Photo of the Day (11.9.10)

by Stephen Greenwood on

If you live in New York City, it would have been hard not to notice a certain spectacle taking place over the weekend.

On Sunday, November 7th, a record 45,344 runners turned out to compete in New York’s 41st annual marathon; the largest and most widely spectated marathon in the world. An average of two million people line the streets every year to cheer on runners from around the world in the 26.2 mile journey through all five boroughs of the city. Even Chilean miner Edison Peña accepted a special invitation to compete in the race, finishing in 5 hours and 40 minutes; a course time that’s perfectly acceptable after spending 69 days underground.

Today’s Photo of the Day is a frame from the 2006 NYC Marathon, taken by Flickr user (and PotD regular) Clay Williams on the streets of Brooklyn. I think this image is a great illustration of the intersection of culture that inevitably occurs when thousands of people from around the world run through the streets of one of most diverse cities in the world.

Have you run or cheered someone on at a major marathon? Did you make it to New York’s this year? Share your stories and photos to prove it! Leave a comment below or submit to our Flickr Pool and it could be our next Photo of the Day.

Daily Pampering: new San Francisco restaurant debuts $390 truffle dinner

by Laurel Miller on

It’s truffle season again. In the Perigord, grizzled Frenchmen scour the forests using specially-trained female pigs or dogs to sniff out the rare black fungi growing from the roots of various tree species. In Piedmont, Italy, a similar hunt is under way for the even more esteemed white truffle. According to The Daily Beast, these little buggers can fetch an average of $3,500 a pound in a good economy (in ’09, the price for white truffles dropped to $1,800 to $2,500 a pound), making them one of the most expensive ingredients on earth.

In celebration of all this fungal goodness, Alexander’s Steakhouse in San Francisco is offering a nine-course truffle dinner for $390, through early 2011. Inside Scoop SF also tells us that for another $110, the restaurant will pair the wines for you. The Japanese-inflected meat temple opened last month in the buzzing SoMa neighborhood, but the sister location in the Silicon Valley is offering the same special.

Why are people willing to spend so much cash on a glorified foraged mushroom that smells like male pig pheromones? Gourmands will tell you the essence of the homely truffle elevates everything from scrambled eggs to pasta to euphoric levels. And truffles are supposedly an aphrodisiac (the scent of swine sex hormones, and all). Fortunately, a little of the pungent fungi goes a long way, and Alexander’s uses a total of 15 grams (roughly half-an-ounce) of black and white truffles on its special menu.

Dishes include elegant offerings like bonito sashimi with salsify, garlic chips, celery, curry foam, and black truffle; binchotan-roasted bone marrow, black garlic panko, citrus jam, and white truffle, and Japanese a5 Kagoshima ribeye cap [in plain English: expensive cut of top-grade imported Wagyu beef] with parsnip puree, butternut squash, chestnuts, and white truffle. Are you feeling randy yet, baby?

Want more? Get your daily dose pampering right here.

[Photo credit: Flickr user cyclingshepherd]

Kentucky wins fight with Ohio over Indian Head Rock

by Sean McLachlan on

We’ve talked about people stealing archaeological artifacts before here on Gadling, but the theft of an eight-ton rock has got to be some sort of record, especially considering that it was underwater.

A boulder called Indian Head Rock used to poke out of the Ohio River near the Kentucky side and was a popular place to visit. Boatmen in the nineteenth century used it as a guidepost, and locals would swim out to it to carve their names on it have their picture taken. This woman posed for a photo circa 1903.

Indian Head Rock gets its name from a mysterious face on it that some people believe is an ancient petroglyph carved by a prehistoric Native American.

The rock became submerged in the 1920s when the river was dammed, but low rainfall made it visible again in 2005. In 2007 a group of Ohioans pulled the rock out and brought it to Ohio, claiming that it was in danger and should be conserved.

This brought an angry response from Kentucky, with even the legislature getting in on the act and demanding its return. The Ohio legislature shot back a resolution claiming it was a part of Ohio history. The guys who took the rock faced a variety of charges ranging from antiquities theft to dredging without a license. Some of those charges have been dropped, but the rock hunters are still entangled in legal battles and are likely to face some sort of punishment for their actions.

Kentucky sued to get the rock back and it has now been returned. Sadly, it hasn’t been returned to its original location since archaeologists say the site has been “compromised”.

Scratch off yet another historic spot from the landscape.

[Photo of Indian Head Rock courtesy Billy Massie via Wikimedia Commons. Historic photo courtesy user Stepshep via Wikimedia Commons]

The New Orleans Marriott wants your mustache (for charity)

by Melanie Nayer on

Got mustache? Get one, and head to New Orleans for some serious upper lip fun. November is also known as Movember, the one month of the year when men are challenged to embrace their facial hair for charity.

This year, the New Orleans Marriott is getting into the game and offering a free cocktail to men who show their Mo at the hotel’s 5 Fifty 5 restaurant and 55 Fahrenheit lounge. The hotel will also make a donation in their name to the Movember foundation. Several male staffers at the Marriott have agreed to grow out their Mo and raise funds for cancers that affect men – in the U.S., Movember funds are donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG.

The rules are simple. Men start clean-shaven on Movember 1st and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health for 30 days, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men.

The idea for Movember was sparked by a few blokes having beers in Melbourne, Australia in 2003. Inspired by what women do for breast cancer research, the fellas decided to bring the moustache back in an effort to help raise awareness for men’s health. In 2004, the campaign evolved and focused on raising awareness and funds for the number one cancer affecting men – prostate cancer. To date, global participation of Movember awareness has raised over $42 million.

Throw down the razors and let the stubble show!

CLEAR is back – biometric security returns to Orlando and Denver

by Scott Carmichael on

In June of last year, the US lost its first biometric airport security service.

CLEAR allowed passengers to register with their service, and a special smart card helped them speed up the whole agonizing process of getting to the gate.

Several months after it shut down, it became clear that things were not going to be gone for good. Investors picked up various portions of the service, and had hoped to relaunch it by Christmas 2009. Sadly, that deadline came and went without any announcement. But now it really is back.

The new CLEAR is launching at Orlando airport, and will be available at Denver International later this month. For $179 a year, passengers can present their CLEAR card, and proceed through the checkpoint after scanning their fingerprint or iris.

In the coming months, CLEAR will also introduce a family plan, allowing family members to be added to the $179 plan for an additional $50. During the introduction period, all members will receive a free month.

Previous members of CLEAR are not being forgotten – the new CLEAR will honor all memberships, and these cards will be reactivated once CLEAR arrives at their home airport or when the old card is used at a CLEAR checkpoint.

I’m happy to see CLEAR return, but unless they manage to spread to a lot of airports in 2011, it is going to be an uphill battle to get new customers signed up. Still, if you regularly pass through Orlando or Denver, the $179 investment shouldn’t be too hard to justify.

To learn more about the CLEAR, or to sign up for a membership, head on over to their new web site.