Theoretical Ken

On Tuesday, June 10, 2008, Unnata™ Aerial Yoga moves to its new location on the main strip in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

The new location is at 241 Bedford Avenue (buzzer #7). This is on Bedford Avenue between North 3rd and North 4th. It is only a 2.5 minute walk from the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train; very easy to get to!

Classes at the new location will begin on Tuesday, June 10. Class days and times will be Tuesdays, 7:15-8:45pm, and Saturdays, 2:15-3:45pm. Additional schedule and reservation information can found at the Aerial Yoga Website.

Unnata™ Aerial Yoga’s new location (classes began two and a half years ago over at the Streb SLAM Studio), will offer some distinct advantages over the old space, says founder Michelle Dortignac:

“At this new location, I will be able to hang more apparatuses (when necessary) to ensure no more than 2 people per apparatus - even when class is full! Also, we will be the only class happening in the room when we are there, so it will be much quieter with fewer distractions. I had been looking for a space that would be more conducive to Yoga, and this space is really it!”

Classes, which are designed for all levels - even beginners with no previous experience - will cost $20. There will be a 5-class card for $85 (good for 2 months) and a 10-class card for $150 (good for 5 months).

Tags: Fun, Michelle // 1 Comment »

Bruce Schneier’s latest Guardian column points out the absurdity of harassing photographers “to prevent terrorism”:

“Except that it’s nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn’t photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn’t photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn’t photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Photographs aren’t being found amongst the papers of Palestinian suicide bombers. The IRA wasn’t known for its photography. Even those manufactured terrorist plots that the US government likes to talk about — the Ft. Dix terrorists, the JFK airport bombers, the Miami 7, the Lackawanna 6 — no photography.

Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don’t seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets? Why are our fears so great that we have no choice but to be suspicious of any photographer?”

(verbatim via)

Tags: Photography // Add Comment »

Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

No, it’s not a new Eddie Izzard sketch, Manhattanhenge is semi-annual occurrence where sun sets exactly parallel to Manhattan’s east-west streets. The term was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.

Manhattanhenge sunsets usually occur on May 28 and July 12. Manhattanhenge sunrise falls approximately on December 5 and January 8. The reason there are two dates for each, is that the east-west streets of Manhattan’s grid layout are offset 28.9 degrees from true east-west; as such, the sun passes this point as it approaches and recedes from the true equinox points. The reason for the 28.9 degree tilt of the streets is that while the streets are perpendicular to the spine of Manhattan, the tall and narrow shape of Manhattan is tilted to the east by 28.9 degrees.

More here, here and here.

Tags: General // 1 Comment »

Albert Hofmann has recently passed away, but there’s a new type of trip ready for the taking–it’s a flavor trip!

As reported in today’s NY Times, there’s a new way to taste life a bit differently than you’ve ever done before. A cranberry-sized West African berry called the miracle fruit, numbs your sour and bitter taste buds for a few hours after eating it; the result is that everything that used to taste sour now tastes sweet!

A group called Flavor Tripping arranges small parties in NYC and San Francisco, where the miracle fruit is served, followed by an array of sour and bitter foods. According to their website: after eating one [miracle fruit bean], stout beers taste like chocolate milkshakes, grapefruits taste like pixie sticks, cheeses taste like frosting, it will make even the crappiest tequila taste like lemonade (and strangely enough, it will make all wine taste like Manischewitz).

Visit their website if you’d like to sign-up for the miracle fruit parties.

Tags: General // Add Comment »

I do a lot of searching on the Internet. And many times what I’m looking for is NOT in the top ten search results on Google (or any other search engine for that matter).

Even if I do find an item on page one of the search results, I usually like to review several results, and I find that paging through the search results ten at a time is annoying. I don’t just want to see the tip-of-the-iceberg, I want to see the whole thing at once!

So here’s how to make your Google searches 10x more efficient:

Just go to the preferences link next to the search box on the Google homepage. Then set the Number of Results per page to 100, instead of the Google default of 10 per page. That’s it! Yahoo works the same way.

Now each search yields 100 results per page, and you just have to scroll down to see them all. No more clicking forwards and backwards through all those pages.

And if you use Firefox, and employ my recent tip, Firefox Browser Tip: Single-key Search, then you can just type your search term and Firefox will instantly jump-to and highlight your term if it’s anywhere on that page of 100 results.

Now that’s 10x more efficient or more!

Tags: Computers, Tech // Add Comment »