Cielo Bikes by Chris King

Umm - Chris King is making (literally) new Cielo steel bikes. I just found my next ride.

NYC Public School Sense of Humor

Some of you may know, but my daughter just started kindergarten yesterday at PS41 in NYC. Now everyone hears about NYC public schools, in fact local politicians have entire platforms around the NYC Public School system (with nearly 1,000,000 students in K-12 this year you can understand why). So I thought I would post an email from our school coordinator, it definitely makes entertaining reading:

Dear K Families:

Here are the results of the first round in our "Q&A" category--special kudos go to the K mom who asked about sicknesses and notes with the sentence "please excuse my son Joey Ramone from being absent on September 8 with strained vocal chords"--I just know this grade is going to be fabulous when I get to my annual "What the H#@*! Does THAT Stand For--the DOE Acronym Contest"!

In no particular order:

Q: What is a Curriculum Conference?

A: Every grade has a Curriculum Conference at the start of the year--during this time, your child's teacher will outline the course of study covered during the year in Literacy (reading and writing), Mathematics and Theme Studies. If you cannot attend, all updated grade curriculums will be accessible on our PS 41 website by the end of this month.


Q: If my child is absent, should I send a note?

A: If your child is absent one day, there is no need to contact us. If it is longer than one day, please send me an e-mail alerting the school to the absence and I will make sure your teacher knows (as well as the nurse, if your child has H1N1 flu or any similar contagious disease). Absences for "vacation" outside the DOE vacation times are not acceptable absences. There may be cases in which you will need clearance from a doctor before you return to school and I will alert you to that. Please note that if your child has any injury that prohibits full range of movement (leg injury, arm injury, etc.) you MUST check in with the nurse before sending your child to class. These situations do require medical clearance before a child can be admitted to class.


Q: If my child has food allergies, what happens during class celebrations?

A: Alert your teacher, the nurse and Valerie, our lunch supervisor immediately to any serious food allergies. If there is going to be a class celebration that involves food, your teacher will let you know--please arrange to send a snack in that day that your child can eat or let the teacher know what item of food (widely available, please!) your child could have in place.


Q: When will the playground be used by the K students?

A: K students will use the K playground during the day according to their class schedules and teacher discretion. Often, K classes have snack outside on the K playground and get to run around.
At dismissal time, after our security guard Doris leaves the gates on Greenwich Village and locks the gate to the inner middle yard, the big playground is then a public playground.


Q: For early drop-off do we need to sign up?

A: Absolutely not--early drop-off is offered every morning to every student. There is no sign-up or registration. However, please remember that early drop-off means "drop-off"--parents are not to stay and socialize with their children.


Q: Do the K kids eat at the same time as the rest of the school?

A: No, there are three lunch periods during the school day. Kindergarten students eat from 11:05--11:55 pm. 1st & 2nd Graders eat from 11:55 am-12:45 pm. 3rd, 4th & 5th Graders eat from 12:50--1:40 pm.


Q: How do I sign my child up for hot lunch?

A: The lunch system is now all computerized so that any child can get hot lunch on any given day. You can send a check in to Valerie (made out to the "PS 41 Lunch Fund") with the amount you would like deposited in your child's account (lunch costs $1.50 per day)--every time your child has hot lunch that amount will be deducted from the total. If you send lunch in with your child, make sure that nothing needs to be refrigerated or microwaved.


Q: Will I have a schedule sent home?

A: No, you will not be provided with a day-to-day schedule of your child's activities. You can find out which specific days your child has things like gym or art. You can ask at your Curriculum Conference about these "cluster classes". Please make sure that when your child has gym, your child comes with his/her sneakers on. Unfortunately (AND PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY), the main office is no longer able to "deliver" things forgotten from home to children/classrooms once the school day has started. Expect a brusque response if you make the attempt--even though we really do love you all to pieces.


Q: After Friday, can we still drop our children at the classroom door?

