Today's weather report: NO global warming today.
Someone had to say it....
Global cooling.
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LEAVE IT TO NATURE
"Don't feed the animals,"
Some city folks are urging;
"The city's parks and meadows
Are in dire need of purging."
This has a familiar ring,
For we've heard this cry before--
From political dinosaurs
Attacking the ranks of the poor.
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Leon, I so admire your ability to push the envelope with the pointedness and even daring of the points of view in your online comments, even while staying elegant and almost always craft-perfect. Wonderful perspective that really gets me thinking about the potential power of verse to skewer the day-to-day!
I certainly wish we were having your 'cold snap'. The predicted high for today is 23°.
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From the Coming Up Today section of today’s column:
“The ‘Empress of Soul’ Gladys Knight performs at the Colden Auditorium of the Kupferberg Center for the Arts in Flushing, Queens. 8 p.m. “
tune of “Midnight Train to Georgia” (with a NYC weather & concert twist)
(chorus)
I’ll be standing (Standing)
On a subway train to Flushing
(Standing on that crowded train)
Times says it’s cold tonight
I’ll wear a heavy coat
(Wear a heavy coat, be sure to wear a heavy coat)
So if you’re there with me
On that crowded train to Flushing
Hope we have no delay (pray for no delay)
Don’t want to miss a single note
She’ll be singing
With her soulful grace and style
(Soulful style, beats the rest by a mile)
Hope I don’t find out the hard way
M-T-A doesn’t always come through (oh, no, no)
But I hold out hope
‘Cause a taxi would cost me a pile
And an Uber car in rush hour
Might not make it, it’s true
(repeat chorus)
I’m standing - on a crowded train to Flushing, etc.
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Another great one Freddie and another great start to the day! Thank You!
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It didn't escape my notice that while New Yorkers were walking around in short sleeves and sandals a few days ago, people in other parts of the world were already experiencing the first (of many to come) snowfalls -- so it's no wonder this 'Arctic Blast' is going to come as a real wake-up call...especially to those who have no place to call home.
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Way to go Alexandra. An interesting NY Today column, two days in a row. Good choice of articles to access.
Like many of us, I really look forward to starting our day with NY Today and the Daily Briefing. Thanks!
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Regarding feeding the wildlife: what is up with all of the people feeding pigeons? Why does the city allow that? They are the messiest things around.
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See Leon's poem. Suddenly we're comparing pigeons to poor people.
Tourists are to blame for increased begging by animals and by people. In Central Park I witnessed a woman emptying an entire bag of popcorn onto the lawn to feed ducks. She proceeded to speak with all the ducks. A woman on my block, not a tourist, delights in pouring a pound of seeds onto the sidewalk, creating a swarm of birds that Hitchcock would envy. In Times Square it's back to the future, as tourists fall for the begging tactics, stopping to chat with people who are hustling for a buck, handing them change (really cheap of them... a nickel...for real?) Or guys with CD's who then want money after they hand you one. (Who has a CD player?) How about a sign in the subway, stating the law. Warn people to stop giving money. There are ways to correct these issues, but our lame Mayor would never go for it as it conflicts with his social-political ideas. Tourists have been off limits to any rules for 30 years.
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What block is this? That was one of the reasons I moved out of Manhattan. My coop complex has a rule that one cannot feed birds!
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I can hardly wait for the first climate change denier to point out that it's cold now, so the whole thing is a hoax. Laughable if it wasn't a life and death subject. Just in case I will point out that the colder than normal winters in the mid-west and other places are a result of climate change. Masses of warm air pushing into the arctic cause artic air to move south over Canada and Siberia. While it was record cold in the mid-west in 2016, it was record warm in the arctic. Climate change. It's real. It's real bad. And it is getting a lot worse. Coming to a neighbourhood near you soon.
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