tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27093219005579738792024-03-05T04:31:29.484-05:00The Thoreau You Don't Know by Robert SullivanRobert Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17459806143037573928noreply@blogger.comBlogger218125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-28339078812681254112014-01-12T09:00:00.001-05:002014-01-12T09:00:42.998-05:00to contact the authoremail him at authorinfo@gmail.com, and expect a possible delay in response, cause, you know... Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-7779359847682059082012-03-01T11:09:00.001-05:002012-03-01T11:10:26.733-05:00Pig and FrogWe understand that there were some attacks on the Muppets, arguing that they were against oil companies. Here is the Muppets response:<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y8YhED4IgQA?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-19628916647042056912012-02-15T07:49:00.002-05:002012-02-15T07:51:53.046-05:00Begging to Cross<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9kyZ23m1MHwas6sIPDIYaOVcd3FBK3uVZRmixIMZ2F5WWf7m-cQ75xL8KVmmpbON4YoxqHWORgf2jC2DQjED07Q7exfo_PUUvtBIexz4E4uRraBhhJI5CO1HkoALx_mivEL6912TZe2g/s1600/show-button.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9kyZ23m1MHwas6sIPDIYaOVcd3FBK3uVZRmixIMZ2F5WWf7m-cQ75xL8KVmmpbON4YoxqHWORgf2jC2DQjED07Q7exfo_PUUvtBIexz4E4uRraBhhJI5CO1HkoALx_mivEL6912TZe2g/s320/show-button.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709344287479160514" border="0" /></a><br />An excellent post on so-called Beg Buttons, the thing on poles that we are supposed to push in order to walk.<br /><br /><blockquote>Let’s be honest about the purpose of beg buttons. They don’t exist to make it easier for pedestrians to cross a street. They don’t exist to accommodate pedestrians with disabilities – even people with impaired vision would be able to cross the street more easily if they didn’t have to push a button first to get an audio signal. Beg buttons exist so that signals can be timed to pump more cars through.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />A field guide to Beg Buttons is <a href="http://www.streets.mn/2012/02/13/a-typology-of-beg-buttons/">here</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-48555641233611818952012-01-25T15:18:00.000-05:002012-01-25T15:19:18.506-05:00Zip LockedThere is really not much to say.<br /><div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:406796" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" base="." flashvars="" height="288" width="512"></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/406796/january-24-2012/grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--1">The Colbert Report</a></b><br />Get More: <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/">Colbert Report Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.indecisionforever.com/">Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/video">Video Archive</a></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-82132709981454264892011-11-07T16:57:00.006-05:002011-11-07T17:24:06.847-05:00What it would take to lose all the bike lanes in NYC<a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/">Bike Snob</a> is, among other things, a genius. He has proved it again by <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/11/indignity-of-commuting-by-bicycle-power.html">calculating the number of a particular subset of bikers—he defines a member of this subset as a "Nü-Fred <span class="il">Bike</span> Hate Unit," or NFBHU—it would take to have the city pull up all the bike lanes: 80,000. </a>First he sets the scene:<br /><blockquote>Anyway, I don't have a problem with people who choose not to use the<br /><span class="il">bike</span> lane, or who ride Pistas, or who shop at Old Navy for that<br />matter. However, what this Nü-Fred was also doing was running all the<br />lights, and this being rush hour it meant that the crosswalks were<br />pretty crowded. I made no attempt to keep up with him, but I kept him<br />in my sights for awhile, during which I probably watched him ride<br />against the light through three or four crosswalks. Furthermore, at<br />each of these crosswalks, I'd estimate that at least five pedestrians<br />looked at him like they wished he'd get run over by a truck--and this<br />wasn't even in the most crowded part of town.</blockquote><br />Then he points out their <a style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqyqzir6_UU">PR potency</a>, which is high.