NYC singles make shocking discovery: It’s better meeting people in real life than on apps



On a gusty January night, 36 singles in their 20s and 30s braved high winds, pouring rain and a severe weather advisory to participate in New York’s hottest singles trend: speed dating.

Young professionals fed up with swiping and ghosting are turning to IRL meet-ups for a more organic experience.

“Ever since the dating app revolution, the hype has been around apps. But now the market is just balancing out,” organizer Kevin Wang, 28, told The Post. “There’s a market for this. People are tired of swiping.”

The Malt House, a Thompson Street pub frequented by New York University students and young professionals, was abuzz with laughter, high hopes and a little bit of nervous energy.

Margaux Jacobs, a 28-year-old teacher living on the Upper East Side, decided she needed to be “a bit more intentional this year” about her romantic life, which she sums up as “a lot of apps, a lot of losers.”

Jacobs has been trying to meet people in person, but with little success. Last year she asked two men on the street for their numbers, but neither panned out.

She heard about Amiccio speed dating on Reddit while searching for alternatives to dating apps in New York City.

“I figured I’d give it a chance because it can’t be any worse than what’s out there right now on the apps. And if nothing else, it’s a little bit of my time one night,” she told The Post.

This was Joshua Cordero’s third event. Although he hasn’t had a second date yet, he prefers it to online dating.

Repeat customers are common, according to Kevin, who estimates that roughly half of male daters and a third of female daters come to more than one event.

“I just like the face-to-face interaction,” Cordero, a 30-year-old marketer from Brooklyn, said. “You’re getting a sense of someone’s actual energy and vibe and mannerisms — like a more complete picture of who someone is, versus a digital profile.”

The event consisted of 10 rounds of five-minute “dates,” after which singles would indicate whether or not they’re interested via a card. Organizers later notify them of any matches.

Wang, who works in tech and marketing, started Amiccio Events as a side hustle when he recognized New Yorkers’ hunger to meet in person post-pandemic.

“In-person events save you time and help you cut through the BS of dating apps,” he said.

The group organizes speed dating, singles bars, professional networking events and social dance classes. So far, they’ve thrown more than 100 speed dating events — and demand is growing.

“It helps people save time,” Wang said. “You get an immediate vibe of whether you’re going to click with someone when you’re face-to-face versus, with online dating, you could… think you have great chemistry but when you meet up, you instantly realize there’s nothing.”

Some participants gave speed dating a swing because they find meeting people organically to be tough — especially in New York.

Deirdre Fay, a health and safety professional, moved to the East Village from Boston in November and decided to try speed dating after finding New York to be too fast-paced and anonymous to meet people out and about.

“New York is far more challenging,” Fay, 25, told The Post. “Boston was a smaller community, so you’d see the same people at bars all the time. It was easier to say, ‘I’ve seen you here before’ — that typical line.”

Some male daters also reported trepidation about approaching women in-person.

For one anonymous single, a 26-year-old working in cybersecurity, online dating has been difficult.

“If you use dating apps, you need to be really good at selfies, especially if you’re a guy,” he said. “I don’t have any good photos, so I do really, really terribly on dating apps. I get very few likes, and I think most guys get very few likes.”

But fear of being “the creepy guy” makes approaching women in real life difficult — which is why he’d rather speed date than walk up to a stranger.

“It’s scary to just approach people because you don’t want to be perceived as creepy,” he said. “A lot of guys will feel very nervous approaching someone in person because they’ll feel like maybe it’s sexual harassment to ask somebody if they’re single.”

He reported greater ease striking up conversations in the speed-dating context, where he knows everyone is there for the same reasons.

After 10 high-speed rounds, drinks and mingling were encouraged.

Janae Price, a 29-year-old video producer from Jersey City, had a positive review: “I think these types of events can be a little awkward when you don’t mesh right away, but my experience tonight was good. It was nice.”

She said yes to three of the 10 men that she met, though in hindsight she isn’t sure whether she would have pursued them in a different context.

“Sometimes at work you see a guy and you’re like, ‘Is he hot, or is he … hot for lack of options?’ And sometimes you just pick the best person in the moment,” she explained with a laugh. “So, upon reflection, I wonder if those three yeses were actual yeses.”

Regardless, she’s glad she made connections.

“It opened my mind,” Price said. “I 100% think that I’m more willing to give some of those yeses chances than I would be if I had seen them on an app. When you get to talk to someone face to face, you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re actually vibing,’ but if I just saw them but didn’t talk to them, I would probably just say no.”

