“Commander Squirrel”?
Wow. If you’re a cartel boss:
- How do you get a nickname like “Commander Squirrel”?
- How do you not shoot anyone who calls you “Commander Squirrel”?
- Is there a sub-commander called “Moose”? There has to be, right?
Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category
Headline of the day.
Monday, October 8th, 2012Random notes: October 5, 2012.
Friday, October 5th, 2012Our pals at the NYT have an interesting update on the “Rebecca” front. (Previously. Previously.)
It is starting to look like a certain gentleman basically invented four investors, and the $4.5 million they were supposed to put into the show, from scratch. This gentleman has not been charged with a crime as of yet, but has a colorful history that includes bankruptcy, civil suits, and an unrelated federal investigation.
But why would he do this? What’s his motivation?
In other news, the Pine Ridge reservation is considering legalizing alcohol, because prohibition isn’t working. I missed the fact that the reservation’s suit against the beer dealers in Whiteclay had been dismissed. (Previously.)
Noted:
Abraham Joseph, 28, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual assault.
Mr. Joseph was a Houston police department officer at the time he raped the woman, who was a waitress (and, for the record, was an illegal alien at the time; she since has been granted asylum).
I’m not convinced the Austin nightclub trial is going well for the prosecution, though I only have the Statesman‘s account to rely on. The government’s primary witness is a cousin of the two brothers who are on trial. The feds have paid him $340,000 to date, and he seems to be having memory troubles.
No hearts, no flowers.
Thursday, October 4th, 2012Your loser update: End of the baseball season.
Thursday, October 4th, 2012The Houston Astros played their last game of the baseball season yesterday.
As you may recall, in 2011, the Astros finished 56-106, for a .346 winning percentage.
This year…it came right down to the wire, but the Astros finished 55-107, losing their last game to the Chicago Cubs, finishing with a .340 winning percentage, and setting a new record for losses in a single season.
Oh, well. There’s always next year; and with the team changing leagues, maybe the 120 loss mark is within reach.
TMQ Watch watch.
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012From last week’s TMQ:
“Revolution” has “canceled by Christmas” written all over it.
From Deadline Hollywood Daily:
This should not be interpreted as implying that we think “Revolution” is a good show. To be perfectly honest, we haven’t watched it, and have no plans to: this comic sums up our reasons why pretty well.
(“The laws of smashing things into other things WENT CRAZY?!” We cannot lie: that’s an awesome line.)
(And a tip of the Hatlo hat to Erin Palette over at “Lurking Rhythmically”, both for the pointer to “Hijinks Ensue” and for this post outlining some of the logic flaws in the show.)
(There’s a much better SF story based on the idea of electricity not working; in that story, it appears to be an alien presence that’s capable of discriminating between machines and, say, human brain impulses. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the title and author of that story at the moment. It is in an Asimov-curated anthology that I have at home somewhere. I know it wasn’t an S.M. Stirling story, but one from the pulp era. If I figure out the title and author, I’ll update here.)
Edited to add: I’m pretty sure it was “The Waveries” by Frederic Brown.
TMQ Watch: October 2, 2012.
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012Before we jump into this week’s column, here’s a totally inappropriate 80’s flashback for you.
Random crap: October 2, 2012.
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012Man, time flies when you’re having fun. The first of the Austin nightclub trials started yesterday. (Previously.) It doesn’t seem that there’s much to report yet, but I’ll try to keep an eye on the trial for any sensational revelations.
Ah, “Rebecca”. We hardly knew you. Ben Sprecher’s attempt to round up additional financing didn’t pan out, and the musical has been cancelled. (Previously.)
Also in the NYT: yet another story about fishing tournament fraud. I really do not get why people are surprised by this, or why the media finds it newsworthy. Where there’s money, there’s going to be fraud. If you’re talking six figure money, there’s going to be six figure fraud. And if someone defrauds someone else of a six-figure sum of money, why shouldn’t that be a felony, just because fish are involved?
