Archive for January 11th, 2012

Happy Hacker update.

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

We are compelled to note, for those keeping score at home, that Laura Hall’s latest appeal has been rejected by the state Court of Criminal Appeals.

(Previously. Also previously.)

That’s not a lawsuit. This is a lawsuit.

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

The Belle Meade Country Club (near Nashville) is being sued by a former chef for discrimination.

The twist? He claims he was discriminated against because he’s…Australian.

The chef, Richard Jones, alleges that his boss, an executive sous chef, made numerous comments about Australia being undeveloped and backwards, and about its people being “unrefined,” according to Greenberg.

It is incomprehensible to me how anyone could discriminate against Australians. The couple of Australians I’ve met have been among the nicest people in the world. It would be like kicking a puppy.

Anyway, if this is true, I hope Mr. Jones gets all that he is seeking in damages, and uses the money to open a nice restaurant (barbecued shrimp optional).

Should have been a doctor.

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

More specifically, I guess I should have been a hand surgeon.

For those of you previously unfamiliar with the saga of Dr. Michael Brown, you can find a good introduction here.

The latest development? According to the HouChron, Dr. Brown was spending $60,000 a month on strippers (between, at least, December 2010 and August 2011).

Now, that sounds bad, but let’s think this through. An average month has 30 days, so that’s really just $2,000 a day. And according to the article, he was paying four strippers, so that’s really $500/day/stripper, which doesn’t sound too bad. (I guess, like everything else, strippers are cheaper when you buy in bulk.)

(Please forgive me for not linking to anything related to “Stacy Shey”, but, once again, my journalistic obligations have to take a back seat to the limitations imposed by writing these posts at work.)

Edited to add: Let’s give this some thought. Assume a construct called a “stripper-day” (similar to a “man-month“); that is, the equivalent of the “services” of one stripper for one “day”. We don’t have a clear idea from Dr. Brown of what a “day” constitutes, but I’m going to assume 8 hours; that gives each stripper a shift, plus a shift for a “backup” stripper. You know, just in case one of the primary strippers is on vacation, has a sick kid, or two strippers are needed for a proper game of Pinochle. (So one “stripper-day” = one stripper for 8 hours, two for 4 hours, 8 for an hour each, etc.)

So working on the $500/stripper-day figure and the assumptions above, we’re looking at an hourly rate of $62.50. Which doesn’t sound like bad money. Of course, we can assume the strippers are independent contractors, so their health insurance/retirement/work expenses (such as high heels) have to come out of that $62.50/hour. On the other hand, we can figure that the strippers are young and in good health, so their health insurance rates are probably low.

Question: would $62.50/hour be pretty much the standard going rate everywhere? I suspect that in NYC and LA the rate might be much higher; then again, in larger cities there may be more competition, which would tend to drive down rates.

Question: are strippers fungible? I suspect so, at least within a certain general subset of physical characteristics (some of which are under the stripper’s control, such as hair color and bust size).

This sounds like a subject for the Freakonomics guys.

Holy Cow. (Part 2)

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

I suspect this is also going to be in “win the lottery” territory, but wouldn’t you like to be able to tell people, “Yes, my Swiss Army Knife has one terabyte of storage.“?

I know I would.

An idiot in the heartland.

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

A. G. Sulzberger is covering the Midwest for the NYT.

A.G. Sulzberger is a vegetarian.

A.G. Sulzberger wrote a piece for the NYT food section about how hard it is to be a vegetarian in the Midwest.

So, yes, I’ve “eaten” at some of these famous restaurants. There was the meal at the Golden Ox steakhouse (baked potato), Stroud’s fried chicken (rolls) and Arthur Bryant’s barbecue, where, searching for vegetarian options on the menu, skipping over the lard-bathed French fries, pausing to consider the coleslaw, I ordered the safest option (a mug of Budweiser).

So, you’re a vegetarian, and you went to a steakhouse, a fried chicken restaurant, and the single greatest restaurant in the world (according to Calvin Trillin, anyway). Good planning, guy.

I never liked meat. And when I learned, while eating a burger at the cafeteria of the American Museum of Natural History at age 5, that “meat” was actually a euphemism for — and even dedicated carnivores hate being reminded of this — muscle, I felt my preference had received a hearty endorsement from common sense.

“Common sense” my ass. And as a dedicated carnivore, I’m no more bothered by the fact that meat is muscle than Mr. Sulzberger seems to be by the fact that tofu is coagulated soy milk.

This is the kind of thing that makes me not just agree with Anthony Bourdain, but wish that Mr. Bourdain and Mr. Trillin meet up with Mr. Sulzberger face to face one day and have a frank and open exchange of views.

(I do love the caption on the photo at the top of the article, though.)

Legal update.

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

We previously noted the Supreme Court taking arguments in the case of Juan Smith. Mr. Smith was convicted of five murders, but the prosecution failed to turn over exculpatory evidence to his lawyers.

Yesterday, the Court overturned Mr. Smith’s conviction on an 8-1 vote, with Clarence Thomas dissenting.