nyc elections

posted in: new york 0

As New Yorkers voted for the richest man in the city for mayor, I spent the morning of November 3rd doing exit poll surveys for AALDEF. My shift started at 6 AM in District 20 of Flushing, Queens–which meant catching the subway at 4:30 from where I live. Flushing is one of the most diverse communities in New York, which … Read More

cubicle housing in chinatown

posted in: new york 0

Walking near Columbia, I once met an older Chinese man trying to talk to some black dude in Chinese, both clearly frustrated since the latter had no idea what he was saying. I was dragged into the conversation and though I could not help the man with his problem, I walked with him back to the university. He told me … Read More

good news trauma

posted in: new york 0

I thought it was funny that someone added a chinese pamphlet to this ad for the new Trauma tv series. It says: Good News (好消息)–as in the religious kind. nice parallelism between the chinese dude shouting “good news” and the med-evac guy calling for help in the middle of what appears to be a fireball.

SanRasa on staten island

posted in: food, new york 0

I heard there was a ‘little sri lanka’ on staten island, so I booted over there and had lunch at SanRasa restaurant, not too far from the ferry terminal, on Bay street. The food was worth the two-hour trek (due to weekend subway rerouting, grr) to get there. We started with some yummy fried lentil patties (masala wale) accompanied by … Read More

“Congee” on Bowery

posted in: food, new york 0

I was in chinatown when I suddenly remembered I’d been craving congee–and how convenient, there was a place across the street from where I was standing called: Congee (well, congee city in chinese: 粥城). and though it didn’t look like the most elegant juk I’ve ever had, it tasted good! I had the fish and thousand-year-old egg congee (魚片皮蛋粥, “yu … Read More

lincoln center

posted in: new york 0

I remember the first time I biked past here (I was going south on Broadway), how this building just stunned me. Alice Tully hall–one of the main concert halls of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts–just re-opened this year, while the rest of the Center is still undergoing its facelift after 50 years in the city. You can read … Read More

GHG billboard

posted in: new york 0

I recently took a continuing legal education course at the hotel pennsylvania, and noticed this greenhouse gas billboard next to madison square garden. you can read about this ‘carbon counter’ (installed by Deutsche Bank) here.

general grant’s tomb

posted in: new york 0

one of the notable sights in my neighbourhood is General Grant’s tomb. built in 1897, it’s a massive structure made just to house Grant’s and his wife’s body–there’s not much else inside aside from a few photos and medals and busts. it’s generally pretty empty, except for the occasional stray tourist. but on Wednesday nights in the summer, jazzmobile holds its … Read More

picnik

posted in: hanoi 1

… is a nice little website application that I found, when trying to figure out how to isolate a single colour in a photo. here is the result: -some pomelo vendors on my street in Hanoi -common traffic scene on Ton Duc Thang street, Hanoi (you should see it live) It’s pretty easy to use picnik, though it is a … Read More

purchasing power across cities

as a follow up–when comparing the price of public transport, a friend duly noted that it would be more interesting to see the relative purchasing power of people in these cities. conveniently, UBS has published a 2009 report on Prices and Earnings in 73 cities. using New York as the benchmark, here are the relative purchasing powers (income / price … Read More

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