Carol Doda has passed away at the age of 78.
For those of you like me who were a little young to remember Ms. Doda, she was an early and influential topless dancer:
Apologies for the lack of pictures to provide historical context, but I am blogging from work…
Edited to add: more from SFGate.
Helmut Schmidt, former chancellor of West Germany.
Allen Toussaint, noted New Orleans musician.
Vito J. Lopez, former New York assemblyman who resigned due to a sexual harassment scandal.
Non-obit, but interesting:
The individual is not named, but is described as a “former lance corporal”.
“Former fugitive fish smuggler pleads guilty, prosecutors say”. Somebody at the LAT was having a bit of fun…
Second day coverage of the Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow trial. Doesn’t seem like much here: one of “Shrimp Boy”‘s confederates claims he ordered a hit, but he never explicitly said anything beyond “take care of this”.
Where do we get such men?
More from the HouChron on the “person of interest” in the Judge Kocurek case.
Highlights:
Mike Thomas out as athletic director at Illinois.
The Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow trial stated yesterday.
My mother was complaining last night that the authorities were being awfully close-mouthed about the shooting of Judge Kocurek. I figured they were playing things close to the vest because the investigation was ongoing.
Well. Well well well. Well.
40 years ago today, 29 sailors died when their freighter sank during a storm on Lake Superior.
I refer, of course, to the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
I’m sorry I didn’t make note of this yesterday, but I was running from sunrise to midnight: first, hanging out with family at WurstFest, then diiner with friends and hanging out watching creepy stuff.
(Seriouly. I like to think I have a high tolerance for creepy, but Island of Lost Souls
Anyway, this is kind of a local story, but it may have broader implications: somebody tried to kill a local judge late Friday night.
The judge in question, Julie Kocurek, is a district judge and is heavily involved with criminal prosecutions:
I’m not saying it was Clark or his buddies that were behind this, but the speculation is that this was some form of retaliation, and not just a robbery gone bad. She was with other people, and:
Judge Kocurek is currently in stable condition, according to reports. We hope she makes a full recovery, and we’ll be watching this story with great interest.
…I suppose technically I did, since it is past midnight in England.
But I hope all of my loyal readers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had a happy Guy Fawkes Day, that all your body parts remained attached, and that you don’t have any more holes in your body than you started the day with.
…the Lions fired everyone.
Okay, technically, they just fired Tom Lewand (team president) and Martin Mayhew (general manager).
Ford said she informed Lions coach Jim Caldwell there would be no changes to the coaching staff.
But:
Yes, we’re back, but we’re still gimped up. Let’s just jump into this week’s TMQ…
Ken Whisenhunt out as head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
The team was 3-20 during his tenure, 2-14 last season, and 1-6 (with six losses in a row) so far this season. They also lost to the Texans on Sunday, which may have been the proverbial straw…
In case anyone was wondering, the hand surgery went about as well as I expected: in that, I lived through it and didn’t die on the table from a bad reaction to the anesthesia or something else. My left hand is still wrapped tightly, but I’m approaching maybe 1 1/3 hand functionality. At this point, I’m off painkillers and it really doesn’t bother me: the itching is more disturbing than anything else.
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I’d managed to avoid breaking any bones or surgery requiring more than a local anesthetic for over 50 years. So much for that record.
I think what bothers me the most was the loss of continuity of consciousness, if that makes any sense. What I mean: one moment, they’re telling me that they’re going to put a sedative in my IV line. Next thing I know, they’re telling me the surgery is over and I’m okay. It just feels…weird, for reasons I can’t articulate. It’s not like going to sleep: it feels more like a gap during which I stopped processing memories. I need to think through this some more.
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I haven’t seen this covered elsewhere yet, and I’d really like to see coverage in someplace I trust more than the WP, but: the FBI is switching back to the 9mm, and away from the .40.
This also means new pistols for the FBI, and that’s going to be a windfall for somebody. It also won’t shock me to see the current administration attempting to use the procurement process to advance their political goals…
Heh.
Blogging may be a little slow for a bit. In particular, TMQ Watch may not go up tomorrow again.
The backstory here is that I managed to hurt myself Saturday afternoon somewhat seriously. There is a backstory to that which I may go into later. Anyway, one ER visit and two doctor visits later, I’m resting more or less comfortably, but typing one-handed. I go in tomorrow for surgery on my left hand; it will be outpatient surgery, but with general anesthesia and a nerve block, so I expect this to be a most-of-the-day affair, and to be pretty messed up for some hours afterwards.
So things will be catch as catch can for a bit. Wish me luck if you feel so inclined.
On the one hand, I am disappointed that I won’t be collecting my $5 from Lawrence.
On the other hand, if the Cubs had won the World Series, we’d be looking at the opening of the seventh seal and global Apocalypse.
So perhaps it is better, after all, that they did lose.
On the third hand, they went a lot further than I honestly thought they would go. Seriously, this was an impressive run.
On the fourth hand, I’ve gotten more than $5 worth of entertainment this year out of the Cubs.
And on the gripping hand, it seems like this is actually a good team. I’ve got high hopes for next year. (And I don’t think I’m the only one: I’ve seen other people projecting that 2016 might just be the Cubs’ year.)