Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park

 

Formerly known as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge, the Walkway Over the Hudson is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. Been meaning to check this out for a while. Ian Frazier gives it the New Yorker treatment.

Libraries

The Main Branch of the New York Public Library has unveiled the renovated main entrance after 3 years under the cover of restoration.

LIC is getting a Steven Holl designed library that adds some more flavor to Queens.

Still would love to see something in Brooklyn on the scale of Rem Koolhaas’s Central Library in Seattle.

A Naturalist and a …

An essential criteria of any accomplished renaissance man is the title of naturalist. Nabokov’s accomplishments as a lepidopterist are well documented, and recently his hypothesis for the evolution of the Polyommatus butterflies migrating to the New World from Asia over millions of years in a series of waves has been scientifically verified.

The Times has another interesting piece on the naturalist in the spy world.

Golden Era

Just dipped into my nineties mix tape stash. Back when mix tape meant tapes and staying up from 1-4 to catch Stretch & Bobbito or DJ Riz. Then mixing the illest songs onto another tape for heavy rotation at high volume in a blazer or my folks attic.

Urban Treks

I think we have to place this NYC urban expedition on the list of great treks up there with the Routebourn Track, Annapurna Circuit and the W Trail.

Japense Coffee Pouring

I studied coffee pouring in Japan for 7 years and was not permitted to touch a coffee bean until year 3. Times article.

Clive Coffee has a complete set of everything you need to start your own home-brew laboratory. 

Paris Catacombs

Fresh piece on the Paris underground in National Geographic. There is also a layman’s guide to exploring the catacombs in a legit fashion.

The White Stripes break up!

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!