Accounting for 2/26 in a Museum Devoted to 9/11

Twenty years ago Tuesday, a deadly calling card was left at the World Trade Center.

Ron Frehm/Associated Press The World Trade Center on the night of the 1993 bombing.

When a truck bomb exploded in an underground parking garage, killing six people, injuring hundreds more and upending daily life in New York, it seemed as if the worst conceivable act of terrorism had been committed. But it turned out to be no more than an awful prelude.

“Unfortunately, our calculations were not very accurate this time,” one of the 1993 conspirators, Nidal A. Ayyad, was said to have written (in slightly broken sentences) not long after the bombing. “However, we promise you that next time it will be very precise and WTC will continue to one our targets in the U.S.”

Though there is no direct link between the 1993 and 2001 plots, they have long been regarded as points on a continuum. And that is how they will be treated at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, said Alice M. Greenwald, the museum director.

She pointed to the least imposing of several artifacts arrayed on a conference table: a clunky, silver Toshiba T1950CT laptop among crumpled “Stop” signs, a bond trader’s smudged button-down shirt and a dead firefighter’s well-worn turnout coat.

“This one object allows us to connect 1993 to 2001,” Ms. Greenwald said of the laptop.

That is because it was confiscated in 1995 from an apartment in Manila being use! d by Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, a mastermind of the 1993 attack. The authorities’ attention was drawn to the building when a fire broke out there. Officials said that a file on the laptop, labeled “Bojinka,” contained detailed plans for a plot in which a dozen airliners were to be simultaneously blown up over the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Yousef was said to have developed this plan with his uncle, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of 9/11.

David W. Dunlap/The New York Times The laptop linkedto the “Bojinka” plot.

The laptop will be on exhibit in the museum, as will an axle fragment stamped with the vehicle identification number that led investigators to link a 1990 Ford Econoline van rented from Ryder to the truck used to bomb the trade center. Both objects have been lent to the museum by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “The F.B.I. and the Department of Justice have been incredible partners,” Ms. Greenwald said. “They make it possible for us to tell the story.”

Describing the museum as visitors will find it in 2014, when it is to open, Ms. Greenwald said the gallery devoted to the first attack would be within the physical outline of the north tower foundations. It will be one element in an exhibition devoted to the events leading ! up to the! 2001 attack, what happened on 9/11 itself and what occurred in the aftermath.

The most significant symbolic link between the two attacks is a small chunk of rose-colored granite â€" inscribed “John D” and “mem.” It is the only surviving piece of a fountain dedicated to the victims of the first attack, which stood on the World Trade Center plaza. This was where relatives gathered on the Feb. 26 anniversary until it, too, was destroyed.

“John D” once read “John DiGiovanni.” He was a victim, as were William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp and Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child. The “mem” is from “memoria” â€" “Esta fuente está dedicada en memoria de aquellos que perdieron sus vidas.” (“This fountain is dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives.”)

Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times The boxed fragment of the 1993 memorial fountain, in a place of honor at the 10th anniversary Mass celebrated at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in 2003.

By custom, the fragment has been placed at the head of the center aisle during the Masses celebrated each anniversary since 2002 in St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, at 22 Barclay Street. Though the fragment is being lent to the museum by the Po! rt Authority of New York and New Jersey, it will always be made available for this Mass, a museum spokesman said. In fact, he said on Monday afternoon, it was already on its way from the museum office.

The Mass is to be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Beginning at noon, the names of the dead will be read in a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial. A moment of silence is to be observed at 12:18 p.m., when the bomb was detonated.

The name of Wally P. Travers, of Upper Saddle River, N.J., is not among these victims. He was a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald who survived the attack after a five-hour odyssey from the summit of the north tower, Ms. Greenwald said. He made a point of never cleaning the shirt he wore that day. Instead, he kept it as a memento â€" darkened by smoke and soot â€" in the back of his closet. That is where his wife found it after he was killed on 9/11.

Joe Tabacca/Associated Press Police officers helped an injured woman after the 1993 attack.

A Bit of History, and Maybe a Lesson, From a 1908 Cosmic Event

Associated Press In addition to flattening tens of millions of trees in Siberia, the Tunguska Event of 1908 might or might not have had something to do with an ensuing very hot July in New York City.

Speaking of meteors and their local impact, as we were on Friday, the Siberian fireball brought the mind of Stephen Fybish, City Room’s Omniscient Weather Nudge, back to the Tunguska Event, a cosmic burp inflicted on Siberia in 1908 when the airburst of a still-unidentified object believed to be a meteor or a comet fragment flattened tens of millions of trees across 800 square miles.

