Tag: nyc

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I don’t often get the Sunday Blues. But, this Labor Day evening? Serious Monday Blues. Something about the cooler weather and a premonition that this week was going to be a shit show on several fronts reminded me of the dread I always felt the evening before the first day of school. Though, as with school, this week wasn’t all that bad.

The highlight of the week (it’s good to have low expectations sometimes): I finally figured out how to run two Jamulus clients on my Mac. Hundreds of others have managed to do this without much effort, but it was a challenge for me. We tested the new setup on a Thursday jam–thumbs up all around. There’s a step-by-step guide here: How To Run Multiple Jamulus Clients on a Mac. I wrote it mostly for one of my fellow jam mates; why not put it out there for others?

Links

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Two long-distance swimmers in the water near the Coney Island Pier celebrate their finish of the 2024 Rose Pitonof Swim. Also pictured, an orange, triangular buoy printed with the words "Urban Swim".

We blew past “mid-August” this week and the “unofficial end of the summer” (here in the US) is just a couple weeks away. I mention this because my sailing season has been almost non-existent this year. I’ve spent more time on powerboats than sailboats–I may be close to losing my sailor cred altogether.

At least I spent a day on the water Saturday shooting photos for the 2024 edition of the Rose Pitonof Swim (instagram link). The photo here shows two of swimmers on the relay team I was with at the finish near Coney Island. I’ve been on few of the Rose swims, including the inaugural one. This was the toughest I’ve witnesses. The swimmers were faced with a fair amount of chop and spent the last couple hours swimming against both the current and wind. They all did an amazing job. Shout out to the kayakers who spent time roughing it in the breakers at the end.

Takeaways from this week: Make it a point to get a few sails in before this season is over, and shoot more often.

Links

The political is separated from the rest of the links this week–easier to skip. Although, all voters should probably watch that Robert Reich video.

Political Links

This video (link) from Robert Reich highlights some of the more egregious schemes in Project 2025.

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We visited friends in the country this weekend–it was lovely. Our time there made me realize how much I dislike riding in cars–perhaps as much as I imagine many loathe public transit.

This also made me think about my general transportation preferences. Here they are, ranked:

  1. Walking
  2. Cycling*
  3. Subway/Metro
  4. Tram**
  5. Boat
  6. Train
  7. Taxi
  8. Bus
  9. Car–driven by me
  10. Airplane
  11. Car–driven by most other (non-professional) people

Those last two really are in a tie for dead last in my book. But, sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.

* I rarely cycle these days, but I liked it when I did
** We don’t have trams in NYC, if we did, I’d rank them about equal to the subway

Links

Mostly political this week, sorry…

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Screenshot of New York Times mobile app headline on July 21, 2024. The headline reads "BIDEN DROPS OUT OF 2024 RACE". A picture of President Joe Biden appears below the headline.

The political craziness continued this week. I took this screenshot shortly after Biden announced the end of his reelection campaign. When I first saw it, I thought there was no way anyone could defeat Trump, not this late in the game. However, Harris seized the moment and really energized people–amazing.

Meanwhile, the former president essentially told people he’d ensure the next election is the last one people will need to vote in. Yes, the stakes are high this year, please be informed and vote in November.

In lighter news, I did a volunteer project at Wetlab in the Hudson River Park. It’s a cool place that’s doing good work. They are open to the public several days a week. I recommend stopping by to learn more about the wildlife in our waterways.

On two separate video calls at work, I received comments on the Gibson t-shirt I was wearing. Of course, they were musicians and we chatted about what we played etc. One of these guys was a pro (before he decided he wanted health insurance). I was surprised that he never heard of Jamulus. I then proceeded extol the virtues of it–always be evangelizing.

We went to Academy Records and Kalustyan’s this weekend. Both are amazing and examples of great New York City stores. One could get lost in either for hours.

Links

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A group of people take pictures of a Manhattanhenge sunset on the Tudor City overpass.
Manhattanhenge: New Yorkers love a photo op.

On the way to see Field of Light, we happened upon a gaggle of people taking pictures of something. As we got closer, we realized it was Manhattanhenge (pictured above). It was a nice evening for it, and well worth stopping for. Even a busy Deliverista took a few minutes off to capture the moment.

In other news, the New York Times continues their journalistic assault on the Biden campaign. According to Jennifer Schulze of Heartland Signal, the NYT has published 192 articles and opinion pieces about Biden’s debate performance as of July 6th (via Letters from an American). The opposing campaign seems to be relatively quiet. I imagine their thinking is: Why bother saying anything if the New York Times goes on the attack for us?

Instead of the non-stop Biden bashing, how about some more in-depth coverage of Project 2025?

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