Boy Detective of Carroll Gardens; Cobble Hill's Problems with LICH; and More Brooklyn Briefs

#Brooklyn will celebrate Biggie's birthday w/ @barclayscenter concert featuring @iamdiddy https://t.co/49cuLaQL8d pic.twitter.com/o8Sr986yjr

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) March 30, 2016

- Meet the boy detective of Carroll Gardens. [DNAinfo]

- Cobble Hill still awaiting answers from Fortis and NYU about LICH development plans. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- The city on Tuesday bought a seven-acre lot along the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront for $53 million, to be used for the expansion of the long-promised Bushwick Inlet Park. [Brownstoner]

- A Brooklyn realtor has been arrested for allegedly pocketing deposits on apartments. [Gothamist]

- New York City bridge climbers may soon be faced with up to a year in the slammer. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Karate championship hopes dashed after Bushwick fire destroys dojo. [DNAinfo]

- Meet the guitar repair king of Greenpoint. [Brooklyn Magazine] 

- Join the Prospect Park Alliance for Opening Weekend in Prospect Park on April 2 + 3, with food, festivities and family fun. [Sheepshead Bites]

- New York native's brilliant performance on "Wheel of Fortune" is going viral. [abc7]

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Cop Caught in Friendly Fire in Bushwick; Transgender Bathroom Access; 36-Hour Party and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A New York City police detective was shot on Tuesday, apparently in a crossfire with a sergeant, as they sought to make a drug arrest in Bushwick. [NY Times]

-  Troubling allegations about Bay Ridge's new top cop. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- New York City sheriffs have seized control of a troubled Bay Ridge hotel — and the hotel may get shut down after the owner failed to pay more than $100,000 in fines. [Daily News]

- De Blasio orders transgender bathroom access in NYC. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Brooklyn pol Brad Lander wants you to have to pay for your plastic bags at the store by Earth Day. [Patch]

- Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Brooklyn properties see price surge. [Post]

- Police search for missing 13-year-old Brooklyn girl, Dijenay Nelson. [Brooklyn12]

- The Brooklyn Eagle sent a reporter to Cuba, and he brought back photos of amazingly preserved American cars from the 40s and 50s. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Calling all techno fiends: Unter and the Bunker are throwing a 36-hour party in Brooklyn. [Thump/Vice]

- House Of Cards doesn't know where the Brooklyn Bridge goes. [Gothamist]


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McBrooklyn In the Woods, Contemplating Nature and All that Stuff

Bushkill Falls waterfall, by MK Metz

We at McBrooklyn Enterprises have been hiking around in the woods of Pennsylvania, climbing up cliffs, staring at beautiful waterfalls and in general enjoying nature.

Revelation: The woods of Pennsylvania have billions and billions of daddy long-legs (which look like spiders but are not), and also about half a billion actual spiders. On the other hand, there are almost no mosquitoes . . . unlike Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, spawning ground of herds of horrifyingly mutated Gowanus Mosquitoes.

Rooster at Hallo Berlin. Photos: MK Metz

Traveling north to Conklin, NY, we discovered the Hallo Berlin beer hall, sister to the Hallo Berlin restaurant in Manhattan.

We enjoyed excellent wurst and salads like potato salad, cucumber salad etc.

The old-timey establishment keeps chickens, turkeys and baby pigs in the back. Despite the copious number of sausages sold there, the waitress swears "We don't eat them!"

We'll be back to Brooklyn tomorrow!


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84-Year-Old Nun in 'Squalid' Brooklyn Jail, and More Brooklyn Briefs

Elvis' gold piano, Country Music Hall of Fame.* Photo: MK Metz

- 84-year-old activist nun imprisoned in "squalid Brooklyn detention center" which is also home to an Al Qaeda terrorist. [Daily Mail]

- Brooklyn man finds solace on a golf course made of trash. [NY Times]

- Allegations of malacious prosecution by a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Tangeez, Squinks, Not-a-Cameras etc: NYCEDC’s Next Top Makers program wraps up a NYC tour at the Urban Future Lab in Downtown Brooklyn. [Technical.ly]

- A town called Ypsilanti feels it is just like Brooklyn. [MLive]

- Brooklyn Hospital Center's CEO Dr. Becker hits the road. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Cops are looking for a gun-toting Brooklyn teen who's been robbing people. [NY1]

- Rev. Al lays a wreath for shot Brooklyn cops. [DNA info]

- It appears to be Brooklyn Hotel Week (plus, a discount code for Nets tickets). [Riverhead News]

* We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame during our recent trip to Nashville and saw Elvis' piano, painted with 24-carot gold. Its owners may have to sell it soon.

