$webpage

In the E-Vill:

Approximate U.S. federal debt: $9,500,000,000,000 (about $31,000 per person) ¹

Approximate U.S. federal debt, including unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, etc: $59,100,000,000,000 (about $193,000 per person) ¹

Approximate yearly spending on interest on federal debt: $240,000,000,000, 9.5% of the federal budget (about $783 per person) ¹

2007 inflation rate: 3.9 ²

Average increase in teacher salaries in 2007: 2.9 ²

Percentage of Swedish gross national income given to aid developing countries: 1.03 ³

Percentage of U.S. gross national income given to aid developing countries: 0.17 ³

Amount the U.S. government just deposited in my bank account in the hopes that I will spend as recklessly as them: $600

Amount I am to donating to places the government should be funding instead of trying to get people to buy new TVs: $600

Join me.

The list so far:

The IRC

Save Darfur

Environmental Defense

Doctors Without Borders

The Polaris Project

Suggestions?

_{1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt}

_{2. http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/teacher_salaries_cut_by_inflation}

_{3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_development_assistance}

Courtesy of mapmyride.com and google, a bird’s eye view of my cycling path to work:

It looks far, but that’s only 5.4 miles, about 25% of which is on the Brooklyn Bridge bike path. Maybe 10% of it is outside marked bike lanes. NYC is a terrible place to drive and a wonderful place to bike.  Where else would you see traffic lights just for bikes?

This one had to be broken up into multiple galleries:

Israel Part 1 – Before the wedding: Gush Etzion, Herodium,  lots of Jerusalem

Israel Part 2 – The wedding, at a kibbutz near Jerusalem

Israel Part 3 – After the wedding: Beit She’an, Galilee, Tsfat, Haifa, Dead Sea

I’ll write more if I get a chance.  For now, the captions will have to do.

Cyprus pics are up here.

Israel pics will come shortly.

I put together a new homepage, based on this wordpress theme.  It seems to make more sense, given how rarely I find time to write here.

I have a lot to write, but I also have a lot to do.  This week was theater-overload week.  Last weekend: Spring Awakening (fun).  Last night: Sizwe Banzi (excellent).  This coming Sunday: Avenue Q (both). All week: beautiful sunny days with scattered explosions of blooming flowers and trees – my first spring with deciduous plant life.  I get to ride my 1970s road bike (yay craigslist!) to work, and try not to let the nice weather and amazing views off the bridge distract me from the mad cabbies.

I have a giant shared google document of restaurants to try and things to do in New York City.  I’m going to work on putting that up here soon, because it’s becoming a useful resource.  I also have pictures from Cyprus and Israel to post soon.  So much to do, so little time (at home with nothing better to do)!