Peacocks

The peacocks were out this afternoon at St John the Divine, grazing on the shrubbery.

East River Underwater Turbines

I love stories that talk about innovative approaches to anything, and although New York City - the government and the people - are innovative in many ways, I tend not to put 'energy innovation' and 'New York City' in the same thought.

Here is a great story from DNA.com about just that.

Using underwater turbines in the East River off the coast of Roosevelt Island, Verdant Power will be electrifying New York with roughly 1 megawatt captured from the strait's natural tidal currents — enough for an estimated 1,000 city homes.  Verdant was awarded on Monday the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's first pilot license for tidal power in the country.

Verdant will mount up to 30 turbine generators over the next few years on the East River's riverbed, said Trey Taylor, Verdant's co-founder and president.

"During a very difficult global economic time for renewable energy, this is very hopeful," Taylor said. "This is a high water mark or, at least, a new milestone for this industry."

"Issuing a pilot license for an innovative technology is a major step in the effort to help our country meet our renewable energy goals," the commission's chairman, Jon Wellinghoff, said in a statement. It will "allow for exploration of new renewable technologies while protecting the environment," Wellinghoff added.

 

Cool, right?!

Anti-SOPA Protests

PIPA and SOPA will censor the web, stifle innovation and hurt web businesses,and it won’t even help the fight against piracy. That's the complaint from most industry experts.

“These bills would grant new powers to law enforcement to filter the Internet and block access to tools to get around those filters (…) These bills would make it easier to sue law-abiding U.S. companies. Law-abiding payment processors and Internet advertising services can be subject to these private rights of action,” writes Google's David Drummond.

Wikipedia has blacked out it's site for the day. Upon visiting you are asked to support their anti-SOPA position, in your own voice, to your Senator and Congressional representative, and your community on Twitter and Facebook .

The complaint is that bills wouldn’t get rid of pirate sites. Pirate sites would just change their addresses in order to continue their criminal activities.

Sign Googles anti-SOPA petition and reach out to Congress in order to fight this proposed bill.

Learn more...

Economy Candy

A good afternoon trip in cold weather is a subway ride down to Rivington St (Lower East Side, NYC) to visit Economy Candy, a small but well supplied, candy-of-all-kinds store.

It can be overwhelming.

MET Museum American Wing Ready to Open

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing reopens January 16 after a major four year renovation that included an overhaul of the way it displays its vast collection of home-grown masterpieces.  

The third, and final, phase of a $100 million overhaul of the American Wing completed 26 galleries and created a chronological installation of the American paintings and sculpture.

The new galleries, comprising 30,000 square feet, celebrate Colonial portraiture, the young Republic and the Civil War Era. The Hudson River School, the West and American Impressionism also get their due.

But the splashiest installation is of one of the most iconic images of the American history — Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware."

George Washington Crossing the Delaware

Prisoners from the Front, Winslow Homer

5 Boro Bike Tour

Held annually the first Sunday in May -May 6, 2012- the TD Five Boro Bike Tour is America’s largest cycling event.

The Tour is produced by Bike New York, the city’s premiere bicycling organization, in association with the City of New York and the New York City Department of Transportation. The event provides participants the unique and fun experience to bike through all five boroughs – a 40 mile, traffic-free ride for 32,000 cyclists. Proceeds from the event fund Bike New York’s education programs.

Registration is conducted by lottery, and is required. Those interested in participating in the TD Five Boro Bike Tour will have the opportunity to register for the lottery from January 17 through February 7. Visit Bike New York’s TD Five Boro Bike Tour page in order to register.

Hopefully, I'll see you there.

Folk Art Museum

Of you stare at this too long you'll get dizzy; the pattern is very hypnotizing.

Find this and more great quilts at www.folkartmuseum.org in Lincoln Square, NYC.

UWS Mama Mexico Mysteriuosly Shutters

One of my regular reads - myupperwest.com - posted yesterday that our family's beloved restaurant may be closed!!! Oh no! Mama Mexico is a favorite haunt for us.