1. Permit. No person shall use or discharge any fireworks within the city without a permit. (O.R., Sec. 247.)

2. July 4 exemption. No permit shall be required for the use and discharge of fireworks during a period of 24 hours covering the holiday known as the “Fourth of July,” where the quantity discharged does not exceed in wholesale market value the sum of $2. (O.R., Sec. 251.)

3. Police notification. All permits for the use and discharge of fireworks shall be issued in duplicate, and shall show the name of the holder of the permit, the names of his employees (if any) who are to discharge the fireworks and the numbers of their certificates of fitness (when required); the place and times of display; the quantity, kind and wholesale market value of the fireworks to be discharged, and the distance to be preserved between the place of discharge and the bystanders and nearby buildings. One of the duplicate permits shall be filed with the commanding officer of the police precinct within which the display is to be given, and shall be evidence of the right of the person named therein to give the display. (O.R., Sec. 250.)

Excerpted from The Charter of the City of New York, Chapter 466, Laws of 1901, with all Amendments to and Including 1915, and City Ordinances Charter Amendments. Published by the Eagle Building, Brooklyn, New York, 1915.

John Philip Sousa in 1906 (in)famously pointed out that recording devices were a danger to creativity. The quote is laughed at by many because it is similar to the statements at the top of this post. Not only does he predict creativity will be stifled: “These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country.” Sousa also makes the claim it will be total: “When I was a boy…in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal cord left. The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape.” …

However, his argument about total annihilation of creativity was bogus, and I think to do it now is even more ridiculous given the century-long conversation that has occurred. Be wary of closed systems: yes. Accept that future generations will only have gray paint and DRM’d pencils to choose from? Come on. You and I grew up (probably) punching Hayes AT codes into modems when others were out running around on the playground. And generations before us were soldering capacitors and breathing lead infused smoke. And generations before that were relaying bawdy jokes by tapping magnets that would send an electrical charge across town.

Anyway, to get back to the title of this post, I will be buying an iPad this weekend because I enjoy using thoughtful, well engineered products. I have tried many times to use non-Apple computers, to use the open and “free” choice and you know what? They are terrible. Really bad! Worse than bad, they’re almost creatively stifling.

Excerpted from ‘why i will be buying an ipad this weekend‘ on notes.torrez.org.

From being a founding member of the ground-breaking, politically minded hip-hop group Public Enemy to starring in a string of hit reality shows about his seemingly eternal search for love, Flav has continued to reinvent himself in the public eye.

Flav, born William Jonathan Drayton Jr., burst onto the public consciousness more than 20 years ago with the socially-conscious rap ensemble Public Enemy.

A classically-trained pianist, he attended Adelphi University in Long Island where he met fellow Public Enemy founding member and then graphic design student Carlton Ridenhour (Chuck D). The two began rapping together and by 1987 they — along with DJ Terminator X and Professor Griff — released the group’s debut “Yo! Bum Rush The Show.”

That was followed up the next year with “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.” The release made a splash on the charts thanks to hits like “Don’t Believe the Hype” and “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos.”

Excerpted from ‘Flavor Flav’s Modesto block party‘ by Marijke Rowland. Published August 22, 2008 in the Modesto Bee.

This is the story of a band called Sparklehorse and the remarkable man who fronts it, a tale as bipolar as the music it spawned.

Sparklehorse and Mark Linkous– who resides on a farm in Bremo Bluff, a Fluvanna village by the James River– are essentially synonymous, and if the band has multiple incarnations, the most important is the one in Linkous’ head. Songwriter, performer, engineer, and producer, Linkous embodies the do-it-yourself indie rock auteur ethos. An enigma whose influence can’t be measured in record sales, Mark Linkous and his music have met with critical, if not widely popular, acclaim.

Name-dropping comes easy when you’re talking about Sparklehorse. Linkous opens for the likes of Radiohead and Cracker, collaborates with Tom Waits, housesits for P.J. Harvey’s next-door neighbor in the south of England, and, as helper Eric from the Sound of Music recording studio was eager to share with me, knows Adrian “Portishead” Utley’s private phone number by heart.

