But! I have tenure!
Okay, I don’t really have tenure. But don’t you think I could pass as a distinguished professor of something like apocryphal chemistry or eschaton immanentization at Hogwarts?
Mad? Of course I’m mad!
April 10th, 2012Can I have a side of awesome sauce, please?
April 10th, 2012Yes, yes you can.
The TM Daily Post has a nice profile of Joe Lansdale.
I’m not going to claim to be a close personal friend of Mr. Lansdale’s – Lawrence knows him better than I do – but in my limited interaction with him, he’s always been nothing but nice. He’s a swell guy, as far as I’m concerned, and I’m delighted that he’s “finally having a moment, after three-plus-decades toiling in semi-obscurity”.
Notes from the crime beat.
April 10th, 2012I have previously written about the strange case of Maurice McKnight, the dancer at a male strip club who allegedly punched struck a patron, causing the patron to fall, hit his head, and die.
Yesterday, Mr. McKnight pled guilty to manslaughter. He will serve 5 years in prison.
Back on the “if you go clubbing downtown, you’re clubbing with Hezbollah” beat, the Statesman has a long article about Yassine Enterprises, the people behind it, and their legal problems. Interesting:
- “Despite persistent surveillance, the Yassines and their associates are not accused of any wrongdoing after 2009…”
- “Investigators testified that Steve Yassine has not paid his taxes in years. Hadi Yassine did not file tax returns in 2009 and 2010, and ones he did file did not match his income, IRS agent Neff said. Neff also said Yassine Enterprises was underreporting its income. “
Also noteworthy: the state wants to take away their liquor licenses. I don’t think it is so much because of the criminal charges, as it is because…
- “…the clubs owe a local liquor distributor more than $210,000.”
- “… businesses linked to Mike Yassine, the company’s president and owner, were almost $600,000 behind in sales and mixed-beverage taxes as of late March.”
The State of Texas really does not like it when you get behind in your sales and beverage taxes. They tend to get cranky and start seizing things, like bottles and money in the cash register. Of course, the latter might not be a problem for Yassine Enterprises, since eight of their nine businesses are closed.
And what does this mean for Sixth Street?
…
My first thought is that Ms. Gary is a lot more optimistic than I am. Would you want to open a club downtown in this economy? Then again, people are going to drink no matter what…maybe she’s on to something.
Not since “Carrie”.
April 10th, 2012The off-Broadway revival of “Carrie” closed Sunday night…
The NYT asks: is this just a fundamentally unworkable idea?
Obit watch: special kik kool rad C-64 warezzzzzzzzzz edition.
April 9th, 2012Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, has passed away at the age of 83.
I was never part of the 6502 based crowd, either as an Apple, Atari, or Commodore owner. (My processor was the 6809.)
But I’m certainly willing to concede that the C-64 was a hugely influential machine, and that Mr. Tramiel is owed a debt of gratitude.
Annals of law (part 3 of a series)
April 9th, 2012Can a legally dead man be tried, convicted, and sentenced to the death penalty?
If this was a movie with Ashley Judd (perhaps as a sexy public defender), it would probably gross $200 million at least.
Unfortunately, it isn’t.
Thomas Steven Sanders was declared “legally dead” in 1994. His family brought the action, claiming Sanders had abandoned them in 1987.
The thing is, he wasn’t actually dead dead:
Now he’s suspected of killing a 12-year-old girl and her mother. He’s apparently confessed, but his lawyers are trying to get the confession thrown out because Sanders asked for a lawyer first.
One thing is certain: somebody’s going to get a book deal out of this case.
Obit watch: April 8, 2012.
April 8th, 2012These have been well covered elsewhere, but for the record and since people have emailed me about them:
Hookers, no blow, watch.
April 6th, 2012Mike Luis Rios was arrested on Wednesday and charged with
raping two women, pimping and using his position…to recruit would-be, and sometimes underage, prostitutes.
Mr. Rios was arrested back in February on attempted murder charges. Apparently, there was a fight at a night club, and…
He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of dissuading a witness, according to Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Brusselback, who is prosecuting both cases.
Here’s the punchline: Mr. Rios is a member of the Moreno Valley Board of Education.
Random notes: April 5, 2012.
April 6th, 2012Remember Greg Mortenson and the whole “Three Cups of Tea”/”Three Cups of Deceit” controversy? If you don’t, here’s some background.
Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute agreed to a settlement yesterday with the Montana Attorney General. Here’s the entire NYT story.
And here’s the entire LAT story. One paragraph in the NYT, two pages in the LAT. (To be fair, the LAT does bring in some non-CAI related issues, like Kony 2012.)
Summarizing: Mortenson will reimburse $1 million to CAI, CAI’s two remaining board members will leave and a new seven-member board will take over, and Mortenson will no longer be on that board.
The article states that the settlement will “toss Mortenson out of his own charity’, but quotes the “interim executive director” saying:
…that Mortenson would remain a paid employee of the charity but would not serve on the new board.
More parking problems at the Long Center over the weekend.
The notoriously corrupt California city of Vernon is holding city council elections next Tuesday. Hilarity has ensued.
Amen, brother. I don’t get people knocking on my door for elections, thank Ghu, but the phone calls really make me angry.
Worth noting: recent reforms (adopted in an attempt to keep the state from disincorporating Vernon) cut council salaries from $70,000 a year to $25,000 a year, eliminated subsidized rent for council members, and imposed term limits.
Plug, plug, pluggity plug.
April 6th, 2012My sister has a couple of new posts up at the Park City Snowmamas site:
Worship services at Park City.
And she stages her own version of “The Amazing Race”: snowborders vs. skiers.
This is a Photoshop.
April 6th, 2012I can tell from the pixels, and from having seen a few ‘shops in my time.
And they might have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids bloggers, and:
Edited to add: From the FARK thread, this Photoshop just about made me fall out of my chair laughing. But I’m a sucker for the tiny giraffe commercials.
Obit watch: April 6, 2012.
April 6th, 2012
Rough night for the Austin PD.
April 6th, 2012This is still a developing story, but a (currently unnamed) APD officer was shot and killed early this morning. I expect to have more to say about this as information comes in, but two immediate points:
- I drive past the location of this shooting (the Wal-Mart at I-35 and Parmer Lane) daily. This is not what we would call a “bad” part of town.
- This is the first APD death in the line of duty since 2004, according to the Statesman.
Edited to add: The deceased officer has been identified as Jaime Padron.
In other news, there was also a fatal officer involved shooting in East Austin last night.
And:
Just a random thought…
April 5th, 2012I have a subscription to the digital version of the NYT: partially for blog purposes, partially because I needed access to the archives for my final project in last year’s 20th Century History class. (The NYT offers a reduced rate for educational subscribers.)
When the LAT erected their paywall, I signed up at the initial 99 cent rate. I got a bill from them today at the new $3.99 a week rate. Even for blog purposes, and with no educational discount, I’m not paying $4 a week for the LAT. So I called them to cancel.
After I got to a customer service rep (note that they make it relatively hard to do so) and told her I wanted to cancel, she wanted to know why. I explained that the digital LAT isn’t worth $4/week to me.
At that point, they started playing “Let’s Make A Deal”. The initial offer was $2.99 a week. I turned that down. Then they offered me $1.99/week as their “final offer”. I agreed to that, but now I’m wondering if I could have gotten them down to 99 cents a week.
Point of this story, besides the LAT being willing to slash prices; I’d appreciate it if people would let me know if links to LAT stories don’t come up for you. The NYT, as I understand it, still has the hole in the wall that lets you read stories for free if they come from an external link, but I don’t believe the LAT offers that feature.
Also, talking about the LAT and bargain shopping gives me an excuse to use this picture, which tickles my funny bone:
Nobody beats the Los Angeles Times!
Speaking of New Orleans…
April 4th, 2012…the headline on this story had me all excited:
Then I clicked through. Apparently they mean something different by a “shotgun”, something involving music and house parties.
Too bad, because I think a shotgun near you is a good idea.