played Hendrix riffs on electric guitar-fully nude? What of the George Clinton look-alike who rode the 6 train armed with a cat on each shoulder and a sax in his lap, which he'd play to earn money for the "special fuel" his spacecraft needed to return to Galaxy 7?
So wide is the current goofball gap that those who make the cut can attain celebrity status. Take, the Naked Cowboy (Pathman had the pleasure of crossing his path-no pun intended), the Times Square fixture who's neither naked or a cowboy, but a guitar playing, underwear clad self promoter. He's gotten too big for his briefs, currently touring the country hawking T-shirts and cowboy hats. (Sorry, real freaks don't tour.) And then there's Thoth: The loincloth-wearing "prayformance" artist who haunts Central Park was the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary. Indeed, New York's weirdos have gone mainstream.
While oddities are not necessarily homeless, former Mayor Giuliani-with his quality of life crackdowns-must bear much of the blame for the lack of loons, right? Not quite, says Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst with the Coalition For The Homeless. "It's really the housing initiatives instituted by Dinkins and Cuomo that resulted in a drastic reduction of the homeless on the streets, particularly those with mental illness. Giuliani's 'quality of life' policing just made them hide a little better.
Markee points to a recent turn in the homeless population. "In the past couple of years, because of cutbacks in these same programs, we've started to see an increase in homeless back on the streets."
Which means, for better or worse, that we could soon see an influx of visitors from Galaxy 7.”

“Would the city be the same without them?”

“no! we want our nuts back!”

“yeah now:
They Got Ethiopian Lost Boys with black suit cases in Battery park selling everything from "authentic" Oakley's to "authentic" Rolex's for $5.....
They Got illegal Aliens driving taxi cabs waiting to plan the next trade center attack.....
They got guys on the street corner with windex Bottle and a rag willing to wash you windeshield for .25c....
But most importantly they got
Yankee stadium the Meca of all stadiums !!!”

“Dang, I thought you took another trip to the auto impoundment lot!”

“We have at least two of the lost New York screwballs posting here. ;)”

“Did somebody call my name?”

“You can find them right here- on thebackpacker.com”

“I think they get elected to congress.”

“When you're on the East Side highway headed south, you eventually come to an area with an overpass- The first thing you see off to your right is some sort of "art", mainly made up of garbage. It was a stuffed pink elephant sitting in a wicker chair one day, some old fruit arranged thoughtfully the next. The next thing you see, not twenty feet away, is the apparent artist himself, posing as a work of art. (I think.) He does all sorts of strange stuff- One morning I saw him with two coconut halves- One, he was holding up in front of him, as if showing it to you, the other he was holding over his crotch. He stands stock still with an impassive expression on his face, oblivious to the traffic in front of him. I'll get a picture of him on of these days, he's there at about six or seven every morning, but I'm not sure what time he gets off.”

“Sounds like it might be Bill Clinton...”

“Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception


staff reporter for The New York Times committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months, an investigation by Times journalists has found. The widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper.

The reporter, Jayson Blair, 27, misled readers and Times colleagues with dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was far away, in New York. He fabricated comments. He concocted scenes. He lifted material from other newspapers and wire services. He selected details from photographs to create the impression he had been somewhere or seen someone, when he had not.

And he used these techniques to write falsely about emotionally charged moments in recent history, from the deadly sniper attacks in suburban Washington to the anguish of families grieving for loved ones killed in Iraq.

In an inquiry focused on correcting the record and explaining how such fraud could have been sustained within the ranks of The Times, the Times journalists have so far uncovered new problems in at least 36 of the 73 articles Mr. Blair wrote since he started getting national reporting assignments late last October. In the final months the audacity of the deceptions grew by the week, suggesting the work of a troubled young man veering toward professional self-destruction.

Mr. Blair, who has resigned from the paper, was a reporter at The Times for nearly four years, and he was prolific. Spot checks of the more than 600 articles he wrote before October have found other apparent fabrications, and that inquiry continues. The Times is asking readers to report any additional falsehoods in Mr. Blair's work; the e-mail address is retrace@nytimes.com.

Every newspaper, like every bank and every police department, trusts its employees to uphold central principles, and the inquiry found that Mr. Blair repeatedly violated the cardinal tenet of journalism, which is simply truth. His tools of deceit were a cellphone and a laptop computer — which allowed him to blur his true whereabouts — as well as round-the-clock access to databases of news articles from which he stole.

The Times inquiry also establishes that various editors and reporters expressed misgivings about Mr. Blair's reporting skills, maturity and behavior during his five-year journey from raw intern to reporter on national news events. Their warnings centered mostly on the errors in his articles.

His mistakes became so routine, his behavior so unprofessional, that by April 2002, Jonathan Landman, the metropolitan editor, dashed off a two-sentence e-mail message to newsroom administrators that read: "We have to stop Jayson from writing for the Times. Right now."

