Obit watch: October 16, 2015.

October 16th, 2015

There’s a really nice obituary in today’s NYT (written by Bruce Weber, one of the paper’s best obit writers) for Sybil Stockdale.

Mrs. Stockdale was the wife of James B. Stockdale. You may remember him as Ross Perot’s vice presidential candidate in 1992. But before that:

A captain when he was shot down over North Vietnam on Sept. 9, 1965, Admiral Stockdale was listed for several months as missing in action before the Pentagon learned he was being held in Hanoi at Hoa Lo prison (the so-called Hanoi Hilton). He survived seven and a half years there, subject to torture and held in leg irons and solitary confinement for long periods, before he was released, returning home in February 1973.

During his captivity, Mrs. Stockdale became a leading advocate for the POW/MIA cause. She also worked with the CIA to gather information. This story brings a smile to my face:

In one [letter -DB], she sent a cheery note about his mother along with a picture of a woman bathing in the Pacific Ocean. Admiral Stockdale’s mother loathed swimming, however, and the picture was not of her; the note said she had come to visit because she wanted to have a good “soak,” a code word that instructed him to soak the photograph in urine. When he did so, he discovered, hidden behind the backing of the photograph, a small swath of special carbon paper that could be used to press messages in invisible ink into his own letters home.

Speaking of the CIA and other bits of history, Ken Taylor has also passed away. Mr. Taylor was the Canadian ambassador to Iran during the hostage crisis:

When the U.S. embassy in Tehran was stormed by Islamist students and militants, six American diplomats escaped and found sanctuary in the homes of Taylor and his first secretary John Sheardown. In addition to shielding the Americans from Iranian capture, Taylor also played a crucial role in plotting their escape.
Working with CIA officials and Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, Taylor obtained for the Americans six Canadian passports containing forged Iranian visas that ultimately allowed them to board a flight to Switzerland. He undertook all these covert actions at a high personal risk, as he and his team would have been taken hostage themselves in the case of discovery by the Islamist militants.

Last, but by no means least: “fresh-faced ingénue” of the 1940s, Joan Leslie.

At 9, touring with her sisters, she played Toronto. Their act included her impression of Durante.
One night after the show, her dressing room door opened to reveal a man armed with nothing but criticism. Her Durante was all wrong, he told her. Unbidden, he showed her the right way to do it.

Read the obit for the punchline, if you haven’t already guessed it.

Posted in 1970s, Clippings, Heroism, History, Movies, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: October 13, 2015.

October 14th, 2015

Late again, we know. Things happen. We were needed.

In this week’s TMQ…

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Posted in NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 14, 2015.

October 14th, 2015

Robert Leuci.

I don’t think he ever reached the level of fame Frank Serpico did, but he was part of the same NYPD anti-corruption movement.

Of the 70 men assigned to the Special Investigating Unit of the Narcotics Division from 1968 to 1971, 52 were indicted as a result of evidence gathered by Mr. Leuci. Two committed suicide with their service revolvers. Two others, both 42, died of heart attacks after they were indicted. One went insane.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Cops, Law, NYPD, Obits | Comments Closed

Ripped from the headlines!

October 13th, 2015

Police affidavit: Shia LaBeouf ‘was a danger to himself and others’

I have no joke here, I just wanted to say this:

Posted in Austin, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Firings watch: October 13, 2015.

October 13th, 2015

Steve Spurrier is “retiring” “immediately” as head coach of South Carolina. This may not technically be a “firing”, but his team was 2-4 so far this year, 0-4 in the SEC, and “have lost eight of their past nine SEC games dating to the past season.”

Steve Sarkisian’s indefinite suspension has turned into a firing. Again, this is one of those I’m not getting a lot of pleasure out of: I hope he gets the help he needs.

(Hattip on both of these to Lawrence.)

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Your NFL loser update: week 5, 2015.

October 12th, 2015

Another jam-packed weekend. A wake, a blogshoot, a gun show, shopping…

Didn’t watch a single minute of a single game (well, I did catch a few seconds of one out of the corner of one eye while we were eating at Denny’s, of all places). But it wasn’t a bad weekend for the loser update.

NFL teams that have a chance of going 0-16:

Detroit

In other news, Randy Edsall was fired on Sunday while I was running around. He was 22-34 at the University of Maryland, and they were 2-4 so far this season.

(Speaking of 2-4 teams, did Charlie Strong save his job this weekend? Discuss.)

This doesn’t exactly count as a firing, and I take no joy in it, but: Steve Sarkisian is on an “indifinite leave of absence” from USC. It sounds like he has a serious problem: I hope he manages to pull himself out of it.

Posted in Clippings, Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Quotes of the day.

October 9th, 2015

There’s not a theme here or anything, just two quotes that tickled me.

Number One:

Number Two:

I deem it important to direct your attention to Article 2 of the Constitutional Amendments of the United States — “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This you should comply with immediately. Every union should have a rifle club. I strongly advise you to provide every member with the latest improved rifle, which can be obtained from the factory at a nominal price. I entreat you to take action on this important question, so that in two years we can hear the inspiring music of the martial tread of 25,000 armed men in the ranks of labor.

—Ed Boyce, president of the Western Federation of Miners, addressing the 1897 WFM convention.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 9, 2015.

October 9th, 2015

Paul Prudhomme. NYT.

Asked by The Toronto Star in 2000 to name his favorite dish, he did not hesitate. “From the time I was a child, it’s fresh pork roast with holes punched into it and filled with herbs, spices, pork lard, onions, peppers and celery and cooked in a cast-iron roasting pan in a wood-burning oven all night,” he said. “I’d serve that dish with candied yams, dirty rice and warm potato salad.”

Gail Zappa, Frank Zappa’s widow.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: October 6, 2015.

October 7th, 2015

Yes, we know, we’re late again. We have a worse excuse this time: we put off TMQ Watch so we could go to the Alamo Drafthouse and watch “Sicario”.

It has actually been a big movie week for us: in addition to “Sicario”, we watched “Black Mass” with Lawrence on Saturday. We may have some more thoughts on both later on. (And “The Martian” is on our list. We don’t expect that to vanish from theaters any time soon. Yes, this is relevant to TMQ; see below.)

After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

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Posted in Guns, Movies, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, Wagers | Comments Closed

Blog shoot October 10th.

October 7th, 2015

I’ve been negligent in announcing this; partly because I figure everyone who reads this blog reads Battleswarm, and partly because it looked like there may be some complications.

Now it looks like the complications have worked themselves out, so: this a general reminder that Lawrence and I are planning a blog shoot at Eagle Peak at 5 PM on Saturday, October 10th. This will be followed by dinner at the Oasis at 7 PM.
More details over at Lawrence’s blog. Contact me here if you have questions.

Posted in Admin, Guns | Comments Closed

Your NFL loser update: week 4, 2015.

October 6th, 2015

It wasn’t a great weekend for the loser update. Chicago beat Oakland (you had one job, Raiders). New Orleans beat Dallas (we missed that game, but it sounds like it was a thriller). And the Detroit-Seattle game was much closer than we expected. But…

NFL teams that have a chance of going 0-16:

Detroit

In other news: DraftKings and FanDuel may be sleezy? Who’d thunk it?

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Number One!

October 5th, 2015

Our first firing of the NFL season:

The Miami Dolphins have fired head coach Joe Philbin, marking the end of a 52-game run in which the team was perennially mediocre.

He was 24-28 over those 52 games.

Also, the Washington Nationals have fired their manager, Matt Williams, and their entire coaching staff.

(Loser update tomorrow: have to wait on Detroit.)

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

105 years ago today.

October 1st, 2015

At 1:07 AM on October 1, 1910, a bomb went off at the Los Angeles Times.

The bomb was planted in an area full of volatile chemicals and near natural gas lines. The explosion and fire killed 21 people, most of whom burned to death.

At the time, there was a massive struggle between “labor” and “capital”; Bill James, in his book Popular Crime, suggests that we came close to a second Civil War during this period. The bombing of the Times was only one part of a great war, which included the assassination of Frank Steunenberg (more about that in the future), the Haymarket riot, and the Wall Street bombing.

The Times of the time was strongly pro-capital and anti-union, which made it a target. Three men – Ortie McManigal and the brothers J.B. McNamara and J.J. McNamara – were charged with the bombing. McManigal rolled on the McNamara brothers, who were members of the iron workers union.

The labor movement engaged Clarance Darrow to defend the McNamara brothers. He agreed to do so, but warned them that he would need a boatload of money ($350,000 in 1910 dollars) to a proper job. The unions painfully raised the money.

The problem was that the McNamara brothers were pretty much guilty. Darrow is supposed to have told them, “My God! You left a trail of evidence a mile wide!” Ultimately, Darrow pled both brothers out in order to avoid the death penalty.

This case came pretty close to destroying Darrow. The plea bargain alienated him from labor, cutting off a large source of his income. In addition, Darrow was charged with two counts of jury tampering for actions during the case: I’ve written about that before. It took a while for Darrow’s reputation to recover.

Historical article with photos from the LAT.

Wikipedia on the bombing.

Howard Blum’s American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century is a very good book on the bombing and the aftermath.

Posted in Clippings, History, Media | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: September 29, 2015.

September 30th, 2015

We apologize for the delay. We had a dinner engagement last night at Rocco’s Grill in Bee Cave. Some things are just more important than TMQ blogging, like dinner with family.

After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Food, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Your NFL loser update: week 3, 2015.

September 28th, 2015

It wasn’t a bad weekend. Of course, I didn’t watch any of the games, as I was busy all day Sunday (about which, more later), but the teams I expected to engage in good old fashioned curb stompings did, indeed.

NFL teams that have a chance of going 0-16:

Baltimore
Detroit
Chicago
New Orleans

We’re starting to get down there. But at this point, I don’t think there’s a team that’s really bad enough to go 0-16.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

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