Blogs List
The Hall Chronicles
 Ray Hall |
IF TAXPAYERS HAD ‘A’ WISH LISTSat, November 7, 2009 @ 6:56PM City department heads submit budget requests to the Mayor which are submitted to City Council with the previous year’s budget and the Mayor’s Executive Budget. The department head requests shows what each department wants in the way of working capital for the coming year. A gigantic wish list that is hardly useful except to, intentional or not, leave the impression that the Mayor has already slashed spending before council ever acts. For the 2010 City Budget the department heads would have adopted $42,901,237.00 as the final budget and would have approximately doubled the property tax levy to $25,276,729.00 with a property tax rate nudging $40.00 per thousand. That contrasts with the Executive Budget, the real budget submitted by the Mayor that comes in at $31,819,111.00 and carries a property tax levy of $13,944,603.00 with a property tax rate of $20.62 per thousand.
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The Dean's List
 Nick Dean |
Legislative Playlist(s) No. 4 and No. 5Wed, November 18, 2009 @ 5:26PM Just the tracks, ma'am... Nick Dean's Legislative Playlist No. 4 Wednesday, September 23, 2009 PRE-MEETING: The White Stripes - "Girl, you have no faith in medicine" - Elephant Mono - Follow The Map - Hymn to the Eternal Wind Radiohead - Lucky - Complete Acoustic Richard Hawley - "Valentine" - Lady's Bridge Mos Def - "Know That" - Black On Both Sides TV on the Radio - "Dancing Choose" - Dear Science Elastica - "Love Like Ours" - The Menace Superdrag - "Drag Me Closer To You" - Last Call For Vitriol Sonic Youth - "Eric's Trip" - Daydream Nation Saxon Shore - "Silence lends a face to the soul" - The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore The Avett Bros.
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Views from the Copy Desk
 Dave Emke |
More Hrabosky Than EhmkeMon, October 12, 2009 @ 4:23PM I am often asked about my last name. I need to get this out in public, once and for all, so I never get asked about it again -- I am not, never have been, and never will be related to Ehmke Well Drillers in Silver Creek. It's not spelled the same. I've never even met the guys. I have probably been asked that question a thousand times in my life. It's actually quite tiresome -- but, hey, what else are people going to ask me when they first meet me? I'm not that charismatic of a guy. This also means I am not in any way connected to 1929 World Series hero Howard Ehmke. This was the first question The Post-Journal's sports editor, Jim Riggs, asked me when I started working here. He was the first to skip right over the well drillers and assume I was a distant relative of a baseball player. I had to let him down gently. I also often get asked if I am related to Emkes from Randolph, Cassadaga and other places in between. My answer to those questions is usually "I don't know.
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My Two Cents
 Kristen Johnson |
Oh, The Stupidity ...Wed, October 21, 2009 @ 4:49PM More often than not, I find myself amazed at the sheer stupidity of people. After eight years in the news business, you'd think I'd be done being surprised by anything people do – but just when I think I've seen or heard it all, something else happens. The latest debacle happened Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 21) when a small fire broke out in the Hotel Jamestown on Third Street. The building had to be evacuated while emergency personnel worked to extinguish the fire, ventilate the smoke, and make sure there was no major damage. A colleague and I took the opportunity to get some caffeine while taking a gander at the hubbub. In the middle of Third Street at the Washington Street intersection, there was a fire engine parked with lights flashing. In front of Hotel Jamestown, also in the middle of Third Street, was one of the city's ladder trucks, parked with ladder extended and lights flashing.
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The Whitless Wonder
 John Whittaker |
Ding Dong, The Dick (Jauron) Is DeadFri, November 20, 2009 @ 3:16PM Ding dong, the Dick is dead. Two years too late, Dick Jauron has been canned by Ralph Wilson, who apparently just woke up from a Rip Van Winkle nap. I'm not a Bills fan, not even a little bit, but this is great news for you suffering souls who actually like to watch the Bills. Jauron was a horrible coach. After four years, you had no idea what type of team the Bills were -- offensive or defensive, run or pass, smashmouth or finesse. His clock management was horrid, his choice of assistant coaches putrid, his inability to instill discipline incredibly evident in the false start penalties that hounded his offensive lines. In the last two years, players have left the Bills to find starting jobs elsewhere - players the Bills were unable to properly deploy to field a winning team. Dick Jauron's time with the Bills is over, but his impact on the franchise will linger like smelly dog farts. The facts: 1. It's been 10 years since the Bills made the playoffs.
