New York has finally taken the Off-Track Betting Corporation out behind the barn and shot it.
I know what you’re asking yourself: “Gee, I wonder what Jesus Leonardo is going to do?” For those who may not recall, Mr. Leonardo was profiled in the NYT last year; he’s a “stooper”, someone who picks up discarded tickets and cashes in the winners. Somehow, he’s able to make a claimed $45,000 a year off of this activity.
“What the f**k does that mean?”
–John Gruber @ Daring Fireball
John:
It’s okay. Everyone has that reaction when reading Rob Enderle. Why don’t you sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and read something soothing, like the works of H.L. Mencken?
(Speaking of taking a stress pill, I would not be upset to find one of these in my stocking on Christmas morning.)
(Speaking of the works of H.L. Mencken, I am reminded that I need to add Prejudices: The Complete Series
What’s in store for us in this week’s exciting TMQ column? Let’s take the shiny wrapping paper off and see, shall we? (As a side note, at least TMQ doesn’t have a giant bow on the top. Speaking of which, has Lexus stopped doing the “December to Remember” commercials? I haven’t seen one this year. Kia, yes; Lexus, no. Wonder what that says about the economy. But I digress.)
Daring Fireball links to two pieces: one arguing that information wants to be free, and the other (the Wikipedia entry on Stewart Brand) arguing that information also wants to be expensive.
I think it is time to set the record straight: information doesn’t want anything. Information is an inanimate good; it has no wants and no desires. People may want information to be free, or expensive, but information itself wants nothing.
Don’t anthropomorphize inanimate objects. They hate it when you do that.
Edited to add: Lawrence points out that I didn’t mention the Pathetic fallacy. Good catch.
What ever happened to the very first commercial 747, Pan Am’s Juan T. Trippe? (Note the phrasing; the actual first 747 was only used for test flights, and is now in the Museum of Flight.)
The LAT has the answer; it became a (now closed) restaurant in South Korea. The couple who bought the plane paid $1 million for it, and “$100,000 plus” to have it dismantled and shipped; the LAT does not give a cost figure for the reassembly.
The LAT also does not tell us what kind of food the restaurant served; rumors that it was Seoul food are unconfirmed.
Nice to know that people in other countries make the same mistakes opening restaurants as people in the U.S.
Josh McDaniels. No longer a Bronco, perhaps still a gentleman.
Or does Tony Dungy look like NBC Sports should be paying him in gold-pressed latinum?
The Statesman is reporting that two UT football coaches (offensive line coach Mac McWhorter and defensive line coach Mike Tolleson) are retiring, and offensive coordinator Greg Davis has resigned.
The Statesman is also reporting that Greg Davis states he has not resigned, that he says he’s still in discussions with Mack Brown, and that he expects those discussions to resume on Wednesday.
Since I previously declared jihad against the bubblegum martini, I’m sure my readers expect me to declare jihad against the McNuggetini as well.
Indeed, I would, if I believed such a thing existed. However, I refuse to believe in the existence of the McNuggetini; I believe this is an elaborate prank, much like Ken’s post over at Popehat on the non-existent E! show “Bridalplasty“.
Don “Dandy Don” Meredith, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and one of my all time favorite members of the Monday Night Football broadcast team, has passed away.
As Don himself would say, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over…”
APD SWAT team member rolls his unmarked car. Officer arrested for DWI.
Somehow I have a feeling even the arbitrator isn’t going to get him out of this one.
Ken over at Popehat has a good post up about his advice to a young lawyer arguing his first case.
Reading over it, it struck me that his advice could be pretty well generalized for everyone, not just lawyers:
Add Wheaton’s Rule to that list, and it strikes me as being a pretty good way to lead your life. Or to lead other people.
Celebration, Florida, the Walt Disney Company master-planned community, had their first murder over Thanksgiving weekend, and a police standoff last night that ended in a suicide. (The police standoff and the murder were apparently unrelated.)
Jason Kottke has a link up to Give Me Something To Read’s Best of 2010 list.
I was previously unaware of “Give Me Something To Read“, which looks like an interesting attempt to combine two things; a regular blog of interesting articles, and a way to send links to those articles to a mobile device for later reading.
I have my qualms about the list itself, specifically the number of articles from The Atlantic and Mother Jones. But there are a couple of pieces on it that interest me; Jon “Them
(Regular readers of WCD know that neuroscience in general is one of my interests, and the Molaison story in particular fascinates me.)