Working on Big Blue this weekend it was time for coffee when suddenly the microwave quit. No problem, I used the backup system.

These Vulcans haven’t been fired up since George Steinbrenner owned the Roundtable Resturant in the 1960’s. Think we’re ready for the Tour Of Kitchens 2008?

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it’s time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.

What, discredited? Thousands of scientists insist otherwise, none more noisily than NASA’s Jim Hansen, who first banged the gong with his June 23, 1988, congressional testimony (delivered with all the modesty of “99% confidence”).

But mother nature has opinions of her own. NASA now begrudgingly confirms that the hottest year on record in the continental 48 was not 1998, as previously believed, but 1934, and that six of the 10 hottest years since 1880 antedate 1954. Data from 3,000 scientific robots in the world’s oceans show there has been slight cooling in the past five years, never mind that “80% to 90% of global warming involves heating up ocean waters,” according to a report by NPR’s Richard Harris.

The Arctic ice cap may be thinning, but the extent of Antarctic sea ice has been expanding for years. At least as of February, last winter was the Northern Hemisphere’s coldest in decades. In May, German climate modelers reported in the journal Nature that global warming is due for a decade-long vacation. But be not not-afraid, added the modelers: The inexorable march to apocalypse resumes in 2020.

This last item is, of course, a forecast, not an empirical observation. But it raises a useful question: If even slight global cooling remains evidence of global warming, what isn’t evidence of global warming? What we have here is a nonfalsifiable hypothesis, logically indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist, or that global warming isn’t happening. It does mean it isn’t science.

So let’s stop fussing about the interpretation of ice core samples from the South Pole and temperature readings in the troposphere. The real place where discussions of global warming belong is in the realm of belief, and particularly the motives for belief. I see three mutually compatible explanations.

The first is as a vehicle of ideological convenience. Socialism may have failed as an economic theory, but global warming alarmism, with its dire warnings about the consequences of industry and consumerism, is equally a rebuke to capitalism. Take just about any other discredited leftist nostrum of yore – population control, higher taxes, a vast new regulatory regime, global economic redistribution, an enhanced role for the United Nations – and global warming provides a justification. One wonders what the left would make of a scientific “consensus” warning that some looming environmental crisis could only be averted if every college-educated woman bore six children: Thumbs to “patriarchal” science; curtains to the species.

A second explanation is theological. Surely it is no accident that the principal catastrophe predicted by global warming alarmists is diluvian in nature. Surely it is not a coincidence that modern-day environmentalists are awfully biblical in their critique of the depredations of modern society: “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” That’s Genesis, but it sounds like Jim Hansen.

And surely it is in keeping with this essentially religious outlook that the “solutions” chiefly offered to global warming involve radical changes to personal behavior, all of them with an ascetic, virtue-centric bent: drive less, buy less, walk lightly upon the earth and so on. A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.

Finally, there is a psychological explanation. Listen carefully to the global warming alarmists, and the main theme that emerges is that what the developed world needs is a large dose of penance. What’s remarkable is the extent to which penance sells among a mostly secular audience. What is there to be penitent about?

As it turns out, a lot, at least if you’re inclined to believe that our successes are undeserved and that prosperity is morally suspect. In this view, global warming is nature’s great comeuppance, affirming as nothing else our guilty conscience for our worldly success.

In “The Varieties of Religious Experience,” William James distinguishes between healthy, life-affirming religion and the monastically inclined, “morbid-minded” religion of the sick-souled. Global warming is sick-souled religion.

Write to bstephens@wsj.com

The Wife, our friend Mike, and Leonard Pennario several weeks ago celebrating The Wife’s birthday.

Leonard Pennario passed away quietly last night in La Jolla, California. I am very happy that Mr. Pennario became such a large part of my life.

I first met Leonard Pennario last November when he came to Buffalo to accept his induction into the Buffalo Music Hall Of Fame. Later that weekend, over our lunch at the Century Grill, The Wife accepted Mr. Pennario’s request to write his authorized biography. 

