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#147387 09/06/05 01:55 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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43rds street just 1/2 a block away from B'way.

(they used to let just anyone in, and you could eat in their cafeteria.. the food was ok, but the ambiance got a 10! )

Yes, 'blocking the box" can get you a ticket. and the no parking signs in mid town say "Don't EVEN THINK of parking here!" --if you do, you risk a $125 fine, plus a tow fee, and a storage fee, (over $350--plus the cab fare to get to the pound!) --which is why parking garages do business with rates as high as $10 per half hour.

in a head to head (or car to car) race, NYC Parking enforcement would win by a mile over the repo man.. they can tow cars away in a heart beat. (under 2 minutes..)

i have seen them clear a block --with a parade of tow trucks, one after an other--they towed away 10 cars in under 10 minutes!
---------------------------------------------------
BACK on TOPIC, while Madison Avenue is still associated with Advertizing, most of the big firms have moved.. some are in the uncool part of SoHo (Satchi and Satchi) others are uptown, (the building (i forget its name..world something) up at 50th street (old madison square garden site--and the building that was the subject of the PBS special 15 year ago calles "SKYSCRAPER" about how big building get built./) but there are very few advertizing firms left on Madison!

in lower midtown (below 34th) Madison is home to ladies (and mens) underwear firms, (Warner Bra's, and Natori and Calvin Kleins)and accessories (gloves/handbags showrooms)
(way down, in the 20's, it's household showrooms, Kitchen towels, and sheets and other household material showrooms-including china, and glasswear)

34th to 42nd some more bra's/and accessories and other mixed businesses.

above 42nd, the low end boutiques start, and the cosmetics. (revlon is 51st street.) above 59th, the expensive boutiques.. (Vera Wang and the like)


#147388 09/06/05 10:06 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes, 'blocking the box" can get you a ticket.

I think 'blocking the box' refers to entering an intersection when you don't plan to turn left and having to stay there after the light changes because the line of traffic ahead of you hasn't moved yet, possibly being blocked by someone who has done the same thing on a cross street at the next intersection.

Edit: addendum

Blocking the box can also result from an attempt to make a left turn if you have no place to go due to the cross street's being similarly blocked. The basic rule is "don't enter an intersection until you have a clear way out of it."

#147389 09/07/05 04:27 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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RCW 46.61.202
Stopping when traffic obstructed.

No driver shall enter an intersection or a marked crosswalk or drive onto any railroad grade crossing unless there is sufficient space on the other side of the intersection, crosswalk, or railroad grade crossing to accommodate the vehicle he is operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles, pedestrians, or railroad trains notwithstanding any traffic control signal indications to proceed.

[1975 c 62 § 48.]


#147390 09/07/05 06:25 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Funnily enough, I was saying to someone only this morning what a boon such a rule would be in Jakarta, and describing the system in the UK with the yellow criss-cross lines at certain intersections, but couldn't remember what they were called. I have been away too long.

Bingley


Bingley
#147391 09/07/05 08:21 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Zebra crossings"?


#147392 09/07/05 09:44 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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"zebra crossings"


Deadly places for the faithless, apparently:

In reply to:

"The argument goes something like this: `I refuse to prove that I
exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am
nothing.'

"`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it?
It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so
therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'

"`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly
vanished in a puff of logic.

"`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to
prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next
zebra crossing."


RIP DNA



#147393 09/07/05 10:06 PM
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Pooh-Bah
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>> was just wondering the other day about how Times Square got to be called that; can't wait to see if Anu has it this week. My guess is that maybe the New York Times bldg. was there; dunno.<<

Actually, it took a bit of creative cajoling on the part of the then publisher (What's his name, Sulzberg?) to have the square renamed for the paper. The times was *generally* considered a rag, at that time. The whats-his-name family had just purchased it, and the tower, which was always a pretty poor piece of architecture, from a practical standpoint, was part of an effort to rebuild the paper's image. This stunt essentially marks the beginning of the area's transformation into what we have come to know as "Broadway," or the Theater District. You can read an interesting account of the business in "Ghosts of Broadway."

Or was it Ochs? Jeeps if I remember.


#147394 09/08/05 05:26 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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No, zebra crossings are known in the UK as zebra crossings. The term I was groping for is box junctions: see Rule 150 here:
http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/16.htm

Bingley


Bingley
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