I haven’t read any of the new books mentioned by the NYT, but I did read Mr. Rinella’s previous book, The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine
Sorry, but if I’m in Mr. Rinella’s position and someone pulls that <stuff> on me, I’ll take them aside and tell them politely: “This is your one warning. You are a guest in my house. If you continue to badmouth my food and complain about it not being vegan, I will physically throw you out the front door and see how many times you bounce. If you can’t deal with that, walk out now under your own power.”
Anyway, I don’t feel any real compulsion to read Mr. Rinella’s new book, or any of the others mentioned by the paper of record.
Bad boys, bad boys…
Monday, October 1st, 2012…I’ll spare you the rest.
And on a related note.
Monday, October 1st, 2012Since we’re into October, I wonder if it is time to start rounding up candidates for the Dumbest Article Printed In a Large Circulation Publication In 2012.
I could go through my “stupid” tag, but most of those entries are for heroic individual acts of stupidity, and not articles from the mass media.
I could throw things open to my readers, but every time I do throw things open to my readers, I get, shall we say, a less than deafening response.
Then again, I can’t dance, and it is too wet to plow still, so….
…put your candidates for “Dumbest Article Printed In a Large Circulation Publication In 2012” into the comments, or email them to me at stainles at gmail dot com if you want to remain monogamous anonymous.
I do think we need some ground rules:
- Both traditional print and web-based publications are eligible.
- I will accept nominations of individual articles from Salon and Slate, but I will not accept nominations of either of those sites as a whole. I will also judge submissions from those two sites more harshly than I do submissions from other sources, as both sites already have a reputation for publishing articles of enormous stupidity; thus, I hold them to a higher standard than I do supposedly reputable mass media such as the LAT.
- I will accept nominations of individual articles from this site and the Saturday Dining Conspiracy web site, just to be fair.
- “UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS.”
We’ve already got the LAT pot growers of the Emerald Triangle story to work with. (Though, on second thought, is that a stupid story, or a smart story about stupid people?)
I’ll add to the list this fine Salon article from January, which John Scalzi ably dissected. (“…the seven most damaging words in the English language for the reputation of any novelist might very well be ‘I just wrote an article for Salon.'”)
Any more entries? I’m sure I’m forgetting something, probably in Slate.
Edited to add: Thinking about it some more, I realized that I left the definition of “Large Circulation Publication” undefined. For example, does a professional writer’s personal blog that gets a lot of traffic count as a “Large Circulation Publication”? I think my answer to that is: you post ’em, I print ’em.
Timeless. Changeless. Ways.
Monday, October 1st, 2012In this case, not the timeless changeless ways of the Amish, but those of the…Emerald Triangle pot growers, who find their way of life threatened. Not by the fact that what they do is, you know, friggin’ illegal, but
Yes. They’re being threatened by competition.
More:
Medical marijuana dispensaries, according to the LAT, prefer weed grown indoors; I’m no expert on growing dope, but I’d figure that growing indoors gives you a more consistent product and more reliable sourcing.
The locals complain that back in the old days (we’re talking about the 1980s here), dope farmers “paid for community centers, fire departments, road maintenance and elementary schools.”
But now:
And:
Wow, Ringo. Did you really think that when dope was legalized, R.J. Reynolds was going to come down out of the hills and start purchasing your organic free-range ganja in quantities large enough to satisfy the American consumer?
“If you’re sick, you want something that has chemicals in it?” Yes, you stupid bitch. We in the civilized world call that “medicine”. And here’s another big fucking hint for you: everything has chemicals in it, including your organic brown rice and that dope you’re growing.
The libertarian side of me believes that marijuana should be legalized. The non-liberatarian side of me is starting to lean more towards legalization, if it means that these idiots will be forced to find some sort of useful work.
Legalization “has the potential to be devastating,” she said.
