MONOPOLY, FROM ATLANTIC CITY TO NEW YORK CITY

Today, The Newtons and The Grandma have been playing Monopoly, the multi-player economics-themed board game and they have bought some interesting places of New York City.

Before playing, they have been studying the Imperative, some modal verbs (Should and Must), and also Countable and Uncountable nouns.

It has been an intensive day.

Monopoly is a multi-player economics-themed board game. In the game, players roll two dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties, and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents, with the goal being to drive them into bankruptcy.

Money can also be gained or lost through Chance and Community Chest cards, and tax squares. Players receive a stipend every time they pass Go, and can end up in jail, from which they cannot move until they have met one of three conditions.

The game has numerous house rules, and hundreds of different editions exist, as well as many spin-offs and related media. 

Monopoly has become a part of international popular culture, having been licensed locally in more than 103 countries and printed in more than 37 languages.

More information: Imperative

 More information: Must-Mustn't

More information: Should-Shouldn't

More information: Countable & Uncountable

Monopoly is derived from The Landlord's Game created by Lizzie Magie in the United States in 1903 as a way to demonstrate that an economy that rewards individuals is better than one where monopolies hold all the wealth, and to promote the economic theories of Henry George -in particular his ideas about taxation.

The Landlord's Game had two sets of rules originally, one with taxation and another on which the current rules are mainly based. When Monopoly was first published by Parker Brothers in 1935, it did not include the less capitalistic taxation rule, which resulted in a more aggressive game.

Parker Brothers bought the game's copyrights from Darrow. When the company learned Darrow was not the sole inventor of the game, it bought the rights to Magie's patent for $500.

Parker Brothers began marketing the game on November 5, 1935. Cartoonist F. O. Alexander contributed the design. U. S. patent number US 2026082 A was issued to Charles Darrow on December 31, 1935, for the game board design and was assigned to Parker Brothers Inc. 

The original version of the game in this format was based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Parker Brothers was eventually absorbed into Hasbro in 1991. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly -the domination of a market by a single entity.

More information: The Guardian

 I get more upset at losing at other things than chess.
I always get upset when I lose at Monopoly.

Magnus Carlsen

ROLL OF THE DICE! MARTHA NEWTON IN ATLANTIC CITY

Today, The Newtons and The Grandma have travelled from New York to AtlanticCity in New Jersey. 

Martha Newton is going to start her particular career in this resort and the family has wanted to spend these later moments with her before she leaves the family. During the travel, The Newtons have studied the English Prepositions of Place.

More information: Prepositions of Place

Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches.

In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497. It was incorporated on May 1, 1854, from portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township.

it is located on Absecon Island and borders Absecon, Brigantine, Pleasantville, Ventnor City, Egg Harbor Township, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Atlantic City inspired the U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, especially the street names.

Since 1921, Atlantic City has been the home of the Miss America pageant.

In 1976, New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City, and the first casino opened in 1978.

For many years before the city was founded, the island site of the future settlement was the summer home of the Lenape. While the precise date of the first permanent occupation of what came to be Atlantic City has not been precisely determined, it is commonly thought that in 1783 Jeremiah Leeds first built and occupied an all year home on the island. However, it was not until 1850 that the idea arose to develop the location into a resort town and in early 1853 the name Atlantic City was adopted.

More information: Atlantic City

The history of gambling in Atlantic City traces back to prohibition and the 1920s, with racketeer Louis Kuehnle running an underground hotel and casino. Enoch "Nucky" Johnson followed and furthered Atlantic City's rise through the Roaring Twenties as a destination for drinking, gambling, and nightlife.

In 1974, New Jersey voters voted 60%-40% against legalizing casino gambling at four sites statewide, but two years later approved by 56%-44% a new referendum which legalized casinos, but restricted them to Atlantic City.

Resorts Atlantic City was the first casino to open, in May 1978, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Governor of New Jersey Brendan Byrne.

