It's (e:southernyankee) 's b-day today. We gonna party on down tonight! Now what to get her for her birthday...that's the question. Maybe you're saying I should have thought of this before the actual day, but I got it off, I gots time. We'll see...

sidenote: It's often said that we are a very litigious society (especially by those on the right who want to limit our ability to use our legal rights, or cap the amount of damages). A new report by Public Citizen shows who's really taking advantage of our legal system. According to the report, U.S.Businesses File Four Times More Lawsuits Than Private Citizens And Are Sanctioned Much More Often for Frivolous Suits. In some samples (which were done in county, state, and national levels) businesses were filing up to six times more lawsuits than individuals.

"Some of the loudest voices for restricting the legal rights of consumers and patients also are the biggest users of the court system. For example, claiming that it is inundated with class action lawsuits, the insurance industry has led the charge for federal legislation that would restrict the rights of consumers to bring such cases.

Yet in Cook County, Ill., insurance companies filed about 8,000 lawsuits in 2002 — 35 times the number of class actions filed there by individuals that year, Public Citizen found. In fact, insurers file so many suits— mostly “subrogation� suits designed to recover the expense of covering their own policy holders — that last year they asked to be exempted from a model lawsuit “reform� law that would limit citizen access to the courts and that they otherwise support."

Ralph Nader and Wesley Smith have a really great book about this subject, called No Contest It gives tons of concrete evidence detailing how much advantage corporations have when it comes to lawsuits versus individuals. When you read of the car company who made a car, knowing that the gastank placed directly in front of the rear bumper was a fire hazard, and calculated the potential cost of lawsuits filed because of this defect (which in effect means how much will we pay out if someone is burned/maimed/killed). There is a memo that actually puts numbers to these figures, in other words dollar signs next to human beings. It's disgusting. Please read.

(e:trisha) and (e:paulnotpaul) tied the knot in a ceremony that brought me close to tears. It went perfect, there wasn't a thing I'dve changed about it. Trisha's face...just beaming out joy to everyone as she marched to meet her groom (no one hampering her to offer her). That image will live in my mind forever. Almsot makes me wanna have a "real" wedding. With pomp and circumstance. But no Jesus, sorry feller. He can watch if he wants though. The dancing was wild. Our own (e:lilho) caught the bouquet, and (e:flacidness) was wrestled to the ground by a ten year old after the garter (who then gave it back once he realized what he had to do with it). We made it back safely, what more can you ask after that kinda partying? (e:springfaerie) came over afterwards for more partying, but we stayed true to ourselves and ended up smoking ourselves into quiet philosophical conversations instead. A good ending for a perfect day.

I love you, trish and paul, I hope you're having yourselves a blast in gorges-ous Ithaca.

If you wanna vote and you haven't registered, today's the last day. Here's a link to the form. You have to fill it out, print, and mail it today.

Had my first visit from my previous life (meaning pre-Buffalo). My good friend Brian came to town for a half a day. It was a good time. Showed him the sights...walked around the Elmwood area, gawked at the rich people houses, looked at the beautiful Mirror Lake (just don't get too close lest the nose betray). In the morning I took him to downtown to see the neato buildings (he's from NYC though, so it's kinda hard to impress him). Showed him the dilapidated former industrial zone, and the view of the East side that one gets from the freeways (both 33 and 190), explained that we made the freeways so you dodn't have to see the dying city underneath.

He's a cool guy. A genuine actor. Not quite famous, but maybe someday. Still singing for a living, which I sometimes wish I would do (though more often I'm glad that I don't). Funny, and not afraid to be himself. He only met (e:lilho) and (e:mike) because of time constraints. Hopefully he'll come back for a longer stay so he can meet more of the excellent estrip crew.

I am excited about carving my pumpkin.

Funny you should mention it (e:holly) [inlink]holly,103[/inlink] I'm gonna go over and watch a Lars Von Trier movie, Dancer in the Dark, at (e:southernyankee) 's house. We plan on watching it and then staring into the baleful eye of the bloated moon as we slowly open our veins to its pearlescent rays. Fun! So, if anyone's wondering where I am, there it is, but who knows for how long.

