Midtown Tunnel This Lane

When you leave a place you thought would always be home. All images mine (unless otherwise noted). Find me on Twitter @June_Unjoo_Yang.

[thejuneyang]

I only want to see you. Thanks for the screening, @cvilleparamount. #Prince #PurpleRain

[guardian]

Why modern life is making dementia in your 40s more likely | See full article

From background radiation to chemicals in the food chain, environmental changes are contributing to a rapid global rise in neurological disease. A recent neurological study found that there are more people with neurological disease than ever before.

[thischarmingcharlie]

[thejuneyang]

Seriously #oldschool up in here.

[guardian]

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. … [The challengers] ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.

Quote from the majority opinion in the historic Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States. 

Follow The Guardian live blog for updates on the response nationwide 

Read more reports

(via guardian)

[thejuneyang]

Musing this morning on C'ville institutions.

[thejuneyang]

A lovely Memorial Day at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

[npr]

The most luscious watermelon the Deep South has ever produced was once so coveted, 19th-century growers used poison or electrocuting wires to thwart potential thieves, or simply stood guard with guns in the thick of night. The legendary Bradford was delectable — but the melon didn’t ship well, and it all but disappeared by the 1920s. Now, eight generations later, a great-great-great-grandson of its creator is bringing it back.

Saving The Sweetest Watermelon The South Has Ever Known

Photo: Heather Grilliot/Courtesy of Bradford Watermelons

[thejuneyang]

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle.

[thisiscitylab]

The humble food cart is a fixture on the streets of New York, and in recent years the offerings available have gone a long way beyond pretzels and the classic “dirty water” hot dogs. Now you can find food carts serving dosas, and arepas, and Bangladeshi-style marinated lamb over rice. People line up patiently on the sidewalks of Midtown to get their favorite “street meat,” and carts vie for bragging rights over who grills up the best halal chicken. Between food carts, which can set up on the sidewalk, and food trucks, there are now as many as 8,000 mobile food vendors in this city alone.

But while the culinary advances in New York’s street food scene have been tremendous, the carts themselves are still relatively old-school. Flashing LED light displays, now ubiquitous, are about the only concession to the 21st century. The vendors are mostly cooking with propane gas—which has been known to explode—and powering their rolling homes with dirty, noisy diesel generators.

That may be beginning to change. This week, a company called MOVE Systems introduced what its founders hope will be the food cart of the future: the MRV100. The sleek unit, designed with input from vendor focus groups, runs on compressed natural gas, with a solar panel providing supplementary power, and the ability to charge up off the electrical grid as well. The new cart is cleaner and quieter by several orders of magnitude than its traditional counterpart, with a restaurant-quality kitchen and far better refrigeration facilities than is typical.

Its developers also say that it is equipped—through a proprietary point-of-sale system—to take food carts into the future, or at least the present, by enabling credit-card payment, electronic inventory control, and perhaps, in the future, a consumer app for pre-ordering.

-Is This the Mobile Food Cart of the Future?

[Photo: Customers eat at a standard MRV100 food cart in Long Island City, New York. Via MOVE Systems]

[thisiscitylab]

A new study shows that the areas where creative workers and scientists live and work look quite different.

[Graphic: Greg Spencer]

[thejuneyang]

Last Saturday's port in a car-trouble-ridden storm. And yes, that sign says Moo Thru.

[thejuneyang]

Seen in Charlottesville.

[gemmacorrell]

[huffpost]

A Brief And Enchanting Visual History Of Los Angeles’ Iconic Magic Castle

The Magic Castle, one of Los Angeles’ most prized (and private) landmarks, is the headquarters of a members-only club that is intensely dedicated to the art of magic. Called the Academy of Magical Arts, the castle doors opened in 1963, but its history goes back much, much farther.

[thejuneyang]

These guys.

[theparisreview]

“It should come as no shock that Vladimir Nabokov took a jaundiced view of the midcentury American party.”

[thejuneyang]

Nothing says Easter like a lamb-shaped butter sculpture.