<br /><blockquote>Basically then, a single hapless Nü-Fred (though I suppose calling a<br />Nü-Fred "hapless" is redundant, since the haplessness is implied) has<br />the power to turn five New Yorkers against cyclists every single<br />block. This means that, in the course of a 20 block journey during<br />peak hours, one (1) Nü-Fred will make one hundred (100) New Yorkers<br />hate cyclists. (If you'd like, we can refer to this 20-block<br />100-person figure as one (1) "Nü-Fred <span class="il">Bike</span> Hate Unit," or NFBHU.)<br /><br />Of course, it's impossible to say with any certainty how many Nü-Freds<br />there are in New York (at least without subpoenaing Bianchi,<br />Specialized, and Felt and forcing them to disclose their regional<br />"urban fixie" sales records). What we can determine though is how many<br />NFBHUs it would take to turn each one of New York City's eight million<br />people against cyclists, and the answer is this:<br /><br />80,000 NFBUs.<br /><br />Really, if you think about it, that''s not all that much. All it would<br />take to would be for some evil anti-<span class="il">bike</span> mastermind to unleash 80,000<br />Nü-Freds on the streets of New York and in a single weekday morning<br />the entire populace would turn against us. By week's end, bicycles<br />would probably be illegal, they'd turn the <span class="il">bike</span> lanes into free car<br />parking, and without cyclists to preoccupy them the police would then<br />be free to focus the entirety of their efforts on beating Occupy Wall<br />Street protesters, harassing food trucks, and insulting the poor while<br />they defend their right to break the law.</blockquote><br />He describes his calculations are <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">"</span><a style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMR-yPA4lsY">crackpot</a><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">" </span>but that's not fair, and besides, crackpot has never stopped anybody from calculating before. Speaking of indignities:<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yzzdEepQHZ8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-40036253645812394552011-10-25T15:20:00.001-04:002011-10-25T15:20:53.454-04:00<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oSn_AlP8LGY" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-86880710323114367102011-10-13T14:04:00.004-04:002011-10-13T14:08:47.251-04:00In Earlier NewsAn I.W.W. protest in Union Square, broken up subsequently by the police, on April 5, 1914.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/10/rudy_giuliani_for_hire_how_ame.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih7wvy1M8aR8QHEQudk59bXZaNX23p2Bq8EtE0-5C-cMJY9_BpX8ZIjp4oJOgOCxUs8BGM-BzwBbXSSm21dpycaTw_zZBkB18WqzWUsrl4Uw1rlcQ6-Pmi_ojAz1DttNE-hLFSlEqM8nc/s320/15715r.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663039540540186578" border="0" /></a>The headline in the Times:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIRrtv4JwcAOhiT_g2bxbAlv-hUfszbkdyMQIWrNjBTT3E8mEr41aFiz5nIzbYnq9ie3vEcVE2cXWGMY6EDlcm9RTLE6u4SXjOZJoVn89g88tP1tk_UCkSbU8h41K8R2a6UtUQvdkyms/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+2.06.25+PM.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 178px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfIRrtv4JwcAOhiT_g2bxbAlv-hUfszbkdyMQIWrNjBTT3E8mEr41aFiz5nIzbYnq9ie3vEcVE2cXWGMY6EDlcm9RTLE6u4SXjOZJoVn89g88tP1tk_UCkSbU8h41K8R2a6UtUQvdkyms/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+2.06.25+PM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663040072950402978" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-737687919859082852011-10-12T15:03:00.002-04:002011-10-12T15:07:16.199-04:00WagesThe Women's Law Project reports:<br /><blockquote><a href="http://womenslawproject.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/wage-gap-still-exists-census-shows/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WomensLawProjectBlog+%28Women%27s+Law+Project+Blog%29">Recently released 2010 census data shows the gender gap unimproved from the year before—women still make only 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. For women of color this discrepancy is even larger. African American women earned only 67.7 cents and Latinas earned 58.7 cents to the male dollar. Despite the fact that women are becoming more educated than men on average, they still continue to have significantly lower salaries.