Bloomberg is a terrible person.
Why do you hate bipartisanship?
Surely that Bloomberg stunt is just asking for a whacking great lawsuit, or a strike?
unless they can come up with a specific excuse.
My boss told me to stay home?
I just did this race on Sunday. It was a blast.
3: The Nuremberg defense: 60% of the time it works, every time.
2: I believe there was some discussion of princelings a little while ago? The word makes me think of Bloomberg.
2: so sweet that you would even think there'd be a strike. and sad.
Regarding snow days, where I work now there is a phone number you call which gives the status. If NYC employees have something similiar I would expect that to control.
I got four days paid for the big storm last year.
So, assuming NYC looks something like Chicagoland, I would think "There's a fucking blizzard outside!" should be specific enough.
Cheer up. The groundhog didn't see his shadow and will be served this evening in with shallots and a mushroom risotto.
11: Reminds me, any trip reports form the folks, asilon? And I do think they are going to win on their travel days missing the worst weather (which was mostly just rain here, but probably freezing rain in Punxsutawney).
||
(Some) Violence breaking out in Cairo, Tahrir
"Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian opposition figure, calls on the the army to intervene as pro-Mubarak group continues attack on group that has been protesting in Tahrir Square." ...(dudes, you needed to force the army to take a side, day ago)
Even AJE hasn't had good coverage of places like (industrial) Suez, which I think has been rougher than Cairo or Alexandria
Robert Fisk ...linked without cut-and-paste, bitter and strident
|>
re: 7
We wimp out here a lot of the time, too, but still, the option remains live at least some of the time.
The BBC has been running footage of the violence in Tahrir Square, and lots of rumours on Twitter and elsewhere as to who the people involved are.
...who the people involved are.
I doubt that they are all disguised police and security, there was inevitably going to be sincere and situational counter-revolutionaries.
Also, there's bound to be a guy or two who wants to hit Anderson Cooper for raising the bar on male grooming.
Derauqsd surely picked the right morning for this post.
Hm. The bike ride ends at a festival in Staten Island. Could be a trap.
I'm sort of technically considered an essential employee, because I work in healthcare, but my boss is very understanding and lets us do the paperwork portion of our jobs from home. I usually try to keep in contact with my clients though.
They're very likely to cancel scheduled appointments if the weather is bad anyway. Further north they got snow today, but in the Boston area it's all turned to slush, sleet and freezing rain. My BF's workplace was on delayed opening, but then it said you could telecommute, so he's trying to do paperwork over their VPN.
There have been several spin outs and more than a few jack-knifed tractor trailers. The speed limit on the turnpike was reduced to 40 mph, and the state police have asked people to stay off the roads if at all possible.
This twitter feed seems to be circulating. Seriously tense stuff, esp. once you back a bit.
http://twitter.com/BloggerSeif
It's a goddamned mess out. I biked in, but I think I'm going to leave early because the roads (which are now pretty much entirely submerged) are going to freeze, and that will not be good at all.
Also, the only reason I came in was to attend a meeting this afternoon that has now been cancelled. Curses!
Also, the post office is supposed to deliver the wheels for my new (heartbreakingly beautiful) bicycle today. Actually, they were supposed to show up yesterday, but I saw hide nor hair. I'm worried they'll return them to sender. Curses!
From what I hear the 5-Boro bike tour is kind of a clusterfuck; it's a huge, overrun scene not unlike the NYC marathon. The single piece of advice I've seen repeated the most is "bring comfortable walking shoes".
It's 60 and sunny here. I regret wearing a winter coat.
I still haven't got over the exciting novelty of cycling usefully around the place. I was able to fit in an extra errand yesterday before I met my daughter in town! And then we both cycled home together instead of (as normally happens) her saying "bye then!" and jumping on her bike and me walking the kilometre home by myself!
Parents seem to be having a great time - I got up to an email from them this morning saying that they were just heading over to the Walmart car park to wait for the shuttle buses to start at 3am! I watched the live feed (well, I missed the actual moment, but I saw lots of proclaiming) and it was dry then although it had been raining earlier. And apparently the Steelers are going to win the Superbowl. I have a couple of photos from yesterday - I will stick them in the flickr pool. My kids are now watching the film.
25: And apparently the Steelers are going to win the Superbowl.
Yeah, I bet they got a lot of that. You become enured to it when you live here.
"Wal-Mart car park" "raining" "waiting" and "excellent time" don't usually go together unless you're on a meth binge.
It's a goddamned mess out.
Could be worse; you could be in Queensland or Tahrir Square.
