NYC Mass gets Critical

This pretty shocking video is of Patrick Pogan, a 3rd generation member of the NYPD shoving a NYC critical masser into the pavement. I thought this was pretty bad and started reading into the story. The crazy thing is, not only was the cyclist, Christopher Long, unceremoniously heaved over, he was also charged for assault!

Instant thoughts of left wing hippie internet propaganda immediately popped into my head, but these were pretty quickly quelled by this, a copy of Pogan's statement. Very quickly, this video, which was kindly provided by a tourist was uploaded onto YouTube, getting a million and a half hits within a couple of months and completely rubbishing the assault charge, which was promptly dropped.

It goes to show kids: either join the police or carry a camera.

Undercover Busker

One of my friends sent me this great article from the Washington Post. It turns out, Joshua Bell, virtuoso violinist by day, asleep by night, decided to busk one morning in a DC rush-hour to see what would happen. Check it out.

And here's the article from which this post came. Oh, and here's the article in Terrence Tao's blog which pointed Steve at the WP article. Oh and here's another similar experiment with abstract art instead of a violin. Well I guess I might as well embed the video (complete with plinky plonky piano music so that you know it's deep). See if you can spot the subterreanian moral gravitas.

God Bless America

'Cause it ain't the only place on Earth, but it's the only place that I prefer.