</a></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-19799137091731297162011-10-06T22:28:00.000-04:002011-10-06T22:29:07.537-04:00Union<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LLGoKqPAhSk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br />via <a href="http://anti-union.blogspot.com/">Joe's Union Review</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-48746131478061997122011-10-06T22:12:00.007-04:002011-10-07T14:55:59.474-04:00Cleanliness is Next to Crowdliness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://nplusonemag.com/wednesday-on-wall-street"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbujNH-JkE-0JbtPSOjaPq6wHp2YwR2MDjV03VtMXJVgqTnITLTZxEXiWaRqef97dZy95cvZew7osyjpLJ7DG3v3kKmfDQmfSyZQ4cJu7TWiEjlC89Ioe7kRp9YlcCX8HsC8NUF2DhSQ/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-06+at+10.16.12+PM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660568553445665298" border="0" /></a><br />Reports (and neighbors) suggested to the staff of the TYDK that the people at the protests were good-for-nothing teens who didn't shower. We heard the no showering thing several times while on our morning constitutional (little or no legalistic relation). The staff of the TYDK noticed that there were many different kinds of people at the protest, among the thousands and thousands who were there. There were young people who, as far as conversation went, were good for a lot, it seemed. There were the group of writers and artists that the TYDK staff was invited into, men and women in their 20s and 30s and maybe the occasional 40s, carrying excellent silk screen posters (above right). There were people in musicians unions, student unions, teachers unions, as well as un-affiliated musicians, students and teachers; we saw women who were nuns and women who were priests. There were Socialists handing out literature, and movies stars handing out high fives, and people we had not seen for years, who live up state a bit—a small group that included <a href="http://jeremydine.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Jer</span></a>, who took great photos of all the protestors, each of whom, in certain afternoon lights, looked a lot like me and perhaps like you too, especially if you are a doctor (right).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCPadKphnfvzSYcR7i5zU-JTTMOcbR6kOuIhjHHJNRS4tF39uFK6eO2X_L4zuJetPN4_fC9Enhs2VP-PnDrFq99kD7JXsnCPKim8YqkfT7Gtci-yo7lHjQKIj73Clv0kBreDwDa7OdyQ/s1600/P1080990.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6RTaoO59vLD2-Dt7bUrQK4Jg2IdSwtT8l_-QaypbE89Iggq6fRSzdUJgXwrCyInoSgBnSTy18xTsS8Q-BhnLUSt0Sda50jULMRWC9WRSKfVslnz3nWxRqwhrmgBDZc9xe8OkP_UEPYM/s320/P1080990.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660569904050440146" border="0" /></a>But a point we at the TYDK would like to stress is that, in the case of the management of the TYDK, we showered, just before we left. We looked kind of great, in retrospect, or at least pretty tidy, as far as our occupation goes. And, when we got back, we looked even better, charged with the power of all that union.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-68388761212167836312011-10-06T22:09:00.005-04:002011-10-06T22:11:34.945-04:00What Took Them So Long?A point that Naomi Klein made on the Brian Leher show was not that people in countries outside of the U.S. were asking: What are they protesting for? Rather, she said, people outside the U.S. had seen the disparity in wealth increasing, and are asking instead: "What took them so long?"<br /><embed flashvars="file=http://www.wnyc.org/audio/xspf/162833/&repeat=list&autostart=false&popurl=http://www.wnyc.org/audio/xspf/162833/%3Fdownload%3Dhttp%3A//www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/bl/bl100611apod.mp3" quality="high" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" src="http://www.wnyc.org/media/audioplayer/red_progress_player_no_pop.swf" height="29" width="515"></embed><script type="text/javascript">(function(){var s=function(){__flash__removeCallback=function(i,n){if(i)i[n]=null;};window.setTimeout(s,10);};s();})();</script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-13520783443587636722011-10-06T21:57:00.004-04:002011-10-06T22:04:48.284-04:00A GiftThis<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Home/article/ny-13.htm?TB_iframe=true&height=485&width=712"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBxK1I_ZCXOHvsy28IjzUkno187_0kGk5m88g_DQ0R2pHjgixLPLDVtUMgsaxCa6Htuq2wKp59A1dhw74FRcF0fGausnswtO0k07Z291m8Ixnw2rtVXHEl9McYSsbpqrl8EKypjg3SSO8/s400/Screen+shot+2011-10-06+at+9.57.12+PM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660563825941914882" border="0" /></a>is commented on <a style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/06/1023441/-NYPD-Paid-To-Disrupt-OWS-By-JP-Morgan-Chase-w-updates?via=recent">here</a> at length. How it relates to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DxpOMlDVaXzc%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded">this</a> below is, unfortunately, not clear.