I found her at about 7:30 PM last night in a corner near 46th and 9th at Zen Palate restaurant.  I immediately started to google around for what to do in this situation.  I called a number listed on this website  http://nycprc.org/  and got a prompt call back and a plead to try to keep the pigeon safe and sheltered with me overnight until I could get it to Animal General on the upper west side.  She was on the ground in a corner obviously unable to walk.I put her in a cardboard box and brought her home with me.   She was so dirty and shaking with fright.  I was able to secure her in my apartment with little dishes of water in a  little makeshift bird house.

     This morning I gave her a bath in my tub and blow dryed her.  I think she liked how warm she was and wasn't so scared after the initial shock of the noisy device. On the way to the hospital I decided to name her Bobbi (i wasn't sure how to determine her gender and even if I did  wasn't sure if she identified with that gender (this is new york city after all)  I took her to http://animalgeneral.com/ on 87th and Columbus Avenue. They have some sort of arrangement with the http://wildbirdfund.com/. The wild bird fund gets money from donors and seems to give some of this money to places like "animal general" in the upper west side. I believe to recompense them for taking care of random birds like the one I found. They took a quick look at her and realized immediately that she had a splayed leg and estimated her to be only 3-4 weeks old. They said it was a congenital defect and might have been caused or exacerbated by how it was positioned in it's mothers nest. They said this type of problem never ends well and the most humane thing would be to euthanize her today.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn87oXoR_28&feature=youtu.be

Verizon wireless is expensive + the new $50 unlimited prepaid plan

Biggest problem yet experienced

"Verizon's hottest smartphones -- including the iPhone and its Droid line -- won't be part of the offering. New customers can put the prepaid plan on one of four phones: LG Revere, LG Cosmos, Pantech Caper and Samsung Gusto. More will be added in the coming months, Raney said."

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/2773.html?source=story_f500_link

excerpt-

Verizon:

"We want to allow customers who have more of a prepaid lifestyle to join the network,"

Yes Verizon. I am living more of a prepaid lifestyle. I would like to see them make a corporate marketing collage of what exactly that looks like.

iPhone testing.

I recently moved from t-mobile monthly unlimited voice and data plan using an HTC Nexus One running a stock android gingerbread 2.3.6 (my favorite phone of all time) to an iPhone 4 (8gB) running iOS 5.0.1 on Verizon's network. I am going to be posting praise and exposing annoyances/challenges encountered over the next few weeks.

Motorola Xoom

I bought a 3G Moto Xoom for $380 very lightly used from a private craigslist seller in NYC. I have been using it for 4 months and have to say I am very impressed. I have my issues with it for sure but I can't say the experience I am enjoying would be worth double the price.

Pro's
1)Android Honeycomb OS gives a wonderful web browsing experience.
2)it runs FAST. Multi-tasking OS.
3)Netflix app is available for it now and it works splendidly
4) comparatively inexpensive.


Cons
1) AC adapter charging cord is separate from the data cord. (micro usb is only for data and not for power)
2)I can't use itunes (oh wait. that is a huge PLUS)
3) ok this one is serious. The quote below mentions some pretty rad audio apps that truly blow away anything being developed for android. The Android Market currently pales in comparison but is getting better every day.


http://www.55tablets.com/samsung/ipad-2-vs-xoom-vs-optimus-pad-vs-galaxy-tab-10-vs-touchpad-vs-playbook/

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/did-motorola-xoom-sales-really-tank/12498

RE: Did Motorola Xoom sales really tank?
@Peter Perry - It's not about mega-pixel-this or SD-Card that - you're talking about hardware in a software fight. The Xoom and the iPad2 are essentially the same from a hardware perspective. Both are a glass capacitative touchscreen powered by dual-core Arm processors. The difference in pixels or clockspeed or storage capacity is inconsequential to the normal person. What is different is the OS that drives them and more importantly, the ecosystem of apps, services, and accessories that define what a person can actually DO with the devices that is lightyears apart. For music, show me anything even close to Garageband, or Korg iMS-20, or Rebirth or iElectribe on the Xoom. There MIGHT be a crap wannabe free beatbox app some kid wrote over a weekend but it will be a Froyo app that looks like crap running on a tablet. The iPad has all 4 and they are truly amazing pro music creation apps. You know ones that bands like Gorillaz used to produce their last album on. Show me anything close to Numbers, Pages, and Keynote. Nope you can't, because Microsoft isn't porting Office to Android anytime soon and Google isn't up to the task. How about iMovie for editing HD movies. Sorry, Xoom just doesn't have it or anything in the same class really. How about the best 3D games from id or EA or Rockstar? Or Turbotax or The Elements, or Netflix, yada yada yada... Nobody cares that the Xoom has a SD Card slot (disabled until who knows when by the way) when you have an adapter for the iPad that actually works. Or it has more pixels or whatever. At the end of the day all you can do with a Xoom is browse the web and pat yourself on the back that at least those Flash ads are showing up, even if they are a little choppy. While the iPad has a million other things going for it. Android has no clothes on in the tablet space where carrier deals and subsidies don't matter and voice calls aren't the killer app. We'll see how this plays out over time but Apple is mopping the floor with the other guys right now. It's not even close.

