[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View] [Friends]
Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in
danadoodle's InsaneJournal:
| Sunday, March 4th, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:12 pm | more beading from others something has to get my juices flowing soon, i'm feeling artistically dead inside. its been over a year since i beaded something. would like to try beading this week, and see if anything happens. it won't look anything like these, but i have to start feeling like my obsessive self again and find the fucking zone, instead of existing as this shuffling, sleeping, shuffling to the butcher, chewing on my own foot to get out of this cycle of monotony! megan noel       ( Read more... ) nanc meinhart    ( Read more... )    ( Read more... ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, June 26th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6:41 am | well, i KNOW i'm from new york....
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, May 29th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6:03 am | meetup venture capital theory from the meetup discussion boards: Jim Vines Posted May 18, 2005 at 4:51 PM Link to this reply Quote in reply jgoodguy Birmingham, AL 20th Post 'nother link http://www.billkatz.com/meetup So why did Meetup require a fee? One explanation comes from a quick look at their "About" page: over two dozen employees (excluding the cat) and five prominent board members (including Pierre Omidyar, Esther Dyson, Senator Bradley, and a seat for Draper Fisher Jurvetson). There's venture capital invested in Meetup.com, which means they have large target valuations, large investments that guarantee large payrolls, and large pressure to get return on that investment. In short, everything is large, despite the fact that this market space -- meeting coordination -- looks and feels small. Fortune ran a story in September 2003, mentioning a sign that CEO Scott Heiferman hung over the desks of employees: "Revenue minus expenses equals profits." The article describes the state of finances back then: the company is keeping monthly expenditures fixed ($100,000) while steadily increasing revenues?charging some 20,000 venues $29 to $200 a month to be listed on the site. With receipts doubling every month, Heiferman expects Meetup.com?which nabbed $1 million in venture capital funding last year?to turn a profit by year's end. (The company won't divulge how much cash it currently has on hand.) One article on Meetup over at reveries.com sheds some light on what the business model was supposed to be: get money from the meeting places as well as a scaled amount from groups that use the site. Prophetically, Pierre Omidyar said "it is too dangerous" to give too much priority to making money, yet that's what Meetup.com has done with a flat fee. Group Organizers, the few that actually volunteer, will be saddled with raising funds or paying the fee out of their own pockets. That makes sense for big gatherings, but it imposes an unnecessary burden on small meetings, like the writing group in my area. It makes little sense to charge a flat rate for all groups, regardless of size, unless Meeting.com management is actively trying to curtail small infrequent meetings in favor of large organizations. Why alienate the little groups, particularly if you can limit live support to paying groups or institute other schemes that don't drive the little guys away?Should we be surprised that it came to this? No. At the time Heiferman accepted VC funding, his company was still burning cash. With increased investment, there was probably increased expenditures mandating even higher revenue. The business model, at least those favoring large valuations, was always suspect for social networking web sites. The lack of a scaled fee is puzzling, unless the bleed is so large that an immediate cash transfusion is required to save the company. Maybe Meetup.com management will surprise me. Maybe the insignificant members will wash out, and Meetup will become a profitable tool provider to the more well-organized groups. Or maybe this was just bad execution and they'll modify the fee structure. Current Mood:  nauseated | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, March 29th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7:28 am | mitch hedberg was cool and sexy. i used to love watching him on letterman. there was one bit he did about camping with his ladyfriend. he was saying how difficult it is to have a fight when you're camping because there's no doors to slam, only the weak flap from your tent and the sound of a zipper...doesn't have quite the same effect.  