Frantic 911 callers have been flooding New York police lines after seeing what appeared to be a person perched on an elevated ledge of the Empire State Building and preparing to jump.
But the nightmare scenario turned out to be false, with police realizing upon rushing to the scene that they were dealing with a lifeless cast-iron statue and not a suicide attempt, the New York Post reported.
The life-size sculpture is among 31 statues of himself by British artist Antony Gormley installed on dangerous roofs and ledges of the city’s most famous buildings early last month. Four of them were placed street-side, including one on Fifth Avenue.
But the statues are already threatening to drive police officers round the bend. “It’s a pain in the ass,” one officer told the Post about the Event Horizon art installation. “It’s a waste of manpower. We’re short of cops to begin with and we don’t have enough cops to waste answering calls of statues committing suicide.”
Police have been informed of the art project, which is also supported by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Passersby and police may have reason to be worried: since it opened in 1931, 34 people have jumped from the observation deck of the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan.
The metal man on the building’s ledge was present when a Yale University student became the latest to jump to his death on March 30.
(AFP)
帝國大廈的高台上有人要跳樓?!目睹這一幕的民眾紛紛打電話報警,紐約警局的九一一緊急專線幾乎被打爆。
但這噩夢原來是虛驚一場。《紐約郵報》報導,警方趕到現場,發現引發這陣恐慌的是一座人形鑄鐵雕像,根本不是什麼自殺事件。
這座真人大小的人形雕像是英國藝術家安東尼•葛姆雷創作的三十一座個人雕像之一。上個月初,他把人形雕像放置在紐約幾棟最知名建築頂樓的窗台上,包括第五大道在內的街頭,也擱放了四座。
不過這些雕像已經搞得員警們快抓狂了。一名警員跟《紐約郵報》談及這些「撕裂地平線」藝術裝置時表示:「真痛苦。這根本是在浪費人力。我們沒有多餘警力來處理跟應付雕像自殺的報案電話。」
這項藝術計畫警方事前已經知情,也獲得紐約市長麥可•彭博的支持。
路過民眾和警方的擔心也不無道理:帝國大廈自一九三一年啟用以來,已有三十四人從這棟曼哈頓最高摩天樓上一躍而下。
最近一次是三月三十日,一名耶魯大學的學生在此跳樓身亡,當時這座人形鑄鐵雕像正好在高台上展出。
(法新社╱翻譯:林倩如)
Tangbao are one of the most internationally renowned delicacies, that win the hearts of both locals and tourists. Their charm lies in the paper-thin flour wrapper that needs to be folded evenly almost 20 times. Folding a tangbao requires skill to deal with a bulging filling and a thin wrapper. Tangbao are served in a bamboo steamer in which they are steamed, not only adding to the visual appearance, but ensuring they do not get cold before reaching the table. The best way to enjoy a tangbao is to dip it in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce with
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced a seismic change in direction on March 19, hiking interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The move represents an unwinding of an ultra-loose — and maverick -- policy aimed at putting Japan’s “lost decades” of stagnation and deflation behind it. The last time the BoJ raised interest rates was in 2007, but its war against deflation began in earnest in 2013 under then-prime minister Shinzo Abe. “Abenomics” combined generous government spending and central bank monetary easing. The BoJ spent vast amounts on bonds and other assets to pump liquidity into the
Have you ever wished for an extra hour to prepare for exams or finish homework? In some countries, people actually adjust their clocks to gain or lose an hour, all for the sake of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Specifically, clocks are set forward by an hour in March and then set back in November. One of the primary reasons for implementing DST is to make better use of natural daylight so that people can reduce energy consumption. The concept originated with Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and became widely adopted during World War I. Today, this system is in place
For the first time, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined a company for improper disposal of its defunct satellite. The satellite cable company Dish Network was fined US$150,000 because it failed to move an old satellite that was no longer in operation to a safe distance from others currently being used. The FCC had asked Dish Network to move one of its older satellites, EchoStar-7, 186 miles further from the Earth. However, the satellite had only advanced 76 miles before it ran out of fuel at the end of its operational life in 2022.