Archive for December 18th, 2012

TMQ Watch: December 18, 2012.

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

For various reasons – some obvious, some that we’re keeping to ourselves – we’re having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit this year. This might help a little bit:

Or possibly not. After the jump, this week’s TMO

(more…)

More obit watch.

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Frank Pastore, former major-league pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds and the Minnesota Twins, later turned talk-show host in LA.

“You guys know I ride a motorcycle, right? At any moment, especially with the idiot people who cross the diamond lane into my lane, without any blinkers – not that I’m angry about it – at any minute, I could be spread all over the 210. But that’s not me, that’s my body parts. And that key distinction undergirds the entire Judeo-Christian worldview,” he said.

Mr. Pastore died as a result of injuries sustained on November 19th, when his motorcycle was struck by another car that swerved into him as he was riding in the car pool lane on the freeway.

Random notes and obit watch: December 18, 2012.

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Remember Pat Lykos, former Harris County DA, unceremoniously tossed from office in this past election cycle? Remember the whole BAT Van scandal? (If you don’t, the “HCDA” category” will provide you with a historical overview.)

Anyway, Amanda Culbertson and Jorge Wong, two of the people who brought up the problems with the BAT Vans, are suing Ms. Lykos, Rachel Palmer (another prosecutor in the DA’s office) and Harris County itself.

Among several allegations, the lawsuit says that officials with the DA’s office retaliated against Culbertson and Wong by lobbying the Harris County Commissioner’s Court to cancel a contract with a local private laboratory, where the two found jobs after leaving HPD.

The NYT informs us that there hasn’t been a big hit book this holiday season. (Apparently, last year’s big hit was Steve Jobs, which surprises me; I would have thought the appeal of that was limited outside of Apple fanatics, and it was not well reviewed by several prominent personalities in that community. But I digress.) However, bookstores are still doing…okay.

Steve Bercu, an owner of BookPeople in Austin, Tex., said sales were up 10 percent over last year. He said that shoppers were buying coffee-table books but were also snapping up Kobo devices. “I was a naysayer,” he said, “but they are buying the actual devices, which surprised me.”

Obit watch: Senator Daniel K. Inouye.

Maurice Herzog, noted French climber.

A dramatic photograph of Herzog waving a French tricolor atop 26,545-foot Annapurna on June 3, 1950, thrilled his countrymen and appeared on front pages around the world. It captured a triumphant moment before a brutal descent, during which Herzog endured frostbite that led to the amputation of all his fingers and toes. (His climbing partner, Louis Lachenal, also lost toes in the climb.)

Herzog died of natural causes at the age of 93.