Clancy Tucker's Blog, page 162

4 February 2018 - THE LAST STAND-ALONE DINERS IN MANHATTAN

THE LAST STAND-ALONE DINERS IN MANHATTAN 
G'day folks,
Welcome to some history about diners in Manhattan. 
H idden away in Lower Manhattan, amidst all the skyscrapers and modern glass and steel office buildings, is a small diner. Tucked away on Pearl Street, in the old part of the city, it is one of the last remaining stand-alone diners in Manhattan. 
Dwarfed by towering buildings, the Pearl Diner is an anomaly in New York, where the real estate is measured in millions. This small, stand-alone diner has somehow survived the seemingly never-ending urban growth, and continues to serve wholesome diner food in cosy surroundings (note: by stand-alone diners, we mean one story buildings with at least three separate walls).








 Today, in Manhattan, there are just five stand-alone diners remaining.
The Pearl Diner
212, Pearl Street, Financial District.
Located in the heart of the Financial District, the Pearl is a beautiful old diner that opened in the early 1960s. At night, its neon sign is a warming beacon set against the backdrop of the 24-story skyscraper next door (built in the ’70s). The diner was built by the Kullman Building Corporation of New Jersey, who made prefabricated, iconic looking diners of stainless steel and formica that tended to evoke railroad cars in style, size, and shape.
 The Square Diner33, Leonard Street, Tribeca.

This tiny, beautiful railroad car style diner has been serving up delicious comfort food to Tribeca residents since 1922. Old photos show that the original diner was a long, wooden building, which was replaced by the gleaming stainless steel diner in the 1940s.






Hector’s Cafe and Diner
44, Little West 12th Street, Meatpacking District.
One of the last old-fashioned places to eat in a neighbourhood that has lost almost all of it’s working class roots. Tucked away underneath the High Line, Hector’s once catered to the workers of the old meatpacking plants and slaughterhouses of the 1960s. Hector’s has thankfully survived the onslaught of tourists and the fashionable, swanky brunch set.





Star on 18
128, 10th Avenue, Chelsea.
Understated and with a plain, painted exterior, the Star on the corner of 10th Avenue and 18th, is a far cry from the gleaming, stainless steel of the classic diners. But step inside, and you will find a homely, cosy diner, with traditional booths and counter stools.



The Empire Diner
210, 10th Avenue, Chelsea.
The Empire is perhaps Manhattan’s most iconic stand alone diner. Designed and built in the sleek, gleaming Art Moderne style, it was constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company in 1946. According to The New Yorker, “There’s the Chrysler and the Empire State, but this diner in Chelsea is more quintessentially New York than just about any other building.” 
Manhattan was once home to dozens of similar stand-alone diners. But construction, high rents, and lack of protection has seen all but these five either tragically torn down or moved out of the city. As more of the stand-alone diners disappear, so too does a large part of the city’s charm and neighbourhood character.









Clancy's comment: I've been to a few of these and loved every minute.
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3 February 2018 - VICTORIAN DINOSAUR PARK

VICTORIAN DINOSAUR PARK
G'day folks,
This place might be news to many of you, especially those living in England.

L ong before dinosaurs were your Natural History Museum’s biggest attraction, a collection of charmingly inaccurate sculptures in a South London park were once considered the absolute authority on pre-historic reptiles. As the study of dinosaurs progressed and the mistakes became more obvious, they turned into a national embarrassment for the scientific community and yet today they are “Grade I Listed Buildings”; holding the same status as St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. This is their story.


The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world, unveiled in 1854, before the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. At at time when the theory of evolution was treated as a blasphemous joke, it was largely left to palaeontologists to fit dinosaur bones together like giant incomplete jigsaws. The rush to finish a specimen and name it before a rival did meant that there were many mistakes and inaccuracies. For example, when English palaeontologist Gideon Mantell discovered the Iguanadon, he placed the thumb spike of on the end of its nose, going unchallenged for many years until later skeletons revealed his mistake.


