Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Foggy Bridge


Fog and drizzel this morning, but I wanted to get on my bike. I headed to Gorilla and had a coffee and read the paper a bit. I almost lost it reading about the first family of mammals to go extinct: the baiji in China (frickin' China!!!). I started getting wet around 3rd Avenue and was pretty soaked by the time I reached the bridge. I liked the look of the lonely bridge shrouded in fog. Here's a view for you.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Peace Man

I was taking a picture of an empty beer can in a paper bag on the bridge, when this man walking towards me began waving at me. I couldn't hear what he was saying as I had my earphones on. Turns out he wanted me to take his picture! "Take a picture of me!" he shouted. He stretched his arms out and gave me the peace sign...or is it "Victory"?

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Twisted


I had my beautiful new Samsung camera phone out in case I saw any weird activity on the bridge and accidentally snapped this twisted shot of the Muni Building.

It's cold enough that the bike and tourist traffic on the bridge is beginning to thin out. Still, even the asian woman with the full-face-mask can out pedal me.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

E.Coli Lettuce?

Yes banana peels, but let's not forget the e.coli piece of lettuce on the biker's path of the bridge! Perhaps it was discarded by a suspicious person eating a sandwich?

I also noticed that the beard sticker was scratched out and destroyed. Maybe that was an act of vandalism by jealous hairless man unable to grow a decent beard...?

Friday, December 15, 2006

Bike on Bike on Bike on Bridge


So lucky that I get to bike to work. Fast enough to escape the bums but slow enough to see the banana peels. I get to work more ready to face the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. And, there's always a chance I'll get hit by a bus and not die but have to stay in the hospital for a night and then rest up at home for a few weeks or months, reading back issues of the NY'er and discovering a new favorite single malt.

Banana Peels Take Manhattan


These two happy banana peels are in down for the holidays. As I was biking in this AM they asked if I would take their picture in front of the skyline. I was late, but I couldn't resist these slippery characters! Anyway, here's the shot. Pretty good for a cell phone, huh?

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Dog Full of Money


Peculiar sticker that I saw today: Dog Full of Money" At first glace I thought it said "Dog Full of Memory."

Anyway, I googled it, and apparently this sticker appears in the streets of London. I found it referenced in 2 blogs:
blog 1
blog 2


Apparently, "DFM are those dogs you see outside shops that people put coins in. They are the best thing ever. We need to promote them for the good of humanity."

Here's the actual Dog Full of money website where you will find a gallery of pictures of these dog statues.


The site, which encourages users to download and paste up various mutant DFM's (one has four eyes, another a horn, and the one I saw has two heads), has this disclaimer:
Dog Full of Money cannot be held responsible for any product misuse. DFM/Dog Full of Money products are not intended to be placed on public or private property without prior consent. It’s naughty don’t do it ever ever ever!!!!!

Fun stuff!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

There it was, a rose wedged between thewooden slates of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Mythology and superstition

  • In some pagan mythologies, no undead or ghostly creatures (particularly vampires) may cross the path of a wild rose. It was thought that to place a wild rose on a coffin of a recently deceased person would prevent them from rising again.
  • Since the earliest times, the rose has been an emblem of silence:
    • In Greek Mythology, Eros presents a rose to the god of silence.
    • In a Celtic folk legend, a wandering, screaming spiritnew moon. was silenced by presenting the spirit with a wild rose every
  • Roses were used in very early times as a very potent ingredient in love philters.
  • In Rome it was often customary to bless roses on "Rose Sunday".
  • Amongst Muslims, it is still believed that the first rose was created from a tear of the prophet Mohammed, and it is further believed that on a certain day in the year the rose has a heart of gold.
  • In Scotland, if a white rose bloomed in autumn it was a token of an early marriage.
  • The red rose, it is believed by many religions, cannot grow over a grave.
  • Rose leaves thrown into a burning flame are said to give good luck.
  • If a maiden had more than one lover, it is believed in one mythology, she should take rose leaves and write the names of her lovers upon them before casting them into the wind. The last leaf to reach the ground would bear the name of the lover whom she should marry.
  • It is believed that if a rose bush were pruned on St. John's Eve, it would be guaranteed to bloom in the autumn.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

What's Euskera?

Today's Brooklyn Bridge graffitti find: 310 project.com

It's a site written in Euskera (a basque language) but was also available in Castillian, and English. I was expecting some other crazy conspiracies or manifestos, but no: Lots of pictures of teenage boys doing extreme sports: skating, surfing and snow boarding...

Other sightings: the local brooklyn bridge policeman in his electric cop mobile was yapping away on his cell phone while driving...hmmm...I've seen him in various activities other days, such as reading a paper, and looking at tourist women's backsides.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Bridge Conspiracies

I noticed this graffitti scribbled on the bridge "Google:9/11 Inside Job" so that's exactly what I did. I couldn't believe how many sites exist that state that 9/11 is an inside job!

These are some of my favorite snippits from a couple of the conspiracy websites:

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." - Voltaire

Employees of Odigo, Inc. in Israel, one of the world's largest instant messaging companies with offices in New York, receive threat warnings of an imminent attack on the WTC less than two hours before the first plane hits.

Firefighters and rescue workers talked about explosives and bombs going off, all over in the buildings.

The Houston Chronicle reports the FBI was notified of a fifth grader from a Dallas suburb who told his teacher, "Tomorrow, World War III will begin. It will begin in the United States, and the United States will lose."