Paul's Journal

02/03/2007 17:47 #37988

Where is Buffalo's Inner City?
Category: buffalo

This is my 4th journal in 24 hours. Sorry but I am trying to make up for last week. My journal gave me a guilt trip. It is so nice sitting by the fire on a cold day and just playing with my internet.

First of all I really wanted to touch on why "inner city" is used like a swear word. I heard someone refer to inner city youth yesterday but I don't think they meant from the inner city, they just meant poor with a not so good education system.

What about the east coast cities makes the inner city such a bad place? Okay, I know the answer to that but can you even refer to inner city in a newer city like phoenix? Is the inner city a bad place in older cities like Paris? Have people just adopted the term inner city to refer to anything ghetto? Where is the inner city of Buffalo? The map below is all the city of Buffalo. I am even missing some fringe areas.

I thought the red part was the city before. It is the area from Niagara st to the 33 on an east to west plane, and from downtown to Kenmore on a North to south plane. When I asked (e:terry) to point out Buffalo on the map he also said, the area in the ring. In fact I never even realized it continued past their until we really looked at it at a party at (e:lilho) 's house last year when someone who was from south buffalo commented that my view of the city was missing all of south buffalo and most of the east side. I guess I should have known as my Dad grew up in Love Joy but I always though Love Joy was more like Kenmore, not in culture but in the fact I thought it was an independently governed area.

It seems like if Buffalo is really that whole map, then if you were to pick out the inner city you would pick out the part in the ring. But that area doesn't really live up to the term 'inner city'. In fact, most of the wealthiest parts of the city are right in the center of that.

So at some point was saying you are from the inner city a good thing to day. Or maybe what I think of as the inner city was the country back then. Where is the inner city of buffalo?

Imagine if everything changed and all the middle class fled the suburbs and moved into the entire city. Do you think the term inner city could ever be something positive to say about a place, or does it have to much baggage. Will anyone move on up to Buffalo's inner city of the future.

paul - 08/15/12 21:54
Got a comment today about this: "Found your blog when looking for a map explicitly outlining the city limits of Buffalo and I feel I should let you know: you aren't even close. That outlined area is nothing but downtown Buffalo, one of the smaller neighborhoods of the city. I've lived in South Buffalo for 16 years and know city limits go as far south as Dorrance Ave. bordering Lackawanna, as far east as Harlem Rd. bordering Cheektowaga and West Seneca, as far north as the Scajaquada Expressway bordering Kenmore, and is bordered on the west by Lake Erie and the Niagara River. You missed the whole neighborhoods of South Buffalo, Kaisertown, Love Joy, East Buffalo, North Buffalo and various other subdivisions (Cazenovia, Allentown, Black Rock, University Heights). Inner City Buffalo is not within that red circle at all, in fact, that circled area is probably the nicest neighborhood in the city. East Buffalo would be inner city, anything within a few mile radius of the intersection of Walden and Bailey. And as any Buffalonian must know, East Buffalo is not a nice place at all."

tinypliny - 08/21/10 13:24
Yes, but imagine how terrible's roswell's web/intranet structure was back when you use to talk about inner cities.

paul - 08/21/10 12:56
As a side note it is interesting that I used to talk much more about stuff other than what I ate for lunch or who parked in my driveway. It seems like now my life is consumed by programming which is not very interesting to talk about.

paul - 08/21/10 12:55
The cost here is nothing compared to the same space in any more affluent city. Imagine the cost of an Avant style loft in NYC or SF.

tinypliny - 08/21/10 12:04
Heh, I was looking up the term "inner city", and wondering what it was in the context of Buffalo. Trust google to find one of your ponderings on the subject. When I think of inner city, I think of the meshwork of streets right inside downtown. Buffalo's "inner city", according to me is definitely growing more affluent by the year.

Look at the price of flats in buildings such as Avant. They match prices of houses in California! I would very much like to live in a high rise flat with window-walls such as Avant - even if for a few months, because I just love cityscapes. But this is impossible in Buffalo, because the rents are so atrociously high. Of course, I can't even dream of getting into a mortgage for one of them.

