The election results are in…and Kathie Tovo beat Randi Shade, 56%-44%.
Thus endeth our long local nightmare. Now to see the results of the results.
Deadly night, Shade.
June 19th, 2011Noted.
June 18th, 2011Governor Perry signed SB321, “Relating to an employee’s transportation and storage of certain firearms or ammunition while on certain property owned or controlled by the employee’s employer” (aka the “guns in parking lots” bill) into law yesterday.
(At least, we think that was yesterday. While we are still having the most fun it is legally possible to have with one’s clothes on, we’ve also managed to lose track of time.)
We are amused by how little press coverage this has received. Once the bill passed both houses, we do not recall seeing it mentioned even once; we don’t even remember seeing newspaper coverage of the passage. Consider this article from the Statesman which discusses Perry’s vetos, but makes little mention of the bills he actually signed.
Curious.
(Also, the Shade-Tovo runoff election is today. We’ll try to get you a final update tomorrow morning.)
“—We Also Walk Dogs”
June 17th, 2011Still busy. Still having fun, thanks. But I did want to mention this WP story about Brighter Days, an anarchist dog walking cooperative.
Yes, you read that correctly. Brighter Days is apparently not the only anarchist dog walking cooperative in the DC area (as the result of a bitter split between the founders), but the WP implies that it is the most successful ($250,000 gross last year: there’s no net figure given, but the collective is apparently able to offer health insurance and paid vacation).
It’s harder still for Seager, because he wears black most of the time.
Hidden Agenda, call your office, please.
On the road again…
June 16th, 2011Yesterday was a travel day: I’m in an undisclosed location, doing stuff I can’t talk about right now. Blogging is uncertain; it depends on schedules and what-not.
However, I did want to note the following:
Astros watch.
June 14th, 2011Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg out, Doug Brocail in.
I haven’t been doing the regular updates I did last year (I was planning to do a bottom feeders roundup at the All-Star break) but if current trends continue, the Astros are on track to lose 100 games this year.
Hiliarty ensues.
June 14th, 2011Remember the “Gay Girl in Damascus” story we linked on Sunday?
If you clicked through to the WP link, you may have noticed, but not thought much about, the mention of Paula Brooks, editor of “Lez Get Real”, a lesbian news Web site based in Washington.
You probably see the punchline coming at this point, but we have to carry on.
“Paula Brooks” is actually a 58-year-old male construction worker from Ohio.
We’re kind of wondering if the WP is going to make outing lesbian bloggers who aren’t lesbians (or female) a trend, or if this was just, as “Paula Brooks” puts it, “a major sock-puppet hoax crash into a major sock-puppet hoax”. We kind of hope for the former, as it provides more entertainment than the WP‘s gun coverage.
Art, damn it, art! watch. (#23 in a series)
June 14th, 2011Ben Wilson is an artist in England.
His medium is acrylic enamel…and used chewing gum stuck to the sidewalk.
I’m not mocking Mr. Wilson: the few examples of his work shown with the article are rather pleasing to me, particularly the Millennium Bridge one.
We’re going down the rabbit hole here, people.
June 13th, 2011Jeff Ward hosts a popular talk show in the afternoons on one of our AM radio stations. I was a pretty regular listener to Mr. Ward’s show for a while (until the AM radio in my car stopped working).
Jeff Ward was also arrested Thursday night and charged with DWI.
Mr. Ward allegedly failed a field sobriety test. It’s not clear if he had blood drawn or was given a breath test, like the 37 people who were arrested on Friday or Saturday night during “no refusal” weekend.
But here’s what makes the story blog worthy, in my opinion. Today, the Travis County DA announced he’s dropping the charges against Jeff Ward.
Either the APD falsely arrested an innocent citizen, they arrested a citizen who was guilty but botched the arrest so badly that the DA didn’t feel like the case was prosecutable, or they dropped a DWI charge against a prominent local citizen for political reasons. There’s no way to spin this so it looks good.
Edited to add 6/14: Second day coverage in the Statesman.
Interesting points:
- He failed a field sobriety test, but refused to take a Breathalyzer. The no-refusal weekend started Friday according to previous Statesman coverage.
- He called Police Chief Acevedo at least twice; once during the arrest, and once from jail.
- Mr. Ward says he had the standard “two beers” (police will tell you that everyone ever arrested for drunk driving had “two beers”) over a four hour period, and was originally stopped for doing 10 MPH over the speed limit.
Shade-Tovo watch: June 13, 2011.
June 13th, 2011Here’s a mildly interesting set of facts.
Austin’s cab companies have donated $17,500 to three City Council candidates, including $4,550 to Randi Shade for her runoff election (and a total of $10,350 to Shade overall, which the Statesman implies came from cab companies).
Kathie Tovo has received $6,500 total, and $4,500 for the runoff election, “mostly” from cab drivers for one company.
I was not aware of this, but there’s apparently a movement by the drivers for “legacy permits”: that is, after five years of experience, drivers could get taxi permits directly, rather than the permits being issued to cab companies. Tovo says she supports this, and Shade has expressed opposition.
Neither candidate, nor (as far as I know) any of the previous candidates in the race, have come out in favor of abolishing the permit/franchise system and letting anyone who wants to pick up passengers for money.
On the Internet, nobody knows if you’re a…
June 12th, 2011Coffin’s got the dead guy on the inside.
June 10th, 2011There’s just really not a whole lot going on. You good folks are probably as bored and fed up with Shade and Tovo as I am, and most of you probably don’t care that much about fireworks or plumbing.
The NYT does, however, have a short piece on a recent altercation at a chamber music concert in San Francisco.
The musician John Eichenseer, aka JHNO, was performing a piece for viola and electronics, called “Untitled”, when one of the audience members became disruptive. Eventually, JHNO “threw down his instrument and stormed off the stage”, cracking his viola in the process.
It turns out the audience member who disrupted the performance is also a viola player, Bernard M. Zaslav:
Later in the article, Mr. Zaslav is quoted as blaming his reaction on literal physical pain the performance caused him, and it is noted that he apologized to JHNO and the concert organizer.
Bonus: Joan Jeanrenaud, formerly of the Kronos Quartet, was there and is quoted relatively extensively.
(Subject line hattip: the old joke about the cello (4th one down) and one of the greatest book titles ever
A-.
June 9th, 2011Bob Geren out as manager of the Oakland A’s.
Oakland is currently 27-36, and in last place in their division.
Let the bodies hit the door…
June 9th, 2011Lawrence was all over the mass grave that wasn’t in Liberty County, but I wanted to note an update or two.
HouChron interview with the “psychic” who says “she never wanted any attention and fears the worldwide interest in the case will destroy her life if her identity is known publicly.”
She strongly denied telling officers that they needed to search for bodies or that anyone was dead.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a standard fake psychic trick? “Oh, no, I never said {X}. I said {Y}. It’s their fault if they thought I said {X}.”
From the WP: “How the story of dismembered bodies at a Texas farmhouse fell apart”. “dismembered bodies”, “fell apart”. Someone at the WP was having a bit too much fun.
In other news, can we say that this story marks the official start of Silly Season 2011? When are we going to get the next shark attack?
Shade-Tovo watch: June 9, 2011.
June 9th, 2011Oh, look! Randi Shade’s got a new TV ad and a new web video bashing her opponent, Kathie Tovo!
Oh, look! Kathie Tovo and her people say that Shade’s claims are “misleading and hypocritical”.
Oh, look! Water is wet!
Stay tuned for more stunning news on the campaign front.
Make no little plans.
June 9th, 2011That’s Daring Fireball on the Apple campus plans, quoting Daniel Burnham.
Bear with me, please, as it is about to get geeky in here.
Here’s an image of the proposed Apple campus, hotlinked from TechCrunch:
This is the best regular image I could find of the General Atomics campus in San Diego:
Slightly better overhead shot:
I think there’s at least a superficial similarity. But so what, you ask? Well, General Atomics was the company that brought us Project Orion.
Remember Project Orion? If you don’t, there’s a pretty good book on the subject: Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship
“Make no little plans”, indeed. Can you imagine Apple building their campus on top of a giant metal plate, and then one day when the trans-humanist revolution comes, launching the entire site and all the employees into orbit? Of course, there’s minor details to work out in advance, but isn’t this the kind of plan that stirs the blood?
Is this what Jobs has in mind? Probably not, but a boy can dream, can’t he?