Atlantic City is considered the Gambling Capital of the East Coast, and currently has nine large casinos.

In 2011, New Jersey's then 12 casinos employed approximately 33,000 employees, had 28.5 million visitors, made $3.3 billion in gaming revenue, and paid $278 million in taxes. They are regulated by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

In the wake of the economic downturn following the Great Recession and the legalization of gambling in adjacent and nearby states (including Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania), four casino closures took place in 2014: the Atlantic Club on January 13; the Showboat on August 31; the Revel, which was Atlantic City's second-newest casino, on September 2; and Trump Plaza, which originally opened in 1984, and was the poorest performing casino in the city, on September 16.

Executives at Trump Entertainment Resorts, whose sole remaining property at the time was the Trump Taj Mahal, said in 2013 that they were considering the option of selling the Taj and winding down and exiting the gaming and hotel business. Trump Taj Mahal closed October 10, 2016, after failing to come to terms with union workers.

Caesars Entertainment executives have been reconsidering the future of their three remaining Atlantic City properties (Bally's, Caesars and Harrah's), in the wake of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the company's casino operating unit in January 2015.

In 2020, Bally's Atlantic City was acquired by Bally's Corporation.

More information: Atlantic City Free Public Library

Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City.

Bruce Springsteen

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION IN NEW YORK CITY

Today, The Grandma has received some news from NYPD forensic scientists. It seems that they have new clues about Raquel Newton.

CSI: NY (Crime Scene Investigation: New York) is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine seasons and 197 original episodes.

The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers identified as Crime Scene Investigators, instead of the actual title of Crime Scene Unit Forensic Technicians (CSU)) as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths, as well as other crimes.

The series is an indirect spin-off from the veteran series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and a direct spin-off from CSI: Miami, during an episode in which several of the CSI: NY characters made their first appearances. It is the third series in the CSI franchise.

Originally in 2004, CSI: NY was produced in partnership with the Canadian media company Alliance Atlantis. The company dissolved after season three in 2007, and all production after that was done under the purview of CBS Paramount Television.

The series was filmed at the CBS Studio Center, with many of the outside scenes shot in and around Los Angeles. Occasionally, scenes were filmed on location in New York City.

The series ended its ninth and final season on February 22, 2013. It was canceled by CBS on May 10, 2013.

More information: Screen Rant

CSI: NY follows a group of investigators who work for the New York City crime lab. The series mixes gritty subject matter and deduction in the same manner as its predecessors, yet also places a great deal of emphasis on criminal profiling.

The team is led by Detective Mac Taylor, a former Marine from Chicago. Mac is a veteran of the NYPD who lost his wife on 9/11, and as such must work to rebuild his personal life while supervising his team. He is organized, efficient, dedicated, and very proper in his management style.

Mac's partner is originally Stella Bonasera. Stella is half-Greek, half-Italian, and entirely New York City. She helped Mac through the impact of his wife's death and has been by his side ever since. She is a savvy investigator, yet she often speaks before she thinks. Stella leaves New York to head a crime lab in New Orleans and is replaced by Detective Jo Danville.

Jo is a former FBI criminalist and an experienced psychological profiler. She and Mac quickly form a strong friendship and an even stronger working rapport. Jo is still haunted by her ousting from the FBI after blowing the whistle on improper lab procedure, so she works to regain her professional reputation.

Together, Mac, Stella, and Jo head an elite team of detectives including Danny Messer, Aiden Burn, and Lindsay Monroe. The team also works alongside CSI Sheldon Hawkes, Detective Don Flack, Medical Examiner Sid Hammerback, and CSI trainee Adam Ross.

More information: Screen Rant

No one in this lab knows how to drag their feet.

Mac Taylor

WHAT IS NEW YORK OR EMPIRE STATE OF MIND?

Today, The Grandma has visited an old friend. He is New Yorker, and he talks like nobody about what it means being a New Yorker and thinking like him/her. 