Normally, Mr. Fybish limits his encyclopedic observations of meteorological data to New York City, at least here on this blog, so what’s the connection

Well.

Todd Heisler/The New York Times Stephen Fybish, tracker of meteorological phenomena.

It turns out that the Tunguska Event, which occurred on June 30, was immediately followed by one of the hottest Julys ever in Centr! al Park. How hot was it Let’s go to the voice mail left by Mr. Fybish:

“The average minimum temperature in the month of July 1908 at the park was the highest ever and still is the highest ever; in other words a lot of unusually warm nights, averaging 73.8 degrees, including a minimum of 84 on July 7th of 1908, which is still as high as any warm night since, in our global warming and heat island days of recent decades.”

Causal links between the explosion in Siberia and the sultry spell in New York are not clear, but next time you’re tossing and turning on a disgustingly hot summer night in this town, be thankful that the Tunguska Event comes but once in a very long time.

Sad Day for Gotham City: Robin Will Die

Maybe it’s time for Batman to consider going solo again On Wednesday, DC Comics will publish issue No. 8 of “Batman Incorporated.” The comic, written by Grant Morrison, will feature the death of Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and the current Robin.

Mr. Morrison took on the assignment of writing Batman in 2006. One of his first achievements was incorporating Damian, who was introduced in a 1987 story, as the love child of Batman and Talia al Ghul, the daughter of one of Batman’s enemies, Ra’s al Ghul. Damian was trained to kill, but Batman tries to mold him into a hero. In a statement at dccomics.com, Mr. Morrison said his theme was about damaged and ruined families and that he had the ending long in mind: “For what son could ever hope to replace a father like Batman, who never dies”

Batman’s original partner was Dick Grayson, who was introduced in 1940, but he could stay a ki partner for only so long. Forty-three years later he matured into the hero Nightwing and was replaced by Jason Todd. But Jason proved unpopular. In 1988, DC conducted a survey â€" fans could call in their opinions â€" on whether Jason should survive a bomb blast set by the Joker. Readers voted nay.

In 1989, just one year after Jason’s death, DC introduced Tim Drake, who eventually became Robin. He proved more popular with readers and is currently appearing as Red Robin in the monthly “Teen Titans” series. But have no worries about Jason Todd. Because this is comics and nearly no one stays dead, he was resurrected in 2005. Jason is now the star of “Red Hood and the Outlaws,” a monthly series from DC Comics.

With New Laws, a Focus on Nurturing the City’s Native Plants

Marielle Anzelone Yellow forest violet, seen here in Corson’s Brook Woods in Staten Island, is one of dozens of native city plant species that will get preferential treatment under a new landscaping law. It is listed as threatened locally.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed into law on Monday three “green” bills, one intended to increase the city’s native biodiversity.

The biodiversity measure will actually dcrease the city’s overall biodiversity in favor of nurturing native plants. It mandates that the parks department adopt a policy favoring plants native to New York over exotic plants, which can out-compete native species and drive animals dependent on them into extinction, on all city-owned property. Dozens of species of native grass, flower and tree are in decline throughout the city.

Botanical gardens and institutions that house plants for educational or scientific use will be exempt from the law.

One of the other laws similarly restricts the city’s planting policy. The parks department will have to start choosing more stormwater-tolerant plants for the city’s green spaces, in order to sponge up runoff and decrease flooding and pollution. Every year, the law states, more than 27 billion gallons of sewage and dirty rainwater are discharged into New York Harbor! when sewers overflow during storms.

Finally, New Yorkers will have access to a renewable energy portal on the city’s Web site, states a law that goes into effect in November. The portal will encourage the public to install solar, wind and other renewable energy systems and will provide a cost-benefit analysis that factors in government incentives, the law says. It will also aim to teach people how to install them.

With New Laws, a Focus on Nurturing the City’s Native Plants

Marielle Anzelone Yellow forest violet, seen here in Corson’s Brook Woods in Staten Island, is one of dozens of native city plant species that will get preferential treatment under a new landscaping law. It is listed as threatened locally.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed into law on Monday three “green” bills, one intended to increase the city’s native biodiversity.

The biodiversity measure will actually dcrease the city’s overall biodiversity in favor of nurturing native plants. It mandates that the parks department adopt a policy favoring plants native to New York over exotic plants, which can out-compete native species and drive animals dependent on them into extinction, on all city-owned property. Dozens of species of native grass, flower and tree are in decline throughout the city.

