Polkadot Persuasion: A Few Unimportant Things

I'm starting to really like writing total crap in different styles. I'm thinking maybe I should start a crap poetry blog too; so I can pretend like I know how to write it and--hopefully--fool others into thinking so.

Anyway, among other projects that I have going on, I've recently found myself quite entranced with Project Euler. I haven't worked with difficult math or programming problems that weren't essentially text processing or automation in years. I'm debating whether or not I should do the Project Euler stuff using a language I'd like to learn instead of a language I already know. So far I've only knocked out three problems in Perl, but it's more fun than I really think it ought to be.

Yo La Tengo played at McCarren Pool yesterday, the last of the so-called Pool Parties. These parties were great. You take an abandoned public pool that's dry and filled with weeds and graffiti, clear out the weeds, add some porta potties, and put in a big ass stage. If you then throw in a few slip and slides, some beer tents, and a dodgeball championship you have a rockin' good time on your hands. Previous acts played included I'm From Barcelona, TV On The Radio, The Breeders, Blonde Redhead, The Hold Steady, Liars, and many more. I'm going to catch Sonic Youth there this weekend as well.

The reason I bring this up is that they're not doing it anymore. The City of New York, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to spend millions of dollars turning the former unused public pool into a...public pool. They're going to renovate it and turn it into a big modern public pool monstrosity that, let's face it, no one is really ever going to use. Williamsburg and Greenpoint are populated almost exclusively by young white people these days, many of them hipsters. These fashion-conscious trendy people are not the kind of people to go spend the day at a public pool that kids pee in. Sure, the kids will get to use it and that's great, but even the Red Hook public pool isn't used heavily. The Pool Parties, which happen every Sunday during the season in which the pool would be open, draw a huge crowd and everybody enjoys themselves and has a good time. As a paid concert venue, it's great. It's outdoors, large, and provides a large space for enjoying shows that is a luxury in a city this dense.

Unfortunately, it seems that the City of New York doesn't realize that a large public music venue in the center of one of it's trendiest neighborhoods might be a better thing than a public pool. Everyone likes a pool, and everyone likes free things, but that empty trashed pool has seen more use in the past two years than it's probably seen since 1940. It's not sickening, but it is sad to see something that so many people enjoyed getting shut down so a city can spend millions of our tax dollars turning it into something that far fewer people are going to enjoy.

On the other hand, as the popularity of the Pool Parties has increased, so have the lines. The crowds have grown progressively and the event, like the neighborhood it borders, has taken an elitist tone. If McCarren Pool were to stay around as a venue, either the Pool Parties would eventually become a shadow of the greatness that they were, or end up being cancelled altogether. It was inevitable really, but it shouldn't be inevitable with a price tag.