Random notes: January 16, 2015.

January 16th, 2015

I’ve written previously about Al Martinez and the “get the boy his peaches” story.

Recently, some questions were raised about the story over at Romenesko’s site. I didn’t post about this at the time because it didn’t seem link worthy: more “can anybody help me track down the original story” than “it never happened”.

Well, the amazing Larry Harnisch took up the gauntlet and managed to – more or less – track down the original story. Part of the problem seems to be that Al Martinez was working from memory, and apparently combined two stories into one: the dying boy and the peaches did take place, but not at Christmas. But there was another dying boy who craved watermelons at Christmas.

I can say from personal experience that after writing thousands of posts about Los Angeles crime that it’s impossible to remember them all and that the details can erode — which is why newspapers have clip files and why reporters ought to refer to them before writing anything.

Quel fromage!

A Brooklyn man who claimed the police manufactured gun-possession charges against him had his case dismissed on Thursday, amid two investigations into the practices of a group of police officers in the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush.

Posted in Christmas, Clippings, Cops, Guns, Law, Media, NYPD | Comments Closed

I just want to say…

January 15th, 2015

…this is my favorite John Moltz post ever.

(Well, okay. My favorite John Moltz post as John Moltz at “Very Nice Web Site”. I’m not quite sure it displaces the one at Crazy Apple Rumors where he actually used a question of mine in the “Crazy Apple Help Desk”.)

Posted in Apple, Clippings | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: January 13, 2015.

January 15th, 2015

We lost the better part of the day yesterday to jury duty, so we’re late getting this up. We apologize for the convenience.

After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Cars, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Random notes: January 15, 2015.

January 15th, 2015

Obit watch: Phil Africa, “a high-ranking member of the Philadelphia-based black-liberation group Move”. You may remember MOVE from the 1985 Philadelphia police stand-off and bombing. Phil Africa was not involved in that, as he was already serving time for killing a police officer in the 1978 shootout.

It was unclear why the man was wearing body armor.

I’m just going to take a wild guess here and suggest he was wearing body armor because HE DIDN’T WANT TO GET SHOT!

(Oh, and for the record: both the gun and body armor were stolen from a sheriff’s deputy.)

Neat story:

Archaeologists conducting surveys in Nevada’s Great Basin National Park came upon a gun frozen in time: a .44-40 Winchester rifle manufactured in 1882. It was propped up against a juniper tree.

Some more detail here and here. (Interestingly, at the time I’m writing this, that story is the most-read one on the WP website.)

Posted in Admin, Cops, Guns, History, Law, Obits, Winchester | Comments Closed

Norts spews.

January 13th, 2015

Well. Well well well. Well. Yes, I am happy about Ohio State winning; as my regular readers know, I have ties to the Ohio area.

Since I don’t have cable, I mostly followed the game on FARK until I dozed off after halftime (yesterday was a rough day at work). From what I can tell, it might be a good idea for Ohio State to spend some time in the off season working on HOLDING ON TO THE DAMN BALL!

I don’t have a lot to say about the John Fox “firing” right now, except that I think it will be interesting to see how things play out after the Superb Owl. I may have more to say once this week’s TMQ goes up.

Obit watch: Roy Tarpley, former center for the Dallas Mavericks. As my regular readers know, I’m not a basketball fan, but the Tarpley story is sad and worth noting:

He was suspended by the NBA after five games in the 1989-90 season after being arrested for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. In 1991, he drew another suspension after a second DWI arrest and, a few months later, had a third violation and was banned from the league for violating the NBA’s drug-use policies.
He returned to the Mavericks briefly in 1994 but then was permanently barred in December 1995 for violating terms of his aftercare program.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 12, 2015.

January 12th, 2015

Robert Stone, noted novelist (“Dog Soldiers”, “A Flag For Sunrise”).

Anita Ekberg.

Enough said.

Posted in Books, Movies, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 9, 2015.

January 9th, 2015

Jethro Pugh, former player for the Dallas Cowboys.

