Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category

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Banana republicans watch: November 6, 2013.

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Politics depress me. In general and in specific. (I’m not sure how I feel about the Astrodome being declared dead.)

But there is at least one bright spot. Voters in the bankrupt municipality of San Bernardino threw out several elected officials in a recall election.

Those given the axe:

  • “Longtime councilwoman” Wendy McCammack. This is interesting because Ms. McCammack was also the top vote-getter in the San Bernardino mayor’s race. However, there were a total of 10 candidates, and she got “just under” 25% of the vote. I wonder how many of the eight other candidates are going to throw their support to her, and how many will support “Carey Davis, an accountant and political newcomer”.
  • City attorney James Penman. City attorney is an elected rather than appointed position? Interesting.
  • Robert Jenkins, “charged with more than 30 felony and misdemeanor counts related to allegedly posting ads on Craigslist for sex partners and directing them to a former partner and another man”.

I haven’t been giving much attention to the Angela Spaccia/Bell trial. Most of what I’ve seen in the LAT has been the usual back and forth we’ve seen in the other trials: “City council approved!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “Rizzo’s a big poopy head and it was all his fault!”

(There have been a few amusing bits I missed covering. Among them:

(Former city attorney) Edward Lee said that even though his name was on most of the contracts, he did not recall signing them, raising the possibility that his name was forged or that the papers were slipped to him in a stack of other documents that required his signature.

The contracts in question being those for Spaccia and Robert “Ratso” Rizzo. This is interesting: while I can’t find the story now, I do recall reading that former Bell finance director Lourdes Garcia slipped contracts for Spaccia and Rizzo into stacks of other documents that were signed blindly by city officials.)

Things are getting a little more interesting. Randy Adams, the former police chief of Bell, is testifying for the defense today. You may remember former chief Adams from such hits as “I’m looking forward to see you and taking all of Bell’s money?!”, “Hire me and give me my disability pension“, and “I don’t know why he is not a defendant in this case”.

Note to self: stop off at grocery store on way home, stock up on popcorn.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit watch: November 6, 2013.

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Charlie Trotter, “celebrity” chef and PBS cooking show host.

NYT. Chicago Tribune. Sun-Times.

I never ate at a Trotter restaurant, though I did watch some of “The Kitchen Sessions” on PBS. I think you can make an argument that Trotter was among the first, if not the very first, in the new wave of “celebrity chefs”. My perception is that he was in the public consciousness earlier than Thomas Keller or Grant Achatz, for example. Certainly I was aware of Trotter before I’d heard of Anthony Bourdain (who I’d argue isn’t really a “celebrity chef”, but that’s a digression).

But it also seems that he struggled in the new environment. I remember this NYT profile from 2011 that claimed “Mr. Trotter hardly seems to figure in the national food conversation anymore.” And last year, he closed his restaurant, stating that he wanted to pursue graduate degrees in
“philosophy and political theory”.

He was 54 years old, which seems awfully young to me. I don’t have any evidence to support this theory, but I wonder if he knew his time was short and wanted to wind things down gracefully.

Edited to add: tribute from Jonathan Gold in the LAT:

What you took away from the meal was precisely what Trotter meant you to take away. I think he may have even anticipated the grilled Polish dog I ended up getting at Weiner Circle on the way home.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Obits | Comments Closed

Matango, Fungus of Terror!

Tuesday, November 5th, 2013

By way of the YCombinator news feed:

From around 420 to 350 million years ago, when land plants were still the relatively new kids on the evolutionary block and “the tallest trees stood just a few feet high,” giant spires of life poked from the Earth. “The ancient organism boasted trunks up to 24 feet (8 meters) high and as wide as three feet (one meter),” said National Geographic in 2007. With the help of a fossil dug up in Saudi Arabia scientists finally figured out what the giant creature was: a fungus. (We think.)

(You know, I’d read about Mantango in one of the Golden Turkey books, but it wasn’t until I read the Wikipedia entry that I became aware it was based on a William Hope Hodgson short story.)

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Movies | Comments Closed

You can’t touch this.

Saturday, November 2nd, 2013

So Robert “Ratso” Rizzo, former city manager of Bell, is going to prison. He’s expected to be sentenced to somewhere between 10 to 12 years (the actual sentencing is scheduled for March), and he’ll probably do about half that time.

