New York City Metblogs » nyc_cully

Breaking Frick’s Second Law

nyc_cully — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:04:23 +0000

In science we understand that diffusion applies itself to particles of gas. If you introduce a few particles of a gas into a space it will, in time, pretty evenly distribute itself to “fill” the space. This law seemingly applies to human behavior as well, you observe it every day on elevators. A single person in an elevator is free to move around and do as he wishes, but when you introduce another “particle” they evenly distribute. More particles, more shifting, until the space is full, but in the end of the “particles” have roughly an equal amount of space between them. Diffusion at work.

But right here in New York City we have access to another dimension, another space where the laws of physics work differently and particles behave in a manner that we would consider bizarre. I call it: Subwayspace! Imagine this… somewhere in Subwayspace door opens, particles flow into the space. The door closes. In our universe we would expect these particles to diffuse, but in Subwayspace the particles stop their motion once the cross the threshold! How strange! Particles in Subwayspace would seem to prefer to be bunched in masses in one area of the rather than diffusing into free space mere inches away. Only three circumstances will cause particles in Subwayspace to diffuse. First is the introduction of more particles. When bumped and pushed a particle can be jostled into an open area, but sometimes it takes a massive force for this to happen. The simplest way to move a particle in Subwayspace is to introduce an attractor. A positively charged area like an Empty Seat will attract particles to it, thinning the concentration in other areas. Of course the opposite can also occur when you introduce a negatively charged particle such as a Stinky Homeless particle. In that case our standard particles may be further concentrated and pushed into a single area of concentration.

Why would particles act this way you ask? Why would they clump into large masses that may be uncomfortable for them? Why are the laws of Physics different in this strange otherworldly dimension, and in what other ways are they different? Why do particles from our won, highly ordered universe act so differently when in injected into Subwayspace? Science doesn’t currently have the answers to these questions, but let us all hope, for the sake of future generations that they someday will!

STRIKE!

nyc_cully — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:00:29 +0000

Two different picket lines are marching across NYC right now. One is the Writer’s strike which most people would think is isolated in California, but which in actuality is also striking NYC. Pickets can be seen in front of all the major networks, and local shows like David Letterman have shut down production. The other is of course the Stagehands Union, which has been threatened both as a strike and as a lockout for months now.

The Writers Guild has clear and supportable demands. Watch this to better understand what they are asking for. What is basically boils down to is that they want to be paid for a huge new revenue stream that the studios are exploiting but refusing to pay them for. The writers agreed to a paycut in the late 80s with the agreement that they would eventually get that money back after the fledgling home video market got on it’s feet. Well… I think that time has passed. All those streaming videos found online at the various network websites? They get paid NOTHING for that. Easy to see why they are picketing.

The Stagehands on the other hand are asking for things like a clause that requires a fly operator (the person who controls scenery that “flies” or goes up into the fly loft) on shows… even on shows that have no flying scenery… to remain in their contract. They also have the right to control how many of their workers show up at a load in (the day a show moves into a theatre), no matter how big or small the show is. In other words whether the show has 20 trucks worth of scenery or just 1 the same number of workers is required by the union at the same rate. Much harder to have sympathy for in my opinion.

The stagehand strike is costing the city 17 Million dollars a day, it is harder to calculate what the writer’s strike might be costing us but I’m sure the theatre owners were hoping to grab a piece of it by luring people away from inevitable reruns and into the theatre district.

Spotty Results

nyc_cully — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:32:57 +0000

My boyfriend is running the marathon today. I signed up to receive text messages of his “split times” (meaning his minutes per mile broken down per 5K) so that I could track where he is, and how he’s doing, but the system seems to have broken down somewhere. I’m only receiving about every third notification so far only 2 out of 7 that should have been delivered. Thankfully I can track it online, in a slightly different form. It’s pretty frustrating though. 38,000 people are running this race and how many family members are there out there trying to keep track of their loved ones? Bad form ING, bad form.

He’s doing really well BTW, keeping pace at roughly 9:00 miles. Just what he wanted to accomplish.

Excessive Yawning?

nyc_cully — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:19:32 +0000

Metronews this morning ran an article highlighting the MTA’s new training program that is supposed to teach their “frontline” workers to spot terrorists. First off… this is a NEW program? You are training your conductors to spot terrorists NOW?! Now after 6+ years of threats to the system the conductors are being taught how to spot suspicious persons? Boy do I feel safe. The article goes on to outline some of the training that these workers are receiving, besides spotting potential threats they are being taught communication skills for crisis situations, and how to spot a suspicious package. My favorite part though is the brief outline of “suspicious activity” that they should be on the lookout for: “visible shaking, hand wiping, and excessive yawning.” Yawning? What… terrorists don’t sleep well? Two thirds of my car every morning on the way to work is yawning! I know that these aren’t the only things that they were taught, but why focus on those three in the news article? And I still don’t get what yawning is supposed to indicate, if anything.

I think articles like this are supposed to reassure me that the MTA is dealing with the issue, but they tend to have the opposite effect. Like the news announcement a few weeks back that 1,944 “saw something and said something” in response to their last SubTalk ad campaign urging us to rat out suspicious behavior ourselves. 1,944? That’s all? Less than 2,000 people made reports to that hotline in a year? Is it doing it’s job? If it was 1,944 people arrested as a result… or 1,944 plots foiled… or 1,944 bombs found… but no, just 1,944 reports. None of which to my knowledge led to any arrests or any reportable benefits. Like the bag searching security theatre (that has never once stopped me, even when I was carrying a bag the size of a cello case) all of these news reports amount to nothing but reminding me that I am supposed to be scared and suspicious of my fellow riders, and that the MTA will ignore us all.

