Nelson Doubleday Jr., heir to the Doubleday publishing empire and former owner of the New York Mets.
I was going to let this go by, but there were a couple of things in the NYT obit that tickled my fancy:
Obit watch: June 18, 2015.
June 18th, 2015Obit watch: June 16, 2015.
June 16th, 2015Blaze Starr, noted “burlesque performer” and paramour of Louisiana governor Earl Long, has passed away at the age of 83.
Edited to add: better WP obit.
Their affair was an open secret until the governor’s wife had him committed to a mental hospital in Texas in 1959. Long was released after several days, then returned to New Orleans, where he “received redheaded Blaze Starr, his favorite Bourbon Street stripper, at 2:30 a.m.,” according to Time magazine.
“At week’s end,” the magazine added, “six doctors gravely warned Long that he would risk his life if he undertook any more strenuous activity.”
He died a year later.
Today’s bulletin from the Department of WTF?! (#7 in a series)
June 16th, 2015I was going to make a “how parenthetic do you have to be” joke, but the Astros are actually doing okay this year. The Times story seems to be spinning it as the Cardinals being worried about their secrets being compromised:
“Luhnow” is Jeff Luhnow, the current Astros general manager and previously a high-ranking member of the Cardinals management team.
I care very little about baseball, but this should be fascinating to watch. As the papers note, this is the first known instance where one team attempted to hack another team’s computer network for competitive advantage. Ignoring the possibility of some people being convicted of actual Federal crimes, what’s MLB going to do about this? Lifetime bans for anyone proven to be involved?
Firing watch.
June 15th, 2015Obit watch: June 11, 2015.
June 11th, 2015It seems like all I’m doing this week is posting obituaries. I could do with a week where good people don’t die.
Ornette Coleman, noted jazz musician.
Christopher Lee: NYT. WP. A/V Club.
Not exactly an obit, but:
Edited to add: A/V Club obit for Ornette Coleman.
Lawrence challenged me to find some Coleman on YouTube that isn’t “unlistenable” (his word, not mine). I’ve never really acquired the ability to appreciate jazz, but I like this well enough.
Obit watch: June 10, 2015.
June 10th, 2015
Obit watch: June 9, 2015.
June 9th, 2015Vincent Bugliosi, former LA County deputy DA, the man who prosecuted Charles Manson, and co-author (with Curt Gentry) of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
(I’m back home now and slowly dipping my toes into the water. After action report to come soon-ish.)
I’ll be your huckleberry…
June 5th, 2015
…cheesecake, that is.
I’m on the road, so expect sporadic updates. I would say that I’m in an undisclosed location, but it turns out my hotel is within a very short walk of a certain university. I didn’t plan it that way (it also happens to be the convention hotel), but it does amuse me how this worked out.
One more photo. I took this last night, after I finished dinner and while I was waiting for the hotel shuttle.
The time has come…
May 29th, 2015Hmmmmm. You can get a Dragon Leatherworks Quantum for a Browning Hi-Power…
You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#20 in a series)
May 28th, 2015My quick thoughts on this mostly resemble Ace of Spades‘:
Point 1: The structuring law is bullshit, and has been frequently abused by the government. The Justice Department actually promised last October that they’d stop seizing assets for “structuring” unless there was some underlying crime. What was Hastert’s underlying crime? Paying someone off, as far as I know, isn’t illegal.
If Hastert voted to make “structuring” illegal, ’tis the sport to have the enginer hoist with his own petard. But a foolish moral consistency makes me believe that if it’s wrong for the Feds to go after other people over this, it’s wrong in Hastert’s case as well.
Point 2:
Last Dec. 8, Mr. Hastert was interviewed by agents. He told federal agents that he was not paying anyone with the money, but was keeping the withdrawals for himself because he felt unsafe with the banking system.
“Yeah,” Mr. Hastert told the agents, according to the indictment. “I kept the cash. That’s what I’m doing.”
Once again, I’m able to quote the timeless wisdom of Ken White:
Edited to add 5/29: And speaking of Ken White…
Everything that rises must get a stamp.
May 26th, 2015The Postal Service is issuing a Flannery O’Connor stamp.
To which I say, “Good.”
My relationship to O’Connor’s writing is a bit complicated. I had to read “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” when I was in school, and I hated it; it seemed like a collection of random cruelty with no point to it. But much later on in my life, something made me pick up The Complete Stories
But I still hate “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”.
Well, isn’t THIS a shocker?
May 21st, 2015Also:
Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton now says crime scene officers have made a new weapons count and come up with 318 “and still counting.” Swanton said he expected the count to continue to rise.
Of those weapons counted so far, 118 are handguns, one is an AK-47 assault-style rifle and 157 are knives. Swanton says weapons still uncounted are clubs, knives, brass knuckles, firearms and chains with padlocks attached.
Yes, 118 plus one plus 157 does not add up to 318.
…it’s the hole.
May 21st, 2015From the NYT, a short documentary about Chris Burden and “Shoot”.
New York City?!
May 19th, 2015The restaurant critic for the NYT reviews “New York’s first authentic Tex-Mex restaurant”:
Among the things Pete Wells apparently thinks Texans might like about “authentic” Tex-Mex:
- People shouting.
- Margaritas with “a slight chemical taste”.
- Warm drinks.
- Identical drinks served in two different sized glasses.
- Lukewarm queso.
- “At most restaurants, you are served what you ask for so routinely that your eyes glaze over with boredom. Javelina does not fall into the trap of dull predictability.”
And for the record…
May 18th, 2015Mike Redmond out as manager of the Miami Marlins.
155-207 in “just over” two seasons, 16-22 so far this season.