In 1976 singer/songwriter Billy Joel, released the album entitled Turnstiles and on the album was New York State of Mind. Although it was initially unpopular, it quickly became a fan favorite and a regular part of Joel's on stage performances.  

New York has always been, and arguably always will be, an incredible city that never sleeps while holding out hope for dreamers who aspire to reach bigger and better things. 

But what is the New York State of Mind, and what does it mean to have an Empire State of Mind? What is it about this city that transforms the mind, body, and soul so deeply?

What does it mean to be a New Yorker?

Ah New York, a city full of dazzling lights, incredible food, and the most self-assured people in the world. Either adored or completely loathed, New York is a place where there is no middle ground. You either are or aren't from here, and you either do or don't like it here. But for the sake of argument, our personal preference for New York is nothing short of fabulous. We love everything about this city. From the way you can get a delicious meal on nearly every corner, to being able to walk wherever you need to go, there really is no other place quite like New York.

What makes New York really great, however, are the people. As a melting pot of cultures from all over the world, New York redefines what it means to be an American. Immigrants from every corner of the globe make their way to the Big Apple to live out their dreams and experience what it means to be a New Yorker. 

Living in this city isn't easy, and no one ever said it would be. In fact, before even stepping foot here people are warned about how difficult it is to make it, and they aren't lying! From the price of living to the ultra competitive job market, living in NYC isn't all fun and games. It is this that's why they say if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

The difficulties and struggles are in a way what makes the city great. It takes a certain frame of mind and attitude to push through adversity and rise above it. You can't be a wuss and live here. We have all worked hard to get to where we are, and we don't mind putting in overtime to reach our dreams. That is what it means to be a New Yorker.

What defines the Empire State of Mind?

The Empire State of Mind is defined by the ability to make our own rules. We don't follow social norms. In fact, more often than not we create social norms for the rest of the country to follow, especially when it comes to style and fashion.

Of course, we could also argue that New Yorkers don't really like to be defined by any attitude, particularly by people who aren't from here. But alas, we are our own breed, and we do have a tendency to rub off on each other.

The Empire State of Mind is easy to spot if you are from New York. In general, we adhere to the following ideas and attitudes:

-Nothing can stop us from doing what we really want to do.

-We relish in the struggle, fight, and determination in everyday life.

-Step up, speed up, or get out of our way!

-To the point and not willing to wait around for someone to do something we know we could do better.

-Jay walk. An inability to give a care about when streetlights and signs say it is safe to cross the street.

-Some Cabs also don't follow these laws, so keep your head up.

-No fear!

-Saying what you want, when you want to say it, how you want to say it.

-We Love New York, and We’d Have it No Other Way!

So many people come to New York and experience culture shock because they never imagined how different it would be from their own home. But it is. There is no other place in the world like New York. It is the one place in the world that no matter where you come from, you can still be yourself. The character, the energy, fast paced, motivated, determined, and maybe even a little bit pushy, but hey we love it that way.

When people start talking about changing New York City for the better we laugh in agreement on how so many things can be better, but deep down we feel lucky and proud to be living in such dynamic city that has so much to offer. Incredible food, world-famous art, the best live shows in the world, and people with more heart and soul than anywhere else are what define this absurdly awesome city. And that is the Empire State of Mind.

More information: Billy M. Joel, "It's nine o'clock in a Saturday"

 I'm just taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line
'Cause I'm in a New York state of mind.

Billy Joel

THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, CROSSING THE EAST RIVER

Today, The Grandma has visited one of her favourite places in New York, the Brooklyn Bridge. She loves this place, and she visits it as many times as she can.

The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. 

It was also the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) and a deck 127 ft (38.7 m) above mean high water. The span was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge but was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915.

Proposals for a bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn were first made in the early 19th century, which eventually led to the construction of the current span, designed by John A. Roebling.

