You're never going to sell overpriced two-bedrooms with a banner like that.

It’s only been two days since I officially finished for the semester, so I haven’t had much chance to read up on any of my favorite goings-ons, but I was able to do plenty of thinking and picture taking during my daily treks through downtown Brooklyn on my way to Pratt.

So, we’ve got this whole recession thing on, and now everyone’s being tight with their money, not spending, property values are tanking, and developers are putting the brakes on even the biggest of projects. But because you can’t just stop development the second a global economic crisis hits, there’s bound to be some coasting done.

To make a long story short, downtown Brooklyn was recently rezoned to make room for, well, we’ll get to that later, but the rezoning, combined with the superheated housing market, lead to a proliferation of condo buildings that cropped up all over the place. When I first moved to State St. in 2005, there was an eight story condo going up at the end of my block. This process was repeating on numerous streets in the area, but the development was not that huge, yet. Still, I distinctly remember trying to figure out why anyone in their right mind would pay $600,000 for a “luxury” one-bedroom on the corner of State and Flatbush with tractor trailers engine-braking their way through Brooklyn traffic a mere hundred feet from the bedroom window. I thought an eight story building would have difficulties selling out all its units.

Then, in late 2007, something began to peek out from behind the building across the street from me. What ended up being called Forte had reared its ugly head and by the time I moved out in June 2008, it was ready for occupancy.

Skeleton of Forte, as seen out my old bedroom window.

Of course, Forte was not alone. Thanks to the rezoning, it had friends.

Finished Forte and friend.

And more friends.

You should see these two in person...

Same two from the other side.

And uglier friends.

Really?

The problem here, and this is in addition to all the fundamental reasons why this type of condo development is probably pretty bad for Brooklyn’s existing population, the superficial problem here is: Forte is still mostly empty. I bike past that place every night, and trust me, the lights aren’t on, and nobody’s home. So now we’ve got all these luxury high-rise buildings, all with market-rate housing, all on their way to being finished real soon, and the one building that is already finished is mostly vacant.

And this is just one neighborhood. Look at the waterfront development in Williamsburg, or the stretch of 4th Avenue south of Atlantic Terminal. Rows of massive condo buildings, all mostly finished or newly completed. Would be interesting to fast-forward a few years and see who’s living in them, or what their yearly income is.

I don’t really want to say anything about the plot or the final episode, or any of the other minutea that I’m sure is being discussed on the internetz regarding the intricacies of the plot/characters.  The BSG team gave us four great seasons full of people and events that elicited honest emotional responses from the viewers.  Thank you.  Really, thank you.  Television can go back to completely sucking now.

What I would like to discuss are some conclusions that I drew from the final episode:

[Mandatory Spoiler Alert]

Apparently, God is the Kind of Deity that Makes Its Spouse Tell the Same Story Over and Over Again at Dinner Parties:
I draw that conclusion from the fact that the BSG God has come up with this wonderfully intricate story of creation and destruction, complete with miracles, incredible acts, and the interference of angels, and it’s perfect!  Except for one thing; it’s really short.  Like, “short story written in college by aspiring novelist” short.  So instead of working on developing said short story into a novel, this God decides that it will just repeat the same short story, over, and over, and over again.  No problem with that, but if God is infinite, don’t you think that its spouse may be bored of telling “the Earth story” over and over at divine cocktail parties.

Once Again, Lee Does the Right Thing, Not the Smart Thing:
Okay, opportunity for a fresh start on a new planet.  Great.  Remove from technology from the equation.  Yes and no.  Eliminate ability to keep comprehensive records, thereby not allowing society to learn from its mistakes.  Hm, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

So, weren’t a good number of events involving massive loss of life or general mayhem in the BSG universe caused by a crucial lack of information for the parties involved?  The final five stopped the first Cylon War, but after Cavil wiped their memories (and didn’t tell any of the other skinjobs) the end result was the annihilation of humanity.  If the other skinjobs had the same info Cavil did, would that have happened?  Would Baltar been able to win an election (or continue living) if anyone at all knew his part in the destruction of humanity?  Would the final five have been able to do anything as a cohesive unit if Tyrol had known what Tori did?  And how much time did everyone spend trying to figure out what the frak was going on with all this destiny and prophecy crap?