In Delhi, "Inner city" is probably one of the most fashionable places in the city, but then Delhi is so vast that there are many many "inner cities". What would you say is "inner city" in NYC?

chico - 02/06/07 21:52
(e:zobar) 's link to the UB Buffalo city map is really good... I remember using that map to learn names of neighborhoods before moving to B-lo last year.

zobar - 02/03/07 21:40
'Inner city' will never be more than a euphemism for 'where black people smoke crack and shoot each other,' even though in Buffalo that area actually borders the suburbs and runs most of the length of the city. I think even the term 'East Side' is so loaded around here, that when the rich white people eventually do move back they'll make up something hokey to call it like 'The Cobblestone District.'

Your circle also missed Riverside, Black Rock, North Buffalo, University, and Kensington. UB has a map of Buffalo split up into neighborhoods that's really good reference. :::link::: Unlike most, they actually acknowledge that the East Side is made up of smaller, diverse neighborhoods.

- Z

02/03/2007 16:47 #37984

Breasts, Penis and Mice
Category: body

I have decided to start journaling obsessively again. I have nothing better to do with my time.

First breasts: Today Nameless Bitch and (e:lilho) went to go get their breasts measured so that they get proper sized bras. Nameless Bitch said she thinks she may have never had the right size.

Namesless Bitch: 12:45 lets get drunk and get measured!

I was thinking about how weird it would be if me and any of my guy friends went to go our junk measured to wear the proper sized underwear. It just seems like something you should know. I could be tottaly wrong about this. I mean I guess there is more to a bra, but is there?

Well according to size survey.com

I just google "penis size measurement" it seems there is an exact science to this. That is lots of good information here - like, "Is the size of a flaccid penis a good indicator of erection size." Here are the results of the survery

At the bottom of the page there is a scrolling marquee. Is this a theme in my life.

As for the mice, their population has been severely reduced. You can tell because there is no mice damage and residuals have gone away. There are a few momma-less baby straglers. They are so slow and baby like that you can catch them with your hands. So two more micecycles in the chamber of death. I am really considering buying a snake. Does anyone have one and want some mice if I catch anymore?

metalpeter - 02/04/07 12:05
well it really dosn't say anything about me, wish it did. It just for what ever reason the leg part is either cut short or the martial maybe makes them crumble. They are the only pair that are like that. They are fine to be worn underclothes but lounging around the house (if anyone else was there) wouldn't work. Oh one last thing on boob size before I watch the pregame (ok 2). I would assume that shape might be a factor to in selecting a size. I have seen pictures in playboy where they have the bra size and I have seen people with the same size and cup and there boobs didn't look like they where the same size.

paul - 02/03/07 19:04
metalpeter, I never had a pair of boxers where the legs were to short but maybe that says something about you, lol.

leetee - 02/03/07 18:53
Bras sizing is complicated... and stupid. Different countries are different. My bra size in Canada is different than it is here.

And, every manufacturer has a different variable, despite what they all say. Even if i shop in the same store that has its own brand, each style has a different fit and a different size!!

On top of that, if you will pardon the pun, there is higher math involved in figuring out a bra size. Measuring around the rib cage, add i can't remember how many inches to get the band size. Why not just make the band size the inches measured?? Then, measure the largest part of the breasts and the difference between them is the cup size? What if i measure wearing a push up bra or a reducing bra? And if i do it braless, the math will be vastly different from that.... but i so don't want to go there!!!

Fucking ridiculous... yeah, i tried on a couple of bras today... and i left the store agrivated.

