Achievement unlocked: blogmeet.

April 14th, 2011

The staff of WCD met up with the legendary Borepatch, along with bloggers Josh and Matthew, last night at Green Mesquite BBQ.

Borepatch his ownself notes the irony of us using Al Gore’s Internets to plan this meetup, since we spent much of our dinner discussing ways to smash the state (along with how to fix the educational system, where we could go shooting, downtown apartments, SF books, and a whole bunch of other random crap).

We are encouraged by Borepatch’s suggestion that we might be doing this again next time he’s out, and are hopeful that we can get at least a couple of other folks to join us. The honorable Borepatch is a charming and gregarious dining companion; dinner with him is indeed a treat. (Edited to add: We just realized that might be read as slighting Josh and Matthew, so let us make it clear that they’re pretty good guys, too.)

Posted in Admin, Beef, Books, Food | 4 Comments »

Living looking straight ahead.

April 13th, 2011

I generally don’t like to blog two articles in a row from the same source, but this is too interesting for me to pass on.

The WP also has an article about Tomohiro Narita, who runs a motorcycle shop in Toyko. Narita-san is from Sendai.

…his Tokyo motorcycle business has taken a back seat to full-time relief work for the devastated communities 200 miles north.

Here’s what I find most interesting, though:

…Narita’s relief effort, dubbed “The Underground,” fills an unusual niche. Organized through motorcycle clubs, tattoo parlors and biker bars, it appeals to anarchists, outcasts, people who don’t trust the government’s efforts and who don’t donate to the Red Cross. In the past month, the group has sent $250,000 worth of food, supplies and gasoline to disaster-stricken areas.

The one frustrating thing about this article is the WP doesn’t give any contact information for Narita-san and “The Underground”. I know some of my readers are also motorcycle riders; if there’s a way to get donations directly to this organization from the United States, I would be delighted to hear about it.

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

Corruption and cronyism? In Louisiana?

April 13th, 2011

According to the WP and ProPublica, lots of folks are getting rich off of BP money.

Unfortunately, it seems like many of those folks were, well…

…documents show that companies with ties to parish insiders got lucrative contracts and then charged BP for every possible expense. The prime cleanup company submitted bills with little or no documentation. A subcontractor billed BP $15,400 per month to rent a generator that usually cost $1,500 a month. Another company charged BP more than a $1 million a month for land it had been renting for less than $1,700 a month. Assignments for individual fishermen also fell under the control of political leaders.

More:

Some of the money also went to overtime pay for more than 40 parish employees, including three who claimed overtime for picking up dog food for the animal shelter. St. Bernard’s homeland security director, David Dysart, a salaried employee, got almost $23,000 for working 497 hours of overtime in less than seven weeks, a fact first reported by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Dysart did not respond to a query about his overtime.

This is my shocked face:

Shocked face.

Posted in Clippings, Politics | Comments Closed

Random notes: April 13, 2011.

April 13th, 2011

The Dallas Stars have fired Marc Crawford. I think I speak for many of my readers when I say “People still play hockey? That’s a thing?”

How much credence should you put in Restaurant magazine’s annual list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants?

The California Legislature is considering revoking the city charter of Vernon, a notoriously corrupt city in L.A. County. But business owners are worried…

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Food, Politics, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 12, 2011.

April 12th, 2011

Pierre Celis, of Celis Brewery fame. Celis made some swell beers back in the 90’s.

There’s an old saying, “In heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here.”

I think this is wrong, and I think Mr. Celis is sitting on God’s right hand, trying out Heaven’s own homebrew.

Posted in Clippings, Mixology, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 11, 2011.

April 11th, 2011

I wanted to note the passing of Sidney Lumet.

There have been some surprisingly good discussions of Lumet’s career at both FARK and the Onion A/V Club. I don’t have much to add to those, but I did want to link to one of my favorite moments in a movie; a movie directed by Lumet, of course. Those who know me well, or pay attention to my blog taglines, probably already know which moment that is. But there’s more to it than just Howard Beale yelling “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Note how this opens, with the disheveled crazed prophet walking through the rain.

“…all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.'” How many of us think that?

“You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!'”

“Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!.”

Much of this is, of course, also attributable to Paddy Chayefsky’s script, and Peter Finch’s acting. But I suspect this would have failed and come off as strident or ridiculous in the hands of a lesser director.

Posted in Clippings, Movies, Obits | Comments Closed

Noted without comment.

April 8th, 2011

101 Nook Color Tips, Tricks, and Hacks: The Unofficial Guide to Getting the Most Out of the Newest Nook eReader By William Percy.

Link goes to the Kindle edition.

Posted in Kindleing | Comments Closed

T.R.F. update.

April 8th, 2011

We have previously noted the issues at the troubled Thoroughbred Racing Foundation.

The NYT offers a summary of a report by Dr. Stacey Huntington. Dr. Huntington was hired by the TRF to evaluate the horses under the care of the foundation:

…She was supposed to evaluate more than 1,100 horses but was fired by the T.R.F. group’s board last month after finding that many of the horses were malnourished and neglected — some had died — and that the foundation’s education of caretakers and its oversight of their farms were poor.

(Her report is based on evaluating 860 of the horses.) Continuing:

Huntington’s report says that 98 percent of the horses she examined lacked basic care like dental, vaccination, deworming and farrier care, and that 380 had “less than ideal body condition scores,” according to the T.R.F.’s standards.

It looks like these people got trapped by the economy, and by a desire to take care of more horses then they really could (almost like crazy cat ladies, but on a much larger scale). But the NYT also makes it look like the TRF is still in denial that it has problems, while at the same time hoping for someone to bail them out.

Posted in Clippings, Horses | Comments Closed

Fast and bulbous!

April 6th, 2011

Okay, that title is misleading. The Library of Congress did not pick “Pena” as one of the 25 recordings added to the National Recording Registry this year.

They did, however, pick “The Blimp”.

Here’s a link to the complete list with audio samples.

A few things that jumped out at me:

  • George Crumb’s “Black Angels (Thirteen Images from the Dark Land)”. I haven’t heard this recording; the only one I’m even vaguely familiar with is the Kronos Quartet recording.
  • Steely Dan! Yes!
  • I see that the LoC decided to include a work from Blind Willie Johnson, but has once again neglected the work of the great Delta blues musician Narcoleptic Rutabaga Nixon.
  • The story behind Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and his recordings is rather interesting.
  • GOPAC strategy and instructional tapes? Oooooookay…

Posted in Geek, Music | Comments Closed

If not now, Sven?

April 6th, 2011

I promised folks an update on the fortunes of spamming scumbag Sven Alstrom in his race for a seat on the Lawrence, Kansas City Commission.

Well, the election was yesterday, and…

…Sven finished fifth in a field of five candidates running for three open seats.

Here’s a breakdown by precinct.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Sven you spamming scumbag.

Posted in Clippings, Politics, Schadenfreude | Comments Closed

Random notes: April 5, 2011.

April 5th, 2011

The NYT has discovered the underground trade in “loosies”: sales of loose cigarettes. A “legal” pack, with taxes, goes for $12.50 (thus sayeth the Times); the “loosie” dealer profiled in the article sells loose cigs for 75 cents each, two for a buck, or $8 a pack ($7 if he knows you). And business is good, Mayor Bloomberg.

Tilman Fertitta and the Landry’s chain are trying to purchase McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants. Good luck with that.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Random notes: April 4, 2011.

April 4th, 2011

Should the Chowchilla school bus kidnappers be paroled?

Sagra Italian Restaurant damaged by fire. The SDC ate there, and, well…we wish the owners the best, even if we can’t say we were wild about the restaurant.

I intended to blog this a few days ago: the latest APD suspension is for 90 days. In this case, the officer in question “was rude to a citizen and initially gave misleading statements to investigators”.

Oh, sure, you laugh at me for picking the Cubs to win it all. But I’ll point out that the Cubs have actually won a game this year, unlike certain other teams (cough cough Houston cough cough) I could name.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Food, Law, Sports | Comments Closed

April 1, 2011.

April 1st, 2011

Things that have made me laugh today, as of about noon:

EFFector 24.11. “…undergraduate degrees in Facebook Privacy Settings”.

The PLAYMOBIL ™ Apple ™ Store playset.

The new project from His Scalziness. (The prologue is up at Tor’s site.)

The NYT falls for another April Fool’s joke. Popehat has the details.

Paolo Bacigalupi and the bacterial colony formerly known as Peter Watts are collaborating on a new shared world anthology. “‘We expect suicides,’ said Watts. ‘And maybe a Nebula.'”

