While the idea sounds odd or even laughable at first listen, there is a precedent. Jennifer 8. Lee wrote, “Naval vessels often have a tradition of ’ship’s silver’ that is brought out for special and diplomatic occasions, said Sally C. McElwreath, the director for the U.S.S. New York commissioning committee.”

The thing is that, instead of letting some state or corporation foot the bill, the public can get involved this time. An online registry’s been established so that anybody can pick out something that suits their taste and budget.

Then, people who order pieces can have the name of an organization or an individual engraved on them. (Lee wisely suggested, “[P]erhaps that of a service member or a family member who perished on Sept. 11.”)

Orders will be accepted up to and after the ship’s commissioning date of November 7th. This is a truly interesting way of letting people interact with the USS New York.

Frank regarded a horse chestnut tree outside her house as much more than a tall hunk of wood. As Joseph Berger noted, Frank referred in her diary to looking outside “into the depth of nature and God” and being “happy, really happy.”

So it’s quite an honor for the World Trade Center site to be picked to receive a sapling. Other places and institutions selected include several Holocaust centers, the White House, and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, along with Little Rock Central High School (which is where the issue of black integration came to a head).

The one possible hitch is that the sapling must undergo a quarantine of sorts to ensure that they don’t carry any diseases. (The original tree in Amsterdam is infected with a fungus.)

Still, since the two-year quarantine period may well pass before a place for the sapling is ready at the World Trade Center site, the timing doesn’t appear to pose any real problem.

The Greater New Orleans Executives Association brought a lot of people in on the event by organizing what it called “Line the Levees.” More than 2,500 American flags were handed out as individuals were encouraged to stand by the Mississippi and show their support.

Then, Gretna, Louisiana emergency workers actually parked their vehicles on the levees, flashing their lights and sounding their sirens.

At the Admiral’s Pier in Algiers, things got still more official as a local branch of the Navy Band performed “Anchors Aweigh.” The USS New York was also honored with a 21-gun salute.

Finally, a second 21-gun salute and a military color guard’s acknowledgment followed at the Naval Air Station’s main entrance.

It was quite a launch, all in all. Now, the USS New York will perform training exercises over the next 10 days before moving on to New York City for its official christening.

In case you’ve forgotten, the USS New York is the amphibious transport dock ship that is capable of carrying 800 Marines. Perhaps more importantly, it has steel recovered from Ground Zero in its bow, and the ship’s motto is “Strength Forged through Sacrifice: Never Forget.”

As for the recent meet and greet, the Village Voice reported, “Northrup Grumman employees were allowed to bring family and friends aboard the New York, which has been under construction since 2004 at Northrup’s New Orleans-area Avondale shipyard.”

Some members of the media were admitted to the gathering, too, ensuring that even more people would be able to learn about the ship second-hand.

New Orleans officials are also planning a sort of sendoff party of sorts for when the USS New York leaves, so the ship and its September 11th-related history may receive still more attention in the near future.

A tipster recently told Curbed, “1 World Trade Center is having its largest crane to date set in. It’s going to be the largest used.” A bigger crane is presumably capable of accomplishing more work, so that’s a good sign, implying that the pace may pick up in the near future.

The anonymous individual also wrote, “Half of the jumbo steel columns are in and they are starting on the first floor of the building as you can see by the steel.” And that’s also very nice to hear, since it means that pretty much all of the progress should take place at a visible level from now on.

Perhaps we’ll soon start to hear news again through official channels. If not, the “visible level” detail should ensure that everyone’s able to stay up to date, regardless.

The pieces had been in the care of the NIST so that they could undergo testing and help with the investigation concerning the cause of the World Trade Center’s collapse. (It seems safe to assume that they did a bit of sitting around and collecting dust, too, in the span of eight years).

Now, as Terri Sanginiti reported, “A convoy of 25 flatbed tractor-trailers carrying twisted steel from the World Trade Center drove through Delaware . . . with a state police escort headed for Kennedy International Airport in New York. . . . The contents of steel are bound for Hangar 17 at the airport to be preserved with other artifacts recovered from the World Trade Center.”

Many of the trucks bearing the pieces displayed flags and “Never Forget” banners. Other motorists sometimes pulled over out of respect, or at least to take pictures.

Given the rate at which the Port Authority has started to pass out World Trade Center artifacts, it may not be long before some of the pieces are brought back out of storage and integrated into memorials, either.

First, the Nevada Appeal reported on Sunday, “The Carson City Board of Supervisors will consider approving and signing a letter Thursday to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey requesting Carson City be awarded an item from the debris of the World Trade Center.”

Plans for using the item seem to be pretty advanced, too, with the article continuing, “The request is for an 8- to 10-foot-long I-beam. It is the city’s intention to display the item at Mills Park. The project will be paid for through private fund-raising events and donations.”

Then there was a short item from a Fox affiliate in Boston stating that Tewksbury’s firefighters’ union has asked the Port Authority for a three-foot piece of steel.

The Port Authority is likely to honor these requests - they come from respectable organizations in established communities - meaning that two more memorials should be on the way.

Abdallah Higazy had been staying at the Millennium Hilton Hotel, which is near the World Trade Center site, at the time of the attacks. After a security guard claimed to have found a two-way aviation radio in his hotel room, Higazy was then detained for more than a month.

According to Higazy, an FBI agent threatened his family during that time in order to get a confession, and it’s against that agent that Higazy filed his lawsuit.

However, a pilot later identified the aviation radio as his, at which point Higazy was released.

And now the issue’s finally getting put behind everybody with the $250,000 settlement. The BBC reported, “An admission of liability or fault was not part of the FBI agreement. US government lawyers on the case have declined to comment.”

Since individuals are not allowed to take possession of World Trade Center artifacts, Jeff Cox started the process of acquiring one by approaching Windermere’s mayor. Mayor Gary Bruhn agreed to give Cox the town’s support.

Now, the Port Authority, which is in charge of all the pieces, has approved the project, and according to Rich McKay, UPS intends to ship the steel from New York to Florida for free (although no shipping date has been set yet). Since Cox picked out a beam weighing about 650 pounds, that’s no small matter.

McKay also reports, “Jeff is now going through the design phase of his project, and some local engineers and architects are helping with his vision of a steel cradle to hold the artifact. He is planning for a Feb. 20, 2010, dedication.”

The speed at which things are progressing is impressive. On a simpler level, it should just be nice to have a World Trade Center memorial in what’s something of a physically distant corner of the country.

The steal beam was moved for the specific purpose of honoring former infantryman Rick Rescorla, who died while attempting to lead others to safety during the September 11th attacks. Rescorla is survived by his wife and two children.

The beam has been paired with a bronze statue to mark his Army service and sacrifice.

As for the beam’s journey, a fire engine and an estimated 200 motorcyclists kept it company between a hangar at Kennedy Airport and Georgia. The size of the caravan tended to grow over time, too.

Lieutenant Paddy Concannon, the president and founder of the FDNY Fire Family Transport Foundation, told Lily Gordon, “We had fire trucks, we had motorcycles, we had police escorts. It was a grass roots trip that just got bigger and bigger and bigger. By the time we hit Georgia, we had 20 state police in front, we had squad cars on either side, we had people on overpasses, we had American flags off pick-up trucks. It was the most patriotic, inspirational thing that I think I’ve ever experienced.”