The project's chief engineer, his son Washington Roebling, contributed further design work, assisted by the latter's wife, Emily Warren Roebling. Construction started in 1870, with the Tammany Hall-controlled New York Bridge Company overseeing construction, although numerous controversies and the novelty of the design prolonged the project over thirteen years. Since opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has undergone several reconfigurations, having carried horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines until 1950. 

To alleviate increasing traffic flows, additional bridges and tunnels were built across the East River. Following gradual deterioration, the Brooklyn Bridge has been renovated several times, including in the 1950s, 1980s, and 2010s.

The Brooklyn Bridge is the southernmost of the four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island, with the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Queensboro Bridge to the north. Only passenger vehicles and pedestrian and bicycle traffic are permitted.

A major tourist attraction since its opening, the Brooklyn Bridge has become an icon of New York City. Over the years, the bridge has been used as the location of various stunts and performances, as well as several crimes and attacks.

The Brooklyn Bridge has been designated a National Historic Landmark, a New York City landmark, and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

More information: Experience First

One of the reasons I moved back to Brooklyn is to get to hang out
with the guys I've known since we were 12, 13 years old.
Having that sense of community is incredibly important to me.

Romany Malco

THE CARLYLE HOTEL, LUXURY & GLAMOUR SINCE 1930

After visiting her closer friends Richard Castle & Kate Beckett, today The Grandma has spent the day in her hotel room reading the new novel of the famous writer titled Spied under heat. It is an interesting novel about freedom and slavery.

She is spending he day at Carlyle Hotel, one of the most luxurious and glamourous hotels of New York City.

The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is a combination luxury apartment hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side of New York City.

Opened in 1930, the hotel was designed in Art Deco style and was named after Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle.

Owned since 2001 by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, the Carlyle is a cooperative with 190 rental rooms and suites, and 60 privately owned residences.

The Carlyle was built by Moses Ginsberg, maternal grandfather of Rona Jaffe. Designed by architects Sylvan Bien and Harry M. Prince, it opened as an apartment hotel, with apartments costing up to $1 million a year.

Apartment hotels had become increasingly popular since World War I. As the economy boomed and skyscrapers rose, New York was transforming so quickly that owning a townhouse began to fall out of fashion. The new thirty-five floor hotel was to be a masterpiece in the modern idiom, in which shops and restaurants on the lower floors would give residents the convenience and comforts of a community skyscraper.

However, by the time the Carlyle was ready to open its doors in 1930, the 1929 stock market crash had started the Great Depression. The new hotel struggled, went into receivership in 1931, and was sold to the Lyleson Corporation in 1932.

More information: The Carlyle Hotel

The new owners kept the original management, which was able to dramatically improve the property's financial situation through maintaining high occupancy and rates favorable to the hotel's costs. However, the hotel's reputation at this time was staid rather than ritzy.

The next postwar boom allowed the hotel to take on new high-society prominence. 

In 1948, New York businessman Robert Whittle Dowling purchased the Carlyle and began to transform it from a respectable address to a downright fashionable one, frequented by elegant Europeans. That year, Harry S. Truman became the first president to visit the Carlyle; each of his successors through Bill Clinton followed.

The Carlyle became known as the New York White House during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, who maintained an apartment on the 34th floor for the last ten years of his life. He stayed at the apartment in a well-publicized visit for a few days just prior to his inauguration in January 1961.

Marilyn Monroe was snuck in through the service entrance on East 77th Street. After famously singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President at Kennedy's birthday gala at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962, Monroe reportedly used a warren of tunnels to enter the Carlyle secretly with Kennedy and friends.

The New York Post reported a Mob smear campaign plot on Robert F. Kennedy planned as an informant passed on information that a Mrs. Jacqueline Hammond had information on the sex-capade; however, the Post article stated An FBI summary of the documents released yesterday said the bureau didn't consider the Milwaukee and Hammond information 'solid'. Years later, longtime bellman Michael O'Connell recalled, Those tunnels. President Kennedy knew more about the tunnels than I did.