<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xpOMlDVaXzc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="233" width="400"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-28524554883883966772011-10-05T06:35:00.003-04:002011-10-05T06:39:34.568-04:00Reading<span style="font-size:100%;">Some reading—a few pages from the introduction of</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-style: italic;">There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">, b<span class="addmd">y Philip Dray. <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780385526296-0">But it now</a>.<br /></span></span><iframe style="border:0px" src="http://books.google.com/books?id=G8N3X2u6oNcC&lpg=PP1&dq=unions%20dray&pg=PT8&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="500" scrolling="no" width="500"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-55007440818641521862011-10-05T06:10:00.003-04:002011-10-05T06:28:40.684-04:00Contrast of Message MessagesSome people think the Occupy Wall Street Protest is too vague in its stated (or unstated) demands and that that is a problem, a strike against the Wall Street strike. Other people don't. Here are two videos to compare. We at the TYDK think that <a href="http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/10/02/opinion/100000001084589/advice-for-the-wall-street-protesters.html">Nicholas Kristof makes a good point</a> about, say, taxing financial transactions (<a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.ceedweb.org/iirp/factsheet.htm">the Tobin tax</a>) but at the same time we think that the idea makes a bad placard, as opposed to what we are seeing out on the street. (We also find the tone condescending, like much of the coverage of the protest in New York City.) A better direction for message refining comes from the Transport Workers Union president John Samuelsen, who describes his union and the Occupy Wall Street protesters are "singing the same song and fighting the same battle" against economic inequity. This is more about battle songs than people who are not interested might imagine, and <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5764742&ft=1&f=1033">singing songs</a>, as inarticulate as that might seem, certainly help with what Samuelsen rightly calls "the sense of desperation."<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1jP0zYgKYzk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-91440691750828893742011-10-04T15:46:00.005-04:002011-10-05T08:27:38.088-04:00RowdyHas everyone been following <a href="http://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/author/williamhogeland/" title="Posts by William Hogeland">William Hogeland</a>'s blog on the subject of the Wall Street protests? It's deeply applicable:<br /><blockquote><a href="http://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-and-the-history-of-democratic-finance-protest/">But I write about the deep, founding roots of rowdy, American populist protest and insurrection, often visionary and even utopian, yet informed and practical too, specifically over money, credit, and the purpose and nature of public and private finance. And despite </a><a href="http://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-and-the-history-of-democratic-finance-protest/">my pop-narrative books on the subject</a><a href="http://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-and-the-history-of-democratic-finance-protest/">, and despite my articles here, and in such place as </a><a href="http://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-and-the-history-of-democratic-finance-protest/">Newdeal20.org</a><a href="http://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-and-the-history-of-democratic-finance-protest/"> (articles picked up by AlterNet, Huffington, Salon, Naked Capitalism, and others), key indicators of my relative impact (like royalty statements!) give me a sneaking suspicion that most people still don’t connect the American founding period with a rugged drive on the part of ordinary people for equal access to the tools of economic development and against the hegemony of the high-finance, inside-government elites who signed the Declaration and framed the Constitution and made us a nation.</a></blockquote>The TYDK team does not necessarily agree with the too-vague accusations being thrown at the protestors, the number of which grows on weekends, when people are off from jobs that pay wages that have fallen (in real dollar terms) since the seventies. We tend to think of the protest cellularly, and we are not talking phones: the encampment is like a nucleus, the cell growing in times of greater protestation activity, such as <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=289124374431699">tomorrow</a>. We were there last week, on the portion of the Brooklyn Bridge where the cops didn't arrest people, and we saw plain clothes police, plainclothes nuns, people with dreads and people who dread drinking decaf in the afternoon, since they wake up in the night as it is. A mix, in other words. (And a guy standing beside us, who was ostensibly not part of the protest, said that though he was himself making six figures, and though he could, as he put it, make fun of about a group of "people who might smoke weed," he was pleased that it was happening. "I'm happy they are out here," the six figure-er said. "Things are screwed up.")