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stories and things Stories, poetry, dream journals, passages and excerpts from other places, and whatever else is clever. |
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the big pictures Every weekday I post a big picture from somewhere along the way. I have posted daily pictures since 1999. Most of these pictures are from around New York City, but occasional travels bring pictures from elsewhere. Look for today's big picture, and big pictures from 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, and 1999 |
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whois this? It's a picture of my face and links to stories about me and about this web site. |
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stuff from my mobile device I carry a foldable wireless keyboard that I used to post stories, pictures, and other things from a Motorola Droid. This content used to be at sorabji.com until I moved it to its own domain at sorabji.mobi. |
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telephone
exchange names You do not see too many of these any more but there are still some out there. This is a photo series of old phone numbers, better known as Telephone Exchanges, which were used from the early days of telephony until the mid 1960s. A small number of companies and stores still have their original exchange name numbers posted on their place of business, while the names and old-format phone numbers of companies that disappeared long ago still survive on the surface of walls and signs that remain untouched for decades. This is my little pean to telephone nostalgia. |
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signage My new interest in old phone numbers revived my love for the art of signage, which I think is an underappreciated genre of public art. In this series I share pictures of signs that I like or which caught my eye for one reason or another. |
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what's the word I used to call this "Word of the Day" but changed that name since I do not write for it every day. The object of my What's the Word section is for me to write something -- anything -- on a regular basis. Sometimes I choose the words because I like the way they sound, and not because they mean anything to me. |
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umbrellas Umbrellas is an ongoing series (begun in 2010) of photos featuring umbrellas destroyed, mangled, massacred, or otherwise left for waste. Check back Monday and Thursdays for a new umbrella picture. |
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found photos and amateur slides Thousands of found photos and amateur slides, some found on sidewalks and in ditches, others bought from estate sales and online auctions. You never know what you find in here but you can expect pictures of street scenes, old cars, family photos, and other random stuff. |
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piano music I am a classical pianist and a composer. I do not record and share as much piano music these days as I have in the past. The piano music page has audio of me playing music by Frederic Chopin, Alexander Scriabin, Adolphe Henselt, Philip Glass, Charles Ives, and others. |
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etude music magazine For years I let a stack of old copies of The Etude Music Magazine molder away on a shelf. In early 2010 I finally got going on my long-planned project of sharing what I find to be the most interesting stories from these old magazines. As I am a pianist and composer the articles chosen tend to focus on pianists, composers, and general music history. |
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who is sorabji? This page (which is badly in need of an update) attempts to explain why I chose the surname of the British composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji as the domain name for this web site. |
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parc lincoln hotel Room 317 of the Parc Lincoln in 1991 remains the nastiest pit hole I ever lived in. I still get nostalgic for it, though. Take a tour through the far too-few pictures I took from that memorable place. |
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dict.sorabji.com I had long wanted to set up my own DICT server, so I did. DICT servers abound on the web. Mine differs from most in that I added sources not found on other DICT sites, including Webster's 1828 English Dictionary and (most recently) I added the Dictionary of Ro to the mix. Enter a word or phrase and hit "go" to try it. |
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Receipt of the Day
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my receipts A Daily Receipt, randomly chosen from thousands of my receipts, dating from pre-1990 to the present. Click for a Random Receipts, and look for stories and streams-of-consciousnessess about my receipts at dailyreceipts.net. |
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weather All weather web sites are the same. I made my own so I could imagine I had some control over the weather. Like the dict server this weather station is one of several web projects I always wanted to do, but never got around to doing until recently. Enter a zip code, ICAO, or "City, State" combination. |
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abandoned baby carriages I can't decide if discarded baby carriages symbolize anything not already symbolized by other types of garbage. An abandoned baby carriage does not, after all, represent an abandoned baby. |
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payphone project A web site featuring payphone numbers, photos, news and information from around the world. I have payphone pictures from all seven continents, including Antarctica, Ghana, Afghanistan, China, Laos, New Zealand, The Vatican, Peru, French Polynesia and lots more. The phone booth on the left is from Nebraska, USA. |
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what are you doing? Long before venture capitalists courageous thought to build a business around the question sorabji.com hosted and continues to host a long-running communal monologue called "what are you doing?" Click for a random WAYD, browse the archives |
