Has anyone else posted about this? sorry if they did.


Edwards, Rove to face off in UB debate
By Robert J. McCarthy
Updated: 07/04/08 7:51 AM



Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain might not burn up the campaign trail around Western New York this election year, but the University at Buffalo may have scheduled the next best thing.

GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will debate the issues of the presidential campaign Sept. 26 as part of the university's Distinguished Speakers Series, The Buffalo News has learned.

As surrogates for the parties' standard bearers, the two also could square off more than once at other locations around the nation.

"We're working on something like that for our Distinguished Speakers Series," said Bill Regan, UB's director of special events. "We're not really sure of the format yet. But we do think they are scheduled to do it at least once together before they come to UB."

Though McCain, a Republican, is scheduled to visit Buffalo briefly for a major fundraiser July 21 in the Albright- Knox Art Gallery, most analysts already are ceding New York to the Democrats. Still, Joshua Dyck, assistant professor of political science at UB, calls such an event genuine "political theater" that could have an effect.

"It's actually good for the Democratic process," he said. "People vote because politics is a lot like sports. Rooting for your team probably doesn't affect the outcome much, but people can say 'I was there.' "

Dyck said such events heighten emotions and can encourage voters to become involved even if the race at the top of the ballot appears lopsided. The spin-off effect, he said, could spur interest in competitive races, such as selecting a successor to retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence.

Matching up such well-known political figures as Edwards and Rove will make the event all the more interesting, he added. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, is a household name because of his bids for the presidency in 2004 and this year's contest, as well as his role as Sen. John F. Kerry's vice presidential running mate in 2004.

Rove, often dubbed "Bush's brain" from his days as President Bush's chief political adviser, has become even more visible since leaving the White House as an analyst for Fox News and a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Neither Rove nor Edwards was available Thursday for comment.

The 8 p. m. debate would lead off the lecture series, which has featured such major figures as former Vice President Al Gore and the late Tim Russert of NBC News.

Regan said the full schedule for the series will be announced later this month, when series subscriptions will become available. Tickets for individual programs, including the Edwards- Rove event, are expected to go on sale a short time later.

www.buffalonews.com

has anyone else heard about this?

a mother from the czech republic who belonged to some cult kept her son who was like 8 chained in the basement and was skinning him and eating him alive and feeding him to her sister and other cult members. he was rescued when a neighbor who bought a baby video monitor picked up images of the kid next door. (apparently the mother got off on seeing her kid being tortured and kept a monitor on him as well)

this one really tops the cake. i don't think it can get any worse.

has anyone else seen this video of alanis morissette doing an acoustic version of black eye peas, "my humps"? it's fucking hilarious! it's amazing how good that song sounds when she sings it.

second post of the day, check out the other one below.


i'm taking a road trip to madison, WI the week after 4th of July. i have off 4-13, and want to take my mom and daughter to see the city. i went there last year and loved it, and since my flight privileges are now gone (10 beautiful years of free flying; i'll remember them fondly) i can now only afford to drive. i could maybe afford to buy plane tickets to europe at summer prices for myself, but buying tickets for two people is a little more than i'm able to shell out at the moment. for now, european vacations are limited to the off season, when prices are a fraction of what they cost now.

i'm taking a vacation at the beginning of the summer, and one at the end. so, for the first one, i figured madison would make for a good road trip. i'd also like to stop by chicago for a couple of days. for the second trip, later in the summer, i'm going to montreal and/or quebec (since they speak french so it's almost as if you were in france, minus the architecture and food).

we can rent a minivan or large SUV, and split the cost of the rental and gas. that way we could fit at least 6 or 7 people. we'd get there in no time, since we all could take turns driving, and wouldn't need to stop to sleep at all. (i probably could do it straight through alone, but i'm a terrible night driver, because my bedtime is like, 9pm, and i tend to fall asleep at the wheel ;)

the nice thing about doing a group trip, is that you don't necessarily need to spend the entire vacation together. as long as we arrive and depart together, we're free to part and do whatever we like at times. so if you go with someone else, and i want to be in bed by 11pm, you can go out with them, and then just do the sight seeing stuff as a group the next day.


so what do you think people ((e:paul)?????). this would be an awesome adventure.....(ok, fine, maybe not awesome, but certainly uber cool)

ps.... check out my post below for a free cd.

i have a new, unopened "Buffet Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays" CD, that I'm going to throw away. does anyone want it?

