Friday; Post Meridiem

I remember driving to work a few months ago and The Will Smith Extravaganza had taken over the Brooklyn Bridge. Warner Bros. spent around $5M for a 6 night shoot in New York, after getting approval from 14 government agencies, with hundreds of extras, including 160 members of the National Guard in full combat gear. It was all for his new movie "I Am Legend" where Will Smith plays a scientist who could not contain a terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable, and man-made. Somehow immune, Will Smith is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and maybe the world. What about Jazzy Jeff?! Anyway, the trailer is out now and I guess in the movie they blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. I've had post 9/11 nightmares where this happens so it freaked me out. Gothamist has posted up the trailer. Check it out.

Scientists have sounded the death knell for the plug and power cord. In a breakthrough that sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, they have discovered a way of 'beaming' power across a room into a light bulb, cellphone or laptop sans wires or cables. This reminds me of a foggy night several years ago when I heard a report over the radio about scientists developing some sort of new technology that would do away with outlets and light switches. Via fiber optics or some other ish I can't fully comprehend, they said you would basically be able to "paint" a light switch on a wall wherever you wanted it. And with ish like this coming to fruition now, I bet the days of painting outlets and knobs on walls aren't all that far away. JETSON!!

Gawker actually posted something amusing and NOT from the NY Times. "The Kitchen Of Passive-Aggressive Post-It Notes: Living with a Douche". I chuckled and chortled. I've lived with roommates where we only spoke through emails. It was very healthy and totally bad-vibe-free.

Interesting video of how a new water tank is installed on top of a new downtown hotel by a crew from Rosenwach, a 120-year old company that still produces the tanks in their Queens workshop.

Ooooh Aaaaahh: new brushed aluminum iMac coming out

This picture is amazing.

A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood! AGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! The unusual colour of the blood was due to the migraine medication he was taking. Eh. Lame.

According to the latest research, remembering is an unstable and profoundly unreliable process. It’s easy come, easy go as true memories are obliterated and false ones are added. But can you add memories? The Diva of Disclosure, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus says Yes, we can. Elizabeth is a psychologist who works on human memory and how it can be changed by facts, ideas, suggestions and other forms of post-event information. Her research shows that you can implant memories—wholly false memories—pretty easily into the brains of humans. Her work challenges the reliability of eye-witness testimony, and is so controversial that she once had to call the bomb squad.

Lately I've been saying how I love me some Bloomberg, but I may need to retract all that. Under Bloomberg's proposal, cars entering Manhattan south of 86th Street (basically the entire working city) would be charged $8 and trucks $21. Under a 3-year pilot program, the fees would be collected only during the worst traffic hours, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The FDR Drive and the West Side Highway would be exempt. Environmentalists love the idea for their own reasons while others argue it will punish the middle-class with an unfair tax. But is anyone discussing what a f&cking mess its going to be?! I think its going to make things absolutely worse. How will having cars and trucks stopping to pay tolls help the flow of traffic? I don't get it. Can you imagine how much MORE backed-up the BQE would be if u had to pay a toll for the Brooklyn Bridge?!!