A: Yes, at the door but if your child is ready to go by himself/herself, MAKE IT SO! If you do drop at the door, send your child in immediately--do not take off jackets, backpacks for your child. We are trying to teach them good, independent habits.


Q: Is my child eligible for a metro card?

A: Eligibility for metrocards is determined by how far you live from the school. Valerie is our transportation supervisor and the one to check this out with.


Q: Where is the school calendar?

A: There is a link on our PS 41 website to the school calendar.


Q: Is the lunch menu posted online?

A: The DOE website should have menus posted (and I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn)


Q: How are birthday celebrations done?

A: We welcome birthday celebrations in class--please send in something that does not need to be cut. We do not allow balloons, gift bags or decorations. Siblings from other grades are not allowed to leave classrooms and attend. A teacher will distribute invitations to a birthday party ONLY if every child in the class is invited.


Q: Is not the PS 41 Parent Coordinator the greatest in the entire world?

A: GOT YOU! Wanted to see if you will still reading...

That's round one, folks....

Your Parent Coordinator

Michele

Bing vs. Google - or why I'm switching

So Twitter is down, Friendfeed is down and I wanted to find news on it. Bing's search as of 11:43AM EST on 8/6/09 shows:







Google's search at the same time shows:





And if you're interested, it looks like a DOS attack.

Content = Free

More content (videos, articles, music, photos) is being generated than ever before. And some of it still makes money, however any content generation business that's based solely on advertising revenue, is going to zero.

For instance, the big 4 networks are seeing their advertising revenue collapse, and not just because of the recession. The newspaper industry is on its death bed, and even with continuing attempts to reinvent itself, it can't.

The 'next generation' models that are held up as superlative examples of Web 2.0 businesses aren't sustainable. And why am I so certain that any content business based on advertising revenue is going to zero? Because I just read an article in Google Reader, copied the the URL using a Firefox widget that instantly transformed it into a link with exactly 18 characters, and redistributed it to hundreds of my 'followers'. At no point did anyone visit a property that actually generated any content. Or put another way, even though I consumed and redistributed content, no advertising revenue was generated for any content producer.

What do the New York Times, NBC, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. all have in common? They all attract huge audiences, they are all have very sticky content, and they all fail at the core task of a business, making money.

In each of these companies' respective industries (excepting Twitter), there is a smaller, subscription based competitor that is not only profitable, but growing.

Print: New York Times vs. The Economist
Television: NBC vs. HBO
Online Video: Youtube vs. iTunes
Social Networks: Facebook vs. Linked In
Photos: Flickr vs. SmugMug

Even with hosting and storage costs continuing to decline, bandwidth costs are not. Gigantic audiences drive brand recognition, huge valuations, and ballooning costs. At the end of the day, your cash in has to exceed your cash out, and if it doesn't, and there isn't a clear way to monetize your audience besides advertising, your business is not sustainable.

Hence, content generation businesses built solely on advertising revenue are going to zero.

The Old Hippie at it Again

My dad made the trek down to DC to take part in today's historic inauguration. I thought I would share his thoughts.

<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dear Friends and Family:

During the past week I received many phone calls, e-mails, voicemails and text messages wishing me well on my DC inauguration trip and expressing your optimism and hopes for the new administration in Washington; some asking me to communicate those good vibrations. Hopefully this e-mail will convey some of what I witnessed today.

Before the election I told friends that if Obama won I would take advantage of my good fortune and travel to DC for the inauguration; as my son Ezra is living within walking distance of the Mall.

Last week, as I got ready to begin the trek to the frigid East Coast; where temperatures have been in the single digits; I had second thoughts. Thankfully my enthusiasm prevailed.

Born and bred in New York City; I have been a part of countless crowds in my days; with attitudes ranging from jubilant to surly; from patient to demanding, from raucous to bored and from feisty to calm. I have been in sports crowds, movie line crowds, Times Square New Year’s Eve crowds, subway crowds, protest crowds, rock and roll crowds, traffic jam crowds and political rally crowds; to name a few. Never have I been part of a crowd to compare to the throng (1.5 million +) at the Obama inauguration.