After taking a leave for personal problems and being sternly warned, both orally and in writing, that his job was in peril, Mr. Blair improved his performance. By last October, the newspaper's top two editors — who said they believed that Mr. Blair had turned his life and work around — had guided him to the understaffed national desk, where he was assigned to help cover the Washington sniper case.

By the end of that month, public officials and colleagues were beginning to challenge his reporting. By November, the investigation has found, he was fabricating quotations and scenes, undetected. By March, he was lying in his articles and to his editors about being at a court hearing in Virginia, in a police chief's home in Maryland and in front of a soldier's home in West Virginia. By the end of April another newspaper was raising questions about plagiarism. And by the first of May, his career at The Times was over.

A few days later, Mr. Blair issued a statement that referred to "personal problems" and expressed contrition. But during several telephone conversations last week, he declined repeated requests to help the newspaper correct the record or comment on any aspect of his work. He did not respond to messages left on his cellphone, with his family and with his union representative on Friday afternoon.”

“the other he was holding over his crotch.
I'm not sure what time he gets off."

About 3 minutes later?






BOO!! HISSSS!!!!”

“Strat, thanx for ruining another thread. Do you do this for spite?”

“corp you have to tell me where that is. LOL

to funny....



strat be nice please :)”

“Look here, treebeard, this is a thread about Screwballs!

And who shows up?

daftdewd!”

“Talking about screwballs, where is our TT thread about the bombing in Saudi? Lots of people may be dead, and we are talking about Britney Spears and coconut halves? Or about Bill Clinton and daftdewd. Or what ever this thread is about. I really need to get to my trail maintenance. Anybody gone yet?”

“no Lyndy I had to change my plans. But im hoping for maybe June 7th weekend.
what are your plans for that weekend?”

“I am girl scout camping with my older daughter that weekend in NY. I worked things out where I switched her to a more outdoorsy troop, and I am starting a new troop myself that will focus on more outdoor activities, for my younger daughter. So I am back in the scouting game again. I think that this sunday after church I will go check out the trail for the first time.”

“LyndyS, you Rock!
[and a tip of the hat to CMB]”

“Thanks Stovey, I feel pretty pleased with myself at this point, too. It is great when things work out after a difficult time.”

“Knock it off, you two!!

I don't want to hear about girl scouts, I wanna hear about nutty people!”

“how bout nutter butters?”

“Ok, at Susquehanna St Park, we can all talk about you, TommyT, and you'll even be there to add to the evidence!”

“Oreos are better than nutter butters.”

“nuttella?”

“a female italien nut?”

“Well I went to the Catskills and checked out my trail that I signed up to maintain. I was sick last night, so I didn't do much cutting, just surveyed the trail and met the trail maintenance supervisor. He seemed to think that Mapleleaf and a huge crew of her friends were meeting him there to spend the day working. I explained that the trip was moved to June. Mapleleaf, did you know that your Willow Yellow trail gains 1000 feet elevation in less than 2 miles? It was a beautiful day but I was thinking that the trail was less uphill than that. I have to hike that uphill before even getting to my trail. There are some nice areas to camp my trail and Maple's trail close to parking, but most of Maple's trail is steep and rocky. The blue blazed trail that Maple signed up for is overgrown and barely resembles a trail. We have a lot of work to do there.”

“Hey Treebeard, tell Mapleleaf to look here!”

“I did, Lyndy. She's home and will be on after she takes care of a few errands...”

“Thanks, I'm excited to tell her about our trails!”

“I am awear of the condition the trail is in. It is a new trail and has never been taken care of.
I am glad that you were able to get out and give me the low down. OoPSS!! i guess i forgot to call one more person. i will call him was his name dave or joe?

i do hope to be able to make it up there in June.”

“Yeah, she's on vacation this week, but is getting the NY Times and scouring want ads to try and get a new job. So, I told her you want to talk and when she is free a little later in the morning, she will get back with you...”

“oh, guess what! here she is... lol”

“Oh sure I jump into the shower and THEN she gets online!

The trail is very sunny and has some nice views, that might be gone when the trees fully leaf out. I found one tiny seep that may not be there in the summer. That is one thing I want to do is scout out is some seeps near our blue trails that can supply some water for clean up or camping. There were a lot of big fractured boulders with small caves for creatures. I wonder how many bears live around our trail. The maintenance supervisor is Joe Herrod and he said that the hike from north to the Willow branch is very pretty but very unused, which is why your mile long section is almost unrecognizable as a trail. The Willow branch is an old woods road and didn't need much work other than a couple large logs that can be climbed over easily. My blue trail needs a little more work, not much, so when that is done, I can help you with your blue section.”

“thanks for the info
Joe had told me if we have bigger rocks, logs, downed trees. we can have the larger crew from NY?NJTC come and help.”

“Yes, he made a note of the big trees on the yellow trail and my section of the blue trail, and he was going to notify the work crew. So we need to note any big blowdowns on your blue trail and let him know.”

