We're a Nation of Snow Pussies

I've been a little under the weather this week (See how I took the snow theme and turned it? That's just the sort of quality writing you've come to expect here at B&E!), so I've been working from home.

This morning I woke up feeling a bit better, but because last night the local news outlets were freaking out about the Blizzard of 2010, I opted to work from home again today, as did many of my fine colleagues.

I finally got a chance for a quick walk right around 5:00 PM.

Don't get me wrong: it was a good snow. It was not, however, a blizzard. Why the hell do we get so fucking crazy about a little snow? Was it seriously that big a deal?

Anyway, the city looks nice during a snow.


I love a Smart Car! Look at the Smart Car in the snow! I have to admit that it looks less Smart!


If you need to rest, take a load off on this snow sofa!


And our neighbors made a snowman! Right outside one of my favorite facades in Sunnyside!


Anyway, it was a fun snow.

Keep Warm, In-Laws

This post from Titivil led me to this picture from Boing-Boing. If that doesn't make you say some semblance of "Holy shit!" I don't know what will.

Chilly and wet the Scots are used to. Arctic, not so much. We're talking lows in the zero-degrees Fahrenheit realm. And most of the buildings are old and drafty. So I hope the in-laws in Edinburgh have durable central heating and properly double-glazed windows. And I hope the in-laws in the Highlands are burning toasty peat fires and huddling together over some delicious soup.

Probably the person doing best in this whole scenario is the missus' father, who has MS and rarely leaves his home. His flat is in a relatively new building with good heating and decent windows. Plus he has a stash of meals-on-wheels in his freezer. But that's the evils of a governmental safety net for you. Fucking socialists.

This kind of cold in Scotland is fucked up, B&E readers. And in case you don't already know, the UK is one of the places that will become decidedly colder due to global warming, as those warm North Atlantic currents that keep the islands relatively temperate become flooded by the ice cap runoff. So how long is it before this type of winter is the norm?

The Crowds Should Fall Into Disrepair

The missus and I finally got to the High Line this weekend. For those of you who don't know, the High Line is an elevated rail track that runs from the meatpacking district in the West Village to about 34th Street in West Midtown. The history is pretty interesting, and you should read about it on their website.

So now it's a park. Or a kind of park. It's a walk way with benches, native grasses, and lovely architectural details.

The railroad used to go right into that building!

They've done a tremendous job with it. The plant life is beautiful and the design of the whole thing is very tastefully done. There's even a seating area, if you want to watch the traffic fly up 10th Avenue!

It really does feel like an urban oasis.

Only one problem: people. I accept some responsibility for choosing to go to the High Line on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. But I'm not even talking about the massive throngs of people, so much as the type of person.

It was scene-y. People were there to look good and be seen. The obvious money on these people was palpable. It was kind of a turnoff. And it reminded me why I so love Queens and so don't love Manhattan.

I wonder if it's a top-down problem. The High Line recently had some "Are you fucking kidding me?" type of press, when word got out that the Executive Director of the Friends of the High Line gets paid a quarter of a million dollars. That's really a lot for a nonprofit job.

Obviously, an investment in talent can be a good investment for nonprofits, so I'm not going to bad-mouth the High Line on his salary alone. But you better believe that small donors don't necessarily want to think that their $25 is just going to pay some rich bastard his salary. I need that $25 worse than the High Line's E.D.

Anyway, I wonder if there's a connection between the outlandish salary of the High Line E.D. and the hipster, monied crowd of the High Line itself.

But there were some funny people, too. I enjoyed watching this woman direct her husband on taking photos of the details of this particular bench.


So yeah... Great urban park... Too bad about the fashionistas.

Hope! From Kansas!

During a visit to Kansas two years ago, the town of Greensburg was completely destroyed by a "wedge" tornado. I was writing about how the governor at the time, Kathleen Sebelius, sent a strongly-worded letter to the Pentagon about getting some of those National Guard troops out of Iraq and back in our nation to help during an emergency such as that one.

Here we are now, two years later, and the New York Times tells us what's become of Greensburg, Kansas. And it's surprisingly optimistic.

The people of Greensburg are quite visionary, as it turns out. They're building a sustainable town. Business and civic leaders got together with residents and just went for it.

