Don’t you hate it when the church on your street is converted into a place that is catering parties for Oscar de la Renta’s 2009 Resort Wear show? Ok, perhaps that doesn’t happen quite that way to your and your neighborhood, but it has happened to some residents of Park Avenue in Manhattan.

I must say I felt some sympathy for the Park Avenue Residents (who are in a) Fight (with a) Caterer Over Events at a Church Hall. Sure they are very wealthy, but the well off want to have some say over how their neighborhood goes as anyone else (if not more so). What surprised me is that they are having to fight so hard and such an uphill battle to win this case.

It’s an interesting story. The NYTimes.com has the details.

I want to link to a stunning photo of the recent events in Iran. If it disappears from this blog, go to this link to see it. (In fact, go see the picture regardless. I had to shrink it here, and that doesn’t do it justice.)

What impressed me in this photo is what is transpiring in the moment it was taken. In the foreground, four men are attacking a man on the ground. The four men are big men. They have clubs. It’s very likely they are organized. Perhaps they are the Baseej/Basij.

In the moment that it is being taken, the men are about to be attacked by women in the background. These women are not armed. They are dressed in traditional  — or at least non-Western — clothing. They do not look to be students or a mob. But they appear to be outraged by this attack, and they are counterattacking the men despite the risk of doing so.

There are many great photos of what is happening in Iran. But I thought this one was particularly strong. If I were a great painter, I would want to paint this scene.

See Iran’s Disputed Election – The Big Picture – Boston.com. It is great to see all the amateur photos and videos on the Internet. And it is not right to compare them to these pictures. They serve a different purpose.  But in terms of journalistic photography on other MSM web sites, nothing compares to The Big Picture.

What do workers employed by some Chinese companies in Africa and China have in common? According to this article, Job Conditions Worsen in Areas of China, Experts Say – NYTimes.com and this one: The dark underside of Chinese building boom in Africa – The Globe and Mail, it’s bad working conditions. And why are working conditions bad? The same reason as always: it is cheaper to have people work under bad conditions, and if you are an employer indifferent to the lives of others, than you stand to profit from bad working conditions.

China and Chinese companies need to raise their standards. In the short term the worker will suffer, but in the longer term, China will.

I was just finishing up my run tonight when I was struck by a car. I did what I usually do, which is run up Yonge St., cross Castlefield Ave. and then stop just around the entrance to the parking lot at the end of the street.  I do that mainly because I don’t want to get swiped by a car pulling in.

Instead, just as I stopped, in an instance I was struck while walking on the sidewalk and knocked to the ground, scrapping up my knee and shin and banging up my upper right leg. I turned my head and saw this big white car and for a split second I thought it was going to keep going and really run me over. But it stopped and two young guys got out.

At first I was really angry. I was yelling at them: what are you doing? I’m on the sidewalk?! And then it was a bit weird, because I asked them who was driving and I got different answers.

I got up and was going to go home. But they were calling 911 and I thought: what if I am in shock and some injury I don’t know about affects me later? (I was thinking of Natasha Richardson here.) As it was, in a few minutes the fire trucks came and they checked me out. Then the police came. Then the paramedics.

The paramedics said my blood pressure was high, but other than the scrapes, I seemed ok. They were going to drive me home, but because the police officer wanted to talk to me, I went home with him.

It turned out that a young woman was a beginner drive and she shouldn’t be driving unless she is without someone older (I think), and the guys she was with wasn’t. They are going to get charged for that.

As for me, I eventually got home and checked out my leg. I think it’s going to be pretty bruised tomorrow. Right now it is starting to bruise and it is swollen, and my leg is scratched up. But nothing seems broken, and I was lucky not to bang my head or anything.

I feel sorry for the the young people in the car, but it really bothers me getting struck on the sidewalk. Actually, what bothers me about this more than getting hit is that I am always so concerned about the kids getting hit by a car. You see, when I was a kid, I was run over while I was crossing a busy street by a car going too fast. I can remember getting slammed to the pavement and going unconscious. It was me and my cousin. The young guy who hit us said it was our fault and they were going to take us to the police and put us in jail, so we ran away, not knowing any better.