Which brings me to Lee’s decision to basically ensure that the cycle perpetuates, by entrusting the collective memories, lessons learned, and best practices of the Colonial Fleet on the matters of destiny and the humane treatment of artificial intelligence to cornerless paper at best, and oral storytelling at worst, he basically made a repetition of those same mistakes inevitable.  You think that the lessons of the epic Human-Cylon conflict could survive a 150,000 year game of telephone?  Second verse, same as the first…

Starbuck was One Line Away from Greatness
Going on the above supposition, what if Starbuck had somehow convinced Lee that getting rid of technology (and with it, comprehensive record keeping) was the way to go?  This could have been inserted as an extra couple of lines, or in a slight reworking of a scene.  I think that ensuring the perpetuation of the cycle is good enough to be considered Harbinger of Doom-ish.  I mean, the way I interpret that part of the plot, the Starbuck role in the “all this has happened before, all this has happened again” thing is that she flips the switch and resets the game from the end of one round, to the beginning of the next.  However, in beginning the game again, she is essentially setting everyone up for the ultimate end.

So how great would it have been to have Lee decide to doom the human race to repetition of the same mistakes based on the advice of an “angel” whose sole purpose is to hit the reset button and point humanity toward doom again?

I’ll probably have more thoughts about the last episode, especially after I watch it again, but I will most likely be too lazy to write about them.

I’m reading up on transportation issues concerning our aging population and I just hit the section on alternate forms of transportation (e.g. Walking or Biking) and the paper cites a study conducted by the CDC, which produced the following conclusion:

The CDC estimates that if 10 percent of adults began a regular walking program, $5.6 billion in heart disease costs could
be saved (CDC 2003).

Now, I don’t know if there are any organized efforts underway to get the nation out and walking, but I can think of a great incentive.  Seriously, there’s no shortage of dogs that are stuck in shelters, and a looming amount of elderly and “pre-elderly” who seem doomed to an isolated, inactive life.  Provided we make our streets safer to walk or bike on (for which momentum is growing), I think that there’s a great opportunity for, what’s the word, synergy here.

Yes, the whole mortgage-backed securities thing ended up not working out. But what if we buy up all the foreclosed homes and package them together as securities instead. No need to thank me, this idea is free of charge.

But seriously, investors buying up hundreds or thousands of Detroit homes in one fell swoop? That’s creepy.

Some days everything goes well. I hit all the important lights, have a clear view and no obstructions through the rest of them, nobody’s blocking my lane with their car, and my journey to work is mostly enjoyable (except for the destination part).

Of course, that’s a good day. A normal day means I run into at least one of the above obstructions.

Today, I think I hit all of them, plus a few new ones. Seriously, today was the coldest commute I’ve ever had, and not because of the temperature. I just never warmed up, I wasn’t pedaling that hard for that long. Ever.

Probably the most non-fulfilling ride I’ve had in a while… I just hope the ride home is more enjoyable. And warmer.

Does anyone know what the crap this is?  Oh…  So, can anyone tell me what the crap this sign was doing in Hanover Square and so far from Wales?

Oh, it’s great when the sign for your town needs three posts to hold it up. And I thought being from Valatie (pronounced Va-lay-sha, not Va-lah-tie, not Va-lay-tee) was bad enough…

Update: According to a sign recently posted next to the above, well, larger sign, the entire purpose of it is for people to have their picture taken next to it. Apparently, that’s what is done in Wales, where the original version of this giant sign still stands outside of the train station (no longer in use, but still a prime spot for photographs).

Sweet merciful crap, I love this!!  This guy out in Iowa modded his own ice bike with stove bolts!!

For the Columbia County peanut gallery…

Do you think that the migrating geese that landed in the Catskill Game Farm saw the rhinos and the giraffes and got freaked out?

We’re back in business!!

Brake: Tightened.
Rusty Chain: Replaced.
Dangerous sounding rattle coming from intersection of fork and frame: Still there, apparently.  Guess it’s not so dangerous…

Forgot how great it is to have a bike that stops on a dime and pedals like its chain was dipped in butter…  Rain and snow in the forecast for Monday, though.  Here’s hoping this chain makes it to May!

I read in Wired today that the current Big Brother bill in congress, which would keep a two year log of everything we do on the internet, is being pushed through under the guise of helping us combat child pornography.  Don’t believe me?  Look at the acronym.  As we all know, the purpose of a bill with a catchy acronym is always exactly what appears to be.

One thing bothers me about this, though.  I think the priorities of Senator John Cornyn, the sponsor of the Senate bill, are a little skewed.  Yes, I can see how this bill may theoretically keep our children safer, but if you really want to ensure the safety and well-being of all youngsters, wouldn’t you want to, oh, I don’t know…  Ensure that they’re breathing clean air?