No. 75 became a fixture in the Cowboys’ defensive line, playing for 14 seasons, from 1965-78. Only three players had a longer run with the Cowboys than Pugh. The defensive tackle finished with 95.5 sacks for his career and led the team in that statistic for five consecutive seasons (’68-72) before it became an official category.

And yes, he did play in the Ice Bowl.

I missed this one, so I’ll direct you over to Lawrence for Lee Israel.

Posted in Books, Clippings, NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

January 7th, 2015

Technically, tweet of the day, but who’s counting?

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: January 6, 2015.

January 7th, 2015

Sex! Gambling! After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Bridges, NFL, Roads, Sports, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

The Shipping News.

January 7th, 2015

Monday night’s announcement that the new musical “The Last Ship” will close on Jan. 24 after a meager four-month run, despite unusual efforts by Sting, its composer, to increase ticket sales, raises that question more than most other foundering musicals in recent years.

Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Why, indeed, did “The Last Ship” fail (and cost the show’s producers their entire $15 million investment), even though Sting himself joined the cast?

Mr. Seller said that he had no theories for why more female theatergoers (who make up about 70 percent of Broadway audiences) and Sting fans did not embrace “The Last Ship,” about the troubled lives of shipbuilders and young people in a struggling British town.

Could this be…a clue?

Posted in Clippings, Music, Theatre | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 5, 2015.

January 5th, 2015

Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945, television personality, and political figure, passed away on December 14th, though her death was not widely reported until today.

Posted in Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

“a pernicious confirmation of the values of a morally bankrupt middle class.”

January 2nd, 2015

Confession: I have not read all of this yet, but I am linking it here. I think some people will be interested in it.

New Yorker discussion of Michael Moorcock, “The Anti-Tolkien”. The title of this post is a direct quote from Moorcock, as is this:

“I think of myself as a bad writer with big ideas, but I’d rather be that than a big writer with bad ideas.”

Posted in Books, Clippings | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 2, 2015.

January 2nd, 2015

Your Mario Cuomo obit here.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Politics | Comments Closed

Not this crap again.

December 31st, 2014

Police have tied James Cordell Avery, 47, to 19 incidents at local H-E-B stores in which he has stolen or attempted to steal meats police believe he is selling to local barbecue restaurants.

…

Because of the quantity of meat stolen, [APD Detective Ricky] Jones said it was a safe assumption that Avery was selling the meat to a restaurant.
“I have yet to know a person who could eat that much meat in that short of a time,” Jones said.

I was going to offer to introduce Detective Jones to Lawrence, but “that much meat”, in this case, is entire shopping carts full. I can honestly say I have never seen Lawrence eat an entire shopping cart full of meat.

When he is successful, Avery would make off with upwards of $900 in meat in each theft, Jones said.

Previously on WCD. When they catch Avery, I will be interested in seeing if APD manages to track down his customers. Granted, it doesn’t seem like this is pants meat, but I’m sure the restaurants in question had no idea how long Avery and company were driving around with their stolen briskets.

Edited to add 1/5/2015: Avery is now in custody. The briskets are safe.

Posted in Beef, Clippings, Food, Law | 1 Comment »

Down to the sea.

December 31st, 2014

I hope all my readers are either enjoying a day off, or a quiet day at work if they have to work.

To fill time, I offer this long but fascinating piece from the NYT, “The Wreck of the Kulluk“.

The Kulluk was a drilling rig that Shell bought for use in the Arctic. Things did not go well at first. Then they started going badly. Then things got really bad.

There was a loud boom and a shower of sparks. It was gone. Matthews turned to see why the captain was so anxious. He found himself staring at a wall of water — a 50-foot wave, the biggest they had seen. The Alert went straight up its face. “There was this feeling of up and up and up and up and up and up,” he said. He put his hands against the back window to stabilize himself. White water was running over the front window. They couldn’t see anything. “When is this going to stop?” the captain asked.

There are times when I think it’d be interesting to become a seaman. Then I read things like this or Wired‘s story about the Cougar Ace and I remember why I didn’t choose that career.

Posted in Boats, Clippings | Comments Closed

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »