More awards.

January 17th, 2013

In addition to the 2013 “stupid statement” and “best article” of the year awards, I think I’m also going to have to set up the Prometheus Memorial Stupid Behavior For A Professional Award this year.

That isn’t original to me; it comes from an article on the A/V Club site. But having seen Prometheus, I like the idea so much I want to take it and run with it.

Before I link to the A/V Club article (credit where credit is due), I want to note that it is from their “Spoiler Space” section and does give spoilers for a movie being released this week. (I’d name the movie, but I think the combination of that and the award name is, in and of itself, a spoiler.) If you don’t give a flying fark, here’s the link.

Posted in Clippings, Movies, Stupid | Comments Closed

Another bookmark.

January 17th, 2013

KInd of literally, in this case. I’ve observed in the past that NYC is one of the few cities where you can find a speciality bookstore for just about anything, and here’s a good example: Chartwell Booksellers, which I learned about from the Freakonomics podcast.

Chartwell is “the only standing bookshop in the world devoted to the writings of Winston Churchill”. And the owner, Barry Singer, also has a book out: Churchill Style: The Art of Being Winston Churchill. I plan to pick that up once conditions improve; and, if I ever make it back to NYC, I intend to visit Chartwell.

(By the way, if you’re interested in either Churchill or copyright law, that episode of Freakonomics is worth a listen.)

Posted in Books, History | Comments Closed

Random notes: January 17, 2013.

January 17th, 2013

In case you were wondering what the local reaction to Obama’s proposals was, the Statesman has your answer. Joe McBride was too busy to talk, and they mangled the name of the guy at Tex-Guns (WCD’s official purveyor of fine weapons, who does not currently have a web site). However, they did get long quotes from Steve Rose at Austin Gun Liquidators, and “Gun owner Michael Lombard of Liberty Hill, who said he voted for Obama twice and would do so again…” (!!!!)

The LAT calls the federal background check system “flawed”. Why?

The system’s main handicap, Obama and gun control advocates say, is that it covers only federally licensed gun dealers, and not private transactions — estimated at 40% of all gun sales.

So that’s not “flawed”, that’s “working by design”. Only licensed dealers can run background checks. I, as a private citizen, have no ability to run a check, even if I wanted to; the federal database is simply not available to me.

Edited to add: Forgot to mention this. “…estimated at 40% of all gun sales”. Estimated by who? (Whom?) The LAT cites that figure, but gives absolutely no source for it. Since private sales are private sales – unreported to the government – how is that figure arrived at? What is the methodology? Without a source, the LAT leaves us no way to evaluate that figure.

Federal agencies are supposed to turn over any relevant records — for instance, names of people who failed drug tests or those judged mentally ill — but most, including the Defense Department, haven’t provided anything.

Wait, wait. Federal agencies aren’t doing what they’re supposed to? Stop the freakin’ presses!

Many more records are under the control of states, but progress in moving them into the NICS system has been slow. Studies have shown that millions of criminal and drug cases are still missing, in large part because of difficulties in making state court data mesh with the federal system. Mental health records have been a particularly thorny obstacle: Because of privacy concerns, confusion and the difficulties in finding and converting paper records, most states have made “little or no progress” in turning those records over to NICS, according to a study last year by the Government Accountability Office.

Unstated, but implied here, is that the problem is also partially an IT problem; how do you interface the computer systems of 50 states, plus DC and US territories, with the Federal databases?

Meanwhile:

On Internet forums there is perhaps no more fiercely discussed topic than the question of what constitutes an assault weapon. And some argue that it would be impossible to come up with a definition comprehensive enough to effectively remove the weapons from the market.

I know this. You know this. People living under rocks know this. But it is nice to see the NYT admit this in print. Of course, the NYT still insists on exaggerating the advantages of pistol grips, folding stocks, “bayonet lugs” (we must stop the drive-by bayonettings!) and “grenade launchers”, but this is a start.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Guns | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: January 15, 2013.

January 16th, 2013

Hey, we’re converging ever closer to doing these on Tuesday again. Frankly, we just forgot last night, and were tied up most of the day today.

