(By way of Balko, who calls this “The most vile thing you’ll read today.” It is still early, but we feel that we’re going to have a hard time arguing with that.)
(And by the way, the whole “trains ran on time” thing? Not so much.)
Archive for December, 2011
But hey! At least the trains ran on time!
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011Important medical news.
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011This is why I only use single-malt scotch in my Neti pot. (Mixing it with Mountain Dew is optional.)
The OSU Sanction.
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011(I really liked The Eiger Sanction
(And I’m more than a little surprised that there’s been no FARK link yet.)
Quote of the day.
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011Indeed. In our studies of the history of technology, we have found that much scientific and technical advancement is motivated by that same principle.
Grand juries gone wild! On the next TMZ!
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011We have previously covered the grand jury investigation into the Harris County DA’s Office. We have not posted on this in a while, mostly because up until the past few days, there was not much going on.
The latest development is that prosecutor Rachel Palmer was summoned to appear before the grand jury and refused to answer questions.
This Lisa Falkenberg column contains a good summary of the most recent developments. And The Hon. Murray Newman is still all over this as well.
By way of Jay G.
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Our first thought was “Dead rats? Not dead gophers?”
Our second thought was, “Is the gopher even indigenous to Massachusetts?”
On the first day of Christmas, the TSA gave to me…
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011So. Many. Jokes. So. Little. Time.
Edited to add: You know, I think I’m going to crowdsource this. Can you, my faithful and cheerful readers, come up with appropriate lyrics for TSA Christmas Carols? Leave them in comments. Just to make this fun, best lyrics submitted before December 31st (as determined by a committee consisting of myself, Lawrence, and Mike the Musicologist, pending the agreement of the latter two) wins a crappy prize, probably something I have duplicates of.
Edited to add 2: It doesn’t have to be set to “The 12 Days Of Christmas”, by the way. You can use any Christmas tune, up to and including “Fairytale of New York“. But unless you think we’ll immediately recognize the tune from your lyrics, please do make a note of it in the comments.
TMQ watch: December 20, 2011.
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Oh, look! TMQ got us a Christmas present. To quote John Gruber (who is actually quoting Norm MacDonald): “Happy birthday, Jesus. Hope you like crap.”
After the jump, what we’ve been dreading all year…
Ah. Memories.
Monday, December 19th, 2011Remember Randy Adams?
Sure you do. Randy “Hire me to be police chief of Bell and approve my disability retirement at the same time” Adams. Yeah, that one.
It seems that the judge in the case of the “Bell 8” is wondering why Mr. Adams is not on trial.
The DA’s answer to that question is: we didn’t have enough evidence for an indictment. However, the city’s dealings with Adams are part of the charges against Robert “Ratso” Rizzo and Angela Spaccia. Not that there’s anything wrong with the DA picking the cases he feels like he can get indictments on. Just interesting that the judge is asking questions.
Obit watch: December 19, 2011.
Monday, December 19th, 2011Kim Jong Il, for the record.
All of the obvious jokes have been made (“Kim Jong Il downgraded to Kim Jong Dead.”) and I’m leaving the geopolitics to other, more knowledgeable people.
Appalling.
Monday, December 19th, 2011I sent an earlier version of this story to my great and good friend Weer’d Beard for his “Gun” Death files, but something in today’s NYT coverage moves me to post.
But there was no way Ms. Gillespie, 73, could have been prepared for what happened.
No, actually, there was a way that Ms. Gillespie could have been prepared for what happened, but the city of New York denied her the tools she would have needed for effective self-defense against Jerome Isaac.
(Fair question: would the muzzle flash from, say, a KelTec .380 have ignited the fumes? Not sure, and I suspect it depends a lot on what type of fuel he was using. The NYT describes him as “reeking of gasoline”, but I’m not sure if that’s an accurate description or a colloquialism. In any case, I like Ms. Gillespie’s chances with a gun much better than the no chance she had without one.)
Plug plug pluggity plug.
Sunday, December 18th, 2011I have previously mentioned that my sister was named one of this year’s Park City Mountain Resort “Snowmamas”.
Her first post is now up at the site, and contains a whole list of recommendations for things to do with teenage boys in Park City. It would make a poor blogger very happy if you’d go over there and throw some clicks her way.
(Yes, that is my sister et al in the photo, just in case you were wondering.)
Your loser update: week 15.
Sunday, December 18th, 2011What a sorry ass-day in the NFL.
The Colts won, so no chance of an 0-16 team this year.
The Packers lost, which means that we’ll have to suffer through Gregg Easterbrook knowingly and willfully running his false Microsoft Word Autotext item about the G–d—n 1972 Miami Dolphins again.
It is enough to drive a guy to drink. Fortunately, I have a Shiner Holiday Cheer in the fridge to drown my sorrows with.
Western Civilization.
Sunday, December 18th, 2011Gandhi is supposed to have said it would be a good idea, but I am unable to find a trustworthy source for that quote.
Western civilization is doomed:
Western civilization is not doomed:
That’s a Hot Wheels car with a built-in video camera. And a built-in LCD screen so you can play back your video without downloading it (though you can do that as well with the USB cable). Target had it for $50.
I have no idea how much video it records or what quality, but man! I would never have predicted that 41 years ago.
(You know something else? Hot Wheels at Target are going for about $1.07; I think I paid $3.49 for a five-pack. You know what I was paying for Hot Wheels when I bought them out of my own pocket at the age of 4 or 5? About a buck. You know what $1 in 1970 money translates into? $5.83. I’m sure someone’s going to tell me today’s Hot Wheels aren’t as well made as the 1970 0nes – I don’t have any of my 1970 ones in front of me, but the new ones feel fine – or that they’re made in China and coated with lead paint – I don’t chew on mine – but frankly, I don’t care. Name me something else that’s stayed at a near constant price for 40 years.)
Obit watch: December 18, 2011.
Sunday, December 18th, 2011Noted just about everywhere, but I still feel compelled to mention the death of Vaclav Havel.
Stealing a FARK trope, this obit is useless without pictures.
Edited to add: In addition to blogging extensively on the subject, Lawrence was kind enough to send us a link to a purported photo of Mrs. Havel the Second in her role. Today being Sunday, we have not checked this out except to the extent that it appears to be a NSFW photo.