Results tagged “ianurbina”

writer Ian Urbina, chronicles some of the more outrageous things people do to respond to the things that drive them nuts every day.

Asking for a "medium" at Starbucks just to avoid saying "grande?" Done that. Bypassing an automated telephone system by punching zero? Yup. Stacking magazine subscription cards to put back in the mail so that it costs the magazine the postage? Um, no, but that's not a bad idea... In some ways, these little ideas are less about "sticking it to" the offending company, and more about simply registering a protest in an impersonal world. People know that it won't make much difference, but they want someone to know that they object to Starbucks' latte lingo and refuse to comply.

Classic Seinfeld episode about Elaine changing her number and her horror at a 646 number: The Maid. Gothamist on having a 212 cellphone. And, naturally, Gothamist is intrigued by Tama Janowitz's book slated for a November release: Area Code 212: New York Days, New York Nights. And the FCC on Voice Over Internet Protocol and How Stuff Works break down how voice over IP really works.

Mayor Bloomberg finally got in touch with Con Ed to discuss understanding what caused the a woman's death when she stepped on an electrified grate on the sidewalk. But now New Yorkers are frantic about being electrocuted, adding to other worries like, as the Times's Ian Urbina notes, "falling debris, unstable scaffolding and suspicious packages." It also seems that dog owners are navigating the streets more carefully because their dogs will act up when near electrified areas. The NY Times ran a photo (right) of Michael Zorek, with his son Jeremy and dog Scooter. Apparently Scooter sensed a hot spot on West 86th Street, where many other dogs had acted oddly, and Zorek called 311. Con Ed was there the next day to fix what was a short circuit.

Now, Mayor Bloomberg is trying to face the city's fears about the issue (apparently he was "confronted" by a senior citizen during a visit; the senior citizen said she'd been complaining about live wires in Carroll Gardens for two years), but didn't have much of an answer about what could be done to prevent electrocutions, saying "I'm not an engineer, we'll have to see what we can do." However, Dahl astutely pointed out that Bloomberg actually did graduate from Johns Hopkins with a degree in engineering; further examination shows it was a degree in electrical engineering. Mayor Bloomberg, we're watching you.

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