Manhattan Bridge.
Usually people are too jaded to check out the view of lower Manhattan as the Q train goes over the bridge. Now, everyone looks, to see the smoke, and to see what isn't there.

New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating the individual . . . against all enormous and violent and wonderful events. . . .

I am not defending New York in this regard. Many of its settlers are probably here merely to escape, not face, reality. But whatever it means, it is a rather rare gift, and I believe it has a positive effect on the creative capacities of New Yorkers — for creation is in part merely the business of forgoing the great and small distractions.

--E.B. White, as quoted by Max Frankel.

Links to more New York stories and photos. List largely stolen from bgirl, who is also posting photos.

worldnewyork.org
acute.org
andyschest.com
blogstalker.blogspot.com
brooklynkid.com
camworld.com
eastwest.nu
ftrain.com
gus
moby?
quarlo.com
thefineline.org
lauraholder.com
rion.nu
saranwarp.com
themorningnews.org
toothpickgirl.com
tinmanic.com
uprush.org
whatever-whenever.net

I wrote a story for the NYT's Circuits section: Weary of Gadgetmania? Just Dial M for Mockery. It's about a guy who built a cell phone into a steam iron. The phone looks like this. The story, written two weeks ago, has very little to do with anything. At this point, that may be a reason to read it.