NYC as Manifestation of Avolokiteshvarahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wStmXZTTfBw&t=2712s&index=3&list=PLdGRI8vFare_mXVUtKGbP_Piw2kmLhFrH …
Our pizza is really exceptional. There's a case to be made that some other east coast spots are equally good, but it's a close call. If you're from the west coast and don't know what you're missing, well, sorry, you just lost the pizza lottery.
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This is one of the few cities in the world where the burning hot conflicts that divide groups of people are really only at a low simmer here. Orthodox Jews and devout Muslims living side by side with no conflict, for example.
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the economic stratification of the city is grotesque though and it's a miracle that there haven't been class riots in the streets. That might be because there's about 50000(!!!) officers in the NYPD. It's basically a municipal army.
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the taxes are sky high too, and very regressive. excise taxes and alcohol and cigarettes, as well as enforcement of parking tickets and other petty fines make up a lot of the city's revenue base. they largely give away huge tax breaks to landlords.
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the transportation network the city relies upon to make it livable for working class people is controlled by a bureaucracy appointed by the elected representatives of the suburbs. this is due to financial mismanagement from decades ago.
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the mayor and the governor are currently feuding. I'm told by older generations that this is typical and the current feud is comparable (if a little bit pissier) to past ones.
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the quality of a neighborhood is almost directly connected to the number of trees in it. this is mapped out in a few places. here's one.https://tree-map.nycgovparks.org/
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here's a "green" map https://www.addressreport.com/blog/nyc-green-map/ …
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that closely matches median income by neighborhood as well
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working in NYC and living in NYC are very detached experiences. there are a huge number of long distance commuters that work here and the reach of the suburbs goes out at least 50 miles or so, due to big highways and commuter rail lines.
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My poor father commutes about 100 minutes (each way) from his home upstate into Manhattan. On any given day there are about 1.5 million commuters that come into the city for their $dayjobs. That temporarily doubles the population of Manhattan between 8am and 6pm.
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The city spirit is well aware of what kind of town it is. Their are statues of Mercury all over the place. Here's one at Grand Central Terminal.pic.twitter.com/pke3BcP7CD
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In fact the city is, in general, very neo-classical and very pagan. Not that anyone is explicitly doing devotional worship, just that you are far more likely to find Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or even Persian and Babylonian symbols around then you are to find Christian symbols.
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There are plenty of churches of course. I wonder sometimes what the attendance is like inside. This isn't like a Southern city with evangelical mega-churches. Truly, I don't know.
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alright, that was a fun excursion. hope you enjoyed my ramblings :)
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