Drew's View

The Internet, Coincidences, and a Friendly Wager

2009-11-24T13:55:57-08:00

Warning: This is going to be a little confusing.

My name is Drew McManus. And I have a friend whose name is also Drew McManus. I live in Northern California and Drew2 lives in Chicago. (He has to be Drew2 since I was here first.) Try to keep that straight while I explain the rest.

Drew2 and I met through one of those weird Internet coincidences. And we've stayed connected on the web. (I still can't get used to the Facebook notifications that say "Drew McManus commented on your status.") Our paths have crossed online in a few different ways, and it's one of those amusing "it happened on the web" stories.

Drew2 is well-known in the orchestra world. Among other endeavors, he is the man behind the very popular blog Adaptistration. Since many orchestras are non-profit organizations, some of his readers are also connected to one of my ventures: Bring Light. The coincidences keep coming.

The latest way that our paths crossed: I had some hockey tickets to sell--specifically, seats to see the San Jose Sharks vs. the Chicago Blackhawks. I put the tickets up for sale on eBay, and posted on Twitter to let my friends know. Meanwhile in Chicago, Drew2 witnessed all this and this Facebook exchange followed:

So, the wager is placed. If the Sharks win, I get to display what little I know about the music world on Adaptistration. You can bet I'll be plugging Bring Light.

Go Sharks!

UPDATE: Drew2 has posted his trash talk here.

The Airplane Boneyard

2009-11-19T12:30:42-08:00

I've read before about the Mojave Air and Spaceport, which is among other things a massive parking lot, storage facility, and pick-a-part boneyard for commercial airliners. Mental Floss has some of the best photos I've seen of this giant facility in a photo essay titled Strange Geographies: The Mojave Desert’s Airplane Graveyard.

Abandoned Subway Stations Around the World

2009-08-13T13:18:46-07:00

Infrastructurist has yet another great pictorial posted. This urban exploration is abandoned subway stations around the world. I'd love to explore some of these.

ARTICLE: Infrastructurist: Abandoned Subway Stations Around the World

Coffee Shops Pulling the Plug on Laptop Users

2009-08-06T11:20:27-07:00

As a mobile professional, I am in different places almost every day of the week. I think I know just about every coffee shop in the San Francisco Bay Area that has free WiFi (well, at least on the peninsula). I often have slices of time to kill between meetings, and being able to get online can help keep me productive. I always make sure to buy something, and I rarely stay for more than an hour. There are a few places where I have become a "regular," greeted by name, served my 'usual' drink and welcomed warmly. I must be considered a good customer. According to the Wall Street Journal, not everyone has the same experience:

Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables -- nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours -- and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked. The laptop backlash may predate the recession, but the recession clearly has accelerated it.

"You don't want to discourage it, it's a wonderful tradition," says Naidre's owner Janice Pullicino, 53 years old. A former partner in a computer-graphics business, Ms. Pullicino insists she loves technology and hates to limit its use. But when she realized that people with laptops were taking up seats and driving away the more lucrative lunch crowd, she put up the sign. Last fall, she covered up some of the outlets, describing that as a "cost-cutting measure" to save electricity.

It's a shame that people will take advantage of free offerings to the detriment of others./

P.S. I am writing this from a coffee shop.

ARTICLE: Wall Street Journal: No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users

Does Cheap Gasoline Make America Fat?

2009-07-30T12:05:35-07:00

In the new book $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better, Chris Steiner claims that an increase in the price of gasoline could go a long way toward reducing obesity rates in America. An excerpt of the book was recently published in Forbes magazine.

The amount is hardly nominal: A sustained $1 increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline equals a 10% dip in the nation’s obesity rate--that’s about 9 million fewer obese people clogging up health care systems and costing society (and themselves) money. “The price of gas is a powerful lever when it comes to medical expenses and mortality rates,” Charles Courtemanche [an economist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro who recently published a study on the topic] says. “There’s a savings in this for all of us.”

