Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category

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Igor, the President speaks!

Friday, December 28th, 2012

He’s tanned. He’s rested. He’s ready.

He’s the newly redone animatronic LBJ from the (also recently remodeled) LBJ Presidential Library.

And if you think he looks just a little overly tan, well, you’re not the only one.

Posted in Clippings, Museums, Photography | Comments Closed

You’re not helping. Why is that, Leon?

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

Nathan Weaver is a student at Clemson University. He decided that he wanted to help turtles cross the road.

Weaver put a realistic rubber turtle in the middle of a lane on a busy road near campus. Then he got out of the way and watched over the next hour as seven drivers swerved and deliberately ran over the animal. Several more apparently tried to hit it but missed.

More:

“They seem so helpless and cute,” [Rob Baldwin, Mr. Weaver’s professor] said. “I want to stop and help them. My kids want to stop and help them. My wife will stop and help turtles no matter how much traffic there is on the road. I can’t understand the idea why you would swerve to hit something so helpless as a turtle.”

Sounds a lot like Weer’d Beard and ducks.

(Even though it turns out this was on FARK, I wanted to post it anyway to provoke an emotional response from my younger brother, who should update his blog, damnit. Seriously. He loves that scene from “Blade Runner”.)

Posted in Clippings | 2 Comments »

There was a rumor, about a tumor…

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

The Statesman is reporting the death of Houston McCoy.

Mr. McCoy never got the fame he probably deserved, because that’s the way the media works. He was an officer with the Austin Police Department on August 1, 1966. Mr. McCoy and his fellow officer Ramiro Martinez fired the shots that killed Charles Whitman.

There’s always been some controversy over who actually killed Whitman, and that’s touched on briefly in Mr. McCoy’s obit. I expect to see this rehashed some more in the coming days. Gary Lavergne’s A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders is considered by pretty much every person I know of to be the definitive account of events before, during, and after; he discusses this issue at some length, and I think comes to a wise and fair conclusion, echoed by Mr. McCoy himself:

From his bed in Menard Manor in 2011, McCoy recounted what he remembered: “I got him but it really doesn’t matter whether I got him or Martinez did. Martinez is a good man, and he was the first police officer on the deck to confront the sniper. There were many heroes that day, police officers and civilians.”

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

Obit watch: December 27, 2012.

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

Brad Corbett. (NYT. Fort Worth Startlegram.)

Mr. Corbett founded, and made his money with, a plastic pipe manufacturing company. But he’s noteworthy here because he owned the Texas Rangers from 1974 to 1980, part of the Seasons in Hell era that I’ve written about before. (Yes, Corbett was the owner during 10 Cent Beer Night; he bought the team on May 29, 1974, and that took place June 4th. Heck of an introduction to MLB.)

Corbett, a Fort Worth businessman, might be best remembered for his time with the Rangers for the 1977 season when they had four managers – Frank Lucchesi, Eddie Stanky, Connie Ryan and Billy Hunter.
Lucchesi managed the first 62 games, but his season got off to a rocky start when second baseman Lenny Randle punched him during spring training. Stanky then managed only one game, followed by Ryan, who managed six, before Hunter managed the final 93.

Also:

Throughout Corbett’s tenure, the Rangers traded away three future Hall of Fame pitchers — Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry and Bert Blyleven — as well as Mike Hargrove, Jeff Burroughs and Toby Harrah.
[Jim] Sundberg, in fact, was the only player to remain with the Rangers throughout Corbett’s time as owner from start to finish.

One story about Corbett, recounted in the obit, involves him making a trade with another owner while they were both standing at the urinal in a Fort Worth restaurant. Corbett is also one of the men who fired Billy Martin.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Random notes: December 26, 2012.

Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

The NYT was running a little behind yesterday, and didn’t post their Charles Durning obit until later in the day. (Also, thanks to Lawrence and Guffaw for their comments yesterday.)

Likewise, the A/V Club is operating on holiday time: they did publish a nice obit for Jack Klugman, but have not gotten around to Charles Durning yet. (Edited to add: the A/V Club’s obit for Durning is up now.)