Updated about 1:30 PM:

“‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ Gains Sentience, Hungers For The Flesh Of the Living“. (Hattip: Pope Scalzi the First.) Mostly because this line had me rolling on the floor:

…not seen since Andrew Lloyd Webber’s disastrous musical comedy version of “The King In Yellow,” which opened a dimensional rift to a world of freakish cat-people who terrorized Broadway for eighteen years, receiving mostly positive reviews.

Posted in Geek, Law | 2 Comments »

Follow the money.

March 31st, 2011

In the comments to this thread, Lawrence notes that former Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker was a heavy contributor to John McCain and other Republican politicians.

The Fiesta Bowl Special Committee Report (as I also noted in that thread) contains a list of political figures and organizations receiving contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees; contributions that were reimbursed by the Fiesta Bowl. This is, of course, illegal. (The report uses the phrase “a Class 6 felony violation”. If you check out the link, a Class 6 doesn’t sound all that awful; but remember, it is a felony, with all the burdens that come with a felony conviction.)

I want to quote this from the report:

Although we have not interviewed any of these individuals or entities, no one we spoke to alleged that any of these candidates had any knowledge that the Fiesta Bowl reimbursed contributions to their campaigns or related entities.

Which is an interesting statement. Why would the Fiesta Bowl be giving money to these people, if they didn’t want these people to know they were giving money and were looking for something in exchange? That’s also strange in the light of quoted statements such as this one:

John: I spoke with Senator Carloyn [sic] Allen and said we would round-up some checks for her campaign: [¶] Checks should be made out to CAROLYN ALLEN 2006 [¶] The maximum individual contribution is $296.00 [¶] I told her we would have them by Friday. Thanks. GH168

(John is former Bowl CEO John Junker. “GH” is attorney Gary Husk, “an attorney and public affairs professional on retainer with the Fiesta Bowl.” “Husk, and his company Husk Partners, were public-affairs consultants or lobbyists for the Fiesta Bowl.”)

Here’s the list of political figures and organizations that received contributions later reimbursed by the Fiesta Bowl. I’ve added notes of political affiliation when I could find it, along with links to websites.

Posted in Clippings, Politics, Sports | Comments Closed

Seven against Fiesta!

March 31st, 2011

So it may be too early to speculate on the future of the Fiesta Bowl.

At least that’s what Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS, says.

Oh, by the way…

Hancock said Wednesday that for at least five years, while attending Fiesta Frolic, he let the Fiesta Bowl cover his golf tab and accepted free gifts from Nike.

What is “Fiesta Frolic”?

The Frolic is an annual, multiday spring gathering the bowl stages for college-football officials at a Phoenix resort.

Hancock called the Frolic, which costs the Fiesta Bowl several hundred thousand dollars a year, a “remarkable business opportunity” for college-football executives to network. However, the Fiesta Bowl Special Committee’s investigative report noted that it recently changed its name to Fiesta Bowl Spring College Football Seminars at the request of attendees “to make the event sound like less of a ‘boondoggle.’ “

And the BCS has created a seven member task force to review the allegations against the Fiesta Bowl.

Its seven-member task force includes a member who for years let the Fiesta Bowl pay for his golf at a resort, and another who took a free Caribbean trip last year from the Orange Bowl, The Republic has learned.

Speaking of the report, I’m slowly going through it. There’s some stuff I haven’t seen reported yet. For example, someone seems to have been a gold bug: there’s an estimated $22,300 worth of gold coins (including $20 gold pieces “ranging in date from 1877 to 1924”) that are supposedly in the possession of the Fiesta Bowl. (I do not see anything in the report, though, that states possession of those coins was actually verified.) In addition, the bowl apparently paid for subscriptions to:

Note that all of these were personal subscriptions for former CEO John Junker, for which he was reimbursed by the Bowl (according to the report).

I’m also amused by the discussion of payments to someone identified in the report only as “Person X”. Mr. “X” was apparently being paid somewhere around $40,000 a year (the amount varied from year to year, but $40,000 seems to be a good average) plus six tickets to the game. And nobody knows what he did for that money. Literally. That’s a direct quote from the report:  “I don’t know what he does. Kelly doesn’t know what he does.” The Arizona Republic has managed to identify Mr. X.

Posted in Clippings, Sports | 4 Comments »

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