Trader Joe's Joins Union Square Area Food Nexus

Come to meee Two Buck Chuck...

Trader Joe's Joins Union Square Area Food Nexus: "

So, Trader Joe's will make its NYC debut with a location on East 14th Street. The NY Times reported that a spokeswoman the store would open around three month, 'confirming a year's worth of reports that the national chain would join a growing list of food stores along 14th Street.' Which made Gothamist wonder about the food stores along 14th Street. The article noted Whole Foods, Garden of Eden, Balducci's and the Greenmarket, but didn't add Food Emporium, which we wouldn't really consider a food store. Is 14th Street now the center of where you can get all sorts of semi-upscale food? Or do other locations give it a run for the money, like the Upper West Side's Broadway Belles (Fairway, Citarella, Zabar's)? Or will developing areas, like Red Hook take over?

The great news is that Trader Joe's will also open a separate wine store. Let's hope for another grape surplus year! We created a Wayfaring Map of 14th Street Groceries - we did include departed Western Beef, plus the Citarella a bit south of 14th, and did not include the Food Emporium just because.

"

(Via Gothamist.)

Russian Zookeeping

Moscow is encountering near record cold.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Arctic temperatures blanketed Russia for a fourth day on Thursday, sending electricity use surging and pushing the death toll from the cold wave to at least 31 people as even hardy Russians struggled to cope with the big freeze.

Temperatures in Moscow plunged overnight to as low as minus 24, said Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a Moscow weather forecasting service official. The temperature was the lowest recorded on Jan. 19 since 1927, she said.

Seven people died of exposure in the Russian capital in the previous 24 hours, city emergency officials said, pushing the nationwide death toll from the Siberian cold wave that swept into Moscow late Monday to at least 31.

At a zoo in Lipetsk, south of Moscow, director Alexander Osipov said monkeys would be given wine three times day, ''to protect against colds,'' the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Electricity use surged to record levels and towns and cities struggled to keep indoor temperatures up. Children stayed home from school and drivers struggled to start cars.

But thousands of religious believers along with winter swimmers plunged into icy waters nationwide for an annual ritual marking the Russian Orthodox Christian holiday of Epiphany. Many dipped into holes cut into thick ice on rivers and ponds in the ritual that commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan.

Taking a dip at 24 below zero ''is the most intense feeling,'' one man in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg told Channel One television.

In northeast Moscow, Vladimir Grebyonkin, an avid 65-year-old winter swimmer and scientist, said the frigid temperatures gave the water special qualities.

''These waters have their own properties, their own benefits,'' he says. ''I'm not a believer (in God), but I'm believer in physics.''

Vendors at Moscow's outdoor food and clothing markets shut their booths, and exposed ATMs reportedly froze. Traffic was uncharacteristically light as drivers were reluctant to venture out or unable to start their cars.

Outside one apartment building, residents hefted car batteries back into their vehicles after taking them inside overnight to keep them warm. Others tried to jump-start their cars.

Heat was disrupted in at least two towns in the Moscow region by water main breaks, leaving dozens of homes and thousands of people shivering. A similar accident left thousands without heat in Siberia's Chita region, some 3,000 miles east of Moscow. Russian buildings frequently are heated by municipal hot water systems.

Electricity use reached a 15-year high earlier this week, power monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems said Wednesday. The company also said Russia might reduce electricity supplies to Finland in order to ensure deliveries to St. Petersburg and the surrounding region.

Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom tried to maintain exports -- a sensitive issue for Europe following a New Year's interruption in supplies stemming from a dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Slightly warmer temperatures were expected Friday, with a forecast weekend high in Moscow of about minus 4.

TECHNOLOGY: Okay, This Mac Thing has Gone Too Far

The question I want to ask is this: Are purchases of Apple Products now Tax-exempt?

TECHNOLOGY: Okay, This Mac Thing has Gone Too Far: "All right, Mac lovers. I understand. You love your precious, shiny, beautiful Apple products that work better than anything else out there (according to you). You adore Apple and everything they do. Seriously, though, this shit has got to stop. You're starting to look completely fucking insane.



When you're making 'pilgrimages' to Cupertino, home of Apple headquarters, and calling it a 'hajj to Macca,' 'touching the Mothership' and genuflecting in front of the company headquarters sign, it's time for an intervention.

'Muslims go to Mecca, we go to Macca,' said Shawn King, host of the Your Mac Life internet radio show. 'It's that touchstone thing. People want to go down and touch the mothership.'



As soon as they arrive at the campus at One Infinite Loop, everyone poses for pictures by the sign at the entrance. The grass around the sign is worn away from the hundreds of geeks who've dropped to their knees to genuflect in front of it.



'It's like a temple,' said [New York computer consultant Laurie] Duncan. 'Catholics go to the Vatican, we go there. It's an icon of our faith. It's the culture. It's the cult. It's part of who we are, and that's the church…. It's fun. There's a bit of a thrill. It's silly when you look at it.'



Duncan said it would be nice if the company had a small museum or offered a tour.



'You go to the Vatican, you get a tour,' she said. 'You don't just go to the gift shop. Steve Jobs should offer to bless your PowerBook. He could sprinkle water on your keyboard, and then you’d have to buy a new one.'

File this one under 'what the fuck?!?' You Mac people are starting to scare me.

(Written by: Shalome)

"

(Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)

schnauz n boots

Paco is on the left, and Molly is on the right.

schnauz n boots: "

lustforliberty posted a photo:

"

(Purportedly Via lustforliberty's Photos.)

Can You Hear Me Now?

I was watching VH1 Classic & FUSE this afternoon before breakfast, and the muffled lyrics of various rockers led me to wonder how badly years of blasted classical music & autechre have destroyed my hearing. I am sure there are several metrics that can be used, among which would be ability to distinguish between similar frequencies, and the ability to hear high frequencies.

Figuring that a good first step would be to see what my hearing range tops out at, I googled for "tone generator" and found Mac & Windows software here that let me generate frequencies within the human hearing range. My speakers should at least go up to 20kHz, so I think this is a reasonable test setup.

The Human Hearing Range is supposedly from 20Hz to 20000Hz. My hearing appeared to top out at about 17.3kHz. (That's good, right?) I could feel sounds slightly higher than that, but by 18kHz, I could not feel anything at all. I am tempted to blast my speakers at just above 18kHz just to see if anybody notices. (I've also been tempted to play rodent love songs loudly, but that's another story.)

I suppose that there's a question of the ability of my speakers to produce the high frequencies, but since I could feel the tones, I assume that at least to 18kHz, my speakers do work properly.

What's the highest tone you can hear?

And no cheating!

I've been expecting this to happen for a while now...

I've been expecting this to happen for a while now...
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

Due to a derivative action no doubt...

dealing with hearing loss

If 16 actual auditory input channels in a cochlear implant can interpolate to 120 channels through software, surely 500 actual auditory input channels can interpolate to 3500 channels at some point (the number that actually exists in the ear.)

Hopefully, they'll have this hearing loss issue licked in 30 years, so I can continue listening to my iPod headphones.

Until then, I'm following the progress.

Also, best lines:

In his studio, Rettig plays me Ravel's String Quartet in F Major and Philip Glass' String Quartet no. 5. I listen carefully, switching between the old software and the new. Both compositions sound enormously better on 121 channels. But when Rettig plays music with vocals, I discover that having 121 channels hasn't solved all my problems. While the crescendos in Dulce Pontes' Canção do Mar sound louder and clearer, I hear only white noise when her voice comes in. Rettig figures that relatively simple instrumentals are my best bet - pieces where the instruments don't overlap too much - and that flutes and clarinets work well for me. Cavalcades of brass tend to overwhelm me and confuse my ear.

And some music just leaves me cold: I can't even get through Kraftwerk's Tour de France. I wave impatiently to Rettig to move on. (Later, a friend tells me it's not the software - Kraftwerk is just dull. It makes me think that for the first time in my life I might be developing a taste in music.)

schlock

Was it necessary to have one person putting ona flute rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" on the upper level of the Times Square subway station, and another person playing it on steel drums on the QNRW level?

The Bathroom is Totally Busted

The Bathroom is Totally Busted
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

This is what happens when you let Republicans move into your apartment.

ID

Several people have told me this is a fantastic read. I wholly concur.

ID: "The 139 page decision in the Pennsylvania 'Intelligent Design' case is fascinating reading -- remarkably lucid and interesting. http://www.sciohost.org/ncse/kvd/kitzmiller_decision_20051220.pdf

The 'why this is not an activist decision by an activist judge' bit on page 137 is terrific, although you're best off getting there the hard way, starting at page 1, including slogging through the appalling behaviour of the people on the School Board who started it, who, despite feeling it was important to expell Darwin (and Darwin's finches) and get the Old Testament God back in the classroom, had somehow managed to fail to realise that any of that stuff in the Bible about bearing false witness applied to them.

...

Michael Zulli writes to let me know that he's finished another painting and put it on eBay. He's also put a rough of the next painting, a magnificently goatish Pan, that he's working on now as the final image of the auction. Keep an eye out at http://www.michaelzulli.com/pan.htm to watch it progress and to see when it goes up on eBay (or alternately just write to him and offer him lots of money for it. He won't mind. It's how he can afford to buy more paint)."

(Via Neil Gaiman's Journal.)

Chance favors the driver who is prepared.

Chance favors the driver who is prepared.
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

Why do you ask, is Shana grinning at me from a car next to me on the Ohio Turnpike?



The story that I've been told is that Alexis noticed that I was driving two cars ahead of her on the freeway. Shana calls me and notes to me, "Traffic's pretty heavy, isn't it?" This followed by an offer to meet for coffee at a service plaza, and an unsolicited contribution of Windshield Wiper fluid for our rental car.



If you believe that.



The far more likely hypothesis is that they're working for Red Team, and that I've been under surveilance for months. Those may look like healthy, happy dogs, and that may look like new ski equipment on their roof, but in reality, that's all part of the NSA echelon transponder & relay system they've been ordered to carry. The fluid? Obviousl the latest in nanite technology. The wiper fluid still doesn't work.



But you my dear reader won't find any mention of this in FISA paperwork.



Pretty fucking convenient, no?



But I leave the matter of trust to you. You know which explanation is more credible.



Back to the road...



And I know you're on to me.

Return to MI

Mad props to Scott, Liz & Honey for driving me back from NY this evening.

It was quite a sight to occasionally wake up while Scott drove to see him focusing on the road with his headphones on... Quite the trooper.

FW: [IP] LA Times on NYT spying story

It is times like this I wish I could fire the New York Times, and then realize I don't have any better options.

This could have tipped the balance in the last election.

Large news organizations hold their own interests and judgement above yours.

If only there were an organization that lived up to the Fox News "mascot" of we report you decide.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Date: Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005 5:42 pm
Subject: [IP] LA Times on NYT spying story

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brock Meeks <Brock.Meeks@msnbc.com>
Date: December 20, 2005 1:53:16 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: LA Times on NYT spying story

<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na
media20dec20,0,7619720.story?coll=la-home-headlines>

Very good behind the scenes reporting by the LA Times on NYT's internal debate about the timing of their spying story.

Turns out, the NYT did, indeed, have the story in time to run before last year's election and didn't.

-------------------------------------http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

Recipe File: Cooked Egg Nog

yum.

Recipe File: Cooked Egg Nog: "

Egg nog is a classic, rich beverage served at Christmastime. There are many variations out there that range from alcohol-free to practically hard liquor with some creamy flavoring, but most egg nogs have one thing in common: raw eggs. Even if you closely examine the eggs for cracks and wash them before cracking them open, consuming raw eggs presents a slight health risk - a risk magnified if you or your guests have weakened immune systems or are pregnant. Here's a recipe that cooks the eggs first to help reduce the risk even further.

Cooked Egg Nog (serves 10)

"

(Purportedly Via Cooking For Engineers.)

We've got 10 days, and we need $100,000. Please help

We've got 10 days, and we need $100,000. Please help: "

So we have 10 days left in the Creative Commons campaign. This is not a drill. We are down to the last $100,000, and really need your support -- both for the very cool projects we're launching (see, e.g., the license interoperability project, discussed recently in Technology Review, and the two new projects announced this week), and for the very uncool pressure we're under from IRS regulations to demonstrate 'public support' as a condition for keeping our (absolutely essential as in we can't live with out it) tax exempt status. So please, anything helps. Lots of anything helps lots.

"

(Purportedly Via Lessig Blog.)

The Strike is Over

The Strike is Over
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

It's so nice seeing Public Transport again.

I spent $70 on cab fare today.

The Transit Strike Life

Leave Client: 5pm
Arrive @ ZipCar lot at 108th & Amsterdam: 6pm
Pick up Dave & Yulia @ Bleecker & Macdougal: 7:10pm
Arrive at Brighton Beach: 9:50pm.
Find food at Russian store before it closes at 10pm.
Drop Yulia off at her place on E 78th: 11pm.
Get home: Closer to 11:50pm.


Polish Bacon with Bruichladdich 17, worth all the time in the world.

CULTURE: An American Psycho Christmas

I can't tell if Bret Easton Ellis fanfic should bother me or not...

CULTURE: An American Psycho Christmas: "On Yankee Pot Roast, Mick Stingley's 'An American Psycho Christmas':

‘Joy to the World’ is being piped in over the din of the late afternoon crush at Saks Fifth Avenue and I am cursing the fact that I have to wait so long for the clerk to return with my credit card. I am pressed against the counter as all manner of last-minute shoppers flood the aisles of the perfume and cosmetic counters. Already some annoying woman has scuffed my A. Testonis with the wheels of her stroller and I am livid. In the left pocket of my black cashmere Ermenegildo Zegna coat I grip the handle of the small Wüsthof cleaver I carry and breathe easy as the blond little hardbody at the Chanel counter returns with my receipt and my purchase. She hands me my American Express Black card and the Chanel parfum, No. 5, which she has gift wrapped for me, and flirts. ‘She’s a very lucky lady.’ I manage a half-smile and notice that she looks like the blowjob girl from Asseaters II, which I still haven’t returned to the video store. ‘It’s for my sister,’ I lie. I take a business card out of my Louis Vuitton wallet and hand it to her. ‘Maybe we can have a drink after the holiday and you can tell me about perfume.’ She touches my hand and slips the card into her pocket. ‘I’d love to.’ I wink and turn away to exit the store, knowing full well that getting a cab on Fifth Avenue on December 23rd is going to be fucking next to impossible; but I manage to get one anyway and head downtown to SoHo to meet everyone for drinks at Gush.

via Gawker

(Written by: susannah_breslin)

"

(Purportedly Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)

Pac Man re-enacted by humans at U. of Michigan

Pac Man re-enacted by humans at U. of Michigan: "Xeni Jardin:
Boing Boing reader William says,

Two students at our school, the University of Michigan, dressed up as Pac-Man and the Ghost respectively, ran through the UGLi (the Undergraduate Library) and the Fishbowl (a huge computer lab on Central campus) during finals week. Pac-Man screams in horror as the Ghost chases him yelling 'Waka Waka Waka.' This video has spread like wildfire on our campus, and killed the original hosting site's bandwidth.

Link to *.mov

"

(Purportedly Via Boing Boing.)

Together, we shall keeeeell heem!

Jeanne pointed this out to Yulia, who then pointed this out to me.

Together, we shall keeeeell heem!: "

Moochas gracias to Kay, in Buffalo, MN. Yes, Kay, it's very cute!

"

(Purportedly Via Cute Overload.)