Smoking can Kill (and other news)

We all know that smoking can kill. What the Surgeon General and the State of California failed to prepare me for was the inevitable, and very Bronx experience of being asked to bum a smoke by a possible killer.

A bit of history/information:

According to an article on the website wikipedia, a teardrop tattoo "is said to indicate that the wearer has killed or a friend of his was killed in prison. It is worn by the eye." Teardrop tattoos can also express a less ironic sentiment--a recognition of the dehumanizing experience of prison and the mourning of an inability to shed real tears.

Here's an example of a guy with this kind of tat:



Anyway, traditionally the tattoo means that you're a killer. And so, while walking down the streets of the Bronx today, I had a very large man with not one, but TWO teardrop tattoos, ask me to bum a cigarette. Reflexively, I said no, and kept walking.

As I walked down the street away from him, I realized that I had just denied a cigarette to a man that may have killed two people (not one, but TWO). I quickly looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was following me, but he seemed to have taken it in stride. That's a good break.

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COOL STORE

This is a short little note about a cool little place.

Walking around the Lower East Side the other day, I stumbled upon a store that sold lamps. Tons and tons and tons of lamps. They had old lamps and new lamps, houselamps and industrial lamps, books on lamps and catalogs on lamps. The place was tiny, but filled with nooks and crannies and seemed never to end. And everywhere I looked, there were lamps!

It was a fascinating place, the kind of place that you'd expect to find a crotchety (yet wise) old man, the kind that is constantly losing his glasses and giving all sorts of awesome sagely advice. It was also the kind of place that you'd expect to find ancient dusty tomes filled with magic spells.

Unfortunately, my friend was waiting for me outside (I think she was scared), and so I had neither time to meet the Yoda figure that surely worked there nor to learn any magic. I guess that's for next time...

Here are some photos of the place:





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This evening I was reading the New York Times while waiting for the L train at Union Square. I stumbled upon this short article, and was so amused that I sort of chuckled out loud. The cute girl standing next to me looked over at me, curious and friendly.

I gestured at the newspaper, making sure that she didn't think that I was just some crazy guy. She smiled, and I took the chance to talk to her. I approached her and showed her the article, reading out the funny parts. She laughed and I chuckled again. Then we took the train, I got shy, and I didn't talk to her at all.
Lame.

Anyway, I like this Mayor's style. Those Brazilians really know how to make a point.