Archive for the ‘Stupid’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Let the bodies hit the door…

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Lawrence was all over the mass grave that wasn’t in Liberty County, but I wanted to note an update or two.

HouChron interview with the “psychic” who says “she never wanted any attention and fears the worldwide interest in the case will destroy her life if her identity is known publicly.”

She strongly denied telling officers that they needed to search for bodies or that anyone was dead.

“They did not act on what I told them,” she said. “My biggest concern is definitely the children,” she added. “I think they are hungry and thirsty. They are still alive.”

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a standard fake psychic trick? “Oh, no, I never said {X}. I said {Y}. It’s their fault if they thought I said {X}.”

From the WP: “How the story of dismembered bodies at a Texas farmhouse fell apart”. “dismembered bodies”, “fell apart”. Someone at the WP was having a bit too much fun.

In other news, can we say that this story marks the official start of Silly Season 2011? When are we going to get the next shark attack?

Posted in Clippings, Stupid | Comments Closed

Bang bang bang bang bang bang.

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

I meant to blog this on Friday, but I got distracted by shiny objects.

Blippy is apparently dead.

“What’s Blippy?” you cry. Blippy was the “social website” that allowed you to “share” your credit card purchases with other people in your “social network”.

“Imagine being able to see everything your friends buy with a credit card as they do it,” MG wrote. “This not only tells you what kind of things they’re actually into (rather than someone just saying they like something), but also other information like how cheap they are, as well as where they actually are at a given time.”

There are things that would interest me less than that, but I am hard pressed to think of many.

The shocking thing, at least to me, is that Philip Kaplan (aka “Pud”, aka “the guy behind F—edCompany.com”) apparently thought this was a good idea. I suppose even Homer nods from time to time.

Posted in Clippings, Stupid | 2 Comments »

Chutzpah.

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

The classic definition is, of course, the guy who murders his parents and then asks the court for mercy because he’s an orphan.

I think we may have a new one: the Fiesta Bowl wants their illegal campaign contributions refunded.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Sports, Stupid | Comments Closed

Pour out a fifth for the fourth.

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

First, the Indiana Supreme Court ignores hundreds of years of common law and asserts that there is no right to resist illegal entry by the police. I didn’t write about that decision because it’s been well written about here, here, and here, all by people much smarter than I am.

Next, the United States Supreme Court decides, 8-1 (!), that the police can basically create their own “exigent circumstances” in order to justify entering anyone’s home without a warrant.

And now, the RIAA is pushing for legislation that would allow warrantless searches of CD and DVD manufacturing plants. Apparently, if the police actually had to go to the trouble of getting a warrant, people making bootleg discs would flush them down the toilet…

The American Civil Liberties Union questioned the constitutionality of the bill but so far has not opposed the measure because it said the bill appeared to be narrowly drawn.

Say what?

The RIAA argued that courts had carved out 4th Amendment exceptions already. So far, it said, warrantless searches have been allowed at such businesses as automobile junkyards and repair shops, mines, gun and liquor stores, nursing homes, massage parlors, pawn shops and wholesale fish dealers.

“wholesale fish dealers”?

 

Posted in Clippings, Law, Stupid | Comments Closed

Obligatory opening day post.

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

This is to note that once again, I’ve bet Lawrence $5 even money that the Cubs will win the World Series this year.

Also, my bet with Lawrence on Gonzaga has been paid.

Posted in Sports, Stupid, Wagers | 1 Comment »

Lawrence linkage.

Friday, March 25th, 2011

I wanted to show my support for a couple of things linked from Lawrence’s sites.

First off is the effort to make the 1847 Walker Colt the official state gun of Texas. Now, I am an unabashed Smith and Wesson fanboy. I am also a member of the First Church of John Moses Browning, Reformed. (“There is no God but JMB, and Colonel Cooper is his prophet.”) I believe thou shalt honor the 1911, and keep it holy. All of those things said, the Walker Colt is a significant gun in history (and especially in Texas history), predates both the 1911 and S&W, and (if Colonel Cooper’s Guns of the Old West and other sources can be believed) packs one heck of a thump; the Walker Colt was that era’s equivalent of the .44 Magnum. Further, the Uberti Walker Colt replicas look really nice.