Leonard Pennario was an extraordinary man and he will continue to inspire me every day of my life.

Buffalo Pundit wrote today about evil fossil fuels and the entire gang, left and right, seem to have bought into that notion.

I bloviated in a comment:

All of you my friends, with all due respect, are hamsters curled up in an anxiety ball like Lucinda Basset. The purveyors of panic have corrupted your minds. I am speaking to all of you, both on the right like Hank and the left like Pundit.

We are not addicted to oil any more than an artist is addicted to paint. Any more than a mother is addicted to caring. Any more than a teacher is addicted to preparing young people for life. Oil is a tool that has marked the greatest upsurge of mankind. Utilizing oil has revolutionized transportation, countless labor saving devices, medicine, building materials, plastics, food production, and information technologies.

The Earth’s energy is the greatest gift to mankind and it should be celebrated. (I must also add that likewise, mankind is the greatest gift to the Earth.) We are using more fuel today because it is being used to elevate humanity. What do you find so depressing about third world nations achieving modernity? That can’t be a bad thing! As the world most benevolent society we should celebrate the freedom and technology that we export. And I do.

Fossil fuels will be out of fashion and irrelevant well before they run dry because we will innovate more convenient and cheaper energy sources. I have no doubt about that.

Fossil fuels are mankind’s bridge between the past and the future, the bridge between potential and accomplishment. Walk with me across this bridge.

No generation and no society has been more blessed than we are. Opportunity abounds. These are exciting times. There is no time to be curled up like a hair-ball.

I received this email this morning. 

Dear Blov, 

Mayor and gang stopping by to announce the name at 10:30 - stop by.. our little cul de sac is growing up…

Regards, 

Mrs. Dulski

MKG reports on the new glass going up on Delaware Avenue.

Hey Wall Street Journal subscribers. I discovered the trick to saving money on renewals.

In order to get the $99.00 Wall Street Journal print plus online editions, you have to logout so that the WSJ.com website thinks that you are not already a subscriber. Then click on subscribe.

This will save you at least $29.00.

Next. Use the $29.00 to short crude oil because I think the price of oil is going to crash.  

http://marykunzgoldman.com/2008/04/nut-at-his-nuttiest.html

The BuffaloBloviator wormed his way into the Op-Ed page of the Buffalo News today by being mentioned in a nationally syndicated story about GPS and cheating spouses.

Gee, if I knew that this story was going to be reprinted in the Buffalo News, I would have said something deeply profound and meaningful to our city’s forward advancement such as ”No Goal!”.

 http://www.buffalonews.com/248/story/280517.html

New York Sun Interviews the BuffaloBloviator for Valentine’s Day story about love and covert GPS vehicle tracking systems.

By LENORE SKENAZY
February 13, 2008

…”If somebody has somebody on the side and they don’t make contact with them in the course of Valentine’s Day, they’re in deep trouble,” the owner of a Buffalo-based surveillance equipment company, BuffaloBloviator said. “So if you’re going to follow somebody, you should really follow them on Valentine’s Day, because that’s the time you’re going to hit pay dirt.”

His company, christened Goldman Computers so it would look innocuous on credit card bills, always sees interest peak at this time of year, he said, and at Christmas.

…Read Entire NY Sun story…

Elmwood Avenue’s venerable music store, New World Record,  announced this week they are planning on closing their doors after 24 years.

Buffalo Pundit wrote

BuffaloRising.com wrote

BuffaloBloviator writes:

Govindan Kartha,

Congratulations New World Record founder, Govindan Kartha, for 24 years of success. That may not be a “world record” - but it’s a hell of a record for any private enterprise. That doesn’t happen without the right chops and a lot of hard work.
You may be leaving an expired industry but you certainly are not leaving behind the business experience and instincts that come from 24 years in the trenches.

My own specialty electronics e-commerce (mail-order before WWW) business happens to be 24 years old this year also. 10 years in, I started losing money because the nature of the home and studio recording industry changed, just as the record store industry now has changed. I hung on until the end because I really didn’t think I knew how to do anything else, it was all I had ever done since college. I quickly learned that the experience easily transferred to new industries. In fact, I am convinced that the experience I gained during the tougher years was even more valuable than the experience gained during the successful years. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade that painful experience for anything.