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stuff people write on money A site which helped clarify the mystery of "Free the Werewolves." This set might be more interesting if I worked at a job where I handled money. As it is, I occasionally spot currency with interesting things drawn or written on them. If I do not need to spend the money right away then I scan it and post it here. |
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faces of laos I scanned all the pages of this rare picture book. Faces of Laos is a collection of pictures taken in Laos during the early 1970s by photographer George Archer. It was published by Imprimerie Nationale in Vientiane, Laos, in August, 1973. I found no trace of this book in any library card catalogue or other reference source. Read more. |
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my drawings I do not draw very well, but I have fun trying. Once in a while I try to learn to draw comic book style caricatures. My real weakness is in never being able to draw the same thing twice. |
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cemeteries of nyc Pictures from my wanderings around some of New York's burial grounds. Look for: Old Calvary, Mt. Zion, St. Raymond's and the Billie Holiday burial site, Green-Wood and the Leonard Bernstein burial site, Mt. Olivet, and lots more. |
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where was vito corleone buried in "the
godfather?" This was a fun project. A correspondent wrote to ask if I, being so familiar with Calvary Cemetery in Queens, could tell exactly where the funeral scene from the movie The Godfather was filmed. Indeed I found the exact spot where the burial would have been, and I re-created the funeral scene from that film (in still photos) with this series of then-and-now photos. If you are a fan of The Godfather who thought the film had been analyzed from every possible angle you will probably enjoy this. |
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flushing meadows corona park and other nyc parks It's a whole lot of pictures from Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, including the Unisphere, the Rocket Thrower, the New York State Pavilion, and a lot more. I also have sets of photos from other NYC parks, including Governors Island, Forest Park, Fort Totten Park, Rainey Park, and others that I'll link up some day. |
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mailbox locator In the United States? Use this web site to find a USPS Blue Mailbox in your area. Enter a zip code and hit "go" to see a list of mailboxes and post offices in that area. |
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webster's 1828 Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language is regarded by many as the finest English dictionary ever published. The dictionary is available in many forms. I made the content available here for my own purposes, out of personal admiration for this particular dictionary. This site uses simple search and Swish-e Search to make the 1828 Webster's Dictionary of the English Language available for free. Enter a word and hit "go" to try it. |
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dictionary of ro Ro is an a priori language created by Rev. Edward Powell Foster. I transcribed the 25-page Dictionary of Ro for the benefit of anyone researching this interesting invented language. I would like to invent my own language. My language would not be spoken, only written. Lexical entities would express their meaning through placement, case, palindromicity, etc. I am studying Ro with the interest of inventing my own language. |
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the place of general happiness It's my first real web site, with stories and other writings, started in 1994. I had another web page before this, in 1993, but it disappeared. Here you will find all the stories from 1995, 1996, and 1997, which include The Boner, Lost, An Open Letter to the Makers of Kool-Aid, The Lord, and What You Were Doing. |
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Adminicle
Wharfage
Aquaplane
Absonous
Funambulist
Meretriciousness
Profanation
Didgeridoo
Doop
Digitorium
Vermiculation
Krang
Fraud in Fact
Sozzle
Tummals
Dissilience
Coak
Lactescent
Peen
Metaphrastic
Adumbration
Hornswoggle
Opprobrium
Infumate
Oenology
Knickknack
Nugatory
Bohemia
Ro
Glomerate
Wharfage
Aquaplane
Absonous
Funambulist
Meretriciousness
Profanation
Didgeridoo
Doop
Digitorium
Vermiculation
Krang
Fraud in Fact
Sozzle
Tummals
Dissilience
Coak
Lactescent
Peen
Metaphrastic
Adumbration
Hornswoggle
Opprobrium
Infumate
Oenology
Knickknack
Nugatory
Bohemia
Ro
Glomerate
EVergreen.6-4343, Middle Village
I spotted this EVergreen.6-4343 number at the Queens Instrument Company at 62-15 Fresh Pond Road in Flushing. In today's parlance the number would be (718) 386-4343.
I spotted this EVergreen.6-4343 number at the Queens Instrument Company at 62-15 Fresh Pond Road in Flushing. In today's parlance the number would be (718) 386-4343.
EVergreen? EMpire?
The top of this medallion on a sidewalk door looks like it starts with an E, and ends with 978. If it is a telephone exchange name then it might be an EVergreen, or an EMpire, or it might be neither and nor.
The top of this medallion on a sidewalk door looks like it starts with an E, and ends with 978. If it is a telephone exchange name then it might be an EVergreen, or an EMpire, or it might be neither and nor.
Neil H. McInnes Iron Works. STillwell 4-6162
The Neil H. McInnes Iron Works company, formerly at 38-50 Review Avenue near Calvary Cemetery, is long gone. The company's name and old telephone exchange phone number -- STillwell 4-6162 -- is still seen in this medallion on a Long Island City Sidewalk.
The Neil H. McInnes Iron Works company, formerly at 38-50 Review Avenue near Calvary Cemetery, is long gone. The company's name and old telephone exchange phone number -- STillwell 4-6162 -- is still seen in this medallion on a Long Island City Sidewalk.
May, 1955
Sir William Walton's First Opera
In album "The Etude" Magazine, Published by Theodore Presser. Cover Images
Sir William Walton's First Opera
In album "The Etude" Magazine, Published by Theodore Presser. Cover Images
