6:30 AM and I am getting ready to leave the house for work, I put on my pea coat, wrap a scarf around my neck and pack some gloves in my bag. It is early January and experience has taught me it is cold around this time of year in NY. I step outside and it is unusually warm, as I walk to the train station a drop of sweat runs down my forehead. I start to get uncomfortable warm with all the layers I am wearing and have to take my scarf off as it begins to make me sweat. I ask myself, it’s January why am I warm?!
The north eastern united states has been plagued by unusually warm weather. Some claim that it is due to global warming, others that is just a temporary climate shift. Records show over the past hundreds of years temperatures have been steadily climbing:

“Meteorologists say the warm spell is due to a combination of factors: El Nino, a cyclical warming trend now under way in the Pacific Ocean, can lead to milder weather, particularly in the Northeast; and the jet stream, the high-altitude air current that works like a barricade to hold back warm Southern air, is running much farther north than usual over the East Coast. “

This could very well explain the strange weather, yet I believe it is due to global warming. Records show that after the industrial revolution CO2 levels have sky rocketed.

Who knows? The northeast might be experiencing a warm winter but the plains have been plagued with blizzard after blizzard. Mother nature has truly gone haywire.

I sure hope it just a temporary change and that this is not a result of our wreck less damage to the environment. Let say this continues year after year, we might not have a winter after all. But lets leave all the worrying to the meteorologists and enjoy the warm weather while it’s here! BBQ anyone?

The Times has a great article on the abrupt changes and troubles that diamonds have brought to the Cinta-Larga tribe in Brazil, exploring the tensions between miners, the government and the tribe’s own greed.

“Back then, we had no idea what diamonds were worth,” recalled Roberto Carlos Cinta-Larga, a tribal leader who, following tradition, uses the tribe’s name as his surname. “We didn’t have money in those days and didn’t even really know what money was, because our nature was to stay apart from everyone else and not cultivate friendships.”

It’s a great read, make sure to check it out. Also make sure to catch Blood Diamond at the theaters, they explore almost the same subjects – it might just make you reconsider next time you buy that bling bling.

Article: Diamonds’ Glitter Fades For Brazilian Tribe

New York City – 11:26 P.M. – A pack of 8 to 10 messy looking, somewhat smelly, and hungry humans lurk in an alley behind a restaurant. They are delighting themselves in an all they can eat fest at the garbage dump, they search and ravage through the dumpster like a flock of starving vultures feasting over a carcass. After they are satisfied, they collect what they can and take it back home to a neglected run down building where there was a fire weeks ago. They are not quite homeless or starving due to the economy, in fact they hate mainstream economy and have rejected all of the social norms we live under. They have chosen to live like this. They are Freegans.

“The word freegan is derived from “free” and “vegan”. Vegans are people who avoid products from animal sources or products tested on animals in an effort to avoid harming animals. Freegans take this a step further by recognizing that in a complex, industrial, mass-production economy driven by profit, abuses of humans, animals, and the earth abound at all levels of production (from acquisition to raw materials to production to transportation) and in just about every product we buy.”

What may seem eerie and disgusting at first, the Freegan morals and messages are one to admire. You could call them the bacteria of the city, consuming and recycling our waste not only for their own survival but also as a statement against the society we live in.

“By recovering the discards of retailers, offices, schools, homes, hotels, or anywhere by rummaging through their trash bins, dumpsters, and trash bags, freegans are able to obtain food, beverages, books, toiletries magazines, comic books, newspapers, videos, kitchenware, appliances, music (CDs, cassettes, records, etc.), carpets, musical instruments, clothing, rollerblades, scooters, furniture, vitamins, electronics, animal care products, games, toys, bicycles, artwork, and just about any other type of consumer good. Rather than contributing to further waste, freegans curtail garbage and pollution and lessening the over-all volume in the waste stream.”

To me, they are a mix of anarchists and tree huggers in an urban set. They are young and strong-minded, never deviating from their beliefs, the belief that one can still exist and be part of something living outside of society.

