A city and/or metropolitan area with a very high population or average density. A megacity is generally considered to be an urban agglomeration with a population of at least 10 million, though the United Nations defines it as a metro area that is home to at least 5 million people living in an area of consistent urban-level density. Most of the world's megacities are in the developing world — particularly sub-Saharan Africa and South and East Asia — which is rapidly urbanizing to the same high percentage that is seen in the United States, Latin America, and Western Europe. However, these cities are generally built with little in the way of construction regulation or public infrastructure. By the year 2030, it is estimated that more than 60 percent of the world's population will be urban.
Today the largest megacity is by far Greater Tokyo, with includes the nearby cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki and is home to nearly 35 million people; however, its current population growth is practically stagnant. The other nine largest are:
* Mexico City, D.F. (22,350,000)
* New York (22,150,000)
* Seoul, South Korea (22,050,000)
* São Paulo, Brazil (20,000,000)
* Mumbai (Bombay), India (19,400,000)
* Delhi, India (19,000,000)
* Los Angeles (17,750,000)
* Tehran, Iran (15,000,000)
* Jakarta, Indonesia (16,850,000)
* Osaka, Japan (16,750,000)
Smaller megacities include Bogotá, Colombia; Lagos, Nigeria; Manila, the Philippines; Shanghai, China; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Beijing, China; Karachi, Pakistan; London; Paris; Istanbul, Turkey; Chicago; Cairo, Egypt; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Ruhr Valley, Germany; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
* Mexico City, D.F. (22,350,000)
* New York (22,150,000)
* Seoul, South Korea (22,050,000)
* São Paulo, Brazil (20,000,000)
* Mumbai (Bombay), India (19,400,000)
* Delhi, India (19,000,000)
* Los Angeles (17,750,000)
* Tehran, Iran (15,000,000)
* Jakarta, Indonesia (16,850,000)
* Osaka, Japan (16,750,000)
Smaller megacities include Bogotá, Colombia; Lagos, Nigeria; Manila, the Philippines; Shanghai, China; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Beijing, China; Karachi, Pakistan; London; Paris; Istanbul, Turkey; Chicago; Cairo, Egypt; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Ruhr Valley, Germany; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon February 04, 2007
Also known as Pennsylvania Station, the busiest rail station in the United States. The major Amtrak station on the Northeast Corridor and the terminal for New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road.
Once the grandest gateway into New York City, since 1962 has been little more than Madison Square Garden's basement, a mishmash of "modern" corridors, low ceilings, and endless rows of suburban chain stores. Its loss is comparable to — possibly even worse than — a similar "modernization" effort on London's late, great Euston Station around the same time.
The original terminal, designed by Beaux-Arts architects McKim, Mead and White and erected by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1909, was a grand temple to rail travel which occupied four city blocks bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 30th and 33rd Streets. The Seventh Avenue facade was dominated by a collonade of granite pillars modelled after the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The main waiting room, designed to echo the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, featured a giant barrel-vaulted ceiling as high and long as the nave of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. And the main departure concourse featured a dramatic glass train shed which brought ample sunlight down to the train platforms themselves. Richly detailed sculptures abounded, including twelve statues of giant eagles which once perched all along the cornice of the station.
McKim, Mead and White had intended for their masterpiece to survive for 500 years; it barely lasted 53. With postwar rail travel on the decline, Penn Railroad merged with rival New York Central in the '60s to form Penn Central, which immediately set out with plans to "improve" Penn Station and its crosstown neighbor, Grand Central Terminal. Entering into deals with the owner of Madison Square Garden, Irving Felt, it was decided that both groups could maximize profits if the Garden were moved from its 1925 building on 51st and Eighth to a new, "modern" structure right on top of Penn Station. The result: the most supernal rail terminal ever to be built in the United States was dismantled and carted off to Secaucus, giving New Jersey the claim to having the world's most elegant dump. The banal replacement was "architect" Charles Luckman's oil drum that was the new MSG, paired with an ugly slab office tower, with plenty of cramped, claustrophobic, artificially-lit space for scurrying suburban commuters downstairs.
There was a silver lining to the loss of Penn Station, however. The public outcry was immense: the New York Times called it a "monumental act of vandalism" and "the shame of New York." Architectural historian Vincent Scully lamented, "Through (Penn Station) one entered the city like a god. Now one scuttles in like a rat." And Ada Louise Huxtable, the Times' architecture critic, warned, "We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."
The result of this outcry was the creation of the New York City Landmarks Commission, the first of its kind in any city in the U.S. Multiple buildings and districts in New York have been preserved since, particularly Grand Central Terminal, New York's last surviving grand gateway. Before it was declared a national landmark in 1978, it was very nearly razed in a similar venture by Penn Central — which went spectacularly bankrupt in 1970. Karma's a bitch.
Once the grandest gateway into New York City, since 1962 has been little more than Madison Square Garden's basement, a mishmash of "modern" corridors, low ceilings, and endless rows of suburban chain stores. Its loss is comparable to — possibly even worse than — a similar "modernization" effort on London's late, great Euston Station around the same time.