“Good luck finding another job. I am going back to school for nursing. That is quite a career change from CPA but I don't want to work at a desk on a computer anymore.”

“same here. im going to try to get into school for Animal Vet Tech. this Sept. So im looking into animal shelters also. hay ill clean out cages or what ever as long as im out of an office!”

“Yeah one of my friends was telling that I can join the ranks of nurses so I can rub creme on people's hemmoroids. She was teasing me but I think I am too tired of administration to care.”

“I think I'll put lunch off for a while now, Lyndy. Thank you! :)”

“Did you really need to eat lunch so early? I didn't think so, heeheh.”

“True. Hopefully, I can put the thought to rest by lunchtime... :)”

“Joel Klein vows probe of Queen's school's 911 edict

BY JESS WISLOSKI, CARRIE MELAGO and ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, September 11th 2007, 4:00 AM

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein yesterday vowed to investigate a Queens high school policy that may have cost a teen girl her health.

The Daily News reported yesterday an official at Jamaica High School barred school deans from calling 911 in an emergency - just weeks before 14-year-old Mariya Fatima suffered a stroke her family says could have been less devastating.

Klein called this a violation of Department of Education policy and instructions he had sent to principals early this year.

"We'll look into it and take appropriate action," he said.

Former Jamaica Assistant Principal Guy Venezia sent a memo to school deans on April 12 banning 911 calls "for any reason."

Mariya began to vomit at school on April 27 and collapsed in the hall, but her family says help did not arrive until 90 minutes later.

"If they called 911 early, it is possible she can be in better shape," said Mariya's mom, Liaquat Begum, a recent immigrant from India. "She was a very good student. Now she is not reading properly."

"They did nothing," Mariya said after limping into her lawyer's office to meet with reporters yesterday.

Since her stroke, Mariya has had trouble walking. She has no use of her right hand, and her family says the 10th-grader is reading at a fifth-grade level.

Mariya's lawyer Gary Carlton blamed the pressure on principals to improve school safety - or at least to give the appearance that they had.

A 911 call leaves a paper trail that can't be covered up, and Jamaica was already on the city's list of most dangerous schools.

"This happened because statistics are more important than anyone's life," Carlton said.

Teachers union President Randi Weingarten made a similar allegation. "This is a tragic result of what happens when everything comes down to data," she said. "If there's only a hammer when people report crime, then people are going to continue to hide their incidents."

Klein said the Jamaica policy was an isolated incident.

"Our principals are reporting faithfully and honestly," he said. "In a system with 1,450 schools, you can always have aberrations, but don't jump to conclusions from that."

Mariya's family would not be the first to sue over a 911 ban.

The News reported in January that the family of 11-year-old Shawn Martinez is suing over the boy's death in 2003 after an asthma attack at Brooklyn's Public School 20. The family claims the school prohibited nurses from calling 911.

Following that report, Klein sent a note to city principals stressing that all staff should call 911 in an emergency.Venezia's memo went out three months later.

Venezia, now a teacher at Hillcrest High School in Queens, declined comment.

Former Jamaica Principal Jay Dickler could not be reached. He was removed from the school this summer because crime there was too high, Klein said. "I met with him on numerous occasions about safety at the school, and that's why he was removed," Klein said.

Outside the school yesterday, students and staff expressed shock that the no-call policy was ever in place.

"It's wrong," senior Gladys Macias said. "They should have just called to get her help as soon as possible. I would have wanted that to happen for me, of course, or for anybody."


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/09/11/2007-09-11_joel_klein_vows_probe_of_queens_schools_.html”

“Former Jamaica Assistant Principal Guy Venezia sent a memo to school deans on April 12 banning 911 calls "for any reason."

WTF? thats gotta be against the law”

“UM most of the NY loons must be gone..heck they are getting em from Arkansas now.”

“That's what you get for drinking Hudson River water. ;-)”

“It's the water, the water, the water....”

“Hey y'all, Zac lives up river from New York City.

It's in the water allright.”

“Cashtomato Giveaway Turns Into Riot
Tags: Cashmato, video and YouTubeBy Michelle Fabio

CashTomato, a new internet video-sharing company modeled after YouTube, just wanted to create some publicity by having employees dress up as tomatoes and hand out cash prizes to passersby in New York City.

What resulted, though, was a tomato riot when the 100 or so in the crowd became impatient and rushed those holding the cash-filled envelopes, sending the human tomatoes across the street in fear of their safety and leaving the cash up for grabs.

Or, as the New York Daily News put it, “Only in New York can a tomato get mugged for $4,000.”

This was CashTomato’s sixth promotional event handing out money; the previous cash distributions were held in three British cities, San Francisco, and Berkley, California—all without incident.

“In San Francisco, the worst thing that happened was a few homeless people made off with too many envelopes,” said Jason Buzi, CashTomato’s senior vice president.

“Maybe next time, I would plan this better,” he added”