Best products from r/Detroit

This is amazing. The idea is awesome, your research topic is awesome, and the execution and success of the club itself are beyond awesome. These are the kinds of things that make me excited about education- the chance to help young people learn the stuff you know they need by meeting them on their turf and handing them that knowledge through an activity or topic they chose as interesting. I have three monitors sitting unused at home. I don't know if any of them have HDMI, but checking will be the first thing I do when I get home tonight.

Meanwhile, I have an idea and some questions:

• 1. How many VGA-only monitors do you have access to for your club?
     
     
• 2. If those HDMI cables could plug into those VGA monitors, would that give you the numbers to support your attendance?
     
     
• 3. If that's still not enough, would you accept the donation of (surely more-numerous) VGA or DVI monitors, knowing that you can use them?
     
     The reason I ask is because this HDMI(in) to VGA(out) converter is only $5.39, and could be a really cost-efficient way to make those VGA monitors useful to any system! If you have or can get any monitors with DVI, this HDMI(in) to DVI(out) adapter cable is $6.49 and would allow you to keep the high-def digital signal. (Though as a teacher with experience running a tech-centered extracurricular club, I'd probably opt for the simpler solution and stick with one type of equipment, since any monitor with DVI will have VGA as well. Your call, though!)
     
     If this is a route you want to go, I recommend doing two things: create a DonorsChoose project (assuming these products are available- I can't check), and create a public Amazon wish list that you can share in places like this. If you've never done DonorsChoose before, I'd be thrilled to help you out- I had a ton of successful projects at my last teaching job here in Detroit, and had to outfit nearly my entire classroom through that program's donations.
     
     I assume your club doesn't have any funds to use toward these, but maybe if you show them to your principal and show how inexpensive they are, she could help you secure some unused funds from elsewhere in the extracurricular or IT budgets to get some.
     
     By the way- hello, fellow Iowan transplant! I grew up in Iowa City and got my education degree at ISU.
     
     EDIT: If people have monitors to donate but simply can't get them to you, I am willing to drive anywhere in the metro to meet them and pick up the donations, and get them to Cass Tech. If anybody reading this is in that situation, PM me! I'll gladly work something out with you.

One thing that I'd urge him to consider if he's serious about this is that the areas of Detroit that are doing best are the ones that are walkable (namely, Midtown and Downtown), and based on this streetview of Dexter and Davison, it's very, very much not walkable.

There are a few really great books on how you can start to make an area walkable: Walkable City by Jeff Speck was the first one that I read. I'd love to read more about a real strategy to make this the sort of place that people really want to live in, but that's a really, really hard job and is going to require some very deliberate execution.

A few steps that I believe would help a lot, all of which are pretty hard:

• Identify one or two adjacent areas of the neighborhood that already receive the most foot traffic. These are the areas you're going to improve.
  
• Work with the city to narrow the roads in these areas. People don't feel safe walking next to an eight lane road.
  
• Find one or two anchor tenants that will get people to come to the area. Something equivalent to what Craftwork and Sister Pie were for West Village.
  
• Make sure that any new development in the area makes things more walkable, not less. He mentions a new Flagstar bank, but if that new bank takes up too much space, it's going to disincentivize people from walking because banks aren't interesting to walk by compared to, say, a shoe shop with a display in the window or a pastry shop. (See Walkable City or Jane Jacobs's writing about how too many banks is actually a sign of an area becoming less walkable. I can't remember which.)
  
• Make sure that the area is as well connected to other already-walkable areas of town as possible.
  
  I know a lot of this probably sounds like "Shit, this guy is just trying to make his rough neighborhood better and might not have a ton of money to do it. How can you expect him to do this stuff?" This stuff is not easy, though: if it were, there would be a hell of a lot more walkable areas in Detroit. The fact of the matter is that you don't fix the city by making it look more like the suburbs, and his suggestions of adding a CVS, Aldi, Comerica, and Flagstaff don't make me terribly optimistic that he understands the factors that are making other areas attractive.

Awesome find, I’m a fan!

Do you know if the blue wire coming in was meant to be plugged into the wall, or to be attached to the other lights somehow? It looks like an AC connection (because of the chassis ground) but I don’t see anyplace for AC-DC conversion. Do you see any sort of module between the grey and the start of the LEDs, or is it just connected directly?

It’s tough to tell what exactly is going on inside the white packaging that says “SloanLED” but my guess is they just take 12V DC. If you can hunt down some specifications on that then that would be best, but if it were me I would honestly just start by seeing if it works by putting 12V right across the white wires (check the fine print on your laptop power supply, or any sort of “wall wart” that plugs into the wall and has a barrel jack on the other end to see if it has 12V).

Orrrrrrr if you don’t feel like guess and check is your game, skip it and just buy some of these to replace the existing LEDs:)

JOYLIT Flexible LED Strip Lights DC 24V White 6000-6500K No-Waterproof 6500K Super Bright 300 Units 5050 LED Tape Lights 5m https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073QNMS5J/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_g9XrDbXPV5RTQ

Try hatching mantes in your garden next year. I picked up two Ootheca eggs on ebay and so far I haven't had any pest issues in New Center.

I planted San Marzano tomatoes this year (shout out to Blocks for actually having them) and they're doing great so far. Various peppers, kale, romaine, lavender, eucalyptus, basil, mint, have also been doing great.
My spinach was the only thing that that gave me problems, but I didn't keep it cool enough during those super hot weeks so it's my own fault. Next year I'll mulch it or shade it better when the weather gets like that.

