Friday, February 22, 2013

check your calendar


here's your chance


ClockTowerTenants! 

As you probably know, the grocery delivery firm FreshDIRECT has proposed a relocation of their distribution hub to our Port Morris/Mott Haven neighborhood, in the Harlem River Yards. Some in the hood are opposed. Others are in favor. My thinking is we all benefit from their expansion now that they deliver to the entire Bronx and they also accept WIC and EBT. (foodstamps) And since they are bringing jobs and community organization, we as a group might be in favor of their relocation but try to get something great for our neighborhood in the process.

I’ve already been out to their current headquarters in Long Island City last Summer, to meet once with their CEO. I intend to go out there again. 

But now local Bronx and Manhattan media have been in touch with ClockTowerTenants to gather a more balanced view from locals just like us, and so here is our chance to weigh in and be heard.

Question:

Are you in favor or against the FreshDirect relocation to the Harlem River Yards? Why?

Hit me up through the ClockTowerTenants.com CONTACT link, or write direct to ClockTowerTenants@Gmail.com and tell me what you think and why, and suggest what we might ask FreshDirect for in exchange for our support. I’ll aggregate the data and report on ClockTowerTenants.com and to the other media outlets what our collective feelings are about this very current issue.

Thanks to all. Make your voice heard.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

48 years ago


tumblr
Malcolm X was a 1960’s era Afro-American firebrand, a man personally infuriated by the inequality in American race relations at the time.
He rejected his birth name “Little” and adopted the X to symbolize an African family name he would never know.
wiki
By all accounts Malcolm X was tall, handsome and charismatic but he knew little moderation and at first he preached separatism with a return to Africa. And he encouraged equality through self-protection “by any means necessary”, with all the violent unrest this implied.
archive
He joined the Nation of Islam, embracing their beliefs and traveling to Mecca in 1964, the year before he died.
But he soon became disillusioned with the Nation’s racist beliefs and fell out with its leadership over a variety of divisive issues. He came to realize that racism, not the white race, was the greatest obstacle to African-American equality.  
He eventually left the Nation and converted to Sunni Muslim as did boxer Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammed Ali.
dailynews.com
For this the Nation had him killed. 
On February 21st 1965, on the stage of the Audubon Ballroom at 165th Street and Broadway where Malcolm X was preparing to speak, three members of the Nation of Islam rushed forward and shot him 21 times with a sawed off shotgun and semi-automatic handguns.
He has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. Certainly few helped raise the self-esteem of black America as he did. In 1987, Mayor Ed Koch proclaimed Lenox Avenue in Harlem to be Malcolm X Boulevard. 

Malcolm X was assassinated 48 years ago today.
personalitycafe.com

taking heat




just a quick thank you

9/11 Memorial


for being out there



all this time.

nyhistory.org

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

it's a thin line






sex trafficking


Get a room.

reddit

not even if the point was to grow that copy yourself


123rf.com

If you like the edamame you eat in sushi restaurants, there is complicated news this morning.

First, it’s probably franken-food. 

futuregenomics.com

MONSANTO’s “RoundUpReady” soybeans are grown in more than 90% of the 275,000 soybean farms in the United States.


Second, you’ll be disappointed if you think life should not be able to be patented. The Supreme Court vehemently disagreed with you yesterday.


Here’s the short of it:

1) farmer signs contract to buy and plant and grow genetically engineered beans, promising not to plant seeds from the resulting crop.

parkerkohl.com

2) farmer breaks contract by planting seeds from the resulting crop.

zazzle.com

3) Monsanto sues, claiming that the farmer must purchase new seeds each season, and has infringed Monsanto’s patents. 

Farmer claims "I grew those seeds myself, they are mine."

No they are not. Monsanto wins. Now he owes them $84,000.

 patentdocs.org

4) so he appeals to the Supremes. The Supreme’s crush him.

harvard.edu 

“Why in the world,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked, “would anybody spend any money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?”

abcnews.com 

Justice Elena Kagan observed, “all that has to happen is that one seed escapes the web of these contracts, and that seed, because it can self-replicate in the way that it can, essentially makes all the contracts worthless.”

nbcnews.com 

Justice Stephen G. Breyer said that “you can’t pick up those seeds that you’ve just bought and throw them into a child’s face. You can’t do that because there’s a law that says you can’t. Now, there’s another law that says you cannot make copies of a patented invention.”

guardian.co.uk 

Even Bronx’s own, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the contract “permits you to use the good that you buy [but] it never permits you to make another copy from that item you bought.”

The Supreme Court has spoken.

It’s illegal and it will cost you if you make an
“unauthorized copy”.

techpus.com

Might be time to revisit that MP3 collection.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

F(ix) I(t) A(gain), T(ats)



Tats Cru, Bronx graffiti muralists, have been featured here before. 


For 20 years they’ve been tagging our neighborhood before moving on to paying corporate clients like Coca-Cola, Firestone, Busta Rhymes, Reebok, The Bronx Museum of Arts, Grand Master Flash and Chivas Regal. 


You can see their work for Chivas at 138th and Morris from our ClockTower, on the side of the liquor store.


But the Cru had a problem with J-Lo’s Fiat commercial that briefly featured one of their copyrighted murals.

So they sued Fiat, a subsidiary of Chrylser, and settled for a confidential sum. "I'm happy they turned around and are doing the right thing," said Tats spokesman Wilfredo (Bio) Feliciano.


Said Chrysler, "We are pleased to announce that the parties have reached an amicable resolution to this matter.” 


Turns out Jenny-from-the-block had her own problems. She got caught using a stunt double for her Bronx scenes while they actually filmed her "Bronx" close-ups out in LA.


ClockTowerTenants discovered, shot and published that same image almost 2 years ago, on April 14th, 2011. 



They have not sued us yet.

Monday, February 18, 2013

too sad

tumblr