EARTH ~
Habitat
photo © bob arnold
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
SNOW SNOW SNOW ~
Published: January 3, 2012, The New York Times
Kiichiro Sato/Associated Press
SNOW SITE LETS CHICAGO SEE IF PLOWS ARE REALLY IN A RUT
Published: January 3, 2012, The New York Times
"In part," a city official said, "the idea to incorporate more technology into the city’s official answer to snow grew out of a blizzard that dumped more than 21 inches and essentially closed down the city in early February."
CHICAGO — The suspicions are as common here as snowflakes. Certain people, certain streets, certain neighborhoods seem to get their streets cleared of snow before the rest of the city — or so the whispering has always gone.
But this year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration will announce on Tuesday, Chicagoans may test their theories about clout on their computers. Using GPS technology, a new city Web site, ChicagoShovels.org, will provide a map of Chicago’s approximately 300 snowplows, making their way in real time through the neighborhoods. Anyone will have a clear view of who gets what first, and whether plows really sweep more rapidly beside the homes of the mayor, powerful aldermen — or even just the neighbor everyone hates.
“If that’s happening, you’ll see it,” Mr. Emanuel’s chief technology officer, John Tolva, said.
The snowplow tracker, which city officials expect to debunk the belief that routes are politically motivated, is but one element of a new computer package focused exclusively on snow — a fact of life in a city that prides itself on its stoic response to winter weather, but was clobbered last year by a blizzard that stranded scores of motorists on a thoroughfare along Lake Michigan.
In part, Mr. Tolva said, the idea to incorporate more technology into the city’s official answer to snow grew out of that blizzard, which dumped more than 21 inches and essentially closed down the city in early February. On their own, residents bonded over shoveling alleys, clearing sidewalks and even being trapped together on Lake Shore Drive, he said, so why not encourage all that bonding in advance online?
Among other elements of the new Web site: organization of a “Snow Corps,” which will match volunteers with mounds to shovel; winter-related computer applications to guide people when two inches of snow has fallen, alerting them to parking bans on city streets or, if it is too late, telling them where their car has been towed to; and an “adopt-a-sidewalk” program that will soon allow residents to share shoveling tools and claim shoveling responsibilities on a map.
It remains to be seen whether Chicagoans really wish to officially stake out shoveling responsibilities on sidewalks — even the ones right outside their homes. And ChicagoShovels.org offers no elegant computer solution to the age-old debate in this city: how to find a more dignified, efficient manner for claiming “dibs,” the long-established practice of placing chairs, cones, boxes or other junk to reserve a cleared parking space.
Still, Chicagoans will surely watch the snowplow tracker, which will share data the city was already collecting. The information is monitored in the city’s snow command center, where supervisors also track the slickness of bridges, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather maps and driving conditions captured by 1,000 cameras mounted around the city.
Oddly, though, in a winter season that some experts predicted would bring heavy snow, little has arrived so far. Like other cities in the Midwest, Chicago has spent millions of dollars less — $5.5 million less, in its case — because it needed tens of thousands of tons less road salt in December than it had the year before.
Thanks to superstition or history or both, no one here seemed willing to declare a trend. “I’m not calling this a mild winter yet,” Mr. Tolva said. And on Monday, Chicagoans awoke to snow.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
ONE OF A KIND ~
Henry Miller
a fabulous film made by Tom Schiller in the early 70s
which I always much enjoyed ~
the first time I watched the film Sweetheart
came into the room and saw who it was made by
and said she knew Tom Schiller, and in fact Henry Miller's
son Tony, they were all in high school together,
once upon a time
in young California
Henry Miller
a fabulous film made by Tom Schiller in the early 70s
which I always much enjoyed ~
the first time I watched the film Sweetheart
came into the room and saw who it was made by
and said she knew Tom Schiller, and in fact Henry Miller's
son Tony, they were all in high school together,
once upon a time
in young California
Sunday, January 1, 2012
DREAMS ~
Joe Brown
azeryouth.org
first heard this gem on the concert film for george harrison; later went to a store to hunt up some of his records the same time a legendary brooklyn cowboy was doing the same ~ the two of us, the lone proprietor, and a cowboy hat, were the only things moving in the place
first heard this gem on the concert film for george harrison; later went to a store to hunt up some of his records the same time a legendary brooklyn cowboy was doing the same ~ the two of us, the lone proprietor, and a cowboy hat, were the only things moving in the place
AFRICA ~
Franco ( Luambo Makiadi )
afropop.org
the sorcerer of the guitar, as he was known to millions, is a major figure in 20th c. congolese music; though he only toured the usa once near the end of his life. when he died (1938-1989) in a belgian clinic, his body was returned to his native zaire where the government declared four days of national mouring, and state radio played only franco's songs.
the sorcerer of the guitar, as he was known to millions, is a major figure in 20th c. congolese music; though he only toured the usa once near the end of his life. when he died (1938-1989) in a belgian clinic, his body was returned to his native zaire where the government declared four days of national mouring, and state radio played only franco's songs.
WANDERER ~
Steve Young
www.steveyoung.net
only a little bird who's been everywhere, sung with many, received little notice and yet kept on singing, could have written this song
only a little bird who's been everywhere, sung with many, received little notice and yet kept on singing, could have written this song
CHORAL ~
Hildegard von Bingen "Work Gottes"
"Hildegard of Bingen was a preacher at a time when canon law forbade women to preach, a named composer when most music was anonymous, a visionary, a theologian, a writer, an artist, a hagiographer, a prolific letter-writer and an early scientist, botanist, herbalist, physician and healer - she even invented her own coded language. This German Benedictine anchorite who lived in the twelfth century was in the fullest sense a polymath. Yet she was an enclosed nun, until mid-life her only contact with the outside world being through a single window."
saieditor.com
cultivating the cosmic tree
The Cosmic Egg
"woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman". HVB
Hildegard von Bingen "Work Gottes"
"Hildegard of Bingen was a preacher at a time when canon law forbade women to preach, a named composer when most music was anonymous, a visionary, a theologian, a writer, an artist, a hagiographer, a prolific letter-writer and an early scientist, botanist, herbalist, physician and healer - she even invented her own coded language. This German Benedictine anchorite who lived in the twelfth century was in the fullest sense a polymath. Yet she was an enclosed nun, until mid-life her only contact with the outside world being through a single window."
saieditor.com
cultivating the cosmic tree
The Cosmic Egg
"woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman". HVB
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
