Thursday, October 18, 2012

Isn't there an app for that?


EVG reader Paul Kostabi sent along this photo from Lafayette and Great Jones yesterday... resourceful smartphone owner tapping into a lamp post for a charge... We'll probably really marvel at this one in about, oh, 50 years.

29 comments:

Jeremiah Moss said...

homeless people used to do this with crappy old television sets. they'd sit around it like it was a campfire.

now it's the privileged class tapping in with their status-symbol gadgets. amazing.

Anonymous said...

Those things often have frayed live wires in there. Electrocution is not a good look.

Anonymous said...

Seems like a nice way to get a serious shock or even electrocuted. Dumb iZombie.

Anonymous said...

I've seen several less-priviledged-but-not-homeless people doing the same thing while waiting for the bus on St. Mark's & A for their non-smart phones - saves on your home electricity bill, and sometimes, you just run out of juice.

Pumpkin Patch said...

Poor girl, from the look of the charger wire it's not even an iPhone.

Anonymous said...

Right, and iPhone owners are rich. PP exemplifies the mentality of the new EV inhabitants that everyone must conform and look down on those that are different. Keep drinking that iZombie juice and following Steve's cult.

Mike N said...

Jeremiah, you're stretching a bit here.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

She has the skills to wire a lamp post to charge a phone? How now brown cow?

Anonymous said...

PLEASE NOTICE ME!!!

esquared™ said...

You better plug, plug it, girl, do your thing on the lamp post. Turn to the left, plug, now turn to the right
plug, sashay, shanté...

Anonymous said...

Great - that now leaves wires on the street and a dog can get electrocuted. UGH people are so lame.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of hanging out in the local park(Brooklyn) in the 1970's when we would plug a turntable in to the light pole and play albums.

Robbie Fields said...

I was with Paul when he snapped this pose.

In fact, on our first pass, she responded with a smile to Paul's greeting. On our 360 around the post, she agreed readily to have her crime documented.

It did occur to me that she could be taking a chance with the wires, though there was clearly an existing female plug dangling. Be sure to wear rubber soles, folks, before trying this yourself.

jules said...

before i could get a free iphone (still a 3G girl), i did carry my charger with me everywhere. i'd plug it in anywhere b/c batteries didn't last that long. if you have a long day out, you did what you must.

BabyDave said...

I have always wanted to know how to do this. If this child can pull it off, it can’t be as life-threatening as one might think tapping into the city’s power system would be.
A favorite memory from several years ago was seeing a familiar street character (who was usually in a wheelchair) on the ground near a lamppost. Thinking he had fallen and needed aid, I started over to him. But he was just fine, lounging on his side watching his television courtesy of NYC electricity.









Anonymous said...

God, she's EVIL! Look at her, enjoying her relative comfort! Why isn't she wearing a sackcloth and ashes in mourning of our own lost youth and cheap rents! Damn her! The sooner we build a wall around the neighborhood the better....

EV Grieve said...

There were also several comments that didn't make it through that had variations of "plug" and "tap" in them.

Spike said...

I like how the wire looks like the cracks in the cement.

Lindsay said...

Hey everyone! Let's be super quick to judge! hahahah

Joe Blow said...

Somebody had already wired this up.. Its not that hard. If they used tape it is as safe as any socket.

if they left exposed wires twisted together...

Jeremiah Moss said...

what's the stretch? it's a fact--you used to see homeless and other marginal people doing this with TVs all the time. now you don't. and here's a non-marginal person doing it with her iPhone. it's an interesting shift, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

I think she's sexy in a Chloe Sevigny way!

Crazy Eddie said...

@Spike 2:50 PM-Crack is wack!.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed that she knows how to steal electricity from a lamppost- that is the domain of the sqatters of the old days. i am worried that technological illiterates would copy this foxy gal doing this move and get zapped. That would suck... the life out of you.

Anonymous said...

That's a loaded response ..call me maybe

Anonymous said...

Hey Grieve....looks like the NY Post stole this story from you without giving proper credit: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/cell_charges_socket_to_the_city_wOjmySQYr9AxCGsmPh6lDJ

Anonymous said...

If you find yourself constantly needing to charge your phone, it's simply time to replace the battery. As cool and suave as this chick is trying to look, standing around in public waiting for your phone to charge is a real doofus move.

Anonymous said...

@Jeremiah Moss,

It's probably a stretch to call her a member of "the privileged class" as she's standing out on the street corner for 30 minutes. If she was privileged she would probably pop into a wine bar and use theirs.

It's also a stretch to call it a status-symbol gadget. It's just a phone, and phones have as much status as digital watches these days.

BR said...

@Robbie Fields

Can I just say that I'm endlessly amused? You and your friend's request for this photo op brought a bit of cheer to my otherwise rotten mood. Also, HTC sucks.