Not everyone was as optimistic — including one Astoria resident who tried speed dating because she was fed up with men lying about their heights on dating apps.

“I think I’ve been taller than everyone so far,” lamented the five-foot-nine woman, who asked to withhold her name.

The following day, Kevin notified attendees by email if there was mutual interest. Eighteen couples out of the group of 36 singles matched. One dater even had four. But three women and one man said no to everyone.

Wang hopes that Amiccio starts a revolution — and can make ditching dating apps in favor of in-person connection trendy again.

“There is starting to be a cultural shift in how people think of how they can date,” Wang said. “And maybe we’ll play a role in changing that perception.”

https://nypost.com/2024/01/16/lifestyle ... ed-dating/

[lush]

Japanese Man Grows Banana Trees in the Middle of City Road for Two Years
111723*

A Japanese man planted three banana trees in the median strip of a major road in Kurume City and watered them daily for two years before anyone noticed their existence.

A 50-something man from Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, was recently ordered to remove three banana trees he had illegally planted and cared for in the median strip of a busy city road for a couple of years. It’s unclear why the man chose to plant the trees on public property, and in a median strip of all places, but they eventually got so big that they began affecting motorists’ field of view. It wasn’t difficult for authorities to identify the man responsible for the trees, as he had been watering the tropical plants at least twice a day for the last two years. He was ordered to remove the trees, or risk spending up to a year in jail or pay a fine of 500,000 yen ($3,350).



“It’s lonely… I feel lonely without my beautiful bananas,” the man told journalists after having to remove the three banana trees.

The Kurume banana trees had been getting nationwide attention for weeks, and on the day of their removal, news crews from major news channels were on location. They interviewed the man who had planted them and filmed him trying to eat one of the unripe bananas harvested from them. It was too green to be edible, but the man ate it anyway.



How the unnamed banana enthusiast managed to remain off the radar of the police for so long, especially with his daily watering ritual, remains a mystery,

Luckily, the banana trees have found new homes. Two of them wound up in the garden of an 80-year-old man who vowed to take good care of them, and ‘Kurume’s banana man’ gave the third one to a friend as a birthday present.

[Fatima99]

Zero Airline Crashes in 2023: It Was One of Aviation’s Safest Years Ever



It simply doesn’t get enough publicity, considering the fact that modern aviation has reached a point where tens of thousands of giant metal tubes filled with the most flammable liquid can launch themselves into the air at hundreds of miles per hour every day and almost nothing ever goes wrong.

2023 was the safest year in aviation history, with no large, turbofan-powered jet aircraft being involved in anything resembling a crash anywhere on Earth, meaning that scenario just laid out took place tens of thousands of times every day for 365 days without a single fatal crash or collision.

Even fatality risk onboard an aircraft is becoming a percentage of a percentage point, with just 2 losses of life occurring from machine or technical malfunctions onboard.

That’s not to say that no one died onboard aircraft—there were several fatal crashes involving smaller aircraft, one of which— Embraer Legacy 600—was carrying 7 passengers but also the mercenary commander of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and two of his allies in the aftermath of their mutiny against the Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

One wonders why anyone would board an aircraft under those circumstances, and if investigations into the failure of aircraft in flight is one of the most rigorous in society (and they are) then by contrast we can say that the investigation into Embraer Legacy 600 was unacceptably improper.

So putting aside political assassinations, the skies were safer than at any point in human history, and hopefully the sometimes brusque, always stressed, but evidently competent 600,000 people in America’s airline industry will see 2023 as a challenge to replicate.

Drone Captures Mesmerizing School of Rays that Appear Like Confetti in the Water



Daniel Lukic hasn’t been piloting drones for that long, but his capturing of a school of cownose rays off the coast of Australia is enough to convince you he’s a master.

The Sydney-based amateur videographer was on Forster Beach when he was lucky enough to be present with his equipment during a rare migration of these rays as they passed by.

Numbering in the hundreds, Lukic’s video taken from above makes it appear like someone threw confetti in the water.

“There was probably 400 or 500, maybe even more. It almost looked like glitter,” he told ABC News AU. “I get pretty excited when I see this sort of stuff because it’s a single moment in time where you just had to be there.”

Marine biologists speaking with ABC suggested that maybe the rays gather in such large numbers (which is known as a ‘fever’ rather than a school) as a means of protection like other fish. The IUCN classifies the cownose ray as “data deficient,” and so doesn’t have anything to say about the conservation status of the animal.