elmwoodradio (10:01:55 AM): hey abby
estripbot (10:01:55 AM): Lighten up a little...
elmwoodradio (10:02:00 AM): baby, please
estripbot (10:02:00 AM): Say! Is it me, or can everyone here just feel the love on this chat tonight? Because, I do, baby.
elmwoodradio (10:02:22 AM): you can be such a little cunt-muffin sometimes
estripbot (10:02:22 AM): What's your greatest fear?
elmwoodradio (10:02:33 AM): fallin in love with a robot
estripbot (10:02:33 AM): What's wrong with you?
elmwoodradio (10:02:43 AM): the weather
estripbot (10:02:44 AM): What's wrong with you?
elmwoodradio (10:02:48 AM): weather
estripbot (10:02:49 AM): Buffalo, New York conditions at 9:54 AM EDT on September 29, 2004:
Scattered Clouds; temp 57F; humidity 77%; wind 13 mph 20 km/h from the ENE
elmwoodradio (10:02:59 AM): thank you estripbot
estripbot (10:02:59 AM): I don't think so.
elmwoodradio (10:03:03 AM): fuck you
estripbot (10:03:03 AM): I don't think so.
elmwoodradio (10:03:06 AM): ungrateful slob
estripbot (10:03:06 AM): If your were evil, what kind of evil would you get into?
elmwoodradio (10:03:16 AM): i would fuck robots all day long
estripbot (10:03:17 AM): Oh, that is a shame.
elmwoodradio (10:03:27 AM): you'll never love me then?
estripbot (10:03:27 AM): Just forget it! What's the use? -sobs-

Oh the quirks of logic! [inlink]mike,251[/inlink]

A two year old is twice as old as a one year old. They are only one year apart. My mother is twice as old as I am (50 to my 25), she is 25 years older than I am. Does the fact that there are different lengths between the numbers on our respective line graphs negate the multiplication involved? Multiplication takes a number and adds that number to itself the specified number of times (3 X 4 = 3 + 3 + 3 + 3). So 80 degrees is 40 x 2 = 40 + 40, and 0 degrees is 40 - 40 = 40 x 0. Yo.

Ahhh, I see, the question refers to the fact that temperature is a measurement of the energy in a system. It has a definate zero (at which things are at total rest), this is called absolute zero and is about -450 degrees Farenheit. So, 450 degrees Farenheit is twice as "hot" as 0 degrees Farenheit (which doesn't make much mathematical sense sinse 0 x anything = 0). The point of reference is moved in the Farenheit system, zero is not technically zero. Now if we used Kelvin (the scientific unit of temp.) the math would apply again, because 0 Kelvin is absolute zero. So 80 degrees Kelvin is twice as "hot" as 40 degrees Kelvin.

Sometime with snow on the ground, I was skiing with (e:holly) and her family, namely Cintra and Big Momma. The trails wound around a lake (kinda like the lake in our own Delaware park). Big Momma wasn't actually skiing, she was riding a snow-mobile, following behind us. It was great fun. Cintra led the way, calling back encouragement. We got to the top of a hill and looked around, the next bit would be a tricky steep decent (which has always been the most fun, partly becaue of the harrowing risk of death). The scariest part was that at the bottom was the lake, frozen over, but one never knows... Cintra takes off, sweeps down the hill, goes about five feet onto the lake and swings back to the bank. Perfect. (e:holly) goes with similar gusto. My turn comes. The wind rushes by, trying to tear my eyes from the tips of my skis. I manage well enough. Ten feet or so out atop the ice. Big Momma's turn comes. This will be very tricky. We start to yell advice to her, but it's too late. With a maniacal/hysterical grin she slides her growling monster over the lip. She's at the bottom in no time. She keeps going. And going. She's halfway to the middle of the lake when she finally starts to turn the thing back towards shore. We're all screaming and scared to death. The crack makes all of us jump. Within seconds the ice has splintered, it seems that she will make it, but slowly she is sucked backward into the lake. It's not as bad as we feared, the lake is only about three feet deep. We're wondering what to do when we hear the garbled roar of the snow-mobile's engine. She's gunnin' it. The snow-mobile finds traction on the bottom and the ice is cracking in front of her. We stare in amazement as Big Momma forges a path to the shore, still grinning from ear to ear. She pulls up to shore and we pull her off her beast. With a calm look she's says simply, "I'm done."

bleep....bleep...bleep

you have...bleep...accepterd the terms of...bleep...service.......

estrip initialized.....bleep...bleep...bleep..........

have a good...bleep...day...........

Pano, restraunteer and promoter of urban blight, himself holds an artist's rendering of the new and improved Pano's.


Yuck! Even if he extends the patio and hides the parking lot behind it, it still looks like crap. Ugly little one-storied flat-roofed building. How rich does he need to get? He needs ten cars instead of five? Another vacation house in FL? WTF? If he wants to get richer that's fine, but he shouldn't be allowed to do it over the objections of a whole community. Let him expand, but make him do it on our terms.