i'm sick of following my dreams. i'm just going to ask where they're going and hook up with them later. http://www.mitchhedberg.net/ his wife's blog: http://www.lynnshawcroft.com/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, March 20th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6:25 am | di vinci code scavenger hunt at ryan's the other night, erik the organizer for the westchester new in town asked me and gypsy if we wanted to meet his group at the metropolitan museum for a scavenger hunt. erik didn't give any details about anything just the time, but i thought it sounded like fun. gypsy didnt seem that interested. so i get to the museum and pay a couple of dollars for admission (because its city funded, you don't have to pay the full ticket price), and i wait around to see if a group forms in the large crowded lobby and for erik to show. i see a couple of young guys wearing green polo shirts that say hunting on them and a taped piece of paper with 'divinci code hunt' on it. so i ask them if they're waiting for erik's meetup group. they say yes and ask if i'm with them to wait a bit for others to show. when poeple start approaching the table, i hear these guys asking for $30. '$30, for what?' i had to ask. 'for the hunt,' one guy tells me. should be obvious to me, right? 'what about the hunt is $30?' now i've confused him. 'what happens on the hunt thats worth $30? is there a prize or something?' 'no. there's a winning team but no prize.' 'so what are you paying for?' i started getting annoyed with this. 'for the museum admission and the hunt.' 'but i already paid to get in the museum, and i didn't pay $12.50. you can pay whatever you want to get into the museum. so if you already paid, you have to pay admission TWICE to go on a scavenger hunt, for what? what do you get for $30?' 'the hunt,' says the guy and sticks his nose in the air. 'the hunt?' 'yes, the hunt.' 'you're paying more than twice the admission to run around the museum. you could do that for a quarter.' (25 cents)* the guy just had this look: are you gonna pay me or not. when erik came i told him i wasn't going to pay for this (and it kinda bugged me that he didn't tell me at the bar the other night there was a charge for the hunt. maybe he just assumed i wouldn't have a problem and pay for it). i said i'd like to meet the group at the end of the hunt, and if they're going anywhere for drinks or something i'll join them then. erik asked me what i would do with myself for the next couple of hours..... he's kidding, right? tell me he's kidding. 'i'll look around the museum, erik. there's lots to do' i go to ask the guy in the green polo where does the group meets after the hunt, and he says he can't tell me thats the secret of the hunt. but i'm not doing the hunt. and this goes back and forth again, till erik says to the guy to tell me. he sayd he can't with the group here in front of him, it'll riun the surprise. 'whisper it in my ear' i tell him. he finally tells me of some tavern on second avenue. 'thats it?' i'm sooooo not impressed. no prize. not even a free drink from the bar. the group splits into teams with a sheet of paper and head off. i start wandering around the galleries wishing i had my pad with me. occasionally i run into one of the groups, and they snidely shoo me away or scurry off themselves becuase i'm not supposed to 'be with them'. if i wanted to i could just follow them, but i don't see the point and those doing the shooing seemed jerky to me, and i felt why should i bother with them. oh no! i can't play with the stupid people who paid a shit load of money for NOTHING. god, whatta bunch of asses. eventually, we all conviene at the tavern on second avenue, and there's a large group of us about 20 people and we have the place to ourselves. turns out erik's team won, and of course, there is no prize. the woman i'm sitting next to is a high school teacher, and she tells me that she goes on these events once in awhile because these meetups tend to get expensive. 'when you figure gas, parking, eating, whatever the event is, it can run over $100 for an afernoon. thats alot' yes, it is.   this is what you get for $30. amazing, no? allowed to lay spread-eagle on the museum floor, and getting hit with someone's water bottle (water bottle not included with $30 either.) * a scavenger hunt is something ANYONE can do themselves. write a bunch of questions with clues based in the musem or anywhere, get a bunch of people together and do it, with a prize or just a winning team. and you don't have to spend $30 for the privilege of gathering together. Current Mood:  don't give a rat's ass | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, March 18th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6:00 am | hippie meme