According to ABC, they are normally seen in fevers of around 100 individuals, but the size that Lukic managed to record is either extremely rare, or not rare and scientists just don’t know much about their habits.

In any case, the biologists said his footage may go a long way towards increasing scientific knowledge of the animal.

Lukic has also recorded dolphin pods swimming alongside sharks, which you can watch on his channel @Ausdronepilot.

[rflash8]

London’s secret nature reserve that’s only open for two hours a week is perfect for a winter walk



The words ‘nature’ and ‘London’ rarely seem to go together, but the city’s smallest nature reserve will make you feel like you’re in a tiny, natural oasis, even if only for a couple of hours.

Barnsbury Wood, in Islington, is a little-known conservation site brimming with nature — and the perfect place to go for a winter walk.

It’s only 0.35 hectares, about 3500 square metres (for reference, Hyde Park is 142 hectares), but it’s still home to various species of wildlife, according to the council, like the long-tailed tit, lesser stag beetle, common toad and the sixteen-spot ladybird.

The nature reserve, which was built in the 1840s by George Thornhill, who owned the land, was left to rewild when it was eventually abandoned.

The council bought the land, then overgrown with shrubs and trees, in 1974 to build on it, but decided it should be conserved as a Local Nature Reserve in the 1990s.

The hidden park is often used by Islington’s environmental education staff to run activities for school children.

There’s only one catch: at this time of year, it’s only open for two hours a week, between 2pm and 4pm on a Tuesday.

Still, this little slice of the countryside is well worth a visit.

How to get to Barnsbury Wood

The nature reserve is located on Crescent Street, off Huntington Road in Islington.
The nearest tube station is Caledonian Road while the closest train station is Caledonian Road & Barnsbury.

If you want to get the bus, you can get on the 17, 91, 153, 259 or 274.
Barnsbury Wood opening hours

Unfortunately, London’s smallest nature reserve has a very small window for visitors, too, with just one opening day a week for the majority of the year. In summer, the park opens for an extra two hours on Saturdays.

Between October and June, Barnsbury Wood Tuesdays from 2pm to 4pm.

From July to the end of September, it is open on Saturdays from 2pm to 4pm.

[PennySerenade]

Engineers Filmed An Ice Hockey Match From Below The Ice, Recording A Once “Impossible” Angle



In today’s world, modern camera technology is used in so many ways, from taking snaps during a poolside holiday to surveying the grounds of a vital business. Despite these important uses, not all cameras are made the same, and some are not as weather-resilient as others.

Although there are many extreme conditions that affect the performance of security cameras, ice is known to be particularly troublesome. It can drain batteries while also obscuring the image.

Axis Communications is a network technology and industry leader that offers solutions in video surveillance, access control, intercom, and audio systems. They decided to push the boundaries of their technology in a harsh environment by creating an unusual experiment to test it in the extreme. They went to Ulricehamns Ishall in Sweden to film an ice hockey match from a seemingly “impossible” angle – inside the ice.

Ice hockey is a fast-paced, thrilling sport that is one of the most popular winter sports in the world. It is a game between two teams who wear skates and play on an ice rink; the aim is to propel a rubber disk (called the puck) past the goal line that is guarded by a goalie.

Translating the excitement to a screen for at-home-viewers means that footage needs to come from all angles, but is it really possible to film it from inside the ice?

There were some logistical challenges to this experiment. Firstly, the camera itself would have to be workable after being encased in ice. Secondly, the ice in an ice rink is less than 40 millimeters (1.6 inches) thick, so the camera would have to fit into that space. Thirdly, the ice had to be clear enough so that the camera could film the spectacular footage.

The experimental setup included a sensor and a main unit with audio. The camera that was chosen was AXIS F2135-RE Fisheye Sensor. This was a full high-definition sensor that had 60 frames per second at 1080p and could record in color and audio. It also provided a 185° horizontal field view and a rugged sensor unit. Outside the experiment setup, this sensor can be installed practically anywhere (inside and outside) and is able to withstand vibrations and temperatures as low as -40°C (-40°F) and as high as 60°C (140°F).

For the main unit, AXIS F9114 was used. This had a rugged design and connectors, along with multiple sensor and cable options.

The team took the camera and mounted it horizontally within the ice, due to the limited space. A custom 3D-printed jig was made to house the camera. A mirror was placed at a 45° angle so the camera could record the above action. Then the whole system was frozen in the ice.