Grumble grumble grumble...

imk2 - 02/03/07 17:25
see the problem with boobs is that they change size if you gain or lose any weight. so each time you drop 10-15lbs, your boobs get smaller and you need a new bra. if you gain that weight, your boobs start falling out of your bra, and love handles start forming around it and you look like a bulging sausage. so, just as girls have fat and skinny clothes, they probably need fat and skinny bras.

metalpeter - 02/03/07 17:14
I buddy of mine for some reason when he would talk about his GF would always mention the size of her boobs. I don't know if he measured them or just went by bra size or was just full of or maybe he judged the sizw himself who knows. But I did hear somewhare a good percentage either 1/3 or 2/3 of women wear the wrong size bra. Other then that I have no knowledge. In terms of us guys I would say that there is a good percentage of us who have measured our selves; for what reason who knows we are kinda wacky sometimes. But in terms of the right size undwear size dosn't really matter most of the time. Waist size is how underwear size is determined. boxers usaly have plenty of room (sometimes the legs can be to short) and briefs usaly have so stretch to them so, us guys are ok.

02/03/2007 12:33 #37979

Humans do cause global warming?
Category: environment

That is so hard to believe. I mean pumping billions of gallons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere can't hurt right? It's just those crazy left wing, nut job scientists trying to ruin business for the good companies of america, right?

According to time.com

According to drafts and participants, the document says it is "very likely" - which means at least 90% certain - that climate change is caused by humans burning fossil fuels, and will result in a temperature increase of between 2.5 and 10.4 Fahrenheit by the year 2100.

Some participants apparently want to change that wording to "virtually certain," which connotes a 99% likelihood. "People seem to be feeling, let's make sure that the text actually means something and makes sense to the people it's intended for," Catherine Pearce of Friends of the Earth, who is observing the talks, said Wednesday night. "Some are saying there's no point in having texts that ... don't say anything, that are so watered down," she said.

On a side note I think it is ridiculous that the French turned off the Eifel tower lights for five minutes to call attention to energy conservation. I think it is way past the time when symbolic gesture liek that even matter. Five minutes, couldn't it at least have been an hour, a day or a week. Five minutes almost seems like a joke. Okay, now back to the story.

So what do all you nah-sayers have to say about humans causing global warming now (e:ejtower,31)or (e:joshua,1717)

Sir Nicholas Stern, author of a major report on the economic impact of global warming, says the latest review of the scientific evidence by United Nations' experts has demolished the chief argument of so-called climate sceptics. . . You can read the whole article here .http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/we've-wrecked-the-weather/2007/02/03/1169919583022.html

At this point a huge majority of the worlds climate scientists agree. Humans are greatly accelerating global warming and unfortunately, we are waiting too long to really do much about it. In fact they stated, "Global warming is "unequivocal" and "very likely" - to a 90 percent or more certainty - caused by human activity. "

I tend to believe them. I grabbed this data from an article

about the summit

According to an article,

The United States emits the most greenhouse gases of any country - more than 6.5 billion tons per year, or about 22 percent of the world's total. But it will be surpassed in coming decades by fast-growing China, which is now building on average one coal power plant per week. India isn't far behind; like China, its population has surpassed 1 billion and keeps rising at a fast clip.

The scientists suggest the US develop environmentally energy production methods as soon as possible and share those technologies with developing nations. I would liek to see something along the lines of Open Source energy production technologies but you know it will most likely not be like that and devloping nations will not be able to afford the technology resulting in more coal burnig power plants.

FInding in the report
The cause
Global warming is "unequivocal" and "very likely" - to a 90 percent or more certainty - caused by human activity. Fossil fuel consumption has generated much of the global rise in temperatures over the past half-century.

Temperature changes
Average global temperatures could increase by 2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. By comparison, temperatures have risen 1.5 degrees over the past century.

Sea levels
Ocean levels are projected to rise 7 to 23 inches by 2100, and will continue to rise for 1,000 years or more. Projections do not include contributions from melting polar ice.

Water shortages
Heat waves, droughts and other kinds of extreme weather will become more frequent. In California, warmer weather will shrink spring snowpacks in the Sierra, reducing a major source of water in the summer and fall.

We should start making making greenhouse gas emission laws stricter. Liek who the fuck needs an escalade. Maybe we should just illegalize huge SUVs, non-energy efficient light bulbs, and promote forms of cleaners energy. It seems to me like cars must be a huge part of it. All it takes is one visit to LA to see what cars do to the atmosphere.

