Because, of course, banning guns on campus served as a deterrent to Whitman killing 16 people (counting his wife and mother, who he stabbed to death).
Not to mention this guy.
Archive for March, 2011
There was a rumor about a tumor…
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011Obit watch: March 23, 2011.
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011The LAT is reporting the death of Elizabeth Taylor.
I suspect there will be more on this subject later.
Edited to add: NYT obit. I was going to speculate on how long they’ve had this one in the can, given Ms. Taylor’s long history of health problems. Then I read the editor’s note at the bottom.
Did you know that “The Last Time I Saw Paris” is in the public domain? Not that I recommend watching it, as it is a very loose and very poor adaptation of Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited”.
Edited to add 2: (Warning! Slideshow!) “The husbands of Elizabeth Taylor” from the HouChron. (Warning! Slideshow!)
More police professionalism.
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011There’s a rather interesting article in today’s NYT about an incident in the town of Massapequa Park, which has a high concentration of active duty and retired police officers in its population.
Basically, the police got a call about a man threatening people with knives.
By the time things were over, the guy with the knives had been shot dead. And an officer with the transit police shot and killed a plainclothes Nassau County police officer.
Also in the NYT, the Miami PD has shot and killed seven people in eight months. All seven were black. All of the officers involved were Hispanic. Some folks have a problem with this.
Not from the NYT: the Fort Worth city council approved a $400,000 settlement with Chad Gibson.
You may not remember Mr. Gibson’s name, but the case got a fair amount of attention at the time. In brief, Fort Worth PD and TABC investigators decided to “inspect” the Rainbow Lounge, which is described as a “gay bar”. Somehow, during the process of “inspection”, Mr. Gibson received a serious head injury.
Edited to add: Okay, I’ll throw this one in, too, since the previous three links were kind of negative. Ten bicyclists riding in Central Park were ticketed on Tuesday morning for exceeding the speed limit. (The cyclists were doing 25 MPH at a time when cars are not allowed on the roads. The posted speed limit for cars is 25 MPH, but bicycles are subject to a lower 15 MPH speed limit.)
The punchline? The police have withdrawn all the tickets and are apologizing in person to city residents.
Edited to add 2: Oh, this is just awesome. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (yes, that’s Joe Arpaio’s outfit) raided a guy’s home and arrested him…for cockfighting.
But that’s not the best part of the story. Would you believe MCSO used a tank in the raid?
But that’s not the best part of the story, either. Would you believe Steven Seagal was along for the raid?
That’s interesting. My understanding was that Seagal was a reserve deputy with the Jefferson Parish sheriff’s department in Louisiana, and “Lawman” was supposed to portray his work with that department. I’m a little unclear as to whether Seagal is still a reserve deputy, since there was some controversy (and the show was suspended for a time) over the lawsuit against Seagal. (That lawsuit has been dropped.) I know “Lawman” has picked up again, but is it not set in Jefferson Parish now? Is Seagal traveling around the country from department to department? Or did he pick up another gig with MCSO? Anybody know? Is anybody willing to admit in public that they watch “Lawman”?
(I’ll confess: Mike the Musicologist recorded a few episodes for me, and a group of us watched the first one. That’s as far as I’ve gone; I haven’t seen any of the second season.)
(Hattip: Say Uncle.)
Academic update, Spring 2011, part 1.
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011I haven’t heard directly from the professor yet, but I just checked the university website, and the grade for my “Introduction to Literary Studies” class is posted.
How did I do?
(Stolen from “Charlie Sheen Quotes as New Yorker Cartoons” which I commend to your attention.)
Anyway, yes, it appears once again I somehow managed to fall into an A, though I look forward to reading the professor’s comments on my final exam.
In other news, I’ve completed the homework assignment my “Applications in Business Programming” professor gave us before Spring Break. Since the assignment was “get a copy of the textbook”, that wasn’t exactly the nuclear rocket brain surgery.
Police professionalism watch.
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011The sprawling metropolis of Tomball, Texas is spending a $40,000 grant from the Department of Justice to purchase…a gyroplane.
It is unclear from the linked article if the pilot will have to strap a colander to his face. It is also unclear what a gyroplane will accomplish that can’t be accomplished by a UAV (which the Houston Police Department actually has some experience with, unlike the gyroplane, which is not in use by any other police department in the United States).
In other news, Chief Art Acevedo has suspended two Austin Police Department officers.
Officer #2 was suspended for “failing to yield to two pedestrians crossing Barton Springs Road in a crosswalk in December”. According to the Statesman, the officer was responding to an emergency call, but did not have his lights and sirens on, and did not actually hit anyone. He was suspended for a day.
What did Officer #1 do? Well, he went out to a call at a local home (at 2:30 AM on New Year’s Eve). While inside the home, it appears he was standing on a table trying to search the attic when the table tipped over and the officer fell.