I was also lightly struck by a car when I was in college. I was crossing in front of this little old lady, and she was stopped, and I thought: ok, she is waiting for me to go. But as soon as I was in front of her, she started going, and I was knocked onto her hood. It was very minor, but being on her hood, I could see she had glaucoma so bad, her one eye — the one I thought she saw me with — was white!

So you can see why I am paranoid about cars. And why I am usually careful with myself and especially my kids around cars. I just didn’t expect to be struck from behind by one while walking on the sidewalk on the street where I live.

From Violence Grips Tehran Amid Crackdown – NYTimes.com:

“Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

“Martin Luther King once said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people’s belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.”

— U.S. President Barack Obama

Yes, man is finally going to walk on the moon, and you can follow it on twitter!

40 years ago, when this happened, there was no twitter (or Internet, for that matter). To mark these events, Nature is using modern technologies like blogs and twitter to help you live (or relive) these events.

Go see ApolloPlus40 (ApolloPlus40) on Twitter for more information.

Someone has build a very cool page that has the old and new testament (New International Version) all laid on one page.
You have to see it.

If you want to chase your twitter avatar to green, but you don’t want to trust another service or program to do this, you can do it yourself. (Think of it like an arts and crafts project. 🙂 )

To do this the way I did, you need to have access to Microsoft’s Photo Editor and the photo that you used for your current avatar.

1) Open your avatar photo using Microsoft’s Photo Editor.
2) Click on “Image”
3) Click on “Balance”
4) Change the selection from “All Colours” to “Green”
5) Change the Brightness setting to “100”. The picture should now be green. You can play around with the brightness setting if you want.
6) Click on the “Ok” button
7) Click on “File”
8) Click on “Save As…” Give it a different name than your current avatar in case you want to switch back later

Now go to twitter.com

1) Click on “Settings”
2) Click on “Picture”
3) Use the “Browse” button to find your new green avatar
4) Click on “save”

You should be done!

If anyone knows how to do this with other technology like Mac OS X or Linux, please comment below with a link. Thanks.

The next big debate in the U.S. will be about Health Care. There will be alot of things said for and against public vs private options. Anyone actively engaged in this discussion should read this: When Health Insurance Isn’t Health Insurance – Swampland – TIME.com. Even if you strongly believe that the private way is the best way to go — I don’t — then you need to have an answer for this kind of thing.

The NYTimes.com has very good coverage on the situation in Iran,
including an article pertaining to the social of Web 2.0 technology
there:
Social Networks Spread Iranian Defiance Online – NYTimes.com.
I am struck by how actively platforms like Facebook, YouTube and
Twitter are being used inside and outside of Iran. So much so, in fact,
that Twitter had one of their infrastructure service providers postpone
a outage to maximize access to the service by the people of Iran. (The
outage is now scheduled for 1:30 am in Iran: middle of the afternoon in
the U.S.). 

Like Obama did during the election and afterward, Iranians are doing
many things, including changing how people perceive social networks.

This article, Grocery-flyer gourmets over at The Globe and Mail , asks: can you cook for two on $8 (or 1 for $4..or…well, you can do the math). It takes some work, and likely buying in bulk would help, but you can make good low cost meals cheaply.  In fact, they have a game they illustrate to make it somewhat fun to do. I might give it a try.

I think to make it easier, stocking up on rice, beans, onions, potatoes, carrots, even other root vegetables like turnips and parsnips, would go along way to driving down the cost. So would having your own supply of tomatoes bottled. Even better, having your own herbs.

Another way to save? Eat less. Certainly eat less processed food. And drink more water.