Ratso also has to pay compensation to the city of Bell. As far as I can tell, there hasn’t been a final decision on the amount (I’m guessing that will be part of his sentencing) but it could be up to $3.2 million.

Where will that money come from? Rizzo sold his house at a loss, and it looks like the same thing is happening with his ranch.

Two places the money won’t come from: Rizzo’s retirement account, and his pension of $116,628 a year.

…city officials say they are legally prevented from going after the pension and the retirement account — which appear to be Rizzo’s main remaining assets — limiting how much the city can get back from him.

More:

State law says that an elected official convicted of a felony loses his pension, but an appointed city official like Rizzo is not covered by the law.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law | 2 Comments »

Go Pods!

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

I was looking at my “Squid” tag the other day (no, really, I am not making this up) and thinking “I don’t use this tag nearly enough”.

Well, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI for short) has their own YouTube channel. And they have a tradition of posting themed videos for Halloween.

This year’s video is “Spooky Eyes”, and it is chock-full of squidly goodness. (There are also some non-squid creatures in it.)

I also kind of like the music in this video. It sounds a little like a toy piano or maybe a child’s keyboard. The title of the piece is “Halloween Sputnik” by Richard Desilets, in case it catches your ear as well.

There’s a playlist of MBARI’s other Halloween themed videos, including “Big Teeth” and “Predators and Scavengers”.

And if you don’t want to watch the video, the LAT has a slideshow based on it.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Squid | 2 Comments »

Texas flood.

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

It rained pretty hard last night. The Lower Colorado River Authority actually opened floodgates on Tom Miller Dam, which caused Lady Bird Lake to rise like excessively yeasted bread dough.

Reagan Hackleman, who used to work for KXAN and is a freelance photographer, went out and got some photos.

His gallery is here. I won’t even hotlink; just go over and look at the photos, especially that first one.

Posted in Clippings, Photography | 2 Comments »

Bad Idea Jeans.

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

Scentee, a Japanese tech brand, has created a product that attaches to your smartphone and releases a scent. The plug-in accessory fits into the headphone socket of a smartphone (iPhone and Android). The device works with a companion app that tells it to spray a burst of fragrance into the air when you receive a message.

Available scents are claimed to include:

…rose, mint, curry, jasmine, cinnamon roll, lavender, apple, strawberry, ylang-ylang (a fragrant flower), coconut, and if you remember the fried corn soup fritters at KFC Japan from earlier this year, the corn soup scent should come as no surprise. There’s also a limited-edition Korean BBQ collection with two meat scents and baked potato. A bacon scent is in the works.

Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it in action. But even if this does turn out to be real, and not a hoax, I still think it is a damn stupid idea. (Anyone remember the iSmell?)

Also:

Almost as cool as making the theme song to “The Wire” (the Season 5 version) your ringtone … almost.

Oh, bullshit. Everyone knows the Season 1 version (with the Blind Boys of Alabama) is the best version.

Edited to add: I have been challenged to provide support for the above statement.

Here’s a handy page that contains YouTube versions of the theme song from all five seasons.

Posted in Android, Apple, Clippings, Geek, Stupid | Comments Closed

Big dismal science.

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Dean Karlan lives in New Haven, Connecticut. He gets a lot of trick-or-treaters in his neighborhood: “Residents say the area’s popularity is because the houses are so close together, minimizing the door-to-door travel time for trick-or-treaters.”

Dr. Karlan is also a behavioral economist. So why not combine the two and do science experiments on children?

Last year’s study found that 38% of kids 9 and older who saw a poster of First Lady Michelle Obama chose fruit instead of candy — twice as many as those who made that choice after seeing Ann Romney, wife of 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The study indicated that the first lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign, promoting healthy living for children, appeared to be reaching its target audience.

In other experiments, Karlan has found that the more generic the costume is, the more likely it is that the child will choose a see-through bag with candy in it over a non-transparent bag. Karlan has also found that…

…older children would change their stated political party loyalty if it meant getting a little more candy. Younger children, however, could not be bribed, and remained steadfast.

I’d like to see a follow-up to this experiment where children get equal amounts of candy, but those who identify as Democrats have more of their candy confiscated by the researchers.

This year, the study aims to test whether some children are inherently planners — whether they planned their costume ahead of time or procrastinated until the last minute, and whether they have a plan for how they will eat their candy. They’ll weigh their answers against whether kids choose fruit or give into the easy temptation of candy.