You are battle hardened my friend. I hope that you decide to remain self-employed because you will be amazed at the resources that you discover within yourself. As in physical exercise, when talent is exercised one day at a time, over the years, you don’t realize or notice all of that development and power until you have the opportunity to test your strength on something new.

Congratulations again, and may your next venture bring 24 years of success.

Howard Goldman

Pope Benedict XVI Condemns The Climate Change Prophets.

In a story published in the Daily Mail, Simon Caldwell wrote:

Attack: Pope Benedict criticised climate change prophets of doom.

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

>>>Upon which I bloviate:

It appears clear that the issue of global warming, the notion that the earth is trending toward gradual warming and that its further extension, that man’s technology is contributing to that trend, has been thoroughly hijacked by politics.

I see red flags when two opposing sides to a science debate also happen to be split perfectly and consistently by opposing ideology. The global warming debate looks like it has been hijacked and appended to the respective qualifications of today’s two main rival political groups; the Secular-Darwinist faithed-Socialist-Progressive-Democrat-Self Loathing Ashamed of America-No Such Thing As Good Or Bad Just Cultural Relativity-Global Warmest political group versus the Religion Tolerant-Capitalist-Conservative-Republican-Happy that America is top dog-Freedom Is A Natural Right Of All People And America Is The Best Vehicle For Delivering That Freedom Whether They Like It Or Not-Man Made Global Warming Agnostics.  (I invite you to help me further refine these two nomenclatures.)

If there is any science behind the global warming theory, good luck sifting it out of the politics. Earth temperature may or may not be affected by man, but a safe scientific certainty is that this debate is heating up.

To which I bloviate:

Nobody ever claimed that ethanol is cheaper than gas. (Except in Brazil where they can make it from cane sugar.) Our national mandate to pursue ethanol is motivated by the goal of increased independence from fuel sources that are controlled by enemy nations.

Modern technology has greatly reduced the odor from ethanol plants. The older plants that had community complaints did not have the benefit of the modern scrubbers that our plant is installing.

I expect that a great many of us, First Ward residents especially, will be happy with the renewed importance of our old grain elevators, the inner harbor, and their significant contribution once again not only to our city but our nation.

Kevin Townsell and Rick Smith are two Buffalo boys who’s beer drinking (and beer serving) was literally the total extent of their familiarity with grain. It is very exciting to see that two local regular guys, by having the faith to follow their own vision, have brought good old Buffalo style private enterprise back to the Buffalo Harbor. The stuff that made Buffalo great in the first place, is the same stuff that these two gentlemen are made of.

My hat is off to the man in the cowboy hat.

New Era Celebrates One Year Downtown

New Era is a great neighbor and I am not picking on them. The last thing I would normally want to do is rain on their parade. They have nice employees and great attitudes. It is a great pleasure having many of them as my personal friends. Glamorizing graffiti is not good public relations. Glamorizing any attitude or behavior that inhibits the forward movement of Buffalo is not good public relations during our New Era of high hope and expectations for our city. However, I think inviting graffiti vandals is a good opportunity for the Buffalo Police graffiti task force to collect intel. I am also planning on attending so that I can drag their sorry asses over to my place to help me remove their art from my building.

I appeal to our good neighbors at New Era to reconsider promoting graffiti at their December 15th event -for the city’s sake as well as for their own public relations ramifications. Can you imagine the news stories that would result from this decision? All of the good that New Era Cap has done will be overlooked and the stories will all focus on the stupid graffiti promotion. They did the right thing when they cancelled their production of custom gang hats. Remember? I have to believe that New Era Cap will reconsider and wind up dropping the graffiti promotion from their event.

…I ask my WNYmedia.net friends to join me in a brief exercise of devil’s advocacy. We all know how to do that. For the purposes of our exercise, lets set aside our actual beliefs. What if Buffalo is still on the cutting edge and we just don’t recognize it yet? …

Buffalo Pundit wrote:

The New York Sun wrote:

Can Buffalo Ever Come Back?