In short, I fully support this idea. It makes more sense to me than making the armadillo the state mammal.

Secondly, I also want to throw my support behind Lawrence’s efforts to <mess> up the toenail fungus spammer’s business. I have not gotten hit by the toenail fungus spammers yet, but anything that messes up a spammer’s life is okay with me. So remember, folks: soak your toes in vinegar to kill toenail fungus. Don’t buy expensive crap from spamming scumbags.

Speaking of spamming scumbags, in case anyone was curious, the city commission election in Lawrence, Kansas, doesn’t take place until April 5th, so I won’t have an update on how spamming scumbag Sven Alstrom did until April 6th.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Stupid | Comments Closed

Miscellaneous stuff.

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

I’ve had a couple of people ask me if I’ll be covering various topics. Short answer: probably not, if you haven’t seen it here. Longer answers:

Posted in Books, Clippings, GPS, Guns, Stupid | Comments Closed

Public service announcement.

Monday, February 7th, 2011

The Texas Department of Transportation is doing some work this weekend at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Ben White Boulevard (aka Texas 71). Specifically, they’ll be working on some new flyovers in that area. I would embed a Google Maps image here, but apparently WordPress 3.0.4 has a bug with embedding iFrames. You can try clicking here.

Anyway, what does this mean to you, Al Franken? TXDOT is closing the entire freeway from “late Friday evening to early Monday morning”. Yes, you read that right, the entire freeway. They’re diverting traffic onto the access road:

The frontage road traffic lights at Ben White (Texas 71) will be on permanent green during the 50-hour plus diversion, meaning that the regular I-35 traffic will be able to move on through without stopping. But given that I-35 has three northbound lanes and three southound lanes in this section, there will be 33 percent less capacity for about a mile and all of those cars will have to exit and then re-enter the main lanes.

If I lived in the area, I’d stock up on popcorn. This is going to be better than the zoo and the circus combined. As for the rest of us, I think staying far away from I-35 for the duration is the best course of action.

Posted in Bridges, Clippings, Roads, Stupid | 2 Comments »

Important safety tip. (#2 in a series)

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

A gun is a gun. It is designed to shoot things.

A gun is not an all purpose tool. A gun is not a club. A gun is not a prybar. A gun is not a bottle opener (the Galil aside). A gun is not a tool for breaking out windows.

Bad things can happen when you use your gun for things other than shooting. For example, if you use your gun to club someone (no matter how deserving) you may mar the finish. Blood does awful things to a gun’s finish, especially the beautiful bluing on older Smith and Wesson revolvers.

Hitting things with your gun can also bend parts. Then your gun won’t go off when you need for it to go off. As the great Peter Hathaway Capstick once said, “The most terrifying sound in nature is not the roar of a charging lion, nor the whistle of a descending bomb; rather it is a click when you expect a bang.”

But the worst thing that can happen is that your gun might go off when you don’t want to go off. (I’d almost be willing to argue with Capstick that the sound of a “bang” when you expect a “click” is even more terrifying. However, I haven’t spent much of my life hunting lion and elephant in Africa, more’s the pity.) For example, when you’re breaking out a car window.

An Humble police officer had apprehended two fleeing car burglary suspects in a stolen truck. One of the suspects, whose identity has not been released, was accidentally shot to death by the police officer, who used his duty weapon to break the passenger window of the stolen truck, Humble police said.

Bad move, space cadet. (Edited to add: Just to make it clear for my readers outside Texas, “Humble” in this case is a city near-ish to Houston, not a description of the police officer.)

But two police tactical experts said the action taken by the Humble police officer is not common practice and is not taught in police academies.

“I’d hate to be in his pants right now,” said retired Houston police Sgt. Frank C. Miller, who taught tactical procedures to Houston Police Department narcotics officers for more than 20 years.