Faben and I are going to see Death note tomorrow at Regal Elmwood. It's a film adaptation of a japanese manga by the same name and its only playing for 2 days, today and tomorrow. if you've never heard of it, it's probably cuz you're not as cool as Faben and I, but you CAN become quasi-cool if you go and see the movie.

It's playing at 7:30pm and we'll probably go to the chinese buffet beforehand, to stuff our faces with greasy egg rolls and muscles in bean sauce. too bad it's not friday, then we could stuff our faces with all you can eat crab legs for $10 bucks. on non-crab days, i think the buffet is $8.95 which is totally reasonable. and this buffet is pretty decent. it still has fried shrimp and black bean sauce muscles on normal day, along with all of the usual chinese buffet stuff.

but it would be cool if we could all meet up to eat before going to the movie. it could be our monthly dinner that jim (or is it james?) usually organizes, but this time it would include a movie. it would be like a real date. i could even let you touch my boob during the movie!

come on guys....it's been forever since we've done anything together!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is a story NPR did on it


and here is the trailer


anyone want to go?

since the movie is playing only twice, i'm pretty sure it's going to be packed. faben said that when naruto was playing, it was completely sold out, so.....you should either buy your ticket online at fandango.com or go before going to eat and buy your ticket then. plus if we want to get good seats, we'll have to go to the theater fairly early too, so we HAVE to be in there by 7pm at the latest, but 6:45pm preferably. and if we want to eat in peace with ample time to get seconds, and thirds and fifths, we should show about an hour before that to eat. so i'm thinking that 5:45 should good enough.

so.....

5:45pm if you want to join us for dinner

and 6:45 if you're going straight to the theater.



let me know in the comments if you're coming. it's been so long since i've seen you guys. i want to make out with each and every single one of you in the dark, dank theater, so it could be worth your while if you're looking for some action!

All I can say is wow......


I'm glad I wasn't standing for the bus on that corner.

a couple of my friends and i went out to some dive bar last night and after a few drinks i got a great idea that we should all go to a strip club. anyone who knows me, knows how much i loooove strip clubs.

So I called Marvin to see if he would be willing to meet us. even though he had to work at 6 am today he was a was a good sport and came out. maybe the hint that if I was toasted and horny he might get some action was an incentive.

we' ended going to 24 karat gold. the strippers were not all that bad, certainly not like colony lounge, but they were expensive. since when did they start charging per person for lap dances? it used to cost for couples the same as they did for one person, but now they charge $44 for a couple! and seeing that by the time the lap dances rolled around, i was wasted, i saw nothing wrong with paying for a lap dance the first time around and having marvin pay for the second one right afterward. that's $88 for two songs worth of entertainment. $88 for like 6 minutes plus like $20 for tips!!!

plus, the ATM there charges $10 to get money out! and i used the ATM twice!!

AND with all the drinks and tips and a table dance...ugh, i don't even want to look at my account today. i don't want to know how much money i spent.

i also ran into a chick i went to high school with, who has been working there since high school. can you imagine working at a strip club for 12 years?? granted she was a bar tender and not a stripper, but still.

but we all had a great time. i haven't been to a strip club in years, so for the amount of fun we had, i'd say it was worth it. it certainly wasn't like a canadian club, since nothing can compare to the wonders that go on there, but it wasn't bad. poor marvin was so sick today. he had to work a double today, starting at 6 am. we didn't get home until close to 4. he didn't finish working until 8pm tonight. ugh, i can't imagine what he was going through.

today i went and bought an xbox. i've been wanting one for so long, and finally i'm going to be able to play oblivion.

booze, strippers and video games....who could ask for a better weekend.

