A woman who was shot in the stomach with an arrow on a New York City street is recovering at a hospital.

The 30-inch arrow struck Denise Delgado-Brown, of Yonkers, on Sunday afternoon as she was dropping off parishioners at a nursing home in the Bronx.

Fox News

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Allowing users to search by name, rank, branch of service or hometown the service shares information about the record of each soldier’s record.

Facts about The Interactive Wall
At full size, The Wall image on Footnote is about 460 feet wide (400,000 pixels wide by 12,500 pixels tall).
We found 58,320 names inscribed on The Wall.
There are about 70 names which are duplicates or misspellings.
8 names are women.
2,056 are listed as “body not recovered.”
Average age is 22.8 years old.
The image was assembled from 6,301 images photographed by Peter Krogh and stitched by Darren Higgins

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial ** Thanks GearLive**

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I’ve been fighting off the tail end of a cold for a few days, so thought the steam and sauna might knock out the rest of the gunk. Or at least the high percentage of steamed chlorine would eat out mucus from my lungs. No dice. But still, after three hours of alternating between sweaty heat rooms and plunging into a cess of ice-cold water, my body was weakly glowing from pleasurable exhaustion.

While another Russian bath house in the Lower East Side is more well-known, I went to Wall Street Bath & Spa 88 down on Fulton Street. It was clean, staffed by slightly-less-taciturn-than-usual Russian help, and was fairly inexpensive—$35 all-you-can-soak. I’d suggest making a day of it—I intend to again soon—by hanging out in the communal lounge area, sipping fair-price bottled beers, watching the big screen TV, popping over to the hot tub for a little human soup time, and then finishing up in the restaurant, where lots of surprisingly tasty Eastern European food can be eaten while you lounge in a white terry robe. (Try the pickled vegetables!) There is also a pool table in a stately paneled room, but no cues were on hand. I’m sure it costs extra to play. There is supposedly a smoking lounge, as well, although I did not find it.

I had a beer, a couple of big bottles of water (you can bring your own bottle which they will fill with tap), and the regular access to the steam rooms and pool. My total was something like $47. Totally worth it for a multi-hour mini-vacation.

A few bits of advice is you head to Wall Street Bath specifically.

• The white robes cost an extra $5 to rent, so you might bring your own, although I didn’t see anyone doing that. Maybe there’s a way to schmooze the attendants.

• There’s no need for a towel. As many as you can use are provided, usually hot from the dryers.

• Hard plastic slippers are provided, but I’d suggest bringing a pair of flip-flops of your own.

• It’s co-ed, so bring trunks. A nice locker room with showers is provided, as is a free place to stash your valuables.

• If you wear glasses like me, be sure to take a little pouch or have trunks with a pocket so you can stash them in the steam rooms, where they will not only fog over instantly, but could even get too warm to wear if the frames are made of metal.

• Don’t worry about how you look, because even the hottest girls look miserable in the sauna. It’s more a family sort of vibe than anything like a ’70s swingers sort of place.

• Do the cold water shocks. They feel amazing once your body stops its uncontrollable seizing, and it’s the alternating hot-and-cold that really gets the muscles (and possible other organs, depending on how much you buy into the theory) to relax.

• It’s okay to say “schvitz” even if you aren’t a Jew.

• It’s okay to pretend you are a Russian mobster making a human slave deal to your friends as you sit with a towel draped over your head, but you will get all the dirty looks from actual Russians that you deserve.

Image: Cannonseat (That’s not Wall Street Bath, but another banya. Same sort of thing, mostly, although you can’t eat or drink in Wall Street Bath’s steam rooms.)

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Joe Vento posted the signs at his shop in October 2005. They read “This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH.’”

Critics allege the policy discourages customers of certain backgrounds from eating there. They say the signs discourage non-English speakers from going to the shop.

I’m not sure how I stand on this — its his shop and the article did say no one is turned away due to their lack of English; it does say “please.”

Philly Steak Shop Didn’t Discriminate[Breitbart.com]

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Beer is not the drink of choice for most North Koreans, who prefer cheaper rice-based liquor that packs a big punch.

