Archive for November, 2016

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Obit watch: November 18, 2016.

Friday, November 18th, 2016

Howard Ruff, author and “conservative” economist.

I had a copy of How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years when I was a boy. The young me thought Ruff made a lot of sense, but I really wasn’t in a position as a lad to take any action on his recommendations. In retrospect, it doesn’t seem like much of what he predicted ever came true, so maybe that was for the better.

I would like to see an objective analysis of how his recommendations performed against the market, but I don’t have the time or data to do that. Maybe someone else will.

Posted in Books, Obits | Comments Closed

Important safety tip (#20 in a series)

Thursday, November 17th, 2016

For the love of God, don’t go swimming in a Yellowstone hot spring.

First of all, it will kill you.

Second of all, those springs are acid, and will dissolve your dead body.

We haven’t had a musical interlude in a while. Let’s fix that. Besides, this is a rather catchy little ditty,

Posted in Music, Safety, Stupid | 2 Comments »

Art (Acevedo), damn it! watch. (#AC of a series)

Thursday, November 17th, 2016

I don’t think this is going to be the last one, but we may be nearing the end.

Austin police Chief Art Acevedo is expected to be named Houston’s police chief, a source told the American-Statesman early Thursday, ending a 9 ½-year tenure that has made him one of Austin’s most visible figures while presiding in a time that ushered both progress and setbacks in relations between law enforcement and the community.

I have reservations, given that this is so far just “a source” said and there’s been no official announcement. Also, if he is taking the Houston job, I may want to continue the Art watch: it isn’t like he’s going to be on the other side of the world…

If this does become official, I’ll throw an update in.

Edited to add: The HouChron is quoting Mayor Adler as making it official.

Appearing comfortable before the cameras when Austin crime made national headlines, he became a national face for Texas’ capital city and in recent years had been mentioned as a candidate to head several other law-enforcement agencies – for the head of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, as a finalist for police chief in Dallas and San Antonio.

Yeah. I had a theory (which was poo-pooed by others) that if Clinton won, he’d be moving to some sort of government position in homeland security. I guess I wasn’t too far off after all.

Edited to add 2: official statement by the Chief. (Hattip: RoadRich.)

Posted in Austin, Cops, Law, Politics | 1 Comment »

Consumer advisory.

Tuesday, November 15th, 2016

Remember The Jerk?

Some of the good folks who read this blog might be interested to know that the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson 4th Edition is available in print and Kindle editions.

My print copy is on the way, but not here yet. The one person who had copies in Tulsa had already sold out of them when we got to his table. And I do plan to order the digital edition, but not right away: I’m not complaining, but the price of the new digital edition is about double what I paid for the digital version of the 3rd Edition, and just slightly under what the 528 page print edition goes for.

(Why both? Because the digital edition is a lot easier to carry around than the phone book sized print version. But sometimes, I just want print.)

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia | Comments Closed

Miles and miles…

Sunday, November 13th, 2016

Trent Miles out as head coach of Georgia State.

2-8 this season, 9-38 overall. The AJC article is worth reading, if you’re curious: apparently Georgia State has only had a football program since 2010, and maybe they really shouldn’t have one at all.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch II: Electric Boogaloo.

Friday, November 11th, 2016

Robert Vaughn. NYT. A/V Club.

That’s a great photo in the NYT. Two beautiful women and a Thompson? Living the dream.

And Lawrence: we should put “Battle Beyond the Stars” on the list.

Posted in 1970s, Movies, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Your NFL loser update: week 10, 2016

Friday, November 11th, 2016

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Cleveland

NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

Philadelphia

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: November 11, 2016.

Friday, November 11th, 2016

Leonard Cohen. NYT. A/V Club to come. LAT. WP.

So much for that Nobel Prize in Literature.

More seriously: I was not one of those people who worshipped Mr. Cohen and his work. But I do like quite a bit of it, some of it in covers by other people (for example, “Closing Time” as covered by the Fairport Convention), some of it on his own. He had that kind of gravelly voice that worked really well for some things.

This is one of my favorite songs, period. Sorry I can’t embed, but that doesn’t seem to work on mobile.

Posted in Music, Obits | 1 Comment »

Not an obit watch.

Thursday, November 10th, 2016

The Leonard Cohen obit will probably go up some time tomorrow. The news is breaking and I want to give it time to settle.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Closed

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#34 in a series)

Thursday, November 10th, 2016

Still on the road (somewhere between Oklahoma City and Tulsa) but I wanted to get this up:

Aaron Schock, a former Illinois  congressman whose Capitol Hill office was decorated in the style of the TV show “Downton Abbey,” and whose six-pack abs landed him on the cover of Men’s Health, was indicted Thursday on charges that he misspent government and campaign money for his personal benefit.

