There are people fryin'...
The PoolAid Video is out! Watch it!
Then go to Poolaid.org and take action!
mike sold out at - 22:35
2.24.2007
Green Power
So after seeing An Inconvenient Truth, and working on this renewable energy project for several months at work, I switched to a renewable energy supplier that runs on 35% wind and 65% hydroelectric plants, which makes it a total non-carbon supply.
It seems to be about the price of regular ConEd electricity, but we'll see. Even if it's a little more, it's probably worth it. I read a paper for work that estimated that for every metric ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere, it causes about $20 in future social harm. So in the long term, it's clearly worth it.
If you're interested, check out ConEd's Power Your Way site.
mike sold out at - 13:35
2.21.2007
Recent Photos
I highly recommend any NY'er interested in urban issues visit the Robert Moses exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York (103rd & 5th Ave). This was a really cool exhibit that had some rare models of several Moses-era projects that were never built.
The Mid-Manhattan Expressway:
The Lower Manhattan Expressway:
On the way there, a cool photo opportunity presented itself on the N Train when the train we boarded had no lights on in the cars, not even the emergencies. Only the tunnel lights flashed by, creating some really neat effects:
mike sold out at - 23:21
2.18.2007
Donut Gets Stylish
Donut the Dog and the mikebot's parental units are up here for a visit. Because her foot pads are really sensitive to the rock salt, we got her a set of fetching baby blue booties, which she does not enjoy putting on in the least.
mike sold out at - 17:18
2.15.2007
Pigeon Zap
It's kind of sad that they have to zap the birds, but man is that operation name hilarious.
MTA Shoos Pigeons From Subway Stations
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is implementing Operation Bird-B-Gone at three of the most avian-friendly stations on the no. 7 line. To prevent birds from reproducing underground and leaving behind unsanitary and unsightly droppings, the stations are being wired to zap birds when they goto roost on ledges in the stations.
mike sold out at - 13:56
2.13.2007
More Food Stuffs
Ok, so the organization that did about 70% of the work gets no love in the article, but it's at least nice to see my work get out there.
For a Top New York Export, a Title and Sweet Bragging Rights
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: February 14, 2007
Of the dozens of facts and figures about sweets and flowers spilling out around Valentine's Day, the most surprising may be this: According to city officials, chocolate is New York's No. 1 specialty-food export.
In a report released yesterday, the mayor's Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses estimated that chocolate makers in the city ship out $234 million worth of their products each year.
At that rate, it said, chocolate ranks ahead of all other categories of specialty foods, like roasted nuts, cereal and beer.
The report was the office's first comprehensive attempt to measure the size and economic contribution of the food-processing industry, which it describes as "by far the most stable major manufacturing sector" in the city. Over all, food making is a $5 billion industry that employs more than 19,000 residents, many of them immigrants who speak little English, the report said.
Fewer of those jobs are in big plants, which have been disappearing, and more are in niche operations scattered throughout the five boroughs, said Carl Hum, director of the Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses.
"I don't think you're going to see large plants in New York City anymore; it's going to be small, entrepreneurial operations like this," Mr. Hum said, standing in the compact factory of Vere Chocolate on the sixth floor of a building on 27th Street just west of Broadway.
Vere (pronounced ver-EE) is one of about 30 chocolatiers in the city, and most of them sell custom-made sweets at premium prices. Among Vere's specialties are dark chocolate wafers containing pink peppercorns, five of which cost $7.50. It also makes truffles for vegans.
"We focus on the health benefits of chocolate, as well as the luxury aspect," said Mona Johnson, an executive at Vere.
James Parrott, chief economist with the Fiscal Policy Institute, which provided analysis for the study, said that New York "is probably the major port of entry on the East Coast for cocoa and chocolate."
He added that the relative health of the city's food sector "has gone unnoticed for a long time, but people should recognize that it is significant."
mike sold out at - 23:40
Credit where credit is due
Workin' It
Yay- my food study from work is out.
Crains: NYC
NYC reaps billions from food manufacturing
By: Tom Fredrickson
Published: February 13, 2007 - 3:24 pm
Food manufacturing is alive and well in New York City, generating $5 billion in annual sales and supporting a total of 33,800 jobs, according to a new study.
While food manufacturing job totals have dipped in recent years, the industry, which directly employs 19,200 people and indirectly supports another 9,100 in supplier industries, has proved more stable than other manufacturing sectors, according to a report by the New York 1ndustr1al Retent10n Netw0rk and the Fiscal Policy Institute...
The report also found that nearly half the food made in the city is purchased in the city. The wholesale value of locally produced foods consumed here is about $2.3 billion. In addition, restaurants and bars buy $500 million of food from local manufacturers.
The final piece of the pie -- about a third of the total sales -- is sold outside the city. Those sales consist mostly of higher-end specialty foods such as chocolate, ethnic foods, spices and gourmet jams.
More...
mike sold out at - 19:54
2.11.2007
Why we need unions
Workplace invasions of privacy like these are exactly the reason why we need strong unions.
As a condition of his work for the federal government, Andrew A. Zucker was willing to be fingerprinted and provide an employment history. But then he was asked to let federal investigators examine his financial and medical records, and interview his doctors.
Dr. Zucker was not tracking terrorists or even emptying the trash at the Pentagon. He was studying how to best teach science to middle school students.
mike sold out at - 22:56
Credit where credit is due
2.10.2007
Won't Get Fooled Again
I read this questionable NYT article by Michael Gordon this morning and thought that the name sounded familiar. So I googled Michael Gordon Judith Miller and lookee here at what I found:
Editor and Publisher: 'NYT' Reporter Who Got Iraqi WMDs Wrong Now Highlights Iran Claims
Saturday’s New York Times features an article, posted at the top of its Web site late Friday, that suggests very strongly that Iran is supplying the “deadliest weapon aimed at American troops” in Iraq. The author notes, “Any assertion of an Iranian contribution to attacks on Americans in Iraq is both politically and diplomatically volatile.”
What is the source of this volatile information? Nothing less than “civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies.”
Sound pretty convincing? It may be worth noting that the author is Michael R. Gordon, the same Times reporter who, on his own, or with Judith Miller, wrote some of the key, and badly misleading or downright inaccurate, articles about Iraqi WMDs in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
Gordon wrote with Miller the paper's most widely criticized -- even by the Times itself -- WMD story of all, the Sept. 8, 2002, “aluminum tubes” story that proved so influential, especially since the administration trumpeted it on TV talk shows.
mike sold out at - 12:00
Credit where credit is due
2.08.2007
Double Standard
Did any of these Republicans complain when Bush's Mission Accomplished stunt (four years ago this May 1) kept an aircraft carrier circling in Pacific waiting for the golden hour, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars?
NYT:
Republicans, accusing Ms. Pelosi of putting on royal airs, on Thursday stepped up their campaign to portray her as a luxury-loving San Franciscan because her cross-country travel could require a larger military jet than the one used since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to ferry Speaker J. Dennis Hastert home to Illinois.
Ms. Pelosi and fellow Democrats said that House security officials insisted that she travel in a government plane and that if she had her way she would fly on commercial craft.
mike sold out at - 22:52
Credit where credit is due
2.06.2007
Look Out for the Maclaren Mafia
They don't take kindly to being discriminated against.
New York Mag: Yes, Park Slope Has Too Many Strollers