By EDWARD L. GLAESER
October 19, 2007

Buffalo Bloviator comments on the above Sun Times editorial:

The New York Sun story certainly supports conventional wisdom. But does the old popular doomsday theory explain the three billion dollars in new downtown development by our biggest developers? Does it really explain the current urban migration? Does it really explain the new wave of optimism and community participation that we are witnessing? Does it really explain how so many average individuals such as myself are optimistic enough to be willing to invest their life’s savings into our downtown? Or, are these just the examples that prove their rule? Perhaps not.

I ask my WNYmedia.net friends to join me in a brief exercise of devil’s advocacy. We all know how to do that. For the purposes of our exercise, lets set aside our actual beliefs and for the moment accept a different assumption. What if Buffalo is still on the cutting edge and we just don’t recognize it yet? Consider that during the industrial revolution it was widely believed that our region was heading down hill because we were loosing our agricultural base and the values that were part and parcel with that agrarian economy. Many people were alarmed by the flight to the city because they did not recognize this as progress at the time.

Assume that once again Buffalo is on the cusp of a new definition of prosperity -a brand new prosperity that once again requires brand new metrics. The new metrics measure quality of life. The new metrics take account of values that cherish water, air, time, and very importantly merciful vehicular traffic rankings. (I heard this week we ranked #2 for best commute.)

Think about it. We were among those few who invented big American cities. Cities like Atlanta and Los Angeles have finally caught up, but they came to the game too late. The game in this century is overall quality of life. Not density and congestion. I’m sorry but in my book you have no quality of life when you are stuck in a three-hour traffic jam every day and you can feel your lungs because of the poor air quality.

How does the average guy benefit by living and working in a density-and-congestion city? His take home pay doesn’t go any further than in Buffalo. He doesn’t sock away more money. He doesn’t get to spend more time working. He doesn’t get to spend more time playing. He doesn’t get to spend more time with his family. The only advantage to the old model of urban success is that governments can collect more money to feed their own organism. Remember, taxes never go down no matter how many new taxpayers there are. I’m doing fine in Buffalo and if I moved to an old 1800’s definition of success density-congestion city, I would not be living better.

Sure we hated to go through the painful right-sizing process we endured. Remember, our ancestors endured pain when Buffalo led the industrial revolution too. We hate splitting our families up and seeing our kids move out of town, but keep in mind that Buffalo was founded by individuals who left their families behind in Europe. They made the ultimate sacrifice for Buffalo and so have we.

Our predecessors struggled so that we could enjoy a better life. Thanks to preservation through neglect in Buffalo, their gifts have survived. We shed our old industry and replaced it with new industry. Moody’s has ranked us #1 in industrial diversity. We led and currently lead the revolution in adapting. The painful dues have been paid. Now Buffalo is on our watch. Perhaps we should use what we have and not pine over our lack of density and congestion. The God given resources that made us great in the first place are making us great this time around too.

Isn’t it easy to imagine that the density-congestion cities may soon be pining over what Buffalo has to offer? (Just wait and see what happens when they start running out of water!) Our next problem may be keeping people out!

Could it be that Buffalo, once again, is literally defining to the nation what metro economic success is?

By Howard Goldman,
aka Buffalo Bloviator
bloviate@buffalobloviator.com

http://www.buffalorising.com/story/howard_scouts_out_153_delaware#sca

According to the latest unemployment figures released by the NYS Department Of Labor, unemployment in Erie County has dropped to a record 4.4%. Economists generally consider 4.7% unemployment as representative of full employment. The unemployment rate for the entire nation is now only 4.6%, which is considered slightly better than full employment. Erie County is actually now beating the nation and beating the state in this very significant economic indicator.

The great numbers illustrate the fact that we have successfully established the most industrially diverse economy in the nation. We are close to achieving population market equilibrium. Recent job creation in the insurance and finance industries has helped push us over the top.

