For the past few years, the only thing preventing Williamsburg babies from sleeping soundly at naptime was their crippling #FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). A sleeping baby can't check out Mateo's great new loft space. A sleeping baby can't purchase a $4 locally brined pickle.

As the affluent flock into cities and the formerly tony suburbs turn to slums, you know what I'm not going to miss? GARAGES. Big old ugly garages that are the main feature of the whole ugly suburban house for some reason. Good news: garages have completely gone out of fashion, architecturally speaking.

The Telegraph announced Thursday that the childhood home of Ringo Starr would be spared demolition following a public campaign in the Beatle's native Liverpool to save it.

Preparing to wire swimming pool in suburban Minnesota, an electrician passed the time playing with his cellphone. He was videotaping a construction crane placing the pool into the homeowner's backyard when the crane tipped over, crushing the house and causing the most impassioned swearing spree I have ever heard on YouTube. (Fast forward to 1:50 for abridged version.)

A major construction project has begun around the West Wing of the White House, shrouding a "expanding and sometimes earsplitting zone of excavation" with plywood fences. This "overdue upgrade of underground utilities," according to the AP, will take years to complete.

Construction workers excavating the World Trade Center site in New York City happened upon a 30-foot-long ship, dating back to the mid-1700s, some 20 or 30 feet below street level. They also seem to have found a (18th-century) shoe. [NYT]

Now you know why that taxi ride down Broadway will take twice as long pretty soon : "The city is creating a public esplanade along a portion of one of its most prominent streets, Broadway in Midtown, setting aside the east side of the roadway for a bicycle lane and a pedestrian walkway with cafe tables, chairs, umbrellas and flower-filled planters." [NYT]

There's an AP report out yesterday afternoon revealing that the city's huge construction boom is also creating a huge city noise boom:

Yesterday afternoon, a three-foot-long metal rod fell from the new New York Times Building, currently under construction across from Port Authority, and crashed through the sunroof of a passing Honda. There were three passengers inside — a husband, who was hit on the shoulder by the pip; his wife, whose head was cut by it; and their 2-year-old son, whose face was scratched. All three were taken to St. Vincent's in Midtown for treatment and soon released.