New York

Great Moments in Travel History – May 2024

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May, the fifth month in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars is typically the epitome of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of autumn in the Southern. May Day, typically celebrated on May 1, is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival that celebrates the season. It is also a public holiday in many countries, in most cases referred to as Labour Day or International Workers’ Day, and intended to commemorate …

Four Years Ago Today, It Was the Beginning of the End: The Pandemic Shuttered Broadway. The Rest of the World Followed

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The events of four years ago today are indelibly engraved in my memory like almost no other, except perhaps where I was when the space shuttle exploded, where I was on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway en route to Brooklyn or when I woke up in a hotel room in San Francisco on  September 11, 2001, and the aftermath of the terror attacks of that day were being recapped on television.

And …

Photo Essay: New York City in Fog is Strikingly Otherworldly

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Dense fog transformed the Big Apple into a dreamy city on clouds over the weekend. The fog enveloped not only the New York City skyline but many of its streets and highways.
Fog creates an iridescent and eerie beauty that offers a strikingly different and rather stunning view of the beauty and mystery of the world around us. Even the mundane details of the natural world that people take for granted …

No Jokes, No Puns as Federal Officials Attempt to Arrest Humor in Highway Signs: Why Dynamic Message Signs Confuse Many Drivers and Increase the Number of Accidents

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State and local highway officials in the United States love using quirky humor, puns, jokes, and double entendres in what are officially called variable message signs, the digital signs drivers see warning of an accident ahead or road closure. The Feds, not so much.
Federal officials recently updated the not-very-often-updated Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (the last version of the manual was the 2009 edition although there were updates in …

‘Brace for Impact.’ New York City Honors First Responders, Capt. Sullenburger, on 15-Year Anniversary of ‘Miracle on the Hudson’

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Today, January 15, 2024, marks the 15th anniversary of what became known as the Miracle on the Hudson and New York City took the opportunity to recognize the crew of the troubled flight as well as rescuers.
US Airways Flight 1549 was an Airbus A320 that, after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport on January 15, 2009, struck a flock of Canada Geese northeast of the George Washington Bridge.
With both engines …

How to Travel Back in Time and Celebrate New Year’s Eve Twice on U.S. Soil

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Over the course of the past few decades, I’ve been on several flights where I was able to ring in the New Year multiple times as the aircraft headed from New York City to the West Coast.
The most recent took off at 10:30p.m. from John F. Kennedy International Airport which meant we were already airborne at midnight.  As the transcon crossed the continent, I found I was over territory where …

New York’s Digital Highway Signs Embrace the Holidays With Humor

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If you’ve been on the roads for the holiday season like 105 million other Americans, you may have encountered some variable message road signs that gave you a double take.
“Drive Drunk and Yule Be Sorry,” read one. “Stay Off the Naughty List. Obey Speed Limits,” warned another.
Yes, the holiday spirit is alive and visible on highway variable message signs.
On New York State highways leading to parkways, where no trucks are …