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saturday, January 29th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9:40 am | i'm going to post this everywhere This is the fucking funniest thing I read this morning. Its from the message board of NYC Singles meetup: Heed the following warning: Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties and local pubs to alert and stay cautious when offered a drink from any woman. Many females use a date rape drug on the market called "Beer" to target unsuspecting men. The drug is generally found in liquid form and is now available almost anywhere... It comes in bottles, cans, from taps, and in large "kegs." Beer is used by female sexual predators at parties and bars to persuade their male victims to go home and have sex with them. Typically, a woman needs only to persuade a guy to consume a few units of Beer and then simply ask him home for no strings attached sex. Men are rendered helpless against this approach. After several beers, men will often succumb to desires to perform sexual acts on horrific looking women to whom they would never normally be attracted. After drinking Beer men often awaken with only hazy memories of exactly what happened to them the night before, often with just a vague feeling that something "bad" occurred. At other times these unfortunate men are swindled out of their life's savings, in a familiar scam known as "a relationship." It has been reported that in extreme cases, the female may even be shrewd enough to entrap the unsuspecting male into a longer-term form of servitude and punishment referred to as "marriage." Apparently, men are much more susceptible to this scam after Beer is administered and sex is offered by the predatory females. Please forward this warning to every male you know. If you fall victim to this insidious Beer and the predatory women administering it, there are male support groups with venues in every town where you can discuss the details of your shocking encounter in an open and frank manner with similarly affected, like-minded guys. For the support group nearest you, just look up "Golf Courses" in the yellow pages. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, January 20th, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8:09 am | From A Buick 6 -- Bob Dylan I got this graveyard woman, you know she keeps my kid But my soulful mama, you know she keeps me hid She's a junkyard angel and she always gives me bread Well, if I go down dyin', you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed. Well, when the pipeline gets broken and I'm lost on the river bridge I'm cracked up on the highway and on the water's edge She comes down the thruway ready to sew me up with thread Well, if I go down dyin', you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed. Well, she don't make me nervous, she don't talk too much She walks like Bo Diddley and she don't need no crutch She keeps this four-ten all loaded with lead Well, if I go down dyin', you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed. Well, you know I need a steam shovel mama to keep away the dead I need a dump truck mama to unload my head She brings me everything and more, and just like I said Well, if I go down dyin', you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, January 3rd, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7:03 am | Manana XVII Manana XVII No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio o flecha de chaveles que propagan el fuego: te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras, secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma. Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva dentro de si, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores, y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo el apretado aroma que acendio de la tierra. Te amo sin saber como, ni cuando, ni de donde, te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo: asi te amo porque no se amar de otra manera, sino asi de este modo en que no soy ni eres, tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mia, tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueno. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Morning XVII I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers; thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body. I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, December 9th, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5:10 am | PALE MALE EVICTED--..people are poo!  Newly Homeless Above 5th Ave., Hawks Have Little to Build On By THOMAS J. LUECK Published: December 9, 2004 Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk shown with his mate, Lola, top, in March, was seen Wednesday, above, at his roost, at Fifth Avenue and 74th Street, after his nest was removed on Tuesday. A day after his nest was removed from the facade of a Fifth Avenue co-op building, the intrepid red-tailed hawk known as Pale Male tried to rebuild yesterday, carrying mounds of twigs from Central Park in what experts said might be a futile attempt to reclaim his home of 11 years. "This looks like a Sisyphean task," said Adrian Benepe, the city's parks commissioner, who was one of dozens of people who stopped by the edge of the park at East 74th Street yesterday to watch Pale Male and his mate, Lola. Despite the hawks' instinctive nest building, he said, their twigs would probably blow away because a network of steel spikes that held the previous nest