"They’re voracious eaters, hairy and just about unstoppable."

Scientists are unsure of their origin and have had to recognize them as a new species and think they have been brought to Huston by a cargo ship. No article I found lists exactly where from they think they arrived. They're called Rasberry ants after a local exterminator that was the first in trying exterminating them. They're also called crazy ants because instead of marching in a single straight line, like so many ants do, they just swarm everywhere without any apparent rhyme or reason.

"They take over whole neighborhoods sometimes. There are just thousands and thousands of them all over the property."

Apparently, they're so bad ass, that they eat fire ants, that Texas is known for. They also eat little wild chicken hatchlings too. But the craziest thing is, is that they eat electronic equipment, like computers, fire alarms, gas meters, pumps at sewage pumping stations, televisions, etc...

"They do get into electrical outlets and boxes,"

apparently they're attracted to the wiring and chew through it whenever possible.

and they're super smart too. after spraying pesticides, they use the dead ants as makeshift bridges, by piling them up and traveling over the dead bodies in order to cross the pesticide treated surfaces.

better make sure you check your phone receiver before putting it to your ear.....ewww.....

my mom and i went to the susan g komen breast cancer survivor luncheon yesterday. since my mom is now an official roswell employee she got to go for free.

it was so touching and moving, that i cried though nearly the entire thing. i went to this last year as a representative for my research study as my boss was the keynote speaker and since she couldn't make it this year, i was the only one from my research team holding down the fort. we are funded partly through a susan g. komen grant and so it was important that someone went to show our appreciation for the wonderful organization. i was disappointed that so few roswell employees attended, especially since we didn't have to pay for it (usually it's a $25 ticket price). there were only 3 nurses from the breast clinic and no other research personnel. i mean, who wouldn't want to go to a free lunch? especially since it's so pretty and yummy! i was expecting other people who recruit breast cancer patients to studies there, but alas, i was greatly disappointed and somewhat embarrassed.

there were about 500 people in attendance and i got to see some of my study participants and other roswell patients and some of my coworkers. the food was really good. better than expected. i got a picture of the salad and desert, but forgot to take a pic of the entree. the table setting was beautiful, swimming in a sea of pink. pink punch, pink napkins, pink balloons, pink programmes, pink baskets, and pink attire by just about everyone attendance. everyone got a pink pearl bracelet as a party favor (although i'm sure it's not REAL pearl it still looks real enough).

the chief surgeon of our breast cancer clinic, dr. edge, got an award for being an outstanding medical professional, which was great, because he had no idea until he got there and found his whole family there that he was the recipient. he was at a loss for words, and if you know dr. edge ((e:jenks)) you know that he's NEVER at a loss for words.

it was kind of cool that i got to sit next to two nuns during the lunch. i tried to milk them for all kinds of information.... like do they get emails from the pope.

apparently, information gets disseminated through the bishops, so no, there is no system-wide distribution list for emails from the vatican to all of it's employees.

i also asked if you could become a nun even if you're no longer "pure".

she said that you certainly could. i'm trying to look into job prospects in case this epidemiology gig doesn't work out and i managed to fit in a few questions as to how their sisterhood recruitment is doing these days. as you might imagine, not so good. but since the church eased up their requirements of being "pure" (of body and soul) in order to become a nun, they are getting more older women entering the convent than ever before. also, she said their recruitment efforts are going much better in third world countries and developing countries than in western ones. hmm.....i wonder why ;)

mary alice demler from channel 2, mc'd the event, as she does every year. she is so sweet and personable. i also won a gift basket from the raffle, which makes it two years in a row! all in all, it was a wonderful event.















afterwards, we stopped at aldi's and although i like the store for its weird european cheap food, i was weirded out by this bacon i found on the shelf. shouldn't bacon be refrigerated? how much chemicals does it take to make bacon non-perishable?