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TSA Agent Finds Pepper Spray, Shoots It, Sends TSA Squad to Hospital

Curly Howard, Stooge

More antics from those madcap TSA screeners at JFK:

TSA agent Chris Yves Dabel, from Brooklyn, found a pepper-spray container at Kennedy Airport and -- just for fun -- fired the eyeball-melting liquid at five fellow TSA screeners, the NY Post reports.

He told Port Authority cops that he “found the canister on the floor and thought it was a laser pointer.”

All six TSA agents ended up at Jamaica Hospital, and security checks were halted at Kennedy for at least 15 minutes, but likely it was much longer.

Thanks goodness he didn't find a detonator.

More at the Post.

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Riding the 'Speakeasy Silverliner' in Philly

Photo: MK Metz

While the subway in Brooklyn sometimes looks and smells like a speakeasy, in Philadelphia they got the real thing.

We traveled to Philly over Thanksgiving and rode the "Speakeasy Silverliner."

The custom train car (part of SEPTA, Southeastern Philadelphia's MTA) was decorated inside and out with graphics including flappers, Al Capone,  a bartender pouring martinis, liquor cabinets and a faux tin ceiling.

The car publicized "American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" exhibition on display at the National Constitution Center.

It was pretty amazing (also clean and untouched). Wonder if something like this could work on the New York City subway?

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Cripes, Black Friday 2012 is Almost Upon Us

Photo: Jbhthescots

Black Friday 2012 (November 23, 2012, the shopping day after Thanksgiving) is creeping up on us and the crazy rush of sales and hype will soon be here.

As part of the orchestrated Kabuki dance that accompanies the date, retailers "leak" "secret" Black Friday ads. According to i4U, that's called "taking control of your ads."

According to the cleverly-named blackfriday.com, several retailers -- including Harbor Freight and Fred's Super Dollar -- have already given permission to websites to publish partial Black Friday ads that they leaked themselves.

Here's a real Black Friday deal, however: Engadget reports a Sprint Black Friday ad that reveals $50 Galaxy S III on November 23rd only.

Deal News offers their predictions for upcoming Black Friday deals. For example, look for notable discounts on the iPad2, they say; and start looking for computer game deals before Thanksgiving. (Recently-released, popular game titles for 50% off retail, or about $30.)

In terms of toys, Deal News says, "It's not unrealistic to predict that many popular toys in late September and early October could eventually be marked down up to 50% off during the last week of November." And if you're traveling, Virgin Atlantic and Jet Blue should be offering great deals on Black Friday. See Deal News for more Black Friday predictions.

BTW, they also report that some Walmart workers may walk off the job on November 23 to protest the store's unfair labor practices, including low worker pay. (Sounds like American workers are learning from Foxconn.)

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Travel+Leisure: Brooklyn Heights One of America's Most Beautiful Neighborhoods

Brooklyn Heights is listed first in Travel+Leisure's survey of the ten most beautiful cities in America.

The article, which notes that "design and green spaces go a long way toward making a neighborhood attractive," describes the grandeur of the Brooklyn Bridge, the view from the Promenade, the neighborhood's brownstones and "regal prewar condos on leafy streets," the generations of literati and more than 600 houses that date to before the Civil War —- surpassing better-known areas in Philadelphia and D.C.

Other beautiful neighborhoods listed include the Garden District of New Orleans, Pacific Heights in San Francisco, and South of Broad in Charleston.

More here.