<br /><br />Hogeland, though, presents an (excellent) reading list, which I hereby re-present:<br /><p><a href="http://www.csulb.edu/%7Essayeghc/tudorstuart/putneydebates.htm"></a></p><blockquote><p><a href="http://www.csulb.edu/%7Essayeghc/tudorstuart/putneydebates.htm">The Putney Debates</a>. 1647. Rank and file in Cromwell’s Army believed they deserved the vote. Cromwell disagreed. The “Levellers” lost — but this is one of the first articulate demands for disconnecting rights from property.</p> <p><a href="http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html">Letter from a Birmingham Jail</a>. 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr., argues for the validity of taking direct action in the street, not just waiting for courts to catch up. </p> <p><a href="http://www.h-net.org/%7Ehst306/documents/huron.html">The Port Huron Statement</a>. 1962. In a time not of recession but of immense prosperity, students who had benefited from that very prosperity questioned its basis and demanded a renewal of American political values, at home and around the world. Prescient or self-fulfilling or both? Anyway, at once passionate and crystal clear.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/eamerica/media/ch22/resources/documents/populist.htm">The Populist Party Platform</a>. 1892. “We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The people are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled to isolate the voters at the polling places to prevent universal intimidation and bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of capitalists.”</p> <p><a href="http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=343&chapter=17023&layout=html&Itemid=27">Common Sense</a>. 1776. Paine’s call not only for American independence but also, and more importantly — and this is the part routinely and deliberately ignored or marginalized by liberal “consensus” historians — for social equality, in a new kind of American republic.</p> <p>That’s a start. . . .<br /></p><p><br /></p> </blockquote>I would only add <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/95-9781596919150-0">How Not To Get Rich</a>, which is already currently in the Occupy Wall Street library.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-62267874309121619992011-09-28T18:21:00.005-04:002011-09-28T18:28:56.948-04:00A Greek in a Dark Pool, or DublinI wish I could see <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/katie.holten/katie.html">Katie Holten</a>'s new public art work on the <a href="http://www.mheu.org/en/street/">streets</a> of Dublin, Ireland.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://homepage.mac.com/katie.holten/DublinContemporary2011.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA4n1UUDzXdvF_3LjYBMfLHRf7QwoN5xN9YNYhOHoQZlAwitdFVZxhbTePyyh1TTCZ9_zZaey7k9Fd0ud6J07z39H90-JLZGiNfRUCR-kxaA3DNYS3jCecP4hqYw4G8ZJqsXsbUqGqPHU/s320/DC_IveaghGardens.HatchSt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657539961725937778" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-89877685617369047392011-09-17T06:46:00.002-04:002011-09-17T06:48:49.655-04:00Let Them Eat Only Organic Snacks!Frank Bruni's column on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/opinion/bruni-unsavory-culinary-elitism.html">famous chefs' food fights</a>, gets at the things often unsaid about fancy foods, such as this:<br /><blockquote>A great deal of American obesity is attributable to the dearth of<br />healthy food that’s affordable and convenient in low- and even<br />middle-income neighborhoods, and changing that requires a magnitude of<br />public intervention and private munificence that are unlikely in such<br />pinched times.<br /></blockquote>and this:<br /><blockquote>But these preferences reflect privileges and don’t entitle me,<br />Bourdain or anyone else who trots the globe and visits ambitious<br />restaurants — the most casual of which can cost $50 a person and<br />entail hourlong waits — to look down on food lovers without the<br />resources, opportunity or inclination for that.