3407 Memorial at Forest Lawn

After picking up a new map of Forest Lawn I noticed that there is now a Flight 3407 Memorial in the northeast corner (section 36), next to the Birchwood Mausoleum. 3 years ago today...Rest in Peace.

(an older map is at the link)

2 Books

Way back in October I started reading the highly acclaimed Last Call, which is about Prohibition. Admittedly I took a few side trips, but I lost total interest half way through. Still, I persevered, just because.

For as long as the book is (over 450 pages), it basically focuses on only 3 or 4 geographic areas: Detroit/Canada, Ohio/Temperance, and Washington DC/political.  Sure, there were little jaunts here and there, but obviously Okrent found the political intrigue absolutely fascinating.  Besides the original modern day lobbyist, Wayne Wheeler, the rest were a bunch of hypocritical lushes. What else is new...

Joseph Kennedy Sr. should have been mentioned in the middle with others so casually mentioned.  Placing him at the end almost makes it looks like he was a reason to write the whole thing.  Personally, I really don't care how he got his money or how delicately it's phrased or excused. Next!

What WAS interesting was the number of innovations that came about as a result of Prohibition:

- the word "Scofflaw" was coined as a result of a contest to name those who disregarded the ban on alcohol

- plea bargains were the outcome of the federal courts being totally overwhelmed by all the little people brought up on charges (affirmed constitutional in 1930)

- expanded laws and legal investigation techniques, including more lax search and seizure, wiretapping (declared telephones the same as public conversation, like cell phones today)

- cruise ships (designed to sit right outside the line for international ships and their patrons who wished to imbibe

- grape juice concentrate (the better to make wine with, my dear)

- NASCAR ('shine running anyone?)

- more excise taxes, definitely geared towards having little people pay for tax breaks for the rich (hadn't seized on state run gambling yet)

- income tax (to make up for lost income from alcohol sales); rich quickly started research on legislating loopholes

On the other hand, Stephen King's 11/22/63 was almost twice as long, and I was sorry when it ended.  Admittedly I was more interested in the main character's personal life apart from his mission, but it wove together very comfortably.

If somehow you missed it, the premise is time travel and the quest to prevent JFK from being assassinated on November 22, 1963. Also mentioned frequently are the connected "butterfly effect" (the gentle movement of wings can trigger a tornado elsewhere at another time) and "the past is obdurate" (resistant to change is too simply put, but that'll cover it).

If I have a complaint about anything, it's right near the end (but not the very end).  I actually felt that King zipped over and simplified, when it could have been expanded a bit more...and probably added another 500 pages as a result.  No, the length was just right, all things considered.  Not boring at all.

And the end itself? Wonderful!  Not wanting to give anything away, read it yourself to see what I mean!

Hit the Highway

Over on Goose's Roost I read an interesting analysis of the Sabres problems in a comment left on an equally interesting post.  The part I most wanted to reply to (but was unable, since additional comments seem to be blocked) is this:

"Lindys quirks: the constant line changes, the hostility to new players that he doesnt know, and the inability to manage goaltenders not named Dominik Hasek, have made things worse instead of better, as a young team floundering for identity and chemistry is preventing from developing one. Lindys undoubtedly tried everything he can to right this ship, but he seems at a loss."

1.  It isn't clear to me if the writer was referring to the constant remixing of lines, or the constant "Get off the ice NOW" rigidity thing that Ruff is noted for.  The line could be on a breakway but "Oops...line change!" and the player with the puck spins to pass it to...no one. If any luck holds, he doesn't pass it into a space now occupied by the other team, but the Sabres haven't been too lucky with the passing lately anyway.

2.  Ruff didn't manage Hasek. Hasek managed Hasek; that made it an area of no concern, at that period in time. Of course, Hasek then demanded a trade, so that didn't work out so well, or maybe it was a strong distaste for the system.

3.  It doesn't appear to me that Ruff is only hostile to new players.  At first I thought it was Russians he had a problem with, but perhaps the whole thing is his inflexibility regarding the precious "system". Nonadherents will be screamed at until they genuflect, or are driven out. Sometimes they seem to mentally tune out instead; either that or be a stressed out mess.

