Stacy Horn

Probably not until the fall. Last month I tried to walk up the east side along the East River, but it’s not like the west side. There are sections where you just can’t walk along the river, and you have to keep taking detours and coming back. I stopped at 57th Street and I keep meaning to go back and pick up where I left off.

A blog to explore: Quigley’s Cabinet. From her bio. “Chris Quigley has been reviewing morbid books since receiving an MA in 2007 from Georgetown University, where she has worked since 1986. As of June 2009, she is on long-term disability leave. She delivered the keynote address at the first Museum of Funeral Customs symposium (Springfield, Illinois), consulted with the producers of the National Geographic Channel’s Mummy Road Show, and authored 6 morbid books of her own – Death Dictionary, The Corpse, Modern Mummies, Skulls and Skeletons, Conjoined Twins, and Dissection on Display – all published by McFarland & Co.”

The Empire State Building from the east side. I’m mad that the red sign is so soft and blurry. Oh well.

I so envy Larry Racioppo. He’s a Department of Housing Preservation and Development staff photographer and I met him during the recovery effort down at the World Trade Center. I love his photographs, and I love where his job takes him. SO JEALOUS.

But he’s an incredibly talented photographer and he has a website now. (I also have a permanent link to it on the right.)

This is a picture he took of the inside of the old spook house at Coney Island. Don’t you wish you could be him, too?

I’m not sure why this Kickstarter project to make a documentary called ALIVE INSIDE: A Story of Music & Memory hasn’t done better. Maybe we’re all tapped out?

“Alive Inside is the story of Dan Cohen, a small town social worker who discovers the power personalized music has to “awaken” and regenerate deeply locked memories in patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.”

You might have seen the video of Henry on YouTube. He’s the alzheimer’s patient who comes to life when someone puts an ipod on his head. “Music is inseparable from emotion,” Oliver Sacks says in the trailer. So I’ve learned after spending the past few years researching the science of singing and music. There is a real physical effect.

For $75 you can “choose to either receive an iPod or have our team deliver an iPod, in your name, directly to an elder who needs it. We’ll also arrange the consultation to set up their playlists with the songs that touch them the most.” You don’t have to give this much, but that’s the one I went for. I couldn’t resist that reward.

Not too long ago I read about a study that found that the happiness from spending money on others rather than yourself is more lasting. I know there are many many worthwhile projects out there, but maybe you might consider contributing to this one.

A doorway to a house on Sutton Place, a very ritzy address in Manhattan, although you don’t hear about it anymore. I wonder why that is. Actually, people don’t say “ritzy” anymore either.

This Ted Talk is technically about living longer, but the key to living longer is living better and having more fun. The first time I started to watch this it lost me early on, because of her focus on games, which I’ve just never really been into.

For some reason though, I tried again. I’m so glad I did. So just watch it. Pay attention. Stick with it to the end. It’s similar to a happiness video I posted last year in that the speaker gives a few simple steps to add to your daily “to-do” list; things that are easy to accomplish and are not a burden and will make you feel better, and live longer. Then she explains the research behind each step she is suggesting. It gave me hope. We could all use a little more hope, couldn’t we?

Give it a try.

I know this shot is not particularly earth shattering. I took it because it was two people as opposite as possible were about to engage in the same action, crossing the street.

That means if my choir director ever demotes me in the future, I can say with authority, “You’re killing me!!” According to a recent study, “Life spans of sopranos were found to be significantly greater than those of lower voice registered contraltos, even after controlling for birth year.”

PS: I’m only kidding by my word choice of “demotes,” and I love all the voice parts. I will happily sing alto if the day ever comes.

This guy chose to have a telephone conversation while standing on this … well, obviously this is a Telephone Call Platform, one of the earlier, less successful designs.