(This is taken mostly verbatim from a conversation with Lawrence.)
Emmis Communications owns a bunch of Austin radio stations. Their holdings include KGSR, which specializes in local and Texas music, news talk station KLBJ, and KROX-FM (aka 101X).
The Statesman story is curiously short on details about the host, music store, live music venue, booking agent, and band manager who were involved. A Google search didn’t turn up much more information, but it did turn up a copy of the consent decree.
(Hattip.)
By way of Jimbo, we’ve learned that Vincent A. Musetto has retired after 40 years at the New York Post.
Mr. Musetto was the Post film editor when he retired. But he is most famous for a headline he composed in 1982 1983. That’s right, Mr. Musetto is the man who came up with this:
As noted in the linked article, Mr. Musetto’s personal favorite of his headlines was “Granny Executed in Her Pink Pajamas”.
We wish Mr. Musetto a happy retirement, and all the best in any future endeavors he embarks upon.
Edited to add: P.S.: The happy decapitator, Charles Dingle, is apparently still in prison. Mr. Dingle denies any involvement in the rape/robbery/beheading spree for which he was convicted.
We previously noted the strange legal saga involving the Federal Government and ten 1933 $20 U.S. gold coins.
(Since that time, we have also read Alison Frankel’s Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the World’s Most Valuable Coin
By way of FARK, we have now learned that a Philadelphia jury has found in favor of the Government. Here’s coverage from the WSJ Law Blog, and here’s coverage from the Inky.
As we noted at the time, this seemed like a case that couldn’t be won, given the events of 2002 and the attendant publicity. We are not displeased to see our prediction come true, though we will be sad if the Treasury ends up destroying the coins. At the same time, though, we suspect this is not the end of the story, and that this case will probably end up in front of Dianna Ross and the Supremes. Watch this space for updates.
Edited to add: We wish we had thought of this sooner. Here’s the story from “Coin World”, which appears to have been covering the trial in detail judging from the other links.
In the App Store,
the Apple App Store,
the Lion ships tonight.
(I actually don’t care that much. I’m planning to wait on Lion.1 at least, maybe Lion.2. But Lawrence and I were chatting earlier today and that riff came to me; it’s the kind of thing you only get to use maybe once in a lifetime.)
(This is kind of interesting. Especially for $5.99. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I have downloaded it: this BBC documentary sounds like it could be worthwhile. Download link.)
The Texas Department of Transportation has been building a couple of additional “flyover” connections down south of town; specifically, at the intersection of Loop 1 (also known locally as “MoPac”) and U.S. Highway 290.
Unfortunately, TXDOT contracted with Wiser Construction, a company based in Nevada. (The Statesman says Wiser is based in Las Vegas, but all the business addresses I found for them are in Moapa, which is about 55 miles away according to Google Maps.)
Why is that unfortunate? Because Wiser Construction declared bankruptcy last week and walked off the job, leaving the flyovers uncompleted. (A search of the two Las Vegas newspapers turned up nothing about this bankruptcy.)
Edited to add 7/19: Here’s a link to another Statesman story. If you look at both that story, and the blog post I linked to yesterday, neither one currently contains any mention of bankruptcy. (The Statesman blog post appears to have been revised sometime after my original post.)
However, this story from KUVE still refers to the contractor’s bankruptcy.
By way of our good friend James, we have learned that CNN did a story on Texans purchasing guns to prepare for uncertain economic times. Ordinarily, we probably wouldn’t have said anything about this piece, but the gun shop profiled is Tex-Guns, the official purveyor of fine weapons to WCD.
And the NYT has discovered the Snake Farm on I-35. This is a place that we have not been to yet, but we keep threatening to load up the car and take our nephews there. Perhaps we will arrange that in the next couple of weeks.
Three bedrooms. “Semi-detached”. Conveniently located within walking distance of shopping.
In the interest of honesty, there are some…issues…to keep in mind.
And the prestige of being able to say, “Oh, yes, I’m the new owner of the old JG Ballard place” doesn’t have a price.
I’m avoiding the temptation to make cheap jokes about the French this year, especially after spending much of last winter immersed in the French Revolution.
Instead, here’s a link to what purports to be Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon recipe. I have not tried this, but I would like to: the last time I cooked Beef Bourguignon, I used a recipe from Cooks Illustrated, which is behind a paywall.
Here’s what the site of the Bastille looks like today.
I got to thinking: hey, what’s the French Legation doing today that I’m going to have to miss, being stuck here at work? The answer is: actually, the French Legation is having their Bastille Day observance on Saturday.
Edited to add: By way of Lawrence, Jerry Pournelle on Bastille Day. I think there’s an argument to be made that the significance of the fall of the Bastille has less to do with the actual prisoners and the release of same, and more to do with the fact that the fall of the Bastille put guns and ammunition into the hands of people revolting against a tyrannical government. Indeed, I made that argument to a certain extent last winter, and boy do I wish I could reproduce that discussion here. (Sadly, it is behind the university’s Blackboard system.)
…where they discover the “Mexican Martini“, two, two, two lies in one!
Seriously, the “Mexican Martini” is a decent drink, and Trudy’s isn’t a bad place to eat and drink. But putting a drink in a martini glass doesn’t make it a martini, and using tequila doesn’t make it Mexican.
At his previous job, at the Eastside Showroom, Mr. Bryan refused to make it.
I wonder what Mr. Bryan’s customers who wanted a traditional martini with an olive garnish thought when he said “I don’t carry olives.”
Edited to add: I also wonder what a “Mexican Martini” would be like with an onion instead of an olive. Hmmmm. May have to try that this weekend.
Obit watch: Sherwood Schwartz. I understand he’s going to Heaven, but they’ve scheduled a three-hour tour of Purgatory first…
Kurt Rambis: out as coach of the Timberwolves. Rambis was 32-132 over two seasons.
Sergeant Petry, who was with the 75th Ranger Regiment at the time of his actions, became engaged in a firefight during a raid on an insurgent compound in Paktia. During the course of the firefight, Sgt. Petry was shot through both legs. Another Ranger near Sgt. Petry was hit in his body armor; Sgt. Petry led the other Ranger to a safe position behind a chicken coop and then re-engaged with the enemy.
So how are we doing?
Oakland’s at .424, 39-53, 93.3 projected losses over the 162 game season.
Baltimore’s at .409, 36-52, 95.7 projected losses.
Kansas City: .407, 37-54, 96 projected losses.
Cubs: .402, 37-55, 96.8 projected losses.
And, finally, your Houston Astros: .326, 30-62. If this keeps up, the Astros are on a pace to lose 109 games, which I believe would be a franchise record.
It just happened to come to my attention that today is the anniversary of the Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton duel.
I’m not sure that I knew JPMorgan Chase owned the actual pistols used in the duel. Now that I do know that, I wonder if they have the pistols on exhibit at corporate headquarters, or just locked away in a vault somewhere.
Yes, the site of the duel is in Google Maps.
One of the two reasons I stuck with “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” for as long as I did was that it was just about the only show on television that would be gutsy enough to do an episode based in part on the Burr/Hamilton duel. (The other reason was that I liked D’Onofrio’s acting; at least, before the writers got lazy and resorted to the ever popular tortured Goren effect.)
And, just for grins, as long as we’re talking about Burr/Hamilton references in popular culture…