Courtemanche found evidence in his data that rising gas prices resulted in more Americans walking and more Americans bicycling. Perhaps just as important, he noticed that, as gas prices increase, people eat out at restaurants less. In addition to more strolling and cycling, people use public transportation more, Courtemanche says, and that, too, burns far more calories than sitting in a bucket driver’s seat, sipping coffee, and flipping through radio channels. People who use subways, buses, trolleys or commuter rail services need to get to and from mass transit stops, and that probably means more walking on both ends. A $1 rise in gas means 11,000 fewer lives lost to obesity-related causes and $11 billion per year saved on health costs, Courtemanche says.

He goes on to postulate that the effect might accelerate as gas prices increase beyond $4/gallon. Sounds like yet another good reason for a hefty gas tax.

EXCERPT: Forbes Magazine: A Skinnier, Safer America

BOOK: $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better

How Many Types of Highway Interchanges Can You Name?

2009-07-26T20:39:45-07:00

The always-interesting Infrastructurist blog has a great article on the various types of highway interchanges. Even though I grew up in Southern California, I had no idea there were so many of them. My favorite:

The Lofthouse: A roundabout over two grade-separated highways. Less expensive than than a stacked interchange, but also has much lower capacity.

ARTICLE: What’s A ‘Spooey’? A Field Guide To Freeway Interchanges, Part 1

(via BoingBoing)

Michael Jackson, Rest in Peace

2009-06-25T21:54:24-07:00

Almost every Michael Jackson song from the Thriller album reminds me of some event in my teenage years. My friends and I saw him perform more than once both solo and as part of The Jacksons. I can recall watching his performances over and over again on worn VHS tape, particularly the one when he first did the moonwalk (his performance of Billie Jean on the Motown 25 Special in 1983). But my favorite MJ performance ever was when he sang Man in the Mirror at the 1988 Grammies. It's a simple, raw performance which I have always thought showed his emotion and talent as a performer. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Mr. Michael Jackson:

A Week Unplugged

2009-05-19T05:29:00-07:00

A group of high school sophomores at L.A.'s California Academy for Liberal Studies Early College High School will forego all electronic devices for an entire week:

"I suspect that people will be going crazy," said student Jamila Mohedano, who doubts her own ability to go unplugged without becoming unglued.

Beginning today, the homeroom class of teacher Shannon Meyer will go cold turkey for seven endless days. We're talking no TV. No iPods. No iPhones. No BlackBerrys. No computers, which means no MySpace and no Facebook. And it gets worse. No cellphones. That means -- weep if you must -- no texting.

I know I would have a hard time doing this for any period of time, but I am certain that my high school age kids would rather die.

Article: LA Times: Students Unplugged — The Horror, The Horror!

The Abandoned Town of Centralia, Pennsylvania

2009-05-18T05:06:00-07:00

Readers of my blog know I am fascinated by urban exploration. (See Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline and Amazing Rooftops in NYC). Centralia, Pennsylvania is an all-but-abandoned town (Population: 9). The town sits above an underground coal fire that has been burning since 1962, leaking toxic smoke to the surface. Most of the buildings have since been torn down, roads are cracking and overgrown, and in some areas the forest is returning.

Wikipedia entry: Centralia, Pennsylvania
Photo Essay: Jet Set Tramp: Fire Down Below
Via Boing Boing

Former US President Jimmy Carter: Ban Assault Weapons!

2009-05-15T05:45:00-07:00

Jimmy Carter writes an excellent op-ed piece for the New York Times:

THE evolution in public policy concerning the manufacture, sale and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons like AK-47s, AR-15s and Uzis has been very disturbing. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and I all supported a ban on these formidable firearms, and one was finally passed in 1994.

When the 10-year ban was set to expire, many police organizations — including 1,100 police chiefs and sheriffs from around the nation — called on Congress and President George W. Bush to renew and strengthen it. But with a wink from the White House, the gun lobby prevailed and the ban expired.

My view differs from President Carter's only in that I would go much further. In addition to banning many types of firearms, I think guns of all types should be very difficult to license and obtain. And ammunition should be even more tightly controlled.

Article: New York Times: What Happened to the Ban on Assault Weapons? by Jimmy Carter