life and travels in Upstate New York
I don’t love New York for it’s politicians, it’s taxes, it’s bureaucracy, it’s empirical attitude and policies.
This is why I love NY.
Beautiful. No hotels in las vegas for me– give me the forests and the beautiful babbling brooks! Ahhhhhhh
Thanks, Adirondack Base Camp, for finding this lovely video.
We travelers see a lot of things, some good, and some… not so good. I am the type of traveler that hones in more on the local atmosphere of our trip, more then concentrating on the tourist attraction or amusement. Going to DisneyWorld is not my thing… walking through Central Park and soaking in the local flavor is more enjoyable. When you travel, what do you notice? I’m thinking about these things because I recently read a press release by a mobile marketing company, SJA Mobile:
SJA Mobile & FBI Launch SMS Tipline
————–SJA Mobile today jointly announced with the FBI’s Washington D.C Field Office and Metropolitan Police an initiative which will enable D.C-area citizens to anonymously report crime tips via a novel new medium – SMS. SMS, or “text messaging,” has up until now never been used before as a medium for crime tips.
Citizens in the D.C area can report a crime or homeland security tip by sending a text message with the tip to the number 50411. The 5-digit number to text to is called a “Short Code.” Currently the service is available on all major wireless carriers, along with several Tier 2 carriers.
SJA Mobile is in talks expand the service to several other major cities.
I’ve never liked anonymous tip lines, honestly. They are too prone to be abused, and the U.S. Constitution guarantees that we have the right to face our accuser. The Sixth Amendment:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
I am 100% in favor of being able to report crimes, however! I’ve been to cities where it’s quite obvious that drug trafficking and other sordid crimes were taking place. I believe there would be fewer crimes if more people spoke up. Then again, and unfortunately, some crimes are so horrible that it can be life-threatening to make oneself known to a criminal. There is a fine line.
I am amazed at the leaps in technology, however. SJA Mobile is enabling a direct line– an anonymous line– via text messaging! If that isn’t astounding, I don’t know what is. In any case, it is amazing at how technology has completely changed the way we travel and interact.
Here’s an interesting piece of news, from Less Than a Shoestring:
From the producer of our poorly-orchestrated increased airline security measures (”Only Terrorists Carry 200 ml of Toothpaste”) and the creator of the color-based national security threat chart (”Like Clockwork, Orange!”), a new move certain to alienate our closest friends and allies: starting January 12, 2009, all travelers to the U.S. who travel without visa restrictions (15 million people annually) will now be required to register themselves and their travel plans online at least 72 hours prior to travel or be denied boarding on their chosen air or sea carrier.
…This is the same information the U.S. government has always collected from these travelers on a form passed out by each carrier prior to arrival and turned in to border agents. The digital information will be kept just as long as the paper version: an unbelievable 75 years! Canadians and Mexicans are not affected by this regulation, nor are those arriving by car, foot, bus or bicycle.
The U.S. apparently is requiring the information to be submitted online only, and will keep this information for up to 75 years! I’ve not been very happy with the government policies for many years now, and this is just another reason to stay home for the vacation. I have to wonder if the policy makers in Washington, DC, realize how odious they are being, or if this kind of behavior is purposeful. Those idiot politicians are going out of their way in every way possible to ruin our economy!
Ouch. The FX Matt Brewery in Utica, NY, was on fire Thursday. More than five fire districts came to put out the fire, which was emitting toxic fumes into the city.
We visited the brewery a few months ago. It is an historic place and very much a part of the city of Utica. The brewery has kept the city going through some very difficult times, by hiring people for work. It has been a stabilizing influence in the city since 1888.
FX Matt and son says they will rebuild. You can read more about the blaze here.
I think one of the nicest things a company can do for its employees is offer incentives and reward them with great incentives with loyalty programs. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Bellwether Rewards, but it looks so great! I surfed their website and here’s what I found:
Bellwether Travel Rewards are ideal for corporate rewards or employee rewards and recognition programs for employee motivation and business performance improvement. These include airfare, lodging, taxes, fees and ground transportation for the reward recipient and one guest, making this one of the best travel rewards programs available today.
