The Department of Homeland Security has enlisted the help of over 648,921 New York City pigeons to maintain close 'tabs' on Canadian Geese flying through the NYC area.
Initial reports that a flock of geese (possibly Canadian) brought down US Airways Flight #1549 led government officials to call an emergency meeting of PGN Local 405 officials to request support in infiltrating geese flocks in an effort to learn about further planned attacks.
Often referred to as "flying rats," PGN Union Chair Grey "Crappy" Pigeon was overheard saying that "finkin' out dos byds will be de bestest ting we culd du". A spokesperson for Free Flying Rights for Geese (FFRG) said that the move by Homeland Security is biased and based on unverified rumors. "There are multiple species of geese in the NYC area. To assume it was Canadian Geese is speculative and unfair."
FFRG is appealing to the US Department of Agriculture, who has conducted many studies on geese. You can learn more about Canadian Geese here: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ws/ca/living_with_wildlife/activity_sheets/student_activity_sheet_geese.pdf
1/25/2009
I've Had an Epiphany!
Well...sort of. And a little late....
Imagine my surprise (and anger about having such knowledge withheld from me!) when I learned that the Epiphany is celebrated in so many different ways, by so many different cultures. Let me clarify. It's not that I'm mad that people in different parts of the world celebrate the Epiphany in many ways. No. It's that I'd never heard about La Befana!
The Italians celebrate with a visit from an old woman called "la Befana," who puts gifts and candy in the shoes of children on Epiphany morning (January 6). Nobody put candy and gifts in my shoes! What's with that?!
And Mexicans celebrate with Rosca de Reyes (the Kings cake). It's made in the shape of a crown with a ring hidden inside.
So where's my candy and cake?
Imagine my surprise (and anger about having such knowledge withheld from me!) when I learned that the Epiphany is celebrated in so many different ways, by so many different cultures. Let me clarify. It's not that I'm mad that people in different parts of the world celebrate the Epiphany in many ways. No. It's that I'd never heard about La Befana!
The Italians celebrate with a visit from an old woman called "la Befana," who puts gifts and candy in the shoes of children on Epiphany morning (January 6). Nobody put candy and gifts in my shoes! What's with that?!And Mexicans celebrate with Rosca de Reyes (the Kings cake). It's made in the shape of a crown with a ring hidden inside.
So where's my candy and cake?
1/22/2009
The 4 Horsemen of Sandy's Apocalypse
(perhaps the title isn't in good taste, but the story is pretty decent!)
It started on Monday morning with a call from the UHaul store where I have my storage unit. It's an 8' x 12' room with everything from boxes of books, all my child therapy stuff, out-of-season clothes, bikes, some furniture, etc. A pipe in the unit above me burst and they didn't think it had done any damage to my unit, but there was a little puddle of water outside the room next to me.
So I stroll over in the snow and find that, indeed, yes, the water had come into my unit and had drowned a lot of clothes, an entertainment unit, an air conditioner and computer monitor, as well as a dozen books. It took myself and 3 U-Haul staff nearly 3 hours to get everything out, sorted, moved to another unit and then packed up for the claims agent.
I was disappointed to find my Winnie the Pooh Classics book had not survived. In the words of Christopher Robin, "Tut, tut. Looks like rain."
That evening I was fast asleep at 10:45pm. I was exhausted from hauling boxes, bikes, wet furniture, etc. At 11:17pm, I woke to find out that the power had gone out. Well...kind of. Four plugs still had power in them. So we called ConEd, filed a report, were told they'd be out in 3-4 hours, and back to sleep I went. Or tried.
I'd just dozed off when, at a little after 1:00am there was a huge explosion that shook the house (we're on the 4th floor of a big old limestone building). I ran to the window, only to see a huge geyser of flames shooting up from underneath a van sitting right in front of the house. I ran and called 911 and the fire department had arrived before I could finish dressing and head downstairs.
The salt from the street cleaners had gotten in to the wiring below the street and shorted everything out. The partial power outage was our first hint. The exploding manholes and burning wiring was the second. Although the boiler had gone out (and with it, our steam heat), we were able to keep the fridge plugged in with the help of an extension cord and we had phones.
A police car parked outside of the house, waiting for ConED and trying to track down the owner of the car that had been char broiled. At 2:20am I was back in bed, trying to get in a few hours before the alarm went off at 5:30am.