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Simon Being Simon
 Simon Teska |
Blog Updating: FAIL!Wed, October 7, 2009 @ 2:54PM I know all five of my regular readers have lost interest by now, but I feel obligated to write SOMETHING here in the unlikely event new regular blog readers are looking for nothing insightful to read on an infrequent basis. Actually, I finally have free time. So much has happened since I last updated this thing that my topic pool is immense. The Canes are 3-1 and inappropriately ranked No. 11 dispite the hardest schedule in college football to date. (Who has Ohio State beaten to earn where ever they are right now?) Peyton Manning has already cemented the 2009 MVP trophy on his mantle and the baseball season came to a somewhat dull close (despite the AL Central). Let's start with Lebron James. While indulging myself in all things related to Panama Central School sports last night, I found myself in the middle of a playful debate over Kobe Bryant vs. Lebron James. In one word....it's a loaded question....okay that's four words. five if you take out the contraction...
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The Mac Blog
 Dave Hecei |
Fastest iMac EverFri, November 20, 2009 @ 10:11AM Just a few weeks ago, at the end of October, Apple announced several product updates. As part of the updates they showed new iMacs with either 21.5 or 27-inch displays. Along with larger screens, these iMacs have faster processors. The 27-inch iMac is available with either the Core 2 Duo processor or the new quad-core i-Series Intel chips, either the Core i5 or i7. Benchmarks have started coming out for these new iMacs, and there is no surprise that the Core i7 27-inch iMac is the fastest iMac ever. The big surprise is that for many functions the i-series iMac is faster than the 2.66 GHz quad-core Mac Pro tower. This is not to say that the Core 2 Duo iMacs are slackers. For most tasks any of these new iMac will be more than fast enough. Web surfing, word processing, or copying files are not CPU intensive tasks and you will see little difference with any of the new iMacs.
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CU Photo Tips
 Dave Hecei |
Ultra Wide-Angle LensesWed, October 28, 2009 @ 11:05AM There is a big disadvantage when shooting with an APS-C type digital SLR camera, like the Canon Digital Rebel series, Canon 10D through 50D, Nikon D40 through D90, etc. The APS-C sensor used in these cameras is smaller than a standard 35mm frame of film. Because of this size difference there is a multiplier factor to every lens used. Canon DSLRs have a 1.6x factor, while Nikons have a 1.5x factor. This multiplier makes it harder to shoot ultra-wide scenes. With a traditional 35mm film camera, an ultra-wide lens was in the 14 to 20mm range. The widest film lens I own is a 20mm. Multiplying 20 by 1.6 turns this lens into the equivalent of a 32mm on my DSLR. Not very wide. To compensate for these smaller sensors, camera and lens manufacturers have been recalculating and redesigning lenses and have come up with some pretty amazing super-ultra-wide zoom and single focal length lenses. Most of the camera makers now have zooms that start at 10, 11, and 12 mm.
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From Butler to Vanek
 Matt Spielman |
Regier Silencing His Critics ... For NowMon, November 16, 2009 @ 1:07PM I can't decide which is quieter in Western New York right now -- the snowplows or Sabres fans bashing Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff. Everybody was calling for owner B. Thomas Golisano to make a change in leadership after last season when the Sabres missed the playoffs for the second straight season. Regier had let too many stars go and Ruff was no longer getting through to the players. A 12-4-1 start to this year has changed all of that. Regier only made two significant moves this past offseason, but it turns out he probably knows a lot more about the business of hockey than anybody who was calling for his job. Steve Montador has been playing probably the best hockey of his career and Mike Grier has been doing what he always does ... shutting down the other team's top lines and killing penalties. Management was bashed in recent years for letting its "stars" walk during free agency. Other than J..
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