Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, has passed away at the age of 83.
I was never part of the 6502 based crowd, either as an Apple, Atari, or Commodore owner. (My processor was the 6809.)
But I’m certainly willing to concede that the C-64 was a hugely influential machine, and that Mr. Tramiel is owed a debt of gratitude.
Can a legally dead man be tried, convicted, and sentenced to the death penalty?
If this was a movie with Ashley Judd (perhaps as a sexy public defender), it would probably gross $200 million at least.
Unfortunately, it isn’t.
Thomas Steven Sanders was declared “legally dead” in 1994. His family brought the action, claiming Sanders had abandoned them in 1987.
The thing is, he wasn’t actually dead dead:
Now he’s suspected of killing a 12-year-old girl and her mother. He’s apparently confessed, but his lawyers are trying to get the confession thrown out because Sanders asked for a lawyer first.
One thing is certain: somebody’s going to get a book deal out of this case.
These have been well covered elsewhere, but for the record and since people have emailed me about them:
Mike Luis Rios was arrested on Wednesday and charged with
raping two women, pimping and using his position…to recruit would-be, and sometimes underage, prostitutes.
Mr. Rios was arrested back in February on attempted murder charges. Apparently, there was a fight at a night club, and…
He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of dissuading a witness, according to Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Brusselback, who is prosecuting both cases.
Here’s the punchline: Mr. Rios is a member of the Moreno Valley Board of Education.
Remember Greg Mortenson and the whole “Three Cups of Tea”/”Three Cups of Deceit” controversy? If you don’t, here’s some background.
Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute agreed to a settlement yesterday with the Montana Attorney General. Here’s the entire NYT story.
And here’s the entire LAT story. One paragraph in the NYT, two pages in the LAT. (To be fair, the LAT does bring in some non-CAI related issues, like Kony 2012.)
Summarizing: Mortenson will reimburse $1 million to CAI, CAI’s two remaining board members will leave and a new seven-member board will take over, and Mortenson will no longer be on that board.
The article states that the settlement will “toss Mortenson out of his own charity’, but quotes the “interim executive director” saying:
…that Mortenson would remain a paid employee of the charity but would not serve on the new board.
More parking problems at the Long Center over the weekend.
The notoriously corrupt California city of Vernon is holding city council elections next Tuesday. Hilarity has ensued.
Amen, brother. I don’t get people knocking on my door for elections, thank Ghu, but the phone calls really make me angry.
Worth noting: recent reforms (adopted in an attempt to keep the state from disincorporating Vernon) cut council salaries from $70,000 a year to $25,000 a year, eliminated subsidized rent for council members, and imposed term limits.
My sister has a couple of new posts up at the Park City Snowmamas site:
Worship services at Park City.
And she stages her own version of “The Amazing Race”: snowborders vs. skiers.
I can tell from the pixels, and from having seen a few ‘shops in my time.
And they might have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids bloggers, and:
Edited to add: From the FARK thread, this Photoshop just about made me fall out of my chair laughing. But I’m a sucker for the tiny giraffe commercials.
This is still a developing story, but a (currently unnamed) APD officer was shot and killed early this morning. I expect to have more to say about this as information comes in, but two immediate points:
Edited to add: The deceased officer has been identified as Jaime Padron.
In other news, there was also a fatal officer involved shooting in East Austin last night.
And:
I have a subscription to the digital version of the NYT: partially for blog purposes, partially because I needed access to the archives for my final project in last year’s 20th Century History class. (The NYT offers a reduced rate for educational subscribers.)
When the LAT erected their paywall, I signed up at the initial 99 cent rate. I got a bill from them today at the new $3.99 a week rate. Even for blog purposes, and with no educational discount, I’m not paying $4 a week for the LAT. So I called them to cancel.
After I got to a customer service rep (note that they make it relatively hard to do so) and told her I wanted to cancel, she wanted to know why. I explained that the digital LAT isn’t worth $4/week to me.
At that point, they started playing “Let’s Make A Deal”. The initial offer was $2.99 a week. I turned that down. Then they offered me $1.99/week as their “final offer”. I agreed to that, but now I’m wondering if I could have gotten them down to 99 cents a week.
Point of this story, besides the LAT being willing to slash prices; I’d appreciate it if people would let me know if links to LAT stories don’t come up for you. The NYT, as I understand it, still has the hole in the wall that lets you read stories for free if they come from an external link, but I don’t believe the LAT offers that feature.
Also, talking about the LAT and bargain shopping gives me an excuse to use this picture, which tickles my funny bone:
Nobody beats the Los Angeles Times!
…the headline on this story had me all excited:
Then I clicked through. Apparently they mean something different by a “shotgun”, something involving music and house parties.
Too bad, because I think a shotgun near you is a good idea.
Former New Orleans Police Department Officer Robert Faulcon Jr. was sentenced today to 65 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Officer Faulcon shot Ronald Madison, a mentally handicapped man who was 40 years old, in the back with a shotgun. Faulcon was convicted of six counts of depravation of rights under color of law, three counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Kenneth Bowen was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Bowen jumped out of a rented truck loaded with police officers and fired an “AK-47” at a concrete barrier that people were hiding behind. Bowen was convicted of six counts of depravation of rights under color of law, two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, two counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Robert Gisevius Jr. was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Gisevius was in the same truck, and also jumped out of it and fired a “M-4 rifle”. He also helped cover up the events at the Danziger Bridge. Gisevius was convicted of five counts of depravation of rights under color of law, two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, one counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department officer Anthony Villavaso II was sentenced to 38 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Villavaso was also in the truck, and also jumped out and fired an “AK-47” at unarmed people on the bridge. Villavaso was convicted of five counts of depravation of rights under color of law, two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Arthur Kaufman was sentenced to 6 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Kaufman was not actually involved in the shootings, but was convicted of having “authored several reports and draft reports containing false or fabricated information”; in short, assisting in the cover-up. Kaufman was convicted of four counts of falsification of records in a federal investigation, three counts of giving false statements, two counts of “civil rights conspiracy for false prosecution” (translated into English, I believe that means he tried to have innocent people falsely prosecuted to cover up what really happened), and one count of conspiracy.
(For those who are unfamiliar with the Danziger Bridge incident, one of the sidebars to the linked article is a handy PDF explaining what really happened. The short version is that during Katrina a bunch of trigger-happy NOPD cops shot a bunch of folks on the bridge and then tried to cover it up.)
Excuse me, but antelope are not deer, thank you very much. There’s a reason the lyric is “where the deer and the antelope play”, not “where the deer and the deer play”.
John Motlz, one of the small number of authentic geniuses the Internet has produced (right up there with Kibo, Roger David Carasso, and Jim Treacher), is back with a new website.
You may remember Mr. Moltz from such websites as Crazy Apple Rumors (and I swear some day I am going to visit Tacoma and stay at the Silver Cloud Inn), American Drink (which I don’t visit nearly as often as I should), and the occasional post at In The Line Of Duty.
But what of his new site, you ask? It’s very nice.
…money can only make you so happy. And writing, well, that can make you miserable forever.
Jars of mayonnaise are also banned from carry-on luggage in the U.S.
Thank God for the TSA, protecting us all from the threat of mayonnaise, the vile emulsion.
