I am so happy to see a bunch of new people signed up. I think the banner was a really good idea after all. Thank you (e:jill) so much for helping with its construction.

(e:nickizen) , I am glad to see that someone else[inlink]nickizen,1[/inlink] has mentioned Coffee & (MAP TO: 718%20ELMWOOD%20AVENUE) other than me [inlink]paul,1263[/inlink]. It's sad to see so few people there, when Spot is always packed. I read in the paper that spot was franchising into the middle east. Does anyone have more detals on that?

[size=m]Looking for Coffee &[/size]
On The Web
If they do have a web site, it's sure hard to find. I think it has to do with the fact that their name was not the best idea in terms of computerized cataloging. While we can pretend that computers are not an important part of local neighborhood culture, the unfortunate truth is that the way they think, rules most of our lives. Especially in terms of information dispersal. For a human Cofee & = Coffe& = Coffee And. For a computer they are not the same.

The difficulty is compounded because if you search for "Coffee and" you get results that involve "coffe and anything." Coffee is an extremely common noun and " And" is a keyword on many search systems that means plus. While "&" is another special computer character that is often stripped in searches. That makes it not very good for searching.

Think about how many businesses and phone numbers you look up on the web. Basically, ambiguity is never good in a business name.

I tried using google new local beta which allows you to look for something including the address of the actual business. Ironically, if you search for "Coffe &" plus plus" 718 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, NY 14222" or you search for "Coffe And" plus the address you get no "Coffe &" but you do get "Spot Coffee" as the number one return followed by every other Coffee House around.

In The Phonebook
Even in the phonebook. What does one look under? Here are some samples that give me nothing on Verizon. There phone number is 884-3535 by the way, I found it on the foreverelmwood site

"Coffe &" - [business]Coffe &[/business] - gives me nothing of use

"Coffe And" - [business]Coffe And[/business] - gives me nothing of use

While for spot coffee:

"Spot Coffee" - [business]Spot Coffee[/business] and I get all four business locations.

Just Testing the URLs
www.coffe&.com is nothing but on the other hand www.coffeeand.com is something , a placeholder that lets you buy the domain name.



I wrote to ask them how much they would want for it and they replied $7000. I basically told them to f(*&% , I hate internet barons.

[size=m]Neighbors Helping Neighbors - Web Model[/size]
Does Coffee And have a web page? I was thinking of helping them out with their net presence in return for them advertising for us. Kind of like a barter system with no cash trade.

While I cannot offer advertising on this site because of conflicts of interests with journals, I could hook them up with a web design student that could make them their own site, unless they already have one.

Does anyone know who I would talk to about this? If it works, I could end up making the same deal with other elmwood businesses. I would help my students build their portfolios, help get people talking about their neighborhood and recording their historical presencse, while helping local business. Could be an interesting model to develop.

[size=m]Offer Something Better[/size]
Event calendars and Reviews
A web site would allow them to post schedules, web cams of events, etc. Maybe they could be the first to have one of my all-purpose elmwoodstrip.com kiosks. Who knows? (e:ajay), would you want to work with me on that?

Wireless Internet Access
I can't stress this one enough. Maybe they already have this too but if they do its a secret. Having wireless internet would cost them about $30/month. I am sure between (e:ajay) [inlink]ajay,3[/inlink] and I, we could easily get them started. That is something very few other businesses are willing to offer. Namely spot coffeee. Off the Wall has it but I heard you have to pay, and that never brings people. Or maybe I am wrong and it does. Either way it would be a good service to offer.

Once again I was reading the Chinese News at xinhuanet.com and found an article on the now famous gymnast Svetlana Khorkina from the olympics. The have this whole gallery of her life. Check out the above link for the full-sized pics, there are about 100. At first it looks so innocent. Pictures of this little gymnast, followed by pics of her childhood. Then you keep scrolling and find what looks to be trashy porn. I guess it shows you never know when stuff will catch up with you. It is a shame that on this tribute to her achievements, they have this smut.



The first one and maybe even the second picture "could" have been for some artistic purpose.