The most shocking thing about this story? That the LAT apparently printed it with a straight face.
We do the legwork so you don’t have to.
Monday, October 1st, 2012Since I posted twice about the auction that included some of Bonnie and Clyde’s guns, I felt that I owed it to my loyal readers (all four of them) to give some final results. All of these are by way of Invaluable.com, which notes that these prices have not yet been verified.
Bonnie’s Colt Detective Special went for $220,000.
Clyde’s Colt in “Fitz Special” style went for $37,000.
A 1911 that Clyde had in his waistband during the ambush went for $200,000.
The S&W Hand Ejector went for $41,000, against a pre-sale estimate of $75,000 – $100,000.
The “Baby Face” Nelson S&W “Safety Hammerless” went for $17,000, against a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 – $50,000.
I’m not sure what to make of these two Smiths. It may be that “Baby Face” Nelson associational items don’t have the same draw as Bonnie and Clyde, but I’m not sure why Clyde’s S&W didn’t meet expectations. Perhaps the fact that it has been re-finished had something to do with that…
And the Emmett Dalton .44 Russian top-break went for $15,000, against a pre-sale estimate of $25,000 – $30,000.
(Edited to add: Invaluable.com requires you to have an account and be signed in before showing prices, so if you don’t see prices at those links, that’s why.
Also, thinking about it some more, the 1911 and Bonnie’s Colt were probably big money guns because they were actually recovered from Bonnie and Clyde’s bodies after the ambush. The S&W was apparently in the car, but not found on either of them, and the “Fitz” was recovered from a car stolen by Clyde. So that may explain the pricing. Maybe. What do I know?)
(Edited to add 10/2: Here’s the report direct from RR Auction, which gives the prices including bidder’s premium. Invaluable’s prices apparently did not include that figure.)
Emu meat!
Sunday, September 30th, 2012Oh, if only people learned from history…
And:
Might I suggest that anytime somebody says to you, “Yes, you can get into the business of raising large flightless birds, even if you live in an apartment. You don’t even need to ever see the birds” you should probably turn around and run in the opposite direction?
Obit watch: September 30, 2012.
Sunday, September 30th, 2012In case you were wondering how the paper of record would cover the death of former publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, “who guided The New York Times and its parent company through a long, sometimes turbulent period of expansion and change on a scale not seen since the newspaper’s founding in 1851”, you can find that here.
If you were wondering how other papers would approach this: LAT. WP.
I’d also like to mention the death of noted racing journalist Chris Economaki. Back when I was a wee lad and watched racing coverage on ABC, Economaki and Jackie Stewart were always there. I miss those days…
Burn it to the ground and start over. (Part 5)
Saturday, September 29th, 2012I think everyone knows Camden, New Jersey is a troubled city.
What to do, what to do?
Answer: burn it to the ground and start over.
More:
So I’m wondering where people think the Camden PD officers are going? Do they really think these “incompetent, corrupt, and doing little” officers aren’t going to wind up as part of the new county force? It isn’t just a question of politics: where is the new force supposed to get 400 trained officers from, if not from the pool of existing officers who aren’t currently working?
More:
I’m going to have to propose that to my boss. “Hey, boss. I’d like an extra four percent for working my normal 8-5 shift. How about it?” (My company actually does pay a night shift differential.)
Before: $47,000 to $81,000. After: $47,000 to $87,000. This is the kind of thinking that has gotten us to where we are today: nimble-footed sprinters on the treadmill of life. (Tne NYT is unclear as to whether the “after” includes shift differentials and the special incentives.)
And:
I see. So they can hire up to 49% of the current Camden officers. 49% of 400 is 196. The current Camden PD has 273 officers. Interesting numbers there.
PSG, WSP.
Friday, September 28th, 2012For those of you unfamiliar with that abbreviation, that’s Jay G’s rendering of “Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes“.
This is why you don’t fire warning shots, people!