This Page

has been moved to new address

Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg outsmarted at every turn by smelly, unemployed, directionless kids

Sorry for inconvenience...

Redirection provided by Blogger to WordPress Migration Service
Left of the Hudson: Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg outsmarted at every turn by smelly, unemployed, directionless kids

Monday, October 31, 2011

Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg outsmarted at every turn by smelly, unemployed, directionless kids

The 99 Percent has once again outmaneuvered Mayor One Percent.

Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hoped to use an unannounced "health and safety inspection" to shut down #OccupyWallStreet once and for all. With cold weather coming, the NYPD and FDNY raided Zuccotti Park and seized the fuel and generators used by the demonstrators to power their media center and kitchen, among other necessities.

To many, it looked bleak for the movement. But the Occupiers are a resourceful bunch. Not inclined to surrender, a group of them drove up to Boston where they acquired a bunch of bicycle-based generators.

A cycling advocacy group called Times Up, helped out the demonstrators, doing an energy map of the park and determining that it would take 11 stationary bicycles pedaled continuously to keep everything humming. The bikes generate batteries which can last up to 100 hours and take care of all the Occupier's electricity needs. But it will take a lot of pedaling:
"It can take up to two hours of uninterrupted pedaling to reach 12.5 volts," said Ben Tevelow, an electrician from Brooklyn. He decided to join the project and put his skills to use when he heard about it in General Assembly.
We understand that there are about six bicycles hooked up right now, with several more to be assembled and put on the grid in the next few days. According to #OccupyWallStreet, it takes continuous pedaling of three bicycles to keep the media center running.

The bicycle generators give the saying "Power to the people" a whole new meaning.


Labels: , , ,

27 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You should note that all that pedaling will help keep them warm.

October 31, 2011 1:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@Anonymous And healthy. I've been to my own #Occupy* and many of our members were very portly. Personally, I'd love to show my support by pedaling on a bicycle generator! What a fantastically green idea.

October 31, 2011 1:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Leave it to the 99 Percent to outfox a 1 Percenter!

October 31, 2011 2:11 PM  
Blogger Caitriona Q said...

Let's continue to outfox the 1percenters. American entrepreneurial spirit!

October 31, 2011 2:35 PM  
Blogger firestorm117 said...

well it certainly won't help with the "smell factor" (get it? seewhatIdidthere?), but it helps with the fitness and warmth factor. Who needs a gym membership when you can Occupy Wallstreet! Giving a voice to the people who had none AND staying fit at the same time!

October 31, 2011 3:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Best headline ever. You've taken a small side story and truly embarrassed America's Mayor. Fantastic!

October 31, 2011 3:12 PM  
Anonymous Rocky Eades said...

Voluntary, co-operative free market solutions to government regulation!

October 31, 2011 3:20 PM  
Anonymous Lee said...

SELL THE GENERATORS THAT ARE BEING REPLACED TO FUND THE NEW BIKES!!!!

October 31, 2011 4:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They can't because they were stolen by the police (who mind you have no right to "confiscate" such equipment).

October 31, 2011 5:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

4th amendment seems to have been forgotten by the nypd

October 31, 2011 5:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rediculous.. Oh, we found alternative technology that we can use to bitch about being poor, now we just have to have the public pay for it!

I'm all for green energy and hats off to the protestors for figuring out a way around the police once again, but really? If you want it, buy it or make it yourself.

October 31, 2011 5:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's hope those generators do not suffer the same fate that happened to the heroin of "The French Connection" case.

October 31, 2011 5:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I haven't seen anything that implies public funds paid for the bikes.

October 31, 2011 6:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

all that time riding fixies has finally paid off

October 31, 2011 9:23 PM  
Anonymous Jason Schmidt said...

"American entrepreneurial spirit!"?

There is nothing entrepreneurial about keeping a protest going..
So why not create/sell this product/service that converts stationary bike pedaling back into power sold to the grid?

When we had jobs we complained about them. Now that we don't have jobs we complain about not having them.

Time to stop complaining about the entrepreneurs who made it rich and put your good ideas to good use. Remember, once you've achieved some success to give the guy in your mailroom an equal salary.

October 31, 2011 9:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's keep our eye on the ball here, this is not about the rich getting rich, there is nothing wrong with that. This is about crimes being committed on wall street that ruined the economy the world over, and only 1 person going to jail. This is about having 5 "lobbyists" to BRIBE our congress and senate to the point of the people no longer having a voice in their democracy.
Let's keep our eye on the ball here.

October 31, 2011 10:01 PM  
Anonymous Jason Schmidt said...

"Eye on the ball", good point, and I agree with you. But I would like to see some actionable items or list of concrete demands emerge from the Occupy movement. What bills could be introduced to limit unconscionable lobbying, etc.?

October 31, 2011 10:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"So why not create/sell this product/service that converts stationary bike pedaling back into power sold to the grid?"

According to a blog I found, a fit person can generate an average of 150W for a 30 minute period.

150W x 1hr = 0.15kWhr
Assuming $0.15/kWhr
0.15kWhr x $0.15 = $0.0225/hr

If used for 1 hr every day for a year that works out to a whopping $8.21. Don't let common sense stop you though.

October 31, 2011 11:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This has been going on at Occupy Portland since maybe Day 2.

November 1, 2011 1:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can corroborate the early adoption of bike generators at Occupy Portland. It's pretty awesome!

November 1, 2011 3:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The 99% is where the creativity has always been. Look for Bloomie or like minded currency scammers to fund a company that steals this creative concept. He will capitalize on it.. And all will be "right" in the world again.

Unless he is heavily invested in petroleums then Mikey and his thought grabbers will take it off the market...

The one just making a percent off the ninety nine.

November 1, 2011 6:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

AWESOME!!! <3

November 1, 2011 8:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My name is J.R.

Who sets up the schedules for the bike powering? Is it a voluntary list?

November 1, 2011 10:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Umm bikes that create electricity isn't new? It's been around for ages. But good for the protesters for finding a way around the police who stole their generators.

Also the protests are not about taking away capitalism, it's about correcting our structure and pointing out the massive gap between the 1% and the 99%.
It's about how corrupt the 1% is by them paying for lobbyists that literally bribe and manipulate our politicians and government to make laws and policies in their favor, which ultimately hurts the 99% even further.

November 1, 2011 11:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You don't honestly think that anyone here thinks that using bikes to generate power is new, do you? Pull your head out of it...

November 1, 2011 3:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@JasonSchmidt

You're right, OWS doesn't have any official demands, it's part of the design of the movement, "the demand" that they choose is a democratic process. This fact is part of how the movement has taken off so readily around the world, as well as the reason why they don't yet have a demand. Getting a democratic consensus takes time. (source: http://occupywallst.org/article/a-message-from-occupied-wall-street-day-five/)

That said, factions have come up with proposed demands for congress. It's currently in a state of public review and comment. I don't completely agree with the demands, but it's good that they're out there as well. (source: http://occupywallst.org/forum/specific-demand-and-action-list-for-washington-dc/)

Unfortunately knowledge of these demands and objectives have long since been lost in the noise of public recognition.

Just reading the comments on the above posts reveals how incredibly confused people are about what the rational, reason, and action behind the demands should be. That's only natural at this point. I'm hoping it'll be fleshed out with time and further organization.

November 1, 2011 4:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mayor Bloomberg is an asshole.

November 2, 2011 6:28 AM  

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home