NYC Transit Strike , part 2

So the strike continues and the TWU is still trying to convince us that they are fighting for their rights becayse they have been, oh, so unfaily treated.
Let's look at the facts:
They were asking for 24% salary raise (ridiculous if you ask me).
They were offered 10.5%, their retirement age would remain 55 years old and all their benefits and health would remain the same. The one point the MTA asked for was that NEW hires would have to contribute 6% to their retirement. Current workers would not be affected.

The salaries of NYC transit workers:

The starting salary for a NYC Transit train operator is $52,644 a year, before overtime. In the new contracts that the city’s municipal unions negotiated this year, the starting salary for a New York Police Department officer will be $25,100 a year.

The average subway or bus operator earns nearly $63,000 per year. The average subway conductor earns about $54,000. The average station agent earns about $51,000. A subway cleaner earns about $40,000

The people most affected happen to be those who need the money the most:

People who live in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, especially those who couldn't afford homes closer to the city and who have been walking 3-4 hours in the middle of the winter to get to work in Manhattan because they will lode their jobs if they don;t show up.

Those who have lost their jobs right before Christmas because they couldn't get to work and whose families will suffer right before the holidays.

The people who sell food and magazines by subway stations, flowers inside the trains, musicians who play underground, plays and concerts who can't sell tickets.

Small restaurants and the waiters and busboys who depend on the tips to make a living.

All freelancers who can't get to work, therefore don't get paid, delivery people who can't make deliveries.

People who live in NJ and are riding their bikes to Manhattan.

Students who can't get to school and parents who can't go to work because their kids would be home alone.

And so many more people who are losing their livelihoods, who can't get to doctors and hospitals even for emergency treatments (like chemotherapy and dialysis) and small stores and business who will go bankrupt without the Christmas sales, all because the TWU decided they want a fuller pocket no matter what.

NYers are strong people. We survived 9/11and a blackout in the past few years. We are used to walking and have been biking, roller skating, or scootering (like me) hundreds of blocks to get where we need to go. People have been offering rides to complete strangers and have been going out of their way to pick up stranded co-workers in the morning.

It's just harder when the problems have been caused by other NYer who are just too selfish to care about their fellow citizens and who believe their own pockets are worth more than the safety and well being of 7 million other people.
Even the TWU international is against the strike. I hope they pay even heftier fines until they stop listening to manipulators like TWU President Roger Toussaint.

NYC Subway, Transit, TWU Strike in NYC

NYC Transit Strike
So just heard news that the transit workers (TWU) in NYC decided to go on strike like they have been threatening to do for several weeks now.
My thoughts:
As much as I believe that they have been treated less than fairly in general by the MTA, they have lost all of my sympathy by appealing to a strike that more than inconveniences, but also seriously affects the lives of over 7 million people who use the subways everyday.
The Transit Workers Union has a history of making excessive demands and of being uncompromising. By having the strike so close to major holidays they seem to have absolutely no concern for the small stores that need the business so much, the people who need to work now to buy gifts for their kids and for the people of the city in general.
As always the people most affected will be those who are the poorest, who need to live far away and who usually have to commute for an hour or longer just to get to work. Those people can't afford the suggested cab shares or van services and are also the ones who will suffer the most if they lose money from missed days of work.
The strike is also illegal and the transit workers will be fined 2 pay days for each day of strike. Somehow I don't feel bad for them this time around.....

Suggested (though ridiculous) options and suggestions by the MTA and the Mayor's office:


Driving Alternatives:
Residents and commuters are encouraged to walk or bike, especially during rush hours. Bicyclists are encouraged to keep to car-free greenway paths and on-street bike lanes (some of which will have orange cones along them for added protection from car traffic). Bikers should review the 2005 New York City Cycling Map, available on the Department of City Planning’s Web site: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/bike/bm.shtml.
Ferries will run more frequently.

Public School Information:
Beginning with the first day of a strike, all regular school start times will be delayed for two hours. School bus times will be delayed two hours as well, to accomodate for the new start time. The end of the school day will not be changed.

Car Pooling and Parking:
Cars crossing the main bridges to Manhattan must have at least 4 passengers. For help finding other people to pool with:
http://www.commuterlink.com/
Alternate side of the street parking rules will be suspended Citywide for the duration of the transit strike.

Keep safe and let's hope for a short strike.

Problems with Internet Explorer? Steve Jobs and the Ipod on Saturday Night Live. Need more traffic for your site?

So for another tech section, I decided to help new webmasters who just need to get some hits so their site gets ranked in search engines.
There are several traffic exchange sites and below are some I suggest:

Brastart

321 hits


Another important thing is to always have a back-up browser in case you have problems with Internet Explorer or Safari if you have a Mac. A very good alternative is Firefox:
<--See White Square Button on left for direct link



It's reliable, has hundreds if not thousands of add ons you can download to make your browsing experience richer and it's free.