I was lucky enough to have an extra old dirt patch in my yard (about 5x4) so I mixed it with some compost and poured 30,000 wild flower seeds on top. Worked like a charm (pic). I also picked up a bee house from Meijer and it looks like the bees have been using it. Hopefully that means good things for next year. (Other places sell the bee houses but theirs were the least expensive.)

Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss is really good. It covers Detroit in the mid-1960s, when things were generally 'good,' but the cracks were already starting to show. One of my favorites I have read.

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The absolute best for what you described is Origins of the Urban Crisis, which others have mentioned here.

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I also recommend The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs. It talks about Detroit a lot, but isn't centered around Detroit, but it's very interesting. Her documentary is also on Netflix which I highly recommend, much more Detroit themed. She was a very influential person in Detroit and the United States in general, and I'm always shocked when I bring her up and people haven't even heard of her.

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Oh and Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison by Shaka Senghor is very good. It's a memoir but it also talks about what Detroit was like in the 1980s and kind of gives you a feel for the era of Detroit that we all know about, but there aren't many stories about.

Origins of the Urban Crisis, which is on that list, is a must-read.


I haven't read all the ones on that list but I recognize most of the titles and have heard good things; definitely seems like a good place to start.


I'm reading Once in a Great City now and it's fantastic.

It's good but there are better things out there for the same amount of money. I used to be into all this stuff, but now I'm so busy that I'm lucky if my truck gets washed once a month and even if it does; it's covered in dust and dirt from jobsites and home projects shortly after anyway. Hopefully when I build a garage this summer that will change.

I really couldn't recommend chemicals anymore, but I did purchase this last spring and was so busy that I haven't even used it yet, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PXZ919I/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You buy one of those and keep up on washing, claying, and once a year polishing and sealing and you're good. I think I purchased some Chemical Guys Paint Sealant to go with it. I'm a huge fan of Meguiar's cleaning chemicals by the gallon.

The article doesn't mention it, but I'm assuming it's based on the book Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story which was pretty good.

A few of my close friends have, all but, made me promise to write a book one day. The problem is, I can't use my real name. I can't use half the people's real names. So, can you really call it non-fiction? Sure the stories are true, but they're just disconnected events where the protagonist struggles valiantly follows his dick and his liver from one misadventure to the other. Maybe I have too much faith in the readership of this world, but you can really sum up the plot of way too much of my life as: I was bored so I went out drinking, then I got horny so (insert series of comical missteps here) but thanks to (luck/basic people skills/friends/proficient training in a wide array of otherwise useless arts, or some combination thereof) I end up not having to deal with the consequences of my otherwise idiotic behavior.

I guess on some level it's appealing. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Blur of Insanity. Seriously, it's $20 on Amazon, it's worth dusting off the DVD player and watching. I guess it follows the same basic plot of being bored, doing stupid shit to amuse yourself, then going through great lengths not to deal with the consequences. Damn, I think I am going to watch it now. And I guess, I do find that real life aspect lacking in a lot of main stream productions. The Ringer was a good example of where it would have been a much better movie if the guy was just trying to rig the Special Olympics to finance a coke-fueled trip Vegas where he spent two weeks up to his ears in strippers. Why does there always have to be some noble purpose behind bad behavior? 90% of the best times of my life happened because the alternative was being bored.

Thanks, though.

http://smile.amazon.com/Slime-Smart-Schrader-Bicycle-1-75-2-125/dp/B000ENMLFK/ref=sr_1_3?s=cycling&ie=UTF8&qid=1413251123&sr=1-3&keywords=bike+tube thats the product i'm talking about. If youre new to cycling I would recommend taking the wheel on and off and replacing the tube a few times before you ever attempt to take this route. Changing a tube is super easy, but If I didn't know how to do it the last place I would want to learn is the side of the road. The goo wheel might help, but having general bike knowledge is going to help even more.

You might be interested in this book:

>Bryan Caplan argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skill but to certify their intelligence, work ethic, and conformity--in other words, to signal the qualities of a good employee.

>He advocates two major policy responses. The first is educational austerity. Government needs to sharply cut education funding to curb this wasteful rat race. The second is more vocational education, because practical skills are more socially valuable than teaching students how to outshine their peers.

This may not be what you're looking for but I'm a gearhead. I've read a number of pretty good books about the auto industry that center in and around Detroit:

1. Iacocca
   
   
2. The Delorean Story
   
   
3. Glory Days
   
   
4. All Corvettes Are Red
   

Super specific books like this one and the unofficial Pyrex one are awesome.

"The Detroit Almanac" the Free Press made for the tricentennial back in 2001

https://www.amazon.com/Detroit-Almanac-Peter-Gavrilovich/dp/0937247340

Anyone who wants to have a conversation about housing policy, segregation, home ownership, employment, or access to credit in Detroit must read Thomas Sugrue's Origins of the Urban Crisis.

It is mandatory reading and homework for anyone who wants an informed discussion about Detroit's housing policy development, past and present.

Reading a handful of articles might not cut it. There is a lot going on. I recommend reading The Origins of the Urban Crisis.

You want to read this:

http://www.amazon.com/Arc-Justice-Civil-Rights-Murder/dp/0805079335

Dieses Buch wird deine Präsentation machen.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Origins-Urban-Crisis-Inequality/dp/0691121869