Scientists and academics resorted to many underhand tactics to be recognised for their work and one of the main players in the ‘game of bones’ was Richard Owen; a celebrity of Victorian society who coined the term ‘dinosaur’ in 1842 and identified many new species. But he also took credit for other peoples‘ work and was described as a villainous man by more than a few of his peers.
In 1851, Owen suggested to his acquaintance Prince Albert that a display of sculptures depicting the first-known dinosaurs would make an excellent addition to the attraction at Crystal Palace in London, which had originally been built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.


Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to create the models and on the eve of their reveal, he hosted a lavish eight-course dinner party attended by scientists, investors and other celebrities, who were seated inside a giant mould of an Iguanodon. As the night progressed, the party grew more raucous according to newspaper reports, continuing long after midnight with guests consuming vast amounts of alcohol. Hawkins reported that “The roaring chorus was so fierce and enthusiastic as almost to lead to the belief that the herd of Iguanodons were bellowing“.


Notably absent was the scientist who had discovered the Iguanodon, Gideon Mantell, for he had died the previous year. Guest of honour Richard Owen conducted a toast for Mantell before claiming the discovery of the Iguanadon for his own.
The finished sculptures were unveiled in 1854 and for nearly fifty years afterward, over a million people per year went to see them. The inaccurate works inspired writers and artists, including Charles Dickens, who mentions the megalosaur in his novel ‘Bleak House‘, making the first reference to dinosaurs in a popular work. 


As discoveries progressed in palaeontology and scientists gained greater understanding of how dinosaurs moved and lived, the sculptures began to look dated, almost abstract and very quickly became the source of ridicule. The installation that had represented the most up-to-date knowledge was now an embarrassment. Renowned palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh scorned the sculptures and everybody associated with them, stating that the extinct creatures had been done “a great injustice”. Tourism to the site dropped dramatically and the sculptures fell into disrepair before a fire destroyed much of Crystal Palace in 1936. Over time, they were obscured by foliage and as the Second World War occupied the attention of London, the park was largely forgotten until 1952 when a restoration of both sculptures and park was carried out.


They were classed as Grade II listed buildings in 1973 and in 2002, the display was fully restored and upgraded to Grade I in 2007. They have a registered charity dedicated to their long-term preservation which proudly claims that the site now attracts as many visitors per year as it did when the dinosaurs first raised their heads… metaphorically, of course.


Clancy's comment: Mm ... Can't say that I've ever had any interest in dinosaurs, but each to their own.
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2 February 2018 - MOVING PICTURES

MOVING PICTURES
G'day folks,
Welcome to some interesting moving pictures.





























Clancy's comment: I love the squirrels.

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1 February 2018 - THE AMAZING DEER

THE AMAZING DEER
G'day folks,
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk, the fallow deer and the chital, and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer, the roe deer and the moose. By the way, Deer are the only group of animals in the world to have antlers. Antlers are the fastest growing living tissue in the world!












Quick Facts
Type: MammalDiet: HerbivoreLife span: 15-20 years but dependent on species and locationSize: 32cm – 2.1m (height), 85cm – 3.2m (length)Weight: 12-700 kgHabitat: Many different ecosystemsRange: Worldwide except AntarcticaScientific name: Cervidae Amazing Facts About the DeerThere are over 60 different species of deer worldwide. Deer are present on all continents except Antarctica. They can live in a range of habitats, from mountainous areas to warm and wet rainforests. The Barbary red deer is the only species present in AfricaA male deer is called a buck but some larger males are referred to as stags. A Female deer is called a doe or hind. A young deer is called a fawn. Bucks and does can be distinguished from each other by the presence of antlers. Female Caribou (Reindeer) are the only female deer which grow antlersAll species of deer have antlers, with the exception of the Chinese water deer. Instead of antlers, they have long canine teeth which can be as long as 8cm!Each year, antlers fall off and regrow. As they regrow, they are covered in a furry coat called velvet. The velvet is rich in nerves and blood vessels, allowing the antlers to regrow quicklyDuring the mating season, or ‘the rut’, bucks will use their antlers to fight over does. The winner is the buck who manages to overpower the other. Red deer can be heard roaring in the rut to attract femalesThe length of pregnancy in deer varies according to size. Generally, the larger the species the longer the gestation. It is dependent on where a species lives as to when it will breed. Deer in tropical climates can breed all year round   When most deer are born, they have white spots which disappear as they mature. The spots help fawns to blend into their background, acting as camouflage   A fawn can normally walk within half an hour of being born. Fawns do not have a smell, helping them avoid predators   All species of deer have a four chamber stomach which allows them to chew the cud. This is a processes of partially chewing food, regurgitating it, and chewing it again to make it easier to digest.In winter, deer are less active in order to preserve energy as there is less food availableDeer can jump up to 10ft high and are very good swimmersAs deer eyes are on the side of their head, they have 310 degrees’ vision. This is much more than humans, who have 180 degree vision. Deer also have very good night vision which is particularly useful at dawn and dusk when they are most activeDeer can have a homeland range which can span 30 miles. They move about depending on food availabilityThe majority of deer are shades of light to medium brown. White stags are often described in myths and folklore but they also exist in real life! A white stag occurs when a deer has a condition called leucism which causes the hair and skin to lose its natural colour. When white stags are spotted, it is often not publicised to prevent poachers finding them as they are viewed as trophies which can sell for thousands of poundsThe largest deer species was the Irish Giant Deer which went extinct 11,000 years ago. Reaching 7ft tall at the shoulder, the Irish Deer’s antlers could span 12ft, four times the width of a single bed!