Steak Pr0n

http://www.debragga.com/products.asp?cat=39
http://www.rosenkransfarms.com/
http://thebrooklynstar.com/

super cows make super steaks.
--------------

On an idyllic corner of the Finger Lakes along the banks of Lake Cayuga exists a micro-climate where the mist of the lake transforms the grass into an ideal grazing land full of plush, luscious feed for cattle where the incredible Rosenkrans breed is reaised. "The Black Baldies,” a blend of Black Angus and Polled Hereford cows, is noted for its beautiful marbling and tastier meat. The calves are raised on the pasture alongside their mothers for the first seven months and then “fence line weaned” to minimize the stress of leaving their mothers. The fence line weaning process is the most humane way to separate calves from their mothers. The calves are also slowly introduced to hay that is bailed on the Rosenkrans farm and are slaughtered at 14 months of age. All of the feed and forages are sustainably raised on the Rosenkrans Farm. The cattle are naturally and humanely raised FREE of antibiotics and hormones!

Dell Perc S300

8149: Acronis Bootable Media Does Not Support Dell PERC S300 or S100 RAID

http://kb.acronis.com/content/8149

this took up way too much of my weekend.

a client asked me to image an old PowerEdge 2850 and slap it into a new AMD powered Dell PowerEdge r415.. imaging the older system with its PERC 5i hardware RAID posed no challenge. Not so with the new PowerEdge R415 and it's Software based "windows only" PERC S300 RAID controller.
I recommended that the client migrate applications (Peachtree accounting and a few other legacy apps + 200 gigs of files) and also to purchase a hardware based PERC H700 RAID controller.

Election day November 2011- polling place

http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm?number=688&street=10th+avenue&borough=Manhattan&lang=en

As of: 11/08/2011
Poll Site: Park West High School
Poll Site Number: 11220
Address: 525 West 50 Street, Manhattan
Voter Entrance: 525 West 50 Street
Accessible Entrance: 525 West 50 Street

A park will replace tunnel 3 construction site. "when" is still unclear

Tunnel 3 construction site block 1077 lot 29 in Hell's

Block 1077, Lot 29 was acquired by the New York City Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) pursuant to a Uniform Land Use
Review Procedure (ULURP) application for site selection in 1993. CB4
and the community have been advocating for park/community open
space on the site since 1993. Correspondence has been ongoing since
then between DEP, Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), CB4,
local elected officials, and the block association, all expressing a
commitment that the site will be developed as a park when construction
of the shaft is complete. DEP will require a permanent easement for
access to the shaft for maintenance, which could easily be
accommodated with surrounding park use.
The Tenth Avenue Site should be developed with housing on the
western portion of the site, over the rail cut, and park on the eastern
portion of the site. The building should run through the block on the
western boundary, with arms pointing east toward Tenth Avenue. After
the rezoning in April 2008, in connection with the Real Estate
Industrials project, the entire site is zoned R8 and maximum FAR is 4.2
per ZR Sections 96-101 and 96-31. A special permit should be used
under ZR 96-104 for maximum height of 99 feet.
The park should be mapped and developed as Hell’s Kitchen Park West,
with facilities for older children and teens (volleyball and basketball
courts moved from Hell’s Kitchen Park), adult seating areas, and lots of
green. The park should include a comfort station, which could be in the

adjacent housing development. DPR should design, the housing
developer should build, and the City should fund the park, which should
be fenced the same as Hell’s Kitchen Park. A full-time attendant, not to
be shared with other parks, should be assigned to Hell’s Kitchen Park
and Hell’s Kitchen Park West.
To absorb neighborhood population, the eastern portion (where
volleyball and basketball courts now are) of Hell’s Kitchen Park should
be renovated, along with other nearby parks including Raymon Aponte
Playground on West 47th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and
May Matthews Park on West 45th and 46th Streets between Ninth and
Tenth Avenues.
In regards to the water tunnel easement on the site, a minimal amount of
renovation is required for hatchways and vent, it should be fenced,
landscaped, and become an integrated element of the park.(CB4, HCC)