Anyway, this week’s TMQ after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Cars, NFL, Politics, Schadenfreude, Sports, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: January 16, 2013.

January 16th, 2013

Nagisa Oshima, noted Japanese film director. NYT. A/V Club.

Oddly enough, I’ve never seen an Oshima film. I have the Criterion In The Realm Of The Senses, but haven’t watched it yet. (It isn’t exactly what I consider movie night fodder.) A high school classmate of mine strongly recommended Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence to me when it was in theaters, but…well…haven’t gotten around to it. Not sure if that’d be movie night fodder, either.

Posted in Clippings, Movies, Obits | Comments Closed

Not all the news is bad.

January 15th, 2013

Travis County Commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to reverse course on a proposal that would have banned gun shows from county facilities.

The county is going to honor the existing contract, which is for nine more shows at the Travis County Exposition and Heritage Center.

“I take very seriously the idea of abiding by the law. State law prevents this court from doing much of anything on this issue,” Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt said.

“I take very seriously the idea of abiding by the law.” That’s a quote for you. But:

…she would like to see gun shows require background checks for all purchases.

That’s nice, Commissioner Eckhardt. I’d like a freaking pony.

Federal law exempts private transactions from having a background check, something licensed sellers are required to do.

That’s the closest the Statesman has come to getting it right in their reporting on this subject.

The county will also meet with the gun show operator, Saxet Gun Shows, about the matter.

So probably if Saxet comes back for a contract renewal, the commissioners will pressure them to agree on a “no sales except through a FFL” provision.

Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe said county staffers would bring any other proposed events at the Expo Center with “unusually high safety risks” for commissioners’ approval. Previously, county staffers would not need to seek commissioners’ approval for events at the Expo Center.

Awesome! Since the county staffers are going to bring “any other proposed events at the Expo Center with ‘unusually high safety risks’ for commissioners’ approval”, I suggest they start with the Republic of Texas biker rally. I mean no offense to Jay G. or any of my other motorcycle riding friends out there: I don’t ride myself right now, but I love you guys. But if we’re talking about “unusually high safety risks”, there were at least three deaths during last year’s ROT rally, and another three the year before. I’d think that qualifies.

Anyway, we’ve won the battle, but the war isn’t over yet. You need to be contacting your Congressperson. I’ve added pages with contact information for the Texas Senate and House delegations. The lovely and talented Erin Palette has pointed out Ruger’s automated letter generator, so you can even do it with a couple of clicks of the bunny. If you have time, though, I recommend you hand compose and either fax or email your rep; most of the sites I visited while I was pulling that list together warned that physical mail is delayed up to two weeks. Anthrax, don’t you know?

If you live outside of Texas, or don’t know who your people are: find your House member here. Find your senators here.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Politics, Travis County | 2 Comments »

Art, damn it, art! watch (#34 in a series)

January 15th, 2013

Once upon a time, a man named Colonel Michael Friedsam, president of the B. Altman retail store chain, died.

The late Col. Friedsam left his extensive art collection to the Brooklyn Museum. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But there’s a catch. Actually, several catches.

Catch one: Col. Friedsam died in 1931. Over the years, the Brooklyn Museum has discovered…well…

… A quarter of the 926 works have turned out to be fakes, misattributions or of poor quality, and the museum potentially faces a hefty bill to store the 229 pieces it no longer wants.

This leads us directly to catch number two: the museum is paying to store stuff it doesn’t particularly want.

The problem of what to do with the unwanted items has arisen as the Brooklyn Museum tries to reclaim gallery space that has long been devoted to storage. When the museum accepted the Friedsam collection in the early 1930s, its sprawling Beaux-Arts building on the edge of Prospect Park had vast spaces to fill. As officials explain in their court filing, the opposite problem now plagues the museum, which at one point had as many as 1.5 million objects, some of them inauthentic, trivial or no longer in keeping with the museum’s mission — like a three battle-axes that came from Mr. Friedsam.

Of course, there are rules and standards on how museums are supposed to store art, so they can’t just shove stuff “willy-nilly into a closet”, as the NYT describes it.

