Obit watch: November 10, 2025.

November 10th, 2025

Robert H. Bartlett, big damn hero. He was one of the pioneers of ECMO.

An ECMO machine consists of an external circuit of tubes, a pump that functions as a heart, and a membrane that serves as an artificial lung. The device continuously pumps blood out of the body, adds oxygen, removes carbon dioxide, warms the blood and returns it to the body.
ECMO treatment can continue for days or weeks or longer, allowing the heart and lungs to rest and try to heal from traumas like acute respiratory distress, a blood clot, a heart attack or an injury from a car crash. It can also be used for patients awaiting a heart or lung transplant, and it is increasingly being used in emergencies for people experiencing cardiac arrest.
According to a registry kept by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization, which Dr. Bartlett founded, more than 260,000 critically ill newborns, children and adults around the world have received the treatment, and roughly 800 medical centers in 66 countries offer the procedure; about 54 percent of patients treated with ECMO survive to leave the hospital, and more than 100,000 lives have been saved.

…

In 1975, while he was at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Bartlett and his surgical team, including Dr. Alan Gazzaniga, successfully used ECMO treatment for the first time on a newborn who was experiencing lung failure and had been left at the hospital by her mother, an undocumented immigrant.
The infant — named Esperanza, or Hope, by the nurses — recovered after spending six days on the machine. Over the years she remained in touch with Dr. Bartlett, joining him at conferences and attending University of Michigan football games with him, one of his favorite activities.
Thanks to ECMO, what had once been a mortality rate of 80 percent in newborns struggling to breathe became a survival rate of 80 percent.
“If Dr. Bartlett wasn’t there that day I was born, I wouldn’t be here today,” Esperanza Pineda, who is now 50, said in an interview.

Betty Harford, actress. Other credits include “T.H.E. Cat”, “The Name of the Game”, and “Mrs. Columbo”.

Paul Tagliabue, former commissioner of the NFL. ESPN.

Posted in NFL, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Brief historical note.

November 10th, 2025

Brief because I’ve covered this several times before.

The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was 50 years ago today.

I have not read it yet, and I’m probably going to wait for the trade paperback, but: The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon looks like it could be an interesting book on the subject.

Posted in Boats, Books, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: November 7, 2025.

November 7th, 2025

James Watson, DNA guy.

Dr. Watson’s role in decoding DNA, the genetic blueprint for life, would have been enough to establish him as one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. But he cemented that fame by leading the ambitious Human Genome Project and writing perhaps the most celebrated memoir in science.

…

Dr. Watson’s tell-all memoir, “The Double Helix,” had also provoked his colleagues when it was published in 1968, infuriating them for, in their view, elevating himself while shortchanging others who were involved in the project. Still, it was instantly hailed as a classic of the literature of science. The Library of Congress listed it, along with “The Federalist Papers” and “The Grapes of Wrath,” as one of the 88 most important American literary works. (The list was later expanded to 100.)
But it was in discerning the double-helix physical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, the chromosome-building molecule and medium of genetic inheritance, that won Dr. Watson and his co-discoverer, Francis H.C. Crick, enduring fame and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.

…

In 2007, Dr. Watson became the second person to have his full genome sequenced. The first was J. Craig Venter, who as president of the Celera Corporation started a human genome sequencing project originally in competition with the government effort. Both men made their genomes available to researchers.
Today, commercial concerns sell sequencing efforts to the public. And the double helix has entered popular culture. Its image has appeared on commercial products ranging from jewelry to perfume and on postage stamps issued by countries as various as Gabon and Monaco. Salvador Dalí incorporated the image in a painting, and the performance artists who make up Blue Man Group use the image in their shows.

John Cleary. You probably don’t recognize the name, but you might recognize the photo:

He was shot and seriously wounded at Kent State on May 4, 1970.