SOURCE-

http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/wry/pdf/finalscope.pdf

Great Infographic: Android's version fragmentation problem

from techcrunch.com

Brooklyn Farmacy

513 Henry St at Sackett St, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

Peter Freeman. I never knew him growing up in central Maine but I had heard of him. Been meaning to make it down to his store that has been getting some good press since hearing about it from Meghan Meyers (Solon Maine) a few months back. Best of luck Mr. Freeman! Sounds like you are cooking up some great treats across the river... One of his concoctions (Maple Egg-Cream) just ended up in the best seasonal drinks section of TimeOut New York. Congrats Peter! See you down there soon. Sounds like I can bring my dog too.

http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/2134727/maple-egg-cream-at-brooklyn-farmacy-soda-fountain
(picture source is listed below, which is also a great little intro to the Brooklyn Farmacy)
http://eardog.com/blog/2011/04/brooklyn-farmacy/

Occupy Wall Street.

Q: what do
Drummers, wikileaks, artists, anarcho capitalists, Ron Paul supporters, the green party, the NYCISO.org, goths, anarchists, democrats, independents, tourists from poland, and me all have in common?

A: We all agree that some heads need to roll after the american public was ripped off by wall street led by Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers in 2008. We have been in Zucotti park since early October protesting the criminally lame government response from the Obama Administration. I have personally been down there for only a few days but am completely in solidarity with their basic cause, which is that middle class (and poor, working poor) Americans are not getting a fair shake.

"Labor groups are now praising the Wall Street demonstrators for clarifying a message they say has been theirs all along: that no one on Wall Street has been held accountable for causing the financial crisis, and that cuts to government budgets hurt the lives of working people."

- source city hall news - Bob Master, political director of Communications Workers of America District 1 and a co-chair of the labor-backed Working Families Party

And while many of the city’s larger unions are eager to piggyback on the rising media popularity of the Wall Street protestors, others are more cautious.
“I’m not going down there,” said Greg Floyd, president of the Teamsters Local 237. “I’m looking for permits and I’m looking for an agenda. We want to be supportive, but I need to know what I’m supporting.”

- source city hall news



Here are the pictures I have taken hastily with my cell phone so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallaroo/sets/72157627944969602/

Shit my uncle says on facebook

"I am on some hot chick's lap top that I got drunk with at Chili's and now we are at Day's Inn (Krist I don't even know her name . . .) anyway she's passed out in the bed right now (not much use to me - think I will go through her wallet and see if there is anything worth taking) pretty sure she wont remember me - damn - she's hot - if she starts puking I'm definitely leaving . . ."

My kids brought some ecstasy back from school and wanted me to try it - Woooooo0000OoooooW . . . know I feel like dancing my fucking brains out (and lots of alcohol seems to go quite well with it) guess my living room will have to do (now if only I had a dancing partner - where's that fucking dancing bear!)

Spelling Bee Practice links

http://www.spellingbeethegame.com/
http://www.jenisfamous.com/dev/category/spelling-word-of-the-day
http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/spelling.html?s=g11-12 (for the more basic words that still stump the overly confident)
http://www.spellingbee.com/
http://www.spellingbee.com/champions-and-their-winning-words (it is my goal to know all of these by november 5th)

http://www2.sharonherald.com/herald/nie/spellb/spelllist3.html


I'm actually thinking about starting up an "adult" spelling bee of my own in hell's kitchen.

Turkey or Turkiye? always wondered about this

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1972/is-turkey-the-bird-named-after-turkey-the-country-or-vice-versa

Dear Straight Dope:

With the recent earthquake in Turkey, I started to think about the fact that there's a bird and a country named the same thing. How did each get its name? And are there any other countries named the same as animals or food? Is there a place named Chicken?

— Aron Siegel

My thoughts exactly Aron! The answer is anything but straight forward.

let me tell you how I dislike your website and its in text advertising.

http://www.vibrantmedia.com


this company under the good intentions of saving users from having to watch flash banner ads or pop up/pop under video ads have given us something similarly annoying but different. They are to web content as the burdock is to the outdoors. Sticky burrs have a place in the larger scheme of life but they still annoy the hell out of me and unlike arcitum lappa... they have no redeeming qualities such as having a tasty root and leaves. How much of their click through revenue is made completely by mistake. I am willing to bet it is over 30-40% accidental click through with an immediate browser window close.

http://video.about.com/onlineadvertising/Doug-Stevenson--Gabe-Greenberg.htm

this interview makes some sense and I agree... people want control over the content they are viewing. Doug Stevenson has crossed the line with this product. It isn't saving anyone any time or making the web a better place. It is just creating more noise in an already noisy place. I hear some people disagree with me about this, but I think you are wrong.

