January 2011
3 posts
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Xarvan
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Xarvan I Compared to aspirin alone Taking Xarvan twice a day May not cause unusual bleeding. II The yellow-centered brusies Were a small price to pay For the benefits of Xarvan. III Xarvan bears its makers stamp And the number five-hundred. In this, I am like Xarvan Except for the five-hundred. IV A man and a woman Are one. A man, a woman,...
re: bicycle registration proposal
Dear Councilmember Ulrich,
As a New Yorker, you probably like takeout as much as the rest of us. I understand that you’re reacting to the fear of your constituents. You should realize that takeout mostly gets delivered by non-citizens at the bottom rung of the economic ladder. At the very least, licensing the bicycles that they rely on for their employment will subject them to an undue...
why crack down on cyclists in the middle of...
I’m not surprised that the NYPD is cracking down on cyclists. What puzzles me is why they’d do it in the dead of winter. Here’s my theory:
Per the WSJ, it was JSK and Sanitation Commissioner Doherty’s job to decide to declare a snow emergency: http://j.mp/e4B2HI
According to the Post (biased, but not the habit of fabricating quotes), JSK passed the buck to Ray Kelly:...
December 2010
1 post
holiday-type FAQ
Coming to our holiday-type party on Saturday? Here’s the FAQ:
Q: Where are you?
A: 132 Dikeman St., Red Hook, Brooklyn, between Van Brunt and Conover Streets. Ring buzzer #3. We’re on the second floor. Try not to think too hard about this part.
Q: What should I bring?
A: A spare winter coat, if you’d like to donate one to the newyorkcares.org winter coat drive.
Beer and...
November 2010
1 post
September 2010
1 post
My Demands
1. Hope and Anchor MUST be open for BREAKFAST, and serve FARM FRESH PASTURED EGGS every day starting at 6am in the morning or EARLIER. Brunch is a conspiracy of LADIES to charge $10 for a plate of EGGS!!11! People need breakfast every day that is not just a pastry, they need friendly service too. Only having brunch is wrong and will not be tolerated. 2. All menu items at Hope and Anchor should...
July 2010
1 post
I Write Like
After it told me I wrote like James Joyce, I fed the “I Write Like” Facebook app the output of a bunch of prominent authors. Here’s what it thought they were: author … text … what the machine said James Joyce … Dubliners … James Joyce David Foster Wallace … essay on Roger Federer … David Foster Wallace Herman Melville … Bartleby the...
October 2009
1 post
Governors Island Bike Sale
From Betty Chen at the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation:
I just wanted to let you know that our concessionaire, Bike & Roll, will be selling their inventory this weekend, each day from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. First come, first served, limited quantities.
Price List:
· Adult Bicycles - Nav 1.0 —- $125 · Kids 20” cruiser —- $49 ...
August 2009
2 posts
4 tags
July 2009
1 post
4 tags
Some Additional #BikeNYC "Biking Rules"
NYC on-street bike lanes run one way, in the direction of traffic.
Give trucks a wide berth. It doesn’t matter if it’s your right of way. Truck is to you as you are to ant.
The cyclist climbing has the right of way over the cyclist descending.
TAKE OFF YOUR HEADPHONES! You need your ears to know what’s going on around you.
Don’t pass another cyclist close on the right....
June 2009
2 posts
6 tags
Iran, Twitter, and the BBC
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m going to replay the tune I’ve been playing all weekend, this time in a Facebook note. If you aren’t already, you should be following the Iran election news on Twitter, by going to search.twitter.com, and looking up #iranelection. There, you will find the record of what may or may not be another Iranian revolution; but it is...
4 tags
New blog post: what not to do with ground lamb,... →
May 2009
12 posts
for want of a nail, or USB from A-B
Somehow, by the time I made it back to Brooklyn, I had lost the last shred of my innocence, the battery charger for my point-and-shoot, and every last USB cable that I used to own. USB cables are the bungie cords of computing. Want to hook up a scanner, a printer, a digital camera? Chances are, you’ll use USB.
As a computer consultant, USB cables kept coming my way. I had, on average, a...
a bedtime story for booger-eating morons
Once upon a time, there was a fresh and pretty girl from a small town in Colorado, who did her schoolwork and her chores, earned her grades without undue effort, and climbed the ladder to college, graduate school, and the thirty-second floor offices of an august financial institution in the gap-toothed grin of Lower Manhattan. Her name was Genevieve, and she smelled like tea roses, not that she...
what is it about smith st.?
Opened a membership at Video Free Brooklyn, a couple blocks north of Smith & Vine. Same weird stand-offishness. Are the younger generation of Smith St. merchants allergic to bike gloves? Do I still smell like Greenpoint?
By contrast, I got a much-needed haircut at an Italian barber shop on Smith near Union the other day. I think it was called Sal’s. It was dusty-looking, with dull...
smith & vine, takes 2 & 3
Take 2: Raninonadatetograbsomethingitwasaweekendeveryonewasnice. Two different guys working.
Take 3: Different people working again, a dark-haired woman and a curly-haired man. He might’ve been the guy from the first time; curse my lousy memory for faces. The owners?
She: Let me know if you need help finding anything.
Me: Thanks. Mind if I put these down here?
She: Sure.
Me: I’m...
Brooklyn Jazz Collective →
eton, etc.
I caught Polly Frost and Ray Sawhill’s latest one-act play, “The Last Artist in New York,” at PS 122 this evening, as part of one of that augustly downmarket institution’s variety nights. You may remember Polly and Ray as the perpetrators of the pioneering web video miniseries The Fold, which might best be summed up as autistic boy meets girl who happens to be Joan of Arc...
a visit to Smith & Vine
As noted elsewhere, I recently moved from Greenpoint to Red Hook. Since the demise of LeNell’s, whose wine selection and service frankly sucked, being based on animal labels and boundless self-regard, respectively, my new nabe lacks a real bottle shop. In search of something more or less local, I biked the 5 minutes up to Smith & Vine in Cobble Hill.
It’s a little shop, wines in...
text messages sent from my phone on another user's...
Transcription of text messages sent from my phone on a young woman’s behalf, during the Lost season finale at the Bell House, Brooklyn, NY, 2009-05-13.
She: This is [redacted]. I am by the bar. Where are you?
He: I wasnt going to make it in time. ive been trying to call you
She: My phone is off
She: Why did you think calling would work.
He: Gah! ive been out w my parents, running to...