One more thing I’d like to know: why isn’t Dubner interviewing Karlan, instead of doing a re-run this week? With all due respect, guys, it seems like you’ve been doing a lot of re-runs recently, and that doesn’t really motivate me to give you money.

(This also reminds me that my youngest niece has gotten to the age where I can start doing science experiments on with her. She’s still a little young for the economics based ones, though.)

Posted in Clippings, Economics, Geek, Sarcasm | Comments Closed

Two for your consideration.

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

PetaPixel reprints a post (from the LensRentals blog) about a WWII story I’ve never heard before.

Jay Zeamer was a pilot. But he wasn’t a great one. He had problems passing his check tests, especially when it came to the “landing” part. He managed to get into B-17s and started flying as a “fill-in” pilot and on photoreconnaissance runs.

But nobody wanted to fly with him. So he created his own crew by gathering up every…

… misfit and ne’er-do-well in the 43rd Air Group. As another pilot, Walt Krell, recalled, “He recruited a crew of renegades and screwoffs. They were the worst — men nobody else wanted. But they gravitated toward one another and made a hell of a team.”

But they didn’t have a plane. So they grabbed onto a dilapidated B-17 that had been flown in for spare parts and somehow rebuilt it into flying condition. The base commander thought this was a pretty good thing, and intended to assign the plane to another crew.

Not surprisingly, Zeamer and his crew took exception to this idea, and according Walt Krell the crew slept in their airplane, having loudly announced that the 50 caliber machine guns were kept loaded in case anyone came around to ‘borrow’ it. There was a severe shortage of planes, so the base commander ignored the mutiny and let the crew fly – but generally expected them to take on missions that no one else wanted.

Zeamer and crew called the plane “Old 666”. And yes, they took on the missions no one else wanted.

Even among the men of a combat air station, the Eager Beavers became known as gun nuts. They replaced all of the light 30 caliber machine guns in the plane with heavier 50 caliber weapons. Then the 50 caliber machine guns were replaced with double 50 caliber guns. Zeamer had another pair of machine guns mounted to the front of the plane so he could remotely fire them like a fighter pilot. And the crew kept extra machine guns stored in the plane, just in case one of their other guns jammed or malfunctioned.

My kind of guys.

Having a plane with an apparently nutty crew who volunteered for every awful mission not surprisingly made the commanding officers look the other way.

This would make for one heck of a movie. Especially in light of what eventually happened to “Old 666” and her crew. But for that you should go read the rest of the story at PetaPixel or LensRentals.

Meanwhile, by way of Insta (who draws a different conclusion than I do): W. Joseph Campbell, author of Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism, writes about Orson Welles, “War of the Worlds”, and the question of whether there really was a mass panic.

Posted in Clippings, History, Radio | Comments Closed

That ’70s post.

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

Ah, the 1970’s. What a time.

Remember Alexander Calder, the noted sculptor? Died in 1976? Well, he had a dealer, Klaus Perls, that he worked with exclusively. It was, by all accounts, a close and very friendly relationship.

Was.

In a recently amended complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court, the Calder estate says the Perlses surreptitiously held on to hundreds of Calder’s works and swindled the artist’s estate out of tens of millions of dollars. Perhaps most surprising, it says that Perls, a dealer with a sterling reputation who campaigned to rid his industry of forgeries, sold dozens of fake Calders. The suit depicts Perls as a tax cheat who stashed millions of dollars in a Swiss bank account, a secret his daughter said she maintained by paying off a former gallery employee with $5 million. She added that Calder had his own hidden Swiss account.

It looks like the Perls family stipulates at least part of these claims, specifically the parts about the Swiss bank accounts. But they also claim that part of the reason Perls had a Swiss bank account is so he could transfer profits to Calder’s Swiss bank account.

In court papers, Mr. Wolfe, the Perls lawyer, said, “Alexander Calder and Klaus Perls were kindred spirits in that they both had an aversion to paying taxes.”

I knew there was a reason I liked Alexander Calder’s work.

The 1970’s were also a time when it was much easier to get your hands on explosives. Especially if you were 17 years old. And if you were peeved at the California Department of Water and Power.