Following the shooting, Mr. Cleary spent weeks in a hospital and then moved back home. He returned to Kent State the following year to resume his studies. After graduating in 1974, he married his college sweetheart, Kathy Bashaw, and they settled near Pittsburgh.

Ed Moloney, historian of the Troubles.

In Mr. Moloney’s 2002 book “A Secret History of the I.R.A.,” he described the long conflict as “a low-intensity war that occasionally exploded into spectacular bursts of violence but more often was characterized by a killing or two a week, deaths that by the end had become so routine that they scarcely merited a headline outside of Ireland.”

I wanted to note his death because of this:

After moving to the Bronx in 2000 to help care for his mother-in-law, Mr. Moloney directed the Belfast Project at Boston College, a collection of audio interviews with paramilitary fighters on both sides of the Troubles conducted by two people, one a loyalist and the other a former I.R.A. volunteer who had served 17 years in prison for murder.
The tapes were to stay sealed until the interview subjects died. Mr. Moloney used interviews with two of them for his 2010 book, “Voices From the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland,” which was adapted into a documentary film of the same name that year.

…

After the British government learned of the archives — which, among other things, implicated Mr. Adams in the McConville killing — it asked the Justice Department, under a mutual assistance legal treaty, to compel Boston College to turn over the tapes.
Under a federal subpoena, 11 of the 200 tapes were turned over in 2013. The college offered to return the tapes to the participants in the project and has done so in some cases, said Jack Dunn, a university spokesman. The archive is closed to the public.

Previously on WCD.

Posted in History, Obits, Science | Comments Closed

Short random gun crankery.

November 7th, 2025

I’ve had this in my back pocket for a couple of days, waiting to use it. As you know, Bob, I am an unabashed and unrepentant Smith and Wesson fanboy.

Honesty compels me to link to this post from the Revolver Guy blog:

“S&W 432 Ultimate Carry Ti Review: No Thanks!”

It is about 5,800 words, but I think you can see where the author is going from the headline.

As I said, most of this article was written before I experienced the big malfunctions. As such, the tenor of the general description of the 432 UC Ti may be at odds with my overarching opinion, which is: I do NOT recommend this revolver for life-and-death purposes. The first one failed within 600-ish rounds. S&W was offered the opportunity to redeem itself, and the second gun failed within 200 rounds.

I actually own one of these revolvers, as well as one of the earlier Lipsey’s Ultimate Carry guns in .38 Special. I haven’t had a chance to go to the range and give them a through workout yet, but my extended Christmas/end of the year vacation is coming soon. I’m also not carrying either until I have a chance to put rounds downrange: for right now, I’m relying on either a Beretta in .25 ACP or one of my old-school J-frames.

Greg Ellifritz also linked to this review in his Weekend Knowledge Dump for this week, and he has some additional comments. I would encourage you to read, not just his comments, but the whole Weekend Knowledge Dump. There’s some additional fun stuff in it: I would also recommend “DesertTech MDRx – Dubious Gun, Horrific Customer Service” and “The Open-Bolt MACs”. Or, as the article by Dr. Dabbs puts it: “The Open-Bolt MACs: The Worst of Absolutely Everything”.

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

Your Friday loser update on Thursday: week 5, 2025.

November 6th, 2025

NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

None.

The Brooklyn Nets were the last team standing. But, sadly, they beat the Pacers last night for their first win.

Both teams are now 1-7, along with the Washington Wizards.

Posted in Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: special dying media edition.

November 4th, 2025

A reliable source has informed me that the NRA is ending publication of Shooting Illustrated and America’s First Freedom. I have not found a link for this, and when I checked the NRA website earlier today, I still had a choice of these magazines with my membership.

The same source also informs me that the NRA is switching to quarterly print publication for American Rifleman and American Hunter. Again, I have no link for this. I’ve checked the NRA’s website and done a lazy Google search. But this is not a person prone to misinformation or falsehood, so I trust them implicitly. If I find a link, I will update here.

