I was in need of a Spanish dictionary once and grabbed this innocent looking tome too because I thought it might be useful. It isn’t (not for me, anyway) but it’s one of the most unintentionally funny books I’ve ever come across. It seems to be a serious dictionary, but because every fourth or fifth entry has something to do with sex, drugs or bodily functions, I can’t open it without my eye falling on some bizarre example sentence that I can’t imagine ever needing to say in English, much less in Spanish. For example, page 198 teaches you to say in Castilian, “Three junkies died last night when their lab blew up.” Page 293: Nicaraguan for “Because of her bad mood, I believe that lady is on the rag.” Page 252: “A gang of hookers came down the street — of all colors, sizes, and, I suppose, prices.” And those are just the PG-13 rated ones.

A few times, I have found this book useful as an emergency laugh generator. Every time I think I’ve discovered the filthiest entry, I can open it to any random page and find something even more outrageous. Which is why it’s so funny, and why I’m never getting rid of it. (Although in more sober moments, I have to wonder what the author’s conception of Spanish-speaking people really is…)

Onondaga County DA Bill Fitzpatrick may not like criticism, but he doesn’t turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to it…At last week’s annual luncheon of the District Attorney’s Advisory Council… Fitzpatrick took note of a recent letter to the editor in this newspaper. The writer questioned why Fitzpatrick, as a fellow Catholic, saw the need to “vilify” Shirley Winters in his comments after Winters recently pleaded guilty to smothering her infant son in 1980. The writer encouraged Fitzpatrick to be “more charitable” in his heart to those he brought to justice.

Fitzpatrick shared with the DAAC luncheon gathering the faith-based letter he said he wrote back. He turned to the Bible and the New Testament writing of St. Matthew for his response: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea,” Fitzpatrick quoted.

Hope he’s familiar with Matthew 7:21-23 as well.

Sharon Wager, a Camillus real estate agent, has a blog. I’ve linked to it because she has some occasional personal observations on the real estate biz in the west burbs. Plus, I admit I like peeking in the homes for sale.

Fault Lines likes the idea of Utica-Rome getting a new area code and thinks it could help provide a new identity for his area.

Sprawled Out is a Midwest blog but has many good observations on suburban planning, including this commentary/reprint of a Salon story on isolated backyard playgrounds.

WinterCampers on campfire building. Instructions provided. Speaking of camping, I can’t believe I missed this blog - Adirondack Base Camp. Sadly, I won’t be going up north this summer (this year it’s south), but this is a good resource.

As KAZ pointed out last week about the new “I Love New York” logo, there is an unsettling message (truth?) in the use of images of animals and overgrown grass to signify a vast and “wild” Upstate region where millions of people still live and struggle. Now it seems that the economic concerns of a big chunk of New York State are also set to become somewhat more depersonalized, with the erasure of “Upstate’s Man” — the position of Upstate Chair of the Empire State Development Corporation (currently held by Dan Gundersen).

A Rochester D&C article says Paterson loses good will in upstate New York with change (this piece quotes heavily from Unshackle Upstate’s press release.)

Citizen Power Alliance, a Finger Lakes-based blog, thinks Paterson would never have made this decision on his own.

A look at who exactly is advising Paterson to make this change.

Gundersen’s own dutiful statement of support for the decision has been drowned out.

The Paterson administration can word this decision as they like (saying that the new single ESDC chair would preside over two Upstate and Downstate departments, for example). None of that would change what has actually been decided on: an abrupt removal of equal authority from Upstate hands just barely a year after Spitzer had granted it, bypassing a corrupt and deficient Albany structure. Maybe Spitzer shouldn’t have cracked open that particular barn door and shouldn’t have permitted that authority, but he did. Now Paterson wants the door shut before the rats get in (or perhaps before the horses get out).

BuffaloPundit feels that the new approach wasn’t producing much and that all of Upstate needs to be turned into a single Empire Zone. That would still highlight that the state is not “one New York,” but divided into two badly unbalanced economies - one euphoric, the other wounded. It’s a stark truth that Gov. Paterson admits — but one he apparently isn’t willing to address on a blunt and direct political (and human) level, as Spitzer did with the appointment of an “Upstate man.” He warns that having two ESDC chairs could be confusing. (So how about changing ESDC’s mission to be concerned solely with Upstate economic development from now on? After all, for years it’s been a Downstate-centric mission…turnabout is fair play!)

Gov. Paterson told the Post-Standard: “If we do it this way (with two chairmen), we might have two governors and I think that would be a terrible idea.”

An oddly phrased statement of concern. But he said it, not me.

But that wasn’t our bear. This bear was captured in the same neighborhood it had appeared, and was found to have a transmitter that revealed it came from Waterloo. It probably groped its way along Route 5 eating from bird feeders and trash cans, until it missed the 695 cutoff and was trapped near the Phantom Bypass across from Wegmans. Hard to imagine that as the supernatural journey of a god-bear — just a lost creature that had lost its wild soul, too. The DEC determined it was a known repeat backyard offender already under sentence, and euthanized it. A sad story.

The DEC did the right thing — although just as we have to get used to more encounters with wildlife here in suburbia, the DEC is may have to get used to more scrutiny by cityfolk and the media, and be prepared for questions. One hopes that the sacrifice of this unfortunate animal will resonate in people’s minds when they are asked to make better efforts to properly pick up and store their garbage, and make them think harder about the ways we’ve confounded the earth with our highways and other car-oriented developments, blocking the paths of traveling bears and other spirits.

They are not specifically computer literate. They have a facile ability with games, IM, vanity websites, P2P, etc., but not much skill at digging into information, data mining and cross-referencing. They seldom click a link and check a source, and they don’t know how to make a link… I spoke to a dozen or so who don’t see a connection between the massive resources of the Internet and their use of usually only the communications aspects.

Good point. There’s Project Sunlight, but many other resources scattered around as well. Wouldn’t it be great to have a one-stop shop for all the New York-related online databases that bloggers might want to use?

Black Bear on the loose in Geddes

And he’s really pissed off about The Noise!

No idea if this is really for real, but if this dude managed to get across West Genesee Street, watch out, Westvale and Taunton.

Updated: Apparently the bear did get across WG Street… Possibly a false alarm about a bear on Merriwether Drive; it seems the bear has been caught close to where it was originally seen.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, shots were fired near an elementary school today. Not enough to warrant a headline on Syracuse.com or to be the first story on WSYR’s evening newscast, however. Everyone’s still talking about a damn bear.

It’s no longer the super-maddening whump-whump-whump, which is a relief, but unfortunately it’s turned into a steady drone that can at times reachest the loudest sound levels of the old noise. This is a sound that is easier to mentally tune out (I only notice it when it has gotten quite loud), but some people are reporting to Suez that it is pretty bad in the middle of the night. Suez says they can’t pinpoint the problem unless more people report it, so if you are hearing it (even if you aren’t disturbed by it) you might want to give them a call at 487-4473. See Syracuse.com’s Neighbors West for the latest, or see The Noise page for older threads and news stories.