A third of all delays around the nation each year are caused, in some way, by the New York airports, according to the F.A.A. Or, as Paul McGraw, an operations expert with Airlines for America, the industry trade group, put it, “When New York sneezes, the rest of the national airspace catches a cold.” »

I blame it on the tourists. Isn’t that what New Yorkers are supposed to do, blame everything on the tourists?

Sources: Jets to hire Tony Sparano »

That’s what 59 pass attempts will get you. Would have liked to have seen Josh McDaniels as OC instead, but that’s just being greedy. Welcome aboard, Tony.

The Jets announced late Tuesday night that (Brian) Schottenheimer won’t return in 2012. League and team sources told senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that the Jets have had former Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano as their top choice to replace Schottenheimer in the event of a vacancy. The sources said the Jets are expected to announce Sparano’s hiring Wednesday.

Over the past six months, the New York City Clerk's Office saw a significant uptick in the number of marriage licenses it issued—4,042, or 14%, more than were handed out in the same time period in 2010. »

I’m interested in knowing what economic impact this marriage increase (which is attributed to New York legalizing gay marriage) has on New York; from marriage-license fees to stimulating local economies through celebrations, there has to be some kind of growth, right?

manicchill:

OWS Invests In Unmanned Surveillance Drone Dubbed The ‘Occucopter’

For years we’ve seen images of the military’s unmanned aerial vehicles aiding soldiers in combat zones, and their evolution from surveillance tools to the heavily weaponized Predator drones. Now, the Guardian reports, Occupy Wall Street livestreamer Tim Pool hopes to use that technology as an additional set of eyes on the police department.

Tim Pool, an Occupy Wall Street protester, has acquired a Parrot AR drone he amusingly calls the “occucopter”. It is a lightweight four-rotor helicopter that you can buy cheaply on Amazon and control with your iPhone. It has an onboard camera so that you can view everything on your phone that it points at. Pool has modified the software to stream live video to the internet so that we can watch the action as it unfolds.

The Occucopter comes in response to police departments, across the country, stepping up efforts to prevent their actions from being recorded. Some have started covering up their names and badge numbers. Others attempt to stand in the way of recording devices, or declare “frozen zones” that are off limits to even the most credentialed reporters. Tim hopes that the Occucopter will allow protesters to monitor the police, and record any cases of brutality that may have otherwise remained undocumented.

In addition to modifying the Parrot’s software for internet livestreaming, Pool is also currently working on modifying the software for multiple controllers. He even hopes to add 3G functionality, so that even protesters and supporters outside of New York could aid in the monitoring process. When asked about his plans by the Guardian, he explained:

We are trying to get a stable live feed so you can have 50 people controlling it in series. If the cops see you controlling it from a computer they can shut you down, but then control could automatically switch to someone else.

Now you, much like myself, might find yourself wondering, “Isn’t he concerned that some officer(s) will just shoot it down?”

No…They can’t just fire a weapon in the air because it could seriously hurt someone. They would have no excuse because the occucopter is strictly not illegal. Their only recourse would be to make it illegal, but it is only a toy

So it would appear that we finally have an answer to a twenty five year old question. Tim Pool is watching the watchmen.

And doing a damn good job of it.

(images courtesy of Time/iPhoneZA/GeekAlerts)

Manic, Chill: Another Example of Why All Public Officials Should Be Eligible For Recall »

manicchill:

Liberals, progressives, fiscal conservatives, and government watchdog groups are in an uproar this morning, after the The Daily Beast reported that the NYPD spends approximately half a million dollars, annually, protecting Fox News’ headquarters.

from The Daily Beast:

Down at Rupert’s…

“Occupy Wall Street has resonance far beyond the protests,” Schumer said. “Whether middle class people agree with the protests or not, the vast majority believes that they’re part of the 99 percent and that something should be done to help them.” Republicans who think this tactic will work with “swing voters,” Schumer said, are “inside their own bubble.”

New York senior Senator Chuck Schumer, believes ‘inequality’ is the right message for Democrats in 2012.

Read more at the Washington Post.

thenewrepublic:

Mayor Bloomberg occupies ‘SNL.’

Read Jill Priluck’s analysis of Mayor Bloomberg’s confounding response to the demonstrations in “Why It’s So Hard to Tell Where Mayor Bloomberg Stand on Occupy Wall Street.”

Video courtesy of The Daily Beast.

For a superficial answer, just look at Hiz Honor’s party affiliation: first Dem, then GOP, then Independent? He’s a political chameleon. But this is a good article to read.

On a not so irrelevant tangent - SNL needs help. They missed a great opportunity with this piece - have Fred Armisen as Mayor Mike, speak in Bloombito Spanish at the end of the presser. A no-brainer that previous iterations of SNL would not have missed.

“

“I don’t think there’s any doubt Obama is going to pick him as his running mate. The president is in trouble and [Vice President Joseph] Biden doesn’t bring anything to his ticket.

“The president will call him up later this year and say, ‘Andrew, you have to do this for the good of the country.’ What’s Andrew going to say, ‘No?’ “

”

Former New YorkGOP boss William Powers, talking to the New York Post and predicting the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, will be handpicked by President Obama to be his running mate in next year’s election.