Does anyone else think that Bill Keller is hot?

Cuz I do.

The doves like my powers...

I am learning how to code!

...slowly...


I am going to learn how to do a table. Apparently "search" boxes are super hard. I will master it all. I mean webmaster it all.

I will leave you with this, from "Elvis is Everywhere" by Mojo Nixon...


You know whats going on in that Bermuda Triangle?
Down in the Bermuda Traingle
Elvis needs boats.
Elvis needs boats.
Elvis Elvis Elvis
Elvis Elvis Elvis
Elvis needs boats.

Aahh! The Sailing Elvis!
Captain Elvis!
Commodore Elvis it is.


I wrote this whole post in html. Elvis is my webmaster. I don't remember how to do an image. So I'm going to cheat and use blogger's image icon. Flushy, don't tell me. In seven minutes I'm going to be a better coder than you.

Thoughts on vertical farming...

A 30-storey building producing enough foodstuffs to feed 50, 000 people? I think it sounds wonderful, but as Armando Carbonell noted in today's Times, "Would a tomato in lower Manhattan be able to outbid an investment banker for space in a high-rise? My bet is that the investment banker will pay more.”

Wouldn't it be great if the economic downturn revolutionized the way that we thought about food, production, ethics, and the planet's dwindling resources?

I totally volunteer to have a victory garden, and by sheer force of will my thumbs will turn from black to green. And compost! It's a very sad and embarrassing fact that for the "greatest city in the world", we are woefully behind on environmental and conservation issues. Nyc.gov reports: "New York City has the largest, most ambitious recycling program in the nation. All 3 million households, plus public schools and institutions, receive recycling collection by the Department of Sanitation." Well, NYC wants props for the sheer number of households served, fine. But after hunting around a bit on the NYCWasteLe$$ site, I found this: "At present, the ONLY plastics accepted by NYC's recycling program are plastic bottles and jugs." CRIMINAL. Our yogurt containers, takeout containers, and egg cartons? All trash. As for composting...if you can transport your composting materials to Greenmarket sites, there is community composting. Not exactly convenient or enticing for a mostly public transit-dependent population. Picture it: a crowded N train and you with your leaking, stinking bag of compost-ables. You know my cat litter will be in there too.

So yes, the time is ripe for change. But for a 30-storey space-age building in Manhattan that can feed 0.5% of the population? Why don't we focus on the infrastructure that doesn't work first? Crumbling train stations, overflowing garbage cans filled with recyclables at every street corner in the city...the problem is money. The only way that this vertical farming project would be viable would be if it was supported by private funding. Then, could we afford it?

And more importantly, would the posh Manhattan-raised tomatoes move to Brooklyn and price us out of our neighbourhoods?