“Freeganism is a total boycott of an economic system where the profit motive has eclipsed ethical considerations and where massively complex systems of productions ensure that all the products we buy will have detrimental impacts most of which we may never even consider. Thus, instead of avoiding the purchase of products from one bad company only to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest degree we are able.”

Just like you, when I first heard about them, I wondered why someone would want to live that like? Eating food from dumpsters, not having a stable reliable home, hitchhiking from place to place. But as I dug deeper into their society I began to understand why they were doing it. My whole life I have shared some of their beliefs. I have always considered myself to be a just a bit outside of mainstream society, trying my best to be different from all others (a very hard task in today’s world) and that is why I admire them, Freegans and all other “different” subcultures and societies.

For more information visit: www.freegan.info

A hot Saturday in the city and what better way to spend it than at Central Park? Except it wasn’t just any other day at the park. Today the four elements: Sun, Rain, Cloud and Ice battled for “Element of the Year Award”. It was all part of Improv Everywhere, a group of pranksters and hoaxers based in NYC. Today hundreds of people shared in on the experience of the latest Mp3 Experiment (III): The Search for Steve, including me.

It all began when I received an e-mail from their mailing list telling me all about the event. It was on a Saturday so it was perfect since I had nothing to do. The instructions said to download a specific mp3 file according to the season you were born in, autumn for me. We were assigned an element according to our season that led us through a bunch of social activities and games such as Simon says. It was great seeing such warm New Yorkers actually talking and socializing with complete strangers. Before the event I was talking with some people I had just met and out of nowhere some girl comes up to us and decides to join our group, she said something like “Hi I’m (name), and I’m joining your group”.

Bystanders were dumbfounded by our actions, here you have a big group of people running, jumping and dancing around all silently listening to their iPods, they were in awe of the sight. After several activities, our group leader led us through the park to our final destination where we met up with the other 3 elements and rest of their followers. Our search for Steve was almost complete, but we had one last thing to do to summon Steve. We had to dance, dance our hearts out in the middle of Central Park. (Props to anyone who can spot me in the picture to the right. Hint: I’m the left half of the picture).

After the summoning was complete Steve emerged from a cloud of haze by the lake. He told us he was summoned on this day to bring us word about a great battle. The contestants? Our group leaders, the Elements. They would battle it out in a free-for-all match until the last man standing for the “Element of the Year Award”.

The battle commenced and the four Elements battled one another. People cheered others booed; it was just like a Roman Arena during a gladiatorial fight. The first to fall was Cloud, then minutes later Ice. The fight was intense, now only 2 contestants were left.

It was a clash of the titans as Rain and the Sun battled it out for the final prize. The match kept going back and forward until The Sun with sudden blow delivered the final punch. Rain was down and The Sun was declared the winner. After the excitement of the fight was over there was one last thing to do. Build the longest conga line ever, and so we did. We danced all around Central Park.

Great day today with the Improv Everywhere crew, thanks for an awesome evening. I only wished more of my friends were able to come out and those I forgot to tell. But next time, it will be better, larger and more fun.

Highlight of the day: seeing those unplugged bystanders trying to understand just what the hell was going on. Oh yea and sorry to those people that were having the birthday party at the park but the Elements do not choose time or date of their epic battles.

To view more pictures of the event click here.

Click here to download the mp3 files from Improv Everywhere.

I’ve never seen the Mamaroneck train station so full in my life, thousands of people coming from nearby towns and states to watch the U.S. Open Golf tournament.

It’s rather amusing to see the fanatics and aficionados of the game. Just like any other hooligan they all have their trends and demographics. Mostly white males dressed in cargo shorts, polo shirts, hats and sporty sunglasses, it’s almost like a mandatory dresscode.

Extra security has been added to maintain the masses, K9 units, metal detectors, annoying people on loadspeakers directing the arriving spectators, coach buses going to and fro the Golf Club. What a mess, it’s worst than the Nintendo DS Lite launch event, ok a little off topic but you get the point.

I particularly don’t like the extra traffic at the train station but then again how often does the small town of Mamaroneck gets put on the spotlight infront of America?