David Shanske

  • New York New York United States

My day job is in training for an airline. I also develop Indieweb WordPress plugins so that others can take control of their online identity.

Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour

After living in New York City my entire life, I finally got around to visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island today.  I went on the Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour.

“Your tour guide will take you to select areas of the 750-bed Ellis Island Hospital, including infectious and contagious disease wards, kitchen and the mortuary and autopsy room. At its peak of operation in the early 20th century, this was the largest Public Health Service facility in the United States. Following in the footsteps of the dedicated doctors and nurses of years gone by, you will learn the fascinating history of the hospital and its role in preserving public health. You’ll also visit the Laundry Building, with much of its original equipment still in place, where over 3000 pieces of laundry were washed and sanitized daily.”

A ward, last used as a Coast Guard office in the 1950s
A ward, last used as a Coast Guard office in the 1950s

Most people do not realize that Ellis Island had a hospital, or the controversial nature of it. From 1902 to 1930, the hospital treated immigrants who were identified with a health deficiency of some kind. One in five immigrants who passed through Ellis Island were identified as having an issue, and nine out of ten of those were eventually cured and allowed to enter the United States.

A Tuberculosis Spit Sink
A Tuberculosis Spit Sink

It was an amazing concept then, as it would be today. It was one of the largest public health hospitals in U.S. history. It was designed based on the philosophies of the time, with isolated wards to keep disease from spreading, large windows and other natural methods of circulating air, a mattress sterilizer, and a dedicated laundry for hospital linens.

By the thirties, advances in technology, including air circulation systems, made the hospital increasingly obsolete. It was receiving little upgrades or equipment. Ultimately, the hospital was closed and was used as a military psychiatric hospital during its later years.

In the end, on November 12, 1954, 61 years(less one day) to the day I stopped by, the hospital closed for the last time. There was no removal of fixtures or supplies. The fixtures were so antiquated, the employees simply left everything where it was…where it remained…ready for the next day that never came. Over the next few decades, the island was looted and vandalized, until it was reopened as a museum.

The Structure is Still Remarkable
The Structure is Still Remarkable
E. Virgin Conway, chairman of the MTA from 1995-2001 passed away this week at the age of 85. Here he is, consenting to a picture with me at an event at Grand Central Station in the late nineties
Bookmarked Obama Administration Calls for Limits on Testing in Schools by Kate Zernike (nytimes.com)

The administration acknowledged its own role in the proliferation of tests, and urged schools to make exams less onerous and more purposeful.

Finally. I’ve been watching this obsession with standardized testing. It may have taken well too long, if they follow through, the nightmare is ending.

TWA Flight Center

TWA Flight CenterThis morning, Open House NYC held its annual open house at the TWA Flight Center at JFK airport. I headed down for a bit before work. The building opened in 1962 as the TWA terminal at the airport. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the building was in use until October of 2001 when TWA merged into American Airlines.

In 1994, the building was declared a landmark by the city. In 2005, the Port Authority and JetBlue Airways began constructing the new T5. The original concourse was knocked down. The only part of it saved was part of the departure lounges, known as the Trumpet, which was lifted and moved at a cost of $895,000, but was ultimately demolished. Despite promises of a complete renovation and use for the space, in the last decade, it has been only open for events such as the Open House.

Just a few days ago, it was confirmed, after years of discussion, that JFK’s first onsite hotel would be built there. According to the renderings I saw today, the hotel would be in two sections at the edge of the terminal near the old tubes that led between the ‘headhouse’ and the concourse, and would not obstruct the views of the existing building.

 

Departure BoardLots of PeopleCheckinPit

 

Trying to Explain the Indieweb

It’s been a while since I’ve updated on some of the work I’ve been doing. A lot of it has been behind the scenes. I’ve been working on improving some of the things I’ve built. Some of the work is rather subtle. For those of you not interested, feel free to skip this.

So, since 2014, I’ve been working toward getting certain building blocks available in WordPress, along with several other people.

  • A webmention is a way to notify another site that you’ve linked to their site. Once you have that notification, there are things you can do with it. Webmentions have been developed as a plugin for WordPress.
  • Linking itself has utility. But by marking up content, the receiving site can take action.
  • Microformats would be the markup you can use to have cross-site commenting and other forms of communication.
  • That would be the purpose of the Post Kinds plugin. It allows posts to be marked up as Likes, Bookmarks, etc. These things could be marked up manually, but some people would prefer a more automated solution.
  • Separately, there are two theme options now that mark up WordPress theme elements with microformats.
  • On the receiving end, the Semantic Linkbacks plugin takes incoming mentions and tries to interpret them….turning them into comments, likes, etc. This would be how you would derive value.
  • Finally, Micropub support. Micropub is a standard to create posts on a site from a third-party client. It means that be it WordPress on the backend, or something else, you can create with the same tools.

There is slow but regular improvements in both the Indieweb in general. Nothing is ever as fast as one would like it to be. But think of what can be done…

Replied to Hydrox Cookies Will Return to Stores This Month (Grub Street)

The “original Oreo” is coming back very soon.

A piece of my childhood returns. Hydrox, which predated Oreo, is finally making a comeback.

A few years ago, tech personality Leo Laporte referring to the Hydrox Cookie as an Oreo knockoff caused me to write off a letter regarding this.

I was most disappointed to hear disparaging remarks about the Hydrox cookie on your program. For your information, it is Oreo(1912) made by the National Biscuit Company(Nabisco) that ripped off Hydrox(1908) made by Sunshine Biscuit Company.The name Hydrox, which comes from Hydrogen and Oxygen…admittedly wasn’t the best name for a cookie, but in the latter years, till the product was discontinued, it was rebranded as Droxies. I remember, a few years ago, for the 100th anniversary, Keebler, who now owns the Sunshine brands, did a limited run of Hydrox cookies. You see, as a child, I couldn’t have Oreos on religious grounds. I am Jewish, and Oreos were originally made with lard, which for many years, meant that they were not kosher. It wasn’t until 1998 that Oreos were certified as kosher. So, Hydrox were the sandwich cookies of my childhood. Religious issues aside, I am not the only person for which such passion exists. A quick internet search shows much love for the now discontinued Hydrox cookie. Since I cannot get Hydrox, and at the moment I really am craving a cookie I haven’t had since 2008, I will have to go buy Sunshine’s 1947 bestseller, still in existence, the Vienna Finger. 
I did receive an on air apology from Leo Laporte, who proclaimed he actually had liked the Hydrox. I’m tempted, when the first ones become available, to ship him a package with another note.