This topic tends to bring out strong emotions for or against. That, I also find interesting. read the discussion on the bottom of the following article for what I see as a typical argument regarding in text adverts.


http://nanopublishing.weblogsinc.com/2004/12/03/vibrant-media-kicked-out-on-their-ass-by-forbes-ceo-jim/

a melange.

Gordon's Great Escape



"In this globe-trotting docuseries, British alpha-chef Gordon Ramsay leaves his comfort zone and travels abroad to learn more about world cuisine, sampling popular dishes in India and Southeast Asia." Netflix description

People have been urging Gordo to get back in the kitchen for some time now, but the message was rather more to leave the cameras behind. He doesn't seem able to turn down the exposure (and presumably, the fees are pretty persuasive in troubled times) but in an attempt to salvage his reputation, he's turned to a different style of programming akin to the Stein or Oliver culinary travelogue / personal journey model. As his production company, Optomen, has it, "we'll gain insights into the real Gordon Ramsay. We'll see a very different side to the nation's favourite chef: more thoughtful, confessional, and open-minded".

quote source

Silicon Alley Talent Fair

Showed up rather late due to a voip mishap at a client site. The fair was a good time and a good networking event. Had some good conversations with at least a dozen people and ate about that many bahn mi sandwhiches smartly provided by http://www.sonarapp.com/ cold delicious beers were provided by Beerlao thanks to ideeli and beats from DJ eRock.

They had a small panel discussion between the job fair part and the after party featuring some luminaries from the local scene. One of the most memorable speakers was a guy from Pivotal Labs. Not sure if it was Rob Mee but it probably was. He chided everyone for complaining too often about what they want to do and not walking the wallk i.e. going to hackathons, contributing to local tech meetups and generally needing to JUST FREAKING DO IT. Loved his take and wished I could hear more of what he said which was at times difficult. More thoughts on this event to come.


My photos from the event

http://www.myworkster.com/myworkster/page/eventdetail/1587252515

10gen, Adaptly, Adconion Media Group, ADstruc, Animoto, Appdrenaline, AppFirst, AppNexus, Aviary, AxialMarket, Behance, bitly, BurdaStyle, Cellufun, CityPockets, Crowdtap, CrowdTwist, Datalot, EasyBib, Enterproid, EquaMetrics, Everyday Health, Exfm, EXPO, Fast Society, Freedom Teleworkers, GameChanger.io, GateGuru, GetGlue, Gojee, Group Commerce, H.BLOOM, Hara Partners, Harvest, HereWeClick, ideeli, iGottaGuide, IndustryGraph, iSEC Partners, Jibe, JoorAccess, Jumo, KeyWifi, kikin, Kindara Inc., Krossover, Late Nite Labs, LeadPlace, LivePerson, LocalBonus, MLB Advanced Media, Mediamorph, Meetup, MergeSkills, Mind Body Play, Mojiva, NYC Footy, Ology Media, Organic Spread Media, Pagane, Paperless Post, PhotoShelter, Pixable, Quirky, Red Rover, Referio, RentTheRunway, RevTrax, Schoology, Seamless Receipts, SeamlessWeb, SeatGeek, Shapeways, Shelby.tv, Skillshare, Social Media Link, Socialbomb, SocialBon, Solvate, Sonar, Squarespace, StuffBuff, Stylesight, SuburbanMomma, Sulia, TargetSpot, The Echo System, TheLadders, Tremor Media, TwoChop, VYou, Wantworthy, XGraph, Yipit, Yodle

Peter Van Buren's "We Meant Well"

I heard this entirely sane commentary blaring out of my tivoli radio. Lots of nonsense tends to spout from it but on occasion someone like Peter comes along and makes something people wish to make quagmireishly complex seem simple and just says the plain truth.















We meant well blog

The war’s initial aim was to stop those weapons of mass destruction from being used against us. There were none, so check that off the list. Then it was to get rid of Saddam. He was hanged in 2006, so cross off that one. A little late in the game we became preoccupied with ensuring an Iraq that was “free.” And we’ve had a bunch of elections and there is a government of sorts in place to prove it, so that one’s gotta go, too.


What follows won’t be “investment,” just more waste. The occupation of Iraq, centered around that engorged embassy, is now the equivalent of a self-licking ice cream cone, useful only to itself.

Otis funkmeyer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN6q_kVlGcM

I get what he is doing here and I think it is fine... if the non PCness of the title gets you please post a comment about your racial critique of the song if you have one.

I have to give it to him, as a shout out song for scientists and luminaries it is awesome, and very funny. as a white man with swagger you know I love this!

I got that

White nigga swag.