I think this is just another example of what Roy Huntington is talking about: the gun, ammo, and gun accessory manufacturers are dropping print advertising in favor of the Internet, and the print market just isn’t sustainable any longer. Of course, nobody’s considered what’s going to happen when the big companies that effectively control the Internet start hating guns again.

Edited to add: link from Bearing Arms, dated October 30th. It doesn’t name the magazines, but my source tells me they are named in the linked Cam and Company interview.

Link from News2A, also dated October 30th.

On a happier note, “Teen Vogue” has snuffed it. More or less.

“Teen Vogue”, the print publication, actually ceased publishing in 2017, but it continued on as a website under the Condé Nast brand until yesterday. Condé Nast is folding the website into the regular “Vogue” website. I’ve seen one report that says 75% of TV’s staff was fired, “including its entire politics team”.

I would be happier about this if they had snuffed regular ‘Vogue”, too, but you take your victories where you find them.

And, finally, Gannett announced today that they are changing the name of the company. The new name? USA Today Company.

Gannett’s name change will take effect on Nov. 18, when the company’s stock will switch to trading under the ticker symbol TDAY on the New York Stock Exchange.

Posted in Guns, Media, Obits | 2 Comments »

Obit watch: November 4, 2025.

November 4th, 2025

Diane Ladd. NYT (archived).

Other credits include “Carnosaur”, “White Lightning”, “Then Came Bronson”, and “The Fugitive”. And the pool of living “Alice” actors gets even smaller.

Former vice president Dick Cheney. WP (archived).

Victor Conte. I’m not sure how many people will remember that name: he was the founder of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), the people who provided “performance enhancing drugs” to various athletes “including baseball stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones”.

The federal government’s investigation…yielded convictions of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Posted in 1970s, Movies, Obits, Politics, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Ice, ice, baby.

November 2nd, 2025

Hugh Freeze out at Auburn. ESPN.

15-19 in “two plus” seasons, 6-16 in the SEC, and they lost to Kentucky yesterday, 10-3. They are 4-5 this season.

And the NYPost is reporting that, with Mr. Freeze’s $15.8 millon buyout, the count is now up to $182 million owed to fired college coaches.

Posted in Firings, Sports | 2 Comments »

Historical note. Parental guidance suggested.

November 1st, 2025

70 years ago today, United Flight 629 (a DC-6B) disintegrated near Longmont, Colorado. There were no survivors among the 44 passengers and crew.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Cops, Explosives, FBI, History, Law, Planes | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

October 31st, 2025

Chris Grier out as general manager of the Miami Dolphins.

The spin on this is that it was by “mutual agreement”. But the Dolphins are 2-7, and lost last night to Baltimore. So…yeah.

ESPN.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Noted.

October 31st, 2025

“50 Years Ago, My Father Wrote the Headline That Refuses to Die” in the NYT.

Is it “Headless Body in Topless Bar”? No, but that does get a shout-out in the article. In this case, it is the other one.

(A tip to headline writers: Avoid commas, semicolons and the word “castigate,” if you want to have impact. The Times’s corresponding headline that day — “Ford, Castigating City, Asserts He’d Veto Federal Bailout; Offers Bankruptcy Bill” — stands as a verbose counterpoint to “Drop Dead.”)

Posted in Media | Comments Closed

Your Friday loser update: week 4, 2025.

October 31st, 2025

NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

Indiana Pacers
Brooklyn Nets
New Orleans Pelicans

And today’s bonus firing for you: Scott Woodward fired as athletic director at Louisiana State University.

As you may recall, LSU fired Brian Kelly and owes him $54 million. This has attracted the ire of many, including Louisiana governor Jeff Landry. Gov. Landry went as far as to state that Mr. Woodward wouldn’t be picking the next football coach.

Additional coverage from ESPN.

On the “Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday, Landry added: “There’s a number of bad contracts that seem to have followed Scott Woodward.”

Posted in Firings, Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

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