  
Clancy's comment: A friend of mine, Johnny Coates,  had a deer park here in Australia, and I used to take many guests to visit. As I entered his great property, I used to say, "This place is deer, but not expensive". Johnny taught me some staggering facts abut this truly amazing species.
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31 January 2018 - CHECK OUT THESE QUOTES

CHECK OUT THESE QUOTES
G'day folks,
I hope some of these fire you up for the day.






























Clancy's comment: There  are some stunning quotes here.
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30 January 2018 - KIDS AND ANIMALS

KIDS AND ANIMALS
G'day folks,
Welcome to some fabulous photographs of two of the best things on this planet.













































Clancy's comment: I've often heard people say that you should never appear on stage with kids or animals. Why, because they will upstage you. Yep, every time.
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29 January 2018 - FRANCK GODDIO - DIGGING UP LOST CITIES AT SEA

FRANCK GODDIO - DIGGING UP LOST CITIES AT SEA
G'day folks,
Now, here is a man with a bloody interesting job. F or the last thirteen years, he’s been busy digging up a lost underwater civilization the size of Paris off the coast of Egypt. The remarkably well-preserved ruins that were discovered have been sitting at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea for the past 1,200 years, at long last solving the mystery of the lost city of Alexandria’s ancient eastern harbour, Portus Magnus. Not bad for a day job.
Frenchman Franck Goddio is our man, a pioneer of modern maritime archeology who has wanderlust running in his veins. He’s the grandson of the inventor of the modern catamaran, Eric de Bishop, and a specialist of ancient navigational routes in the South Pacific. Yet, before pulling up Pharoah’s heads from the seabed, Franck was a finance guy — an advisor to governments and United Nations. It wasn’t until the 1980s that he left the world of finance behind and decided to find his sea legs (and a few other things).


He founded the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM) and put together a team of divers, archaeologists, scientists, and other experts. To date, his ongoing thirteen-year excavation off the coast of Egypt has been Goddio’s most ambitious. In 2000, after nearly eight years of prior research (dedicated to determining the location of the submerged civilisations), Goddio and his team rediscovered the ancient port cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus in Aboukir bay.
More than a thousand years ago, they had fallen prey to natural disasters and disappeared beneath the waves. Colossal statues, giant tablets inscribed in ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian, gold and bronze artifacts forgotten on the seabed — they were all unearthed from layers of sediment by Goddio and his team.


Everything that’s been found dates from the 8th century AD (or earlier), and experts have been astounded by how well preserved the artifacts are. Canopus was a city famous for its extravagant shrines and the opulent lifestyles of its citizens. Heracleion, just 3km east of Canopus, was home to an enormous ancient temple and convent. This colossal red granite statue of red granite above, discovered on the site by Goddio’s team, represents (rather ironically) Hapi, the god of the flooding of the Nile. Never before has such a large-scale representation of the divine figure been discovered.
To raise heavy artefacts, Goddio’s team will often use airbags capable of resisting a pressure of 100 atmospheres. But the work lies mostly in findingthe treasure first, a process that can occupy underwater archeologists for decades, and requires meticulous study of ancients texts and archives in order to determine a probable location (that alone can take years). Then, the cutting edge technology comes in. We’re talking specially developed nuclear magnetic resonance magnetometers, multi-beam bathymetries, sidescan sonars, and other hi-tech stuff I can’t pronounce. Once they think they’ve found something, test excavations are performed, and if the data gives some positive signals, the full archaeological excavation can finally begin (in full accordance with UNESCO, of course).