in place had also been removed. With the fate of the red-tailed hawks uncertain, federal officials said yesterday that the co-op at 927 Fifth Avenue, where Pale Male has occupied a 12th floor cornice since 1993, was authorized to remove the nest, despite the angry recriminations from naturalists and bird watchers. A lawyer for the co-op, Aaron Shmulewitz, said in an interview that the nest had been taken away on the advice of the building's engineer, who concluded that it violated city health and safety laws. But a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, Ilyse Fink, responded with skepticism. "They are trying to use city regulations as a rationale," Ms. Fink said. "If there was a valid public safety concern, we wouldn't say, 'Take the nest down.' We'd say, 'Make it safe.' " Late yesterday, about 25 people gathered across Fifth Avenue from the co-op building for a vigil called by the local chapter of the Audubon Society. They called on its residents to return the hawks' nest to its roost. "We have gotten a tremendous amount of e-mails from people who want to see the nest brought back," said E. J. McAdams, executive director of the group, New York City Audubon. "We thought this was the most expedient thing to do," he said, adding that the group had "very little success getting through" to the co-op's board or residents. "Pale Male is an ambassador of the wild in New York City," Mr. McAdams said. "We would like to see the building have a change of heart." When he arrived at the building in 1993 and built his nest, Pale Male brought an unlikely wildlife habitat that attracted bird lovers from around the world. The sight of a brightly colored hawk with wings that span more than four feet presiding over a nine-foot-wide nest in the middle of Manhattan was one hard to duplicate. And Pale Male became a celebrity. The subject of a book and public television documentary, he sired 23 youngsters from the nest that was removed on Tuesday, and became "the most famous red-tailed hawk in the world," Mr. Benepe said. But some residents of the building have long been known to consider the huge hawks, which prey on pigeons and rats, a nuisance. Mr. Shmulewitz said yesterday that the hawks had brought "torn and bleeding animal carcasses" to the building's roof and sidewalk. Until recently, the nest was protected by a federal treaty, first enacted in 1918 and administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which prevented the destruction of nests in migratory bird habitats. But Terri Edwards, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said yesterday that the agency had issued a clarification of the rules in 2003 that allows the destruction of migratory bird nests if it is done during a season when the nests are not being used to hatch or raise offspring. Ms. Edwards said a representative of the building had contacted her agency and obtained permission before the nest was removed on Tuesday. Pale Male's fate is a matter of intense speculation by ornithologists and bird watchers. "He will try to rebuild, but as things keep sliding off the cornice, he will be unsuccessful," said Nancy Clum, assistant curator of ornithology at the Bronx Zoo. "He may stay in the area, in a tree or on another building, or he may just pick up and leave," she said. Mr. McAdams said the chances were good that Pale Male would remain as close as possible. "Red-tailed hawks have a great fidelity to the nest," he said. "He has been very successful in that nest over the last 10 years, and he will want to stay as close as possible." Mr. Benepe said he would be happy to see Pale Male pick a tree in Central Park for his new nest, but added that the prospect was not good because red-tailed hawks prefer the stability of building facades to tree limbs, which sway in the wind. He said he would encourage building owners in Manhattan to provide platforms that might be claimed by Pale Male or other red-tailed hawks in search of a safe place. Janon Fisher contributed reporting for this article. ======================================== NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL Squatting Rights Published: December 9, 2004 There is no historic preservation district or landmarks commission for hawks' nests. But if there were, the red-tailed hawk's nest at 927 Fifth Avenue, overlooking Central Park at 74th Street, would surely have qualified. Until Tuesday, the nest stood on a 12th-floor cornice with a sublime aerial view of the urban forest in our midst. Since 1993, 23 young hawks have been raised there, sired by a bird called Pale Male. Thousands and thousands of bird-watchers over the years have followed the lives of the hawks in that nest. But this is not an homage to bird-watching- it's an homage to birds. On Tuesday, workers took down the nest and, apparently, the metal anti-pigeon spikes that had helped hold it in place. So far, no one from 927 Fifth Avenue has spoken up to defend the co-op board's decision to remove the