Another "I knew him when" story
I used to live on 7th Avenue, between 13th and 14th Street. I don't remember what was on the corner when I first moved in, but I remember when they set up an animal hospital on the corner. I'd see this guy pull up to the curb with his pet ambulance and carry wounded critters in on stretchers. It seemed as if this one doctor and an assistant were doing all the work.
At some point, I met Doctor Mark Gibson, and talked with him on a number of occasions about Macs and software. Very nice guy. His hospital is called "Animal Kind." Very focused. Very dedicated.
He's since moved to a 4-story hospital facility up the street, with a lot of staff. We take Friday there for check-ups.
So, it was a pleasant surprise to go to the Apple site the other day, and instantly recognize doctor Mark on the splash page. He's one of the success stories in the Switch Campaign.
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Just discovered a new site called artkrush.com. It's based in Brooklyn. Very interesting stuff. It's an art magazine that's completely committed to the online format. I can see I'm going to be mining this site for some time to come.
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Value of a life?
It's a year now, and we're still in the throes of calculating compensation for the families of the vicitms of the 9/11 tragedy. Earning power comes into the picture - those who earned more are somehow more deserving of compensation, the logic goes. This from the Times this past weekend:
...Indeed, more than 250 Cantor [Fitzgerald] victims had incomes above the 98th percentile. ...
The average age of Cantor's 658 victims was 38, and the report contends that the fund is biased against single victims. ...
Of the 52 families who have already been offered awards averaging $1.57 million apiece, 25 have accepted, 5 have asked for hearings to appeal the decisions and the others have not yet responded. ...
Said another way, 38% of the Cantor-Fitzgerald people who were killed in WTC were among the top 2% of income earners in the country [effectively, the world?]. Interesting to note that when news people associate a company name with the WTC disaster, Cantor-Fitzgerald is more than likely the only name mentioned.