27 - see the flickr pool for my dad in a groundhog hat. He may well be on a meth binge.
27: I'm waiting for my van
Shuttle voucher in my hand
Out to Wal-Mart, store 125
At three AM, more dead than alive
I'm waiting for my van
Hey, Englishman, what you doin' o'er here?
Hey, Englishman, you drinkin' our watery beer?
Oh pardon me mate, it's the furthest from my mind
I'm just quietly queuing here at end of this line
I'm waiting for my van
Here it comes, windows tinted black
Folding doors and a bench seat in the back
It's never early, it's always late
First thing you learn is you always gotta wait
I'm waiting for my van
Love it. Have emailed that to my dad. Back to Pittsburgh tomorrow, so hopefully they'll escape the snow going in that direction too.
The last time Stanley talked about how unseasonably warm it was, he later clarified that he was actually lying, so I'm assuming that in this case as well.
In Bloomberg's defense, he hasn't given the City Hall press corps the finger and flown to Bermuda to play golf and rattle around his palace half as frequently as I would have, in his position.
33: Nope. That's the problem with the fucker, totally inconsistent.
It must be weird to have a dad who might get Velvet Underground references. Mine had heard of Billie Holiday.
31 (not to gild the lily):
We're stopping for a Yank snack
Rare coming off the grill.
Tastes just like chicken - oh no I'm stricken.
It's Punxsutawney Phil.
22: We've ordered a few things from Amazon that have gotten returned to sender, because they were shipped by a courier company called lasership. They said that they had delivered them, but they never arrived.
re: 36
Heh, mine likes Tom Waits, had Zappa and Hendrix albums in the house -- although that's more my Mum's taste, tbh -- and thought punk was cool.
Oh, my dad won't get the reference. He liked the Beatles, and then has a bizarre and random selection of music he listens to from the last 40 years. But he would appreciate the gesture. And - after telling me they wouldn't bother going into Pittsburgh on Sunday/Monday - it turns out that they DID go to Primanti Bros! Possibly only for the beer.
18 seems odd. I can't say I know enough of military crowd control to dispute it, exactly, but. Is the idea just that it's very tough for even a well-armed military to dispurse a very large crowd while maintaining at least a diplomatically-plausible case that they're not engaging in (unnecessary) mass-violence against their own citizens? If so, that makes sense, although derauqsd left the italicized portion unstated. Because without the italicized bit it seems like they could pretty effectively just open fire, if that's what they wanted to do. See, e.g., Tiananmen Square, 1989.
Actually, I'd rest 18 this morning and onlynow gotten around to writing 42, and now, re-reading 18, I realize I'd forgotten that he does explicitly pose it as a question of "why don't they just live fire on the crowd?" (I.e., it has nothing at all to do with the italicized phrase in 42.)
As I said, I can't say I know much about this, but I'm very skeptical of his analysis. My guess is that the response of the crowd to live fire would not be to somehow "tear limb from limb" the well-armed persons doing the firing, as he says, but instead to flee for cover and generally dispurse.
Hot damn, my new wheels for my awesome new bike arrived. And the wheels are awesome, too! What a time to be alive, and also me.
I'm registered for the 5-Boro. I'm pretty sure my friend who was going to ride with me has flaked out. Team Unfogged!
What a time to be alive, and also me.
"...it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
44: What a time to be alive, and also me.
Obama's killing Egyptian babies to pave the way for taking refuge in underwater Dubai super cities and your happy about bike wheels?
47: I know! Isn't it... wonderful?!?
I've actually occasionally felt like I've been missing out by not seeing mcmanus's comments over the past few days, but (a) somebody always takes his bait, so I get the gist, and (b) no I haven't.
Also, the post office is supposed to deliver the wheels for my new (heartbreakingly beautiful) bicycle today. Actually, they were supposed to show up yesterday, but I saw [neither] hide nor hair.
I kinda thought fancy bike wheels would be made out of, I dunno, synthetic carbony stuff? Or if not, then metal? Hide and hair seem a bit old-fashioned.
They're artisanal, organic fancy bike wheels.
47: your s/b you're, of course
48.1: No, it isn't wonderful, because I apparently cannot write even the simplest motherfucking comment without introducing some utterly stupid credibility and humor-destroying typo. Fucking fuck, it will never get better; my tombstone should read, "Hear lies wrongness."
49: the hide and hair are on the delivery dude. The wheels are made of aluminum and angel farts.
52: The wheels are made of aluminum and angel farts.
I smelt that!
51: that's okay. If I didn't know better, I'd assume "I've actually occasionally felt like I've been missing out by not seeing mcmanus's comments over the past few days" was written by a poorly-implemented spambot.
