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Category: Random

  • No Man’s Land

    Last week I visited my favorite Superfund site in the state of New Jersey only to find that after all the efforts (questionable) to clean it and restore it– as mandated by law–it has become a harbor wasteland.  The site is located between three residential developments constructed on a piers along the Hudson River.  Upon my visit, there was an undeniable stench of what I guessed was garbage and rotten fish–not like a fish market; it was something worse and I hadn’t even made it half a mile in.  As I approached I noticed that a third residential development was being constructed adjacent to this quagmire.  It was a little shocking because these residential developments are geared towards the upper middle class/upper class, and yet, nothing has been done in the efforts to clean this site.  I guess if you can afford to live on the Hudson you don’t mind the stench or the swarm of insects that will invade the area some time soon.

    Admittedly, I have occasionally enjoyed walking along the promenade on the Hudson, but recently it has become a dilapidated area for developers to slap developments on while they dispose of their waste along with their responsibility.  Now it belongs to no one, everyone has to live with it and wildlife suffers.

    The pictures I took convey only a small part of the story.DSC_7180

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  • Internet users this week

    Internet users across the country say they just want to look at websites, not “be in on the experience or whatever.”
    Property of the ONION.

     

    Something strange has happened this week– people are bothered by the internet.  In a world where we live as a “connected” society to the vast amounts of social media networks and endless interactive applications its almost hard to believe that there are some people that find it a nuisance (only for this week, apparently).  What caught my attention about this article was that “internet users demand less interactivity”. What was even more interesting is that people don’t know how to use the internet to their benefit much less understand that the sites they visit need these social tools to provide a better user experience, a better service, a better product, etc.  In spite of the fact that none of these things are taken into consideration I do recall it to be considerably simple to opt out of social media applications, press the ‘x’ to close a window or simply ignore suggested invitations.  Just because social networks are integrated in most internet sites today doesn’t mean that one has to be committed to every single one, every single time a website is visited.  So, I guess what I don’t understand is why people who are uninterested in social media or interactivity visit the sites that rely on them the most and then complain about it.