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East River Ferry; Smashburger; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The East River Ferry is really coming to Williamsburg. L Magazine 

- Smashburger is opening in Downtown Brooklyn/ Fort Greene next week, ahead of schedule. NY Magazine and NY Times

- Downtown Heliport on the agenda tonight. BHB

- Two Brooklyn lawyers implicated in mob murder plot. Brooklyn Eagle

- People and dogs hit the mute button in Prospect Park Sunday. Hilarious. Brooklynian

-Law routinely broken at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Lost City

- So this is the real story about the creepy guy who asks everybody for a cigarette. Brooklynian

- An easy way to introduce your kids to France without actually taking them there. A Child Grows in Brooklyn 

- Alarm clocks blew up at Ikea furniture stores in Belgium, France and The Netherlands. MyFox
 

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Loud Cell Phone Talker Thrown Off Train

Amtrak riders everywhere cheered to see this video of Justice being done.

A woman spoke loudly on her cell phone for 16 hours in the "quiet car" on Amtrak, ignoring the pleas of other passengers. After Lakeysha Beard got into "an altercation," police were called, the train was stopped, and police escorted her off the train.

In a hilarious turn about, she now says she was "disrespected."

Get the full story at KATU.

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Opt Out of Airport Scanners, TSA Groping

Which will you chose when you travel this holiday season -- a virtual strip search where your privates will be flashed on a screen in some back room (maybe getting a dose of radiation from backscatter-type x-ray machines), or an "enhanced pat down," where a low-paid, unscreened TSA agent grabs your junk?

While you're getting felt up, other TSA employees might be stealing your unattended cell phone or expensive watch, off in a tray out of your sight.

We understand the need for security while traveling and will submit to all reasonable requests, bomb-sniffing dogs, suitcase searches, delays. We don't want to be on a plane with someone who has a bomb.

But now, we don't want to be on a plane at all. Our dignity is being shredded, our privacy lost -- and our damn phone was stolen by TSA agents.

The same ones who will be feeling you up next time you fly.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010, is National Opt Out Day.

As explained by optoutday.com: It's the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government's desire to virtually strip us naked or submit to an "enhanced pat down" that touches people's breasts and genitals in an aggressive manner. You should never have to explain to your children, "Remember that no stranger can touch or see your private area, unless it's a government employee, then it's OK."

For more information, here's an excellent article by the non-profit Rutherford Institute.

 Photo from dontscan.us/John Wild/johnwild.info 

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Galapagos Art Space Is Sending an Artist to Switzerland for Six Months

Got this message from Galapagos Art Space:

Galapagos Art Space is sending an artist to Switzerland for six months. Are you that artist?

Natural Selection: Artists in Residence.

Galapagos has partnered with IAAB, the International Exchange and Studio Program of the Canton of Basel, Switzerland, to each year offer an artist from New York City the opportunity to spend six months near Basel, in the Swiss countryside town of Riehen. In turn, we'll host a Swiss artist here.

The studio is situated in one of the old estate buildings on the "Berowergut", just next door to the Beyeler. When the barns located on the "Berowergut" were renovated and the Kunst Raum Riehen was installed, the old coach house at the back was converted into a two-story live-in studio.

The deadline for submissions is November 5th.

More here.

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Pencom's Galactic Headquarters An Easy Trip From Anywhere

 The Galactic Headquarters of the Pencom Company are located in Brooklyn Heights, as seen on the sign above.

Directions: When you get to the Local Group, take a right to the Milky Way and head for the Local Bubble (avoid the massive black hole at the galaxy's center). Drive to Orion's Arm in the Gould Belt. The Sun is currently 5–30 parsecs from the central plane of the galactic disc, and Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Ten more minutes takes you to Remsen Street.

Photo by MK Metz
Andromeda Galaxy by xamad, Creative Commons license

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Overcrowded DUMBO, Gross Yogurt and Other Brooklyn Briefs

- With the recent opening of Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, occupancy and sales have surged at One Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Brooklyn Eagle 

- Wicked Spoon, Park Slope’s new frozen yogurt joint, is offering rare and exotic toppings — including chocolate-covered crickets. Brooklyn Paper 

- Crowds, triple-parking, film shoots: Has DUMBO become a victim of its own popularity?  Dumbo NYC

- Six Flags Great Adventure: get the scoop on cheap(er) tickets, how to get there and best times to go.  Brokelyn  