nest. Perhaps residents were annoyed that the hawks didn't do a better job of cleaning up after themselves by using a pooper-scooper or putting their pigeon bones in the trash, the way a human would. Perhaps they simply wearied of the stirring sight of a red-tailed hawk coming down out of the sky to settle on its nest. It's always tempting to think that a city like New York has utterly effaced the natural ground on which it was built. Most of the creatures that lived on Manhattan Island several centuries ago would stand no chance of doing so now- not in these new canyons of steel and glass. But the presence of a nesting pair of red-tailed hawks, sequestered on the edge of an apartment building, feels like a memory from a past this city has long since forgotten. The hawks have gone out of their way to learn to live with us. The least the wealthy residents of 927 Fifth Avenue could have done was learn to live with the hawks.  NY Post 5TH AVE. ROOST ROUST By GERSH KUNTZMAN, BRADEN KEIL and LETITIA ROWLANDS ----------------------------- December 9, 2004- - Two red-tail hawks evicted from their posh Fifth Avenue nest tried in vain to rebuild their destroyed home yesterday — as bird lovers squawked in protest 12 stories below. Pale Male and Lola, two of the city's loftiest celebrities, were seen high over 927 Fifth Ave. trying to put their lives — and their nest — back together, one day after it was removed by the building. But the birds' efforts were unsuccessful because building workers had also removed anti-pigeon fencing that had braced the nest. Sticks that Pale Male and Lola carried to the building blew away. "It's heartbreaking to watch all that effort going to waste," said E.J. McAdams of the Audubon Society, who organized the protest at the building. The co-op's management evicted Pale Male — who achieved immortality in 1993 when he built a nest in one of the most densely populated parts of the city — after residents complained that he and his girlfriend dropped dead pigeons on the sidewalk. They also complained that the couple jammed branches into the bricks, weakening the exterior. "The nest was removed on the advice of the cooperative's engineer, in order to comply with New York City law," the building said in a statement. But a city lawyer said that laws requiring owners to secure building walls do not include debris dropped by birds. "I don't think anyone thinks that a nest is part of the exterior wall," said Gabriel Taussig, of the city Law Department. The larger issue was not safety, but privacy, said one resident of the besieged building. "Some of us feel as though we are under a microscope," said the resident. "People gather in the park to focus their high-powered cameras and binoculars. You can't stand at a window without feeling you should probably be fully dressed." Pale Male's fame attracted thousands of birders. "I come with my binoculars and bring my friends," said bird-lover Marilyn Greenberg. "I cannot believe they've destroyed this nest just before the holiday season. This is Charles Dickens in modern-day New York." Red-tail hawks are a protected species under a 1918 migratory-bird treaty. But "we do not protect nests that are not populated with chicks or eggs," said Terri Edwards, a spokeswoman for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the building's action was legal. ==================================== NY Times--latest action As Hawks Circle, All Sides Seek Compromise By JENNIFER 8. LEE Published: December 12, 2004 Government officials, environmental advocates and a representative of a luxury co-op building have agreed to meet tomorrow to discuss new lodgings for Manhattan's most famous homeless couple: two red-tailed hawks, Pale Male and Lola, whose eight-foot nest was removed and destroyed on Tuesday afternoon. Daily protests in front of the building, a public outcry from across the country, and concern from some of the building's own residents prompted the chairman of the building's co-op board, Richard Cohen, on Friday to call the New York City Audubon Society, a group that has helped stoke much of the public reaction. "If there is a solution to be worked out, we would like to work it out," said Mr. Cohen, in an interview on Friday. The demonstrations continued into the weekend; yesterday, two protesters dressed up in red bird costumes. Some of the building's young inhabitants clearly sympathized with the hawks, as a handwritten sign hung on an 11th-floor window read, "Bring back the hawks." The management of the building at 927 Fifth Avenue has suggested spending as much as $100,000 to build a platform elsewhere on the building, like the roof. But environmental advocates, including officials of the Audubon Society, said such a potential solution was inadequate. They want the nest at the original location, on a 12th-floor window cornice above the building's entrance. Since Tuesday, the birds have brought twigs to the cornice in an attempt to rebuild the nest. But they