Suburban Fruits

nyc_cully — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:37:11 +0000

Can anyone who is more in tune with the current trends in interior design please explain to me the fascination with giant fruit? I’ve been working in Rhode Island for the past week loading in a show that I designed, which has meant that I’ve done a lot of shopping in the area for set dressing. One unexpected plus is that wrought iron seems to be in this year, which has been great since I’m using a lot of it in the show, but in my shopping I’ve come across tons of giant fruit. Giant pears in particular seem to be popular out here in the suburban world. I’ve seen them made from paper mache, glass, ceramic, wicker, and iron. Baskets woven in the shape of pears. Chairs with giant pear prints. And not just pears either. Pumpkins, apples, grapes… almost any globe shaped fruit can be located rendered in an oversized form. It’s not just in the stores either, I’ve actually seen these things in people’s homes. One of the sponsors of the theatre had the designers over for dinner and there by her dining room mantle was a giant pear made of twigs. Perhaps I don’t spend time in the right stores or homes in Manhattan, but this is not a phenomenon that I’ve seen at home. Am I missing something? What does a giant fruit even represent? Is it that much harder to decorate and fill the space in the enormous sprawling homes of the suburbs that giant fruit seems a logical answer?

Escape from New York

nyc_cully — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:54:21 +0000

I’m out of town this week designing for a theatre in Rhode Island, (Yes they have theatre in Rhose Island. I was shocked too frankly.) Yesterday I headed out for Penn Station to start my trek out of the city only to find that Amtrak was completely sold out for the entire day. This has never happened to me before. Was there some mass exodus yesterday that I am unaware of? I panicked briefly trying to figure out what other methods I could use to get to RI… car rental? taxi? What is there? Then I remembered that I was living in one of the best cities in the world for transit. Just a few blocks away was a whole different train system that could possibly help me end-run Amtrak. After a phone call to Amtrak and a quick check of a time table I knew I could do it, so I ran (almost literally) over to Grand Central where I picked up Metro North to a town halfway up the Amtrak line, beating the Amtrak train to the station, and switched over. Having made a few stops, my originally desired train was now emptier and could afford me a seat. I also did this for nearly $20 less than I would have paid if I had been on Amtrak from the start. Where else in the world could I have managed this?

Too Early, or Too Late for a Booty Call?

nyc_cully — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:22:22 +0000

At 8:15 this morning my door buzzer rang. I looked out the window before I answered it and saw a UPS truck in the street so I answered it. Over the crappy speakers I heard something that sounded a bit like UPS, so I rang whoever it was in. A few seconds later I hear a soft knock at my door and answer it. Outside I discover a young man with two cups of coffee, leaning casually against my doorframe with a wicked glint in his eye. “Yes?” I say. He straightens up and looks at me sort of puzzled.

“Are you… is this… Uhm, are you expecting me?” He stammers.

“No.”

“Oh… uhm… I must have the wrong apartment. Sorry.” He turned and went back down the stairs dejectedly. Learn from this people… make sure you write down the address of your Craigslist hook-up correctly before you bother leaving the house!

All Part Of The Service

nyc_cully — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:13:42 +0000

My building has a small laundry facility in the basement. It’s a bit more expensive than the local laundromat and only has two washers and a single dryer so I often just go to the laundry anyway since it is only a block away. I happened to be home in the middle of the day today and in my cleaning I decided to throw a load of laundry in and opted to do it here so that I could keep working upstairs. Now, in the course of the three years that I’ve lived here I’ve done this a handful of times, and I often come back down to find that the super (whose apartment is also in the basement) has added extra time to the dryer, or has switched a load from the washer to the dryer for me. I’ve always been appreciative, and I’ve tried to show that to her when I could. Today I got a bit distracted and forgot that I had laundry going. By the time I remembered the dryer had probably been stopped for 45 minutes or more. When I went downstairs I found that my laundry had all been folded, neatly stacked, and placed in the laundry bag that left on top of the dryer. She had folded my laundry. My super… touched my drawers. While I am appreciative… I just don’t know how I should feel about this.

Death by Detector: Part 2!

nyc_cully — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:02:38 +0000

Since I wrote my original post on this topic fading batteries in CO2 detectors have reached epidemic proportions. There are now two going off in my own building, (which I can’t hear inside my own apartment thankfully, just the hall), there is a second one going at my boyfriend’s place, (as well as the original still beeping), and I heard them in two different buildings when visiting friends in the past few days. Then… my own started going off. My first thought was… “This is happening to the whole city! What’s going on?!” and it dawned one… this IS happening to the whole city. In 2004 a new law was enacted requiring C02 detectors along with smoke detectors in every apartment. The final date for compliance was June 2005. So if most building owners are like mine… a goodly portion of the city got CO2 detectors installed on or around June 30th, 2005. I’m betting the battery life in a CO2 detector is about… 2 years. So… for your own safety, and the sanity of your neighbors, check the battery in your detector and get them changed. Please?

Death by Detector

nyc_cully — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 01:04:53 +0000

5 Days. For 5 days at my boyfriend’s apartment the neighbors’ CO2 detector has been chirping. Once every minute. For FIVE DAYS. The bedroom faces an alley, as does the kitchen, where the building’s detectors are located. So every time it chirps the sound rebounds through the windows, all around the alley and is clearly and distinctly audible in his bedroom. So all weekend I was treated to… chirp… chirp… chirp… chirp… it’s more annoying than a water drip. We’ve determined that it is the neighbor directly below him. I am fairly certain that they are at home. Why can’t they hear this? Why haven’t they stopped it? What the hell is going on down there?!? I’ve never been happier that the weekend was over and that I would be sleeping in my own bed again. How sad is it that I’ve been driven from my boyfriend’s arms by the lack of a 9 volt battery? Would it be rude of me to tape a note and a fresh battery in a ziplock to their door?