Botanical gardens and institutions that house plants for educational or scientific use will be exempt from the law.

One of the other laws similarly restricts the city’s planting policy. The parks department will have to start choosing more stormwater-tolerant plants for the city’s green spaces, in order to sponge up runoff and decrease flooding and pollution. Every year, the law states, more than 27 billion gallons of sewage and dirty rainwater are discharged into New York Harbor! when sewers overflow during storms.

Finally, New Yorkers will have access to a renewable energy portal on the city’s Web site, states a law that goes into effect in November. The portal will encourage the public to install solar, wind and other renewable energy systems and will provide a cost-benefit analysis that factors in government incentives, the law says. It will also aim to teach people how to install them.

Ask Charles Isherwood About the New Theater Season

The spring theater season can be hard to pin down. Sure, Broadway’s got its share of celebrities, including Tom Hanks in “Lucky Guy” and Bette Midler in “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers.” But there are also new plays and musicals about complex and compelling women and the worries of the working-class. Making decisions about what to see â€" Cinderella or Matilda Ann Richards or the Virgin Mary Diana Ross or drag queens â€" won’t be esy.

To help you get a sense of what’s to come, Charles Isherwood, theater critic for The New York Times, is taking your questions about the new season’s offerings on and off Broadway. Please post your queries in the comments below â€" we’ll pose some of them to Mr. Isherwood and publish his answers here on Thursday.

Sad Eyes Await the Last Guinness at a Columbus Ave. Pub

Karsten Moran for The New York Times The Emerald Inn on Columbus Avenue, more and more an island in a sea of expensive stores, is closing after the better part of a century in the face of a 100 percent rent increase. A Kate Spade store is to take its place.

In a neighborhood where shiny outposts of big-name retailers have displaced the little stores and restaurants where everybody seemed to know everybody else, a longtime holdout is finally planning a last last call.

The Emerald Inn, which survived on Columbus Avenue as the Upper WestSide reinvented itself as a pricier and pricier neighborhood, will close on April 30, the owners said.

“It’s rent,” said Charlie Campbell, whose grandfather opened the Emerald Inn during World War II. “It’s really sad.”

The monthly payment would have come to $35,000 if the lease had been renewed, he said. He has been paying $17,500 a month under a deal worked out in 2011.

Mike Clarke, an owner of the A.J. Clarke Real Estate Corporation, which manages the apartment building that houses the Emerald Inn, would not discuss the exact amount the landlord had sought for a lease renewal. But he did not dispute Mr. Campbell’s figures.

Mr. Clarke said the storefront the Emerald Inn has occupied since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and Fiorello H. La Guardia was mayor woul! d become a Kate Spade clothing store. It will be the chain’s third shop in Manhattan.

The Emerald, as its regulars call it, has come close to closing before. In 2009, there was talk of a final goodbye, but because the recession was deepening and new tenants were suddenly in short supply, Mr. Campbell managed to negotiate a rent increase he could handle.

A couple of other old-time Irish bars in the neighborhood have struggled against the same daunting economics. Malachy’s Donegal Inn, at 103 West 72nd Street, faced a March 1 closing date but won a reprieve and will remain open at least through the end of the year.

“It’s to the point where anybody who’s still left is paying an exorbitant amount of money,” Mr. Campbell said.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times Charles Campbell III, whose great-grandfather opened the inn in the 1940s, chatted with a couple of regulars, Kenny Simmons, left, and Michael Morfit, last week.

The Emerald’s regulars have their memories:

Of the Christmas Eve scene in the movie “The Apartment” that was filmed there. (One thing led to another after Hope Holiday pelted Jack Lemmon with straw-paper wrappers.)

Of the time Hugh Downs’s secretary walked in with a copy of Bartender magazine. (Mike Campbell, Charlie Campbell’s father, said he had thrown out his copy without bothering to read it. The secretary pointed to an article quoting Mr. Downs on his favorite bars. “He had picked someplace in Africa,” Mike Campbell said, “and the Emerald Inn.â€! )

! Of the time the bass-baritone Bryn Terfel sang “Danny Boy.” Of star turns by the likes of Regis Philbin, Liam Neeson and Howard Stern. Of stars who sat at the bar, reading a book, and were left alone. (James Gandolfini, when “The Sopranos” was still new.)

Of network-news expense accounts that once seemed limitless. “They can’t afford to go out in this area anymore,” Mr. Campbell said. “They can’t afford to spend $8 for a drink, $9 for a drink.”