“From a tactical standpoint, it was very risky. Good arrest, shaky tactic — but, you know, they pulled it off. But the (suspect) died, unfortunately. Those things happen. (The suspect) was the bad guy — I don’t feel sorry for him.”

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Guns, Law, Safety, Stupid | 3 Comments »

We are amused.

Monday, January 24th, 2011

By this story in the LAT about the arrest of rapper “40 Glocc” (sp?).

Specifically, we are amused by:

  • the name “40 Glocc” (which, Lawrence points out, is both distinctive and not subject to trademark infringement suits).
  • Mr. “Glocc”‘s arrest (his real name appears to be Lawrence White) on weapons charges.
  • the fact that he was arrested carrying a 9mm handgun and not a .40 S&W. The LAT does not specify if it was, at least, a Glock.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Guns, Law, Stupid | Comments Closed

From the APD blotter.

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

This happened Friday night, but we’re only just now hearing about it:

Police arrested two men on Sixth Street for DWI. One was riding a horse; the other one was riding a mule.

(Statesman link includes dashcam video.)

It appears that the DWI charge against the horse rider have been dropped, but police are going forward with the DWI charge against the guy on the mule. In addition,

police plan to charge both men with another crime now: public intoxication, an offense for which they face up to a $500 fine.

(The horse and mule are apparently being held at an animal hospital in Elgin; ownership of the two animals has not been established.)

Posted in Clippings, Horses, Law, Stupid | 1 Comment »

Kubiak watch: December 29, 2010.

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

John McClain takes a break from defeating Hans Gruber and his minions to let us know:

If McNair believes he can win with Kubiak, he should keep him. If he’s right, fans will turn out. If McNair doesn’t think he can win with Kubiak, he must have a plan in place and move forward with a vengeance.

That post is timestamped at 12:10 AM this morning. This is the kind of brilliant analysis that passes for sportswriting at a major daily newspaper.

At 12:31 PM, McClain (having finished with Gruber and his minions) tells us:

The more I think about it — and the more people I talk to — the more I’m convinced McNair is going to announce early next week that Kubiak will return.

Meanwhile, Pro Football Talk is repeating speculation that Kubiak will stay, but the Texans will hire…Wade Phillips?! as a defensive coordinator.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so let me just put one here:

And the owner of FireGaryKubiak.com is taking the site down “due to unrelenting hate mail and threats”. I didn’t think Gary Kubiak had that big a family.

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Sports, Stupid | Comments Closed

Kubiak watch (and other stupid norts spews).

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

One HouChron writer says “Fire him now; don’t let him coach the final game.”

Another HouChron writer says “Firing him now is pointless.”

Meanwhile, the fans are restless and organizing a “Fire Kubiak” rally for Sunday.

And in today’s bulletin from a failing chain of restaurants desperately crying out for relevance, T.G.I. Friday’s is apparently lobbying to have their particular style of bartending (which has a name that I will not dignify by giving it here) made an Olympic sport.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, NFL, Stupid | Comments Closed

Such, such are the joys…

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Megan McArdle, my favorite Certified NetWare Engineer, has discovered the fun of  a game our circle of friends often plays: mocking silly stereo equipment on Amazon, and reading the reviews of same.

“I haven’t laughed so hard since I saw The Room.” Hmmm. We need to discuss scheduling that for a movie night sometime soon.

Posted in Clippings, Movies, Stupid | 1 Comment »

Today in journalism fraud.

Friday, December 10th, 2010

The Onion A.V. Club published a review of Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth as part of their “Comics Panel” feature.

There’s just one tiny little problem: the book hasn’t been published yet. (Amazon shows it as scheduled for July 12, 2011.)

The A.V. Club actually handled this in a pretty classy way; a public apology, and the unnamed writer has apparently been fired.

(Hattip: Jimbo.)

This reminds me of something else I’ve been meaning to link: “Regret the Error”‘s 2010 year in review. Guess who’s number one on their list?

(I wish I could link directly to the “apology of the year”, but instead I’ll link to this.)

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Stupid | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »