Month: December 2005

Categories
Recommended

Hit The X

> *A few weeks ago I was walking down 31st Street near 8th Avenue and noticed a four-foot tall ledge protruding from a seemingly abandoned building.*

> *The next logical step was to stage an Improv Everywhere Mission with a suicide jumper on the absurdly small ledge.*

If those two sentences don’t sell you, I don’t know what will.

[Read all about it](http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=53), or [just watch the video](http://www.vimeo.com/clip=27810).

DID YOU KNOW: Will the Suicide Jumper shares a first name with [the hilariously funny guy who played him](http://willhines.net/)!

Categories
Endured

Struck Out

It’s funny; the first day of the [NYC transit strike](http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/index.html) has been one of the most exhausting days I’ve been through in a long time, but not for the reasons I expected.

When I had caught wind of the strike, I thought to myself – “Hey, this’ll be okay; the walk is about four and a half miles, there’ll be some good photo ops, and I could use the exercise.” I almost looked forward to the possibility.

But unsurprisingly, something got in the way – ironically, my foot. Something in my right foot got messed up over the weekend; can’t recall anything in particular, but the pain started then and grew steadily, hindering me slightly on the way in on Monday and considerably on the way home. As such, there was no way I was going to be able to hobble over the 59th St bridge – so I worked from home as best I could.

But just keeping up with everything for the strike is excruciatingly draining. Coordinating who’s in when at the office, figuring out the car pool, trying to fill the car pool now that a couple people have found other options, having NY1 playing the same segments over and over again, hearing first-hand about the LIRR backlog, wondering how Katie is going to get home with Penn Station shuttered…
Jesus, I’m beat – and there’s little worse than exhaustion when you haven’t done anything physically exhaustive. Hell, walking the 9 miles roundtrip would’ve probably been pleasurable in comparison.

Here’s to hoping the MTA and the TWU reach a fair settlement soon.

Categories
Disliked Found

Revised Bill Of Rights

George W. Bush, 9/20/01:

> Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber — a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

Amendment IV, US Constitution:

> The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts, NY Times, 12/16/05

> Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control.