The blast ripped apart a 4-foot-wide steel gate that regulates the flow of water to the aqueduct. Windows were blown out of the gatehouse atop the spill gates and its concrete floor buckled.
About 100 million gallons of water meant for Los Angeles were instead flushed into Owens Lake, which had been dry since the Department of Water and Power opened the aqueduct in 1913.

Nobody was injured. Mark Berry, one of the two men responsible, spent 30 days in juvenile detention. And he now works for the DWP.

(I love this telling detail: “The air was filled with the banana-like smell of nitroglycerin.”)

(And this one: “Berry said his father, as yet unaware that his son was one of the culprits, boasted to a neighbor, ‘If I ever find out who bombed the gates I’ll buy him a steak dinner.'” Gardner Dozois and Edward Abbey, please call your offices.)

(Since I made a “That ’70s Show” reference, I believe I have to link to this Penny Arcade. Especially since I am all about fish out of water prison dramas.)

Posted in Art, California Über Alles, Clippings, Explosives, Law, Sarcasm, TV | Comments Closed

Firing (?) watch.

Tuesday, October 29th, 2013

This is odd, and still developing:

The Dallas Mavericks have, according to reports, “parted ways” with Gersson Rosas, the team’s general manager.

There are two reasons why this is odd:

  1. Nobody seems to be clear on what “parting ways” means. Was he fired? Did he get a better job offer elsewhere? Did he need to spend more time with his family? Did he jump, or was he pushed? All of this is relevant, in that…
  2. …he’s been the general manager for three months.

    Rosas was brought in near the end of July from the Houston Rockets where he was the executive vice president of basketball operations.

    3. Edited to add 10/30: the second day coverage is spinning this as a resignation…

    …triggered by the fact that Rosas — hired by the Mavericks to work in support of longtime president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson — wanted a greater share of control over Dallas’ basketball operations. Concerns about how Rosas would fit into the Mavericks’ front-office structure and accept a supplementary role to Nelson, sources said, surfaced almost immediately after Rosas’ arrival in late July.

    Basically, the argument seems to be that Rosas expected a bigger role in management, but the Mavericks are, first and foremost, Mark Cuban’s team, and Donnie Nelson is his sidekick. Which leaves little to no room for Rosas.

Posted in Clippings, Sports | Comments Closed

Down to the sea in cruise ships.

Monday, October 28th, 2013

NYT headline:

Too Big to Sail? Cruise Ships Face Scrutiny

First paragraph of the article:

One of the largest cruise ships in 1985 was the 46,000-ton Carnival Holiday. Ten years ago, the biggest, the Queen Mary 2, was three times as large. Today’s record holders are two 225,000-ton ships whose displacement, a measure of a ship’s weight, is about the same as that of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

So we have an answer: no, they aren’t “too big to sail”, since the Nimitz-class ships seem to be working just fine.

More seriously, the article is the usual naval gazing about whether cruise ships have become so big that the safety of passengers can’t be guaranteed. This seems to be more of a question about ship design, crew staffing levels, and safety equipment.

Although most have not resulted in any casualties, the string of accidents and fires has heightened concerns about the ability of megaships to handle emergencies or large-scale evacuations at sea. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, introduced legislation this summer that would strengthen federal oversight of cruise lines’ safety procedures and consumer protections.

I was going to say something snarky about how accidents and fires at sea don’t exactly encourage customers to come back, and about how much damage the “poop cruise” did to Carnival’s brand. But, while you can see a dip in the stock in February, it looks like they hit their 12 month low point just a few days ago, and I can’t tie that to any specific event.

Today’s biggest ship, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, has 2,706 rooms, 16 decks, 22 restaurants, 20 bars and 10 hot tubs, as well as a shopping mall, a casino, a water park, a half-mile track, a zip line, mini golf and Broadway-style live shows. It can accommodate nearly 6,300 passengers and 2,394 crew members — the equivalent of a small town towering over the clear blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. It measures 1,188 feet long. Its sister ship, the Oasis of the Seas, is two inches shorter.

Mini golf? I am there, man. (Doesn’t it seem kind of odd that a cruise ship would have mini golf, while mini golf courses all over the country have been closing? I realize that land is probably more valuable for purposes other than mini golf, but as big as these cruise ships are, isn’t their real estate limited as well?)