I should really go ride. But it's so windy. So here I sit, not really working because I can't stop thinking that I should go ride.
Her I sit brokenhearted
Meant to ride
But never started
55: you know, if you just manage to get on your bike, then you can think about how you really should be working, what with it being so windy.
Also, wind is totally good for your conditioning, say all the annoying roadies that I am currently channeling.
I should really go ride. But it's so windy. So here I sit, not really working because I can't stop thinking that I should go ride.
I have an almost identical problem, but even worse: since my sister lent me her trainer, riding requires merely throwing on bike shorts and going downstairs to the cellar. But because I'm paralyzed by a desire to avoid engaging with the day/consciousness/life, I put it off and off. But I can't leave the house, because I haven't showered, and I can't shower, because I should ride first, since obviously it would be silly to shower and then get all sweaty again by riding.
So I stay in bed.
Maybe my problem isn't really 'almost identical.' But there are similarities!
Speaking of headstones and leading an awesome life, many years ago I saw this headstone in person (Prentice Mulford, Philosopher 1834-1891 Thoughts are Things -- Mulford) while in the company of a mostly real philosopher who chose to be offended and aghast. I was surprised recently to learn that Mulford has been rediscovered by The Secret-type folks as a pioneer of New Thought. For some reason I thought this might be interesting when I started writing it. If you find eighteen dollars you can buy his book.
On the OP, I dislike riding in crowds, so no. In any case, even in good years I generally only start riding about that time so I'd also be in horrible shape at the start of May.
Well, I rode. And the wind had died, so it was mostly great. But I started a bit later than I should have -- because of the dilly-dallying -- so I couldn't go quite as far as I would have liked given the awesomeness of the weather. Still, better to have ridden than not!
Also, to the OP: that ride is hell. I did it once, several years back, and it was a nightmare: a mixture of Kafka, Bosch, and Peter Yates. The ride proceeds at a pace slightly slower than a crawl, people are more interested in making spectacles of themselves (and not in a good, giant puppet sort of way) than making forward progress, and there are endless chances for calamity. Don't do it. That's my advice, anyway.
62: I thought Canadians were supposed to like sharing.
63: I briefly considered pretending to have the first clue about your meaning but then realized I couldn't pull of the ruse, so clueless am I.
To the OP. I did it back in the late 1990s. Overall I liked it. But the 1st part up to Central Park was basically scooting along. It could be worse now. In and after the park it was pretty good. (Except on the bridges where people just stopped in traffic to start walking their bikes!)
64: You can see him raising the rake from here.
66: I did it 10 or so years ago and my experience was similar to yours. I was considering taking LB up on the idea, but if it's become significantly more annoying, perhaps I will pass.
68: regular registration is sold out anyhow.
71: Why won't the rulers, spiritual and secular, do anything about that?
Since the sun is over the yardarm (or, since it is past midnight at Greenwich), I wish Heebie a marvelous birthday.
I think Sifu is one of the scientific friends. Different kind of bamboozlement.
42 43
I agree with urple. Numbers don't matter a lot when one side has guns and the other side doesn't. See the 1919 Amritsar massacre for an example.
I'd studiously avoided getting any regular exercise my whole life until my wife got hold of a stationary bike that someone she knew wanted to get rid of, and now I'm an addict. The main advantage is if I get on the bike after work I don't get that I'm-about-to-slip-drooling-into-a-diabetic-coma feeling after dinner.
Me [looking wonderingly at my hand]: What is this strange calm, clearheaded feeling?
Wife: You know, most of us earthlings have experienced this before. We call it `well-being'...
The thing is the size and weight of a Buick, and none of the electronic doohickies works any more, but on the plus side I've got it in front of the TV and have adapted a spare IKEA billy shelf so that it sits across the handlebars like a desk, allowing me to read. Multi-tasking!
71: Drat. I figured I had a couple of days to dither. Apparently not.
77: if you get the $300 VIP registration you can start at the beginning of the line and get a free t-shirt, so there's that.
Or Bave, Smearcase, Blandings, teraz and and Buck could all stock up on Smirnoff Ice and you could do a 5-Bro Bike Tour.
Bave's up in your neck of the woods now, so it would have to be Flippanter.
FWIW, registering for this kind of ride is a waste of money (unless you really want the shirt/goodie bag), since there's no way anyone can stop you from just showing up at the start and riding along with the group. So don't despair if you still want to do it.
The in the Barrel3-speed geatures a simple-minded color scheme with a complex geometric frame design to form the utopia of cruisers Comfort Bikes.
