Miscellaneous

A bit of trivia that's being trotted

Posted on August 02, 2008
A bit of trivia that's being trotted out quite a bit lately is that only three US Presidents have been sitting Senators when elected. The last one was JFK, and I sat down with a pencil the other night to try and figure out who the other two were. The first order of business was to list them...

Over the past few months I have

Posted on August 01, 2008
Over the past few months I have been doing a bit of formal Dylanology, and I expect that the fruits of this will see publication before the year is out. For the project I conducted a survey of the commercially available live Dylan sides, and concluded, inter alia, that the interesting re-working of his material that he has been doing in recent years is unfortunately under-represented...

An amusing piece on writing for

Posted on July 31, 2008
An amusing piece on writing for lifestyle magazines."Not too long ago, I was at a party with a number of people who have successful careers in lifestyle journalism. I was chatting with a beautiful, sexy friend who writes for a magazine that covers luxury spa vacations...

Alberto Gonzales hasn't had a full-time

Posted on July 30, 2008
Alberto Gonzales hasn't had a full-time job since his resignation. He's been scraping by giving a handful of talks at colleges and before private business groups.And I say good. There are almost too many ways that the Bush Administration has damaged the country to properly number, but among the most prominent is the degradation of our international reputation...

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I didn't watch as much of the Tour

Posted on July 29, 2008
I didn't watch as much of the Tour de France as I'd have liked to this year, although I did follow it. It's good viewing when giving blood, I've found: soothing and exciting at the same time, the way a baseball game can be. Part of what makes it so much fun is the lore: we all know about the yellow jersey, but the other traditions, like the polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey and the Lanterne Rouge are just as cool.

Useful guide to avoiding bike accidents.

Posted on July 23, 2008
Useful guide to avoiding bike accidents. Bottom line: people in cars can't see you. It is your job to (a) realize that they are idiots; and (b) proceed accordingly. The right turn is what I fear the most. (Via Flutterby.)

Although it is past mid-July the

Posted on July 22, 2008
Although it is past mid-July the search for my personal hit single of the summer continues. A current contender is "Sequestered in Memphis" by the Hold Steady (which you can listen to here). The number gets bonus points for dealing with legal issues in its hook: "Subpoenaed in Texas/Sequestered in Memphis"-- what's not to like about that? And it's not even the best line in the song.

Up early yesterday to take CLA

Posted on July 21, 2008
Up early yesterday to take CLA to the airport for her Dutch adventure. When I got home I didn't really feel like running. It was one of those days where it was either going to be raining or so humid that rain would be a welcome relief, and hot on top of it...

I was interested, but hardly surprised

Posted on July 18, 2008
I was interested, but hardly surprised by yesterday's NYTimes article about the problems the American Red Cross is experiencing with its blood collection services. Because I'm a platelets donor I get called once a month or so, and have had a chance to regularly observe the inefficiencies in our local operation...

EGA invited me to join Goodreads,

Posted on July 17, 2008
EGA invited me to join Goodreads, a site that is something like Facebook, I suppose, dedicated to what you and your friends are reading or have read. It kinda looks like EGA is using it to procrastinate, but I am living in a glass house myself on that score...

Facestat is a site that allows

Posted on July 16, 2008
Facestat is a site that allows one to upload a headshot for others to evaluate. The site allows you to select some questions that call for one-word answers. Political affiliation, for example. (Apparently I look conservative.) How old do you think I am? (Big winner here: 45...

I've been reminded that I have

Posted on July 15, 2008
I've been reminded that I have not mentioned seeing "King Lear" at Shakespeare in Delaware Park two weeks ago. We were at the "streaker show" and if the Buffalo News thinks that couple was in their 30's they have a very different body image for the typical Western New Yorker than I do...

I was a pretty deft hand at the

Posted on July 11, 2008
I was a pretty deft hand at the skillet this week, but due to a series of miscommunications not everybody got to enjoy it. Earlier my sister-in-law and her children stopped at Mighty Taco on their way over to our house; they missed out on a nice grass-fed London broil with a Bernaise sauce that came out rather well...

Judge Skretny has ruled that the

Posted on July 08, 2008
Judge Skretny has ruled that the Seneca's downtown Buffalo Buffalo casino was not properly authorized by the Department of the Interior to run gaming operations-- the land is theirs, and it is "Indian country" but it is not "gaming eligible". In order for the Buffalo property to have been gaming eligible under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act the Buffalo parcel had to have been acquired pursuant to the settlement of a land claim, but the Seneca Nation Settlement Act was not enacted to settle a land claim...

