Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category

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I want to ride in the car…

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

…John Wayne drove.

Earlier this week, Lawrence noted the Heritage auction of John Wayne’s stuff.

Today, the HouChron kindly informs us that one of John Wayne’s cars, a “1966 International TravelAll”, is for sale on eBay. The “Buy it now” price is a mere one million dollars.

In one of those “only in Texas” things, the car is actually owned by a state legislator from El Paso who says that he only drove it to church on Sunday a few hundred miles.

“It’s got the original seat that John Wayne passed gas on,” Pickett said.

Yeah. I think now we know why Rep. Pickett went into politics instead of sales.

Posted in Cars, Clippings, Movies | Comments Closed

A fool lies here who tried to hustle the yeast.

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Interesting piece in the LAT about Bacardi, the specific strain of yeast they use to make rum, and how the Bacardi family played “keep away” when Castro took power.

Posted in Clippings, History, Mixology | Comments Closed

Tranströmer! More than meets the eye!

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Tomas Tranströmer has won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature.

I admit to being unfamiliar with the works of Mr. Tranströmer. I am sure he is a very nice gentleman and fully deserving of the award.

However, I wanted to make note of Mr. Tranströmer’s win because of this LAT piece from yesterday. Ladbrokes was apparently giving 5-1 odds that Bob Dylan would win this year.

I might have to see about putting a few bucks on Pynchon in 2012.

Edited to add: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly posted this before FARK posted their headline.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Pynchon | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 5, 2011.

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Because it is expected, even though it is all over the news: Steve Jobs.

LAT obit.

NYT obit.

Edited to add 10/6: Both John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton have nice tributes up at their sites.

ETA2: Ihnatko. Person.

ETA3: I generally don’t solicit charitable donations here. But I would like to note that the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research gets four stars (the highest possible rating) from Charity Navigator. There are worse things you could do with your money than make a donation to them; if not in memory of Steve Jobs, perhaps in memory of Randy Pausch. Or Benoit Mandelbrot. Or one of the other 419 people whose death from pancreatic cancer was notable enough for Wikipedia.

Posted in Apple, Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Who was Aiyana Stanley-Jones?

She was a seven-year-old in Detroit. A SWAT team raided her home looking for a murder suspect; in the process of that raid, the police set her and her bed on fire with a flash-bang grenade. Then they shot her.

Sucks, right? But it was an accident, right? It may be the kind of accident that happens all too often these days, but still an accident, right?

Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley has been arraigned on an indictment on charges of involuntary manslaughter and careless and reckless discharge of a firearm causing death in the May 2010 slaying of Aiyana Stanley-Jones during a raid.

Well, okay, involuntary manslaughter and “careless and reckless discharge of a firearm” still carry the connotation of accident, right? Sure. But when was the last time you heard of a police officer being indicted for an accidental shooting? The Oakland BART shooting, perhaps? (And note that that officer was charged with second degree murder; the jury convicted him of less serious charges.)

But that’s not the only reason I’m noting this. You see, the SWAT team was being filmed by a crew from “The First 48”, a show on the A&E network. And…

Also charged in an indictment is Allison Howard, 42, of Boston. She is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. Wayne County prosecutors said Howard was a photographer with “The First 48,” which had a crew following the Special Response Team the night of the raid.

So they’re charging the camera person as well. And note the charges: “perjury”, and “obstruction of justice”. Makes you go “Hmmmmmm”, doesn’t it?

(Hattip: Reason‘s “Hit and Run”.)

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Law, TV | Comments Closed

The Harris County Party Van.

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Harris County (which includes Houston) decided yesterday that they were going to get their breath testing services from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Previously, the county had a contract with Lone Star College.

“So what?” you say. “TXDPS must have made them a better deal.”

The contract with DPS, which began Tuesday, will cost the county $330,000 in the first year, which would be $12,000 less than Lone Star’s contract. State law reimburses the county $22.50 for each DWI conviction it obtains without using DPS technicians; Harris County collected $220,000 from the state from 2008 through 2010.

If convictions were to continue at similar rates, the DPS contract could end up being pricier than the Lone Star contract.

Well, maybe TXDPS has more experience and competence than Lone Star. That’s quite possible…

Because the DPS oversees the Texas’ breath-alcohol testing program, the agency has a broader knowledge base with more experienced personnel who focus solely on breath testing, Durfee said. The district attorney’s office also has a preference for larger regional and statewide institutions in forensic science, he said.

So what’s the issue here? Well, one of the people who works for Lone Star is Amanda Culbertson. Ms. Culbertson was also the person who brought out the problems with the BAT vans. Ms. Culbertson will apparently lose her job once Lone Star’s contract ends. Of course, everyone denies that there was any retaliation involved.

I’m torn. It actually does sound to me like there are good reasons to go with DPS. But the timing is, to put it mildly, suspicious, especially since Lone Star has had the contract for 20 years.

Murray Newman (a former prosecutor) over at the excellent “Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center” blog has some more to say on this, and he comes down pretty firmly on the “retaliation” side. Here’s the Lisa Falkenberg column he mentions.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, HCDA, Law | 1 Comment »

Sweet, sweet booze.

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

We are amused to note that tomorrow, October 4th, is:

Posted in Clippings, Mixology, TV | Comments Closed

Things I’ve missed.

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Terry Francona fired by the Boston Red Sox.

Former Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro passed away on Wednesday. Former Sheriff Navarro is probably most famous for two things:

  1. Being all over the early episodes of Cops.
  2. Trying to press obscenity charges against 2 Live Crew.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Firings, Law, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 1, 2011.

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

Peter Gent, former Dallas Cowboy and author of North Dallas Forty.

Posted in Books, Clippings, NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

“Now let me tell ya,” he continued, “On television they’re always hitting the cap of the gun and fanning it real fast so it looks good.”

“I always aim before I shoot,” O’Brian answered.

“Why, that’s right!” Jennings said. “A man couldn’t hit a flock of barns shooting the way most of them movie gunmen do. He’d be jerking the gun so much that he wouldn’t be able to aim at anything.”

Actually, this is just an excuse to link this historical piece from the LAT, featuring Hugh O’Brian (who played Wyatt Earp in the ABC TV series “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp”) and Al Jennings, “an admitted bank robber, train robber and cattle thief of the 1880s”.

What I like best about this piece is the huge photo at the top of Jennings and O’Brian shooting Colts, and the equally large photo at the bottom of Jennings, O’Brian, and two police officers.

“Jennings was showing Hugh O’Brian, TV’s Wyatt Earp, how Colts were handled in the old days when neighbors became alarmed, called police.”

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

What wine goes with an extra-long cheese coney and tots?

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Chain restaurants like Sonic (in one location) and Burger King (at least in their Whopper Bars) have started offering beer and wine. Unfortunately, this has turned into a great pain for little benefit:

“Candidly, they’re not utilizing those products very much at this point,” he said. “It doesn’t look like it’s a big deal to consumers — it’s clear they come to us to have an extra-long cheese coney or an all-beef hot dog.”

(Our first thought is a big mouth-filling Cabernet. Other suggestions welcome in comments.)

The LAT asks the same musical question the FAA is asking: how do you keep planes from going into the crowd at Reno?

And the FBI apparently paid a deputy in the LA County Jail $1,500 to smuggle a cellphone in to an informant. You’re telling me a government agency would do something illegal? Why, the next thing I know, you’ll be telling me that government agents used form letters from BATFE to buy guns with taxpayer money, and then provided those guns directly to the drug cartels!

(Edited to add: Fox News. Hattip: Snowflakes in Hell.)

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Food, Guns, Law, Planes | Comments Closed

Nasty, big, pointy teeth! (#2 in a series)

Monday, September 26th, 2011

In this case I don’t think carrying your gun will be much use, sadly.

Young girl goes fishing in Tom Bass Park. Young girl catches fish. Fish turns out to be Pygocentrus nattereri, aka the red-bellied piranha.

Chron takes the opportunity to get hysterical about invasive species (including the freshwater stingray) suggesting that it “might” be possible for piranhas to survive a Texas winter.

But all it takes to get a box holding a dozen live, red-bellied piranhas or a freshwater stingray or any of dozens of fish banned in Texas delivered to a door in Texas is an Internet connection and a credit card.

The Chron won’t tell you, but we will. Here you go. And here’s your freshwater stingray.

Posted in Clippings, Hysteria | 2 Comments »

Who is killing the newspaper editors of Texas?

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Well, not killing, exactly. But Lawrence pointed out to me a few days ago that there’s a trend…

First, Christopher Lopez quit as editor of the El Paso Times after close to three years on the job.

Next, Fred Zipp quit the Statesman after eight years as editor.

And finally, Robert Rivard quit the San Antonio Express News after 14 years as editor.

I don’t quite know what to make of this. I don’t follow either the El Paso or San Antonio papers regularly, but I know Zipp presided over a large buyout of Statesman staff before resigning. (I also know the paper was up for sale at one point, but the owners didn’t get any offers that they liked.)

(Hattip other than Lawrence: TSFKA “Romenesko’s MediaNews”.)

Edited to add 9/25/2011: Things just got even more interesting. Brett Thacker, who was apparently the second-in-command at the Express-News, is also leaving. And two of the paper’s top columnists also resigned. The South Texas Pistolero has a very good post up over at his site covering these developments; I commend it to your attention.

Posted in Clippings, Media | 1 Comment »

Seriously, guys. Tecate?

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Three Covina men are behind bars after they allegedly stole a 30-pack of Tecate beer from a market and attempted to escape but crashed a car and hit an employee who chased them, then one ran through a car wash and another left behind his ID.

You couldn’t have found a better beer to steal, as long as you were stealing beer? I think we can make this a general rule of thumb: if it comes in a 30-pack, it isn’t worth screwing up the rest of your life for.

Also, what is up with that guy in the middle’s face?

Posted in Clippings, Sarcasm, Schadenfreude, Stupid | Comments Closed

TMQ watch: September 20, 2011.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

“Is Cam Newton already a football god?” Without even going past that headline, we’ll suggest that the answer is “No”: rather, Cam Newton is Gandalf the Grey, the NFL is Middle Earth, and the Lombardi Trophy is the One Ring.

Hey, it makes about as much sense as last week’s extended Narnia analogy.

After the jump, “yes” or “no” to TMQ’s question…

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

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