Of “The Pint Man,” a 2010 novel that involves a love story and a lot of scenes in a bar that seemed to be the Emerald in everything but name.

“I’m devastated,” said Steve Rushin, the sportswriter who wrote “The Pint Man.” And no wonder. The Emerald was where he had his first date with Rebecca Lobo, then a women’s basketball star.

“We met at the Dublin House” â€" another Irish bar on the Upper West Side â€" “but I thought ’d class it up by taking her to the Emerald Inn,” he said. “It was like a home away from home, an extension of people’s apartments. If you have a one-room apartment, this was like the front room. I remember sitting in that second booth on the right, waiting for the woman who is now my wife to walk through that swinging door.”

Michael Morfit, an investment banker and youth lacrosse coach, said the Emerald’s closing would be another sad moment for the neighborhood. “We’ve lost a lot of the traditional places around here,” he said, standing at the bar on a recent afternoon. “I see people who’d come here and they say, ‘Where are we going to go now’”

Charlie Campbell said he was looking for a new storefront on a side street. His 24-year-old son, Charles III, who was tending the bar on a recent afternoon, said he had taken the licensing test to be a plumber.

“As a backup,” he said, in case the search for a new place drags on.

For his part, Mr. Clarke,! the mana! ging agent, said he was sorry to see the Campbells leave.

“They’re very nice people,” he said. “We’ve had a wonderful relationship.” But he said the two sides were too far apart on money this time around.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Lindsay Lohan to Guest Star on ‘Anger Management’ With Charlie Sheen

Dimension Films Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan in a scene from “Scary Movie 5.”

In the surest sign that peace, calm and normalcy had been restored to Hollywood after a raucous Academy Awards ceremony, it was announced on Monday morning that Lindsay Lohan would appear in a coming episode of “Anger Management,” the FX sitcom starring Charlie Sheen.

Lionsgate, the studio that produces “Anger Management,” said in a news release that Ms. Lohan would play herself in an episode scheduled to be shown in April, in which she “develops a romantic relationship with Sheen’s character after becoming his therapy patient.”

Ms. Lohan, whose caeer has seen some bumps of late â€" the chilly reception to her Lifetime movie, “Liz & Dick”; an instantly notorious account of her various shenanigans on the set of “The Canyons” â€" seems to have found a kindred spirit in Mr. Sheen.

Mr. Sheen, whose own misdeeds could not possibly be chronicled in this short space, has recently worked with Ms. Lohan in the comedy “Scary Movie 5.” He also said that he had given Ms. Lohan $100,000 out of his own payment for the film, so that their salaries would be more equal. TMZ reported that Ms. Lohan later sent Mr. Sheen a bouquet  in thanks for his generosity.

Williamstown Festival Will Include ‘Animal Crackers’ and ‘Bridges of Madison County’

Hey, you got “Animal Crackers” in my “Bridges of Madison County”! No, you got “Bridges of Madison County” in my “Animal Crackers”! There may be no resolving this debate, but whether you’re a fan of madcap comedy or musicals adapted from best-selling romance novels, this summer’s Williamstown Theater Festival will have something to offer you, judging by Monday’s announcement of its lineup.

This year’s festival will open on June 26 with “Animal Crackers,” the Marx Brothers farce (with a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, and music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby) that introduced characters like Captain Spaulding, the explorer who once shot an elephant in his pajamas. (And how it got in his pajamas, he’ll never know.) This revival is adapted and directed by Henry Wishcamper, and will run through July 14; no casting was immediately announced.

The lineup also includes the world premiere of “The Bridges of Madisn County,” a musical adapted from that Robert James Waller novel about a lovelorn Italian woman and the photographer who reawakens her passion for structural spans, among other things. The musical features a book by Marsha Norman; music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown; and is directed by Bartlett Sher. It is scheduled to run from Aug. 1 through 18. While Kelli O’Hara played the lead female role in a 2011 workshop, no casting was announced.

Other works announced on Monday include a revival of “Pygmalion” starring Robert Sean Leonard and directed by Nicholas Martin; “American Hero,” a new play by Bess Wohl and directed by Leigh Silverman; a new production of Tom Stoppard’s thriller “Hapgood,” featuring Kate Burton and directed by Evan Yionoulis; and “Johnny Baseball,” a mus! ical about the curse of the Boston Red Sox, with a book by Richard Dresser, music by Robert Reale, lyrics by Willie Reale and directed by Marc Bruni. “Johnny Baseball” had its premiere in 2010 at the American Repertory Theater.

