Turning Over

So on New Years in New York City I decided to go to Times Square. This was fairly fun, and was worth seeing it, but it would have been significantly more worth it if I had someone with me. It was pretty cold, so I didn't head out until 10PM. Mom and Dad, that coat you bought me at MSSM is definitely starting to pay off. The subways were definitely crowded. I got off at 59th street, because the 50th street stop was closed. For reference, Times Square is at 45th street. Then I followed the crowd. There were dozens of police officers around, and they did a pretty good job with crowd control. The line for security check was actually more squished than anything else, probably because it was temporary. It was definitely beyond sustainable human density. After getting through,


there was a lot of open space. But then I walked, and walked, down past 57th street, and this is where I hit the solid wall of people. Again let me illustrate where this is with respect to Times Square.


A is where I was, just outside Carnegie Hall. B is where the ball was. That's about one kilometer away. But I could still see Times Square.


The sidewalks were separated off so that businesses could operate, and people who had hotel rooms or restaurant tickets could get into them. But besides that, it was a solid layer of people. Standing in the crowd for 1.5 hours wasn't that cold, probably because we were all heating it, and blocking the wind. It was said by a few people that toes were the coldest, and my data confirms that. This kind of human density makes me wonder about things like the maximum weight a street can take, or whether the subway was desined with this pressure in mind. There were more foriegn conversations than English ones. Some completely inconsiderate people were smoking. Here's the countdown and ensuing fireworks show. It's taken sideways because I forgot that videos can't be rotated in youtube.



I'm gonna have to say that what happened in Hong Kong was more awesome. The open-harbor location allows for a lot more than does the constricted Times Square.

Makers of silly 200X New Years glasses; your reign is over.

-Alex Scott