Water dredges (underwater suction devices) are used by the divers to remove thousand-year-old sediment. As per the Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, artifacts are “usually” left on site but if they’re deemed at risk, they may be risen for their “safeguard, study and conservation.” At the Alexandria National Museum (a renovated 1929 Italian style mansion in Alexandria, Egypt), one can find Franck Goddio’s most important findings on permanent display for the public.
 Now, check out these amazing photographs of Franck and his team.



















Clancy's comment: Go, Franck! Wow, what an exciting and rewarding job. Staggering how preserved most of the treasures are.I'm ....

28 January 2018 - THE AMAZING DOLPHIN

THE AMAZING DOLPHIN
G'day folks,
Welcome to some facts about one of my all time favourite creatures. Dolphins are extraordinarily intelligent animals who also display culture, something which was long-believed to be unique to humans.



Facts About the Dolphin
Dolphins are extraordinarily intelligent animals who also display culture, something which was long-believed to be unique to humans (although now recognised in various species).Dolphins have been observed teaching young how to use tools. They cover their snouts with sponges to protect them while foraging.Dolphins have several highly developed forms of communication. They have a “signature whistle” which allows other individuals to recognise them.Dolphins are altruistic animals. They are known to stay and help injured individuals, even helping them to the surface to breath. Their compassion also extends across the species-barrier. There are many accounts of dolphins helping humans and even whales.Dolphins are incredibly social animals. They live in groups and cooperate with each other to get food and in raising offspring (calves). Dolphins are extremely playful and curious animals. They play-fight with each other and also play with seaweed. They have also been known to play with other animals such as dogs.Dolphins sleep by resting one side of the brain at a time. This allows them to continue rising to the surface for air and to keep an eye open to watch out for predators.Dolphins use echolocation to find food and navigate. This is a natural version of radar.The “killer whale”, or Orca, is actually a dolphin. It is known as a “killer whale” because it is a whale killer, not because it is a whale that kills.Dolphins can jump as high as 20 feet out of the water! Quick FactsType: MammalDiet: CarnivoreLifespan: Around 12-20 yearsSize: 1.2-9.1m longWeight: 40 kg to over 6 tonnesHabitat: Oceans or riverRange: Global, typically found in shallow seawater of the continental shelvesScientific name: Dolphin species are in the families Delphinadae (oceanic species) and Platanistoidea (river species)






Clancy's comment: Yep, such an amazing creature. I've watched them jump in and out of the water in front of massive ships.
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27 January 2018 - WEIRD AND WONDERFUL NATURE

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL NATURE
G'day folks,
Time to check out some of those other creatures that share our planet.

































Clancy's comment: Extraodinary.
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26 January 2018 - Fantastic French Miniature Museum

Fantastic French Miniature MuseumG'day folks, 
M iniature museums are often packaged as toy museums or assumed to be a very twee exhibit for doll house enthusiasts, but here is an incredible museum located in the French city of Lyon, where the world of miniatures becomes a whole new dimension.
Founded by Dan Ohlmann, a renowned miniature artist himself, the Musée Miniature & Cinema is split into two parts: one part miniature museum, with hundreds of incredible scaled scenes by renowned artists from around the world, and another part cinematic museum of special effects, which often links back to the miniature world– because of course the film industry has a long history of using miniature film sets before computer-generated effects became the norm.
These are creations that required hundreds of photographs and measurements from real locations. Research is a major part of the process and they can take many months to complete, each element being reproduced at the exact scale using a mix of technical know-how and precision.
These are just a few examples from the collection that this five-story museum holds:














Clancy's comment:  Amazing, eh? The passion of some people has no bounds. 

PS: Oh, happy Australia Day! And, a very good friend of mine has her birthday today. Make it a big one, RG. Love ya work!

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