LAT headline (as of 10:30 AM 2/16): “Whitney Houston’s private funeral will be streamed live on Internet”.
Archive for February, 2012
I know those words, but that sign makes no sense.
Thursday, February 16th, 2012APD update.
Thursday, February 16th, 2012- The Scott Henson incident (previously) gets coverage from the Statesman.
That’s interesting. To me, he was making it more of a “why did it take 9 APD officers to sort this out, especially given my previous interaction with a deputy constable?” thing. But that’s just me.
- APD also fired two more officers, and suspended two supervisors.
Michelle Gish was fired for punching a woman (who was restrained on a gurney) for spitting on her. Jose Robledo was suspended for giving “false and inaccurate statements during the investigation” of the same incident. Sgt. Mark Breckenridge was suspended for 20 days for failing to “adequately investigate the use of force” in the same incident, and Cpl. Steve Jones was suspended for 10 days “because he witnessed the incident but did not submit his report about it until told to do so by a superior, and he approved reports related to the incident that were inaccurate or incomplete”.
Gish and Robledo can appeal. I have seen reports elsewhere indicating that Breckenridge can’t, because suspensions over 15 days require the agreement of both the officer and the city. I’m not sure about Jones and his ability to appeal.
Annals of Law (part one of a continuing series)
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012Gerhard Albert Becker has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The charge against him is the result of a fire in January of last year that killed Glenn Allen, a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Allen was killed, and several other firefighters injured, in a ceiling collapse while they were fighting a fire in what the LAT describes as a “Hollywood Hills mansion”.
Okay. So why is this odd? Well, Becker isn’t the homeowner. Becker isn’t an arsonist. He didn’t start the fire. But it had not always been burning since the world’s been turning: the home had recently been rebuilt.
No, Becker is the architect who designed the home. I’ve never heard of a case where an architect has been charged as a result of a fire death. But when you read the article…
Wow. That’s…interesting. In the “tragedy waiting to happen” sort of way. More:
I’m not familiar with LA building codes. Is plastic pipe considered acceptable for sprinkler systems?
(The comments on this story are interesting as well. Apparently, the home was given a certificate of occupancy. Doesn’t that imply an inspection by the building department? I can see that they may not have gone into the attic to look at the sprinkler system: you’d expect that, but maybe the inspector was pressed for time? Or lazy? Or that’s not a standard part of inspections? But wouldn’t an 18-foot indoor “fire trough” have made them say something?)
Edited to add: Longer article from the LAT. If the accusations in this article are true (and please keep in mind that this is just the prosecution’s case), they’re damming.
Building inspectors said Becker had told them there were no plans to build fireplaces in the home, and none were spotted during a final inspection. After the fire, investigators discovered that he had installed four outdoor fireplaces inside the home, a violation of city building codes.
…
One of the fireplaces, prosecutors allege, actually vented into the room where it was located. The fireplaces also included combustible materials, like drywall, and lacked required firebreaks to keep flames from spreading out.
Loser update.
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012I rely on Lawrence for my NBA news; it would be possible for me to care less than I currently do about the NBA, but that would also be difficult.
Anyway, when Lawrence isn’t feeding me NBA news, I have to depend on FARK.
And it was from FARK that I learned that the Charlotte Bobcats are heading towards the worst season in NBA history (currently 3-25, for a .107 winning percentage).
Question, though: should we really count this? In general, I don’t give a lot of credit to records set during seasons affected by labor stoppages.
ETA: Anybody remember the 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets? (12-70, .146)
On the DA Front…
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012DA Lykos says she asked the Rangers to investigate, and promised full cooperation.
More on this when we know more. Don’t hold your breath; you’ll just turn an unattractive shade of blue.
Fear of fire, and other random notes for February 15, 2012.
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012I just do not understand this. I get that prisons in other countries are overcrowded and not up to US standards. But I just can’t wrap my mind around that many people dying in a fire in the modern era.
Some stuff from the NYT:
They caught Edward Maher in Missouri last week. Who?
His wife and 3-year-old son had already left for the United States. The money was never found.
Coach Susan Polgar is leaving her championship program at Texas Tech and going to Webster University in St. Louis. Worse for Tech, she’s taking the top ten players on her team with her to Webster’s program.
By the way, Coach Polgar is the chess coach.
The Worm Ouroboros.
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012Reading more of In the Land of Invented Languages
- The page on Esperanto has been partially translated into Lojban.
- The Lojban page has been translated into Esperanto.
- Both the Lojban and Esperanto pages have been translated into Simple English (aka “Basic English“).
- The Volapük page has been translated to Esperanto. However, there is only a very minimal Esperanto page in the Volapük wiki.
- Here’s the Wikipedia list of Wikipedias in “Indo-European-based Constructed languages”. Lojban is apparently considered an “A priori Constructed Language”.
I don’t know why; this just tickles my fancy somehow.
Edited to add: In case you were wondering (and I got to wondering after posting that): there was a Klingon Wikipedia, but it was locked by Jimmy Wales in August of 2005. (A non-locked version exists here.)
Plug plug pluggity plug.
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012New post by my sister over at the Park City Snowmamas site: a review of The Ski House Cookbook
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Two Coffee Travelers for my office: $28.04 with tax.
Receipt: free with purchase.
Sending a clear message to the gun banners: priceless.
There are some things money can’t buy. Like schadenfreude. People have to earn that. And in this case, the gun grabbers have.
This goes out to Mike the Musicologist…
Monday, February 13th, 2012…aka “My one reader who is a Frank Lloyd Wright fan and doesn’t read Balko’s blog“:
Frank Lloyd Wright’s doghouse design.
I wonder how many architects have done doghouses; I know that a few years back, Frank Gehry offered a doghouse design in a benefit auction, but I can’t find out it if was built, or if his design is online anywhere.
Let us enrage you.
Monday, February 13th, 2012- Sunday’s Knoxville News Sentinel ran a long piece on former judge Richard Baumgartner. Baumgartner presided over the high profile cases of Channon Christian/Christopher Newsom and Raynella Dossett Leath. He was also a bad guy: Baumgartner shook down his staff for OxyContin and other painkillers, became involved with a former defendant in his court (and had her procure drugs for him), and apparently engaged in even more misconduct (hidden in sealed TBI files). And Baumgartner’s erratic behavior went on from at least 2007 to 2011. Four years of an addict presiding over criminal trials. (Hattip: Insta.)
- Also by way of Insta:
- And from Balko, for a change-up: the story of Scott Henson, who was stopped and detained by nine Austin Police Department officers while walking his five year old granddaughter home. Henson is white: his granddaugher is black, and they were stopped by the APD immediately after a previous encounter with a deputy constable.
So far, this is outrageous. Of course we only have one side of the story, but does Henson have any reason to lie about this? I hope he pursues this. I hope he forces a full investigation by an external third party, not APD. And if all of this is true, I hope people loose their badges and jobs over this. Including Chief Acevedo.
As a liberatarian…
Monday, February 13th, 2012…I am generally opposed to the use of my tax dollars for things other than the basic functions of government: police, courts, and the military.
However, if the government is going to spend my tax money on other things, I prefer that the government spend it on cool stuff: things that go fast, things that explode, things that go fast and explode, or just simply engineering marvels.
Like the 50,000 ton forging press.
According to Alcoa’s web site, the Fifty is back in service. And they have video (which I can’t watch on my work machine).
I wonder if they offer tours? If not to the general public, to polite bloggers who agree to wear a hard hat and safety goggles, and promise not to put their hands in the press?
(Hattip: TJIC on the Twitter.)