Weekly Rochester Events #239: Canada's Buffalo

Thursday, August 7, 2003

Oh, lightning leaders are the part that forms near the ground. It's ionized air like in those plasma ball things, I guess. Only one or two of them are lucky enough to meet up with the lightning path from the sky and conduct the electricity.

All I had to do was take some 200,000 low-resolution images 30 times a second and then sort through them to get the four cool ones you see. I've got this fancy digital camera that does it for me and puts it all on tape. It's pretty cool ... you can even watch the images in real-time on television, or download them to the computer. (Yeah, yeah, very clever ... describing a video camera this way ...)

Lightning lights up the back yard at night on the 5th. A lightning leader appears off the telephone wire.

Lightning strikes behind the Monroe County Offices Same shot, no lightning leader.

Anyway, I was thinking about a couple things. First, people should fix their tattered flags. I see these all over the place, especially after 9/11 when everyone stuck them on their cars. Well, now they're all messed up. The The Democrat and Chronicle did an article that I've got from June 13, 1998 in the Home and Real Estate section where they talk about the flag, and they cite Gannett News Service (golly, isn't that a great citation?) which mentions, "when a flag is unfit to fly, it should be destroyed with dignity."

Now, I'm making an assumption: the people flying these wrecked flags really intend to honor it. So, if they are indeed trying to honor America by flying a damaged flag, I wish they'd have it "destroyed with dignity" and get a new one. It's really quite easy ... take it to the Stars and Stripes (455 South Ave.) store and they'll give it to people like veterans or to Boy Scout troops for a proper retirement. Plus, they sell real American flags, not those $10 Chinese made nylon pieces of shit from Walmart. I used to buy those, but after two of them both tattered and faded over the course of a year, I got a good one from Stars and Stripes (455 South Ave.) for $45 or so and it's lasted two years and is still going strong.

Now, don't get me wrong, I strongly believe that there should never be a Constitutional Amendment against flag desecration. This is for two reasons: first, is that nobody has any right to limit what someone else has to say. As part of the right of free speech, one should be allowed to burn a flag or otherwise disgrace it. The other reason is that by creating an Amendment, the United States would be engaging in icon worship. You should never worship the icon, only the ideology of what that icon represents. What's the point in worshiping the icon itself anyway?—that only teaches people to protect the icon instead of the ideology behind it.

Gosh, what else.

I guess I can mention that the Super Sweet 100's from Harris Garden Centers (999 Jefferson Rd.) have produced fruit. Oh ... cherry tomatoes for you city folk. I got one ripe one on July 30, and 13 ripe ones six days later. Now, if my knowledge of science fiction geometric approximation is correct, there should be 402,234 by the 29th weighing a total of two and a half tons. By the beginning of 2004, their total weight will be equivalent to the mass of the moon.

So start eating!

Last week I got to go to The Flour City Brewer's Fest and got to try a bunch of different brews and met up with some people I haven't seen in a while. Here's my notes (in order of appearance):

• The 1812 Amber was from Funnycide, I guess, and was really good.
• The Southern Tier Mild English Bitter was also good although not very bitter for a bitter.
• The Ommegang brew is theirs signature beer and was 8.5% alcohol. It tasted very good, like a Scotch ale.
• The Smuttynose Porter was very light and I didn't like it as a porter. It had a funny name, though. Shmutty noze.
• I thought Red Lion Stout was really really bad so I dumped it. Fuck you. Fuck you Red Lion. You suck.
• The Funnycide Light was pretty good for a light beer ... I liked it because it was beerness.
• The Lake Placid Ubu which was really good. Woof! Heh heh heh heh ROFL.
• The Lake Placid Heffe ... Hefferen ... Heff-e-vice-in ... Hefeweissen was also great. Well, it was easy to reach, anyway, since it was within arms reach.

In all, I had 7 beers in two hours which would have been a good deal at $15 total, but since each glass was about two and a half ounces, I only got about 18 ounces of beer which is a ripoff ... Of course that wasn't the point at all, but I can't say I can tell what the point is, though.

T H U R S D A Y

Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 8:30 p.m. is Primordial Undermind, ST 37, and Pengo Incognito. Tonight at Highland Bowl (South Ave. at Robinson Dr.) they're showing Agent Cody Banks starting around 8:30 or dark or whatever. Elwyn will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30.

F R I D A Y

Over at Verb Café at Writers and Books (740 University Ave.) tonight starting around 8 is a benefit for Writers and Books featuring excellent acoustic rock with The Earl Cram Revue, Dream Engine, Geoff Wilson of The Irthlings, eclectic, multi-styled rock of Don Anonymous, and bluesy-acoustic soloist Cole Gockley along with poetry from C. Shelton and (according to the e-mail) "the bewildering (but cool)" Bert and Ernie Russell. Oh, and if that's not enough, Earl Cram will be doing their Surrealist word games in a room full of writers and poets. The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting Ben Taylor Band who has been called the progeny of James Taylor and Carly Simon (mostly because that's his parents) and acoustic-styled modern rock of Ronald Louis Lickers Jr. starting around 9 p.m.

S A T U R D A Y

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon. Today is another Carifest featuring Caribbean food, dance, and music over at High Falls Festival Site (Browns Race and Commercial St.) all day starting around 11. It's $10 to get in for adults and cheaper for kids. The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Caddyshack starting at 8. Prepare to stand in line to see this Harold Ramis classic.

S U N D A Y

The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Diary of Anne Frank starting at 3. I guess this is a pretty good movie retelling of the famous diary. Tonight at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) is the poetic electric guitar soloist Wolf Colonel, Missing Planes, the awesome low-key acoustic of Sneaky Dragons, and We March starting around 8:30 p.m.

T U E S D A Y

Tonight at Comix Café (3450 Winton Pl.) is Kevin Meaney with Steve Burr starting around 8 p.m. followed by a nearly-open mic around 10. The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting Doomination Tour with Morgion, Mourning Beloveth, The Prophecy, and Orodruin starting around 10:45 p.m. Montage Grille (50 Chestnut St.) will be hosting The Filthy Funk starting around 9:30 p.m. Over at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 11:30 p.m. is The White Hots as part of the Water St. Blues Fest. Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is hosting an Acoustic Open Mic from 8 to 10. For this one, there's no microphones and it's pretty open ended.

W E D N E S D A Y

Tonight at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) is Mary Haitz Band, Dan Schmitt and the Shadows, and The John Cole Blues Band starting around 7:30 p.m. as part of the Water St. Blues Fest. Kinloch Nelson, and Fred Vine will be at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 7:30 p.m. as part of the Water St. Blues Fest. Over at Bennigan's (120 E. Main St.) starting around 5 p.m. is another of their Poolside Parties with The Skycoasters. The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing The Front starting at 8. Since the McCarthy Trials were never to happen again, this farce follows a screenwriter (played by director Woody Allen) who signs his names to scripts to protect the actual writers from getting executed for treason. Updated: I guess superb acoustic rock band The Earl Cram Revue will be at Spot Coffee (East Ave. and Mathews St.) tonight with their music and surrealist games around 8 ... and here I thought they'd be there tomorrow, but I guess not. Tonight from 8 to 10 is an Open-Mic Comedy Night at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) While once it was a workshop type of environment, it's now more-or-less a regular open mic ... by default it's still a place to try out new stuff.