The original terminal, designed by Beaux-Arts architects McKim, Mead and White and erected by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1909, was a grand temple to rail travel which occupied four city blocks bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 30th and 33rd Streets. The Seventh Avenue facade was dominated by a collonade of granite pillars modelled after the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The main waiting room, designed to echo the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, featured a giant barrel-vaulted ceiling as high and long as the nave of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. And the main departure concourse featured a dramatic glass train shed which brought ample sunlight down to the train platforms themselves. Richly detailed sculptures abounded, including twelve statues of giant eagles which once perched all along the cornice of the station.
McKim, Mead and White had intended for their masterpiece to survive for 500 years; it barely lasted 53. With postwar rail travel on the decline, Penn Railroad merged with rival New York Central in the '60s to form Penn Central, which immediately set out with plans to "improve" Penn Station and its crosstown neighbor, Grand Central Terminal. Entering into deals with the owner of Madison Square Garden, Irving Felt, it was decided that both groups could maximize profits if the Garden were moved from its 1925 building on 51st and Eighth to a new, "modern" structure right on top of Penn Station. The result: the most supernal rail terminal ever to be built in the United States was dismantled and carted off to Secaucus, giving New Jersey the claim to having the world's most elegant dump. The banal replacement was "architect" Charles Luckman's oil drum that was the new MSG, paired with an ugly slab office tower, with plenty of cramped, claustrophobic, artificially-lit space for scurrying suburban commuters downstairs.
There was a silver lining to the loss of Penn Station, however. The public outcry was immense: the New York Times called it a "monumental act of vandalism" and "the shame of New York." Architectural historian Vincent Scully lamented, "Through (Penn Station) one entered the city like a god. Now one scuttles in like a rat." And Ada Louise Huxtable, the Times' architecture critic, warned, "We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."
The result of this outcry was the creation of the New York City Landmarks Commission, the first of its kind in any city in the U.S. Multiple buildings and districts in New York have been preserved since, particularly Grand Central Terminal, New York's last surviving grand gateway. Before it was declared a national landmark in 1978, it was very nearly razed in a similar venture by Penn Central — which went spectacularly bankrupt in 1970. Karma's a bitch.
The loss of Penn Station can probably never be undone, but some of the damage can be repaired and some civic penance can be done. In 2005, plans finally moved forward for many of Penn Station's operations to be moved into a new terminal across Eighth Avenue, to be housed in the Central Post Office which, serendipitously enough, was also designed by McKim. The new terminal, to be named after the late State Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, will serve LIRR and NJT commuters, as well as some Amtrak riders. Hopefully, MSG will eventually be moved somewhere else and the current building will be demolished, allowing for something worthwhile to take its place.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon February 04, 2007
Contrary to the uninformed beliefs of Gumba Gumba, is a game that was invented in the United States by a New Orleans sports teacher named Clara Baer. She had been learned of a new game called basketball which had been invented in Massachusetts in 1891 by Canadian immigrant James Naismith, and wrote to him asking about the rules.
Baer misunderstood certain aspects of the court lines that Naismith had included in a sketch enclosed in his response, and thus netball - originally known as women's indoor basketball - became a game quite distinct from Naismith's game. The first official game of netball was played in 1895.
Baer misunderstood certain aspects of the court lines that Naismith had included in a sketch enclosed in his response, and thus netball - originally known as women's indoor basketball - became a game quite distinct from Naismith's game. The first official game of netball was played in 1895.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon February 04, 2007
A euphemism for Democratic-voting states in the 2004 election, particularly in reference to the Northeast and West Coast.
Ironically, these states also have:
A) Most of the lowest crime rates in the nation.
B) The lowest divorce rates in the nation.
C) The highest quality of life in the nation.
D) The lowest ratio of federal aid to tax dollars paid in the nation.
Ironically, these states also have:
A) Most of the lowest crime rates in the nation.
B) The lowest divorce rates in the nation.
C) The highest quality of life in the nation.
D) The lowest ratio of federal aid to tax dollars paid in the nation.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon February 04, 2007
The more recent phonetical pronunciation of the letter "Z" as used by those in the British Commonwealth. By contrast, the older pronunciation, "zee," is still used in American English.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon February 04, 2007
In Britain, a raised pedestrian footpath on either side of a vehicular road (sidewalk). Or the material that such a path is composed of.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon July 20, 2008
Poetic name for the Americas, mostly dating from the nineteenth century, a feminized version of Christopher Columbus' name. Also the name of a popular female personification of the United States around that time, particularly before the construction and dedication of the Statue of Liberty; the Columbia Pictures logo is an excellent example of this allegorical figure. Several cities, counties, neighborhoods and institutions in the U.S. have Columbia as or in their name — especially the capital, the District of Columbia. Canada's westernmost province is likewise named British Columbia.
Columbia is also how dumb people spell "Colombia," a friendly and colorful nation in South America that is unfortunately beset by drug-related conflict.
by Shreve Lamb and Harmon February 04, 2007