BOOM! 3:12am and another explosion, another geyser of fire. The police called the fire department this time and again they came. They don't do anything. Well...they go into the basements of the surrounding buildings to make sure the fire hasn't traveled underground. Then they look at the manhole. And you can still hear this "POP! POP!" sound...like the jolly green giant was making popcorn. Then, after six minutes, they all pile back into their trucks, saying that ConED has been notified, ya-d-ya-da-ya-da. I think I watched 4:30am on the clock before I faded out. Tuesday morning.
It was a cold morning without heat, hot water. I made coffee using one of the four active plugs and spent an hour on the phone with the Public Utilities Commission, filing a complaint. ConED showed up at about 10:10am, our building manager called an electrician to do some fancy wiring in the basement so we could have heat (11:30am) and full power came on around 7:45pm).
Flood. Fire. What more? Well....
Wednesday morning. I dare to leave the house (although I confess with a bit of anxiety) and head to the subway. Amtrak leaves on time (7:25am) and I get to work on my laptop. I didn't even recall the train slowing down. I do remember it stopping. But sometimes the trains stop because they've been flagged for going to fast and they are reprimanded by being held by dispatch. Not in this case. Nope. We lost power. For 30 minutes we sat in the train with no power somewhere outside of New Brunswick NJ.
Flood. Fire. Loss of Power. What's next? In the words of the Police, "don't stand so close to me"
It started on Monday morning with a call from the UHaul store where I have my storage unit. It's an 8' x 12' room with everything from boxes of books, all my child therapy stuff, out-of-season clothes, bikes, some furniture, etc. A pipe in the unit above me burst and they didn't think it had done any damage to my unit, but there was a little puddle of water outside the room next to me.
So I stroll over in the snow and find that, indeed, yes, the water had come into my unit and had drowned a lot of clothes, an entertainment unit, an air conditioner and computer monitor, as well as a dozen books. It took myself and 3 U-Haul staff nearly 3 hours to get everything out, sorted, moved to another unit and then packed up for the claims agent.
I was disappointed to find my Winnie the Pooh Classics book had not survived. In the words of Christopher Robin, "Tut, tut. Looks like rain."
That evening I was fast asleep at 10:45pm. I was exhausted from hauling boxes, bikes, wet furniture, etc. At 11:17pm, I woke to find out that the power had gone out. Well...kind of. Four plugs still had power in them. So we called ConEd, filed a report, were told they'd be out in 3-4 hours, and back to sleep I went. Or tried.
I'd just dozed off when, at a little after 1:00am there was a huge explosion that shook the house (we're on the 4th floor of a big old limestone building). I ran to the window, only to see a huge geyser of flames shooting up from underneath a van sitting right in front of the house. I ran and called 911 and the fire department had arrived before I could finish dressing and head downstairs.
The salt from the street cleaners had gotten in to the wiring below the street and shorted everything out. The partial power outage was our first hint. The exploding manholes and burning wiring was the second. Although the boiler had gone out (and with it, our steam heat), we were able to keep the fridge plugged in with the help of an extension cord and we had phones.
A police car parked outside of the house, waiting for ConED and trying to track down the owner of the car that had been char broiled. At 2:20am I was back in bed, trying to get in a few hours before the alarm went off at 5:30am.
BOOM! 3:12am and another explosion, another geyser of fire. The police called the fire department this time and again they came. They don't do anything. Well...they go into the basements of the surrounding buildings to make sure the fire hasn't traveled underground. Then they look at the manhole. And you can still hear this "POP! POP!" sound...like the jolly green giant was making popcorn. Then, after six minutes, they all pile back into their trucks, saying that ConED has been notified, ya-d-ya-da-ya-da. I think I watched 4:30am on the clock before I faded out. Tuesday morning.
It was a cold morning without heat, hot water. I made coffee using one of the four active plugs and spent an hour on the phone with the Public Utilities Commission, filing a complaint. ConED showed up at about 10:10am, our building manager called an electrician to do some fancy wiring in the basement so we could have heat (11:30am) and full power came on around 7:45pm).
Flood. Fire. What more? Well....
Wednesday morning. I dare to leave the house (although I confess with a bit of anxiety) and head to the subway. Amtrak leaves on time (7:25am) and I get to work on my laptop. I didn't even recall the train slowing down. I do remember it stopping. But sometimes the trains stop because they've been flagged for going to fast and they are reprimanded by being held by dispatch. Not in this case. Nope. We lost power. For 30 minutes we sat in the train with no power somewhere outside of New Brunswick NJ.
Flood. Fire. Loss of Power. What's next? In the words of the Police, "don't stand so close to me"
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