“You Know You’re from New York City When…”

I couldn’t resist. Here’s my faves, (complete list after the jump):

• Your closet is filled with black clothes.
• You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.
• You can walk a mile in 13 minutes and think that everything should be open 24/7.
• You see nothing odd about the speed of an auctioneer’s speaking.
• You’ve been to New Jersey twice and got hopelessly lost both times.
• You have 27 different menus next to your telephone.
• $50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.
• You don’t notice sirens anymore.
• The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.
• You run when you see a flashing "Do Not Walk" sign at the intersection.
• You’re willing to take in strange people as roommates simply to help pay the rent.
• There is no North and South… It’s either Uptown or Downtown.
• You’re not in the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
• Your internal clock is permanently set to know when Alternate Side of the Street parking regulations are in effect.
• You know how to fold the New York Times in half, vertically, so that
  you can read it on the subway or bus without knocking off other
  passenger’s hats.
• Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet….
• To cross the street, you
  wait inches away from speeding traffic waiting to cut through it, rather than waiting safely on the sidewalk .
• Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean your deli man is
  Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese,
  your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek,
  the watchseller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was
  Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy
  is Egyptian.

Where In The World Does Wal*Mart Gets Its Goods?

This map shows what % of total products each country provides. Top Five = 81% (China = 46%).

T.E.D. Site Refurbished! (A Notice Worth Spreading)

If you’ve been as addicted to I am with T.E.D.’s unbelievably excellent lecture content, then get yourself over to their newly refurbished site at Ted.com.

As noted in the NY Times you’ll find a strong focus on their TED Talks video archives, including many just released from last month, with an incredible amount of work that has gone into making the site highly interactive. Enjoy!

R2D2 Postal Box

These just hit the streets of NYC recently.

Is it a coincidence that this was strategically placed directly outside Apple’s Fifth Ave store, Mac Geek Mecca? (I should know, that’s why I was there!)

Doubt it.

The postal box is part of a campaign for Star Wars stamps that can be voted on until May 20 at (I kid you not): uspsjedimaster.com

Do I Need A Jacket?

Simple questions require simple answers. Do I Need A Jacket? gives simple, straight-forward weather advice based on zip/postal code for US and Canada.

Vancouver is Top City in the World (Again)

In an analysis measuring best quality of life in cities worldwide, Vancouver has again placed in the top third, but Switzerland is still (incrementally) better. The analysis is based on an evaluation
of 39 quality-of-living criteria for each city including political,
social, economic and environmental factors, personal safety and health,
education, transport and other public services.

Here’s the top five (Incl. tie scores):

    1. Zurich, Switzerland
    2. Geneva, Switzerland
    3. Vancouver, Canada
    3. Vienna, Austria
    5. Auckland, New Zealand
    5 .Düsseldorf, Germany

Noted highlights: Amsterdam (13), Ottawa (18), Honolulu (27), San Francisco (29), New York (48).

2007 T.E.D. Prize Winner Acceptance Speeches

Bill Clinton describes the focus the Clinton Foundation has taken on running a pilot health care system in Rwanda, based on the work of Dr. Paul Farmer with Partners In Health in Haiti, and their aim of showing its potential as a model for the entire developing world.

T.E.D. Wish: Help him build this system in Rwanda, to bring world-class health care to a people who have overcome deadly hatred to rebuild their nation.

James Nachtwey talks about his decades as a photojournalist witnessing street violence, famine, and disease. A slideshow of his photos reveals two parallel themes in his work: The frontlines of contemporary wars are right where people live, and when a photo catches the world’s attention, it can truly drive action and change.

T.E.D. Wish: Help with gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these photos to the world.

E.O. Wilson makes a plea on behalf of his constituents (insects and small creatures), to learn more about our biosphere. "We know so little about nature that we’re still discovering tiny organisms indispensable to life; yet we’re steadily, methodically, and vigorously destroying nature."

T.E.D. Wish: Work together on an Encyclopedia of Life, a web-based compendium of data from scientists and amateurs on every aspect of the biosphere.

Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race

Here’s a slide show of their latest race down Lombard Street in San Francisco.

Diffusion of Innovation Summation

Seth Godin gives a great factual reality check of the Diffusion of Innovations theory.

• 98.2% of the households in the US have a TV, and virtually all of those TVs have cable.
• 30% of internet users in the US use a modem.
• 31.4% of Americans don’t have internet access.
• 90% of the people in France have not created a blog.
• 88% of all users have never heard of RSS.
• 1% of internet users use Digg on an average day.
• 0.37% of the US population reads the paper version of the New York Times daily.
• 59% of American households have zero iPods in them.
• Detroit (one million people) has six Starbucks.
• Brazil consumes 11% of the world’s coffee.
• 20% of the world speaks English.

Tibetan Sand Mandala

Buddhist monks at the Namgyal Monastary creating a sand mandala. More on their practice here.