[inlink]mike,256[/inlink]

I love the Real World/Road Rules and all their variations marathons. I have to watch them whenever they are on even if I have seen the episodes already. You can't walk away cause you need to know what happens in the next episode. It is bad because I cannot watch single episodes ever. I get so frustrated when I don't have that instant gratification. By the way, this season of Real World looks really good. The mini marathon I watched the other day had it all: drama but not too much, scandal, revealin secrets. Good Times. On to other reality TV news, I really need them to release Making the Band 2 the entire 2 seasons on DVD. IT was perhaps the greatest reality tv show ever and I need to own it. That is all for now I got to get to class. Later

[inlink]matthew,403[/inlink]

I am curious at to where you get the 90% from. Is this an actual statistic? How was it quantified? Just curious.

In the end, the debate about media bias is kind of silly. Are they biased - yes. But they are not biased in the way most people think they are. It is not so much a liberal/conservative thing. It is a matter of the $$. The media is a business. The story that sells papers or advertisements is the one that will be printed. This leads to some with a conservative bias- Fox News and some with a liberal bias- Art Voice. They tailor their viewpoint to their audience to make money not for some conspiratorial reason.

I do agree with (e:Jason) though that the political dialogue in the U.S. has become too much about partisanship and not enough about actually addressing the problems. Rather than have actual discussions about the issues, people just yell their views at one another. That does nothing and is waste of time. Lets talk about the issues not the bs.

Watching the VP Debate. This is so much better than the presidential debate. They are so ornery, going at each other's throats, and they are well spoken. It is awesome. :)

Howdy all,
My apologies for lying about the new design. New site/New design same diff. The site does look good. Some suggestions if I may. How bout you have a way to see the reviews listed in order of being posted - similar to the "Last 12" box on this site. I say this because I saw that two restaurants had been reviewed but to find those reviews I would have to click through all of the restaurant names at the top. Another thing I noticed is that on the Brownstone Seafood House Page, the word Brownstone is partially covered by the "start date" box.

On to other topics, I would just like to say that "Trigger Happy TV" on Comedy Central is such a funny show. I wish the advertised for it more so I knew when it was on, but everytime I do catch it, it is so funny.

I guess that is it. I really should work on my research paper thesis so I can run it by my advisor tomorrow before having to hand it in on Wednesday. I also have to write a new closing remark for either Bush or Kerry for the debates. Hopefully it won't be a pain. Take care and talk to you later.

[inlink]paul,2013[/inlink]

I can't wait to see the new design. Should be good.

I just got back from my GA meeting (General Assembly - its the representative body for our student government). It went well and I am glad I got involved with it. I am really happy with where I am at in my life. A lot of the stuff I am working on seems to be progressing and I seem to be on a good track. Hopefully I can keep it up. I really like all the stuff I am doing this semester. Between my classes and extracurriculars, I am doing the stuff I want to do. It is good and I am just very satisfied and comfortable in my skin. :)

To all who care, I will be back in the B-lo this friday and will be home until tuesday afternoon (like the Moody Blues song). I can't wait to see all of you and hang out. Take care of yourselves. Talk to you soon.

[inlink]holly,105[/inlink]

Where did you hear that this is Bush's hometown newspaper? Though it clearly is a media outlet based in Texas, it does not appear to be anything more than a website. Not that there is anything wrong with a website based in Texas endorsing Kerry, but there is a HUGE difference between a website and a newspaper endorsing someone for president. No offense to the internet but anyone can put up a website, it takes a bit more to publish a newspaper. If it really is a legitimate newspaper, I will withdrawl my criticism.

[inlink]news,500[/inlink]

The number of views is not completely related to the number of entries because the number of entries is over the entire life of the journal while the number of views is only since 8-6. So if you posted a lot of journals before that date and haven't posted many since, your journal count will be high while your view count is low.

Howdy all,

Today has been another lazy day that I should be more productive in. Yesterday I never got around to studying for the GREs. I'm easily sidetracked. This morning was pretty good. I got up late, but I did go to the gym, which always makes me feel like I accomplished something. I have yet to do actual work. I have to type up the notes from my meeting with my leadership people (was supposed to do that last night). The meeting went well yesterday though. We are all on the same page as what the goals of our little group are. We will meet again this friday to come up with a timeline. I should study for the GRE's too. I don't really have much actual homework to do. Just extracurricular work. Tonight I have a Leadership Steering Committee meeting to go to as well as a University Budget Review Committee meeting. Hmmm. I guess this post was pretty boring. I don't know. I guess I just don't have too much to say. The day is going pretty well - just got to get productive.

That is all for now. I hope you all enjoy the new user pic. It is of me and my heterolife partner/roommate Siv. I stole it from my friend MKs site of pics that she has take. If you want to see more of my beautiful face, pay it a visit. Hope all is well. Bye

Hello All,
So exciting all the new people. Welcome to the Estrip, and I hope you enjoy the site and post frequently.

I just met with my thesis advisor and it went well. He is from Buffalo originally, well the City of Tonawanda, and got his undergraduate degree from UB. He is really nice guy and it is great to talk to him because he is plugged in to buffalo politics as much if not more than I am. He was my professor for Metropolitan Politics and his specialties are race and urban government. He actually wrote a book about Buffalo called Desegregation in Boston and Buffalo: The Influence of Local Leaders . My thesis is going to be on the dilution of African-American political power in metropolitan-style governments. I don't want to bore you, but the essence is, when suburbs are incorporated into the city (like what giambra is talking about) African-Americans tend to lose voting power because they make up a smaller percentage of the population as opposed to when it was just the central city. Often times this was done for the explicit purpose of diluting African-American power. I want to look at different cases and see how the newly formed metropolitan governments were or weren't structured to protect African-American voting power. I'm sorry if I went on too long. If you want to hear me talk more about it, I can babble on for hours so just let me know.

For the rest of the day, I have a meeting at one with some of my Leadership Program compatriots and I have to write a three page speech for Harry Truman endorsing either Kerry or Bush for President for my 5:30 class. I also want to study for the GRE's for 3 hours today. We'll see if that happens. I also had planned on exercising but extenuating circumstances stopped that. So my schedule isn't perfect but I am working on it. Oh well. Just got to keep trying. There is nothing else I can do.

That is all for now. Welcome again new Estrippers. Oh, and PS, the new bot is fun. Thanks (e:ajay) and/or (e:paul)

Wow. I just looked at the usersinfo section and there are so many more people. YAY (E:) STRIP!!!!! Here is a link to the Buffalo News article: