Harbor Historian

I’m also 6’5” but the slight (and too familiar) discomfort of being crammed into a small space is worth getting off the hook for having to watch for the less-abled to whom I’d otherwise offer my seat even though it also means having to remember to duck around that other handrail.

Scabs, scars, non-union...
Did I break my funny bone?

Dr: you're always going to have a bump but the alternative is a big scar...
...people call this the bad kind of clavicle break because it's non-union
Me: but Dr. I thought you said there wouldn't be any scabs
[everyone smiles and shakes hands]

My current research has pulled up some names of inventors that I feel like I should have known long ago like Enrico Forlanini, John Schank, and Oliver Evans

How nuts and bolts are we talking here? Does this get into ballast and cargo handling and arrangement?

"... But since it acted as "thrust" or fwd or back it was quite intuitive although more muscle power was needed. And the control was for both units at the same time, which if not in sync caused issues."

and one final (and remarkable) note: " the Austin class, small ferries, were cable controlled. They had two wheels one for each end and then one big wheel that was mounted on the side of the cabinet such it faced to the side of the boat."

Apparently one symptom of traumatic brain injuries, like the one I have, is really big emotions, either positive or negative. So, all that stuff I've been thinking about how fascism is going to get its comeuppance in no time...maybe take that with a grain of salt.

"...One wheel and one lever for each end.
All the ferries now have joy stick controls. One joy stick for each end. So much like any thruster control you push it in the direction you want the action to happen. Fwd push it fwd. push it to the left the end moves to the left."

Here's what my source tells me: "The SI Ferry Newhouse had the old style controls of two wheels and two levers. Wheels controlled directional thrust and the lever the pitch or amount of thrust."

That’s my understanding—but my understanding is not deep. I will ask my people at the ferry.

Meaning vessels with cycloidal props? What’s not to understand? Thousands of Staten Islanders (and tourists) see the value of them nearly every day as the boats thread into the Whitehall slips amid contrary and sometime confused tidal flows.

15 years ago I fell in a clowning class and was disappointed that the three stitches in my eyebrow that looked kinda tough wouldn’t leave a scar. A month ago a bicycle accident messed up that side and it looks like the scar is back!

Or you could just head down to Red Hook and check out the Waterfront Museum and showboat barge; the upcoming production of The Royal Pyrate is delightful (even if it is a musical)

My first thought as well, but I’ve always doubted that story. I’d love some evidence of seafarers on the beach taking stage hand work. I’d think Eugene O’Neill would say something definitive though he seems late for establishing the superstition and nothing’s surfaced in my archives

In theatre today, there’s a story that it’s bad luck to whistle on stage because early stage rigging was run by seafarers (which seems unlikely) who communicated by whistle (a bo’sun call?) so the wrong notes could result in unexpected & unsafe scenery changes—all a bit far-fetched but a parallel?

How many former mayors of anything have ever won the presidency? I think there might have been three NY mayors who history looks on fondly and only one anyone can name. Show me a good analysis of the fascination with this question and be sure to mention William J. Gaynor and John Purroy Mitchel.

It’s 4:15 AM on a rare night that’s cool enough to sleep with open windows and @nycdot.bsky.social is mowing the traffic islands on Bowne St.

The only difference between a dangerous criminal and a law-abiding person is having committed a crime.

I was so sorry to miss this party but I am very proud to have been part of this project thanks to @victorlavalle.bsky.social who discovered my resemblance to Lovecraft, and @fuse8.bsky.social who spread the rumor to @cynthiavonbuhler.bsky.social whose work has to be seen and read to be believed

In a rigorous, traditional, Anglo-American sense, see others’ comments, but I think it lives on in a diminished, Hollywood-defined, vague way that led to my Chinese colleagues’ disappointment in Paris, every woman on the dating apps doing yoga at Machu Picchu, and the ruin of Florence and Venice

As I recall, it’s even older than their boat (the JFK). Getting it is easy, keeping it afloat isn’t hard, finding a place to moor it? Nearly impossible in NYC
—better hold out for Hart Island ferry

People love Shackleton for a romantic figure, but he mostly used pluck and bravado to get out of crises caused by his arrogance and style. I prefer Amundsen: boring, diligent, observant, only occasionally putting documentation above safety.

Giving a whole new meaning to Blue Humanities, Steve Mentz immerses himself literally, metaphorically, and humanely

The water quality doesn’t spook me. If it hasn’t rained in 3 days, I’d swim the river without the pool, and their filtration systems seem solid. It’s the whole politics and economics of the concept that gives me pause. Waterways recreation for all, balanced with industry and ecology.

Piling—unless it’s part of a formal gateway—minor quibble/pet peeve

Has the BRT revival of Staten Island’s B&O/SIRR RoW from St. George Terminal over the Goethals to EWR been lost to long term planning or the precedence of the shipyard it bisects or did they realize the inherent inefficiency of waterfront BRT in which half your transit-shed is occupied by fish?

the catholic addict couldn't stop praying because of her grace jones

Hospitalized in Brooklyn since a bike accident I don’t recall on June 27, I think my new roommate escaped a room with a man who occupies the hall singing in Chinese all day long, which both reminds me of Flushing and is kind of annoying.

If on Saturday, June 28, you saw a bike crash on Vanderbilt under the BQE, it may have been me, and I’d be grateful for whatever insight you could add to my addled memory.