Published!

Well, not really, but a Facebook note that I wrote about Memorial Auditorium’s deconstruction which lead to a rambling blog entry here was chopped up and incorporated into Aud-ieu:Buffalo Says Goodbye to the Aud. Through historical photos and current ones of the tear-down, my piece is culled from in four different sections. The book comes out next week, but you can see it online at:

http://www.buffaloheritage.com/audieu.html

It’s the book in digital, page turning form. The original blog entry, which got my little enterprise started, can be found here: https://mikespub.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/deconstruction-of-the-buffalo-memorial-auditorium.

If you want ordering information on Aud-ieu itself, look over at: http://www.buffaloheritage.com/audieu.html. It was put together by the original Aud broad herself and is a nice look at times gone by.

Appearing in the index four times is a nice ego boost headed into the weekend.

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The Speech, the War and Everything

I didn’t see the entirety of the President’s address last night. You knew something had to be coming along the lines of what was announced.

I read the text of it this morning to avoid the contaminants of both Fox and MSNBC and if President Bush had been that declarative in 2003, I don’t think we would have had the polarization that we have seen in the intervening years. I’m not sure how I feel about it entirely. I think had it predated the Iraq enterprise, the climate might be a lot different now. Coming out of 9/11, the protests for coming into Afghanistan and taking care of what was thought to be needed probably would have had minimal dissent.

It’s interesting because some extremists on both sides are grumbling about costs. Now, we worry about the finances? Some people will do anything for a soundbite. As nothing appeared to be changing with the status quo, it seemed like the President had two choices, pull out completely or wrachet things up to get this done. To pull out would not be easy and would mean we were just pissing away resources. I’m not in love with the alternative, but he inherited two fights that weren’t staged very well to start with, and at least there is a goal, a plan that doesn’t involve banner hangings and photo ops, but a definitive goal. There is no good in any of this, but that seems as pragmatic an outline as you are likely to see.

Being a pacifist/coward, I’m not the possessor of the most grand of military minds, but after watching Desert Storm nightly on television, I’ve often wondered if we are using all we have in such items. It used to be derigeur to show footage of a bomber pinpoint targeting the desired target. I don’t know if the guys on the ground are getting that same sort of support, something that occured to me for reasons passing understanding. Neither Iraq, part ll or Afghanistan has seen that.

The things we choose to care about….

Not everybody can celebrate right!

This guy apparently saw too many highlights of Alex Ovechkin scoring. Not every arena can handle the leap

Henrik Andersen of Leksand, Sweden scores his first goal of the season in a Leksand jersey. When he goes to celebrate the glass comes loose and he falls through. What a fail.