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-14279169817646271862011-09-16T23:40:00.003-04:002011-09-16T23:45:13.703-04:00Matthew Sharpe Takes it HomeThe week that was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG91VoZB8Ug">Matthew Sharpe</a>'s week <a href="http://www.powells.com/blog/guests/things-that-i-couldnt-figure-out-how-to-fit-into-my-other-blog-posts-by-matthew-sharpe/">bloggin' at Powell</a>'s wrapped up today, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A">Friday</a>.<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TG91VoZB8Ug" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-1558340040746252802011-09-12T14:56:00.007-04:002011-09-12T15:31:24.083-04:00Matthew Sharpe's Powell's Expedition<a href="http://www.powells.com/blog/guests/the-echo-maker-by-matthew-sharpe/">The Echo Maker</a> is the title of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBAHnI8QXig">Sharpe</a>'s first <a href="http://www.nps.gov/grca/photosmultimedia/THE-POWELL-EXPEDITION.htm">Powell</a>'s guest <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/living-with-music-a-playlist-by-matthew-sharpe/">blog</a> post, one of a week's worth of <a href="http://static.atlasobscura.netdna-cdn.com/images/place/jicamarca-ionospheric-radio-observatory.6556.large_slideshow.jpg">posts</a> and <a href="http://atlasobscura.com/place/jicamarca-ionospheric-radio-observatory">posts</a>. Take heed!<br /><br /> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <span style=" ;font-family:georgia;font-size:11pt;" ></span><blockquote><a href="http://www.powells.com/blog/guests/the-echo-maker-by-matthew-sharpe/"><span style=" ;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >I find this humbling: the possibility that always and everywhere, our understanding of the world and of each other and of ourselves is at best a fairly attuned and nuanced fiction.</span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"> </span></a><br /></blockquote><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iBXhaku773E" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" width="420"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-85437423839880895682011-09-10T11:34:00.006-04:002011-09-10T18:07:45.358-04:00Dave in Meadowlands!<a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0385495080">Meadowlands</a> aficionados will be excited to know that my friend <a href="http://daviddiehldesign.com/">Dave</a> is in and out of the Meadowlands today—to wit:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBvJBx4n17v05CncDFjxCyCv-azJYG9pqaG4toG7hTPyYgPUWkc0fkZqZ_fNXytp-DeYmA-rOD2NjDUnjJSlsyhtQbWq9J2dx1CmbIcvFpgVBw9lx2V9aCqaV7PmP40fbY4ZGQZR46DI/s1600/photo-1.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBvJBx4n17v05CncDFjxCyCv-azJYG9pqaG4toG7hTPyYgPUWkc0fkZqZ_fNXytp-DeYmA-rOD2NjDUnjJSlsyhtQbWq9J2dx1CmbIcvFpgVBw9lx2V9aCqaV7PmP40fbY4ZGQZR46DI/s320/photo-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650755037277135570" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0SVxr_xqj6MXjjedL-uyxJmAYtVh4pWv5v-GTzhPLL3GwFqIO15QTPLMMM-Dxo3xeX5BDSd332hsTOzDgVHijkcd18ff8q1XuzuUo8n6JjPVkmciKKXuAp2IQohltzbI9EpPvji9vM8/s1600/photo.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0SVxr_xqj6MXjjedL-uyxJmAYtVh4pWv5v-GTzhPLL3GwFqIO15QTPLMMM-Dxo3xeX5BDSd332hsTOzDgVHijkcd18ff8q1XuzuUo8n6JjPVkmciKKXuAp2IQohltzbI9EpPvji9vM8/s320/photo.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650755235978723810" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-79520432769521533822011-09-10T11:04:00.009-04:002011-09-29T07:37:51.319-04:00Reykjavik Watch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWcH3DyudpMMXSGfSpmKcFMrEoXVu9Uf2kFgWqxFllowOV2uXr9Eq_B6N3WwMy2OLC4fsw6W5XXp-0oNhyzs0J7Omj2OJXs2aHMv5S2gpyuBbsVfWfGVDpuvxwKFwWAjtcmtf2sVH_cM/s1600/IMG_2554-478x450.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 302px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWcH3DyudpMMXSGfSpmKcFMrEoXVu9Uf2kFgWqxFllowOV2uXr9Eq_B6N3WwMy2OLC4fsw6W5XXp-0oNhyzs0J7Omj2OJXs2aHMv5S2gpyuBbsVfWfGVDpuvxwKFwWAjtcmtf2sVH_cM/s320/IMG_2554-478x450.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650750899342013682" border="0" /></a>Just as the red maples lead the chorus of turning leaves <a href="http://www.yankeefoliage.com/peak-foliage-forecast-map/">as they set south</a> from Nova Scotia and Maine, slowly setting fire to the woods in the Middle Atlantic states--set fire figuratively speaking, of course, as we have surely had our share of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz1HqGzhePQ&feature=fvst">floods</a> and <a href="http://wildfiretoday.com/">fires</a> and <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/">quakes</a> of late--so the music scene in Reykjavik leads the way, in some instances, when it comes to music in New York. A place that the staff of the TYDK has long dreamed of visiting and yet never actually has is Reykjavik, which was recent host, <a href="http://www.reykjavik.com/reykjaviks-music-scene-murphy-beds/">apparently</a>, to The Murphy Beds. The Beds, as they are sometimes known, are normally a four-member ensemble, making this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f87405N0Wac">Icelandic permutation</a> a kind of twin Beds thing. <span style="font-style: italic;">Góða nótt og dreymi þig vel!