So why don’t they just get rid of the stuff they don’t want? Surely, they can find a buyer, even for the fakes? I’d give them $5 for that Louis XI portrait.

Ah, but that’s catch number three: Col. Friedsam’s will requires that the museum get permission from the executors of his estate before they “deaccession” items. And the last executor died in 1962. The museum is working with the courts on this problem, but:

Noting that the will specified that the art should go to the colonel’s brother-in-law and two friends if the collection were not kept together, Judge Nora Anderson told the museum in December 2011 that it must search for these three men’s descendants before she would rule.

Left unclear in the article: why it took 80 years for the museum to figure out it was stuck with a bunch of crap. Or, alternatively, why there’s a crap crisis now.

Posted in Art, Clippings | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

January 15th, 2013

This one goes out to Erin Palette at Lurking Rhythmically, as a possible response to her German citizen:

Posted in Guns | Comments Closed

Random notes: January 15, 2013.

January 15th, 2013

Well. It is starting to look like I was…wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong! Sorry, folks. I need some more time to process this, and may have more to say after Thursday.

The HouChron has totally lost their stuff over the existence of Houston Armory. Houston Armory, which is actually located in Stafford, advertises itself as the largest Class 3 dealer in Texas, and sells things like twin .50 caliber machine guns for a mere $75,000, or a fully-automatic 12 gauge shotgun for $150,000.

Requirements are about the same as buying a regular gun. Owners generally cannot be felons, must be a U.S. citizen or legally residing in the United States and must promise to keep the gun properly secured.

The HouChron is lying here, and they know they’re lying. The $200 transfer tax was mentioned previously in the article; in the following two paragraphs, they also mention the “six month waiting period” for the application to be processed, and the requirement for a signature from the “chief law enforcement officer” of the owner’s locality. The HouChron totally omits the requirement for a photograph and fingerprints of the owner. So much for “about the same as a regular gun”.

Authorities have witnessed the wrath of machine guns in the wrong hands. In an especially infamous 1997 attempt to rob a bank in North Hollywood, Calif., two men in full body armor sprayed bullets at police while using illegal machine guns.

Note the phrase “illegal machine guns”. Specifically, note the word “illegal“. Previously in the same article:

Despite the discomfort some might have over private citizens owning guns that were made for soldiers, law enforcement authorities say they can’t point to a specific instance in which a legally registered machine gun was used by a private citizen to commit a violent crime. [Emphasis added – DB]

Another tag I don’t get to use as much as I would like: the Humboldt squid are swarming in California.

One night last week, about 15 anglers reeled in about 340 squid within about an hour near Dana Point, said Rob Armes of Davey’s Locker Sportfishing and Whale Watching.
The only reason they didn’t catch more was that they didn’t have enough anglers.
“If we’d had 40 or 50 people, we’d have gotten 800 to 900 squid,” Armes said. “They were floating all around the boat. They were jumping. They were everywhere.”

There’s no specific bag limit for the Humboldt squid, but apparently California has a “general invertebrate bag limit of 35”.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Sports, Squid | Comments Closed

Insert Trojans joke here.

January 14th, 2013

Been busy all afternoon, first chance I’ve had to blog, but still ahead of FARK:

The University of Southern California has fired men’s basketball coach Kevin O’Neill.

O’Neill was 48-65 overall at USC (this was his fourth season there), and 7-10 so far this season.

(I don’t think any other major college basketball coaches have been axed yet this season. Am I wrong? Tell me in comments.)

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

You don’t say.

January 14th, 2013

Nearly 80,000 Americans were denied guns in 2010, according to Justice Department data, because they lied or provided inaccurate information about their criminal histories on background-check forms. Yet only 44 of those people were charged with a crime.

I come up with a figure of 0.055 percent.

In a memorandum provided to the administration, [Mayors Against Illegal Guns] suggested that “armed career criminals who have at least three prior violent felonies and/or serious drug offenses and would qualify for a mandatory sentence of 7 to 15 years” should be prosecuted if they lie on background-check forms. The group said that it provided a similar recommendation to the Obama administration in 2009.

Is it possible that Criminal Mayors Against Guns and other parties are starting to realize that we have plenty of gun regulation already, and one of the problems is that people who violate the laws frequently aren’t prosecuted?