This is my favorite part:

One result was a set of new global regulations in 2010 called the Safe Return to Port rules. Those require new ships to have sufficient redundant systems, including power and steerage, to allow them to return to port even in the worst emergency. Only about 10 ships built since then comply with this new rule.
“The idea is that a ship is its own best lifeboat,” said John Hicks, the vice president for global passenger ships at Lloyds Register, the largest ship classification society. “The idea is to do everything to keep the crew and passengers on a vessel.”

“A ship is its own best lifeboat.” Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes:

The lack of lifeboats was the result of a combination of outdated maritime safety regulations and the White Star Line’s wish to leave the decks unobstructed so that the passengers could have better views, as well as give the ship more aesthetics from an exterior view . In addition, it was believed that in the event of an emergency, Titanic’s design would enable her to stay afloat long enough for her passengers and crew to be transferred safely to a rescue vessel. It was never anticipated that everyone would have to be evacuated rapidly at the same time.

(Yes, I know I’m citing Wikipedia, but that’s just because that’s the first reference I can easily lay hands on. The argument that lifeboats weren’t needed because the Titanic was her own best lifeboat is mentioned in pretty much every Titanic history I’ve read, so pick your favorite.)

While ships are becoming bigger, the burden on crew members is growing. The Queen Elizabeth 2, which was launched in 1969, had one crew member for about 1.8 passengers. On the Triumph, the ratio was one crew member for every 2.8 passengers. The issue is also complicated by language and communication problems, and a high crew turnover rate that can reach 35 percent a year.

Hmmmm. One wonders what percentage of that “35% percent” turnover is among ship’s officers, crew, and other people who are important for safety? And what percentage is among people like cooks, restaurant workers, maids, and other people who are, shall we say, less important to the safety of a cruise ship?

Posted in Clippings, Ships | Comments Closed

And where did we get such men?

Monday, October 28th, 2013

Brigadier General Robinson Risner (USAF- ret.) has died.

General Risner, who was promoted to the rank of brigadier general at his retirement in 1976, was shot down in September 1965 during a mission to destroy a missile site. Then a lieutenant colonel, he turned out to be the highest-ranking officer at Hoa Lo Prison, which American prisoners of war called the Hanoi Hilton. For the first five years — after which higher-ranking officers came to the prison — he helped organize inmates to make complaints about the conditions and to boost morale.

General Risner spent a total of seven and half years in Hoa Lo Prison, more than three of those in solitary confinement.

One of his major acts of defiance was helping to organize a church service in 1971, even though he knew he would be punished. As guards led him away to yet another spell in solitary confinement, more than 40 P.O.W.’s sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” to show support. He was later asked how he felt at that moment.
“I felt like I was nine feet tall and could go bear hunting with a switch,” he said. In 2001, a nine-foot-tall statue of General Risner was installed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs to commemorate that declaration.

Posted in Clippings, Heroism, History, Obits, Planes | Comments Closed

Metal Machine Music.

Monday, October 28th, 2013

Your Lou Reed obits: NYT.

The Velvet Underground, which was originally sponsored by Andy Warhol and showcased the songwriting of John Cale as well as Mr. Reed, wrought gradual but profound impact on the high-I.Q., low-virtuosity stratum of punk, alternative and underground rock around the world. Joy Division, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, R.E.M., the Strokes and numerous others were descendants. The composer Brian Eno, in an often-quoted interview from 1982, suggested that if the group’s first album, “The Velvet Underground & Nico,” sold only 30,000 copies during its first five years — a figure probably lower than the reality — “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.”

A/V Club.

Why, yes, I actually do own “Metal Machine Music“, though I haven’t listened to very much of it. (I bought it as a jape at a former co-worker of mine who thought he could engage in a battle of “who can play the most obnoxious music”; said co-worker seriously underestimated me.)

Posted in Clippings, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 25, 2013.

Friday, October 25th, 2013

I nearly missed this one. The only coverage I’ve seen has been on the A/V Club.

William Harrison, novelist and screenwriter, died on Tuesday.

I was unfamiliar with much of Harrison’s work. Apparently, he wrote a lot of novels set in Africa. But perhaps his biggest claim to fame is a short story, “Roller Ball Murder”, which was published in Esquire in 1973.

Norman Jewison hired Harrison to do a screenplay based on the story. The result:

Posted in Books, Clippings, Movies, Obits | Comments Closed

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