</span> Via <a href="http://www.blogger.com/reykjavik.com">reykjavik.com</a>.<br /><br />More Icelandic saga:<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GYqo3skSOv4" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" width="560"></iframe><br />More <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKHdgO9oX4">Murphy Beds</a>:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W9C4Pu5sWvQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" width="420"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-53231205697489725112011-09-09T15:13:00.005-04:002011-09-09T15:18:40.921-04:00BrokenA friend of the TYDK—N.D., the cousin of one of the unicyclists <a href="http://youtu.be/Dq_L0L0OY6U">here</a>—sent over this below, and we are all very grateful:<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mUaoC0ym4JA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-53203814484927261452011-09-08T16:24:00.004-04:002011-09-08T16:34:43.590-04:00And YetRight! Nothing you do matters!<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/going-green-but-getting-nowhere.html?ref=opinion">You reduce, reuse and recycle. You turn down plastic and paper. You avoid out-of-season grapes. You do all the right things.<br />Good.<br />Just know that it won’t save the tuna, protect the rain forest or stop global warming. The changes necessary are so large and profound that they are beyond the reach of individual action. </a></blockquote>This is the kind of thing people love to read, a relief. And yet, it is, we here at the TYDK would argue, short-sighted, a view of the trees that purports to be a view of the forest. It has put us in mind of <a href="http://youtu.be/3o1wQDM05iE">this</a>, which is where this post takes its title, "And Yet."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-41929279114555184472011-08-25T10:45:00.002-04:002011-08-25T10:59:40.942-04:00Free Agency, Part 2The response by the <a href="http://thethoreauyoudontknow.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-agency.html">NYPD to the Associated Press report</a> on the New York City police department's counter terrorism program was notable for being as petty-seeming as it claimed the A.P.'s report is.
<br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.dnainfo.com/20110824/manhattan/nypd-blames-counterterrorism-criticism-on-petit-jealousies#ixzz1W3I2Pozu">NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne defended the city’s counter-terrorism efforts following allegations that police have been spying on Muslim communities with the CIA’s help, blaming criticism partially on petty "jealousies that success sometimes breeds.”</a></blockquote><div style="overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;">Maybe there is <span style="font-style: italic;">absolutely nothing </span>to the A.P. report, which seems unlikely. I hope other news agencies follow up on it. I don't think paying attention to your police department is petty, especially since success, when it comes to civil liberties, is measured on a daily basis, rather than looking back at the term of, say, a mayor or police commissioner.
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2709321900557973879.post-17968990389425154322011-08-24T09:05:00.002-04:002011-08-24T22:22:38.385-04:00The Swamps of JerseyI wrote a piece about the new development plans in the Meadowlands, <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/american-dream-meadowlands-2011-8/">here</a>, which is rendered (my word) like so:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4vlYT-j0h928fT3Kl2U0eRXwTRy0RId36ooDMYIEG-p8hYnXEcXkYVErEtdHr276rIQfrk95XRukY6bwLuIrEcDx5Lte2kfChfVfhoUHspYOB5reNZl1SZ9GPWC-rulpcAo9fPlz3O0/s1600/meadowlands110829_940.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4vlYT-j0h928fT3Kl2U0eRXwTRy0RId36ooDMYIEG-p8hYnXEcXkYVErEtdHr276rIQfrk95XRukY6bwLuIrEcDx5Lte2kfChfVfhoUHspYOB5reNZl1SZ9GPWC-rulpcAo9fPlz3O0/s400/meadowlands110829_940.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644408692897002898" border="0" /></a>
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<br />And if I am not mistaken, Rosalita is the tune that includes the following lyric" "...somewhere in the swamps of Jersey..."
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0