9/11 Superstition
Echoes of September 11 are still resounding. The effects are eerie, and yet some may even take some wry humor in this one related event, in my own personal life.
I'd just bought a CD on eBay (will the RIAA's next move be an attempt to make that somehow illegal or impossible?) and the payment options were few, so I decided to send a check, wait until it clears, and then let the seller send it to me. I open my checkbook and the next check available is #911.
Just couldn't use it.
Voided it out.
No way this New Yorker could send out a check with the number 911 on it. Impossible!!
This occured the same day the reconstruction plans for the WTC site were unveiled. Take a look for yourself, they can be seen here [1].
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation [2] and The Port Authority are cooperating in what seems to be an incredibly open and involving manner. The plans will be on public view beginning next week, in the Rotunda of Federal Hall at 28 Wall Street. Visitors will have the option to submit comments on the designs.
You can also go to the LMDC site to view the designs, and offer your thoughts in an interactive manner with the site. This openness and inclusion is very refreshing. Check it out here [3], where you can view or download the various plans under consideration, and then voice your comments or opinion.
Those links come from the Wednesday New York Daily News [4].
To some, if you mention the News, they immediately think of a fishwrapper, that tabloid with all the pictures. "New York's Picture Newspaper" was the slogan for years and years. Then it became New York's Hometown Paper. The site boasts "New York's Hometown Connection."
Reading The News online one sees what excellent NYC coverage it has. The Sports Section is the best in the City (The Times' coverage sucks, The Post is speculation, rumor, innuendo, and only some occasional fact). The writing in The News gets better by the day.
Of the three papers in NYC, The News has been the consistent leader in net and web content and development. Unlike The Times, The News does not charge for yesterday's news, columns, stories, Op-Ed pieces, etc. The News is proactive with the website, having gone through at least three redesigns in recent years.
I've had contact with The News' webmaster a few times in the past three or four years. Each comment, question, suggestion or other point I've brought up has received a thoughtful answer. With quick response time, as well.
Had I not grown up in NYC where The News was a right-wing conservative screaming tabloid for most of my formative years, and if I were new to town, and ONLY read The News on line, it would rank as an equal with The Times in news content. It is a peppier and livelier read in the Entertainment sections. The Business news improves with each month. Not quite up to par with The Times in this area, but nowhere near the chasm that separated the two in this category in years past. And, to repeat what was said above, the City news is deeper, better reported and more thought out than in The Times.
Want to know what's happening in the five Boroughs? Read The New York Daily News.
Check out the new layout. It is a good read getting better. The new design is decidedly more graphic at first look, but then when one clicks into the section and then the articles, it is a major step forward. The content is cripser, cleaner, and more easy to read in the new design. Quite a step forward.
Good for The News!