Archive for December 23rd, 2014

The Bowl Game.

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

I have a sort of secret fondness for college football bowl games. Especially the smaller, sillier ones.

Here’s a list of 2014-2015 bowl games.

We actually caught part of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl while we were at dinner the other night. We also saw highlights of the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl.

What the heck is a “Xaxby’s”? Oh.

Where’s the Beef O’Brady Bowl? (I always thought “Beef O’Brady” was what Kramer fed to the carriage horse in that “Seinfeld” episode.) That’s now the “Bitcoin St. Petersberg Bowl”: BitPay made a deal to sponsor it through 2016.

The Duck Commander guys have their own bowl sponsorship. Let’s not forget the TaxSlayer Bowl. And how is the “Military Bowl” different from the “Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl”, especially since neither one has a team from a service academy?

(I did not know this, but the Coast Guard Academy does have a DIII football team.)

Like an oncoming train.

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

Christmas is coming. But you don’t have a lot of time to shop and get physical objects delivered.

What to do? What. To. Do.

Well, if the object of gift giving has a Kindle or something like it, ebooks make fine gifts. And they can be delivered, even on Christmas morning.

I just finished, and enthusiastically recommend, Brian Krebs’ Spam Nation: The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime-from Global Epidemic to Your Front Door. It isn’t quite the general book about spam I was expecting. His Krebsness is mostly writing about the Russian pharmacy spam gangs and their internecine warfare. There’s a lot of good stuff in Spam Nation; I’d recommend it for anyone in your life who has a interest in computers, computer security, or spam.

Another book that I really enjoyed this year is Amy Alkon’s Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck, an etiquette guide for the modern age. Much of her advice is based on the latest developments in cognitive science, too, so it isn’t just a list of arbitrary rules. Also enthusiastically recommended, for just about everyone. (With the possible exception of very small children. But if you have a late pre-teen or teenager on your list, I think they could get a lot out of this.)

Merry Christmas to me! (Part 2)

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

I like Joe R. Lansdale.

I like free stuff.

Joe’s Bullets and Fire is available for free on the Kindle.

(Hattip: Mike the Musicologist. Stuff from Joel’s Classical Shop makes swell gifts this time of year. And remember, the Twelve Days of Christmas begin on December 25th, and don’t end until January 6th. So you’ve got plenty of shopping days left!)

Obit watch: December 23, 2014.

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

Yesterday was a bad day for the Joes.

Joe Cocker: LAT. NYT. A/V Club.

This is the only story I’ve found so far, but prolific television and movie director Joseph Sargent also died yesterday. Among his credits: the original “Taking of Pelham 123” and “The Marcus-Nelson Murders” (the pilot for “Kojak”).