Memories of Flickr and Red Hook

A few years ago, I was an enthusiastic user of Flickr, the web site for photos, photography and an image repository of vast proportions.

The only thing that was not vast, was the space allowed to each user with a simple (free) user account. When my professional (paid) subscription lapsed, all but about 200 of my photos disappeared, and at the time all I did was hope that one day when I could afford to pay for a new membership of Flickr, my archive of images would reappear. Would they still be there, or would the shifting sands of the Internet world assume them forever again unseen, into a server sitting somewhere out there, inaccessible and mute...?

Well, just recently, this happened:

Everyone who is a Flickr member (membr?) has been allocated a free Terabyte of storage space! (Take that, Dropbox!). And yes, all of my photos have magically reappeared.

Jamaica: Jerk, Chickens

I was in a McDonald's in Jamaica, Queens the other evening, when a surreal scene unfolded. The restaurant went on fire. Or at least, somehow a small fire started in the trash, in the men's room.

Gradually, the restaurant filled with smoke. Some people, choking and coughing, ran out into the night.  Others, like young Tawana Oblivious on the right, chose to sit through the growing haze of smoke.

Members of staff did not seem too concerned, and could be heard telling customers not to panic...indeed, could be heard telling customers to "yo, it's not a real fire, it's just a little fuckin smoke". And in fact, though the smoke continued to accumulate, a staff member was already inside the men's room with a fire extinguisher.

And so the situation was under control... I think!