It’s the usual story: the money went to things like seeing da Bears, remodeling, and a 2015 Tahoe. The only thing that really distinguishes it for me is that the crooked Illinois politician (is that redundant?) is a Republican this time.

Posted in Law, Politics | 1 Comment »

Gonna see what them racket boys can do…

Thursday, November 10th, 2016

As much as I gripe about phone blogging, this is amazing technology. I’m currently riding right seat in an Audi somewhere outside of Hamilton, Texas, with Mike the Musicologist at the wheel. As I said previously, I expect to be busy over the next few days, but I wanted to note this story:

Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s administration has seized power in Atlantic City, taking control of the assets and major decision-making in the struggling seaside gambling resort that is half a billion dollars in debt.

…

“This is an example of what this country could turn out to be under Chris Christie and President-Elect Donald Trump, taking away our rights and sovereignty,” said Steve Young, an Atlantic City community activist. “Who do we talk to as residents? What will government look like with the state of New Jersey overpowering the residents? We are headed for some bad times, and your city could be next.”

Hey, I don’t much like Chris Christie (and I think I’ve made that clear) but: “your city could be next”? If your city is half a billion dollars in debt and depending on a dying industry, maybe it should be next.

Posted in Politics | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 9, 2016.

Wednesday, November 9th, 2016

Look, I’m not the person you should be coming to for your day-after analysis. I’m not a political pundit: there are smarter, better people (many of whom don’t work for the mass media) who can give you a more serious take on all this.

I also haven’t had time to figure out what all this means for gun politics, and if it is a net win or loss for the 2nd Amendment. I did see that California’s ballot initiative passed, which didn’t surprise me, but I haven’t been able to find results for other states. I don’t think we’ll see an attempted assault weapons ban, or an attempt to end-run the PLCAA, and I do think we will get a friendly Supreme Court justice. But again, look to other people for their takes, because I haven’t thought this all the way through.

(Edited to add: Looks like background checks passed in Nevada, too.)

(Quick ETA2: According to Weer’d, Bloomberg’s background checks lost in Maine.)

(My big thought right now: “Hmmmm. I think I can wait until National Buy an AK Day to get that AK-47, instead of trying to pick one up this weekend.” This gives me some room to maybe, possibly, pick up something less serious and more fun.)

The first part of this week has been busy, and the remainder is going to be even more so. Posts will be as time and events permit. I notice Cleveland is playing on Thursday night this week, so I’ll try to have the loser update up sometime on Friday.

I’ve been somewhat negligent on TMQ Watch updates, but part of that has been hesitation to write about TMQ and Easterbrook. At this point, it appears Easterbrook has given up on TMQ for 2016, but is hoping to return in 2017, per his Twitter feed.

The reason I’ve been hesitant to write about this is that, also according to some things he’s said on Twitter, Easterbrook has been hospitalized for a while. While we tend to give TMQ a hard time about some things, Gregg Easterbrook is not on our short list of people we wish ill to: we send him our best wishes.

I will be updating the city council/county commissioners/state reps lists, but probably not until the new people take office and have contact information posted. i think it will be January before this happens.

Posted in Admin, Guns, Law, Loser, Politics, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Obit watch: November 7, 2016.

Monday, November 7th, 2016

For the historical record: Janet Reno.

Posted in Law, Obits | 2 Comments »

Your NFL loser update: week 9, 2016

Monday, November 7th, 2016

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Cleveland

Maybe there’s something to be said for the theory that rising baseball fortunes are tied to falling football fortunes and vice versa.

Lawrence suggested that I also do an NBA loser update, now that the season has started. My response: “The season has started?”

Okay, okay. NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

Philadelphia
New Orleans

Also: all gambling debts have been paid, in front of witnesses. There’s even photo documentation, which may be posted later.

Edited to add: Photographic proof.

img_0755-1.jpg

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports, Wagers | Comments Closed

Why not have a drink?

Thursday, November 3rd, 2016

I might have to pick up a bottle of Millard Fillmore United States Brandy, if I find it in a local liquor store.

Granted, it isn’t quite “Look for the smiling face of Archduke Ferdinand on every bottle!”, but history has its own set of charms.

Also by way of the NYT:

The Seelbach is named after the Seelbach Hotel (today the Seelbach Hilton), a storied century-old lodging in downtown Louisville, Ky., that is mentioned briefly in “The Great Gatsby.” Shortly after being put in charge of the hotel’s bar and restaurant operations in 1995, Mr. Seger declared that he had discovered a recipe for a pre-Prohibition cocktail that was once the hotel’s signature drink. He tested it, liked it and put it on the menu.
The news media soon picked up on the tale, and within a few years, the Seelbach cocktail was regarded as a rescued classic. It’s a tantalizing back story, one that has charmed cocktail writers and aficionados for years, and there’s only one thing wrong with it: None of it is true.

Posted in History, Mixology | Comments Closed

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