have had little success because the spikes that had been placed there to ward off pigeons and had anchored the nest since 1991 were also removed by workers on Tuesday. "New York City Audubon's first goal is to have the spikes returned to the window ledge in a way that takes into account the building's health and safety concerns," said E. J. McAdams, the group's executive director. The discussions will include representatives and bird experts from Brown Harris Stevens Property Management, the building manager; the city's Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Parks and Recreation; the State Department of Environmental Conservation; and the Audubon Society. Whether a compromise can be brokered that will be amenable to the feathered couple is unclear. "It remains to be seen if what we do is enough for the hawks to return," said Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, whose office will represent Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in the discussions. "If we don't and they successfully build a nest someplace else, that's O.K., too."  NYC Hawks' Nest Framework Is Reinstalled By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: December 23, 2004 Filed at 6:20 p.m. ET NEW YORK (AP) -- Pale Male and Lola are getting their Fifth Avenue address back- - if the hawks are willing to accept a replacement nest offered by luxury apartment-house owners who ripped out the original, only to be harried incessantly by bird lovers around the world. Workers Thursday installed new underpinnings for the high-rise nest whose red-tailed hawk occupants were evicted Dec. 7, triggering an avian crisis that gripped the city. ``It's the miracle on 74th Street,'' enthused E.J. McAdams, executive director of the city Audubon Society, which led a campaign to restore the nest, taken down after apartment residents deemed it a health and safety hazard. As if on cue, the hawks winged in for a brief appearance on the 12th-floor window ledge Pale Male had called home for a decade, delighting rain-sodden hawk enthusiasts and television cameramen on a sidewalk across the street. On the rooftop, workers prepared to lower the 300-pound stainless-steel cradle to the window pediment. The custom-designed mesh framework has the same anti-pigeon spikes removed when the nest was pulled down. The boat-shaped device also has a rim to keep carcasses of rats and pigeons from falling to the street, a major source of annoyance for the building's residents, who include CNN's Paula Zahn. ``It's a very out-of-the-ordinary project for a New York City architect,'' said Daniel Ionescu, who designed the cradle. ``You don't get a call every day to design a nest on top of a pediment on a landmarked building.'' Audubon officials expressed confidence Pale Male- - so named for his white plumage- - and mate Lola would return. McAdams said they have stayed close by, frequently visiting the ledge and even bringing twigs. To underscore the hope they'll return, workers lugged the heavy metal cradle to the street, where various officials christened it with twigs, then returned it to the roof for installation. ``We have done everything humanly possible for Pale Male and Lola to return,'' McAdams said. ``Now it's up to them to come home for the holidays.'' Since setting up housekeeping in 1993, Pale Male and a series of mates have produced about two dozen chicks and captivated nature lovers and schoolchildren who could view the nest through binoculars from Central Park. The urban raptors were the subject of two TV documentaries and a book, ``Red-Tails in Love,'' whose author, Marie Winn, was among Thursday's happy observers. Occupants of the multimillion-dollar apartments, however, had complained about telescopes violating their privacy. To remove the nest, they obtained U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approval, under a rule that allows removal of nests that contain no eggs or progeny. Public reaction was swift and angry, as scores of people gathered daily with signs and chants of ``bring back the nest!'' Some vented their ire on co-op board president Richard Cohen, Zahn's husband. Actress Mary Tyler Moore, another building resident, sided with the hawks, sometimes joining the protests, and hiring a lawyer for a man charged with harassing Zahn and her son. Cohen later conceded the board had misjudged the situation, telling the Daily News: ``We did not fully appreciate the importance of these birds to the people in the city.'' John Flicker, president of the National Audubon Society, and city parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe praised the residents' decision to restore the nest. Flicker said there had been an ``overwhelming response'' from Europe, Australia and elsewhere to the hawks' plight. ``It tells us that birds are a kind of metaphor for the environment that people can understand,'' he said. ``If Pale Male and Lola are at risk, the rest of our environment is at risk as well.'' Benepe said