Miscellaneous

EGA, Kansas City Marathon

Posted on October 16, 2010
EGA, Kansas City Marathon

I've been doing a bit of food writing

Posted on October 15, 2010
I've been doing a bit of food writing lately. It  isn't an altogether new topic for me, but I'm struck by how much more difficult it is to do than I would have thought. The chief problem is, as in most writing, avoiding cliché, and this is further complicated by virtue of the fact that most of the time I am writing about things I've enjoyed ...

Paul Ceglia, some guy from Wellsville

Posted on October 15, 2010
Paul Ceglia, some guy from Wellsville (and trust me, nothing good has ever come out of Wellsville), says that Mark Zuckererg did some coding for him seven years ago, and along the way gave him a majority stake in "The Facebook". He brought an action in Allegheny County, which is in the exact middle of nowhere, and Facebook removed the action to federal court, on the grounds of diversity...

Okay, enough. Our language is filled

Posted on October 14, 2010
Okay, enough. Our language is filled with colorful expressions, but they deserve to be used properly and the Paladino campaign, among its other sins, is guilty of twisting useful turns of phrase out of their useful meanings. This first came to my attention during the now infamous, "I'm going to take you out, buddy," confrontation between Carl and NY Post reporter Fred Dicker...

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I just finished emptying out the

Posted on October 13, 2010
I just finished emptying out the car, a dreary task, and now I come upon this piece: Nine Quick Tips to Identify Clutter.  I tried to be pretty aggressive about keeping extraneous stuff out of the car, but I still filled two banker's boxes with stuff, and I left behind quite a bit of certifiable clutter...

I think it is interesting that

Posted on October 12, 2010
I think it is interesting that Carl Paladino can send (or forward, if you insist) emails degrading women and African-Americans and the reaction amounts to a shrug, but when makes a bigoted remark about gay people it is essentially game over. Is this because his crazy has had a cumulative effect? I think probably that's it, but even so it is a pleasing development, and it reflects well on New York.

Car 1 ran a red light at Pearl

Posted on October 09, 2010
Car 1 ran a red light at Pearl & Tupper. Car 2, eastbound on Tupper, was spun around and ended up facing north on the opposite side of Pearl. I've had better afternoons, let me tell you. I am unharmed, but I fear for the Volvo. I got over the terror part pretty quickly, and although I was furious I managed to contain it, but I am still annoyed with the Buffalo Police Department...

Llosa. Didn't see that coming.

Posted on October 07, 2010
Llosa. Didn't see that coming.

Last year New York amended its

Posted on October 06, 2010
Last year New York amended its General Obligations Law, adding section 5-335, "Limitation of non-statutory reimbursement and subrogation claims in personal injury and wrongful death actions". It provides, inter alia, that "[w]hen a plaintiff settles with one or more defendants in an action for personal injuries...

This year's Rock and Roll Hall

Posted on October 04, 2010
This year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees. I hate this institution, even though I love many of these artists. By what metric, for example, does Tom Waits qualify? He is an inventive, genre expanding artist to be sure, but apart from the Eagles' cover of Old 55 and Rod Stewart's of Downtown Train what has he written that was a hit in any meaningful sense of the term? Christgau gave A- ratings to 4 out of the 21 releases he reviewed; by Christgau's lights Waits has about a 3...

To The Social Network last night,

Posted on October 03, 2010
To The Social Network last night, not a lawyer movie, but worth mentioning in this context because lawyers provide the framing device- a big portion of the story is related in flashback as the characters are questioned in depositions. The deposition scenes are closer to being accurate than that sort of thing usually is, particularly when people get exasperated, but the lawyers are just suits for the most part...

I hadn't realized that Carl Paladino

Posted on October 02, 2010
I hadn't realized that Carl Paladino owned the land the Seneca bought to build the Buffalo casino. Nothin' wrong with that, per se. It's just interesting. Wayne Barrett is shocked, shocked, that Paladino's campaign staff is full of dubious characters, but that's just Village Voice stuff-- nobody cares about that...

I go to funerals. I know some people

Posted on September 30, 2010
I go to funerals. I know some people don't-- they find them morbid, or depressing, or they reckon the time to acknowledge someone is while the person is alive, or whatever, but I go. Given my upbringing and where I live the overwhelming majority of the funerals I attend are Catholic...

Plaintiffs must provide access

Posted on September 30, 2010
Plaintiffs must provide access to their social media sites-- Facebook, MySpace-- regardless of the privacy settings the plaintiff has elected. Romano v. Steelcraft. This is huge. Bob Kelner has the plaintiff, and says he may go up on it. The argument he makes by analogy is not bad: "We feel that there is a huge difference between what an individual puts on the electronic media for public consumption and what you put on the media that is designated [as] private...

Obama on Dylan:"Here's what I love

Posted on September 29, 2010
Obama on Dylan:"Here's what I love about Dylan: He was exactly as you'd expect he would be. He wouldn't come to the rehearsal; usually, all these guys are practicing before the set in the evening. He didn't want to take a picture with me; usually all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn't show up to that...

My biggest disappointment in the

Posted on September 28, 2010
My biggest disappointment in the NY gubernatorial race has got to be that Rick Lazio has withdrawn as the Conservative Party candidate.  We had a shot at eliminating the ballot line there-- no way Ricky could have drawn the requisite 50,000 votes-- but it was not to be...

This account of Carl Paladino's

Posted on September 27, 2010
This account of Carl Paladino's life and career seems factually accurate, but I'm not sure it captures the nuance of life in Buffalo. It emphasizes his confrontations with African-American officials-- Byron Brown, the present mayor, Jim Pitts, the former City Council President, James Williams, the current Superintendent of Schools-- but I'm not so sure that the take-away from those feuds should be that the guy is a bigot...

Per Mike Tanier in the NYTimes:

Posted on September 26, 2010
Per Mike Tanier in the NYTimes: "Ryan Fitzpatrick replaces Trent Edwards as the unlucky soul who stands behind the Bills' offensive line and braces for impact." I can't recall a season when the fans have quit this early, but I don't go back with this team all that far: I grew up a Jets fan...

To Michael Feinstein at the Buffalo

Posted on September 25, 2010
To Michael Feinstein at the Buffalo Philharmonic, LCA's birthday present. Feinstein was in fine form, and loving every minute of being in front of the orchestra, which was conducted by his musical director, John Otto. He is clearly living the dream, and what's great about him is that he is happy to share his enjoyment...

I'm not sure why I think it is

Posted on September 24, 2010
I'm not sure why I think it is interesting, but just for fun I looked up where the gubernatorial candidates went to school. Cuomo went to Archbishop Malloy, Fordham and Albany Law (Marists and Jesuits-- interesting. His father, a St. John's man, used to correct people who said he was Jesuitical by pointing out that he'd actually been trained by Vincentians...

Bills QB recap. I'd forgotten about

Posted on September 24, 2010
Bills QB recap. I'd forgotten about Kelly Holcomb.And speaking of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers, last night I caught the end of a show called Pitmasters, a cracker version of Top Chef. One of the judges was Warren Sapp, who seems to have mellowed in retirement...

Maps of Europe.

Posted on September 24, 2010
Maps of Europe.

I miss this New York.

Posted on September 23, 2010
I miss this New York.

Race and ethnicity maps. Buffalo

Posted on September 22, 2010
Race and ethnicity maps. Buffalo is here. The concentration of Asians on the West Side is what is the most interesting to me-- I wouldn't have guessed that.

Captain X lent me Geeta Dayal's

Posted on September 22, 2010
Captain X lent me Geeta Dayal's "Another Green World"-- part of Continuum's 33 1/3 series. I'd forgotten how much I love this album, in part because I never bothered getting it on CD. My vinyl copy is still in the stacks-- when did I buy it? It would have been before 1978, because we were well-familiar with Eno before "More Songs About Buildings and Food"-- and before Devo, for that matter...

What else belongs on this list?Let's

Posted on September 22, 2010
What else belongs on this list?Let's Get It OnBreakdown.....There's a great mixtape there.

Things I've been wondering about

Posted on September 21, 2010
Things I've been wondering about lately, but haven't bothered to properly research:What was the last instrumental Top 40 hit? (Actually, a list of instrumental Top 40 hits would be an interesting thing to see. This list takes it out to 1979, but that doesn't answer my question...

Lady Gaga is right. And good for

Posted on September 21, 2010
Lady Gaga is right. And good for her. This whole debate has grown tiresome. There is no place for bigotry in our society, and past experience has demonstrated that an excellent place to start addressing the problem is in the military. People don't like it? Don't serve.

I have written to the Cuomo, Paladino,

Posted on September 20, 2010
I have written to the Cuomo, Paladino, and (what the hell) Lazio campaigns and asked each of them, "To what civic, cultural or charitable organizations does [the candidate] personally contribute?"I'll post responses, naturally. Anybody interested in a side bet as to which candidate will look the best by this metric?

Ok Go. Best video since their last

Posted on September 20, 2010
Ok Go. Best video since their last one? Maybe. Maybe their best ever.

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