More information: Hospitality Net

The Carlyle was the last place John F. Kennedy Jr. ate breakfast before departing on his ill-fated plane trip to Martha's Vineyard with his wife and her sister.

The Council for United Civil Rights Leadership (CUCRL) was organized in a meeting held at the Carlyle. Malcolm X expressed his concerns with having a white man in charge of this new fundraising organization during a November 10, 1963, speech, Message to the Grass Roots. He described the hotel (rather than just one suite) as being owned by the Kennedy family.

In 1967, the hotel was purchased by a partnership of Jerome L. Greene, Norman L. Peck, and Peter Jay Sharp. The hotel is the source of the name for The Carlyle Group, as it was the location where that firm's founders first met in the mid-1980s.

Despite its brushes with history, the hotel retained a reputation for discretion. In June 2000, The New York Times called it a Palace of Secrets. The hotel was the subject of a 2018 documentary film by writer-director Matthew Miele, Always at The Carlyle.

The hotel's Café Carlyle has featured a number of well-known jazz performers -notably George Feyer from 1955 to 1968, and Bobby Short from 1968 to 2004. Woody Allen and his jazz band have played weekly at the café since 1996. According to New York Times writer Joe Heller, Mick Jagger maintains a residence at the Carlyle to use when he visits New York.

Alan Cumming gave a series of concerts at the Café Carlyle in June 2015; the album of the performance, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs features a photograph of a nude Cumming flanked by a male and a female model, also nude, shot in the doorway of the cafe.

The Bemelmans Bar is decorated with murals depicting Madeline in Central Park painted by Ludwig Bemelmans. Bemelmans is the namesake of the bar, and his murals there are his only artwork on display to the public. Instead of accepting payment for his work, Bemelmans received a year and a half of accommodations at the Carlyle for himself and his family.

More information: Tatler

My definition of a good hotel is a place I'd stay at.

Robert De Niro

RICHARD CASTLE & KATE BECKETT, ALWAYS IN NEW YORK

Today, The Grandma has visited Richard Castle and Kate Beckett, two old friends of her who live in Manhattan.

Castle is an American crime mystery/comedy-drama television series, that aired on ABC for a total of eight seasons from March 9, 2009, to May 16, 2016. The series was produced jointly by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios.

Created by Andrew W. Marlowe, it primarily traces the lives of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), a best-selling mystery novelist, and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), a homicide detective, as they solve various unusual crimes in New York City.

Detective Beckett is initially infuriated at the thought of working with a writer and goes to great lengths to keep him out of her way. However, the two soon start developing feelings for each other. The overarching plot of the series focused on the romance between the two lead characters and their ongoing investigation of the murder of Beckett's mother.

Richard Castle is a famous mystery novelist. Bored and suffering from writer's block, he kills off Derrick Storm, the main character in his successful book series. He is brought in by the New York Police Department for questioning regarding a copycat murder based on one of his novels, where he meets and becomes intrigued by Kate Beckett, the detective assigned to the case.

Castle is inspired to take Beckett as his muse for Nikki Heat, the main character of his next book series and uses his friendship with the mayor to force the police to let him shadow Beckett.

Castle's exuberant man child personality clashes with Beckett's more reserved and professional demeanor. However, as Beckett begins to appreciate Castle's assistance in helping her catch killers, the two eventually become friends and then lovers.

Their cases often deal with murders occurring within various unusual subcultures or milieus, including reality TV shows, vampire enthusiasts, a science fiction convention, and a man who claims to be a time traveler.

A recurring plot line deals with the unsolved murder of Beckett's mother years before, an investigation which leads to an increasingly sprawling, and dangerous, conspiracy.

The series also focuses on the backstories of supporting characters like Detective Javier Esposito, Detective Kevin Ryan, Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, Captain Roy Montgomery and Captain Victoria Gates, through multiple episodes.

More information: Screen Rant

There is always a story.

Richard Castle