I’m not sure what story these photos are associated with, but this slide show, titled Prints and the Revolution, has nine striking photographs, such as this one, where model “Assitan Sidibé wears a Marni polka-dot top. Christian Lacroix striped top. Marc Jacobs dress. Christian Louboutin shoes. Dries Van Noten bracelet”. Fantastic (and expensive) clothes, great looking models, but really great photography. Fashion photography at it’s best.

As fallout from the elections in Iran continues, a side debate is occurring around the role of mainstream media and in particular, the role of CNN. As you can see from the title of this article in the NYTimes.com: Dear CNN, Please Check Twitter for News About Iran, CNN (or at least CNN.com) has had poor coverage of the events in Iran. Indeed, not only is alot of information about Iran being sent around on sites like twitter as well as many blogs, but condemnation of CNN has also been happening at the same time. So much so, in fact, that criticism of CNN on twitter can be found by searching for #cnnfail. Check out the article for more on this story.

It’s odd to read this article and think of Google in the same way we now think of Microsoft. From Microsoft, to Google, to Twitter, each company had it’s day when it was seen as the premiere innovative company, only to be surpassed by the other. While Microsoft is still competing with Google (see Bing), Google is still seen as the one to beat. Or is it? See, Hey, Just a Minute (or Why Google Isn’t Twitter) in the NYTimes.com and decide for yourself.

I love this video from AI

The first time I saw it, I was surprised. Check it out. Better yet, check out the site: Activist. Hey, you need new summer duds. Maybe you even need a ‘board. Why not get it here?

Many languages have unique words that describe something so much better than any other languages.  On Fridays, regardless of the weather, I like to embody a word best described by the French. And that word is Flâneur. According to Wikipedia:

The term flâneur comes from the French masculine noun flâneur—which has the basic meanings of “stroller”, “lounger”, “saunterer”, “loafer”—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means “to stroll”. Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of “a person who walks the city in order to experience it”. Because of the term’s usage and theorization by Baudelaire and numerous thinkers in economic, cultural, literary and historical fields, the idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning as a referent for understanding urban phenomena and modernity

The Wikipedia article is really good. After reading it, you may want to become a flâneur yourself.

Like the Great Wall of China, the Great Firewall of China is impressive but not impregnable. According to Mashable.com, the government of China had cut off access to alot of social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter, and others recently, likely as a result of the 20th Anniversary of the events in Tiananmen Square. Apparently access has been (at least partially) restored. But were things ever totally cut off? According to this, The Great Firewall of China Stands Tall, Still Not Unbeatable, not really. Indeed:

“…what’s working? Well, VPN is still an option. Services like HotSpot Shield also work, as well as various proxy servers. And yes, despite the overwhelming blockade of half the Internet, people in China are still tweeting”

The question sounds ridiculous on the surface, but whether it’s the Great Firewall, the massive surveillance of users of instant-messaging service TOM-Skype, or now, this, China’s “Green Dam” Censorware Could Spawn a Zombie Network, China is capable of taking actions that have a big effect on the Internet. For example, wWhat would  happen if hackers started exploiting poorly written software installed on millions of Chinese computers (e.g. like Green Dam) on a regular basis?  Could it get so bad that the owners of the world’s biggest routers got together and decided to cut Chinese IP addresses from their routing tables, essentially dropping it from the Internet, in order to curtail the threat? That’s an extreme scenario, although not an impossible one.

In the end I suspect there will be some changes made to the Green Dam program. And while it will limit Chinese citizens, there will also be limits and work arounds found for it, just like there is for the Great Firewall (and likely the Skype software too).

In some ways Chinese restrictions are going to spur innovation on the Internet. The constraints they impose will lead to creativity. Perhaps instead of destroying the Internet, China will — intentionally or not — make it stronger.

(Photo is from jblyberg’s photostream on flickr.com).

As this Globe and Mail article explains, Glenora Distillers from Cape Breton (David) has won a big victory and is celebrating the end of a nine-year name battle against the Scotch Whisky Association (Goliath). Why? For using the word “Glen” in its product.  Really. Never mind it has “Canada” right on the label (see the picture). And never mind that Cape Breton is very rich in Scotch heritage. In fact, when I first heard of Glen Breton, I thought: about time!

