FAO Schwarz, America’s oldest toy store, closes its doors in Manhattan

The FAO Schwarz toy store owned by Toys R U on New York City's Fifth Avenue is taking a final bow. It began in 1870 and is closing its doors for good and there are possibilities that it may reopen elsewhere in midtown Manhattan.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 15 July 2015.

The decision had been announced in May and the reason cited was the costs of operating the 45,000-square-foot retail space. A sign on the window read - 'See you soon...let us pause and reminisce.' This could mean seeing it reopen elsewhere.
The company had been in New York City since 1870 and began in the GE building at 58th Street and 5th Avenue in 1986. This outlet had a candy store, three levels of specialty toy departments and personal shoppers. It has been featured in a number of movies, including 'Big,' where Tom Hanks played the song chopsticks by dancing on the store's large floor piano.
As far as celebrities go, the store has seen famous parents like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Angelina Jolie and Victoria Beckham who have bought gifts for their little ones.
Historically speaking, FAO Schwarz was founded by German immigrant Frederick Otto Schwarz and his two brothers. They had started with a store called Toy Bazaar in Baltimore, Maryland in 1862. Subsequently, Schwarz brought the business to New York City in 1870 and renamed it to FAO Schwarz, while his brothers continued to run other stores in Baltimore and Boston.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

A few more must reads -
Revolution in the skies - Airbus flies electric plane E-Fan across the English Channel

CBSE to check cheating in AIPMT exams – examinees can wear only T-shirt and jeans

Nine-year-old boy of Philippines studies in the light from a McDonald’s restaurant

Drone hovering over TISS campus in Mumbai sets off alarms

Typhoon Chan-hom strikes eastern coast of China with wind speeds of 173-Kmph


Boko Haram going the way of ISIS – releases first beheading video

US drone strike has killed top ISIS leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Parents of 14-year-old girl arrested for forcing her to live in the woods for eating Pop-Tart


Where are the stamp collectors and pen friends?

Religion on Indian television

Prison inmate hid 64 bedsheets to shimmy down and escape from 11th floor

Inmate of a prison in New York had managed to procure as many as 64 bedsheets which he had tied together and kept hidden – he wanted to use that to escape from the 11th floor of the Manhattan Detention Centre via the window of his cell. It would have taken him directly on to the street outside!!
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 19 June 2015.

It seems the person, who is linked to a drug smuggling outfit and is awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge, had concealed the bed under a sink in his cell at the Manhattan Detention Centre. The sheets had been neatly tied together and would have helped him shimmy down 11 floors from his cell block to the street and escape.
Fortunately, the plot was discovered before he had any opportunity to test his skills at making a getaway.
If he had succeeded, it would have been a major embarrassment for the police who are still searching for the past two weeks to locate two escaped inmates of correctional facility in Dannemora. They were convicted murderers and had used power tools to escape.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

A few more must reads -
Airbus to showcase its E-Fan 2.0 silent plane in Paris Air Show

Music is a great healer – listen to classical music and lower your blood pressure

Taxi strike in Kolkata opens the doors for Uber and Ola cabs

Pickles and yoghurt help youngsters to tackle social anxiety


MI5 warns – extremists on the prowl in the streets of Britain

ISIS militants ambush and kill Taliban fighters in Afghanistan

British would-be jihadists are making detour to Syria via Canada to avoid detection


How retired persons keep themselves busy

Learn to embrace the mall culture

Time weighs down heavily on retired men

Bogus tour operator charged out-of-towners $200 each way for a trip that is free

The round trip to Staten Island has been free ever since 1997 but a bogus tour operator charged two unsuspecting out-of-towners $200 each-way for a ride in the Staten Island Ferry. It seems there has been an increase in Manhattan tourism scams but this one took the cake. It was described as brazenly outrageous since it involved one of New York City’s most popular attractions.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 31 May 2015.