(Remember the WP series “The Hidden Life of Guns“? Remember the WP pointing out that “straw purchasers” and other people who lie to purchase guns are rarely prosecuted? More to the point, does the WP remember?)

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Obit watch: January 14, 2013.

January 14th, 2013

Steven Utley, Texas SF writer.

Tributes from Lawrence here and here. Tribute from Rick Klaw here.

Posted in Books, Obits, SF | Comments Closed

Another bookmark.

January 13th, 2013

Even though it has one strike against it (being written by A.G. “a vegetarian at Arthur Bryant’s” Sulzberger), and even though FARK linked it, I still wanted to tag this article:

Two Men, One Sky: A Flight to the Finish.

Or, the true story of two guys who took off from Zapata, Texas one morning last July in an attempt to set the world record for flying the longest distance…in a hang glider. One of them flew 472 miles in 11 hours (the previous longest flight was 438 miles). And the other one? I’m not going to spoil it for you.

Posted in 2013, Clippings, Planes, Reading list | Comments Closed

Bookmarks.

January 12th, 2013

A couple of things I want to bookmark here, even though they’ve been all over the web, for two reasons:

  1. I want to get more serious about doing a “best articles” of the year for 2013, assuming we’re all still here at the end of 2013.
  2. I want to bookmark these for future reference.

These are mostly bookmarks for myself, so the rest of you can ignore this post if you’d like.

So:

“Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie“, the absolutely crazy account of what happens when Paul Schrader, Lindsay Lohan, Bret Easton Ellis, and a porn star try to make a low-budget, funded on Kickstarter, movie. Hilarity ensues.

Also: “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek“. This is supposed to be an amazing use of interactive media to tell a story, and it is the kind of story that’s right up my alley; I just have not gotten around to going through it yet.

This isn’t really an “article of the year” candidate, but I wanted to point it out and bookmark it for future reference: “The Minimum Viable Kitchen“, or how to cook great food for an investment of under $1,000 in tools. I wouldn’t take this as gospel: while my two favorite kitchen knives are both Victorinox (and I should probably add that paring knife to the battery), I’ve heard some pretty negative things about the accessories for the Kitchenaid mixers. So take this with a grain of salt and do some hands-on work before making a major purchase (or even a minor one: Blood Bath and Beyond should let you fondle that Oxo whisk for a while before you buy it).

Posted in 2013, Clippings, Food, Reading list | Comments Closed

!Crazy for the law.

January 12th, 2013

Another update: I have previously written about Carolyn Barnes, who was accused of shooting at a census worker, ruled incompetent to stand trial, sent to the state hospital, and continued to practice law while maintaining that she was sane.

Well, she found a judge who agrees with her. Yesterday, she was ruled competent to stand trial. The judge ordered her release from the state hospital to the county jail, and set an early April trial date. He also set a bail of $30,000 and:

…ordered Barnes to wear a GPS monitor if she made bail — a prospect Barnes said would be difficult.
While she has been detained at the hospital, she said, her house has been vandalized and she has no remaining assets.

The “no remaining assets” part is also worth a little focus here. You see, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the people who run the state hospitals, tries to

…collect treatment fees from mentally ill patients ordered into the hospitals by judges until they are ready to stand trial. Critics compared the practice to dunning incarcerated prisoners for their room and board.

According to the Statesman, Ms. Barnes was being charged $509 a day, and has been invoiced for “more than $100,000”.

If I were to fly out to New York City next Tuesday and stay for a week, I could get what seems like a pretty nice hotel room for around $350 a night – possibly less than $300. Subtracting that from the $509 a day Ms. Barnes was being billed leaves me with $150 to $200 a day for food, which even by NYC standards sounds fair: get a couple of bagels with lox spread for breakfast, maybe grab a dog from a street vendor for lunch, and you’ve still got enough money to eat someplace decent to fairly nice for dinner. Of course, I’m not including the cost of medication in my calculations, but there’s also no mention in the articles I’ve seen that Ms. Barnes was getting medication, or that medication was included in her bill.

Posted in Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

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