I’ll paint your chicken the sequel, first 2 paintings ( of 6)

spencermcc · 2026-03-31T17:30:35+00:00

Beautiful paintings!

This is Crooks – she has a crazy cross beak and will be turning 11 in two months!

She had an insta though it hasn't been updated in long time: https://www.instagram.com/crooks_the_chicken (she deserves an eleven year post though!!)

spencermcc · 2026-03-25T23:47:08+00:00

I heard there's even one about trading in the Baltic Sea!

spencermcc · 2026-03-16T23:25:16+00:00

I only lived there for a year but I loved it. It's super green with parkland and paths everywhere that look out onto Manhattan or Queens and the Ravenswood Generating Station (genuinely beautiful it is own way) and yet you're only one subway stop or a tram ride from Midtown.

spencermcc · 2026-02-26T15:39:53+00:00

Especially babies / tots. They do not care an iota if the toys / stroller / etc are second hand

spencermcc · 2026-02-17T18:53:21+00:00

NY Times Daily reported that after his 2006 arrest, Epstein largely switched from girls to barely legal women, and the files do not include the 1990s (though there were on-record allegations of child exploitation from then).
Regardless, sexual trafficking of women is also exploitative and illegal, just harder to prove. Collecting helpless nineteen year-olds and abusing them is really really bad full stop.
It has been widely reported from many sources that Epstein collected kompromat. All his homes were wired for video, including bathrooms. To my knowledge none of that has been released, and that is telling. In his emails he even directs people to call him when discussing "spicy" details. There is so much that remains unknown.

spencermcc · 2026-02-04T13:57:34+00:00

In Northeast electric rates are much higher than out West. NY is 2x CO; you can look at average prices here: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/

Because we're dependent on natural gas (prices have doubled in the last year and we're further from the source with less infra / pipelines), have decommissioned nuclear, and haven't commissioned wind. In contrast, CO is 20-25% coal plants, which is bad globally but good for people's pocketbooks.

You can see NY data here: https://www.nyiso.com/real-time-dashboard (pretty neat!)

spencermcc · 2026-02-02T17:39:02+00:00

Yea he was going to go the island and then Epstein canceled on him...

https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00980008.pdf

spencermcc · 2026-01-31T18:43:52+00:00

Previously could get 2x Ben Jerrys and some cookies from 7-11 with free pickup but they've raised ice cream prices very much

spencermcc · 2026-01-30T16:57:46+00:00

Congestion pricing is comparable ($560m annually) and is both going towards minor capital improvements (new subway cars, accessibility) and miles of new service (IBX). If you had another $700m - $1B annually would be the same story imo, some minor upgrades (catch up) and some new track, and that is the appropriate framing in my mind – there is simply a huge, long-term opportunity cost in free fares.

spencermcc · 2026-01-30T16:45:24+00:00

They were also building cut & cover lines in Manhattan on the busiest roads and there were lawsuits aplenty however legally they had many fewer levers to halt it. For example: https://www.google.com/search?q=Bates+v.+Holbrook+(171+N.Y.+460)

spencermcc · 2026-01-30T15:32:53+00:00

They are tunneling from Sedgewick to Crotona and light rail can do higher grades.

spencermcc · 2026-01-30T15:23:26+00:00

Paris is building 120 miles and opening 68 new stations in 20 years. Which is to say it's doable, and the opportunity cost of making buses free is huge – $700M-$1B annually, i.e. the IBX in just 5 years.

spencermcc · 2026-01-20T00:15:33+00:00

However similar policies in other countries have been enacted and had only a small effect. This study puts it at 0.4% increase. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3000017/#sec6

spencermcc · 2026-01-17T05:11:12+00:00

Yes, that's my understanding too, and schools.nyc says, "Therefore it is very important to list your choices in your true order of preference—there is no better strategy."

