“Coyne sees an analogy between basketball games and rock concerts. Playing a song for the thousandth time, he told me, is just as meaningless as putting a ball through a hoop. Under the right circumstances, however, those things take on great collective meaning. “It’s that idea of everybody being focused on the same thing at the same time and being together in the bigger experience,” he said. “It’s silliness, but all things are like that.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Fairy-Tale Rise - NYTimes.com
  • The New York Times

Volunteer this Saturday via NYCC

rockawayrecovery:

Hello all: NYCC is organizing a huge volunteer event this Saturday, November 10, in Far Rockaway. Please see details below from Olivia - cars are needed most! Here are the details:

We are organizing a big day of volunteer canvassing this Saturday, November 10th.  We also try to send out volunteers during the week (including tomorrow, Friday), but are mainly looking for drivers with their own cars.  We are not organizing any volunteering this Sunday the 12th. 
If you are interested in donating supplies, we are still accepting flashlights, candles and batteries, nonperishable food, blankets, diapers and other essentials.  No Clothing will be accepted.  Donations can be sent or delivered to our Brooklyn office at:
New York Communities for Change,
Attn: Olivia Leirer,
2-4 Nevins Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11217 (second floor)

We’re collecting monetary donations via this contribution page:
http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?url=nycommuni&fundraiser_id=13028

Volunteer Opportunity in the Rockaways on Saturday 11/10/12

If you have a car with room for passengers or do not have a car:

Please meet at 10 am at our office in 2-4 Nevins St., second floor.  We will from there leave to Far Rockaway.  Tasks will include knocking on doors and making needs assessments, delivering and sorting supplies. Please RSVP to nyccvolunteer@gmail.com with subject line “RSVP Saturday”.  Include number of volunteers, whether you have a car, and number of passengers you can fit. You can also call Olivia to RSVP at 347-410-6919 ext 285.

If you have a car and it will be filled (no more room for passengers). we will meet in the Rockaways at 11am: 

15-26 Central Ave, Far Rockaway, Community Room at Nordack Houses 
Point Organizer: Amelia - 646-250-5797 

321 Beach 57th St, Arverne, Councilman Sanders Office 
Point Organizer: Zach - 202-390-8331

Dress warmly and be ready to work! Thanks for your support!

Our opportunities for volunteering and donating after Sunday are yet to be determined. 

Best,
Olivia Leirer and the NYCC Sandy Relief Team

Floodwaters remain on the floor of the aquarium's main exhibit structure. Murky fish tanks in the Sea Cliffs area of the 14-acre complex, home to Mitik the walrus. It was one of the structures most severely damaged in the storm. The aquarium is home to 12,000 creatures, the vast majority of which survived the storm. But there were a few fish casualties: freshwater fish whose tanks were flooded by murky saltwater. Under normal circumstances, a tank like this is almost clear -- with a slightly blue tinge. The aquarium's fish tanks are all open on the top, so many of them were doused with sea-water and rain. Rescue teams have been pumping water out of the tanks consistently since the storm hit. Scuba gear hangs outside the Aquatic Theater, where the sea lions perform. The clock in aquarium director Jon Dohlin's office remains frozen at 7:50pm, when Sandy knocked out electricity. Staffers say Mitik, the baby walrus, remained happy and unscathed, in spite of the storm.

storyboard:

At the Coney Island Aquarium, Sea Life Goes On

It was just a few short weeks ago that the New York media was gushing over the arrival of Mitik — the adorable baby walrus — to the New York Aquarium, where he seemed to be loving city life. But when Hurricane Sandy hit last week, sending more than 12,000 water animals into darkness, the aquarium, just off the boardwalk in Coney Island, faced the biggest challenge of its life. The aquarium’s basement flooded with 15 feet of water, damaging generators and cutting electricity. Tanks full of freshwater fish were doused with murky storm overflow, while the ground floors — home to the major exhibits — filled with up to three feet. For four days straight, aquarium staff worked around the clock to make sure the animals were safe — many of them neglecting their own damaged homes. Eighteen stayed through the storm. “It was an intense couple of days,” says aquarium director Jon Dohlin.

The aquarium is now closed indefinitely, and struggling to recover — with generators powering the exhibits’ environmental controls. We went behind-the-scenes to see firsthand.

This story was produced in partnership with WNYC. The aquarium is taking donations here.

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(via skylovestoeat)

petervidani:

staff:

We’ve been working hard on some new updates for you, and are thrilled to pull the curtain off of a big one — our iPhone app is now completely native! We think you’ll love the faster, smoother, and more responsive Tumblr Dashboard.

  • Redesigned dashboard — enjoy bigger photos and faster post loading.
  • Spiffy new notification previews so you can see exactly which posts were liked, reblogged, or replied to!
  • GIFs now play automatically on your Dashboard! Slide your finger across a GIF to view frame by frame.
  • New gestures — swipe right on any screen to go back to the previous view; long tap photos, links, tags, and post headers for more options.
  • Brand new blog screens with blog portraits and descriptions.

We’re really excited about this release and we can’t wait to see what you do with it. Try it out.

So proud of our mobile engineers. In addition to implementing a redesigned Dashboard and a host of new features, the entire thing is now native. No more web views. Smooth scrolling. It means a lot of things, but you just need to use it to understand the difference.

The challenges they faced in supporting all of what can happen inside a Tumblr post are unimaginable and I couldn’t be happier with how it came out. Grab the update.

It’s unbelievable how much faster, prettier and just all-around better this one is. So, so great. 

A Staten Island debris dump, where many treasured belongings have ended up. Emptying out a business supply store before (another) mandatory evacuation of Midlands Beach on Staten Island. John, a former diplomatic courier, searches through a destroyed pet store for food for feral cats on Staten Island. The rain begins to fall on New York City.

storyboard:

First Sandy, Then a Nor’easter

Under ordinary circumstances, a Nor’easter of this size might not have been a big deal. But for communities still reeling from the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, Wednesday’s fall of sleet and snow plunged many right back into darkness — while others were evacuated all over again. Still others still haven’t returned home. Ben Lowy, on assignment for Tumblr covering the aftermath of Sandy, snapped these shots on Staten Island yesterday.

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(via benlowy)