So if you want to celebrate a big victory for the underdog and enjoy a glass of truly fine single malt at the same time, pick up a bottle of Glen Breton. Better still, go to Cape Breton and get it directly. You’ll be glad you did.

The NYTimes.com continues to have interesting coverage of the Venice Biennale. This article, John Wesley Has His Art Moment in Venice, is a delightful story of theirs about a painter who defies easy categorization. Indeed, as the article starts:

“For more than 40 years the art world has never known quite what to do with John Wesley”

Critics may ask: is he a pop artist, minimalist, a reinventor of Rococo, or perhaps something else? But when you get right down to it, he is someone who creates “bright, funny” works of art that happen to be great.  Sounds like someone who deserves a spotlight in Venice. If you have a chance, check out the article. Not to mention the other articles they have on the Biennale.

Over at Haaretz is a good article on Swiss artist Olivier Suter and his ‘Enemies’ project. (Can you tell the difference between an Israeli and a Palestinian?). Suter has started with Israelis and Palestinians, but he is moving on to Rwanda and other places. In some ways, it is obvious what he is doing. Yet people continue to demonize others for various reasons. Projects like this can be a corrective and a reminder how similiar we really are.

It’s true, says this: It’s official: ‘Futurama’ is reborn!
I’ll be interested to see how it changes. Personally I could do with less Bender and more of everyone else. Let’s see what they think and what you think.

It’s hard to know where to tackle this article: Brandeis Economists Find Race Leads to Price Disparity at Fulton Fish Market – Real Time Economics – WSJ. There are a number of things objectional with it. Let me start with the conclusion:

“White shoppers would fare better in a fish market with fixed and publicly displayed prices, Graddy and Hall conclude.”

Why not conclude: shoppers who appear to be willing to negotiate will fare better? After all, the abstract of the paper talks about how the authors “estimate a dynamic profit-maximization model of a fish wholesaler who can observe consumer characteristics, set individual prices, and thus engage in third-degree price discrimination.”  It seems like the person who wrote the column asked the authors a loaded question and they answered it.

Why didn’t the columnist ask: instead of being “Asian”, could looking poor affect how the wholesaler prices the fish? Or looking picky? White people can look either way. The same goes for people who appear to be from Asia. I would be willing to bet that if the tests were done with a  group of mainly poor looking white people and a group of affluent looking non whites, the former group would get better prices.

But I guess that wouldn’t make for as good a story in the WSJ then this one that says Asians are tough bargainers and white people are getting ripped off.

You’re in New York. You want to eat well and not spend a fortune. Perhaps you need a good concierge for some inside advice? If so, look no further than here: The Concierge | Eating Cheaply (But Well) – The Moment Blog – NYTimes.com

I’m not sure why BW.com went with the 1950s graphics for this article, but that aside, there are some good ideas to be found in this: Twenty Part-Time Business Ideas: Businesses You Can Start on Your Own. If you are unemployed, retired, or someone who simply wants to work something other than a 40 hour (or more) work week, you should check this article out. Your new career could be there.

The Venice Biennale is on. As discussed in the NYTimes.com, it’s not the same event it might have been a few years ago. Less money means a lower key event. That said, it is still a great event, and anyone wanting to know about what is current in the world of art should check it out. At the very least, read the article: In Venice, a Quieter Biennale of Careful Choices and Looks – NYTimes.com

(Photo of Hot Spot III by Todd Heisler of the NYTimes.com – artist is Mona Hatoum)

..you may be asking yourself: are there times I shouldn’t tweet? Well, yes. These may seem obvious, but I have seen may people break the guidelines listed in this posting on the blog Meg’s Single Step. There may be more than this, but start with the Top Ten Worst Times to Tweet.  Incidentally, what goes for tweeting goes for blogging and any other digital communications.