Regardless, North Korea is proud of its Taedonggang beer. Sadly, North Korea is kind of mess. They lacked the infrastructure, knowledge and perhaps the ability to keep everything as insanely clean and bacteria free to brew great tasting beer. What’d they do? Much like W.R. Hearst did when he wanted something — they bought a brewery in the UK, took it apart and moved it to North Korea.

North Korea’s quest to produce decent beer began in earnest in 2000 when it started talks with Britain’s Ushers brewery about acquiring its Trowbridge, Wiltshire plant that had ceased operations.

The North Koreans took apart the brewery that had been producing country ales for about 180 years, shipped it piece by piece to Pyongyang and reassembled it under the banner of its Taedonggang Beer Factory.

Tthe beer is becoming more available in Asia and maybe someday we’ll be able to try it here in the US. Sadly, the article doesn’t make it sound all that great.

North Korean beer: great taste, low proliferation risk [Reuters]

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Its like Superman losing the Fortress of Solitude or the President being evicted from the White House: Michael Jackson appears to be losing his famed Neverland Ranch.

“You are in default of a deed of trust …,” Jackson was told in the five-page filing, according to a copy of the document published by FoxNews.com. “Unless you take action to protect your property it may be sold at a public sale.”

Michael Jackson faces forced sale of Neverland [Reuters]

Wonder how this plays out.

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I grew up in Santa Monica, California and the lovely, treasured, kinda badly moldy smelling Arcade on the Pier looks awfully like the building advertised as a Bubba Gump’s.

Sad. Maybe its not the Arcade, but it was close by.

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Mein Gott! It seems smoking is now forbidden in Germany. Initially I thought the Bavarians would reject such laws in favor of tradition, but no! Even the festival tents will be Rauchenfrei.

Smoking in fest tents will still be allowed in Rheinland-Pfalz, whereas in Bavaria it won’t, although most fest tents can be found at the October fest in Munich

German smoking ban to go into effect[435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs]

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Radegast Biergarten is at 113 N. 3rd St at Berry and will be opening Thursday. I’ll give it a few weeks to settle in before visiting. (Going to Williamsburg is a pain in the ass for me anyway, so it’s reserved for special occasions.)

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Don’t take too much of what I’m about to say about these floating Dutch “Capsule Hotel” units as gospel, as my information is gleaned primarily from a Google translated German information page. As far as I can tell, these are “survival modules” from the ’70s, original designed for shipboard usage, which have been converted into on-the-water rooms. Don’t expect a lot of ammenities: the “Luxury survival” package is the only one that includes a way to go to the head—and even that is with an “emergency toilet.” (Don’t worry, though; there are “all kinds of Bordgadgets.”

A single night in the luxury model will cost you 150 Euro, but you can spend a night in the bare-bones model for just €70, if you can live without the in-cabin disco ball. Have a look at the pictures page for some idea of the accomodations. Don’t let the sign saying “DANGER: LEVER DROPS CAPSULE” discourage you.

Hotel Site [CapsuleHotel.info]

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Then it’s back uptown to Crush Wine Co. a cutting-edge wine store. If you come from a part of the world that doesn’t have exciting wine stores, Crush will knock your socks off. The backlit, serpentine wall display that holds the bottles horizontally will have you shuffling down its entire 60-ft length with your head tilted to one side. Be sure to go in the “cube” of fine wines at the back of the store. A great selection will yield some (more) great wines for dinner and to bring home in your checked baggage.

We should write up one of these for beer lovers, shouldn’t we? Expect it by Friday—got any suggestions? (It should be more than just bars.)

36 Hours in New York City for Wine Lovers [DrVino]

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“Vegas is the best place in the world for a bachelor party,” explained a guy I interviewed for my new book BACHELOR PARTY CONFIDENTIAL. “Tons of strip clubs, beautiful women, usually very good weather, gambling—everything in the world you could want.”

You might think that cocktail waitresses, strippers and other nightlife players would welcome these fellas with open wallets. But most of the service-industry people I interviewed said the exact opposite. A manager at one strip club explained, “Bachelor parties just don’t spend the kind of money that other people do! They’re on a budget in a big way, but they want the VIP treatment. And dancers avoid bachelor parties like the plague. A lot of the times, everybody buys one dance for the bachelor. But dancers do not like doing twenty-dollar dances…Because, like on Saturday night, we had a regular come in with some friends and they each had two strippers; that night he spent $21,000 just on the strippers.”

Still there are plenty of businesses that cater to bachelor parties. Perhaps the biggest operation is Vegas VIP. They’ll take care of getting you into a club and a table—for a fee. Of course, there are other options. I talked to a bouncer at Rain who explained, “Anyone can work a deal. A lot of the clubs try to keep a hold on that, but they realize that it’s Vegas and it just kinda happens. The management terrorizes us, like, ‘If you take money, you will get fired.’ But if a guy wants to get past the line, it’s usually twice cover. So if the cover is twenty-five dollars, then it’s fifty dollars to get past the line, and he still has to pay the cover charge.” You got to pay to play…especially in Vegas.

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Dethroner was recently invited to visit John Allan’s midtown club (The oldest of four in the NYC area), and indulge ourselves in “The Full Service”. This would entail a scalp massage during the shampoo and conditioning treatment, a hot steamy towel wrapped around our faces, a good haircut and a men’s manicure (simultaneous, mind you), followed by a shoeshine…all while sipping on the beverage of our choice. Of course Joel and I both chose their ice cold Sam Adam’s on tap. Knocked back five each over the course of the afternoon. Speaking for myself, it was an exquisite experience and one that must be repeated.

Taking note that “The Full Service” costs $65 before tipping, it seems a perfectly reasonable little luxury. Let’s add together the average costs of each individual service:

• men’s barbershop haircut: $12—18 (much more if you go to a salon)
• hot towel facial steam: $3—8
• shampoo/conditioner, scalp massage: $10—20
• men’s manicure: $8—12
• shoeshine: $6—10
• beverage: $3—25 (depending on what you drink and how many. I capped it at $25 due to the volume of beer we consumed)

Total: $42—93 (mean avg. around $61)

(This is before you throw in the value of a few rounds of pool and a cushy enclosed humidor with beautiful leather armchairs in which to smoke your cigar. John Allan’s provides these as well, but bring your own stogie.)

At John Allan’s you will get all of these services performed with expert civility and professionalism, by a staff who genuinely seems to care about the services they perform, in an environment that is designed to perfectly suit a gentleman’s sense of style and comfort. Every chair you’ll sit in feels designed for a man to be perfectly at ease within. The key is to relax and indulge, as men of refinement in an upscale joint utterly lacking in snootiness. The art is regularly rotated, and the blues and jazz and classic rock pumped in throughout the house is potent but not overwhelming. My South African hairdresser, Michelle, confided that several of her regular clients are so relaxed that they usually fall asleep in her chair while receiving their hand massage from the manicurist.

If you’re the kind of man who would like to make this treatment a regular habit (ie – if you already keep your hair trimmed twice a month), you would do well to become a member; this is more than a salon, this is a men’s grooming club.

At $720 per year, John Allan’s members are entitled to unlimited visits to the salon with the complete full service each time—if you visit only twice a month you’re already saving over half of what the total costs would be to a non-member. Plus, as a member, the bar will keep a bottle you may wish to provide of your private liquor, labeled for only your use but on display in full view of envious non-members.

You’ll also receive two gift certificates so you can share the experience with some friends—freebies perhaps being the best advertising. Throw in 10% off the additional services, such as facials, body massage, hair coloring, and pedicures, as well as the increasing familiarity with the exceptional staff, and the value of the membership becomes that much more worthwhile.

As part of our introduction to the total John Allan’s experience, the management provided us with a care package from their extensive product line. Nothing here, if viewed in your bathroom by overnight guests or visiting buds, will leave anybody questioning your manhood; it’ll just make you come off like you give a damn about your appearance and grooming, but not too much.

A. MINT Invigorating Hydrating Conditioner. It’s incredibly thick, very rich, and definitely permeated with peppermint essence, which tingles and cools the scalp. It rinses out easily and seems to be quite effective at softening hair even after a very quick cycle, even though it is supposed to be left in for 3 to 5 mins. I have a lot of color and heat damamge on the ends of my hair, and it treated them well.

