We pretty much have all of our Christmas shopping done now, barring a possible few last minute gifts or accessories for gifts already purchased. With that out of the way, we can focus on TMQ.
And what does he have to say this week?
TMQ Watch: December 22, 2015.
December 23rd, 2015Obit watch: December 23, 2015.
December 23rd, 2015Joe Jamail, noted Houston attorney.
He was also a major booster, contributor, and power behind the scenes in University of Texas football. Here’s an article from Texas Monthly in 2014 about the relationship between Jamail and UT.
And another TM article (by way of Popehat) profiling Jamail.
Now that’s a eulogy.
Art, damn it, art! watch (#50 in a series)
December 22nd, 2015I don’t remember how this originally came up – I’m pretty sure it was by way of someone’s Twitter – but over the weekend Mike the Musicologist and were discussing odd gingerbread constructions. I wouldn’t exactly call them “houses”…
I got to wondering: has anyone ever done a gingerbread Fallingwater?
That would be a “yes”, Bob. And the conversation moved on from there. But I had it in the back of my mind: could you do a gingerbread Guggenheim? Doesn’t seem like it should be that hard, should it?
The answer is also “yes”.
And a gingerbread Tate Modern. And five other museums.
(Now I want to do a gingerbread Reichstag. Mostly because at the end of the Christmas season (which, as we all know, is January 6th), I can pour brandy on it and set it on fire.)
Shrimp for Christmas!
December 22nd, 2015I’ve been trying to keep up with the Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow trial. Really, I have.
But the press coverage has been kind of pathetic. I keep looking for stories in the San Francisco newspapers, but no joy.
The latest update is from the LAT: apparently, we’re now into the defense phase of the trial, and “Shrimp Boy” is testifying.
…
Do you want to read that? I kind of want to read that, though “Chow doesn’t always understand English and that his diction and tenses are not always used correctly.”
Worse than Ashley Madison?
December 22nd, 2015Obit watch: December 18, 2015.
December 18th, 2015British mystery writer Peter Dickinson. The Telegraph.
Dickinson is a writer who’s fascinated me since I read HRF Keating’s Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books
Unfortunately, I’ve also always had some difficulty finding his work in the US: somewhere I have a paperback of The Poison Oracle
Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. I may have to revisit this after Christmas…
Cahiers du cinéma: The Library of Congress recommends…
December 16th, 2015I just have one thing to say about the latest list of movies added to the National Film Registry…
TMQ Watch: December 15, 2015.
December 15th, 2015After last week’s “slit your wrists” opening, we were hoping to find something light and funny for this week. We didn’t have much luck, alas.
We did briefly consider doing something with “All I want for Christmas is a goat”. But then we listened to “Holy Night”. Or at least we tried to; we had to shut it off 30 seconds in. With all due respect to ActionAid, they could use this to torture prisoners at Gitmo.
So the heck with trying to find something light and funny. Let’s just jump into this week’s TMQ…
TMQ Watch: December 8, 2015.
December 10th, 2015Instead of snark, and before jumping into this week’s TMQ, we wanted to throw up a link to something we found by way of a retweet from Popehat:
…
When I tell people the insane details of my childhood, they have the same two questions.
Why in the hell would anyone do this to their own son?
And then …
Why in the hell didn’t anyone put a stop to it?
Please go read this now, if you haven’t already. This week’s TMQ will be here when you return…
Yearly administrative note.
December 4th, 2015This is your yearly reminder: if you use the Amazon search box on the right hand side of the page to buy stuff, I get a small kickback.
Said small kickback, as you all know, goes to purchasing toys for crippled orphans supporting this blog, mostly by enabling our purchases of Robert Ruark and Jack O’Connor books, along with other crap in general.
(Speaking of Ruark, I’m reminded that I have two historical notes coming up back to back before the year is over. One of those should be of some interest to Lawrence…)
(And speaking of Lawrence, I would be remiss if I did not note, as I do every year, that books from Lame Excuse Books make fine presents for the holidays, especially if you have SF or horror fans on your shopping list.)
I believe I recommended Amy Alkon’s Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck
Another book that was loaned to me by a friend, and that I’ve almost finished – I will be purchasing my own copy, so I have no qualms about recommending it – is Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
I don’t see a shipping date for Archer Season 6
cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra
Edited to add: Also. If I’ve managed to irritate you, please consider supporting the fine folks at Popehat through their Amazon link instead.
Also also: I haven’t given them any money, but I’ve always been kind of fond of the HouChron‘s “Goodfellows” program.
Also also also: the Reason Foundation is having their annual fundraising drive. And they will accept bitcoins, too.
TMQ Watch: December 1, 2015.
December 3rd, 2015Have you ever had one of those days when you don’t want to even look at the newspaper, or do much of anything except curl up in a ball and shut out the world?
Yeah. Us too. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Art, damn it, art! watch (#49 in a series)
December 1st, 2015By way of Borepatch: Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s most famous work sold at auction for $658,000.
Sotheby’s auction link. Yes, that did include the buyer’s premium.
Flames, hyenas, etc.
December 1st, 2015I wanted to wait a little bit for the paper of record to fully update their coverage. Now that they have:
Sheldon Silver, former speaker of the New York State assembly: Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!
I am worried, though, about the jury issues:
…
I’m hoping this doesn’t give Silver grounds for a successful appeal.
Bloody Sunday.
November 29th, 2015Bad day for college football coaches.
Mark Richt out at the University of Georgia. He’d been there for 15 seasons…
Rutgers fired both head coach Kyle Flood and AD Julie Hermann. Flood was 27-24 overall, and the team went 4-8 this year. But it looks like the main reason for this firing was off-field issues:
Flood was suspended three games earlier this season for emailing a professor and later scheduling an in-person meeting to discuss the academic standing of former Scarlet Knights defensive back Nadir Barnwell.
In addition, seven Rutgers players were arrested this season for offenses varying from home invasion to assault.
Mike London is out as head coach at the University of Virginia. This is being called a “resignation”, but it sounds like “you can’t fire me, I quit”.
…
Time flies.
November 27th, 2015Damn. It has been a year since that asshole tried to shoot up the police department and got center-punched for his trouble? Where does the time go?
One year later article from the Statesman, which has some details I either didn’t know or forgot.
…
Yes. That was a 100 yard, one-handed shot with an M&P .40.
It was also the decisive one.
I can’t find it online, and my memory is a little sketchy, but I’m reminded of an “Ayoob Files” from some years ago. Briefly: bad guy armed with a rifle is holding off cops (and kills one dead). Cops are only armed with handguns, and try to take the guy out, but he has them pinned down 80 to 100 yards away. My recollection of Ayoob’s account is that at least one of the responding officers tried making shots at that range with his duty gun; when the bad guy was finally taken down (as I recall, by someone who arrived on scene with a shotgun and hit him with a rifled slug), they found a fairly tight group of bullet holes…just above where the bad guy’s head would have been.
One of Ayoob’s points, which I thought was well taken was: maybe every once in a while you should try taking long range shots with your duty weapon, just so you have some idea of what it can do and where you might need to hold. Then again…
…if you grew up shooting off the back porch, maybe you don’t need that advice.
(Also, Massad Ayoob, if you happen to be reading this: this incident, and Sgt. Johnson in particular, might make for a good “Ayoob Files” installment. Just saying.)