This third one was clearly porn. I airbrushed it a little to make it appropriate for my journal. Look at the scruffy man behind her in the shadow with his hand on her shoulder. He looks about 50 and she was born in 1979.! She must have been in some really desparate time. Here in the actual text of the article, they don't mention those pictures at all.



What a shame that a women who has made it so far is reduced to a man toy with this picture. I guess it's her own fault. It even kind of even shames the olympics a little. Why do you think she would do it. I mean she could have posed naked in some much less skanky way and definately without the man in the shadows.

Here is an exmaple of what would have been better. These two Olympians posed for studiomagazines (I found this through Xinhuanet too ) Click on Athens Dream. These pictures are so much better. They are showing off the prowess of the olympians bodies without compromising them in a sexual nature or degrading them as Svetlana's pictures did.

I was working on some really low poly heads with hair to demonstrate how few polygons can still confer an idea of the subject. It's kind of like line drawing with few lines.







Here I made the hair bigger than the head, so that it looks like a hood.

In reference to my previous articles [inlink]paul,1835[/inlink] and [inlink]paul,1823[/inlink], I would just like to reiterate the fact that while I am reliable for the technical side of stuff, I am notoriously bad at social networking. I can't even talk about the site in public because I can't overcome the angry feeling I get when people assume I am trying to sell something. I am definately not a salesman. That is my achilles heel. Seriously, I have a hard enough time ordering pizza.

Most people wouldn't guess this because if you know me personally, I am very social and talkative. It's just strangers.

I think that's why the site grew so slowly last year. I can't imagine how much different it would have been if I had really promoted it to people on the street and at festivals, etc. My goal for the summer was 300 people and we are at 115 now on Auguest 28th. I could barely deal with holding the microphone for the video interviews.

So, do we have anyone who can offer those kind of skills. There has to be a PR person out there, who can interface with the public.

It is very important right now because the last important summer event is coming this weekend. I would like us to have a big presence at the elmwood art festival. It is a hige chance to recruit people to write about their elmwood experience and make this historical record much bigger. We are at 4494 journals and about 6,000,000 letter typed.

Our house, as most of you know, is right on the street at the festival. Usually the stage is locate dright outside our window. Anyways, I need ideas and helpers? Anything? Anyone?

We will definately do more interviews. Anyone want to participate? ANyone have ideas that can really be implemented in one week?

After the laundry last night (e:southernyankee) and I went out to La Luna (MAP TO: 52%20W%20CHIPPEWA%20ST). I never realized that they had opened the Bachus Patio for La Luna. There were at least 500 people there. I would say it was a good crowd, but the music was way to old for me and there was little or no dancing, except on the 10 ft by 10 ft dancefloor.

They had a movie screen outside where they play the Bacchus Movies. They were projecting 3D models and mini films onto it. I was quite interested in watching but could help feel it was just too many specular highlights in most of them(e.g. the gold and silver dancing robot parrots.)

Once I got there I saw the rest of the peeps. (e:lilho) , (e:jill) , (e:chriddy) , (e:jessbob) , (e:flacidness) , (e:chamille) , (e:mike) , (e:diana) , (e:terry) and about a million other people I knew. I decided I desperately needed some excerise and dancing to 80s music wasn't going to cut it. AT that point, (e:lilho) and I decided to walk home. It took about an hour but was well worth it. Now my legs are really tired.

[size=m]Tree Cut to Death on Elmwood[/size]
I spent the morning listening to them rip a giant tree down acorss the street. The gives me a sick feeling. Its been chainsaws and grinders for two hours now. I decided to record them.

This is the mini saw cutting the branches - wait till you hear the mega saw cutting the giant trunk.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

I think I am going to make a lot more recordings of elmwood. Eventually I can mix it all together ina "sounds of elmwood" CD. Who knows how much time I'll really have but it seems to have a lot of potential.

Well after recording for 1 hour straight I got the best noises and that ripped into the trunk. CRacking, falling, man and machine vs nature. It was insane. Then the sound recording progra,m crashed and I lost it all. So now all you can here is the mini grinder saw.