Five Bullets 2.3.23
This week: Grand Central Terminal, Steven Pressfield, The Beatles & more
Hello and welcome back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share some interesting stuff I collected during the week.
Good morning and happy Friday all! Here in New York City it’s clear skies and windy with temperatures forecasted to drop to the single digits by tomorrow morning. We also had some light snow accumulation earlier this week. Maybe our luck has finally run out for a snow-less and warm winter as it’s looking and feeling more like February.
Yesterday, the world’s foremost prognosticating groundhogs, Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck, had their time in the spotlight for Groundhog Day. Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, while Chuck predicted an early spring. I went down the groundhog hole on the background of this holiday. Likely originating in North America by Dutch settlers, the holiday also has Celtic and Germanic roots.
This week’s bullets:
Some NYC history from this week:
Dutch settlement New Amsterdam becomes an incorporated city on February 2, 1653.
At midnight on Sunday February 2, 1913, Grand Central Terminal opens to the public, serving some 150,000 people throughout it’s first day. The newly-constructed terminal improved on previous stations at the spot, including the Grand Central Depot and earlier New York and Harlem Railroad Station. Following the destruction of the original Pennsylvania Station, Grand Central is designated as a landmark in August 1967. The terminal is still evolving - recent completion of the East Side Access project connected the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central.
This week I’m staring Resistance in the face thanks to a little help from the indomitable Steven Pressfield. The War of Art is a must-read for creatives or anyone looking to overcome that voice in your head which holds you back. Pressfield has a new memoir out, Government Cheese. I listened to his recent appearance on the Rich Roll podcast.
A few interesting videos courtesy of Vice:
How US service members compromised nuclear weapons secrets by using online flash-card websites. (Original Bellingcat article here.)
Earlier this week I found a copy of writer/historian David McCullough’s biography Truman. At 1,000 pages long I’m both scared and excited to begin reading! I haven’t read any of McCullough’s work yet but am familiar with his love of typewriters (featured in the documentary California Typewriter).
On January 30, 1969, The Beatles performed their last public concert on the rooftop of Apple Corps at 3 Savile Row, London. The performance was immortalized in the film Let It Be and Peter Jackson’s Get Back series.
Got something to share? Leave me a comment! I’m always on the lookout for something new to dive into.
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That's all for this week!
As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend.