The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation says that beaches will open to the public on Saturday, May 28, with lifeguards on duty daily, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Swimming is prohibited at all other times. Beaches will remain open through Labor Day weekend.

Meanwhile, Orchard Beach is celebrating its 75th anniversary as the Riviera of the Bronx. In 1936, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses transformed a small beach colony on Rodman’s Neck to a 1.1-mile-long crescent of fine white sand. This past winter, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, completed work on the $13 million Orchard Beach Shoreline Protection Project. The Corps placed approximately 268,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach to further protect it against tides, winds, waves and storms.

According to a new study, New Yorkers don’t Like to read. This shocking information has been compiled by Amazon.com, which sorted through purchases made on their site and came up with the top 20 most well-read cities. The study took into account book, magazine and newspaper sales – in print and Kindle format since be beginning of 2011.

According to these questionable figures, Cambridge, Massachusetts has the most readers and a lot of Amazon shoppers because it is listed as number one. Believe it or not, New York City didn’t even make that top 20 list.

New Yorkers have plenty of independent bookstores to shop at in our concrete jungle. We don’t need AMAZON.
If you still want to look at that Amazon.com list, which does not include NYC...

Scientists have warned for years that playing violent video games causes players to become more aggressive.

The researchers found that participants who played “Call of Duty,” “Hitman,” “Killzone” and “Grand Theft Auto,” were more aggressive – than participants who played a nonviolent game. In addition, for participants that had not played many violent video games before completing the study, playing a violent game in the lab caused a reduced brain response to photos of violence – an indicator of desensitization. Moreover, this reduced brain response predicted participants’ aggression levels: the smaller the brain response to violent photos, the more aggressive participants were. Participants who spent a lot of time playing violent video games before the study showed small brain response to violent photos, regardless of which type of game they played in the lab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAIc7_hre3k

Ms.Yirong Chen, who has performed and played her Chinese classical instrument all over the world will offer a free area concert.

Yirong Chen will be performing on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 @ 1P Free Admission
St. Paul's Church National Historic Site
897 South Columbus Avenue
Mt. Vernon, NY 10550
914-667-4116