(Thanks to Andy Piper for the tip.)

I love Tumblr. And I love Motown music. So why didn’t I think of doing something like this? No matter, someone did, and the result is good. You don’t like Motown? is a tumble log dedicated to that sweet music. If you like good music, then go take a listen.

Just one more good thing coming out of tumblr.com

This is such a happy video. It makes me smile just watching it. See:

YouTube – MATT AND KIM – DAYLIGHT

This is a brilliant commercial from Bacardi. The man cuts across the club in search of a drink. And as he does, he cuts through time as well, going through the 60s, the 50s, 30, 20s, etc. until he ends up with a bartender who looks like he is from the 19th century.

What struck me was three couples: at the beginning, the main character leaves what appears to be a mixed race couple who are almost easy to overlook (they are only in the shot for 3 seconds). They are together in a very casual way. Midway through the ad, there is a black man dancing with a white woman in around the 1950s: they are very close.  (Though interestingly, she wears gloves.) This is in contrast to the black and whilte couple towards the end of the commercial: a black piano player with a white flapper from the 1920s, where there is a greater separation of the pair.

It’s a highly impressionistic commercial, and it is an advertisement, not a history lesson. But it does flash moments of history in the spot, and I was struck by these three couples. It could be happenstance, but the strong historical sense in the ad got me thinking otherwise.

Anyway, watch the ad and see what you think.

Over at the very cool site TRANSRACIAL, they are highlighting that…

“This weekend marks the anniversary of the historic Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia — which in 1967 removed all legal barriers preventing mixed-race marriages.”

And to celebrate this event, the wonderful named Loving Day is being celebrated around the world. You can lean more about it at their site, including reading this post,  WE SALUTE: Loving Day. You can also go to Wikipedia and learn more about the case of Loving v. Virginia. There you can read, among other things, this very timely quote from Mildred Loving on the 40th anniversary of the decision:

“Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

Amen.

It’s alot harder than you think, what with all this new Web 2.0 technology! The following is a funny take on how much harder it can be to promote a book these days. See:

Watch this. Be happy. 🙂

P.S. I love the light in this video. It perfectly captures the light of dusk in late spring, summer.

(H/T: andrew sullivan)

Over at the brilliant blog, Lowering the Bar, is a survey of some of the wackier things happening in the field of law. Did you know that someone sued because they thought there were real berries in “Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries”? Or that someone is threatening to sue the Venetian casino because of bad Feng Shui? Well, if you follow this blog, you will!

Everyone has the potential to be smart, but some people choose to act otherwise. I have little time for anyone who makes such a choice. Everyone I spend any amount of my time with/on chooses to be smart. Whether they are 6 or 96, nearby or far away. They may be smart in any number of ways, but talking to them, you come away being that much more intelligent.

I started this blog because I wanted to share things with such people. By sharing what I know,  I get feedback from them and an opportunity to learn from them. The benefit I get is not having smart people hear what I say: it’s having smart people respond to what I say.

Of the smart people I know, one of the smartest is my brother, Eddie (shown here). If you like my blog, you should check out his: PANG — The Human Realm. Better yet, add it to your feedreader. It’s the smart thing to do, I think.

And what could that be? Why Drew’s cancer! You see:

“On May 20th, 2009, Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer. Ever since that day, Drew has blamed everything on his cancer. Losing his keys, misplacing his wallet, Twitter being slow, the Phillies losing, etc. Why? Because you have to beat up on Cancer to win… and you can help out.”

How? Well go to his site, Blame Drew’s Cancer – Blow off Steam on Twitter… for Charity! and you can get all the details.

Execution by Beijing artist Yue Minjun. This work was inspired by the events of Tiananmen Square that occurred 20 years ago, in 1989.
Incidentally, Wikipedia reminded me of this painting by Manet of the execution of Emperor Maximillien of Mexico. The influence is strong.

Koko Taylor, Blues Queen, Dies at 80 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com