The Onion Apologizes for Tweet About Quvenzhané Wallis

The satirical publication The Onion apologized on Monday for a post published Sunday night on its Twitter account that made an obscene reference to Quvenzhané Wallis, the 9-year-old actress  nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

“On behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology to Quvenzhané Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the tweet that was circulated last night during the Oscars,” Steve Hannah,  chief executive of The Onion wrote in a post on Facebook. “It was crude and offensive â€" not to mention inconsistent with The Onion’s commitment to parody and satire, however biting.”

Mr. Hannah’s post continued: “No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire. The tweet was taken down within an hour ofpublication. We have instituted new and tighter Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of mistake does not occur again. In addition, we are taking immediate steps to discipline those individuals responsible. Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and deserve better. All of us at The Onion are deeply sorry.”

The tweet was posted during the Academy Awards ceremony amid other comical items about the Oscars. (“Daniel Craig Takes Home Pretty Good Actor Award,” read one parody headline, while another declared, “Kathryn Bigelow Stuns on Red Carpet Wearing Blood-Soaked Rags Osama bin Laden Was Killed In.”)

The item about Ms. Wallis was widely retweeted but also drew quick condemnation from followers of The Onion’s Twitter account, and was deleted about an hour or so after it was published. The offending tweet was posted around the same time th! at Seth MacFarlane, the Oscars host, remarked about Ms. Wallis that “it’ll be 16 years before she’s too old for” George Clooney, a joke that was also criticized for being insensitive to the young actress.

Awaiting the Dimming of G.E. at 30 Rock

Brian Harkin for The New York Times The G.E. sign atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza, as seen from the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

What do the Apollo Theater, Katz’s Delicatessen, the Chelsea Hotel, Pepsi and 30 Rockefeller Plaza have in common

Each business or brand has a recognizable neon sign that presides over New York City. But, as with so many bits of city nostalgia, one of them is endangered.

The New York Times The sign atop the building said R.C.A. for at least 40 years, before it was changed to G.E. (1966 photo).

Comcast announced on Feb. 11 that it would buy the remaining shares of NBCUniversal from General Electric. Included in the sale is NBC’s studios and offices in the G.E. Building, whose address is 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Naming rights to the building were part of the deal â€" so, in a development presciently satirized by the sitcom “30 Rock,” the huge, crimson General Electric logo adorning the top of the building may soon be no more.

Comcast has yet to announ! ce any plans regarding the sign, but if it removes it, it would be only the latest time the logo at 30 Rockefeller Plaza has changed.

The first sign placed atop the Art Deco building was a yellow R.C.A. logo done in geometric sans serif in 1937, according to Thomas Rinaldi, a blogger and the author of “New York Neon,” a book about vanishing neon signs in the city. The 1937 sign was replaced by another, more futuristic R.C.A. sign in 1969, which gave way to the scarlet General Electric logo during the 1980s.

The disappearance of gaseous rooftop signs has continued inexorably since a change to zoning ordinances in the 1960s made new ones basically illegal, Mr. Rinaldi said. The signs that remain exist because of a loophole that allows them to be replaced by new ones as long as they have existed continuously in the same location.

Replacing the one at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, an oficial landmark, could prove more difficult because it may require approval from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Mr. Rinaldi said that, ideally, a new sign would complement the building’s design.

“I think the Comcast logo would look a little incongruous atop an Art Deco skyscraper, though I think the same could be said for the G.E. logo or the ’60s R.C.A. logo,” Mr. Rinaldi said. “It would be best to have a sign up there that matched the character of the building.”

Given the choice, he said, he would opt for a potentially more permanent solution than an ever-changing series of corporate owners. “I think I’d do NBC in the same kind of lettering that was there originally,” Mr. Rinaldi said. “NBC’s been associated with that building since it was built.”

What sign do you think would look best on the roof of 30 Rockefeller Plaza

Ode to the Humble Slice of Pizza

Dear Diary:

After a long day of work in the south tower of the Time Warner Center, I left that epicenter of urban aristocracy and walked to Broadway, where I stood before a metallic counter and ate a 99-cent slice of pizza. It was perfect.

I wrote a poem about it.

SLICE

The 99 pay 99
For a grayed man’s good
Handed over on a paper plate.

White cheese on a whiter crust,
So simple
Yet so satisfying.

Garlic breath
And grease on my fingertips,
I carry the residue
Of inimitable life.

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail: diary@nytimes.com. Follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.