On the night after Christmas 40 years ago, two buses carved a thin line across the vast blackness of the New Mexico plains. They carried 58 young people and seven chaperones from Woodlawn Baptist Church in South Austin, the passengers still reveling in the merry holiday glow, en route to a religious retreat and skiing in the eastern New Mexico mountains.

19 people were killed when one of the buses crashed. 16 of them were teenagers. This is one of those bits of Austin history that I was previously unaware of; I commend the Statesman story (and the sidebar about how horrible the highway bridge was) to your attention.

Posted in Bridges, Clippings, Movies, Obits, Roads, Safety, TV | Comments Closed

Norts spews.

Tuesday, December 25th, 2012

Today’s NYT has a nice retrospective article tied to the playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs 41 years ago today.

The Dolphins won, 27-24. In double overtime. To this day, that game remains the longest game in NFL history.

“Do you want to talk about my mother’s funeral, too?” [kicker Jan] Stenerud said recently when asked about the defeat. He hung up the phone, ending a brief interview.

Continuing with the “Merry freakin’ Christmas” theme, Ryan Freel has passed away.

Freel, who played second base, third base and all three outfield positions, spent six of his eight big-league seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and finished his career in 2009 with a .268 average and 143 stolen bases.

Freel was apparently a “b—s to the wall” player:

Freel showed no fear as he ran into walls, hurtled into the seats and crashed into other players while trying to make catches. His jarring, diving grabs often made the highlight shows, and he was praised by those he played both with and against for always having a dirt-stained uniform.

And over the course of his career, he suffered an estimated 10 concussions. He missed 30 games in 2007 because of a concussion after he collided with a teammate.

Freel was 36. According to the NYT obit, law enforcement believes he killed himself. I wanted to mention this as a reminder: people have talked a lot about concussions in football, and to a lesser extent in hockey (they’d probably be talking more about hockey if we actually had a hockey season). I think it is worth keeping in mind that those aren’t the only sports worth worrying about.

Posted in Clippings, Neuroscience, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: special Merry freakin’ Christmas edition.

Tuesday, December 25th, 2012

Charles Durning, war hero and noted character actor.

He was among the first wave of U.S. soldiers to land at Normandy during the D-Day invasion and the only member of his Army unit to survive. He killed several Germans and was wounded in the leg. Later he was bayoneted by a young German soldier whom he killed with a rock. He was captured in the Battle of the Bulge and survived a massacre of prisoners.

They don’t make them like that anymore.

Jack Klugman. NYT. LAT.

I’m just a little too young to remember “The Odd Couple” well (except for the theme), but “Quincy, M.E.” was right in my wheelhouse for the first several seasons. At some point, I’d like to do a longer post about the “NBC Sunday Mystery Movie” and all the great stuff that came out of it, but for now, let me say that I was an avid Quincy fan when I was a kid; at least, until the series turned into Jack Klugman’s cause of the week.

I did sort of keep up with Klugman after the series went off the air, and was sad when he came down with throat cancer. That’s the sort of thing I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and I can’t imagine what it was like for an actor. Happily, he was able to do some acting after that. (It brings a smile to my face to see that he did a guest stint on “Crossing Jordan”, the “Quincy” of the 2000 era except that it sucked.)

(And I have, but have not watched, the Criterion “12 Angry Men“. Maybe after folks get back from the holiday.)

You know, they don’t write TV themes like those any more, too.

Posted in Clippings, Heroism, Movies, Obits, TV | 2 Comments »

Paging Doc Daneeka.

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012

I previously noted the strange case of Carolyn Barnes, the local lawyer who was accused of shooting at a census worker, found incompetent to stand trial, sent to the state hospital in Kerrville, and yet retains her license to practice law and is representing at least one client.

Yes. Well. There’s an update to the story:

A Williamson County judge on Friday refused to prevent an attorney locked up in a state psychiatric facility from continuing to practice law.

The judge’s position actually kind of makes sense to me:

“Ms. Barnes is, as of this moment, a licensed member of the bar,” he said. “It wouldn’t be appropriate of me to unilaterally decide if she’s competent to act as an attorney.”
He added that the State Bar of Texas, which is responsible for licensing attorneys, was conducting its own investigation into Barnes’ capability to practice. The organization has the power to bar an attorney from practicing due to a disability — physical or mental — but rarely does so.