Now, if you don’t fear that taking a moment to celebrate good news will threaten our philosophy of invincible pessimism, let’s toast this achievement. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bloviator were among the delighted diners last night at the Rue Franklin restaurant as world famous concert pianist Van Cliburn dropped in for a surprise performance. Here Cliburn is shown asking the Bloviator for directions to Ted’s.

http://www.buffalorising.com/story/delaware_ave_hold_out#sca

Thanks to all for stopping by “Big Blue” during the Taste Of Buffalo this weekend. BBB Bruce The Nut Guy, neighbor Bashar, Myron & Susan, Jane, George, Mary, and Tourette Guy were among our esteemed guests. Special thanks to; Buffalo Place, A Taste Of Buffalo, and Ford, for the impromptu burn-out exhibition as they loaded the Nascar racing car back into the trailer. These guys throw a heck of a block party!

Big Oval and Big Blue.

An invitation to all WNYmedia.net contributors and readers attending A Taste Of Buffalo this weekend:

Please feel free to stop by 153 Delaware Avenue (across from New Era Cap) to say hi, have a beverage, or simply sit down and take a load off.

The Bloviator and The Wife will be ”home” most of Saturday so please watch for signs of life in the front yard area.

That very same wrecking tool is recognizable from the H-O Oats demolition last year and after last evening; to me it has become the face of Buffalo architecture’s Grim Reaper. 

You can learn more about the Erlanger Theater at: http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/a/del/120/index.html

You can learn more about the Erlanger Theater at: http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/a/del/120/index.html

The players, fans, and the Bloviator shared an undaunted commitment and a single mindedness of purpose toward achieving their respective goals.

To the backdrop of cheering fans, the players scored points as the Bloviator scored newly pointed brick.

Buffalo Bloviator Publishing’s front porch amenity, located at center court, was a big hit with our city’s weekend guests. Refreshments were served.

It is reassuring to know that our future is secure and in the capable hands of a fresh new generation of bloviators.

I see great things ahead for this fine young man.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/82923.html

Avoid modern art. But when modern art finds you, call Buffalo Bloviator.

The Bloviator (pictured above in a rare cameo appearance), counts among his friends a Buffalo personal injury attorney. Yes, even some personal injury attorneys have friends. My friend has asked me not to reveal his identity at this time, because thanks to my advice, he is in fear for his personal safety. Herein, my personal injury attorney friend shall, and for the remainder of this document, be referred to as “the seller”.

The seller has had in his exclusive care, custody, and control a seemingly harmless painting of a house, hanging in his own house from a nail in his living room wall. The painting has been in his family for many years. The painting belonged to the seller’s grandmother who received it from a great aunt who had an art shop in France. The seller’s ancestors left France and Germany during World War II.

The painting is signed “P Cezanne”. The story passed down by his relatives is that the painting’s history is unclear and it is probably not actually an authentic Cezanne. And so the painting hung on a nail in the living room of the seller, in close proximity to where his children enjoy playing animated games with the family pet, often involving acrobatic feats and object-throwing exhibitions.

Exhibit “A”: The Signature.

Having myself personally been swept up in the excitement of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s successful multi-tens of millions of dollars masterpiece sale, I suggested to the seller that he should find out, or rule out, once and for all if his painting is a genuine masterpiece. I appealed to his personal injury attorney range of instincts -logic and money. I advocated that he should know now, rather than find out twenty years from now, that he is as wealthy as personal injury attorney John Edwards.

I suggested to the seller that he take the painting to Sotheby’s Auction House in New York City. I based my careful advice on all of the nuanced circumstances surrounding the issue, and the fact that I am fully ignorant about the topic. To my surprise and delight, the seller reported back to me that he had made an appointment at Sotheby’s for the day which has now become last Wednesday.

From this point on, the story takes on a particularly Buffalo character. 

