So all is well in the Jewish community here because the Hasidic rabbi is helping the Montana cop speak Hebrew to his dog. Thanks to Susie for the article.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind
| Judaism | Montana | Police
| New Jersey
As you know, I've been doing the independent-consultant thing for the last six months or so, mostly with ImprovEdge and now with Social Actions which is working to philanthropize the web. More on that later.
Working from home has its benefits (unlimited coffee, relaxed wardrobe standards) but it's certainly not as productive as going to an office. Perhaps it's just my mindset, or the number of distractions here ("Did I water the plants?"), or, you know, kids who want to play with you.
But I hate working in a café. The music's loud, finding a seat is annoying, WiFi slow if present. Plus there's the "how much should I spend here in order to justify my ass taking up a seat?" factor. And forget about trying to make phone calls.
You know what Brooklyn needs, I thought. It's a place where you can rent a quiet cubicle for a few hours, plug in, and do your stuff. Fortunately, the folks at the Brooklyn Creative League had the same idea, and went and built it. So I now have a part-time office space! Check it out:
| Office Space | Park Slope
Douglas Rushkoff is excerpting his upcoming book Life Inc. How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back over on BoingBoing. Apparently, we're neighbors -- he lives about five blocks away. And, like many before him, he finds the Slope (and the almighty Park Slope Parents listserv) to be indicative of What's Wrong With The World:
Park Slope, Brooklyn, is just a microcosm of the slippery slope upon which so many of us are finding ourselves these days. We live in a landscape tilted toward a set of behaviors and a way of making choices that go against our own better judgment, as well as our collective self-interest. Instead of collaborating with each other to ensure the best prospects for us all, we pursue short-term advantages over seemingly fixed resources through which we can compete more effectively against one another. In short, instead of acting like people, we act like corporations. When faced with a local mugging, the community of Park Slope first thought to protect its brand instead of its people.
First David Brooks and Wayne PA, now Rushkoff and Park Slope -- will the pundits never leave my neighborhoods alone?
But seriously, it looks like an interesting book on corporatism in modern life.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Douglas Rushkoff | Park Slope
| New York City | Subway
Story behind lotto win is, uh, big. Via Fark.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Iowa | Lottery | Sex Toys
| United Kingdom
Banned Ohio license plates. (Here's the article.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Censorship
Fake parking tickets lead unwary to malware.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Malware | North Dakota | Social Engineering
Construction signs warn of zombies.
| Signage | Texas | Zombies
| Crime | Jews | Your Blank Of The Day
The Ghosts of John Jay High. A short doc film from the perspective of the students at John Jay, the school on my block, a mostly-minority school in a mostly-white neighborhood. Via Frank.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Education | Park Slope | Race and Ethnicity
Map of Parking Tickets in New York City. Useful if you want to engage in some risk management, although it wouldn't have prevented the $165 ticket I got last Saturday. Not surprisingly, given The Downturn, the City is looking to tickets to get more revenue.
Via Waxy.
posted this | this entry's link | 2 comments | Maps | New York City
Say this for Eliot Spitzer's judgment: it's gratifying that NY may soon have the first legally blind governor in U.S. history. Give Spitzer the "bone"-headed at least one point for choosing David Paterson as his running mate.
Maybe something good will come of this. Besides 1001 wisecracks and "Love Gov"/"Eliot Mess" headlines.
Y'know, I don't have a water cooler here in my home-based workplace. So permit me to observe among the weirder ironies in all this: Spitzer is one of maybe 347 males in NY state ever to have learned that inducing a prostitute to cross state lines is a greater crime--a *federal felony*--than picking her up on the street corner.
And maybe the only one to discover that detail before getting arrested. (Granted, I'm just presuming that someone who has prosecuted two prostitution rings would have absorbed this....)
From the wisecracks: my wife's pal Bill Bragin observes that it's a shame that Spitzer couldn't stick to his campaign promisesthe governor at least could have patronized a brothel from some economically depressed town upstate.
posted this | this entry's link | 4 comments | Law | Prostitution
Naples Pizza Now Wall Street Pizza
Noooooooooo!
Thanks to Sandra for ruining my morning with this terrible news. What's next, renaming the Doodle "Beckwith's Bistro"? Perhaps "Post-Modern Apizza"?
Corpse Wheeled to Check-Cashing Store Leads to 2 Arrests
Just sign here, Mr. Lomax....
At least for New Yorkers:
A great plan for Governors Island and the return of the 2nd Avenue Deli!
Merry Happy Xmas, Solstice, Kwanza, (Eid) al Adha, Boxing Day, and New Years!
So the Mayor of San Fran wants to tax sugary soda. How do we feel about that? Kinda regressive. But city kids are getting fatter every year and that will put a strain on the health system of SF and the nation. But where will this slippery slope end? Taxing everything that CAN be bad for you if taken in large quantities? And if these drinks are so bad for kids why not just outlaw them? They have already banned them from some schools; why not pass a "no soda under 17" law? At least that way parents will control what their children drink.
...KKK?
"We are opposed to the ignorance and stupidity as displayed by the individuals that thumbed their nose at the area churches by continuing to use racial slurs, threats and avoided Christian deportment."
Members of one Klan group plan to protest another in Cullman. Via Cynical C where the Peoples Front of Judea joke has been duly made.
Emily on the destruction of Radnor Middle School and its rifle range.