Excerpted from ‘He Sparkles: The Sad and Beautiful World of Mark Linkous‘ by James D. Graham. Published February 28, 2002 in issue #0004 of The Hook.

Munich authorities on Monday tightened security checks at Oktoberfest and detained two suspected Islamists just days after terrorist threats led them to declare airspace above the festival a no-fly zone this weekend.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said on Monday that extra security and traffic checks had been erected around the entire festival grounds, known as the Wiesn, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

A ministry spokesperson told the paper the situation remained “highly sensitive,” and that the original team of 300 police officers manning the festival had been significantly increased.

According to the paper, increased security began on Sunday with bag checks, and increased video surveillance.

Excerpted from ‘Islamist suspects detained amid tightened Oktoberfest security.’ Published in The Local on September 28, 2009.

Of all the American contenders to try and break the 27-year men’s drought in the New York City Marathon, Meb Keflezighi may have represented the American dream more than any of them. Born in war-torn Eritrea, one of 11 siblings in a village with no electricity, Keflezighi now wears his American citizenship on his chest. He was the one American contender who wore the letters U.S.A. on his running top Sunday.

Keflezighi pointed to those letters as the Central Park crowd roared as they crossed the finishe line first, capturing the first American victory since Alberto Salazar last won it in 1982. When his victory was assured, Keflezighi dropped to the ground, tears streaming down his face. It was the first marathon victory of his career and washed away years of American futility here.

“U.S.A. gave me all the opportunity in the world, education, sports, lifestyle,” Keflezighi said. “This is so special to me.”

Excerpted from ‘Keflezighi’s ‘U.S.A.’ Breaks the Tape First‘ in The New York Times, by Lynn Zinser. Published November 1, 2009.

The judges emerged from the intricately carved stone portals of their new home resplendent in their modern regalia. Gone were the full bottomed wigs, robes and breeches.

The Justices of the Supreme Court posed in front of the building wearing their black robes, lavishly threaded with gold. All were bare-headed save for Baroness Hale, who wore a flat black tasselled hat.

Lord Phillips said they had discussed whether they should have headgear and all the male members of the Supreme Court declined but Baroness Hale said she wanted a hat.

The judges then went in procession over a pedestrian crossing through hastily shut down roadworks to Westminster Abbey.

There they were joined by judges from the High Court and Court of Appeal, who arrived in a fleet of limousines, for prayers.

Unlike the judges of the Supreme Court, the rest of the judiciary clung on to their wigs for the ceremony.

Excerpted from ‘New Supreme Court opens with media barred,’ published in the Telegraph.

Downtown, fires burned, smoke plumed. The odor stood.

It was a city humbled and scared, where the possibilities of destruction had been recalibrated. It was Sept. 12, 2001. The day after.

So much has been said and written about what happened on 9/11. The following day is forgotten, just another dulled interlude in the aftermath of an incoherent morning.

But New Yorkers were introduced that day to irreducible presumptions about their wounded city that many believed would harden and become chiseled into the event’s enduring legacy.

Excerpted from ‘Remembering a Future That Many Feared,’ by N.R. Kleinfeld. Published in The New York Times, September 11, 2009.

I’m with you L.E.M. / Though it’s a shame that it had to be you / The mother ship / Is just a blip on this trip made for two / I’m with you boys / So please employ just a little extra care / It’s on my mind / I’m left behind when I should have been there / Walking with you.

Excerpted from the lyrics to ‘For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me’ by Jethro Tull. Image courtesy NASA via The Big Picture.

For the past five years, Ernie DiGiacomo has been able to count on parents to guarantee the $1,500 to $2,500 rents he charges for the 15 apartments he owns in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. When he called renters who had missed payments, he often heard, “My parents will send you a check.”

But in the past six months, the parents are pulling back financial help, he said, and as a result, he has watched more renters move out.

“Most of them are moving back with parents,” Mr. DiGiacomo said.