As my friend prepared for his trip to Sotheby’s, he became burdened with the responsibility of managing an uninsured piece of art potentially worth tens of millions of dollars. What if information were leaked from Sotheby’s that the valuable painting existed? The painting was removed from its nail and hidden under a pile of laundry. The seller found some cardboard and fashioned a container. He secured it with duct tape and even a shoestring. A sleeve was made out of an unfinished work of art that his wife had once begun and then abandoned in the basement.

The seller set out for Sotheby’s on Tuesday. He drove his car because he was afraid to check the painting through airport baggage. He placed the painting in the back seat in case he was rear-ended. (Being rear-ended is the stock-in-trade of a personal injury attorney.) Tuesday night he checked into a motel. He couldn’t sleep because he was worried about the possible masterpiece locked in his car.

As in every Buffalo story, the lead character called his friend regularly to report on his activities. Wednesday morning the seller phoned me. He had arrived in NYC and found a parking space sixty yards from the entrance to Sotheby’s. He reported to me that he was four hours early for his 2 p.m. appointment but didn’t want to appear too anxious by showing up early. He decided to wait it out in the car with the painting. Every Buffalo story also requires a urination scene. The seller was concerned about leaving the painting in the car, or leaving the car and carrying the painting into a building. He went behind a dumpster.

The seller contacted me again at 1:45 p.m. He reported that he was “going in.” My phone rang a few minutes later but the connection failed. I phoned back and the seller nervously whispered that he was beginning his meeting with the woman. He would call me back. At 2:05 my phone rang. “What happened?” I asked impatiently. “They laughed me out of the place,” the seller reported. He continued, “She could have been a little nicer about telling me that I was losing fifty million dollars.”

The Sotheby’s woman had studied the painting for about twelve seconds. She actually seemed more interested in his packaging, particularly the wife’s unfinished apple painting which he used as a wrapping paper.

Exhibit “B”: The the seller’s wife’s unfinished apple painting.

The painting “lacked the precision of the great masters.” She also said that the “signature did not look like Cezanne’s signature”.

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourElement.cgi?element_id=34784&tour_id=17720&category_id=28211

Exhibit “C”: Cezanne signature.

The signatures look pretty darned close to me. The seller thinks so too. If the woman was wrong about the signature, then it calls into question her other argument as well. What does precision have to do with modern art anyway? Didn’t throwing paint from across the room at the canvas create many masterpieces? How precise is the Yellow Square painting that we have all admired at the Albright-Knox?

The seller and I agree that the authenticity of the painting is still an unresolved issue. I suggested placing the painting on eBay to solicit input from the marketplace.

You can see the auction at: http://cgi.ebay.com/Cezanne-Masterpiece-House-in-Provence-Near-Gardanne_W0QQitemZ180112628429QQihZ008QQcategoryZ20129QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The opening deaccessioning bid starts at $1.00. So far there have been no takers.

(The seller will consider a Buy-It-Now price of $60,000,000.00 for those shopping for Mother’s Day.)

Being in the modern art business, the Buffalo Bloviator now feels as though we are among the misunderstood. 

Dear Buffalo Bloviator;

I want to sincerely thank all of you who expressed their support for the RiverWright Ethanol plant in Buffalo. Literally hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls were made to Common Councilmen and, believe me, your voices were heard!

Thanks again for your support!

Kevin Townsell
RiverWright Energy

Buffalo’s entry into the world of ethanol making with an $80 million plant on the Buffalo River received final approval Tuesday. By an 8-1 vote, the Common Council gave the project its final approval and set the stage for an operation that will turn bushels of corn into gallons of alternative fuel.

As the following pictures will attest, the early stages of a restoration are far from glamorous. Most of the early efforts go toward stabilizing the property and correcting structural issues. But hey, it doesn’t get any better than this. I even get to make lots of trips to Home Depot -I have found a state of happiness.

This is “Big Blue” way before it was painted blue. The years would not be easy on the big guy.

One of the things I learned while shopping for downtown property is that every old building is replete with an old safe, and that there are no longer any safe movers willing to take on those big old monsters. The safe in Big Blue was collapsing a room. I also learned that when Ellicott Development (the people who sold me Big Blue) have a “tough job”, they send this man. The “Man In Black” made good on their promise to remove the old 2100 pound safe.