The ferry leaves from lower Manhattan and takes in the Statue of Liberty as it crosses New York Harbor to Staten Island. And, cops arrested Gregory Reddick after the alert cops spotted him charging a couple of tourists $400 for round-trip tickets on the ferry.
The officer challenged the 54-year-old man for his ID and Parks permit and the man led the six officers on a chase that ended near the ferry terminal in The Battery and the man was subdued by using pepper spray. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

A few more must reads -

Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub


Kenyan lawyer wants to marry Obama’s elder daughter Malia

Modi’s first year in office – how America sees it

Noise pollution leads to obesity – those living near airports or busy streets are affected

Giant barrel jellyfish 5-ft long, 3-ft diameter and weighing 5-stone each found off Dorset coast

ICU beckons me for a second time

Marriages are made in Heaven

Teen, instigated by his mother, bludgeons a Delhi bus driver to death in broad daylight

Dozens of corpses found in bamboo cages in Thai human trafficking camp

Amtrak train with 243 persons on board derails in Philadelphia – 5 dead, 63 injured

Amtrak train 188 carrying 238 passengers and five crew crashed in Philadelphia and claimed the lives of five persons as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 13 May 2015.

The train was traveling from Washington D.C. to New York City when it crashed as it went into a turn just a few miles outside of 30th Street Station. It resulted in derailment of seven cars which came off entirely from the tracks. The engine was completely separated from the rest of the train and one of the cars was split in half during the crash FBI agents who arrived on the scene soon have confirmed that there is no indication of terrorism in the derailment.
Apart from the fatalities, 65 people were injured and six of them are believed in critical condition. This number could be even higher since all passengers have yet to be accounted for.
As Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has remarked – ‘this was an absolute disastrous mess .. I have never seen anything like it in my life.'
(Images courtesy wikimediacommons.com)

A few more must reads -

Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub


More than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped last year by Boko Haram have vanished

Journey to freedom – 5800 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean

Indonesian smugglers stuff yellow-crested cockatoos into plastic bottles to get past customs

Engineering graduate of Hyderabad goes astray, dies because of links with ISIS

Dozens of corpses found in bamboo cages in Thai human trafficking camp

Quick tour of Delhi by ITDC bus

Street ants of New York love human-like junk food

#junkfood #trafficisland #manhattan #sidewalks A latest study has found that urban ants in New York love junk food just as the humans do. The diet of these ants is rich in junk food as has been revealed by tests carried out on insects that have been collected from pavements and traffic islands in Manhattan.
The tests show that their bodies contain the molecular fingerprint of junk food. However, this does not hold true when compared with the more genteel ants that frequent leafy park areas.
The research has been conducted by North Carolina State University and reported in news.sky.com dated 1 April 2015.

In the opinion of lead researcher Dr Clint Penick, food consumed by human go to make up a significant portion of the diet in the urban species. These ants eat the city garbage, and this could be a reason of why the pavement ants achieve such large populations in cities.
In order to conduct the study, the scientists had tested over 100 ants representing 21 species from dozens of sites in New York’s sidewalks, streets and parks. The assessment of their diet was done by analyzing the kind of carbon present in their bodies. This provides an indication of the type of food ingested.
The logic is that all animals, including humans, take in carbon from food, however, the particular strain found in the pavement ants was specifically associated with corn and sugar cane. These products are abundant in human processed foods because these are used as sweeteners or to enhance the flavor of the fast foods.

A few more must reads -

Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub


Nine medical students go to Syria, their families try to bring them back

First Russian woman cosmonaut returns to Earth after six-month stay in ISS

European court terms obesity as a disability

Health tips – lose weight without dieting

Auckland girl sweet talks thief to return stolen mobile phone

Anchovies can boost good cholesterol and reduce risk factors of the heart

Passenger train crashes into a SUV near New York City – 6 killed

#metronorthrailroad #valhalla #JeepCherokee A passenger train crashed into a sport utility vehicle SUV that was stuck on the tracks leaving 6 persons dead and injuring another 12 – 5 of the dead were passengers in the train and the sixth was the driver of the SUV as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 4 February 2015.
As per reports of Metro-North Railroad, the northbound train struck a Jeep Cherokee at a railroad crossing in Valhalla, about 32-Km north of New York City. It seems the railroad track gates had come down on top of the SUV, which was stopped on the tracks. The driver came out of the vehicle to look at the rear and, when she got back in and drove forward she was struck.
The train shoved the SUV about 10 train car lengths north, resulting the SUV and the front of the train catching fire. The train had left Grand Central Terminal about 45 minutes earlier.
Metro-North, formed in 1983, is America’s second-busiest railroad, after the Long Island Rail Road and it serves nearly 280,000 riders daily in New York and Connecticut.