Meanwhile, the whole issue may become moot, as the Statesman also reports Ms. Barnes is moving closer to being declared competent to stand trial.

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

The best little obit watch in Texas.

Friday, December 21st, 2012

Larry L. King, author of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, has passed away at 83.

I was not aware of this, but King is also alleged to have coined the saying, “The only way you can lose this election, Joe, is to get caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman.”

And:

He was often confused with the radio and television talk-show host Larry King, particularly when making dinner reservations. One Washington restaurant settled the problem by asking them, when reserving a table, to identify themselves, as either “Larry King ‘Radio’ ” or “Larry King ‘Whorehouse.’ ”

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Theatre | Comments Closed

Random notes: December 21, 2012.

Friday, December 21st, 2012

I have been critical of the HouChron in the past, but I have to give them credit for this headline:

(Click to embiggen.)

If only they’d added “Women, minorities hardest hit” as a subhed, it would have been a classic.

Marijuana has, in many parts of this state, become the equivalent of a beer in a paper bag on the streets of Greenwich Village. It is losing whatever stigma it ever had and still has in many parts of the country, including New York City, where the kind of open marijuana use that is common here would attract the attention of any passing law officer.

Heh. “a beer in a paper bag”. Bunny Colvin, call your office, please.

Black truffles are selling in Paris for around $1,200 a pound.

Black truffles and other types of truffles are becoming scarcer, and some scientists say it is because of the effects of global climate change on the fungus’s Mediterranean habitat. One wholesaler says prices have risen tenfold over the last dozen years.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law | Comments Closed

Obit roundup: December 20, 2012.

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

Robert Bork: NYT. LAT. WP.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Obits | Comments Closed

Interesting questions.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
  1. Why did I have to find out about the exhumation of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock from the Onion A/V Club, of all places?
  2. It has been a while since I’ve read In Cold Blood. Is there any evidence that they were ever in Florida to begin with, much less Sarasota? Serious question: I honestly do not remember.
  3. Sarasota county still has evidence that they expect to get useful DNA (in some form) from, 53 years after the crime? (To be clear, it isn’t the evidence that surprises me: I’d expect them to keep evidence for unsolved crimes until the sun goes nova. What I’m having trouble with is whether DNA would be preserved after being stored for that long.)
  4. If they do get closure on this case using Smith and Hickock’s DNA, will this be the oldest solved cold case ever? Or oldest solved using DNA? Anybody know what the current record is?

Posted in Books, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Obit watch take two.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Lawrence has just informed me of the passing of Robert Bork. Obits to come.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Obits | Comments Closed

Random notes: December 19, 2012.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

And I said, “What about ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’?”
She said, “I think that’s just been added to the National Film Registry.”
“And as I recall, we both kind of liked it.”
And I said, “Well, that’s the one thing we’ve got.”

(For those of you who have forgotten your one-hit wonders, reference explained here.)

(“The Matrix”? Whoa. But I’m pretty happy about “Dirty Harry” and “A Christmas Story”. I have the Criterion editions of both “Two-Lane Blacktop” and “Anatomy of a Murder“, but haven’t watched either one yet.)

The NYT finally got around to publishing an obit for Reinhold Weege, the creator of “Night Court” whose death we noted previously.

Alex Sanchez was the executive director of Homies Unidos, an anti-gang organization, when he was indicted in 2009 on Federal charges of “racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder”. The government alleged he had ties to the MS-13 gang.

Yesterday, the government asked that the charges be dismissed “without prejudice”, which gives them the right to refile those charges in the future.

The action follows a recent court filing by defense attorney Amy Jacks, who demanded that the case be dismissed because prosecutors “presented false evidence to the grand jury, lied to the grand jury and withheld exculpatory evidence,” she said. Her motion was not made public because it deals with sealed testimony before a federal grand jury, she said.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Movies | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: December 18, 2012.

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

For various reasons – some obvious, some that we’re keeping to ourselves – we’re having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit this year. This might help a little bit:

Or possibly not. After the jump, this week’s TMO…

(more…)

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

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