The safe was too heavy for the stairs so they “peeled” it. Happy 4th of July!

Anybody want a slightly used safe?
These old safes are made of fireproof concrete sandwiched in a
thin steel skin. If you ever use a safe to protect valuables,
be sure to use the cast iron inner safe. The small inner safe accounts
for most of the weight and is not easily peeled. The small inner safe
had to be lowered down the fire escape with cables, using their biggest guy as a counter weight.

His men applied their finesse to this ice machine that was too big for the door.
Do you prefer your ice cubed, slivered, or crushed? How’bout your ice machine?

In order to keep the expensive fire sprinkler pipes from freezing, I had to set up emergency heating by patching together the inventory of furnace components in the building. Later I will relocate them. Luckily our winter was late this year. The basement had no heater, but I found an orphaned furnace in the back of the kitchen and set it up in the basement. That kept the basement at a nice safe 50 degrees. The mice were happy. This was the first time that I have ever actually used duct tape (Swiss Army knife) for its manufacturer’s intended purpose.

 

I tore out the kitchen ceiling and installed insulation. The 22 foot walk-in cooler is for the wife’s beer. It also serves as a  handy scaffold so that you can lie down and work on the ceiling like Michael Angelo.

I hired designer Paul LaMorticella and architect David Sutton to help me create a master plan. While the master plan is being developed, I am removing the paint from the exterior brick. The historic brick from 1865 has a very fragile fire skin. I am attempting to preserve the character that the years have provided. Commercial outfits would typically media blast the building. Gentle baking soda is the latest sand blasting material used to remove paint on historic brick because the rain carries away the spent media. This method would leave a clean, light orange color that you see on many restored buildings such as The Mansion on Delaware Avenue. I prefer the distressed, multi-colored effect because it reminds me of the last time I tried growing a beard.

Another new method is to apply caustic putty to the surface of the building and then cover it with a sheet of plastic like a bandage. The plastic sheet keeps the caustic material from drying out or being washed away by rain. Then you peel the bandage off, scrape the residue and repeat. This method is not easy for one person to apply, especially if tall ladders give him nosebleeds.

I formulated my own inexpensive paint-weakening caustic jelly that freezes below 55 degrees and looks like White-Out (which was invented by a family with links to Buffalo). It is environmentally neutral and creates no airborne residue. My custom “paint bloviator” clings to the paint for weeks when the temperature is cool. I applied it to the building during the deep freeze that we had in February. I pretended that I was Sam Wilkeson working in stubborn, frozen solitude. I devised several methods for applying it from the ground. One method involved equipment I purchased at Toys R Us. I got some pretty strange looks from passers by. Standing on Delaware Avenue wearing a Devo suit, a full visor, and shooting a blinking ray gun that turned a haunted looking house into a white frozen glob, I guess I must have appeard to be either a performance artist or a ghost buster.

The final removal method utilizes the 24 foot fiberglass and aluminum pressure washer extension shown leaning up against the wall. I wear a nylon harness that helps me support the weight. Mark Croce was driving by one day and noticed me working. He recommended that I try a special spinning water head for the pressure sprayer. It is somewhat like a shower message head, on steroids, that would remove your skin. It works great.

Today, in an exciting surprise development,  I began uncovering a painted sign on the side of the building. So far it says, “OF 25″ in 1920’s era font. You can see it in the second to the last picture.

 Mr. Freudenheim, a former art museum director, served as the assistant secretary for museums at the Smithsonian Institution.

Officials of the Albright-Knox may have won the battle, but the community outrage triggered by their brazen disregard for the museum’s riches ought to serve as a warning to museum directors and trustees across the country: They can’t have it both ways — expecting public support while arrogantly asserting that the public be damned. This storm in Buffalo might be just the beginning of a revolution in which the public begins to reclaim its rights to public institutions and demands an accountability that museum directors and trustees will ignore at their peril.

…[Please read the entire story by clicking on Comments]

 

[…Please Read Tom’s Entire Post By Clicking On Comments.]

