Last year, NYC sold 28,000 pounds of spent brass to Georgia Arms, which reloaded the casings and sold re-manufactured ammunition.
Not surprisingly, the NYT has issues with this.
Meanwhile:
More:
“It’s not working! Do it harder!”
Interesting:
This appears to be a breaking story:
I don’t have much new to report as far as equipment, but I do have a couple of notes on existing stuff. DEFCON for the past few years has run a “secure” network using MSCHAPv2 authentication.
(In general, I’m seeing more and more problems with project e and Ubuntu 12.04. I suspect some of these may be issues caused by doing several upgrade installs in succession, so I may try doing a backup of /home, reformatting project e, and doing a scratch install and restore of 12.04.)
Food: I had excellent meals at Lotus of Siam (the sea bass drunken noodles) and at Piero’s Italian Cuisine, which is a very old-school Italian restaurant near the convention center.
That was some swell osso bucco. And I don’t think I paid much more for it than I paid for osso bucco at Ciola’s when they were still open.
I also broke with one of my rules and went back to Shabu Shabu Paradise again. In my defense:
I also had a good meal at Mint Indian Bistro, and very good breakfasts at Blueberry Hill on Flamingo and The Egg and I on Sahara. (The rule doesn’t apply to breakfast, as it is very very hard to find good breakfast places that aren’t casino buffets, Denny’s, or IHOPs in Vegas. If anybody does have a recommendation for a good breakfast place in Las Vegas, please feel free to drop it into the comments.)
I’ve been driving past Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas for years now, considering giving them a try and then not going after all. This time, thanks to Tam inspiring a German food craving in me, I thought I’d give it a shot. The verdict: meh. It wasn’t a horrible meal. The service was pleasant and efficient. But it seemed like I paid a fair amount of money for pretty average food. Walburg is better and cheaper and really not that bad a drive if I go there from work. (You’d be hard-pressed to spend $50+ at Walburg without either being too full to move or too drunk to drive.)
I drove past Flavor Flav’s House of Flavor several times (it is very close to my preferred ATM in Las Vegas, which, in turn, is far enough away from DEFCON that I’m not any more paranoid than usual about using that ATM), and I regret not getting a photo.
I did get some photos (but they didn’t come out well) of “Lynyrd Skynyrd BBQ & Beer“. BBQ and beer? I can haz both?
(By the way, I was never offered a full can of soda on any of my Southwest flights. But I did get a full can of drinking water between PHX and AUS.)
Thanks to: Everyone at DEFCON 20 (staff, goons, presenters, and attendees), the folks at Shabu Shabu Paradise, Lotus of Siam, the Egg and I, Blueberry Hill, and Mint Indian Bistro, the Mob Museum, Amber Unicorn Books, Greyhound’s Books, Borepatch for linky-love, and anyone else I missed.
The schedule for DEFCON 20 is up.
Lawrence reminded me on Saturday that I also had not solicited panel requests, so this is your pre-DEFCON 20 post.
I’m flying out Wednesday morning and getting to Las Vegas around 1 PM. I’m hoping to visit the Mob Museum (just because it is new since my last visit, and I haven’t seen it) and to make a return trip to the two bookstores I visited last year. Lotus of Siam is also required.
There is some stuff going on at DEFCON on Thursday:
Here’s what I’m interested in on Friday:
Saturday, we have a possible tie for this year’s “Hippie, PLEASE” panel:
I shan’t be attending either. The Saturday panels I am interested in:
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Live at DEFCON 20! Nitro-burning FUNNY CARS!
So that’s that. If anyone has any specific panel requests after looking over the posted schedule, let me know (by email on in the comments), and I’ll try to hit those events. Also, if anyone has any recommendations for new, cool, or interesting places to eat in Vegas, feel free to leave those in comments.
(Edited to add: It’s a Borepatch-o-lanche! Thank you, brother man!)
But we can make burrito jokes. TJIC, call your office, please.
The popularity of this Chipolte among the NYPD might – just might – have something to do with the 50% discount they give to uniformed officers. Of course, accepting this discount violates NYPD policy, or so the department says. However, offering the discount does not violate Chipolte’s policy, according to a spokesman for the chain.
Things I did not know until now:
Darn it. I’m not planning a trip to New England anytime soon, so there goes my chance to make a dent in the glut…
(Hattip: The Price Hike.)
(Hattip 2: Penny Arcade.)
More banana republicans: the LAT today has a longer article about the allegations against Cudahy city officials. This is a doozy. Besides the election fraud I touched on yesterday:
Sex, drugs, bribes, and election fraud. This town was out of control.
[Edited to add: Secret decoder ring: “Silva” = former mayor David Silva. “Perales” = former code enforcement head Angel Perales. “G.P.” = an unnamed “former Cudahy official”. “Conde” = councilman Osvaldo Conde, of the bimbo and the badge.]
No snark here: I think this story is awesome for several reasons.
Chuy’s is planning a stock offering. I like Chuy’s Mexican restaurants; they’re the most tolerable TexMex I’ve found in Austin so far, if you can deal with the crowd. But there is something I’m curious about:
Are all the restaurants Chuy’s? A long time ago, the Chuy’s holding company ran the Romeo’s on Barton Springs, but they spun that off (and the restaurant closed several years later). I believe Chuy’s still runs the Hula Hut on Lake Austin, but I can’t find any proof of that. I’m thinking the Chuy’s holding company also runs a couple of other non-Chuy’s, but I can’t find a complete list of their holdings online.
Balko and Reason, among others, have been all over the painkiller issue. The government repeatedly and consistently has attempted to make criminals out of doctors who legitimately prescribe high doses of painkillers for patients suffering from intractable pain. Not just that; the government has stomped on the First Amendment by going after patient advocacy organizations, and has even threatened to shut down pharmacies for filling prescriptions.