…We are one of the top incentive travel companies in the emerging individual incentive travel market and our travel rewards programs have helped companies such as Medtronic, Anadarko Oil & Gas, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, First Tennessee Bank, Siemens ICN, Frito Lay and other highly successful organizations. Let us know how we can help your organization achieve its sales goals with our exciting corporate incentive programs.
That is a wonderful idea. I would LOVE it if my husband’s employers had such incentives. They’ve had other incentives (like employee of the month), but a travel incentive is THE best, bar none. Businesses can make better deals than individuals because they are more influential and have more “muscle.” Travel incentives can really do a lot for employee loyalty and morale. If you are an employer, or even an employee, check into it or ask your company about it.
Thanks to YouTube, we all know what viral videos are. Spoofs are usually the most popular (as far as I am concerned!), and the rise of viral videos is changing the face of the Internet and Internet marketing. Therefore it is not surprising that a “best of the best” festival would be held for the most effective and popular viral videos. The Viral Film Festival of 2008 will be held on April 28, in New York City. It sounds like fun!
Here’s the scoop from the website:
Vanksen Culture Buzz and BEFILM The Underground Film Festival are glad to invite you to a special “Viral Screening and Party” at: The Dolby Screening Room, April 28th 2008 at 7PM. The Dolby is conveniently located at 1350 Avenue of The Americas (at the corner of 55th St & 6 Ave).
Videographers have the chance to submit videos, until March 22 (better hurry!); see here. And if you want to attend the festival, register quickly, as space is limited.
Over Spring Break, we Mecombers got a great opportunity to visit our local Upstate newspaper organization, the Observer-Dispatch, in Utica. It was an enlightening visit, and the folks at the OD gave us a wonderful tour.
The building, a beautiful structure built in the early 1900s, seems like a fortress on an island in the middle of a flat wasteland of vacant lots. This was once the location of many manufacturing businesses and factories in the heyday of Upstate New York (1880s to 1950s). Utica, a workingman’s town, was never on the level of fancy Branson condos, but there are many handsome buildings in Utica. Several have been razed until a local group got together to purchase historical properties to restore them. Not far from where the OD sits Charles Grandison Finney led his blazing revivals in the 1820s and 30s. Utica was once part of the “burned-over” district, thus called because of the wave of zeal and piety that consumed the area. His revivals, proclaiming tenets of a “social gospel,” inspired the abolition movement and the justice-for-women movement in this nation. Someday I hope to write a post about the riveting history of this city, but for now I’ll (try to) stay focused on the history of the area’s most influential news outlet.
The Observer-Dispatch began in 1817, founded as the Utica Observer by Eliasaph Dorchester. It became the Observer-Dispatch after a merger in the 1920s, and became part of the Gannett publication outlet for the next 90 years. The newspaper was recently bought by GateHouse Media. Several new developments to the news organization have arisen, some which we were privy to during our tour.
When we entered the building, we came to the receptionist’s area. The paintings on the walls are very attractive, and, history students that we all are, were greatly encouraged by the precepts written here.
I closely surveyed the walls with interest. They are very well done. Hammurabi, Christopher Columbus, George Washington, and Ghandi are painted. Yet I was disappointed that the person most responsible for altering the entire history of mankind- Jesus the Christ- was not on the wall (although there is a cross).
We met our tour guide, Michelle. She made us feel at home as she directed us to the various parts of the building where all the action happens. We were guided to the third floor of the building, to the media department.
This department interested me the most. We met the new media director, Bill, and had some lively conversations– everything from homeschooling to Ed Hanna to newspaper ethics. Bill kept us hopping through the various departments, keeping up a constant conversation while streams of reporters darted between us. Bill brisked us through the empty sports department (empty since sports dudes work in the evenings).
Because of my background in radio and my interest in computer graphics, I loved learning about the creative aspect of reporting and design. I was absolutely enthralled, learning about the online features of the newspaper. The OD has an excellent online presence among media outlets. We met Fran, who heads up the internet newspaper department. He revealed to us some new developments pending for the online OD, including an entirely new look for the website (it looks great!), and the inception of some really amazing… well, they shared their plans with us but hadn’t told the boss yet. Suffice it to say that I think Fran does great on video. 
