Yeah, it doesn’t have vocals, but I find the combination of drums and organ striking. Let’s go old school.
And because that was short, here’s another one. The tempo is a little slower than I’d like, but there’s something about Alyth McCormack’s voice that gets me.
Audrey Geisel, the second (and surviving) wife of Dr. Seuss.
Timothy C. May, noted cypherpunk. I never met Tim May, but I was on the cypherpunks list, and an avid reader of sci.crypt, back during the peak of the movement. It’s a little strange to see someone who is perhaps most famous as a provocateur on mailing lists get an obit in the NYT, but…
I really haven’t been doing a good job of keeping up with APD firings.
It isn’t that I’m in the tank for the police department now that I’m doing the Citizen’s Police Academy stuff: I don’t feel like I am, and updating you on firings and other disciplinary actions is a good way to show that the department takes these things seriously.
The problem is more that I’m busier now, both personally and professionally, than I have been in quite a while. I’m not complaining, but it does cut into my blogging time. Heck, as you can see, I’m having trouble even keeping up with obits.
But: when someone in a command rank at a major metropolitan police department gets fired, I kind of feel like I have to take note of this.
Here’s the story from the Statesman.
Here’s the official memo from the chief.
I’m not going into details here because the story has a lot of salacious elements: if that’s your bag, you’re welcome to read the less detailed Statesman article or the much much more detailed disciplinary memo.
The gentleman in question plans to appeal, and his legal representative accuses the chief of “inserting himself into the private life and figuratively the bed” of the officer. I can sort of maybe see that point: there’s a lot of stuff in the memo about whether his behavior, even if there was consent involved, is a violation of the law.
BUT: it seems pretty clear to me from the memo that the gentleman in question also tried to hide information (left his cell phone at another person’s house, deleted videos) knowing he was under investigation. That’s a huge violation of department policy, and (in my humble opinion) justifies a firing by itself.
Donald Moffat, noted actor.
…
…
“All the Dead Were Strangers“. He also did shots on the good “Hawaii 5-0”, “Mission: Impossible”, and “The Six Million Dollar Man”, among many other TV credits. (Seasonally appropriate: he was “Dr. Chandler” in the horribly misguided adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star” for the 1985 “Twilight Zone”.)
And “President Bennett” in “Clear and Present Danger”.
For the record, since I’m a little behind: Penny Marshall.
Throwaway post instead of content. My five favorite Christmas songs:
Well, it’s official, folks: the “Weekly Standard” has snuffed it.
There is no new TMQ this week, though the Standard’s archives are still available. Quoth Easterbrook on the Twitters:
To answer many many inquiries about TMQ — seems unlikely to find a new home so late in the football season, though, one should never say never. As for next autumn, we’ll see. pic.twitter.com/0KQOjn7fV4
— Gregg Easterbrook (@EasterbrookG) December 18, 2018
We still plan to keep an eye on Easterbrook’s Twitter feed, just in case he shows up someplace else. (Football Outsiders seems like a possibility.) We may also go back and fill in some of the missing entries for this season, time permitting.
In the meantime, please enjoy this classic Easterbrook favorite:
Dave Hakstol fired as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Hakstol, 50, had a 134-101-42 record and a .560 points percentage in three-plus seasons as head coach. Two of his teams made the playoffs, but both were eliminated in the first round.
This year’s team has just a .452 points percentage and one of the NHL’s worst home record (5-7-2).
I was only going to have one. Then a second one got posted. I feel justified in using both of them. Here. We. Go. In both cases, the tweet is the start of a thread.
Ok. So. I've been thinking about how there seems to be problems within the general officer/admiral ranks when it comes to ethics – as in, the violations of ethics, specifically.
And for a long time I've wondered how that happens. Then I took command. Let's talk for a sec.
— Angry Staff Officer (@pptsapper) December 16, 2018
This has a lot to do with stuff I’ve been thinking about recently (because: reasons).
The winter of 1989 was surreal, to say the least. At the beginning of November I had attended a briefing updating our METL (Mission Essential Task List) for worst case scenario, with assurances that Eastern Europe was stable despite what was happening in Hungary and the like.
— Tim Willard (@TWillardAuthor) December 16, 2018
This, on the other hand, is just kind of fun and historical: a first-hand account from a guy who was on duty close to the Berlin Wall when it fell.
(Hattip on both of these to Morlock Publishing.)
Nancy Wilson, noted chanteuse.
Sondra Locke, Academy Award nominated actress and Clint Eastwood’s lover for a period of time (followed by an extended court battle). Apparently, she passed away in early November but it was not widely reported until this week.
Other people I know seem to have a strong negative reaction to her, but I thought she was fine in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (which we watched recently) and “Sudden Impact” (which I need to rewatch). I also remember her being…okay…in “The Gauntlet” for what that was: a fun B-movie action thriller.
So the run off election for city council members is over.
Sabino “Pio” Renteria is going to retain his place in District 3.
Natasha Harper-Madison is the new District 1 council person.
Paige Ellis is the new District 8 council person.
As I’ve said previously, I will be updating the City Council contact page, but it will be after the new members take office and I can get their information: I think that will be early January.
Melvin Dummar, historical footnote, passed away last Sunday at the age of 74.
I’m not sure how many of my readers remember Mr. Dummar and his saga. To summarize: one night in 1967, Mr. Dummar picked up a drifter by the side of the road and gave him a ride. The drifter told him that his name was Howard Hughes. Mr. Dummar forgot about the incident until nine years later, when Mr. Hughes died…
…and a will turned up at the Morman Church headquarters that left 1/16th of the Hughes estate to the church…
…and 1/16th of the estate to Mr. Dummar. (This was about $156 million in 1976 dollars.)
Of course there were legal cases.
But after his fingerprints were found on the envelope, he testified that a stranger had given it to him at his gas station and that he had taken it to the church headquarters.
A jury decided that the will was forged, and while no one was ever officially charged, Mr. Dummar was found guilty in the court of public opinion.
…
Jonathan Demme made what is supposedly a pretty good movie (haven’t seen it yet) out of this story, “Melvin and Howard“.
Thing I didn’t know: there’s a revisionist movement, apparently led by a retired FBI agent, that claims Mr. Dummar’s story was true, and he was cheated out of his rightful inheritance by a vast conspiracy “replete with acts of obstruction of justice, witness intimidation and possible jury tampering.” Yeah. Gonna take some convincing to get me to buy that.
…please put a penny in the old man’s hat.
Or, you know, buy some books. (Yes, most of these links are Amazon links, and yes, I do get a kickback if you buy things through them.)
Books from Lame Excuse Books make fine presents for everyone on your list! Or, at least, every SF fan on your list. And if they are not an SF fan, books from Lame Excuse will make them one! If you sign up for the mailing list now, you’ll get the brand new Lame Excuse Books catalog absolutely free!
Speaking of SF fans on your list, I confess: I have not read these yet. But I backed the Kickstarter, am a big fan of the author himself, and have heard good things about the books, so I’d also suggest you consider Travis J. I. Corcoran’s The Powers of the Earth and Causes of Separation. The Powers of the Earth won the Prometheus Award this year: how could you go wrong with this choice? (Okay, maybe the SF fan on your list isn’t a Libertarian. Yet. Like I said, how could you go wrong?)
Also unread by me, but in my “to read” stack, and another person I like: Amy Alkon’s Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence.
Here are some books I did read, and liked, this year, that don’t pertain to my more esoteric interests. (If that’s your cup of tea, you probably already have the book on Savage rifles: as a matter of fact, you probably bought it when Ian mentioned it was on sale at Amazon.) They didn’t necessarily come out this year (one did, and one was reprinted): these are just a few things I liked, and that I think deserve more attention. I know we’re getting close to Christmas, but many of these books are available in Kindle editions and can be delivered more or less instantly, if your recipient has bought into the Kindle lifestyle.
Under an English Heaven: The Remarkable True Story of the 1969 British Invasion of Anguilla, Donald E. Westlake: I wrote about this back when the book was first re-released, and I finished it not too long after the Amazon shipment arrived. This is every bit as good as I thought it was going to be: definitely more Dortmunder than Parker, but with the added bonus of being 100% true. Wikipedia really doesn’t do justice to the whole bat guano insane story, especially the British involvement in it: even after being repeatedly whacked across the nose with a metaphorical 2×4, the British government still failed to understand that the people of Anguilla didn’t want to be governed by a ruler who threatened to strip the whole island bare and reduce them to “sucking on bones”. Enthusiastically recommended, and not just for Westlake fans.
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, Reverend James Martin, SJ: This was a Half-Price Books discovery. I feel obligated to note here that Rev. Martin is kind of a controversial figure on the Catholic Twitters. Briefly summarizing something that’s more complex, he represents and advocates for a more liberal Church, which puts him crosswise with certain other Catholics who I also respect greatly.
With that said, I thought this was a very good book. It’s not just about being a Jesuit (though there’s a lot of Jesuit history in it), but about applying the Jesuit way of thought and general principles in your daily life, whether you are a Catholic or not. You could be a Zen Buddhist or even an agnostic: Father Martin’s idea is that applying these principles can make you a happier, more spiritually balanced person. This is a book I want to go back to, perhaps next summer when I’m on a break from other activities.
The Geometry of Love: Space, Time, Mystery, and Meaning in an Ordinary Church, Margaret Visser: I loved Visser’s Much Depends on Dinner when I read it (mumble mumble) years ago (and I need to re-read it). I was unaware of this book, though, until TJIC retweeted someone quoting from it (everything comes back to TJIC), so I went out and found a copy on Amazon…
…and I’m delighted I did. Visser’s basic idea is to take a “typical” church (St. Agnes Outside the Walls, in Rome) and show how the design and architecture of the church feeds into the liturgy of the church, how the liturgy of the church feeds into the design and architecture of the church, and how “all the pieces matter”. (Yeah, I know, I’m mixing the sacred with the profane. So shoot me.)
When I was reading this book, there was something on almost every page that was moving or profound or stunning or funny or that I just simply wanted to make a quote of the day over here. This is the kind of book that I want to buy more copies of and give out to people: that’s how strongly I feel about it.
Walking Through Holy Week, Karen May: Disclaimers: Karen May goes to one of the churches I go to, and I got this book for free because of something I was involved in at that church. All of that aside, I thought this was a wonderful guide to the liturgy and meaning of Holy Week. If you’ve ever wondered “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”, this is the book for you. It’s also a book that I plan to re-read during holy week next year.
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler, Ryan North: I backed the Kickstarter for this (it was also the last Kickstarter I backed before I deleted my account) so I got the signed package deal. But you can still get the book from Amazon, or probably from your favorite bookstore.
When I was young, we had a two-volume set around the house called something like “How Things Work” that explained the basics of how everyday objects (like car engines, generators, etc.) worked. North (also the guy behind Dinosaur Comics) seems to be trying to do a similar thing, but not just concentrating on mechanical objects. The book itself is contained in a sort of narrative: basically, it’s intended to be a guide for a stranded time traveler so that they can rebuild civilization from scratch (or near it) to the point where their time machine can be repaired. I found parts of that narrative to be slightly annoying, honestly. But that’s a minor part of the book, and it’s offset by North’s coverage of, basically, how stuff works: everything from brewing beer and distilling alcohol, to designing a Pelton turbine, to “inventing” music and logic.
One of the things I like about North’s book is his concept that there are five foundational “technologies” you need if you want to re-invent civilization: spoken language, written language, a “non-sucky” number system, the scientific method, and a calorie surplus. I haven’t seen things laid out in that way before, and it makes a lot of sense. Language lets you communicate ideas, the scientific method lets you test them, numbers let you do math to implement your ideas, and surplus calories let you sit around and have ideas, instead of trying to scratch survival out of the dirt.
There are also a off-the-wall ideas, like “instead of inventing clocks that work on ships, let’s invent radio!” that I’m not completely sure I agree with, but are interesting to consider. (In fairness, most of these, like the radio idea, are only being relayed by North.)
In a way, it reminds me of James Burke’s “Connections” (which I rewatched a few months ago), except instead of showing how invention proceeds in fits and starts, the idea is to bypass all the fits and starts and speed things right along. If you have a curious and reasonably mature child (there’s some factual material in here about human reproductive biology, so parental advisory), you could do a lot worse than to give them a copy of this book and a flash drive with all the episodes of “Connections” on it for Christmas.
If anybody else has any recommendations, please feel free to leave them in comments. Even if you’re plugging your own book: go ahead and do it, just don’t be obnoxious about it.
Helen Klaben Kahn passed away on December 2nd. She was 79.
I know, I know, but I’m a sucker for a good survival story.
Ms. Klaben (at the time) was a young woman and had been kicking around Alaska for a few months. She wanted to visit Asia, so she hopped on board a single engine aircraft piloted by Ralph Flores. (She was planning to make her was to San Francisco, and to Asia from there.) On February 4, 1963, they took off from Whitehorse heading for Fort Saint John.
Unfortunately, the weather was bad, and Mr. Flores was not an instrument rated pilot. They ended up crashing into the side of a mountain near the border between the Yukon and British Columbia. But: they survived the crash.
Ms. Klaben and Mr. Flores crashed in terrain that was waist-deep in snow, with temperatures as numbing as 48 degrees below zero. Without wilderness survival training, Mr. Flores adapted nonetheless. He wrapped Ms. Klaben’s injured foot in her sweaters, covered the openings of the cabin with tarpaulins and tried, without success, to fix their radio to send out a distress signal and build rabbit traps.
What little food Ms. Klaben and Mr. Flores had brought on board — a few cans of sardines, tuna fish, fruit salad and a box of Saltine crackers — was rationed and gone within 10 days. They drank water, some of it filtered through shreds of one of her dresses and boiled in an empty oil can. They ate bits of toothpaste that they squeezed from a half-filled tube — and virtually nothing else, they said.
They survived for 49 days before finally being rescued.
…
The appetite for adventure that she nourished as a child did not leave after the crash. Mrs. Kahn, as she became known, had no fear of flying and no nightmares and traveled widely with her family to Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.
“We’d travel with her from one European city to the next, meeting kids from other countries,” her son, Dr. Kahn, said in a telephone interview. “She was a global citizen, whether we were in fancy places or campsites.”
She also taught survival skills to the Girl Scouts, schools and other groups.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of TMQ with those NFL blues again…
After the jump, this week’s (possibly last?) TMQ…
Reggie McKenzie done as general manager of the Oakland Raiders.
Surprisingly, this week’s TMQ does not contain an item in which Gregg Easterbrook complains that McKenzie was a scapegoat for Jon Gruden’s failings as manager. (TMQ Watch will probably be up tonight.)