the residents had broken no laws in removing the nest but ``really rose to the occasion'' and ``spent a lot of money'' to put it back. ``Now we just have to wait and see if the hawks come back and build a nest there,'' he said. On the Net: Pale Male site: http://www.palemale.org ======================================== Hawks May Be Awaiting the Stork By THOMAS J. LUECK Published: March 15, 2005 Pale Male, left, and Lola in their nest just under the 12th-floor cornice at 927 Fifth Avenue, overlooking Central Park. The red-tailed hawks known as Pale Male and Lola, having endured the destruction of their Fifth Avenue nest in December and the ensuing media storm before rebuilding with thousands of twigs from Central Park, appear to have crossed another critical threshold in their unlikely battle for turf in the center of Manhattan. According to several naturalists and bird watchers who monitor the hawks' behavior closely, there are eggs in the nest. If so, New York's most celebrated birds have entered a new chapter, fraught with its own peril, in an unlikely saga that has melded raw nature with urban life and captivated bird lovers around the world. Yesterday, Lola was settled firmly into their nest on a 12th-floor cornice of a Fifth Avenue co-op building at 74th Street, as Pale Male swooped down periodically to provide her with food. The behavior adheres closely to a reproductive pattern that could culminate with the hatching of one to three chicks in mid-April. "Nature is triumphant," said Adrian Benepe, the commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation. To be sure, whether Lola has laid eggs in the hawk's Fifth Avenue aerie, and how many, remained unclear yesterday for reasons that have much to do with the hawks' instincts for nest building and self-protection. The spot they have adopted, high above Central Park, sits directly beneath a huge and ornately-carved cornice along the roofline. This provides protection from the elements, but also makes the interior of the nest all but impossible to see or photograph. "We can only draw conclusions from the hawks' behavior, since we can't see in the nest," said Marie Winn, a Manhattan naturalist and author. She has been observing Pale Male and a succession of his mates, who have sired 23 chicks, since Pale Male arrived in 1993. Ms. Winn said yesterday that the two hawks' behavior in recent days may mean Lola has not yet laid any eggs, but that "eggs are imminent." There are many signs that nature is taking its course. Although Lola sometimes leaves the nest for short periods, Ms. Winn said, she only does so when Pale Male settles in to take her place. And close observers in Central Park could not have missed other evidence in early March. For more than a week, with Lola perched on the nearby balconies or roofs of opulent Fifth Avenue apartment buildings, and with Pale Male swooping down from the sky, the two birds copulated frequently, Ms. Winn said. Pale Male brought an offering of food- perhaps a pigeon or rat- each time he approached, she said. Ms. Winn said that there may be a lesson in this for suitors: "Always bring a gift." ================================ http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/5/145 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, November 16th, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:45 am | where have all the flowers gone? pete seeger
Where have all the flowers gone? Where have all the young girls gone? Where have all the young men gone? Where have all the soldiers gone? Where have all the graveyards gone? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:35 am | this bird has flown/ isn’t it good i saw a blue jay up close for the first time. he came hopping down the steps of the fire escape in a big cartoon-like way, and headed straight for these walnuts i left out for a pair of squirrels that come by everyday. the jay came to the window, picked up a nut and tried to throw it back like a shot of whisky. but it was much too big for him, of course. it slipped from his beak, and fell through the metal slats onto the street. but this did not discourage him. he made these rather shrill *EEEAPs* as he paced by my window, pondering what to do with himself next. he wasn’t going to give up, he wanted some damn nuts. with a few more *EEEAPs*, he approached the group of nuts again and took a firm hold of a half piece. the jay wasn’t going to try and it here, this was to go. and the jay went hopping up the flight of stairs where he came with the nut in his mouth. ———————————————————- i really should get off this box now and read and sort articles i’ve been meaning to read or mail or post or throw out….there’s just too much crap here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, November 14th, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:56 am | moon in the gutter..... ....eyes to the stars.   Comments are screened in this post. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