As a Libertarian, I come down on the Balko/Reason side. Actually, I think if people want to take painkillers, they should be available OTC without a prescription; heck, let’s have the autonomous Glock/heroin/Oxycodone vending robots now!
But this s–t ain’t helping:
On the other hand:
How in the frack did this man even have a license to practice?
“So what?” you ask.
Well, I wanted to post this because: compare this picture
to this one:
Also, this being 7/11, 7-11 is offering their usual free Slurpee today. Note that the free Slurpees are Dixie cup size, so I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way for one. But if you happen to have a 7-11 on the way home…
There used to be three Red Robin restaurants in Austin.
The one on 290 was seized by the landlord for non-payment of rent, stripped to the studs, and turned into a Longhorn Steakhouse.
The one on 183 near Anderson Mill closed for a while, re-opened, closed again, and is now stripped of all signage. Nothing’s gone in at that location yet.
The one on Parmer at I-35 (near the Wal-Mart) is “closed temporarily” according to the corporate website, and has a notice from the sheriff’s department (stating the fixtures have been seized) taped to the front door.
I know, they’re chain burger places. But when I first went to one, I thought it was actually a pretty decent chain place to get a burger (especially since Fuddrucker’s collapsed). The last few times I went to the Parmer Red Robin, though, it was…not good. Not in the “induced vomiting” sense, but in the “I paid good money for this?” sense.
I feel sorry for the staff who lost their jobs; most of them seemed like good people trying hard. But I don’t feel too sorry for the management, who managed to take a workable concept and run it into the ground.
Today’s Statesman has a long backgrounder about Amado Pardo and Jovita’s. Jovita’s, you may recall, is the South Austin restaurant alleged to be at the center of a heroin distribution ring, and Pardo is one of the key figures in the indictment.
There’s some stuff in the article I was previously unaware of. Specifically:
I think I’m going to wait until later tonight or tomorrow morning to do a roundup of Andy Griffith obits. In the meantime, how has the Criterion Collection not come out with an edition of “A Face In the Crowd”?
Here’s something I’m wondering about. There’s a story in the HouChron: I’ll link to it, but I won’t mention names. The gist of the story is that the sister of a state representative was arrested yesterday after a police raid found drugs and guns in her home. Reading between the lines of the honorable gentleman’s statement, it appears she has issues, if not a lifetime subscription and a complete set of bound volumes.
Question: why is this news? Would it have been newsworthy (outside of Corpus Christi) if her brother wasn’t a state rep? Does it matter that her brother happens to be a Republican? (I like to think I’d be asking the same question if he was a Democrat.)
In news that might actually be news: a while back, the Landry’s corporation got a tax abatement to build “The Inn at the Ballpark” . This was supposed to generate a certain number of jobs. According to a city audit, it didn’t generate the specified number.
So how did the Houston City Council respond? If you said “they voted not to ask Landry’s for the taxes they were previously exempted from”, take two gold stars…and you know the drill.
(Hattip: Lawrence. I’m aware that post has nothing to do with Landry’s, but I’ve been wanting to link it for a while.)
Obit watch: Nora Ephron.
Oh, gee: “business leaders” are threatening to move their firms out of the notoriously corrupt city of Vernon, claiming the cost of business has become too high. Vernon has raised taxes and electricity rates, due to “the recession and a series of ill-fated investments that have cost the city millions”.
Among other bright ideas:
In other news, Stockton, California plans to file for municipal bankruptcy.
Hmmm.
More details on the Jovita’s heroin bust from the Statesman.
One of the great barbecue related stories of the past quarter century was the Kreuz Market feud. In brief, when the family patriarch died, he left the Kreuz Market building to his daughter; he’d previously sold the business itself to two of his sons. This led to a family fight, and ultimately Kreuz Market moved into a new building on the highway, while the old building became Smitty’s.
What’s news? Well, the owner of Kreuz and the pitmaster at Smitty’s, along with another family member, are opening a new barbecue place: Schmidt Family Barbecue in Bee Cave. I am morally certain we will be going out there for an SDC, as soon as they’ve had time to shake out.
Lawrence and I (and others) have often joked that certain establishments, given the amount of traffic they seem to get, stay in business only as fronts for either organized crime or the CIA. (Those of you who want to argue that there is no difference between those two can do so in the comments.)
I just discovered (by way of the TM Daily Post) a possible example of that theory:
Actually, I do believe Jovita’s was an exception to the CIA front rule; it certainly seemed busy whenever I drove past.
And the combination of this raid and the Sixth Street raid in such close proximity makes me go “Hmmmmmmmm”, especially since there appears to be a Texas Syndicate connection to both.
(Apologies for posting this a little late. The story broke while I was in Boise, and I wasn’t checking the Statesman or other papers every day. This did remarkable things for my blood pressure, but was bad for blogging.)
This is going to be more like a collection of random notes towards an AA report than an actual report. I do plan on a longer more thoughtful blog post later; probably this weekend, if everything works out the way I want it to. (I’m waiting for something to come in, and I need to go out to my mother’s place to take some pictures.)
. At least one person said, “That’s it. I’ve got to get one.” Yeah, I like having the Kindle Fire.
on the way up. Tam has written about this book previously, and anything I could add except “go read it” would be superfluous.
Chandlers calls this “The ’33 Plymouth”; it is, of course, made with Plymouth gin and Nolly Prat vermouth. They do warn you that it takes 10 minutes to make one; I consider it worth the wait.Spent all day yesterday on planes or waiting on planes. Today looks busy. Blogging will be catch as catch can.
If anyone knows the Boise area, feel free to drop restaurant recommendations in comments. So far I’ve been favorably impressed by Bar Gernika and Moxie Java on Chinden.