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June 28, 2008

get us off oil!!!

We launched the freedom prizes this week in Washington, DC in the Senate Energy Committee hearing room.   Senator Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the committee and Andy Karsner of the DOE were on hand to launch the new prizes.   these prizes will focus on raising awareness of our dependence on oil and motivating us to lessen this dependence.

who is leading us to a better future?

this is a short documentary on the local and state action on climate change and healthier cities.  check it out.

June 22, 2008

Mayors go nuts for Obama

Mayors go nuts for Obama
Barak Obama came to speak to the US conference of Mayors here in Miami. Obamamania energized the room.

The Mayors clearly felt that D or R, Obama was much more likely to directly support cities. He was interrupted more than 10 times with applause.

Mccain was invited but decided not to show up.

May 21, 2008

Blogging on blogging

Blogging on blogging
Here at the MediaBistro Circus in tribeca. Internet confab.

Here is Elisa Camahort of Blogher presenting. She asks - what are you doing to build trust in your audience?

May 05, 2008

18 wheelers

18 wheelers
Here is why 18 wheelers do not belong in manhattan during the day. This truck is blocking ALL of fifth avenue.

We need a solution to help the city and the truck drivers. The drivers do not want to sit in traffic. They want to drop off their deliver and get to the next job.

What should we do?

BT

BT
Here is the BT tower in London. I went up to the top - yikes!!

Most of the UK's tv signals go through this tower. Ironically they don't get beamed anymore. All underground cable.

Al Gore

Al Gore
Here at the Goldman Sachs Alternative Energy breakfast -

Al Gore speaking. Then John Doerr and David Blood will comment.

Too bad they did not name their firm Blood and Gore. Such a memorable name.

April 18, 2008

Millie!

Millie!
Here I am with one of my heroes - Millie Leet. She co-founded Trickle Up 25 years ago - www.trickleup.org

Go Millie!

April 12, 2008

Steve and Marcy!

Steve and Marcy!
Here are my friends Steve and Marcy. Steve wants to start blogging. What will steve blog about? Strange and odd things I imagine.

April 08, 2008

jetblue: the dummest airline of all

Jetblue How the mighty have fallen.  Jetblue used to be one of my favorite airlines.  Now they have descended lower than their old-time competitors.    When you are shown up by United you know that you are in trouble.

Jetblue's gates at JFK are overcrowded and the bathrooms are filthy.   Even knowing that many flights are delayed this time of year due to weather has not prompted them to clean up after the hords of customers.

Their pilots and flight attendents used to be a breath of fresh air.   Now many are grumpy and gruff like the rest of the US airlines.   Only overseas can you find professionals with a good attitude. 

Another case in point - most every airline provides an easy way to get notified when your flight is delayed or cancelled.    United has an EasyAlert service that works great.  You can choose email, sms or other methods of notification. 

For some reason the jetblue.com web site contains no menu option for such a service.   having been burned by a cancellation on Jetblue with no notice I called customer service and asked how I could be notified in the furture.    The rep could not find any link online to such a service and was stumped. 

I emailed David Neeleman who I met at a CEO conference (back when he was CEO).   He could not be bothered to respond personally so he had his assistant get back to me.    She was very pleasant and referred me to who else but another customer service agent.   

I asked this person how a customer find the flight notification page.  She proceeded to send me the following INANE email:

Regarding the second issue we do have a service called Flight Status Notification. Go to the Help icon on the top right of the first page of www.jetblue.com. In the search function type in: flight status. Several options will come up. One of them is frequently asked questions about the flight notification process. In that area there are links to click on to take one to the sign up page.

Can you believe that jetblue expects their customers to go two levels down into help then somehow pick out this needle from an FAQ haystack? 

I hope their new terminal 5 fares better than the heathrow terminal 5 which has resulted in 20,000 bags lost and 480 flights cancelled in two weeks.

I recommend to all my readers NOT to fly jetblue.   You are better off on amtrak. 

April 04, 2008

Titillating tesselations

Titillating tesselations
Here is the artist skylar presenting his mathematical art - tesselations and fenestrations. Geometries shaped by math and design.

We are at Mind 08 - zany.

March 31, 2008

jolt your mind

Coolpic Check out this cool conference on April 4th here in NYC  - Mind08 - looks quite stimulating...

March 16, 2008

Welcome to the newcomer on Central Park

Southgate1 There is a new chef in the hood - Chef Kerry has opened the SouthGate restaurant next door ot the Essex House on Central Park South.    Kerry was the founding chef at Danny Meyer's 11 Madison Park - a gem of a place. 

Now he opens SouthGate in the newly revived Central Park South area.  With the Plaza reopening and the restuarants of Time Warner Center thriving the whole neighborhood is on a gastronomic upswing.

SouthGate is New American with hints of asia and europe.   The service is impeccable.  The space itself was designed by Tony Choi in a very sleek retro modern design.   It is a large restaurants that can seat about 100 people comfortably.    I love the circular tables for 4 so you can squeeze in a few latecomers. 

Congrats Chef Kerry and welcome to the block!

March 15, 2008

Mirror, mirror

Mirror, mirror
Can you guess what this is? Hint: it's me.

Glowing, floating

Glowing, floating
Art from the sundance film festival. Serene.

burning man

  • Picture_080
    Click on the picture for images from Burning Man 2007

borobodur

  • Img_0325
    Click on the photo for images of the amazing temple of Borobodur in Indonesia

June 2008

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