Stacy Horn

I met my friend Marisa for lunch in Chinatown, and also to go back and buy those glasses which are apparently a steal. I was early, she was late, so I walked around and took pictures. It’s a gorgeous, perfect day for it.

First up is the Chrysler Building.

This is the Manhattan Bridge. I can never keep the bridges in the East River straight. I only know which is which because of a mnemonic someone once taught me. BMT. That’s a subway line, and also the initials of the bridges going from downtown to uptown. The one furthest downtown is the Brooklyn Bridge, followed by the Manhattan and last is the Triborough.

I also can’t keep the buildings straight. I think this is the Municipal Building and maybe One Police Plaza is in there along with City Hall? I don’t know. I totally fail as a New Yorker.

Yesterday I finished a book about 9/11 called The Looming Tower. I practically cheered when I was done, it was so wonderfully, beautifully written and researched, a freaking work of art. Never mind that you will gain an incredible understanding of what happened (it starts at 1948 and ends a little after 9/11) but it’s un-put-downable and a great great read.

It was also very close to a book I once thought about writing. When I was working on my book about the NYPD’s cold case squad I saw how different law enforcement agencies work together (not well). It made me curious about how law enforcement agencies around the world work together. I wanted to find a case that involved as many different agencies as possible, both here and around the world, and then dramatically show what happens. But I decided I was not the right person for this book. I don’t fly, for one, so I could never get anywhere in the world quickly if needed.

This is that book, although it’s both broader and deeper than this one aspect. But 9/11 was the best possible case to illustrate what I wanted to illustrate. There was one line that just made me laugh (and inwardly cry). It’s about the CIA not giving information to the FBI. However, it must be said, the FBI is guilty of doing the same to the NYPD.

“Overvaluing information for its own sake, the agency was a black hole, emitting nothing that was not blasted out if by a force greater than gravity …”

God I wish I had written that.

Another shot from my Chinatown glasses expedition yesterday. Poor fishes. Nice colors, though.

I need to get progressive glasses. Someone said I could get them done for less in Chinatown and they were right. I went to a place called Optical 88. If I bring in my own frames the lenses will cost me $145.

Since I plan to bring them my Robert Marc frames, I called up Robert Marc to ask them how much they would charge to put progressive lenses in their own frames. $400. $145 vs $400. Hello??

I am getting very creative about finding everything for less. It feels great though. I’m going to NYU dental school for my dental work next week. It’s not free, but just to show the difference — I’m going to pay $100 for what I was going to pay $843 to my regular dentist, and that’s after the insurance payment!

On the way to Optical 88 I passed by the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy (Little Italy and Chinatown are next to each other, actually they overlap). You can see the Empire State Building in the distance.

I’ve been going through the pictures of my cats, looking for ones to use if I re-do (my friend Jackie re-does) the banner here. I found so many shots I loved, the trick is finding the most graphically simple and arresting. But this is a favorite just for sheer weirdness.

The feet, the toe stretch! Oh wait, I have an idea … see below.

Is this funny? No, it’s funnier in context. Well, it was a thought.

From Analyzing Evacuation Versus Shelter-in-Place Strategies After a Terrorist Nuclear Detonation, a paper by Lawrence M. Wein, Youngsoo Choi, Sylvie Denuit.

“We superimpose a radiation fallout model onto a traffic flow model to assess the evacuation versus shelter-in-place decisions after the daytime ground-level detonation of a 10-kt improvised nuclear device in Washington, DC. In our model, ≈80k people are killed by the prompt effects of blast, burn, and radiation. Of the ≈360k survivors without access to a vehicle, 42.6k would die if they immediately self-evacuated on foot. Sheltering above ground would save several thousand of these lives and sheltering in a basement (or near the middle of a large building) would save of them. Among survivors of the prompt effects with access to a vehicle, the number of deaths depends on the fraction of people who shelter in a basement rather than self-evacuate in their vehicle: 23.1k people die if 90% shelter in a basement and 54.6k die if 10% shelter. Sheltering above ground saves approximately half as many lives as sheltering in a basement. The details related to delayed (i.e., organized) evacuation, search and rescue, decontamination, and situational awareness (via, e.g., telecommunications) have very little impact on the number of casualties. Although antibiotics and transfusion support have the potential to save ≈10k lives (and the number of lives saved from medical care increases with the fraction of people who shelter in basements), the logistical challenge appears to be well beyond current response capabilities. Taken together, our results suggest that the government should initiate an aggressive outreach program to educate citizens and the private sector about the importance of sheltering in place in a basement for at least 12 hours after a terrorist nuclear detonation.”

The basement in my building is not finished, it’s like something from the 19th century, dirt floors, etc. In fact, I’m going to take pictures just so you can see, the old technology, etc. But for 12 hours I can manage.

My cats however, would be all, “What? The basement? Seriously? We’ll wait for you here.”