Month: January 2017

January 11

532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams-the Blues and the Greens-in the Hippodrome escalates into violence. 1569 – First recorded lottery in England. 1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion. 1759 – In Philadelphia, the first American life insurance company is incorporated. 1861 – Alabama secedes...
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment

Quaestor for the Community

The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) has found a replacement for outgoing chief financial officer Robert Serpico, who retired in November, after 30 years of service. Janet Ozarchuk brings to the job three decades of experience in the financial services industry (where she worked extensively with government clients) and the nonprofit sector, where she helped...

January 10

49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. 1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded at the Tower of London. 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense. 1863 – The London Underground, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington station and Farringdon station. 1870 –...
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody

A Forecourt for the Maritime Building

The Trust for Governors Island wants to resurrect a 2005 proposal to move the bottom of the FDR Drive northward in order to create a safer, more welcoming plaza in front of the Battery Maritime Building, which serves as the gateway to the new park. At a presentation to Community Board 1 (CB1) in December,...
A rendering by SHoP Architects of how the newly reconfigured streetscape in front of the Battery Maritime Building would appear after the FDR Drive viaduct is shortened and the entrance to the Battery Underpass moved northward by 350 feet, from Whitehall to Broad Street.

January 9

475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. 1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States. 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States. 1839 –...

EYES TO THE SKY January 9 – 22, 2017

As twilight deepens these January evenings the most celebrated constellation of the winter sky, Orion the Hunter, stretches out along the east-southeast horizon. The impression is of a resting giant, from his radiant red shoulder star, Betelgeuse, to his foot star, luminous bluish-white Rigel, with three dimmer stacked stars midway between. The three form a...
The moon's location on January 10, 2017. The stars of the Winter Circle are among the brightest dozen visible from northeastern skies. Diagram courtesy of EarthSky.org