- Ads opposing a planned mosque near Ground Zero will soon be seen on city buses after the MTA approved their design, which shows an airplane headed toward the burning World Trade Center. NY Post 

- Sea surface temperatures in the mid-Atlantic averaged about 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit above normal from March to June, creating fuel for hurricanes. Bloomberg
 
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Crater Lake Seems Like the Top of the World

 McBrooklyn is still on the road: After traveling along winding mountain roads with terrifying hairpin turns, we've finally made it to Crater Lake, at the very top (7,700 feet) of Mount Mazama, Oregon. It's one of the most awesome sights in the world. Crater Lake was formed when a massive volcano exploded about 7,700 years ago, leaving the mountain and the deepest lake in the United States.

It may be 100 degrees in the valley but the top of the mountain is covered with snow. So after you drive to the summit in your shorts and T-shirt you get quite a surprise.

The mountaintop gets about 44 feet of snow a year. (If you go, check the Parks Department web site to see if they've finished plowing Rim Road. It is expected to be cleared by early July.) There's a lodge and a cafe at Rim Village near the summit, but the lodge is buried in snow during the winter. There's also camping in Mazama Village nearby.

 Scientists say the water in Crater Lake (filled with trout and salmon, which were introduced years ago and now sustain themselves) may be the cleanest in North America. The Klamath Tribe has always considered the lake to be a sacred place. (See Wikipedia for more about their lake legends.) The tribe has lived in the area for more than 13,000 years, so they are familiar with the creation event.

That's Wizard Island in the lake, at the right of the photo above.

Photos by MK Metz

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Pumice Desert, Oregon

 On our way to Crater Lake in Oregon, which was formed when Mt. Mazama exploded 7,700 years ago, we drove through the Pumice Desert, also the result of that massive explosion. Even after thousands of years the pumice inhibits the growth of plant life.

Photo by MK Metz


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Diamond Lake, Oregon

 McBrooklyn is still on the road. We've reached beautiful Diamond Lake, in the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon. (That's Mount Thielsen rising in the distance.) The water is crystal clear, cold and is literally jumping with huge rainbow trout (two feet long is not unusual). The trout and whole tribes of bats are going after swarms of bugs called midges that have started hatching along the shoreline. Meanwhile, bald eagles swoop down to grab the trout.

More from the next Internet outpost.

Photo by MK Metz

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McBrooklyn Wishes You Were Here

 We've been hiking our way through the Rockies and this is our first chance to send back some photos. These were taken on a Blackfeet reservation in Montana. It's glorious beyond words so we'll just post a few photos. (The trading post has the only Internet signal for hundreds of miles. Cell phones connected via Verizon work around the trading post; AT&T does not.)

 A few days of rain has swollen the streams. Elk, bears and free-range cattle coexist on this land, which runs all the way up to Canada.

Eventually we'll figure out what kind of tree this is, which grows all over the place here.

More at the next trading post.

Photos by MK Metz

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'Mint' Car Sharing at Two Brooklyn Locations

You can probably tell by now that we've been going through our never-ending mail bag this weekend. Here's another one:

We received a reminder from Zipcar's new competitor, Mint, that they now supply cars from two locations in Brooklyn -- at 110 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn, and at 353 4th Avenue in Park Slope. Mint says:

All reservations include gas, insurance and reserved home parking. Members are also eligible for discounted parking at parking lots throughout Manhattan. There is a $25.00 non-refundable fee that covers the application, DMV check and access card, but it is waived for existing Zipcar & Hertz Connect members.

New York Magazine compares the three major car sharing companies (Zipcar, Mint and Hertz Connect) here.

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Tour Buses Clog Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn

Fulton Ferry Landing -- near Barge Music, the Ice Cream Factory and the Future Home of Brooklyn Bridge Park -- is rife with tour buses nowadays.

Watch your step walking to the waterfront. The buses swing left at the end of Old Fulton Street, where they park along Furman Street for a while before wending their way onward.

A hot dog vendor plopped down in a formerly deserted spot to the left of Olga's barge knows what he's doing. A steady stream of tourists line up to buy real Brooklyn hot dogs.

There must be certain days when they are not so thick, but we haven't figured it out yet.

Photos by MK Metz

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