Madison Avenue was not, of course, the only thing named after the former President and principal author of the US Constitution. Consider Madison, Wisconsin, where all the signers of the Constitution (save one) have streets named after them. And who's the exception? James Madison.
I used to win a lot of bar bets with this information, back when I was a student at the University of Wisconsin.
Murray Stone, Barrister
Stony Plain, Alberta
Welcome, Murray.
There is always room for one more attorney on this board. We have endured some horrid ones, so the need for even more exemplary representatives of our fine profession is heightened, to remove the bad taste left behind.
Yes, welcome, Mr. Stone. It sounds unusual, to my U.S. ears, to hear someone say he is a barrister. :-)
I 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.
Times Square? the NEW YORK TIMES! (and down by Macy's(34th Street) is HERALD SQUARE-(with a statue of Horace Greeley(Go West, young man)named for the NY HERALD.
What is special about Herald square, Times Square, Duffy Square, etc., and many of NY's other Square's all along B'way?
B'way cross most of NY gridwork of Streets and Avenues at an angle, --that is not a right angle, but an acute angle (Avenues) and the resulting triangular intersections are called squares.
B'way, a pre-european trail, does not conform to the strict gridwork imposed on most of Manhattan.
He's not merely a barrister, Father Steve; he's a Badger to boot!
B'way cross most of NY gridwork of Streets and Avenues at an angle, --that is not a right angle, but an acute angle …
Would it be obtuse of me to point out that it's only an acute angle on one side?
Thank you, Faldage..
you know exactly how my mind works.. one one word (acute) is right there, for the grabbing and the other IS obtuse--and runs off and hides.
--like Acid--and its 'counterpart'..it's um, alcloid? no, its um, alcoloid? no that doesn't look right either.. how in heck am i suppose to find the word,(in a dictionary) when i don't have a clue-- the word slips out of my grasp like a bar of soap..
I know it when i see it.. but i can't see it in my mind's eye!--its a sort of blindness!
It was a high-scoring affair. The Badgers of the University of Wisconsin divided up the 98 points scored with the Falcons of Bowling Green. Unfortunately for the Falcons, the Badgers claimed 56 of them. Bowling Green led 13-0 at the end of the First Quarter; the game was tied at Halftime. Wisconsin’s 56 points were the most points scored by the Badgers since their 15 November 2003 game against Michigan State. Again, welcome!
Acid--and its 'counterpart'
Alkali is the word you've misplaced (I have trouble not spelling it "alkili"). Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan? Think of the "Alkali flats" in The Valley of Fear.
On the other hand it may be simpler to refer to the opposite of acid as basic, acid/base, both four letters, one a and the next b, whatever little trick you would like to devise.
Times Square? the NEW YORK TIMES! Is that where the building is, then?
By the way, Helen, I don't think I've ever thanked you for telling about intersection boxes. The only ones I've ever set eyes on are in Washington, D.C., and if it hadn't been for you they would have just been meaningless lines on the pavement. Here, we have solid white lines that cover only the lanes from which cars enter the intersection, and our law is to stop behind them for a red light or stop sign. But it's perfectly fine to pull into the intersection on a green light and wait for a chance to turn left, even if you can't turn until after your light has become red. If I recall correctly, you said drivers can't enter the box and sit there?
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!
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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)
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."
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.]
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
"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
>> 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.
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.htmBingley