“The biggest challenge with this project has been the time constraint combined with getting clear ice,” Niklas Hansson, expert concept development engineer of the project, said in a video sent to IFLScience. “The combination of the two has made it very hard to cycle and experiment with the different ice setups we’ve been doing where it actually takes time to make a liter of ice freeze.”



The sensor had to be optimized to take into account the ice refraction and other impurities. Ice refraction is 1.44-2.50 μm, which is the measurement of the bending of a ray of light when passing through different mediums. Changes to the index can influence the size and position of an image taken by a lens.

To optimize the setup, the module had to be frozen and defrosted multiple times to ensure that the relevant tweaks worked.

“We were not sure that it would be good image quality. We had to test it out. The water could contain different particles. There could be air bubbles, cracks in the ice. And then there is the surface of the ice itself,” said Hansson. “That would affect how the image would be. So, we had to do multiple tests to make sure that we get a good image quality.”

Once the optimization was complete, the module setup was frozen at the Axis Communications facilities.

You might think it would be easy to position the camera within the ice, but this is not as straightforward as it seems.

An ice hockey rink is firstly made up of a concrete slab that has a cooling element in it. Then the ice is built up layer-by-layer (roughly an inch and a half). For this experiment, a hole had to be created so they could insert the ready-made puck-shaped camera rig. Once inserted, a Zamboni was driven back and forth to freeze it into place.

The results were clear footage of the ice hockey match from a perspective few but the puck have seen.



Overall, the experiment was a success. The sensors recorded the hockey match through the ice and were able to record exciting footage.

“It’s a proof of our quality in the design and the build on the cameras. They are tested for vast temperature ranges, both from the very cold to the very hot. So, this is proof that it actually works in practice as well,” Hansson stated.

89-year-old had to ‘Speak Up’ to Save Believed-Extinct Language of Indigenous People Who Revered Silence



Mr. Blas Jaime in 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0. Damiantorko

What do you do if you’re the last person who speaks an indigenous language that reveres silence? That’s a fine pickle to find yourself in, and for the last speaker of Chaná in Argentina, it was time to finally speak up.

Chaná, correctly called ‘Lanték’ is part of the Charruan language family, and according to the New York Times reporting on the phenomenon of the resurrection of Lanték, it’s a quiet, throaty sort of language that requires far more manipulation of the back of the mouth rather than the front.

Mr. Blas Jaime, an Argentine from the province of Entre Ríos, was already retired and 71 years of age when he decided to go and seek out someone with whom he could chat in his mother tongue. But years of keeping a low profile and speaking only Spanish obscured the fact that there were no other people to chat with—in that moment, and without a shadow of a doubt, Blas Jaime was wielding a dead language.

At a certain critical moment in South American history, Jaime attended an indigenous fair, and was invited by the organizers to tell his story. From that moment, he realized he could never stop talking, realizing the ancient heritage of his people depended on it.

He was featured in several documentaries, dozens of newspaper reports, he delivered a TedTalk, he spoke Chaná in a children’s cartoon to raise awareness of the language, he put his words and face on a coffee brand, and he delivered a speech in Lanték on an artist’s Instagram account which rung out over loudspeakers all over Buenos Aires.

But most importantly, he spent years working with a linguist Pedro Viegas Barros to create a dictionary which now has over 1,000 Chaná words, as well as an index of Chaná rituals and folklore.

His work has attracted the attention of UNESCO, which devotes a large amount of its time, staff, and budget to preserving and celebrating diversity of language around the globe—thousands of which, like Lanték, are at risk of becoming extinct.

“People have to be committed to making it part of their identity. These are completely different grammatical structures, and new ways of thinking,” Serena Heckler, a program specialist at the UNESCO regional office in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, told the Times’ Natalie Alcoba.

Different ways of thinking is a good way to put it, because for people like Mr. Jaime, his identity as a native speaker, owing to the disgraceful legacy of colonialsim, involved keeping a low profile.

“It was passed down from generation to generation: Don’t cry. Don’t show yourself. Don’t laugh too loudly. Speak quietly. Don’t say anything to anyone,” said Evangelina Jaime, Mr. Jaime’s daughter, who learned the language from him and now teaches it to others.

Speaking to Alcoba and the Times, Evangelina said that in their peoples’ culture, women were the keepers of memory and stories, but Blas’ mother died without a daughter to whom to pass to torch, so she taught everything to Blas instead. He is now referred to as Tató Oyendén, or custodian of the ancestral memory.

She teaches online to a mixture of academics and individuals from Argentina and Uruguay who believe they may be descendants of colonialized Chaná people.