A Sign of the Times

[ManhattanKnight]

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1531/cyn0088abnw2.jpg

Sic Transit Tranny Monday . . .

[ManhattanKnight]

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kim1982/vakantiewallie/photos/IM002463.JPG

Former Limelight Nightclub To Be Turned Into Mini Mall

December 19, 2006

The landlord of the former Limelight night club says the property will soon be converted into a series of shops.

The building on 6th Avenue and 20th street was once an Episcopalian church.

In 1983, club king Peter Gatien transformed the Chelsea landmark into The Limelight, an infamous dance club that was shut down in 1996.

The church now hosts dance parties under the name Club Avalon.

Copyright © 2006 NY1 News

[MidtownGuy]

The Limelight..what memories. We used to walk there from the F.I.T. dorms,
all of us gussied up in our creative best for a night of spectacle. I'll never forget the the image of a 6.5 ft. drag queen whose "hat" featured a fishbowl with guppies swimming around inside. Or the the antics of all the club kids in the main room while go go dancers whirled in cages suspended from the cathedral ceiling. People of all backgrounds and income levels mixing it up. It was quitessential new york nightlife.

This sad announcement is so emblemaic of what the NY nightlife scene has suffered over the last 10 years.

[Ninjahedge]

It was also a place where you could find just about anything in the corner stall of the bathroom.

Sorry, but good riddance! ;)

[MidtownGuy]

oh gimme a break:rolleyes:that's true of anywhere, including places a person like you might frequent. No drugs passing hands in the places you grab a brewsky? You'd be surprised.

[Ninjahedge]

Dude, I was the most insulated little suburban boy and I even knew about this one.

It is not a question of whether or not something is done, but this had a rep in the burbs as being the place to go if you wanted that....


So whatever.

[eddhead]

Dude, I was the most insulated little suburban boy and I even knew about this one.

It is not a question of whether or not something is done, but this had a rep in the burbs as being the place to go if you wanted that....


So whatever.

Yeah, but a mini-mall!!??? :confused: geez.....

[Ninjahedge]

I am not saying a mini-mall would be the best.

I figured, I dunno, A CHURCH might be a little better.

Hell, even a civic center for events and such.

I can't see how they would be able to fit a Coach, Bananna Republic and a Duane Reed inthere....

[BrooklynRider]

Doomsday moves a bit nearer

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the hands forward on its Doomsday Clock at the University of Chicago, a symbolic act reflecting nuclear risk in the world.

Despite renewed efforts from some of the world's leaders, atomic experts say they feel the world is nearer to a nuclear disaster than it has ever been.

The symbolic timepiece counts down the minutes to a possible nuclear Armageddon and at 14:30 GMT simultaneous events in London and Washington on Wednesday the clock moved forwards from its current time of seven minutes to midnight.

The clock now stands at 11.55pm.

The clock was created by the board of directors of the Chicago-based magazine in 1947 and set to seven minutes to midnight.

The hands were last moved forwards two minutes in 2002 with the heightened security after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

A news release about Wednesday's event said the scientists were citing "worsening nuclear and climate threats" to the world for changing the clock.

"The major new step reflects growing concerns about a second nuclear age marked by grave threats including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere," the statement said.

"The continuing 'launch-ready' status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the US and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks."

When it was created by the magazine's staff in 1947, it was initially set at seven minutes to midnight and has moved 17 times since then.

It was as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953 following US and Soviet hydrogen bomb tests, and as far away as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the superpowers reached agreement on nuclear arms reductions.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8A9A6606-6B81-4C4B-B9B8-E3FA8B8EFCD3.htm

[BrooklynRider]

'Doomsday Clock' moved forward
POSTED: 11:30 a.m. EST, January 17, 2007

LONDON, England (AP) -- The world has nudged closer to a nuclear apocalypse and environmental disaster, a trans-Atlantic group of prominent scientists warned Wednesday, pushing the hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight.

It was the fourth time since the end of the Cold War that the clock has ticked forward, this time from 11:53 to 11:55, amid fears over what the scientists are describing as "a second nuclear age" prompted largely by atomic standoffs with Iran and North Korea.

But the organization added that the "dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons." (Watch as the hands of time are moved closer to global disaster )

The Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded in 1945 as a newsletter distributed among nuclear physicists concerned by the possibility of nuclear war, has since grown into an organization focused more generally on manmade threats to the survival of human civilization.

"As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth," said Stephen Hawking, the renowned cosmologist and mathematician.

"As citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change."

The bulletin's clock, which for 60 years has followed the rise and fall of nuclear tensions, would now also measure climate change, the bulletin's editor Mark Strauss told The Associated Press.

"There's a realization that we are changing our climate for the worse," he said, "That would have catastrophic effects. Although the threat is not as dire as that of nuclear weapons right now, in the long term we are looking at a serious threat."

The threat of nuclear war, however, remains by far the organization's most pressing concern. "It's important to emphasize 50 of today's nuclear weapons could kill 200 million people," he said.

The decisions to move the clock is made by the bulletin's board, which is composed of prominent scientists and policy experts, in coordination with the group's sponsors.

Since it was set to seven minutes to midnight in 1947, the hand has been moved 18 times, including Wednesday's move.

It came closest to midnight -- just two minutes away -- in 1953, following the successful test of a hydrogen bomb by the United States. It has been as far away as 17 minutes, set there in 1991 following the demise of the Soviet Union.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[lofter1]

Input on this ^^^ at the "End of the World" thread starting HERE (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=140918#post140918)

[BrooklynRider]

How funny is it that we have an "End of the World" thread?

I predict the last post EVER on WNY will be in that thread and that most people will never have a chance to read it.

[Ninjahedge]

I bet you a BILLION dollars that will never happen!

[Golden_Diosa]

How is that womans big butt, a sign of the times? Didnt they just ban trans fats in NY?:confused: