We give up. As a matter of fact, we surrender.
Okay. That was a cheap trick. Sorry. This week’s TMQ after the jump…
TMQ Watch: October 20, 2015.
October 21st, 2015Obit watch: October 20, 2015.
October 20th, 2015Irwin Schiff, noted tax protester.
Mr. Schiff was serving a 14-year prison sentence when he died.
Pat Woodell, aka “Bobbie Jo Bradley” of “Petticoat Junction”.
Your NFL loser update: week 6, 2015.
October 19th, 2015Another busy weekend. I was running around helping people celebrate their birthdays, driving between Austin and Lakeway, and generally doing stuff that distracted me from the NFL games.
Which is a good thing. I’m not sure if I should be happy that Chicago lost to Detroit, or sad that my dream of another 0-16 season has to be deferred until next year.
At least San Diego and Buffalo both lost. Would that the Browns could have won, but it sounds like that was an exciting game in any case.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
None.
We’ll be back with the loser update next year (perhaps sooner, if anything interesting goes on in the world of basketball) and TMQ Watch tomorrow, maybe, we hope.
Obit watch: October 16, 2015.
October 16th, 2015There’s a really nice obituary in today’s NYT (written by Bruce Weber, one of the paper’s best obit writers) for Sybil Stockdale.
Mrs. Stockdale was the wife of James B. Stockdale. You may remember him as Ross Perot’s vice presidential candidate in 1992. But before that:
During his captivity, Mrs. Stockdale became a leading advocate for the POW/MIA cause. She also worked with the CIA to gather information. This story brings a smile to my face:
Speaking of the CIA and other bits of history, Ken Taylor has also passed away. Mr. Taylor was the Canadian ambassador to Iran during the hostage crisis:
When the U.S. embassy in Tehran was stormed by Islamist students and militants, six American diplomats escaped and found sanctuary in the homes of Taylor and his first secretary John Sheardown. In addition to shielding the Americans from Iranian capture, Taylor also played a crucial role in plotting their escape.
Working with CIA officials and Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, Taylor obtained for the Americans six Canadian passports containing forged Iranian visas that ultimately allowed them to board a flight to Switzerland. He undertook all these covert actions at a high personal risk, as he and his team would have been taken hostage themselves in the case of discovery by the Islamist militants.
Last, but by no means least: “fresh-faced ingénue” of the 1940s, Joan Leslie.
At 9, touring with her sisters, she played Toronto. Their act included her impression of Durante.
One night after the show, her dressing room door opened to reveal a man armed with nothing but criticism. Her Durante was all wrong, he told her. Unbidden, he showed her the right way to do it.
Read the obit for the punchline, if you haven’t already guessed it.
TMQ Watch: October 13, 2015.
October 14th, 2015Late again, we know. Things happen. We were needed.
In this week’s TMQ…
Obit watch: October 14, 2015.
October 14th, 2015I don’t think he ever reached the level of fame Frank Serpico did, but he was part of the same NYPD anti-corruption movement.
Ripped from the headlines!
October 13th, 2015Police affidavit: Shia LaBeouf ‘was a danger to himself and others’
I have no joke here, I just wanted to say this:
Firings watch: October 13, 2015.
October 13th, 2015Steve Spurrier is “retiring” “immediately” as head coach of South Carolina. This may not technically be a “firing”, but his team was 2-4 so far this year, 0-4 in the SEC, and “have lost eight of their past nine SEC games dating to the past season.”
Steve Sarkisian’s indefinite suspension has turned into a firing. Again, this is one of those I’m not getting a lot of pleasure out of: I hope he gets the help he needs.
(Hattip on both of these to Lawrence.)
Your NFL loser update: week 5, 2015.
October 12th, 2015Another jam-packed weekend. A wake, a blogshoot, a gun show, shopping…
Didn’t watch a single minute of a single game (well, I did catch a few seconds of one out of the corner of one eye while we were eating at Denny’s, of all places). But it wasn’t a bad weekend for the loser update.
NFL teams that have a chance of going 0-16:
Detroit
In other news, Randy Edsall was fired on Sunday while I was running around. He was 22-34 at the University of Maryland, and they were 2-4 so far this season.
(Speaking of 2-4 teams, did Charlie Strong save his job this weekend? Discuss.)
This doesn’t exactly count as a firing, and I take no joy in it, but: Steve Sarkisian is on an “indifinite leave of absence” from USC. It sounds like he has a serious problem: I hope he manages to pull himself out of it.
Quotes of the day.
October 9th, 2015There’s not a theme here or anything, just two quotes that tickled me.
Number One:
Looking at the general world situation, I'm thinking about a GoFundMe to buy bulletproof vests for Archdukes. Anybody wanna kick in?
— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) October 7, 2015
Number Two:
I deem it important to direct your attention to Article 2 of the Constitutional Amendments of the United States — “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This you should comply with immediately. Every union should have a rifle club. I strongly advise you to provide every member with the latest improved rifle, which can be obtained from the factory at a nominal price. I entreat you to take action on this important question, so that in two years we can hear the inspiring music of the martial tread of 25,000 armed men in the ranks of labor.
—Ed Boyce, president of the Western Federation of Miners, addressing the 1897 WFM convention.
Obit watch: October 9, 2015.
October 9th, 2015TMQ Watch: October 6, 2015.
October 7th, 2015Yes, we know, we’re late again. We have a worse excuse this time: we put off TMQ Watch so we could go to the Alamo Drafthouse and watch “Sicario”.
It has actually been a big movie week for us: in addition to “Sicario”, we watched “Black Mass” with Lawrence on Saturday. We may have some more thoughts on both later on. (And “The Martian” is on our list. We don’t expect that to vanish from theaters any time soon. Yes, this is relevant to TMQ; see below.)
After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Blog shoot October 10th.
October 7th, 2015I’ve been negligent in announcing this; partly because I figure everyone who reads this blog reads Battleswarm, and partly because it looked like there may be some complications.
Now it looks like the complications have worked themselves out, so: this a general reminder that Lawrence and I are planning a blog shoot at Eagle Peak at 5 PM on Saturday, October 10th. This will be followed by dinner at the Oasis at 7 PM.
More details over at Lawrence’s blog. Contact me here if you have questions.
Your NFL loser update: week 4, 2015.
October 6th, 2015It wasn’t a great weekend for the loser update. Chicago beat Oakland (you had one job, Raiders). New Orleans beat Dallas (we missed that game, but it sounds like it was a thriller). And the Detroit-Seattle game was much closer than we expected. But…
NFL teams that have a chance of going 0-16:
Detroit
In other news: DraftKings and FanDuel may be sleezy? Who’d thunk it?
Number One!
October 5th, 2015Our first firing of the NFL season:
He was 24-28 over those 52 games.
Also, the Washington Nationals have fired their manager, Matt Williams, and their entire coaching staff.
(Loser update tomorrow: have to wait on Detroit.)