I was just thinking about backup

Posted on July 08, 2008
I was just thinking about backup bands the other day. You know who was pretty good was Elton John's band back in the mid 70's. I don't really like Elton John-I think his singing is whiny, and there isn't a single Bernie Taupin lyric that isn't just slightly wrong enough to wreck the song, except for the Bernie Taupin lyrics that are flat out stupid...

I was sorry to learn that The Honorable

Posted on July 07, 2008
I was sorry to learn that The Honorable David J. Mahoney died over the weekend. If there was ever a judge that deserved the honorific "honorable" it was Judge Mahoney, who was liked by everyone, and who, throughout his career on the bench and at the bar, worked to diminish conflict rather than foster it...

I was trying to work Jessie Helms

Posted on July 05, 2008
I was trying to work Jessie Helms into yesterday's post, and couldn't turn the corner. I like the headline in the Village Voice: Jesse Helms Finally Dies; but I think this obit, from the Guardian, really captures how destructive the hateful son of a bitch was: not only did he stand for just about every despicable quality embodied by the American Right, he devised a corrupt system of campaign finance to promote it...

To the Bison's game last night,

Posted on July 04, 2008
To the Bison's game last night, our first time this season. It was a 13 inning barn burner which the Herd lost, 7-6, after tying the game with a four run ninth inning charge. They lost the crowd as soon as they went into extras-- it was a full house, but most people were there for the Philharmonic and the fireworks...

Good survey of regional hot dog

Posted on July 03, 2008
Good survey of regional hot dog styles.

It is embarassing to be scooped

Posted on July 01, 2008
It is embarassing to be scooped on this, but it's a great story nevertheless: Adam Liptak reports that Justice Roberts incorrectly quotes "Like A Rolling Stone" in his dissenting opinion in Sprint Communications v. APCC Services. Per Roberts:"The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing," Chief Justice Roberts wrote...

Al Kooper's "Backstage Passes and

Posted on June 29, 2008
Al Kooper's "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor" assumes that we're more interested in Al Kooper than perhaps we really are. Kooper is at pains throughout the book to point out that many rock histories are written without talking to people who were in the room, and that many inaccuracies are perpetrated as a result...

Just because I was first doesn't

Posted on June 26, 2008
Just because I was first doesn't make this Observer article wrong-- Howard Dean was had the right strategy, and if he hadn't become the target of mockery he'd have been a stronger candidate than Kerry. Dean was a target of a press that was still in a swoon over Bush, and yes, I'm thinking of St...

One of the things that I like about

Posted on June 25, 2008
One of the things that I like about judging moot court is that it gives you an advance look into the issues that the real courts are dealing with. Unless you follow the Supreme Court a lot more closely than most people the tendency is not to notice what cases the justices accept, so when the decisions are made we don't really have the background on them which might put the law in better context...

Although a bit too Brit oriented,

Posted on June 24, 2008
Although a bit too Brit oriented, I thought this piece on books that haven't survived their time is provocative. "This was an interesting, if not entirely scientific, exercise. For many, it provided the opportunity to wallow in what we might call antinostalgia; the shaking of the ageing head and the muttered ?My God, were we stupid enough to fall for all that claptrap??...

I rode by the stable on my way

Posted on June 23, 2008
I rode by the stable on my way home from the City Honors Bike Trip. There was a woman standing across the street with a petition to save the stable, so I signed it, but I have no idea what is proposed. As you can see there is little left beyond the facade, and even that is much more badly damaged than is often shown.

Last evening I had a meeting down

Posted on June 19, 2008
Last evening I had a meeting down by Kleinhan's, so I took a moment to ride my bike past White's Livery on the way. As it happens I was only familiar with the back of the building before this, but these past few days this formerly obscure structure has been the topic of a fair amount of discussion...

I've been a Willie Randolph fan

Posted on June 17, 2008
I've been a Willie Randolph fan for a long time, and I was thrilled when he was tapped to helm my Metropolitans. For years Willie was the African-American coach that got interviewed when teams needed to make it look like they hadn't already decided on some white guy, and it has to have rankled...

Oh, and Happy Bloomsday!

Posted on June 16, 2008
Oh, and Happy Bloomsday!

Al Kooper's "Backstage Passes and

Posted on June 16, 2008
Al Kooper's "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor" was serialized in Rolling Stone when it came out, so I never picked up a copy. It's back in print, and I won't let it get away twice-- without question it's the best rock'n'roll memoir I've ever read, perhaps because Kooper has the wit to realize that the things he's seen, and the people he played with are far and away more interesting and important to the reader than he is.

My roadtrip reading this past week

Posted on June 14, 2008
My roadtrip reading this past week was Brendan Gill's "Here at the New Yorker", his 1975 memoir about his time at the magazine. I was an undergraduate so long ago that getting into law school was by no means a sure thing. It was competitive, (only two other people from my graduating class went on), and it made sense to at least think about alternatives...

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