B. OCEAN Daily Nourishing Shampoo. This one’s a cleanser, it very effectively rids the hair of any product buildup, dirt, or oils that the body produces every day. It contains aloe vera for moisture, so even without following up with a conditioner it still leaves your hair soft, but not dried out, like many similar purifying shampoos can.

C. THICK Deep Cleansing Volumizing Shampoo. Aptly named, this is perfect for men with thinning hair issues, providing richly enhanced natural wave and texture. It’s infused with botanical extracts and vitamins, such as B5, which penetrates the hair shaft and encourages supple body.

D. FACE Replenishing Moisturizer. If John Allan can help men with any single lesson, let it be that we learn the importance of taking proper care of our facial skin. It’s not just about preventing wrinkles and signs of age; it’s about keeping it soft and hydrated in spite of environmental stresses. This stuff is great for that, absorbing fast, and with a low viscosity, it leaves almost no greasy residue.

E. SPLASH Cooling After Shave With A Bite. Great old school aftershave! It has slight astringent properties, so any nicks or cuts will surely sting, but it’s a good sting. The light, masculine scent is nice and subtle, and the witch hazel is a perfect facial tonic. You’ll feel like your grandfather as a young man after using this. Not a bad way to feel.

F. GELLE X Weightless Volumizing Gel. Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of this product, but being rather anti-gel, I’m a slightly biased consumer, so bear that in mind. I also have longer hair, and gel doesn’t suit my style. That said, it’s definitely light, only modestly sticky, the hold is gentle yet firm, and it does feel fairly weightless. A little will go a long way since it spreads very easily, and men with thinning or short hair will appreciate how it adds extra volume.

G. SHAVE As Close As You Want To Get. This conditioning cream is very nice on shorter, thinner beards, and it definitely locks in moisture, which is the whole point to shaving creams. On thicker coarser bears you may want to opt for something that holds the heat of hot water a bit better, or just use an electric razor instead.

H. LIP Spearmint Lime. What is it about lime-flavored products that denote a sense of manliness anyway? It’s irrefutable, as far as I’m concerned, and this is indeed as manly a lip balm as I’ve ever used. It’s far from mediciney, but it’s certainly not effeminate or sweet either. The mint tastes good, and the lime tastes…virile. Oh, and it works pretty well at keeping the lips from drying, too.

I. BLU Waterbased Pomade. (not pictured) The key here is that it’s water-based, which means that unlike waxy, oil-based pomades of bygone days, it rinses out easily and is less than greasy to the touch. Probably won’t cause as many zits either. It works great with a flat iron, I found, but a little dab on the fingers, emulsified with some friction and rubbed right into the hair will give great, forgiving hold, and is pliable all day long. Looks neato, smells nice.

A final note: Some men seem to feel that there isn’t a lot to personal grooming, keeping the process as simple as possible: Get your hair cut every couple of weeks by a $12 barber, keep the nails trimmed, shave and shower daily. Once a month or so, clip the toenails, end of story. A man should have a bar of soap, some shampoo and conditioner, something to shave with, and maybe some aftershave. Anything beyond that is prissy and not masculine, leading the way towards meterosexuality. Why has taking care of one’s appearance, style, and overall presentation become demonized?

Learn more about the John Allan’s salons and their products at johnallans.com.

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Is it wrong that the scathing reviews of theme restaurant Ninja New York have done nothing to quench my thirst to be served sake by the half-liter by deadly assassins? Even worse than theme restaurant—anathema to New Yorkers—it’s an old theme restaurant, and supposedly expensive, to (tabi) boot.

But whatever. I can think of at least one friend of mine who will be joining me at NInja New York the next time he is in town. I want to dine in a place with secret passageways, explosions, and nooks where ninja hide to drop frop the ceiling. I mean, they even train attractive lady ninja how to serve cocktails with a sword! I’ll drop 100 bucks a person to check that out. Once.