– And Blov, wait til you see the piece I have in the WSJ tomorrow morning (day of first sale).

  

 

The Waterbury Connecticut, Republican American Newspaper, today published a Valentine’s Day interview of the Bloviator. The exclusive interview contains rare candid introspective self examinations by the Bloviator as he discussed issues including cheating and infidelity - exposing in lurid details, the status of his love life.

http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=19773#

So I told her I set fire to this car parked in front of our house.  

 

 

                  

Only one living warrior has clocked more miles behind the wheel, won more motorized battles, and carved more notches in his gear shift lever than even the legendary ”The Racer’s Racer” Bobby Allison. That man is of course, Buffalo cab driver and 2005 Buffalo mayoral candidate “The Cab Driver’s Cab Driver” Ron Moss.

 

Ray Ammerman, General Manager of the West Herr Jaguar dealership, explains to Ron Moss exactly what it will take for him to get into this 2007 XK Coupe.

 

 

Ron Moss aquired a free slice of pizza after calling the server “Honey”.

 

I called this Z06 Vette “Honey” as well as a few other terms of endearment.

 

 

Moss slugs down some hot coffee and demonstrates the proper cup-holder technique in this 2007 Lexus SC Luxury Coupe hardtop/convertible.

 

 

Ron Moss explains to the crowd why this automobile would be a poor choice for a Buffalo cab.

 

 

Buffalo’s most accomplished driver, seen here suited up,  heads out into the night -always on duty. It is said, “Moss has taken more white-loads than a Maytag Laundry Center.”

I thought your readers should see this story.

Regards,

Tom L. Freudenheim tom@freudenheim.com 

http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-ca-art14jan14,0,6254835.story?coll=cl-art   

 

Buffalo Bloviator Publishing will be able to keep an eye on City Hall when this window is restored. Of course, eventually this view will be replaced with a new Federal Court House that will look like the giant container that the Statler came in. The charming brick building is the old Erlanger Theater.

Next, the house ordered me to get my Scout and run to Home Depot to lay in a basic inventory of lumber so that I could prepare for Tuesday’s insurance inspection. I have learned that there are different types of insurance carriers for different risk properties. My agent suggested starting with a less expensive, low risk carrier but he warned me that I may get dropped because of the major renovation issues. Hence the lumber. The people that sold me the property, Carl and Bill Paladino of Ellicott Development, had been using the building as a nightclub. When they removed their sound and lighting equipment mounting fixtures, there were dangerous holes left in the upstairs floors. There were also a couple of “windows” that required securing.

 

This is the same window after my handiwork. This gives new meaning to the term, “room and board”.

That’s a great set of numbers that Commissioner Tobie compiled. It makes my day to see that. Thank you, Buffalo Geek.

Personally, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of the cynics lately. Some of my close friends still think that Buffalo is sinking. They cause me to wonder if their overly negative opinions should become less relevant as a concern of mine. After all, they’re sitting on the sidelines, aren’t they? Doesn’t that fact alone make them irrelevant in a sense? Despite their negativity, the city is moving forward at a great pace. We all see the values and opportunities rising, but they can’t.

Maybe that’s ok.

I’m beginning to believe Buffalo bashers actually serve a valuable purpose in the healthy market we are currently enjoying. In the stock market there is a rule that it is time to get out when every Joe gets in. When everybody decides to put their money into a market, there is no room for upside, because all of the available money is already in. A little fear in a market is good because caution keeps some of the money out and there is still potential upside for those who are up to the challenge of investing. The Buffalo skeptics may actually be contributing a service to the local market by keeping the opportunities from running away from the rest of us before we can get fully invested ourselves. It takes a certain amount of time to raise money and to evaluate the opportunities. If they were selling too quickly, they would all be gone by the time we decide on the one we like. A nice steady upward price trend presents a better opportunity for us regular guy investors because we can still catch the bus -it isn’t moving too fast yet.   I recently decided to quit trying to change their minds. In fact, now I thank them.

The $3 Billion Dollar Spreadsheet