Welcome to my site. Here you will find some info about me, the things I do and a listing of upcoming (and past) presentations and lectures. While I initially expected most of my posts to be about Open Source/Free Software (hence the name), these days it's mostly rants and ramblings about running.

photo, July 25

Ghost Crutches

Today I noticed this take-off on the idea of ghost bikes (more info on ghostbikes at http://ghostbikes.org ). Someone attached these crutches, painted white and adorned with plastic flowers, to a street sign near the place where neighborhood activist Harry Weider was killed by a cab while crossing the street back in April.
(details at http://gothamist.com/2010/04/28/community_activist_harry_wieder_kil.php )

When this issue of the City transferring ownership of 156 Rivington to ABC No Rio came before Community Board 3, Harry spoke highly of the idea and encouraged the Community Board to approve the resolution supporting the transfer and rezoning. He then voted against it because our renovation plans did not include altering the building to be fully accessible to the disabled. It was a really well played combination of support and criticism.

Now that it turns out that we have to do a complete demolition and rebuilding, the new ABC No Rio, thanks to support from numerous donors including the City of New York will be fully accessible.

photo, July 23


I'm not sure the message, but this is some very craftfully done defacement.

this is your brain on Alzheimer's

I spent today's record setting heat driving out to see my mom. The only good thing about today was that the air conditioning in the car was just powerful enough to keep me from melting.

One of the staff at the nursing home asked me to make sure we get Pearl some sneakers that don't have laces. To illustrate the necessity, she pulled out this pair from the closet.

Somehow, I think this image is a fine visual interpretation of how Alzheimer's changes how someone's brain works. To my mom, this was simply the only logical way to lace her shoes.

photo, July 21