Freedom of Speech

Does the First Amendment give one the right to falsely tweet "OMG F1RE" in a crowded theater?

Star Trek XII

With Star Trek breaking the infamous Star Trek movie curse, whereby odd-numbered Star Trek movies tend not to be up-to-snuff (some claim Generations broke the curse, but I don't agree), it seems quite possible that Star Trek XII will also be totally awesome.

The interwebs are a-twitter with speculation as to which characters will make it into ST-XII. The ever wrathful Khan is a common request. Me? I want Guinan. Yes, one of the most heartful and fascinating characters is Whoopi Goldberg's bartender. But she's a The Next Generation character some of ou might exclaim. True, I reply, but she is also very very old at the time of TNG. But Whoopi Goldberg is older now than she was in 1994, and Guinan would be significantly younger in an Original Series era movie. True, but you forget one of the beautiful things about sci-fi-- the one sentence continuity fix. "El-Aurians have grey hair in youth and it darkens as they age," BAM, contiuity fixed.

So, what do you think? Should Guinan show up to pour Kirk some Saurian brandy? If not Guinan, what blast-from-the-past would ya'al like to see?

Something interesting will be here soon.... I promise..... Feeling a little bit of a dam in the creativity dept. lately.

The real distinction between the classes.

Those that own property and live by renting it out are paid AHEAD.

Those that sell products are paid AT THE TIME OF SALE.

Those that labor to produce are paid AFTER the FACT.

Table Manners

If your family invited a distinguished guest over for dinner, and during that dinner, you were overtaken by emotion and insulted that guest, you would apologize not only to your dinstinguished guest, but also to your family, right? You're a little insulted that I asked that, because you are a civilized human-being, right? I thought so.

OP vote NO

I am recommending a "no" vote in the referendum tomorrow in Orchard Park, NY to reduce the Town Board from five to three members. I have several concerns. One is that on a board where two votes constitutes a majority, no two members will be able to privately discuss business without violating Open Meeting Laws. This will make it nigh impossible for the Board to legally conduct business. Also, I believe that in such a small group, a permanent coalition of two will naturally form in most cases, making disagreements more vitriolic and personal than on a Board of five where coalitions are more fluid and less personal.

The savings the town will get from cutting two part-time jobs are negligable compared to the likely-toxic politics that will incapacitate the town for the forseeable future.

VOTE NO!

Buffalo: Charlotte, but nice

Several Buffalo-based banks spent the last decade(s) growing smartly and slowly. Their intelligent controlled-growth was seen as un-sexy in the '90's and '00's. While a lot of other banks were wading balls deep into bad mortgages and posting incredible gains, M&T Bank, and First-Niagara followed the maxim of Aesop's tortise: "slow and steady wins the race." Now that other banks have stumbled, they are picking up the pieces, by becoming powerhouses in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Upstate New York, Baltimore and even Washington, DC.

With an already very large presence from HSBC (aka the biggest bank in the world), and considerable growth by M&T and First Niagara, it seems like Buffalo is poised to be a major second tier banking center. It will never be NYC, but it can be the next Charlotte. We've got lots of talent already in the banking industry. And there is something in the water that leads Buffalonians to the unsexy quality of moderation. So maybe Bank of America should abandon the shoot first and ask questions later Southern mentality and truck on up to Buffalo.