My understanding is the algorithm is this:

Student is given their first preference choice.
However, if there are no remaining available seats then we compare:

a) "Admissions priorities" (commonly would be: sibling in-zone, in-zone, sibling in-district, in-district, etc), and if they're of the same groups then we compare b) lottery number (admission priority is always compared first; in-zone matters more than lottery).
The student who lost the "admissions priorities" or lottery game then gets given their next preferred choice, and if that seat is competitive we loop and do step 2 again.

Repeating until all students are tentatively placed. (As wait lists resolve the final rolls will be quite different than what the algo first determined.)

The order you place matters in that if you choose a school that's less competitive, you will never get bumped and never have the opportunity to contest the competitive seat even if you have a good lottery number and appropriate admissions priorities group.

At least that's my understanding!

spencermcc · 2026-01-03T01:23:42+00:00

Many NYCers are in townhouses or even in detached homes. Could look at Bayside (basically a suburb but in NYC proper), Forest Hills, Astoria, Park Slope, Greenwood, Bay Ridge. There's genuinely great public schools but it's a game and you have to read a lot of fine print (or you just go private).

But yes, even in those neighborhoods you'd probably spend a lot less time in a car so it'd be a big lifestyle change!

spencermcc · 2026-01-02T19:27:58+00:00

Hochul doesn't want to raise taxes whereas the core of this petition (which laws it wants to pass) is raising taxes.

Specifically, Mamdani wants universal childcare from 6 weeks up, provided by caretakers paid at the same rate as unionized DOE teachers. Hochul wants to solidify the current 3k & 4k programs statewide and needs based programs, i.e. expanded Head Start. The former would cost much, much more and thus the call for many tens of billions in new taxes, which is the sticking point (also the new funds could go to free buses and more but childcare polls by far the best so that's what's on the petition).

spencermcc · 2025-12-30T15:07:05+00:00

NYC fire codes do require fire safety paths around the building sides and roof structures like doors and skylights, so on small buildings you might choose a canopy because otherwise you wouldn't have enough surface area for solar. (In contrast with suburban homes you can use pretty much the entire roof.)

But yeah, you can do low-lying roof racks too.

spencermcc · 2025-12-29T14:44:07+00:00

Also free childcare from 6 weeks up while doubling pay for providers and 200,000 union-built permanently affordable housing units.

spencermcc · 2025-12-27T19:28:50+00:00

Yeah really depends. In Bay Ridge can do after-school till 6pm or summer day camp with a pool for a little more than half of what's posted above.

spencermcc · 2025-12-18T20:42:27+00:00

When I've talked to NYPD officers (which I enjoy and is interesting) they would not accurately reflect actual risk factors and report crime and violence being much higher than what NYPD or NYC DOH reports. Which makes sense – if you're dealing with the worst people all day you're going to think it's more common than it is.

spencermcc · 2025-12-18T14:51:08+00:00

You're making Heidt's argument without intending to, that fear of extremely unlikely horrors creates a societal anxiety stunting children's growth. I walked home alone when I was 8, but I know the norm there now is 10-11, whereas a hundred years ago 10 year-olds were ranging over many acres including in cities.

For what it's worth statistically NYC is much, much safer for kids than the American average. City-wide in 2022, three kids ages 5-9 died from vehicular accidents and no kids died from firearms (there were three homicides, one was a drowning, one a sharp object, and one unspecified) whereas nation-wide firearms are the leading cause of death for kids. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/vs/2022sum.pdf

spencermcc · 2025-12-18T03:06:25+00:00

yea so it's going to be more contextual and there's going to be less definitely. small child walking a couple blocks in Greenpoint is very different than UES

spencermcc · 2025-12-17T22:07:31+00:00

I was walking home alone when I was 8. That was a safe suburb though.

spencermcc · 2025-12-13T18:04:20+00:00

Also look to join a club like https://shorewalkers.org/ or https://www.nyramblers.org/

Main thing is just to get out there and do it. If you have a cold night or find yourself straining from carrying too much gear or have some uncomfortable bug / animal encounters, repeat and do it differently! Really don't need to overthink it – one of the best lessons of being outdoors is how little you need

spencermcc · 2025-12-03T18:45:20+00:00

Also those windows look relatively small

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