Archive for April, 2011

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T.R.F. update.

Friday, April 8th, 2011

We have previously noted the issues at the troubled Thoroughbred Racing Foundation.

The NYT offers a summary of a report by Dr. Stacey Huntington. Dr. Huntington was hired by the TRF to evaluate the horses under the care of the foundation:

…She was supposed to evaluate more than 1,100 horses but was fired by the T.R.F. group’s board last month after finding that many of the horses were malnourished and neglected — some had died — and that the foundation’s education of caretakers and its oversight of their farms were poor.

(Her report is based on evaluating 860 of the horses.) Continuing:

Huntington’s report says that 98 percent of the horses she examined lacked basic care like dental, vaccination, deworming and farrier care, and that 380 had “less than ideal body condition scores,” according to the T.R.F.’s standards.

It looks like these people got trapped by the economy, and by a desire to take care of more horses then they really could (almost like crazy cat ladies, but on a much larger scale). But the NYT also makes it look like the TRF is still in denial that it has problems, while at the same time hoping for someone to bail them out.

Posted in Clippings, Horses | Comments Closed

Fast and bulbous!

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Okay, that title is misleading. The Library of Congress did not pick “Pena” as one of the 25 recordings added to the National Recording Registry this year.

They did, however, pick “The Blimp”.

Here’s a link to the complete list with audio samples.

A few things that jumped out at me:

  • George Crumb’s “Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Dark Land)”. I haven’t heard this recording; the only one I’m even vaguely familiar with is the Kronos Quartet recording.
  • Steely Dan! Yes!
  • I see that the LoC decided to include a work from Blind Willie Johnson, but has once again neglected the work of the great Delta blues musician Narcoleptic Rutabaga Nixon.
  • The story behind Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and his recordings is rather interesting.
  • GOPAC strategy and instructional tapes? Oooooookay…

Posted in Geek, Music | Comments Closed

If not now, Sven?

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

I promised folks an update on the fortunes of spamming scumbag Sven Alstrom in his race for a seat on the Lawrence, Kansas City Commission.

Well, the election was yesterday, and…

…Sven finished fifth in a field of five candidates running for three open seats.

Here’s a breakdown by precinct.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Sven you spamming scumbag.

Posted in Clippings, Politics, Schadenfreude | Comments Closed

Random notes: April 5, 2011.

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

The NYT has discovered the underground trade in “loosies”: sales of loose cigarettes. A “legal” pack, with taxes, goes for $12.50 (thus sayeth the Times); the “loosie” dealer profiled in the article sells loose cigs for 75 cents each, two for a buck, or $8 a pack ($7 if he knows you). And business is good, Mayor Bloomberg.

Tilman Fertitta and the Landry’s chain are trying to purchase McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants. Good luck with that.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Random notes: April 4, 2011.

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Should the Chowchilla school bus kidnappers be paroled?

Sagra Italian Restaurant damaged by fire. The SDC ate there, and, well…we wish the owners the best, even if we can’t say we were wild about the restaurant.

I intended to blog this a few days ago: the latest APD suspension is for 90 days. In this case, the officer in question “was rude to a citizen and initially gave misleading statements to investigators”.

Oh, sure, you laugh at me for picking the Cubs to win it all. But I’ll point out that the Cubs have actually won a game this year, unlike certain other teams (cough cough Houston cough cough) I could name.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Food, Law, Sports | Comments Closed

April 1, 2011.

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Things that have made me laugh today, as of about noon:

EFFector 24.11. “…undergraduate degrees in Facebook Privacy Settings”.

The PLAYMOBIL ™ Apple ™ Store playset.

The new project from His Scalziness. (The prologue is up at Tor’s site.)

The NYT falls for another April Fool’s joke. Popehat has the details.

Paolo Bacigalupi and the bacterial colony formerly known as Peter Watts are collaborating on a new shared world anthology. “‘We expect suicides,’ said Watts. ‘And maybe a Nebula.'”

Updated about 1:30 PM:

“‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ Gains Sentience, Hungers For The Flesh Of the Living“. (Hattip: Pope Scalzi the First.) Mostly because this line had me rolling on the floor:

…not seen since Andrew Lloyd Webber’s disastrous musical comedy version of “The King In Yellow,” which opened a dimensional rift to a world of freakish cat-people who terrorized Broadway for eighteen years, receiving mostly positive reviews.

Posted in Geek, Law | 2 Comments »

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