Here was the scene on upper Broadway in New York last night. We watched the sun go down and waited for all heck to break loose, but people were in quite a festive mood, not an angry one.

A group of Pentacostal musicians jammed in the small park that divides Broadway, and people milled around by the light of the police flares and a thousand multicolored cellphones.

We had plenty of tealights on hand, and a bunch of my LED experiments that run for days on a single battery, so no lack of light inside. With no air-conditioning it was both hot and quiet-- too quiet after about two or three am, I could hear every banging bottle and raving lunatic out on the street, but no big deal.

The mayor declared today a "snow day" -- not a bad way to spend a Friday in August, all things considered.