We talked for so long about so many interesting things that I couldn’t possibly mention them here. My youngest son, Sniffy, wrote an excellent narrative about our tour at my other travel blog. You can read it here. He did a great job and summed up our trip better than I could!
We were fascinated about the online department of the OD. I rely 100% on the online edition and we discussed the two most popular sections of the online OD: Breaking News headlines and the Obituaries! LOL!
After our tour of the media department, Michelle led us to various other departments: advertising, customer service, the classified ad area, etc. She led us down to the lower level of the building, where the papers are printed. I wish I had a better grasp of the process. It was a little sketchy to me, and in some rooms the machines were so noisy I couldn’t have heard anything if I wanted to. I was surprised to discover how technologically advanced printing a newspaper has become. I don’t know why, but I still had the idea of Gutenberg and movable type in my head. My, how naive I was! We watched several enormous machines create printing plates, which were thin metal sheets gently etched with lasers. It was amazing. These plates were created to be attached to large rollers and smeared with newsprint ink (a mix including organic materials). The rollers were run through these huge printing presses (in the next room). I found it unbelievable that such lightly etched metal plates could print such small print as I’ve read in a newspaper, and so meticulously. Regrettably, I couldn’t take any photos (due to the light-sensitive properties of the plates). I can only express my amazement at the technical capabilities of the printing process. Making a newspaper is a complicated process!
The room that held the presses was enormous. We could not delve very far into the room, but I took a few snapshots from my vantage point. If you click on the photos to see a larger view, the objects in the photos may be more comprehensible.
The next section we visited was the area where collation, packing, and stacking of the printed papers occurs. There were many people hard at work in these areas. The work must be grueling after a long day’s work. The photo below shows a collating machine. The Sunday comics (or, “funny papers” as I call them) were being prepared. Workers fed papers into the machine to fold the papers and combine them with other sections.
The folded papers that make up the interior sections of the Sunday newspaper edition were stacked by a noisy machine. The rhythmic banging of the levers was mesmerizing. It made me sleepy.
Workers in this end of the machine compiled the final paper in its entirety.
The newspaper was ready to be packed onto pallets and shipped throughout the Mohawk Valley.
Thus ended our tour! We comfortably chatted with Michelle about the Mohawk Valley and the OD. The paper has a circulation reaching into the hundreds of thousands, especially since the paper acquired its competitor, the Pennysaver, in 2004. It was a great educational experience to see the inner workings of a newspaper organization.
I’ve been slowly building up my New York Travel Map which is a visually-aided archive of all our travels. We’ve been to dozens and dozens of places in New York State. Using my map is an easier way to sift through the archives. Of course, there is a handy search feature I’ve included in the sidebar, too. But I highly recommend you check out my map! I’ve been working on it zealously. Here’s quick rundown of the most popular posts I’ve just recently added:
Chittenango State park, Chittenango, NY: This was our summer visit to a lovely state park in Central New York. The waterfall here is stunning. See the photos for yourself! And the falls are home to the acclaimed Novisuccinea chittenangoensis. Yes, it’s true!
The Old Stone Fort in Schoharie, NY. It was a wonderful trip through beautiful eastern New York. The museum was terrific! It had everything under the sun, and then some! Our visit here was a real delight. This is one we plan to visit again.
Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY. This is a wonderfully restored fort on the eastern rim of one of NY’s Great Lakes. The lake is gorgeous. I tried to get in as much of it’s beauty with the photos, as I could.
The Old Main, or Utica Lunatic Asylum, in Utica, NY. The building is on the National Registry of Historic Houses. What a beautiful old building, now in great disrepair. It served as the nation’s first treatment center for mental illness, then later became a place for alcohol and drug rehabilitation. The place is brimming with architectural and local history.
Oriskany Battlefield Memorial Site, Oriskany, NY: Home to the bloodiest battle of the American Revolution. Our visit here was filled with moments of swelling patriotic pride, and great sadness as we realized the tragedy that occurred here.
