It is well established that I’m not a baseball fan, and I’m especially not a Yankees fan, but this is just horrible and depressing. I’m sorry for his family and their loss.
Obit watch: July 29, 2011.
July 29th, 2011Speaking of D-U-M-B, dumb…
July 28th, 2011You know, if you run a restaurant, it only makes sense to buy your food – things like meat – from respected restaurant suppliers, such as Texas Meat Purveyors (not the bluegrass band, the restaurant supply house). I’m not saying you have to purchase your meat from them specifically, but you should at least purchase your meat from someone with a license and reputation, not from sketchy people on the street.
I know, I know, this is obvious, why do I feel compelled to say this? Some folks didn’t get the memo, that’s why.
The APD conducted a sting operation today that resulted in five arrests, warrants for two more arrests, and the closure of three restaurants. (The article says six arrests, but I only count five names on their list. Likewise, it states three people are at large, but names only two. Edited to add 7/29/2011: the Statesman updated the article late last night with the correct numbers.) It appears that a ring of folks were stealing meat from HEB…
The restaurants had their health permits revoked, and
The three restaurants in question are:
- La Morenita, which I don’t believe we’ve (that is, the SDC) ever been to.
- Willie’s Bar-B-Que, ditto.
- and Sam’s Bar-B-Cue. Sam’s is a local legend; supposedly, it was the late Stevie Ray Vaughn’s favorite barbecue joint. I didn’t much care for it the one time we went. But hey, what do I know?
It’s kind of interesting to see that, of the seven people named, three have the first name of “Willie”. Do you have to change your name to “Willie” to work at a barbecue joint in this town? (Only two of them work for Willie’s Bar-B-Que: Willie Joe Showels and Willie Joe Showels III. Yes, I do wonder about Willie Joe Showels II. The third Willie, Willie Don Mays, worked for Sam’s.)
Don’t let the Baddour hit you on the way out.
July 28th, 2011In addition to the Butch Davis firing, UNC has also lost Dick Baddour, who resigned his position as athletic director, but will apparently stay on for the next year to “help with the ongoing NCAA investigation into the football program”.
The single dumbest song ever written.
July 28th, 2011Bruce Cockburn’s “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”, which can best be summarized as “I want peace and justice, and I’m willing to blow people up with a rocket launcher to get it.”
So what brings this to mind?
Here’s a (warning! Slideshow!) “gallery” (warning! Slideshow!) of the seized weapons, which include “numerous firearms, including shotguns, semi-automatic shotguns, rifles, handguns and even a rocket launcher.” Oh, my, shotguns and semi-automatic shotguns!
It looks to me like the cops seized a slightly beat up Browning A-5, and I can’t tell for sure what all else. It looks like there’s at least one older double gun in there as well, and maybe one or two revolvers on that pistol rug. (These are, frankly, really crappy photos. Thanks, Chron.)
The photo of the “rocket launcher'” isn’t half-bad, though. Several of the Chron commenters speculate that the “rocket launcher” in question is actually a spent or demilled LAWS launcher, of the sort you can easily find on the surplus market. I don’t have enough experience to be sure about that; if any of my readers know for sure, please leave me a comment or drop me a line.
(Feel free to comment or drop me a line as well if you dispute my “dumbest song ever” statement, but please be prepared to discuss your own personal choice for “dumbest song ever”.)
For what it may be worth.
July 28th, 2011I’m not sure that this qualifies as a “sports firing”, but Bob Bradley is out as head coach of the U.S. men’s soccer team.
Time for a Spinal Tap reference.
July 28th, 2011Of course, it is always time for a Spinal Tap reference, but this one is particularly appropriate.
From the This is Spinal Tap: Official Companion
It is said to be the only album to have achieved gold status in sales and then platinum status in returns.
You’re probably asking yourself, “Why is this in particular an appropriate reference?” No reason, no reason at all, really, except this one:
(Hat tip: the Grubes.)
Then it fell over, burned, and sank into the swamp.
July 28th, 2011Back in November of last year, we made note of the grand opening of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Mississippi.
So how’s the museum doing? The NYT tells us: not so great. As in “almost out of cash” not so great. Major problems:
- Insurance, “which is exceptionally expensive for a building that houses irreplaceable art just yards from the Gulf of Mexico”. Gee, that sounds like a problem someone should have thought about.
- Climate control. “Simply trying to keep the galleries below 30 percent humidity to protect art in a climate where the humidity can reach 90 percent costs thousands of dollars every month.” Ditto.
- The museum apparently isn’t getting the level of “support” (that is, money) from the city that they expected. The city says, in so many words, “We don’t have any extra money to give to the museum. We’re broke.”
- The cost of building the museum went from $15 million to $45 million. You know, when it went up to, say, about $20 million from $15 million, I think I would have said, “Whoa! Let’s scale back a little here.”
- Oddly enough, it seems that there just aren’t that many people interested in visiting a museum mostly devoted to the work of “the self-described ‘mad potter of Biloxi’ who died in 1918 and is regarded as a forerunner of the American modern art movement.”
Two Years Before the Blog.
July 28th, 2011Today is the second anniversary of Whipped Cream Difficulties.
You would think that, by now, I would have worked out the whipped cream issues. Sadly, no. The problem is more complex than you might think.
Seriously, though, I’d like to thank everyone who’s made this web log the small success it is. The last time I tried to list everyone, I failed miserably. This time, I’m not even going to try; you guys know who you are, and I’ve thanked many of you privately.
Here’s to another few years of blogging before the heat death of the universe, and here’s to whipped cream and other delights.
Nice going there, Butch.
July 28th, 2011Today in journalism fraud.
July 27th, 2011I missed this last week: the Seattle Weekly published a story by freelance writer Rick Swart, alleging that crime writer Ann Rule misrepresented facts in her book Heart Full of Lies: A True Story of Desire and Death
Yeah. Well, I’m glad that story didn’t come to my attention until today, because it turns out things are more complicated than that. To start with, Rick Swart is engaged to Liysa Northon, the woman at the center of the case. (Ms. Northon was convicted of killing her husband, Chris Northon. Ms. Northon pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter, and received a 12-year sentence.)
Not only did Mr. Swart not divulge this relationship to the editors of the Seattle Weekly, he argues that he wasn’t under any obligation to.
What makes this particularly offensive is that Mr. Swart is an experienced journalist; you would expect both that he would know better, and that he wouldn’t have this kind of arrogant attitude. Apparently not.
(Hat tip on this to The Rap Sheet.)
Noted.
July 27th, 2011I saw magazines for these a couple of weeks ago, while I was out shopping, and said to myself, “Hmmmm. I didn’t realize there was such a thing.”
But it does explain why H&K was suing GSG.
The H&K MP5 A5 and MP5 SD in .22 LR.
Since I haven’t seen one for sale yet, I can’t comment on the price (and I didn’t notice what the magazines were going for). But I expect them to be more expensive than the GSG guns, because you suck and H&K hates you.
All apologies.
July 27th, 2011I feel bad about this, especially since some folks like South Texas Pistolero apparently think I’m worth reading. (Thank you, sir.) But there’s just not a lot going on right now that’s worth blogging about. I blame the heat. And the vertical integration of the broiler industry.
I guess I could point to yet another reason to carry your damn guns, people!
Or yet another example of the police being indistinguishable from armed thugs.
Or I could put up a nifty photo of myself in one of Sean Sorrentino’s “Project Gunwalker” shirts, which he’s reopened orders for (and which you can now get with a pocket, even) but I haven’t picked up mine from the PO Box yet.
I could also ask what kind of fascist country we’re living in, when a judge expresses doubts about the credibility of an accused murderer.
I suppose I could also ask if it’s actually legal for mariachi bands to collude over the fees they charge; doesn’t that strike folks as being a violation of anti-trust law?
I’ve got a post I’m working on about the egg roll problem, but I’m still doing research on that.
The good news is, we’re only a week away from DEFCON 19, which I do plan on blogging. In that vein, if anyone has recommendations for places to eat in Las Vegas, please drop me an email or leave them in the comments. A trip to Lotus of Siam is required, of course, but I’m looking for something to eat on the other four nights I’ll be there.
Edited to add: Hey, while I’m thinking of it, I do want to point folks to this discussion at Battleswarm. I haven’t had a lot to say about Breivik, mostly because other smarter bloggers are saying it all. But for some reason I’m awfully darn curious about his weaponry; I think maybe because the gun in that photo is so blinged up I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that it’s identical to the ones carried by Food Court Team Six.
Your City of Bell update.
July 26th, 2011- Robert “Ratso” Rizzo won’t be having the city pay his legal costs.
- The interim city administrator has resigned.
(I know the linked article makes it sound like his contract expired. But this article calls it a resignation, and includes his resignation letter.)
You know what Mexico needs?
July 26th, 2011(This is taken mostly verbatim from a conversation with Lawrence.)
- Law and order
- Paved roads
- A lack of a drug war
- Better sushi
- Big-budget movies with lots of special effects
- A better economy
- Crime writers
- Crime writers who haven’t been executed by cartels
- A gun in every home
- Stronger gun control…in the prisons.