Imagine how much worse it will get when everywhere is as capable of being as wasteful as we are.

According to fox news

Present Bush has acknowledged concerns about global warming but strongly opposes mandatory caps of greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that approach would be too costly.

I ask too costly for who?

zobar - 02/03/07 15:24
Many people say that the transition to cleaner technologies will be bad for business. Whose business? Think of all the new, high-paying, highly-skilled positions that will be needed for R&D, conversion, and training - not to mention the workforce required for all the new manufacturing and specialized disposal that will be needed. It will be a huge economic boon and competative advantage to anyone who takes the initiative, and I believe it will likewise be economically devastating to those who drag their feet. The oil companies may not like this, but this doesn't have to destroy their business either. They place all these ads about how they're researching alternative fuels - now is the perfect time for them to reinvest their unusually high profits in all this research they say their doing, so that they can be the first to market, buck obsolescence, and stop spending so much money influencing government - because they won't care anymore.

That doesn't even mention moral necessity, because I don't think it has to. This is a huge business opportunity for anyone who sees it, regardless of whether they care about the Greater Good, or even if they still think global warming is hogwash. Money talks and I am telling you that environmental engineering is where the smart money is at.

- Z

01/31/2007 20:25 #37942

I hate humane traps
Category: housing

They just make no sense. Now I simply have a bunch of live mice I have to dispose of. They have two options, die under my boot or freeze to death in the trash can outside. (e:matthew) suggested feeding them the poison. The reason we didn't just use the poison in the first place is because we were afraid the squirrels would get poisoned.

I thought about building some sort of mass extermination chamber but it all seems so first stage of being a serial killer - don't you think? It seems liek putting them out in the blue bin is the best option for my personal sanity, they will freeze very fast.

zobar - 02/01/07 10:07
Donate them to Science?

- Z

joshua - 02/01/07 09:14
That is sort of like a rodent Auschwitz. In this case the irony is that the more humane way of killing them would have been to use the traditional traps. There's no good, clean way to take care of the problem now, so if you want to disassociate yourself from the problem I'd do the blue bin option.

oda - 01/31/07 21:43
paul, you would look hotter in your new user pic if you put a silver horse in the background.

paul - 01/31/07 21:35
I would rather die than spray the house with poison. The real problem is that for months there was food all over the house, especially after parties and we weren't doing anything to stop them. Like for my birthday , the pizza got left out for today. Which is ueber disgusting. Since then we have cracked down a lot. Yesterday, we started trapping them. Today we got four of them. I think between trapping and not leaving food out we can keep them out.

imk2 - 01/31/07 21:34
why dont you guys put an ad out on craigslist saying you have live mice for people who might need them to feed their snakes. it's still the whole circle of life thing.

theecarey - 01/31/07 20:54
Never used an exterminator before..maybe a company could come in and kick some tiny mouse ass? As long as the squirrels and Basra are safe, ofcourse.

seriously, those mice are desperate freaks. I dont see them as cute anymore. Maybe if they were just hungry and cold little field mice. But these ones.. are mutants! Little resourceful psychos were trying to get into my baking stuff. I didnt want to leave it in the kitchen, so I placed the goods on my desk; tapped, bagged, tapped again, bagged again, then wrapped in towels. I heard some rustling.. the brown blob saw me and flew through the air and disappeared. First they jump like kangaroos, now they fly like squirrels. crazy!!

they are gonna eat us next- and I am much more of a meal then you guys. oh shit.

time to call Mice Busters!

mrmike - 01/31/07 20:33
mousecicles!!

jenks - 01/31/07 20:32
Or do what I did... Take them to some park or something and find a "cozy" little spot that you can trick yourself into thinking would make a nice nest for them. And leave them there, and feel good about yourself for 'saving' them. Then turn around just in time to see a bird swoop down from a tree and eat them. Circle of life, I guess.

