Pictures from NY
KBABZ
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Joined: 20 Sep 2006
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Love the pictures, dude! I like the one of you in front of the police car (I think it's the baggy pants), and the night-time one, I love landscapes. Plus of course the Statue one, I've been needing something to act as a scale against it for a while now (it's smaller than I first thought it was! )
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That one from the 'aeroplane window' is actually from the outdoor observation deck on the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building.
Too bad the WTC towers are no longer there. Had they still been there, you would have loved them, too. Did you visit the site?
Mike
On a side note, is it just me or is it still really unsettling to see cops with M-4's and G36's and so on?
You rarely see peelers with guns in Britain. Certainly not bloody great huge ones like that.
Well, for as long as there have been police, USAians have generally demanded that they be able to effectively shoot back at bad guys if they have to. Countless innocent civilian lives have been saved by their ability to use deadly force in emergency situations. NYC generally (and, IMHO, correctly) regards itself as a much greater 'target' than most average smaller places and arms itself accordingly. The average smaller city police department in the USA will normally give each of its cops a sidearm pistol, a stun gun and perhaps a 12-guage shotgun that can shoot all kinds of lethal and non-lethal projectiles. They also have SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams and their much heavier armaments available to them, if needed.
Mike
hartzofspace
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Great Pics! As for the cops, they started wearing all that frighteningly agressive gear shortly after the 9/11 incident. They also started hassling a lot of innocent people unfairly, which I regret. It diminishes the idea that it's all for one's safety. My daughter witnessed them brutalizing some homeless people in the subway station, unfortunately.
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Thanks for the comments everyone
Too bad the WTC towers are no longer there. Had they still been there, you would have loved them, too. Did you visit the site?
Mike
Yeah I did visit the site, it was touching to see all the photographs and pictures that are hanging up there.
Lol, it does look really quite small in that pic huh..or maybe I'm big?..
A piercing?
Yeah, I have my lip peirced.
On a side note, is it just me or is it still really unsettling to see cops with M-4's and G36's and so on?
I was kinda nervous to go and stand near them but my dad asked if he could take a picture and they said yes but they couldn't pose. Then when my dad was about to take the picture the officer in the photo ushered another officer out of the way and then smiled for the pic..which is posing if I'm not mistaken lol. They were really nice though and I love that picture.
Also the very first thing we did in NY was get on the airtrain from the airport, we got on and there were three guys in desert storm gear with machine guns, funny thing was that one of them was on the phone to a cable company throughout the entire journey.
On the subway one day three cops got on and one of them banged the pole with his stick really loud to get this homeless guy up. The old guy had this little bunch of flowers and he hobbled off the subway, the cops didn't do anything wrong but it was something I wasn't used to seeing, homeless people seem to ride the london underground all day lol.
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greyhelium
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I was kinda nervous to go and stand near them but my dad asked if he could take a picture and they said yes but they couldn't pose. Then when my dad was about to take the picture the officer in the photo ushered another officer out of the way and then smiled for the pic..which is posing if I'm not mistaken lol. They were really nice though and I love that picture.
The *VAST* majority of cops in the USA are honest, upstanding professionals whom take a true pride in what they do.
A small extension on my pevious comment - in their careers, most cops will never fire their weapons in anger. They may draw them, but that presence alone is usually enough to defuse nearly every situation. It is one of the aspects of the job that they most dread having to do if they ever have to.
USAians are very proud of their military personnel. All of them willingly signed up and like the cops and firefighters, they also take a true professional pride in what they do. Whenever soldiers, sailors, Marines, etc, are on their way to/from an airport gate, etc, they are often the center of attention, sort of like celebreties, too.
On the subway one day three cops got on and one of them banged the pole with his stick really loud to get this homeless guy up. The old guy had this little bunch of flowers and he hobbled off the subway, the cops didn't do anything wrong but it was something I wasn't used to seeing, homeless people seem to ride the london underground all day lol.
NYC has been making a concerted effort to clean itself up ever since Rudy Giuliani became Mayor. Prior to that, the city, and especially its subway system, was NASTY. By sweating small things like loitering in the subway, graffiti, jaywalking, stopping in intersections, etc, the city HAS turned around, crime is WAAAYYYY down and NYC is a magnet once again, the city's population topped 8 million (8.008M) for the first time in its history in the 2000 USCensus. More recent estimates of the city's population from the Census Bureau continue to show the city gaining population, now an estimated 8.15M, despite the 2001-09-11 attack.
BTW, that homeless guy probably knew the drill well when you saw him being tossed off of that train.
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Next time Chicago, right?
Mike
great pic's! I bet you had fun! New York city is an awesome place...there's so much to see and look at. My favorite is Times Square because of all the neat signs and things. I haven't been to the Statue of Liberty yet. Did you see all the plaques and other stuff in the lobby Empire State building honoring all the trades? They neat looking are brass emblems embedded in the marble walls throughout
Thanks greyhelium.
Thats really kool, I was kinda mesmorized by them, I must have looked so weird staring at them for the journey. Maybe it's just me but in England we dont seem to have the same pride for our troops, sure we understand what they do but I can't see them having a big welcoming home type thing apart from family members and such. I could be completely wrong though. Our troops themselves though obviously do an amazing job and feel very proud to do so.
I read about that, about how so called smaller things such as graffiti were being picked up on aswell as the bigger crimes thus making neighborhoods look and feel safer. I think this is a really good idea and it has obviously worked for New York, I felt safe and happy throughout my trip. I think all cities should adopt this way of fighting crime.
Lol, I'de love to travel the whole of america so Chicago is on my list
Thanks AV-geek, yeah I did see the lobby for the Empire State Building, it looks amazing, I dont think I got a picture of it, too bad , was an awesome site to see though.
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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes, that way when they get angry you are a mile away and they have no shoes.