While at times he makes mouth noises about what players need to do, it doesn't seem to jive when you have players skating to assigned spots that are not, how shall I say, productive at that point in time. One need only look at the idiot passes (example: right to an opposing player that happens to be very visible inside a lane) to see that "thinking independent thoughts" is not part of the "system". Then again, at other times there will be 3 players behind the net, digging for the puck, and when they come up with it, they'll pass the puck to...who? No one there but the other team.  Somehow I don't think that was the plan.

By the way, there's no need to point out that I'm not a hockey expert, and therefore don't understand. We'd certainly be on the same page with that one :)

Additional note: It has been reported that Pegula is traveling with two advisers...Exactly what are they experts in? Hockey? If so, wouldn't the news outlets be blasting their qualifications? Business/Accounting/Financial? Gad, I hope not...beancounters are so...dry...rigid...so...not into winning, "just"money people, which would be the opposite of the Goal of winning the Stanley Cup.

This is not a case of jumping off the proverbial bandwagon. Fans want things to straighten out, and aren't proceeding on some type of blind faith that things will work out if we only believe.

I believe it's time for a change.

I also believe that Ruff desperately wants the Sabres to succeed, but I also think there's a strong case to be made that it's his way or the highway, evidence to the contrary be damned, with Regier filling the role of enabler.  The tandem is stale, very stale. They should both hit the highway, in my opinion.

Next up: tonight in St. Louis....

Devil's Cave in Harris Hill (Pt 2)

The Niagara County historian had posted a link to an article in the Buffalo News regarding the underground caves in Lockport. That was the necessary boot to the posterior to scan the copies of a file on Devil's Cave in Harris Hill that that had been donated to the Clarence Historical Museum shortly after I had originally written about the cave here on the blog.  Scanner issues were the original problem, then flat-out procrastination...

Even with a new scanner it can be hard to read some of the newspaper articles on this site (click on them to enlarge), so I loaded them on to Flickr also, which has a better "make bigger" feature.

The opening to Devil's Cave was located around the middle circle behind Nativity, and runs from approximately the old stagecoach stop (left) to a sinkhole behind Samuel's Grande Manor (I redrew google map as the one provided didn't scan well). It had been written about in scattered pieces throughout the years, and the articles, along with a personal observation/commentary, are presented here.  Very intriguing!

Thanks for sharing!!!

Thinkin' It's Time

There is a mega list of Clarence Class '72 people that we have no contact info for, but somehow I thought getting some on fellow alum George Doran would be easy...I was mistaken (so far).  Therefore, I'll post one of his latest videos (recorded at the Sportmans Tavern on Amherst Street) in the hopes of shaking loose an address! That, plus I like the song :)



I wish all of the missing classmates were writer/singers!

Clarence High School Class of 1972

Attention all ye members of the Clarence Central Senior High School (NY) Class '72:

Once upon a time the concept of 2012 seemed like something out of A Space Odyssey...far, far, away...

...40 years later, the time is now!

Save the Date!

Join us 

Friday July 20th and Saturday July 21st, 2012

and see 

friends from ago

enjoy

food drink and good times!

Reunion!! Reminisce, reconnect, or just reestablish that you still can't stand just about everyone, but be there!

If you're not on the email list, or if you think we might not have your mailing address, or you just want to check in, please contact clarencegrad72 (at) gmail (dot) com for more information.

A few tunes from '72:





Be there or be square :)

Kodachrome: 1950's Buffalo

Back a while I had posted about my grandfather's cousin, William Robert.  I also mentioned that there were more slides than I had posted, and that they had gone to a good home. They are now online at Steve Cichon's Staff Announcer!  He did a massive amount of scanning on tweaking, and I'm so glad that he gave them "life" again! Thanks Steve :)

I was so busy posting and reading the comments on Facebook that I almost forgot to post the link here...Here's a sample of Michigan and Genesee...Now go see the rest!