I rather wish the article went into more of the details about where all the money came from. How much is private funds? How much from insurance? How much is donated resources? How much is government money?

But Judas Priest, I have a lot of admiration for the Greensburgers. Two years ago, the town was razed, and there was real question about whether or not it would continue to be a town. But they're back, baby. They're back and better than ever.

Ah, the moxie of a small town. You go get 'em, Greensburg. I like it. You get the B&E seal of approval. Even if I don't know what that is exactly.

Happy Anniversary?

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska. The herring haven't returned, dangerous levels of toxicity remain in the water, and some plaintiffs have almost received enough in damages from Exxon to pay their bankruptcy lawyer's bill.

Originally, the jury awarded the plaintiffs $5 billion, equivalent to one year's income for Exxon in 1989. They decided on the amount because they thought that punishing corporations based on profit was the only way to protect people from the behemoths. The award was cut in half in the appeals process.

Then, last year, the Supreme Court of the United States cut it to $500 million, which might sound like a lot until you realize how the local economy and ecology have been completely decimated by the Exxon Valdez spill.

Those herring fishers who took out massive loans figuring they'd be able to pay them back with, say, their seasonal catch, well, they don't have a catch to catch anymore.

And yes, I get most of my information from Democracy Now! Maybe you should, too.

Obama Keeps Tapping

President Obama is doing too much! He's working too hard! He's employing too many people! He's solving unemployment by hiring everyone himself!

Anyway, President Obama has tapped Van Jones. (Heh, heh.) Sorry... President Obama has appointed Van Jones a special adviser for green jobs.

Van Jones has been making some national noise over the past year or so as an activist and environmentalist. He writes from time to time in The Nation magazine and has been a guest multiple times on Democracy Now!. He wrote a book called The Green Collar Economy, and his nonprofit Green For All helps lift people out of poverty through environmental jobs.

I like this fella a lot. I'm a fan of that place where environmentalism intersects with social justice, and Van Jones is pretty much the man taking up the space there.

These quiet appointments can be very powerful in an Obama administration, and assuming that Van gets his voice heard in the White House, this tapping (heh, heh) demonstrates some terrific progressive thinking. Well done, President Obama. Well done, Van Jones.

Anti-Dickhead of This Moment - Tim DeChristopher

I haven't given out an Anti-Dickhead award for quite some time, as the Dickhead/Anti-Dickhead feature has gone mostly the way of the archives here at B&E. But I still like to keep my ears and eyes open for total Dickhead moves (with Blagojevich and Madoff getting recent shout-outs), with the occasional Anti-Dickhead move thrown in (anyone out there remember my frequent expressions of love for Russell "Oh, So" Feingold?)

Anyway, over in Utah, there's been a little last-minute Bush Administration oil industry gift happening in the form of an auction hosted by the Bureau of Land Management. Who wants oil drilling rights to wilderness land? Come and get it!

But then Tim DeChristopher, a student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, finished his final exam and went to the protest outside the auction. Except that Tim didn't join the protesters. Instead, he walked inside and joined the bidding.

You see, because this whole thing has been put together so quickly by the Bush Administration, no one had time to do any bidder vetting. And boy, did Tim bid. By the time people figured out he was a fraud, he'd purchased more than 22,000 acres of wilderness and driven up the prices on thousands more.

Tim has brilliantly thrown the whole thing into chaos. The US Attorney is figuring out what to charge him with. Fraud? Maybe, but if he comes up with the $45,000 for the first payment, he hasn't actually committed fraud. He'll be showing that he meant to buy it.

But he's also confused the proceedings enough that the auction can't be reorganized for another month or so. Perhaps the Bureau of Land Management can have the auction then, but here's the kicker...

In a month, we'll have a new president. John Podesta, who heads up the transition team, has spoken out against the land sale. An Obama Administration may stop it altogether, if they can.

It's really amazing what this University student has done by simply raising a bidding paddle. No destruction of property, no violence, and no standing on the sidelines yelling about it. Instead he perpetrated a perfect little act of civil disobedience. And although he'd really prefer not to go to prison, he's willing to, if it comes to that.

That makes Tim DeChristopher my Anti-Dickhead of This Moment.

[Thanks to Democracy Now! for reporting on the story, even if I'm way late on it (lost in the holiday fun) and didn't hear about it until more than a week after it aired.]