Restaurant Home Page [Ninja New York]
Another review [LowerManhattan.info]

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Your funeral party is invited to play the course as part of your funeral services. While this seems a downright creepy and morbid pastime to offer during such a somber event, a second thought suggests that the nine short holes of the theme course may be precisely the thing to take the edge off of such a sad affair, especially if there are a number of children present.

More pictures are available from miniputtgolf.us.

Ahlgrims Funeral Parlor [RoadsideAmerica.com]

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Alex and I had dinner in Manhattan at Yakitori Totto, as recommended by Michael Ruhlman, who called its yakitori offerings the “best chicken ever.” We were able to get seats at the grill without a reservation and walked right down the special selection menu, which included heart, liver, neck, breast bone, gizzards, skin, and [pictured above] tail and knees. We talked about our meal this morning in IM.

Joel: The only painful part about that meal was paying $50 for what was, essentially, chicken scraps.
Alex yeah, but who knew that organ meats would be so tasty?
Alex Not me!
Joel: The organ meats were probably my favorites: the liver was the best I’ve ever tasted besides the deep-fried versions of my youth. And the heart!
Joel: I never would have thought that chicken heart would taste so much like pork.
Alex Yeah. I mean, the knees were interesting, and the texture was not as hard and gristle-y as I’d expected, but the heart and the gizzard definitely trumped them.

Alex what surprised me was how simply each was prepared
Joel: Well, yakitori isn’t that technical. It’s just a wood-fired grill.
Joel: Street food, traditionally.
Alex sure
Joel: So once again, we paid $50 for chicken parts from a glorified food cart.
Alex but I meant, there were no sauces or marinades to mask or drive the flavors away
Joel: I think my favorite would have to have been the neck.
Joel: Although the way it pulled apart like an old telephone cord was weird.
Alex what we got was the natural essence of chicken, and I’ve never tasted anything so extremely chickeny.
Alex EXTREME CHICKEN!
Joel: There’s something about the parts like the gizzard that did end up making it have all the greasy goodness of chicken but still with some interesting texture.
Joel: That especially surprised me with the gizzards, because when you deep fry them, they turn into little rubber bands.
Alex How did I put it last night? The gizzard was like a chicken-flavored water chestnut that kind of broke down and eventually melted down my throat.
Joel: Anything you didn’t like?
Alex no, but the more traditional bits, like the wing and the chunks of breast meat, they weren’t really all that exceptional.
Alex Oh, and the breast bone was pointless
Alex though artful
Alex I was not crazy about it’s texture – maybe it should have been cooked a bit longer
Joel: Yeah, that was the one thing that Ruhlman went off on but I wasn’t really into. The only parts that had any real flavor were the charred bits at the end.
Joel: Anyway, now that I have consumed a chicken’s heart, I will forever carry its spirit into battle.
Joel: And you can’t put a price on that.
Alex y’know
Alex one thing I’m fairly certain of, is that they almost certainly started with a fresh chicken, and by that I mean that they probably killed and prepared the chicken themselves;
Joel: Why are you certain of that?
Alex Asians rarely order chicken at restaurants because chickens that have been dead for more than a few hours before their preparation lose an awful lot of flavor.
Joel: Hrm. I don’t know how much I believe either part of that statement.
Alex I can prove it to you when we go to Grand Sichuan
Alex they put this tidbit right on the menu
Joel: There’s only one way to determine this for certain: go back to that yakitori joint and ask.

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Despite the machinations of a New York Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, who for some reason didn’t think Bleecker Street should host one of Manhattan’s finest beer bars and stymied the acquisition of a new liquor license, Blind Tiger Ale House will be open to serve beer starting this Thursday. Let us wipe the memories of the old West Village location with one of Blind Tiger’s 28 new taps, two cask pumps, and wide selection of bottled beer.

For those of you outside New York, I have to explain that for a city our size—anywhere from eight to twenty million people depending on what reports you read (and whether or not they include illegal immigrants)—we have a paucity of quality beer bars, especially in Manhattan. Having the Blind Tiger back on the map, especially in that part of town, is happy news.

According to Thrillist, the Tiger will be fully open for business this Thursday. It’ll be ass to elbow, but I may just try to poke in for a pour. Congratulations, guys!

Home Page [Blind Tiger Ale House]

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