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Somberly Captivating Suicide Photo

evelyn-mchale This photo published in LIFE magazine (later appropriated by Andy Warhol) which was snapped by Robert Wiles on May 1, 1947 captured young Evelyn McHale after she jumped from the Empire State Building's observation deck. The magazine's caption read:

On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.

Max Page examines in the New York Times the allure of the Empire State Building, especially its presence in popular entertainment. From McHale's suicidal leap, Page extrapolates:

In the image of this sleeping beauty, I saw not only unrequited love but also the skyscraper's sheer gravitational power.

The woman's fall was an homage to the Empire State Building, grisly performance art for the symbol of the modern metropolis, and vivid evidence that because of the building's size and pre-eminence, it has been a target for destruction by creators of popular culture over three-quarters of a century, and a place that could also, in turn, destroy the soul.

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Big Snake Attack!

Watch until the very last end of this "that's what she said" video of a ridiculously long snake for the jackpot. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuXO_lbPeS0]

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How To Evade Sea Pirates

All these cargo ships that are being hijacked off the coast of Somalia have no actual weapons for various reasons, so how can they evade and defend themselves against marauding pirates?

To evade capture, captains speed up their ships or send them into spins, creating tumultuous wakes that destabilize the small, light speedboats that rush their sides. Once the pirates begin scaling the ships with ropes and hooks, crews spray fire hoses at the pirates or fire sonic cannons, a U.S. Defense Department developed non-lethal weapon carried by some ships. The weapon, also called the Long Range Acoustic Device, blasts a tight beam of painful siren-like sound on a target, causing enough pain to repel an approach.

Worst defense ever. You know who they need? One word. Aquaman.

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Maxine Hong Kingston 2.0

Maxine Hong Kingston, 68, speaking at the 2008 National Book Awards ceremony this week remarked on the power of the Internet. After a political piece she wrote earlier this year was rejected by every newspaper she submitted it to, she decided to post it online.

All I had to do was type, then click a button marked publish. Yes, there is such a button. Click, publish. Voila, I was published," she said. The response was instantaneous, she said. "They chose me to be their Facebook friend. I felt young again. All that rejection, then miraculous publication and making new friends all over the Worldwide Web."

Yes, the Internet kind of rocks.

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Ji Lee, Business Card

A business card that actually serves a function. I'm pretty sure all of you saw this and thought "WANT." I did.

Brilliance as usual from Ji Lee.

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News Bits

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NASA's Secret Mission Patch

The Atlantis shuttle flight on November 15, 1990 also carried a couple super classified payload--including "a stealthy satellite inspection spacecraft, often referred to as “Prowler”, designed to sneak up on other satellites undetected, photographing and measuring them"--that was symbolized by the darkened mirror image of the shuttle in the official mission patch. NASA's party line was that the "bottom orbiter, a black and white mirror image, acknowledges the thousands of unheralded individuals who work behind the scenes." But there was actually another SECRET patch.

But NASA has never disclosed that there was also a secret patch designed for this mission: an emblem that had a darker border (Figure 2). Most notably, the shuttles were inverted, with the black orbiter—the classified mission—on top, and the white orbiter on the bottom. It was an inside joke by the all-military crew about the true nature of their mission.

No Golden Eye?

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Last Night's Party

On Tuesday night I met up at the last second with my former coworker Pamela for a delicious Chinatown dinner and then we stopped in briefly to check out the "clandestine cocktail bar" Apotheke. Just a couple photos below. I like the bar's menu. There we ran into a party with the nonsociety girls holding center court.

Thanks Pam for the impromptu dinner and drinks!

This is what I love about New York City sometimes. A casual cheap Chinatown dinner can end with me headed home carrying a random gift bag.

Update: Me covering my face while leaving the bar.

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