Unfortunately, the officer had his booger hook on the bang switch of his weapon when he fell, causing it to go off
The officer in question has been suspended for three days. Beyond what is quoted in the article, there is no update on the current medical condition of the officer who was shot in the feet.
Obit watch: March 22, 2011.
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011Blues musician Pinetop Perkins. (NYT.)
Drew Hill, former Houston Oiler.
The carnage begins.
Monday, March 21st, 2011We haven’t even gotten to the Final Four yet, and the firings have already started:
Reports indicate Bruce Pearl is out at Tennessee.
(Link goes to the HouChron, as their AP wire service story seems more comprehensive than the local newspaper’s current reporting.)
I would argue that he deserves to be fired for that yellow jacket and tie combination alone. In this case, it looks like the issue isn’t his sartorial choices, or his record (145-61 over six seasons) but problems with the NCAA and unauthorized bratwurst.
Going off the rails.
Monday, March 21st, 2011We have commented previously on the ridership figures for Capital Metro’s light rail trains (summary: pathetic). We have not been commenting further on this because we have not seen new ridership figures.
At least, not until today, when the Statesman informs us that Capital Metro is worried because…the trains are packed. Ridership in December went down to an average of 639 boardings a day, but started to trend back up in January. For the first ten days of March, the average stands at 2,041, according to the Statesman. (However, the article also notes that that ten day period includes three “special service” days.)
So how did CapMetro pull off this feat?
- Higher gas prices are driving people to rail.
- CapMetro cut prices.
- “…the agency combined two Northwest metro area express bus routes in a single bus route that, for some commuters, was less convenient and had the effect of driving some bus riders to MetroRail.“
Also worth noting:
New and noteworthy.
Sunday, March 20th, 2011We are pleased to note the opening of a new gun shop in the Austin area, Storied Firearms.
The official grand opening isn’t until May 1st, but we happened to swing by yesterday. The management is still gathering stock, but we saw several very nice firearms in stock already. We were also very impressed with the kindness and courtesy of the folks running the place.
We recommend keeping an eye on this place. It shows a great deal of promise, and we expect that it will become a regular stop on our Saturday ramblings.
Zaged when I should have Ziged.
Sunday, March 20th, 2011Once again, Gonzaga lets me down, and once again, I owe Lawrence $5.
Oh, well. There’s always the Cubs.
Creature. Judgement. Butcher.
Friday, March 18th, 2011I generally don’t talk about my work here, but I’m making an exception in this case.
As of today, I am officially a Commvault 9 Certified Engineer (and also a Commvault 9 Certified System Administrator).
This almost certainly means nothing to anyone outside the world of data protection, but hey, it’s kind of a big deal to me.
Also, it gives me an excuse to embed this earworm from the 1980’s.
Random notes: March 18, 2011.
Friday, March 18th, 2011Obit watch: Ferlin Husky.
Shocked, shocked I am:
In other news, I have not been able to find a current execution date for Antoinette Frank.
Keeping with our trend this morning of depressing our readers:
Here is the Charity Navigator page for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. Note the rating.
Raymond Davis update.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011We have previously noted and commented upon the case of Raymond Davis.
By way of various sources, we have learned that Mr. Davis has been released from custody in Pakistan and has left the country. Apparently, this took place after the payment of some sum of money (one source states $2.3 million) to the families of the two men Mr. Davis shot. The United States Government denies payment of any compensation to the families.
Poorly edited NYT article here. Better edited, but less detailed and buried deep in the website LAT article here. WP coverage, which seems to be the best overall, here.
How do you kill a ZunePony?
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011I had not originally planned to comment on this story, figuring that I would leave it up to Mr. ZunePony himself.
However, I was just mucking out the Akismet spam filter, and got to wondering; does this mean an end to the endless Zune/iPod comparison spam? Those of you with WordPress blogs and Akismet know what I’m talking about.
L’update Bell.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011As noted previously, the mayor and much of the city council of Bell lost the recall election.
Ah, but there’s a catch: the city of Bell is losing their shirts on this deal, but they’re looking for audiophiles who need high quality cassette tapes. has to certify the election results. Under ordinary circumstances, that would be a non-issue. But a judge has ordered three of the current city council members to stay at least 100 yards from City Hall, as well as ordering them not to conduct city business. So there’s nobody available to do the certification. The answer: special emergency legislation.
And what of Robert “Ratso” Rizzo? The latest news from his hearing on conflict of interest charges is that, as city administrator, he hired an engineering firm owned by Dennis Tarango to do various environmental studies. Tarango was also the city’s planning director. And, even better, Tarango and Ratso were business partners in a horse-racing venture.
Somebody’s going to get a great true crime book out of this.
Edited to add: Wow. Just wow. Google Books, making it possible to hattip references from the early 1980’s.