Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category

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When you’re a Net, you’re a Net all the way…

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

…from your opening loss at Charlotte to losing at home against the Mavericks and setting a new NBA record for futility.

Two other franchises had gone 0-17 to start a season. The Miami Heat set the record 21 years ago as an expansion team. The Los Angeles Clippers, who often look like an expansion team, matched the mark 10 years ago.

The Nets now stand alone, wallowing in despair and self-loathing.

Lawrence gave me some flack yesterday for not mentioning Bobby Bowden. My feeling was that Bowden wasn’t fired, he resigned; Lawrence’s argument is that Bowden resigned in the same way Nixon and Spitzer resigned. I don’t have much to say on the subject, but if you do, here’s your thread.

Obama Ecstasy tablets? Those will go well with my Chia head.

Dear Congressman Lamar Smith: Please be so kind as to consume excrement and thus hasten your demise.

Edited to add: I forgot this one. By way of the Scalz, homeowner’s association tries to tell a 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient he can’t have a flagpole in his yard. Get the popcorn, folks, this should be almost as much fun as the ongoing situation in what Balko calls Marakafka County.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Law, Loser | 1 Comment »

Random notes: December 2nd, 2009.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

(I had originally considered calling this post “Rum, S—-y, and the Lash” but I couldn’t find any good articles about whipping. Plus, I don’t want to get filtered.)

Did you know the NYT had a “Winter Drinks Issue” in the Dining section? Neither did I. Articles include one about the rise of rum, and an excellent article by Harold McGee about vacuum distillation.

By way of Jimbo, here’s a good article on Richard Loeb (of Leopold and Loeb fame) and the greatest lead never published.

Just in case you were wondering what Roseanne Barr is doing, you now have your answer.

Train in vain, part two.

Edited to add: I knew I forgot something. I won’t be watching this tonight. (I don’t, and won’t, have cable; I’ve asked someone if they’d be willing to record it for me.) That won’t stop me from linking to Alan Sepinwall’s review:

…with his new reality show “Steven Seagal: Lawman,” Seagal has cemented his position as an accidental comedy savant. It’s easily the funniest thing he’s done since the climactic speech from “On Deadly Ground” (his infamous directorial debut about evil oil companies polluting the Alaskan wilderness), and one of the more entertaining additions to the Has-Beens On Parade reality sub-genre.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Food, Law, Media, Mixology, Stupid, TV | Comments Closed

If you’re the police, where are your badges?

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

(Speaking of recurring themes.)

The answer to that question is apparently at home.

Mr. Sash, who was arrested several times for making and selling replica badges, quit the business after his last arrest in 2002, for which he served nearly four years in prison.

The linked article is a pretty good slice of NYPD life, but I’d really like to know more about Mr. Sash and his story. If all these folks in the NYPD knew he was the unofficial go-to guy for replica badges, what were the circumstances that actually led up to his arrest?

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 25, 2009.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Novice urban hunters are forming classes and clubs to learn skills that a few generations ago were often passed down from parent to child.

Shocked, shocked I am to learn that The Biggest Loser may indulge in questionable practices. I am equally shocked to learn that a charity collecting money for the homeless may be a scam.

I am delighted to find out that the CIA Family Advisory Board has published a second cookbook, More Spies, Black Ties, and Mango Pies. I own a copy of the original 1997 cookbook, so I’ll be looking for this one. (Oddly, Amazon doesn’t seem to have the sequel.)

I did not know Julie “Julie and Julia” Powell had a new book out. After reading Addie Broyles’ discussion of it in the Statesman, I wish I still didn’t know she had a new book out.

Edited to add: On the “Art, damn it, art!” front: “Train” in vain.

(Since I got the song stuck in your head, here’s a live Clash video. And here’s a live Annie Lennox version. And here’s a not bad Manic Street Preachers cover.)

Posted in Art, Books, Clippings, Food, Guns, Media, Music, TV | Comments Closed

News of the world.

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

The Texas Department of Public Safety encourages you to get drunk and drive like a complete maniac this holiday weekend, as they’ve pulled all the state troopers off the road and will not be enforcing traffic regulations.  You should plan on driving at at least 150% of the posted speed limit, unless it is wet and/or visibilty is obstructed; in that case, you should plan on driving at double the posted limit.

In other news: world ends. Women, minorites hardest hit. (Hattip.)

In other other news, our local outlet malls have announced that they expect to be completely deserted on Black Friday, and are frantically begging for customers to show up.

Posted in Clippings, Media | Comments Closed

Food and the decline of newspapers.

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

The Statesman has an article about grocery price wars in Austin. Our city is currently dominated by H.E.B. and Randalls (owned by Safeway) with some additional competition from Whole Foods, Wal-Mart, and the warehouse stores.

And if she thinks that something is too high at Randalls, she’ll go elsewhere.

“If it’s something I’m not willing to pay for, I’ll check and see if H-E-B’s got it cheaper,” Scott said.

Brilliant strategy there, ma’am.

Signs of the new Randalls initiative were all over the 35th Street store recently.

A case of 24 bottles of Ozarka water was selling for $3.99, down from $5.49. Boneless chicken breasts were $1.99 per pound (with a Randalls Remarkable Card), down from $3.99. Bottles of Gatorade were 10 for $10 (also with the loyalty card), down from $1.69 each.

You know, a real newspaper would have provided size information, and compared those prices head-to-head against H.E.B. A newspaper that wanted to be worth what the Statesman charges might even do something daring. For example, they could put together a standard grocery cart (or even several of them in a rotation), send interns out once a week to do actual comparison shopping at H.E.B., Randalls, Wal-Mart, and even Whole Foods, and then publish the results. (They could even donate the purchased groceries to the local food bank.)

But this is the Statesman.

The case of 24 .5 liter bottles of Ozarka water I found at my local H.E.B. was $3.94. (The H.E.B. only had one case on the shelf, and that case was a “bonus pack” with 28 bottles instead of 24. All the other Ozarka water was in packages of less than 24 bottles.)

H.E.B. boneless chicken breasts were $6.99/pound for “all natural, no preservatives or antibiotics” etc. breasts, $3.99/pound for Sanderson Farms breasts, and $2.99/pound for the Hill Country Fair (house brand) breasts which were also promoted as “natural”/preservative/additive free.

Gatorade was $6 for an eight-pack of 20 ounce bottles, $9.82 for a 15-pack in the same size, and 2 for $2 in the 32 ounce size.

H.E.B. does not have a “loyalty card”.

Edited to add: As long as I’m talking about the Statesman, let me point out their latest series of bizarre TV commercials. The one with food writers Addie Broyles and Mike Sutter is just misguided and dumb. But I don’t know what to make of the John Kelso commerical.

Edited to add 2: And hattip to the Scalz for inspiring my grocery blogging.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Media | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 19, 2009.

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

The artist Jeanne-Claude, wife of Christo and his collaborator on “The Gates“, has died.  (NYT obit here.)

In other news, the Oakland Raiders have benched JaMarcus Russell, their number one draft pick in 2007. Per NFL.com, the Honorable Mr. Russell has a quarterback rating of 47.7 (at the time of this writing) which places him 30th. The only player he outranks at the moment is Derek Anderson of Cleveland, with a 36.2. To quote Gregg Easterbrook, “If every attempt by a quarterback falls to the ground incomplete, his rating is 39.6.”

“On Wednesday, the LPGA released its 2010 schedule, and despite the loss of 13 tournaments from two years ago, 17 open weeks in the season and a few TBDs (to be determineds), there is optimism among tour officials and players.”

Fine. Just as long as it stays off my television. (Since I don’t have cable, the Golf Channel is perfectly okay.) The only televised sport I hate more than golf is women’s golf. (I have nothing against playing golf; though I’ve never done it myself, I’m sure it is a fine sport. But watching golf – men’s or women’s – is about as exciting as reading transcripts of Roman Hruska speeches.)

Posted in Art, Christo, Clippings, Loser, NFL, Obits | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 9, 2009.

Monday, November 9th, 2009

The NYTPicker has an interesting post up related to the whole Brighton Beach Memoirs fiasco; what they’re reporting is that the failure of this revival may have had a great deal to do with an unusually restrictive advertising deal the NYT made with the producers of the show.

With the understanding that both of these people are good friends of mine (can you say “blogrolling”? I knew you could.) I’m linking to Lawrence’s interview with the actor we’ve hired to play Karl Rehn of KR Training.

Consider this an official endorsement of Child’s Play. I have donated money to them in the past and will do so again this year if I have any to spare. (I just checked: Yes! The Desert Bus guys are doing it again this year! November 20th; mark your calendar.)

Edited to add: by way of Jimbo, who killed Chicago crime reporter Jake Lingle?

Edited to add 2: I forgot that I wanted to note this LAT story, mostly because I don’t know what to make of it. The headline and sub-head imply that the main concern of the article is “Private citizens can fly high-performance jet aircraft? Oh, noes!” However, buried towards the bottom of the article is a more interesting story; allegations that the FAA investigation into this case was sandbagged. (I was wondering where a convicted felon gets the money to purchase one of those planes; however, Google tells me that a 1973 L-39C Albatros goes for around $269,500. Or somewhat less than a house in LA.)

Posted in Clippings, Endorsements, Geek, Media, Planes, Theatre | Comments Closed

Change.

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Part two of Bruce Buschel’s “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do” is up at the NYT website. Oddly, FARK linked to part one on Saturday. My earlier comment stands; the only problem with this list is that the people who need it the most won’t read it, or if they do, won’t pay attention. (The comments confirm this.)

I do want to call out one item in particular; this is a pet peeve of many people I know, including some members of my family, and I was wondering if Mr. Buschel would include it:

88. Do not ask if a guest needs change. Just bring the change.

Posted in Clippings, Food | Comments Closed

Happy Guy Fawkes Day, everyone!

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

The Gunpowder Plot Society.

Antonia Frasier’s Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot.

Edited to add: Speaking of revolt against established government, I was totally unaware that College Station voted out traffic enforcement cameras until I read about it in…the Washington Post?

Posted in Books, Cars, Clippings, Explosives, Law | Comments Closed

A boat is a hole in the water…

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

…that you pour money into. But $10 million for a mast? Even a carbon fiber one?

Edited to add: FARK has provided a link to coverage from Sail-World.com which is a bit more detailed than the linked NYT article above.

Posted in Clippings, Loser, Stupid | 1 Comment »

Happy Halloween.

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

I am not sure why this story is in the Statesman rather than the HouChron. However, the Statesman has decided to acknowledge the 35th anniversary of Ronald Clark O’Bryan’s murder of his son.

This happened shortly after my family moved to Texas. I remember reading about it in the Chron at the time, and the story still makes me angry.

“This guy had never had anything but a parking ticket in his life,” he said. “So how did the evidence support that he wasn’t capable of rehabilitation?”

Well, gee, Clyde, I don’t know. Maybe because the evidence shows he killed his own kid for the insurance money – and, by the way, also tried to kill four other kids to cover his tracks?

I’ve mentioned this at least once before, but, for the record, here’s one of my favorite Halloween stories.

Edited to add: I’m going to throw this in, for the benefit of Andrew and other folks who don’t read SlashDot; a pretty good explanation of what’s going on with the Bay Bridge, complete with photos and diagrams.

Edited to add 2: When I clicked through to this article on the NYT website, the Times decided to display an ad …for Brighton Beach Memoirs. And as a libertarian who eats out a lot, I don’t see a damn thing wrong with this list, except maybe that the people who need it the most are also the least likely to read it.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law, Roads | 2 Comments »

Random notes: October 28, 2009.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

The NYT has an interesting article about Thomas Keller (of French Laundry fame) and how he’s changed after the death of his father.

This has been linked elsewhere, but I wanted to throw this up mostly for Andrew: local coverage of the SF Bay Bridge closure.

I’ve also been meaning to note the unfortunate incident on I-40, mostly because I’ve been somewhat baffled by it; however, the linked article helps make a little more sense of it. It looks like the slide is in an area that’s not easily accessible to the heavy equipment needed to remove the rocks; it also looks like NCDOT is going to want to spend some time stabilizing the slope, and then you’ve got to make sure the road bed is in good shape…

Tim Page has been popping up a lot recently as I make my rounds; first (by way of Jimbo) on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, then in an online chat at the WP. For those who are unfamiliar with Mr. Page, he’s a former classical music critic at the WP (and winner of the Pulitzer for criticism in 1997) who briefly became notorious for going off on Marion Barry’s aides after they kept spamming him. (“Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new and typically half-witted political grandstanding? “)

Page has a new book out, Parallel Play, about discovering fairly late in life (age 45) that he had Asperger’s Syndrome. The Gross interview is particuarly interesting, as it concentrates on Page’s relationship with the music of minimalist composers such as Reich, Riley, and Glass. I’m wondering if there’s something specific about minimalist music that connects with Aspergerians and, perhaps, with the autistic as well. (As we know, Bob, much of the spoken text of “Einstein on the Beach” was written by the autistic Christopher Knowles.) I am curious to see if Oliver Sacks has any thoughts on the subject; I’m also interested in reading Page’s book.

(Before anyone asks: I have Look Me in the Eye on my stack to read, and will probably get to it eventually. I’ve been a little put off by the fact that Robison’s brother is Augusten Burroughs, of Running with Scissors fame.)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Geek, Media, Music, Neuroscience, Roads | Comments Closed

Random notes: October 22, 2009.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Today’s NYT continues covering the Sedona sweat lodge incident:

Dr. Bunn, who had signed up for the $9,695 “spiritual warrior” experience

It must be nice to have more money than sense.

A psychic in Waynesville, N.C., Page Bryant, who was among the first to claim in the 1980s that Sedona had several “vortexes” of high energy — the initial lure for the legions of seekers — said that she became fed up and left nearly two decades ago “because of the craziness I saw going on in the New Age community.”

Wow. When the crazy people think you’re too crazy, maybe that’s a sign.

…the comments of a self-described “channeler” who visited Angel Valley after the retreat. Claiming to have communicated with the dead, the channeler said they had left their bodies in the sweat lodge and chosen not to come back because “they were having so much fun.”

Also in the NYT, the latest “trend” story: the return of the restaurant matchbook.

On the “Art, damn it, art!” front, here’s the LAT on the art in front of the new LAPD headquarters building. I’m thinking #4 in the slide show looks a lot like someone with their head buried in the sand.

In local news, some folks in the neighborhood are trying to get TABC to pull the liquor and operating licenses for the Nutty Brown Cafe. I drive past the Nut on a fairly regular basis; it isn’t like there’s a whole lot out there. Additionally, my great and good friends Andrew and the actor we’ve hired to play Karl play live music at the Nut from time to time, and I do kind of like the food there (we had a dining conspiracy there recently, and I have to say my opinion was a minority one) so I’m not exactly sympathetic to these complaints.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Food, Media, Stupid | 1 Comment »

Living on a prayer.

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

NBC, the 4th place network, and the home of Jay Leno in primetime, has named Jon Bon Jovi “artist in residence“.

Over the next two months Mr. Bon Jovi, whose new album, “The Circle,” will be released on Nov. 10, will be seen exclusively on shows on outlets owned by NBC Universal. These appearances will include the “Today” show, “The Tonight Show,” “The Jay Leno Show” and “Saturday Night Live” — and even an interview on the “NBC Nightly News” with Brian Williams. Mr. Bon Jovi also will appear on “Inside the Actors Studio” on the Bravo channel of NBC Universal.

I haven’t had enough coffee yet, so write your own joke.

Posted in Clippings, Media, Music | Comments Closed

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