I caught the train home from Union Square about 8.15pm the other night. I was leaning against the door reading the newspaper but I was distracted by an intermittent noise.

CLIP – CLIP – CLIP.

I tried ignoring it but the noise was so familiar. And so repellent. It sounded like someone cutting their nails.

CLIP – CLIP – CLIP.

A young man, probably about twenty years old, was leaning against one of the poles in the subway car and was slowly, carefully cutting his fingernails.

I looked down at the woman sitting in front of him. And she looked at me. Both of us were disgusted and at the same time amazed. He stopped clipping and started filing his nails.

The clipping and filing continued through Canal Street and over the Manhattan Bridge. The only reason he stopped before De Kalb Avenue was because the train was held up for a few minutes.

Is cutting your fingernails on the Subway, especially when you’re standing over seated passengers, a little rude? Or am I just being too polite again?

Aw, they went and ruined all my fun. The headline on Page 8 of my New York Times today says English Ban Indoor Smoking. But some killjoy has gone and changed the online version to the more correct British Ban Indoor Smoking…

For anyone who wants to find a hint of sanity in the world you could do far worse than looking in the comments section of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee(MPAC) website. Here are the comments at the end of a story which claims the Danish cartoons were part of a Zionist/Neocon conspiracy to drive a greater wedge between Islam and the West:

MPAC take yourselves seriously!
Written by Yahya on 2006-02-13 10:34:52
Please MPAC we need an organisation like you.
That’s why it pains me to see you refering to ultra right-wing American conspiracy nuts like Christopher Bollyn and the AFP.
MPAC is playing in the big leagues now – start acting like it.
Associate yourselves with the lunatic fringe who rant obout the conspiracy theory and the “New World Order” and you hand all of our enemies ammo to use againsts us. We might as well ask David Icke to support us.

Not everyone who hates Israel is in our side. Our enemy’s enemy is not necessarily our friend.
agree
Written by Rock on 2006-02-13 12:12:11
I agree wholeheartedly with Yahya

To Yahyah and MPACUK
Written by Agreed on 2006-02-13 12:29:18
Yahyah put it perfectly – please if you want to be taken seriously don’t try and turn yourself into a laughing stock by publishing this tosh.
Countries like Syria & Iran are not controlled by the Zionists but by evil police states. Their governments promote these protests to rally their people around a common enemy – the West – in order to take pressure of the corrupt dictators who run their countries into the ground.

Link to wacky extremist conspiracy article (that I found via Harry’s Place) here.

I’m not particularly opposed to an Iranian newspaper publishing cartoons about the Holocaust. Iranian editors can do what they like (ha!). But after reading this report from the BBC about anti-Semitic literature for sale in Egypt I started to wonder what was so controversial about publishing anti-Semitic cartoons in an Iranian newspaper. Iranian newspapers are probably full of hate directed against Jews and the US and the UK already. A case of dog bites man perhaps?

Now, a cartoon aimed at bridging the gap between East and West, that would be shocking…

Everyone seemed in a good mood today in the city as they navigated puddles and shuffled along patches of icy sidewalk. In weather like this you have to keep your eyes firmly on the ground to avoid obstacles. Because of this you also have to be more observant of people around you. I think the end result was that everyone was in a conspiratorial mood today—and therefore more forgiving of each other for getting in the way. I give it one more day before we’re all sick of getting soggy feet.

Record snowfall? I don’t doubt that it was a record in the New York region but in our part of Brooklyn, and judging by Manhattan today, it can’t have been so extreme. I remember visiting New York a couple of years ago (2002 or 2003) around this time and there was much more snow in Brooklyn and in the city. It really did come up to your thighs. And it stuck around for days. Anyone else feel like the hype outsnowed reality?

Unmissable link for today:
For cute-baby-in-the-snow pics see here.