Not surprisingly, there was a stunning mix of young and old; white, black, Asian, Latino and every imaginable combination, a true reflection of our cultural mix.

The patience and courtesy was striking as we stood butt to butt and belly to belly for hours starting at 5 a.m. in the dark and cold. We shared in demeanor and voice a reverence for the occasion and an appreciation for the privilege of participating in this moment in history.

While we were certainly there to witness history and be spectators; there was much more to our participation in this event. As we talked and shared during the 4 hours while we awaited the start of the ceremony it was evident that there was a hunger and anticipation for an opportunity to once again be shareholders in the governing of our union; not just disenchanted critics. Many of you have listened to me rant and rave; to the verge of being apoplectic; about the lack of inspiration from the Bush regime and the vacancy of any expectation that we as citizens of this country have a responsibility to be part and parcel of any of the solutions to our current crises.

I have listened to Barack Obama speak many times on TV and radio and now in person twice. It is thrilling to now have a president who understands the role of a leader to inspire the populace and expect participation, reflection and sacrifice from those citizens for the greater good; a concept that was not even on George Bush’s radar.

In his speech, Barack Obama observed that we have had presidents who have taken office during times of war and presidents who have taken office during times of economic crises; but rarely if ever during a time of both circumstances. He emphasized the importance of our participation in solving these problems and making sacrifices if necessary; rather than being observers from the sidelines. I walked away from this inauguration feeling refreshed and invigorated because we finally have a leader who is not afraid to challenge us to accept this responsibility and feeling ready to do so.

Roy Katzen
mailing address: P.O. Box 9956; San Diego, CA 92169

To Single Speed or Not to Single Speed

What makes an ideal commuter bike? For years I have been sporting what could be called the classic geared setup. It's ingredients include:

• Road frame
• Geared rear end
  
• Inexpensive Shimano rear derailleur
• Single ring front
  
• 25-28mm tires
• Front and rear brakes
• MTB bars

Over the years I have come to refine these requirements a little:

• Must be a steel or titanium frame - I haven't found a aluminum road frame that has lasted me more than 4 months without the bottom bracket failing (yes I'm a Clydesdale)
• I like Shimano 8 speed stuff, but it's getting hard to find
• Chris King headset (set it and forget it)
• Selle Italia Flite Classic saddle - I'm not sure if it's the perfect shape, or if my ass just thinks it is since I've been riding one for 17 years.
  

With the general popularity of singlespeeds (fixies will be the topic of another post) these days, I thought I would give it a try. So I ebay'd up a nice Titus FCR singlespeed that came equipped with the aforementioned King headset, King hubs, and disk brakes. Not to mention a Flite saddle and a pair of carbon bars. I chucked the suspension fork in favor of a carbon 700c disk fork and added some slick tires and away I went.

Does anyone want to guess what I forgot - yep - gear ratio. Being a singlespeed newbie, I didn't change the mountain bike ratio which was 34-18, giving my legs a nausea inducing ratio of 1.89. My cadence was north of 100 and I hadn't even hit 15MPH. I ordered up a 14 tooth rear stainless ring and tried the bike out again with it's new improved 2.43 ratio. It's much better, but I still don't like it.

I do think I've given the bike a fair shake, riding it for about 4 months of commuting, and you know what, I still think gears are the way to go. I'll put the for sale add from Craigslist up as soon as I get my new commuter built up.

OMG - Chris King Finally Makes a Bottom Bracket

We've been hearing about this for years, and now, the time has finally come - Chris King is officially making a bottom bracket.

I have King headsets on every single one of my bikes (except for that one ride with an old Record headset...). In fact, on my daily commuter - the same headset has been installed on no fewer than 4 frames over the last 12 years (yep - twelve years). All I do is grease the bearings. So you can imagine my excitement now that I can now get a bottom bracket that will work as well.