He is now free according to this A.P article. I always wondered how long they would drag this out. I wonder if the whole thing was really good for his career in the end but probably, bad for his blood pressure.

Biomaterial charges against N.Y. art professor dismissed

Apr 21, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A judge threw out charges Monday against a college art professor accused of improperly obtaining biological materials for an exhibit protesting U.S. government food policies.

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that the 2004 mail and wire fraud indictment against Steven Kurtz, a University at Buffalo professor, was "insufficient on its face."

Kurtz is a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, which has used human DNA and other biological materials in works intended to draw attention to political and social issues. His arrest drew protests from artists in several countries who called the charges an intrusion on artistic freedom.

I just got this from a Linwood Block Club member. It makes me want to buy a gun but I think I am going to settle for some more high tech things like a tazer. I would have no moral qualms with killing people who attempted to touch my electronics.

FYI, our house near West Ferry was burgled yesterday morning.

Our wonderful neighbor Nick scared them off and called the police, but not before they managed to steal some valuables (laptops, digital camera, couple of old cell phones, some jewellery...). Basically anything with recognizable value they could shove into backpacks.

The two thieves he saw were young black boys, wearing hoodies. They were probably PRE-TEENS. They pried open a back ground floor window using a tire iron, and then crawled inside.

There may have been others, because they pulled out just about every drawer in the house and dumped the contents. And they didn't have long in there. I left around 8:30 and Nick saw them about 10 am. They ran east towards Main Street.

So watch your back windows. Ours had the usual sash lock plus an additional sliding security lock (slides into the path of the window so it won't slide up very far). They applied enough force to break the sash lock out of the sash, popped the stops part way out, and then push the sash off its track around the security slider. I suspect they still only got in because they were so small.

Crazy that they we pre-teens, its just like that avanadalism last week at the Massachusetts avenue project. Do you think adults train these children or they do it on their own accord?

The other day I was at buffalo General again getting my post surgery checkup. My doctors appointment was at 8am and the doctor showed up just around 10am. I was really happy after waking up at 7am for nothing.

The one good thing is that I got these great pics of the city out the windows in the different rooms.

Carlton house looks so out of place on the medical campus. I wonder if they are going to knock it down and build a big building in its footprint.


Downtown Buffalo actually looks bigish.


Here is the whole of downtown


In the back left you can see the windmills on the waterfront.


Here they are up close making power.


I took this one in the direction of my house but all you can see is the roof. In the way back on the right is a city, is it Toronto?


Here is a close up of that corner, what do you think, Toronto?


It is amazing the clarity and distance I can get with my tiny point and shoot nikon s7c. The new s series is even better. I think the s700 is like 12MP point and shoot. Here is a review but it is minus wifi. Mine has wifi for emailing the pics, which I never use so I guess it doesn't matter.

The s600 is a point and shoot 10MP and it is only $236 on amazon right now That is so crazy cheap for something so powerful. I fyou are looking for a digital camera I would grab it. It is one of the ones ashton is promoting, lol. Look they even bought the URL ashtoncoolpix.com

Last night I was talking with (e:hodown) while locked out of my car at Wegman's and she told me that the world was coming to an end and we would be waiting in bread lines soon enough. The indicator was that vine ripened tomatoes were $7.99/lb in NYC. Well my friends BUffalo is in fact way cheap, because check these prices out $1.99 for vine ripened and $3.99 for organic.
Vine ripened


Organic


On a side note, this is the color of golden oak for future reference.

I never drive. Seriously, once a month I drive, if that. Tonight I was feeling especially angry about my lack of sand paper for my sander. I had a project I wanted to work on that required it. I stormed off to the store to buy sandpaper and forgot to write down the type if sander.

I was so angry by the time I got their that I just bought a whole new sander and every flavor of sandpaper to match. I am finally going to finish that fireplace in my office. One thing led to another as it always does at home depot and now I have all the supplies, except for one I surely forgot that will inevitably lead to another trip to home depot.

So I was feeling good about driving and drove to Wegman's too as I wanted more lamb chops and locked the keys in the car, which is what I am solving now, argh. I hate cars.