Radio Galaxy

In New York, we bottle chutzpah

In case you hadn’t seen enough signs of the apocalypse lately, I’ll lay another one on you.

This businessman from Ohio came to New York in 2003, drank a glass of water, and got an idea. He’d put our local tap water in a bottle and sell it for a buck-fifty a pop. This is not a joke:

Tap’dNY is a New York City bottled water company with a local twist and knack for honesty. We don’t travel the world from Fiji to France seeking water or offer the usual bottled water gimmicks. We work with NYC’s public water system to source the world’s best tasting tap water, purify it through reverse osmosis and bottle it locally, leaving out ludicrous transportation miles.

We offer an honest and local alternative to thirsty New Yorkers, giving them a smarter choice: to drink their own (award winning) water.

I’m waiting for my fellow citizens to laugh this guy out of town. Please, people. Start laughing.

Anyone?

I interviewed a Mississippi economist yesterday who told me my home state’s labor force has grown all of .1 percent since 2000 — .1 percent. This economics gig is still foreign territory to me, but even I can see it’s hard to prosper that way. The economist said people just aren’t moving to Mississippi the way they are to other Southern states, including tough ones like Alabama. He said they’ve got no reason to go to Mississippi, or at least very little reason.

Though I see friends of mine hanging on back in Rankin County, I’ll likely never join them. That’s a bittersweet fact of life for me, and I suspect for any number of people who now live and work far from where they grew up.

Anyway. Sarah Goodyear sent over this account by someone fleeing Hurricane Gustav this week. Loki followed the unraveling Katrina situation three years ago. This time he says his family met with troopers blocking the highway exits in my state — the universal code for “keep moving, partner.” We might ought to find a way to say welcome, y’all.

Bonus:
Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster
The Gambit’s wonderful New Orleans blog

This must be the kind of thing city people do that drives the rest of the world nuts. Twitter pal @electricrider sends this clip from last year’s Brompton folding bicycle world championship.

I’m about to hop on mine and head into work. The next championships take place Sept. 28, in the U.K. So really, I’m not commuting. I’m training. See?

Bonus: The Brompton World Championship