And a great Saturday Night Live sketch about Steve Jobs and the Ipod. (thank you Dale for sending it to me).
Here (Quicktime, 3.4mb, so it might take a little while to appear)

Finally someone did a parody about the Ipod craze: The IFlea

I won't even start my speech about my feelings for the Ipod fad, but for now, just a funny video:

The Iflea commercial

Enjoy :)

Making sense of the English language...

Hi everyone
A good explanation of why foreigners have a hard time with the English language found on a posts on a Lamma Island forum site ( I could add another 1000 more examples, but it would make the post too long):

Have you ever wondered why non-native speakers have trouble with the English Language?
Let's face it, English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth (Or the plural of toothbrush, teethbrush)?
If the teacher taught, why didn't the preacher praught.
If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as it burns down
And in which you fill in a form by filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!
English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race (Which of course isn't a race at all)
That is why
When the stars are out they are visible but when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch it starts
But when I wind up this observation, it ends.

Go figure....

Martial Arts Updates

To those who have been asking me about Martial Arts updates. I will add more information on my personal experiences with Martial Arts, but for now, check our sister site:




Beholders.org - Body, Mind and Spirit
http://www.beholders.org.
We just added a martial arts section and forum to the site. It's also where we sell Xootr scooters, and all the profits go to support a low income teen filmmakers program.
I will leave information to that site and my personal experiences to this blog.
Peace :)

ROSA PARKS DIES, HER LEGACY LIVES ON...

The year was 1955... the day was December 1st... the place was Montgomery, Alabama...and a petit African American woman, 42 years of age boarded a bus on her way home after a long exausting day working as a seamstress. A common action, a common day, and yet, that petit woman would show the world that day the power of one person, one voice, one action...

In a world that was still far from even vaguely acknowledging the rights of African Americans, that woman was asked to stand up and move to the back so a white man could take her seat. Her reply was a two letter word that would change history. She said "No".

That woman was Rosa Parks, and her revolutionary action initiated a series of events: She was arrested and fined $14 for violating a city ordinance, a 381-day Montgomery bus boycott followed, organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and, finally, the Supreme Court's ruling in November 1956 that segregation on transportation is unconstitutional.

“At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this,” Mrs. Parks said 30 years later. “It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.” Rosa Parks died yesterday, at 92.

May her spirit and example change generations to come.

Suggested Tools: Protect your computer

So I always get calls from people asking me to recommend a good anti-virus and spyware protection software they could buy. And the idea is, why buy it when you can get it for free? So here are a few tools I'd recommend:

Grisoft AVG (Free anti-virus, highly recommend it)
http://www.grisoft.com

Avast!antivirus (Free version also pretty good)
http://www.avast.com

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta, excellent!)
http://www.microsoft.com/spyware

Ad-aware (Anti-spyware, look at the bottom of the page for current build for the free version which they keep almost hidden within the site)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Zone Alarm Firewall
http://www.zonelabs.com/

Enjoy :)

JOINING FORCES WITH BLOGGER

Ok, Ok.. so I decided to give into the ease of update of Blogger. Considering that I don't always have my computer with me when I feel like updating the blog, I figured I might actually get more consistent using Blogger. Now, it will still be hosted in this server and I will eventually switch to that format completly, but for now, there will be two blog home pages and I will continue to post the same article on both until they catch up with each other.
The structure will change a little bit, but not much.

To make the life of those who check it often a little easier, I have also added an rss feed to this blog ( http://simplytatydesigns.com/feed.xml )

The new page can be found at:
http://www.simplytatydesigns.com/blogger.htm

Enjoy :)

Circus Amok and Meg

To those who haven't heard of it, Circus Amok is a circus that is small in size but big in personality.Since 1989 Circus Amok has been performing free at parks and squares all over NYC.What makes them even more extraordinary is the fact that they do their circus acts while educating the communities about some of the most pressing social issues happening in NY and in the world.
They accomplish that feat while entertaining the children with dynamic acts and getting the adults to feel like kids again.Circus Amok is run by the brilliant Jennifer Miller, the bearded woman from Coney Island and is performed by an eclectic group of talented and spirited performers.

While helping them out the other day, I witnessed a private and deeply moving moment in the lives of these artists. I got to Washington Square Park to meet them and they were somberly sitting together holding each other, and Jennifer came to me to explain what had occured. One of the people who had been involved with the circus for a long time, Meg, had died in a bicycle accident the night before. I had never met Meg, but watching their pain and hearing them lovingly talk about all the small moments when she had affected their lives brought tears to my eyes and seriously made me wonder how they could perform that day.

Showtime started drawing closer and they started setting up, silence and tears still punctuating so many of their actions. And the audience begins to gather and they start announcing the acts. Within minutes they start moving around with smiles on their faces, blowing bubbles, juggling, running on stilts and creating social change with their piercing humor and perspicacious wit. If that is not art, I don't know what is...

For more information on Circus Amok, visit:
http://www.circusamok.org/

Joining forces with Blogger

So I decided that it would be easier to keep posting and to do feeds if I joined forces with Blogger. So far experimenting with it and with design. If all goes well I'll be doing the full transfer soon. Keep checking :)