Irene's Weblog

There’s a fairly decent primer on where to find good pizza in New York City over at Serious Eats. The article is titled NYC Pizza Culture Literacy and it was sparked by a poster who asked where the best pizza was in NYC. I’m a huge fan of pizza by the slice, but this article covers it all.

We’ve got some of the best pizza culture in the world here in NYC. You can get classic New York-style pizza (duh), coal-oven pizza, wood-fired Neapolitan-style, Roman-style, Grandma-style, Sicilian-style. There’s tomato pies now (at 900 Degrees), and deep-fried pizza (at Forcella). And sfincione. And Greek style. Geez, I’m starting to feel like Bubba Gump here.

So, you see, there are many styles, but I’m a particular favorite of the New York style pizza and the coal-oven pizza. I absolutely hate Sicilian.

The article goes on to give locations for the best place to find each style. I’d recommend starting with Sal & Carmine’s on the Upper West Side, but you can pick any of Serious Eats’ top 8 to try from. They’re all good. If it were me, I’d get the address of all eight and have a slice at each of them.

Take some time to read the whole article as you educate yourself on the myriad choices of pizza in New York City. If you’re like me, you’ll end up hungry for a good pizza, but with the realization that you’re in Nebraska and aren’t likely to get any anytime soon. When I buy my own house, I’m going to build an oven in the backyard and then invite all my friends over for proper pizza.

And remember folks, don’t ever eat pizza with a fork or I’ll stab you with it.

Rare earth elements, including Niobium, have been found in Elk Creek, Nebraska.

The potential mining operation, the first in the U.S. in a decade, could have an international impact as well. U.S. officials and lawmakers in Congress have been eager to break the near monopoly on global production of the 17 rare-earth elements in China, which has shown its willingness to use its power in the market for political ends.

Quantum acquired a circular piece of land – a bit more than 4 miles in diameter – near Elk Creek late last year. The land, which the U.S. Geological Survey projects may have one of the world’s largest deposits of niobium and rare earths, has since been poked, prodded and drilled to determine whether it held any niobium, which has never been mined in the U.S., or rare earths, which the U.S. has not mined in almost 10 years.

You can read the story at the Washington Times and check out the discussion on Slashdot.

Yep, I had a 1989 Toyota Corolla SR5 Coupé.  It was my first 5-speed and had a maroon, cloth interior. It’s not the one below, but mine was white and looked a lot like this.  Who knows, it could have been mine.  I sold it in 1994.  Anyway, here’s a picture of what my car looked like, if this one was mine.

Even though it was a few weeks late, some friends made me a cake for my birthday.

That’s right.  It’s a litterbox cake.  My friends are just so nice to me, aren’t they?

When people hear New York, they think you mean New York City. When they say New York City, they are thinking of Manhattan, and when they say Manhattan, they really mean Midtown.  With that in mind, this is every conversation I’ve ever had with people when I say that I’m from New York State. People who live in New York State have their own variation in this conversation to relate to.

Them: Where are you from?
Me: New York.
Them: Oh I’ve never been to New York City!
Me: I didn’t say New York City. I said I was from New York. The State.
Them: Oh, what’s the difference?
Me: Ugh!

I grew up in Middletown, New York. It’s in the Hudson Valley on the Western side of the Hudson River. Middletown is 67 miles from Manhattan, which is part of New York City. Here’s a map for you to look at.

Middletown is also in Orange County. That’s in New York. It’s not that piece of shit county in California. It is also home to the Orange County Choppers. Fuck California for trying to take over our place name with a bunch of douche bags.

Unfortunately, the map below is how everyone else in the world sees New York State. Yes, I know the person who made it spelled non-existent wrong.

Also, for all you folks that don’t know how to pronounce words correctly, stop saying the name of New York’s capital wrong. Albany pronounced all-bin-y or awl-bin-y. Say it correctly and know where it is.

You want to know how big New York State is?

The Adirondack Park is larger than any of the seven smallest states in the United States: Hawaii, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. It would take these five national parks added together to equal the size of the Adirondack Park: Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Everglades, and Great Smoky National Parks.

New York State is actually quite beautiful. If you’ve looked around my website, you’ve seen photos that I’ve taken around the state. So, at least for the sake of my sanity, don’t ever assume again that, when someone says they are from New York, that they are from New York City. You’re just going to make them want to stab and/or shoot you.