Fort Stanwix, Rome, NY: This continues to be one of the most popular posts of the New York Traveler. We adore Fort Stanwix, and it shows! This fort has everything: interactive displays, reenactments, music, movies, museums, friendly park rangers, and a terrific gift shop. We go here at least every year, and discover something new each time.
I have all these travels archived in the New York Travel Map, plus more. I encourage you to check it out! and thanks!
The Adirondack State Park, the largest protected park in the nation, is protected by New York’s Constitution. It is to remain “forever wild” (that’s not as a place for Legislators to have their drunken parties, but as a protected area for place for wildlife and plant life).
New York State has:
agreed to buy almost 58,000 acres of timberland as well as conservation easements on another 73,000 acres in the central Adirondacks from the nonprofit group that bought the land last year from a lumber company.
Interesting. The Adirondack Park is already about as large as the state of Vermont. It is truly an exquisite area, even to drive through.
Half of the Park is privately-owned, with a population of about 150,000. We haven’t explored the Park as much as we ought, only having seen Lake George, Fort Ticonderoga, Trenton Falls, Old Forge, and Hinckley Lake. We’re hoping to go camping and hiking up there sometime!
I read an article yesterday at Washingtonpost.com exposing the plight of travelers during airline checks; in particular, business travelers.
Maria Udy, a marketing executive with a global travel management firm in Bethesda, said her company laptop was seized by a federal agent as she was flying from Dulles International Airport to London in December 2006. Udy, a British citizen, said the agent told her he had “a security concern” with her. “I was basically given the option of handing over my laptop or not getting on that flight,” she said.
The seizure of electronics at U.S. borders has prompted protests from travelers who say they now weigh the risk of traveling with sensitive or personal information on their laptops, cameras or cellphones. In some cases, companies have altered their policies to require employees to safeguard corporate secrets by clearing laptop hard drives before international travel.
This is also happening for U.S. citizens. The story goes on to say that Udy never got her laptop (or information) back.
I will not travel via airlines– and it is exactly for this reason. I think that the “security measures” at the airlines breach more security than protect it! The confiscation of your personal information is an outrage! This kind of bullying in tyrannical. Business secrets are threatened, true, but also things like your Social Security number, your bank account numbers, your passwords, your emails, your telephone calls– everything could be stolen or used against you. I do not trust the “security measures” nor the “security personnel.” The best means of protecting your identity and your information is YOU.
No wonder companies like Lifelock are becoming so popular. I hear about it on the radio a lot, and now I’m seeing Internet ads everywhere. The guy at Lifelock makes this amazing claim and broadcasts his Social Security number, to prove how effective his guarantee is. It’s gotten my attention because I had my bank account number stolen from me a few years ago. To this day, I still have no idea how the crooks got my account number. It was a nightmare, getting everything secured and back in order: I had to close that one account, start another, get new checks, file a report with the local police and the State Attorney General’s office… etc etc. It was a very stressful time. And all the while I had no idea if this crook had any other of my information. Guarantees like Likelock gives are very appealing. I haven’t tried it yet, but if I travel abroad, I am definitely going to secure my information. For $10 a month, everything is guaranteed up to a $million. I think they do all the complicated and menial work for you, too, like removing your name from calling lists, and presenting fraud alerts to the credit bureaus, etc. I can’t believe that credit bureaus don’t secure your data unless you request it! It’s like everything is working against you by default. Crazy!
Identity theft protection will probably be a necessity, like it is with car insurance. If you travel and are forced to undergo “security” checks, please be careful with what information you travel. Perhaps you could print out your email and bank information and save it, before flushing it all out of your laptop or phone (or don’t bring those items at all). We may have to revert back to pen and paper, folks! But our information about us is becoming just as valuable– or more so– as the electronics with which we store it. And those credit card companies and banks really can’t be trusted to look out for your best interests; that’s why I think companies like Lifelock will be indispensable. I don’t trust anyone with my information, but me. But I can only control that information so much if data centers aren’t secure. All we can do is make sure our information is insured.
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