02/02/2007 22:13 #37974

Dear Journal I am sorry
Category: life

It seems after years of daily dedication to my journal I am at some weird point in my life where I have nothing to say. Okay that is not true as I am still writing. I used to write in my journal multiple time every day for years but really who wants to see more pictures of inside roswell or at my house. Don't worry there are pictures at the end of this.

The truth is I never go anywhere or do anything interesting much anymore. I don't barely leave the 5 minute radius around my house. As soon as the weather gets warmer I am sure things will change so drastically. I remember what it was like occupying my life with housing building tasks. There is lots of stripping and building to do. I am sure I can occupy much of my time with making my house sweeter.

In the mean time everything exciting seems kind of at a standstill. I think I just might have settled or something. I have everything I ever wanted now and I am bored with it a bit. Who complains about that? I should really look on the bright side. Maybe it is just season disorder or the fact that I worked way too many hours this week. Maybe if I owned a projector. That's what I keep telling myself. I really need a projector to expand my horizons.

On the programming front I am bored too. I think I am burned out with content management. I am more interested in data mining, social networking and visualization. I am tired of other people making web design/programming decisions based on bullshit. Someone actually, I am not joking, asked me for a website with a scrolling marquee today. It felt so 1997.

I hope I am not at one of the moments where I change career paths again. I doubt it only because I am so comfortable and complacent doing what I do, I am well compensated and I have little interest in leaving the city.

Unlike everyone else, I am definately not trying to escape to a bigger city with more to do. I mean even if there were more exciting things to do, like in another larger, warmer city - I would not do them. I don't even like going out much. I frankly, just want to feel like I am part of something slightly more exiciting content management, even if it is for a good cause. I suppose working with (e:enknot) makes content management seem fun.

So here are some things going on.

1. I miss twisted. I just wish we lived together. think I might be going back to San Francisco in march for another conference. Let's hope that works out. Next time it is her turn to come here. PErhaps on the way back from italy?

2. I love linux. I am never going back to windows ever on my personal computers and seeing as they will be on vista for the next 20 years or so, it won't be that hard to just say no, if I make it past this month.

3. Tomorrow, Josephine Anstey and some students are coming by to talk about web programming and online pervasive games. This is something I am very interested in. Sometimes I am still angry that I did not become a professor. I guess there is always the future and there are many other careers I would rather have.

4. Speaking of which I miss jesse, jesse.org jesse. What ever happend to him. Did he get eaten by China? Maybe Josephine will know.

5. On closing, here are some pictures from my phone, I was cleaning it out in hopes of starting to take new pictures and going back to journaling.

Mike getting hammered, lol

Eating haddock today at Roswell. I have eaten so much fish recently, this one almost killed me. I had three isnatnces of almsot swalling a bone followed by one really sharp one stabbing through my gums. That is a really unpleasant feeling. I wonder if the fish are trying to just say no.

Here is one left over pic from the ice storm. It is not the pretty kindwith the fancy camera but the low res kind with the cell phone. It still was pretty neat.

The mice that were makign us all crazy and doing things like this seems to be gone. The "humane" traps worked really good to trap them so we could kill them. Ironic as it may be, it beats having to spray or put poison everywhere. I would rather die from the mice and the poison.

Like at this place on elmwood. Are they going to knock it down soon. It seems liek such a health hazzard and it is on some of the most prime real estate in the city. I just don't get how it exists there empty and abondoned.

Salmon tastes really good. I like it.

The wig is still out there. I saw it the other day.

lilho - 02/03/07 12:39
i want to go to san fran too! olease?

mike - 02/03/07 12:11
you can't stop posting pictures. I love the random pictures. Don't the the winter duldrums get you down.

twisted - 02/02/07 23:24
re: 1997 flashback. was it that same crazy person who wanted you to build a site counting down police suicides in a scrolling marquee? do you remember that?

p.s. -- I miss you so much. I can't wait for you to come out here again. bring terry & matt. I need help making house decisions, and it would be fun. I promise!