Luis Illades, an owner of the Urban Rustic Market and Cafe on North 12th Street, said he had seen a steady number of applicants, in their late 20s, who had never held paid jobs: They were interns at a modeling agency, for example, or worked at a college radio station. In some cases, applicants have stormed out of the market after hearing the job requirements.

“They say, ‘You want me to work eight hours?’ ” Mr. Illades said. “There is a bubble bursting.”

Excerpted from ‘Parental Lifelines, Frayed to Breaking,’ by Christine Haughney. Published June 9, 2009, in The New York Times.

DETROIT — It was said that the Detroit Red Wings could not lose Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final on home ice. They did.

That Marc-Andre Fleury could not be counted on to win big games. He has.

That these Penguins were not ready to be champions. They are.

They defeated the Red Wings, 2-1, in Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena last night to earn the third Stanley Cup in franchise history.

The driving forces behind the victory were forward Max Talbot, who scored both goals, and Fleury, who turned aside 23 of 24 shots and made a lunging game-, season- and Cup-saving stop on Nicklas Lidstrom with about a second to play.

Excerpted from ‘Penguins beat Red Wings, 2-1, in Stanley Cup thriller,’ by Dave Molinari. Published June 13, 2009, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

NEW YORK — Piracy is an important issue and Carnival Corp. is working with the U.S. military and British Ministry of Defence to protect its passengers and crew from any attacks, the cruise ship operator told its shareholders Wednesday.

Concerns about piracy have increased since Somali pirates took an American freighter captain hostage off Africa’s eastern coast earlier this month.

“We take it extremely seriously,” Carnival’s Chief Operating Officer Howard Frank said in response to a question at Carnival’s annual meeting of shareholders. “We’d never put any passenger in jeopardy or crewmember.” …

In 2005, a cruise ship sailing under Carnival’s luxury Seabourn brand — which operates cruises to destinations in Africa and the Middle East — was attacked by armed pirates off the Somali coast.

The captain evaded the attack and none of the ship’s 151 passengers was hurt, although one member of the 161-person crew was injured.

Excerpted from ‘Carnival cruise line takes piracy ‘extremely seriously,” by Kristen A. Lee. Appeared on April 15, 2009, in the USA Today.

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, resigned Friday in the wake of the furor over an Air Force jet’s photo shoot over New York City April 27, the White House announced.

In addition, President Obama asked his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates or his designee “to jointly review the organizational structure of the White House Military Office and the reporting relationship of its components to the White House and the Air Force, to make recommendations to him to ensure that such an incident never occurs again,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

An internal review of the incident found that Caldera didn’t pay much attention to the evolving details of the flyover and failed to make sure that the public was informed of it in advance.

Many New Yorkers were frightened by the flyover and believed it might be another terrorist attack like the ones on 9/11. Some evacuated buildings as the 747 jumbo jet, which is designated as Air Force One when the president is aboard, and an Air Force fighter escort flew low over the Manhattan area in an effort to get publicity pictures with the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks as backgrounds. The White House released one such photo, of the plane flying over the Statue of Liberty. The cost of the 747’s flight has been estimated at $329,000.

Four-fifths of the story ‘Caldera Resigns Over Air Force One Photo Op Mishap,’ by Kenneth T. Walsh. Published May 8, 2009, in U.S. News and World Report.

HONG KONG — What to call the new strain of flu raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones.

Pork producers question whether the term “swine flu” is appropriate, given that the new virus has not yet been isolated in samples taken from pigs in Mexico or elsewhere. While the new virus seems to be most heavily composed of genetic sequences from swine influenza virus material, it also has human and avian influenza genetic sequences as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu.” An Israeli deputy health minister — an ultra-Orthodox Jew — said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word “swine.” However, his call seemed to have been largely ignored.

Janet Napolitano, the secretary for homeland security, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack went out of their way at a press conference in Washington on Tuesday to refer to the virus by its scientific name, as the “H1N1 virus.”

Excerpted from ‘The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter,’ by Keith Bradsher. The New York Times, April 28, 2009.