Noted SF writer Kate Wilhelm passed away on March 8th.
I genuinely wish I had more to say about this, but I don’t right now.
Obit watch: March 19, 2018.
March 19th, 2018He shoots, he scores!
March 18th, 2018This week was another Half-Price Books coupon week. And I picked up a few things. Most of the books I bought were firearms related, so I thought I’d pull a Lawrence and document some of them here.
Small Arms Profile 17: Smith and Wesson Tip-Up Revolvers. This is a thin little pamphlet dated January 1973, and published by Profile Publications Ltd. in the UK. Profile had at least 17 other books on various types of small arms (including one specifically on ammunition). It also looks like they had separate series for aircraft, cars, and warships: I think they catered, at least in part, to model makers. This had a cover price of $2 US/40p UK in 1973 dollars: sources tell me that’s closer to $20 in 2018 money.
I was a little hesitant to shell out $6 for an 18 page British handgun publication, until I opened the front cover and saw “By Roy G. Jinks”. That’s pretty much a “must buy” flag.
Defensive Pistol Fundamentals by Grant Cunningham. This isn’t particularly rare or hard to find, but I note it here because it is one of KR Training‘s recommended books. $10 with no coupon discount (because I used the coupon for other things), which is inline with Amazon’s new price, but this is pretty much “like new” as well. I don’t feel rooked.
And I’ve written before about how much I like picking up those Firearms Classics books at a steep discount. I added a few more to the collection:
Not from the Firearms Classics library, but a limited edition reprint (#1383 of 1500) from “Wolfe Library Classics”: Big Game Rifles and Cartridges by Elmer Keith. (Originally published by Thomas G. Samworth, much like so many of these other books in my library.) $12 after 40% off coupon.
(Damn. I really ought to pick that up.)
Firearms Curiosa by Lewis Winant. I’ve only had a chance to flip quickly through this since I bought it on Friday, but it looks like a whole lot of fun: there’s an entire chapter, for example, on “Knife Pistols and Cane Guns”. Not a Samworth book, oddly. $6 after 40% off coupon.
Actual Firearms Classics Library reprints of actual Samworth books: With British Snipers to the Reich by “Captain C. Shore” (“a classic hands-on, nuts and bolts, how to sniping book” according to the intro), and Shots Fired In Anger by Lt. Col. John B. George. What I didn’t know, until I flipped through the introduction to Shots, is that these two books complete my quartet of Samworth “war” books (the other two being McBride’s A Rifleman Went to War and Dunlap’s Ordnance Went Up Front). Together, the two of these with one coupon were $22.50: I probably could have gotten away with making three trips instead of just two, but I didn’t want to push my luck. And I’d been looking for a copy of With British Snipers for several months now.
Finally, this is in the Firearms Classics Library, but I think this copy may be a true first (I’m having trouble tracking down bibliographic information):
Experiments of a Handgunner by Walter F. Roper. Roper was a somewhat famous gun guy: among other accomplishments, he designed the N-frame “Target” grip for Smith and Wesson revolvers. Yeah, the dust jacket is pretty badly worn (it has a plastic cover protector). But I’ve never seen a copy of this before – Firearms Classics or otherwise – and it was $12.50 after coupon.
Memo from the police beat.
March 17th, 2018I’m a couple of days behind on these: I plead just sheer being busy.
Three APD officers have been indicted by a grand jury. Two of the officers were involved in a single indicident, and the third in a seperate one.
In the first incident, the two officers responded to a shooting downtown. A group of people were around a guy who’d been shot. Officers ordered everybody onto the ground. One guy walked away and ended up getting Tasered.
The third case involves a prostitution arrest: details on both of these cases are kind of vague. But:
Unrelated, because this took place in Williamson County: a former deputy with the WillCo sheriff’s department has been charged with punching a 12-year-old girl in the face.
…
…
He’d previously been charged with resisting arrest and public intoxication. Now he gets to add “injury to a child” to his collection.
Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody said the unusual nature of the arrest led him to fire Danford last week.
“When you reflect negatively on our department, there’s a price to pay,” he said.
Random notes, mostly legal, March 15, 2018.
March 15th, 2018When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have samurai swords.
In the immortal words of Hank Williams, Jr., it’s just a family tradition.
Interesting #1:
Exonerations caused by official misconduct: 84
Well over half of the people exonerated last year were initially convicted because of official misconduct, such as officers threatening witnesses, analysts falsifying tests or officials withholding evidence that would have cleared the defendant.
No-crime exonerations: 66
In just under half of the exonerations last year, defendants were wrongfully convicted in cases in which no crime was committed. This included more than a dozen drug possession cases, 11 child sex abuse cases and nine murder cases.
On a totally unrelated note, the state of Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains and it’s hard to get drugs for lethal injections, has decided to start using nitrogen gas instead. (Subject to judicial approval.) I’ve seen other folks call for this as being a much more painless and humane alternative to lethal injection, but OK seems to be the closest to actually doing this.
(Yes, I know: “You know what else is a painless and humane alternative to lethal injection? Not executing people.” And yes, that seems especially relevant in light of the previous item. One of these days, I will write that essay for you guys on the death penalty and my complicated feelings about it.)
Herman Bell has been granted parole. Mr. Bell, along with Anthony Bottom and Albert Washington (members of the Black Liberation Army), executed NYPD officers Joseph A. Piagentini and Waverly M. Jones on May 21, 1971.
Mr. Bell has been in prison for 47 years. Mr. Washington is still in prison. Mr. Bottom died in 2000.
Headline:
Claire Foy, Queen on ‘The Crown,’ Was Paid Less Than Her Onscreen Husband
Body:
The show’s producers have promised that, from now on, “Nobody gets paid more than the queen.” Oh, by the way: they’re also recasting the show: the queen will now be played by Olivia Colman.
You know, you would think that Sorkin and company would have worked out all the permissions issues before actually trying to stage the play…
Obit watch: March 15, 2018.
March 15th, 2018For the historical record: Augie Garrido, former UT baseball coach.
Have I really been blogging this long?
March 15th, 2018Folks who have been reading this blog for a long time may remember Laura Hall, or, as I like to call her, “The Happy Hacker”.
For those with poor memories or who haven’t been following along, Ms. Hall is famous for such hits as “help this guy I know cut up and dispose of his girlfriend’s body” and “turn my five year sentence into ten years because I’m such a witch“.
Ms. Hall will be released from prison today.
Even though Hall was convicted in 2007, it took five years of emotional legal wrangling for a Travis County jury to sentence her to 11 years in prison. Her sentence included 10 years for the tampering with evidence conviction and one year for a charge of hindering apprehension — both were served concurrently.
She was also allowed time served, which is why she’s being released Thursday.
She’s served “almost” eight years out of her ten year sentence.
Now he’ll have time to go to Graceland.
March 14th, 2018Tubby Smith out as head basketball coach of the University of Memphis.
He was 40-26 over two seasons. It doesn’t look like this is related to any sort of scandal, unlike some other recent firings. But this is interesting:
…Smith’s dismissal is more related to off-court factors than the on-court product.
Attendance at home games fell to a 48-year low this year. As a result, the athletic department could miss out on an $800,000 payment from the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the school’s lease at FedExForum.
Donations to the athletic department also fell by $1.1 million during the 2016-17 fiscal year thanks in large part to a drop in men’s basketball season ticket sales.
Oh, why not?
March 14th, 2018Happy #PiDay! pic.twitter.com/vNSNgGZzgI
— CIA (@CIA) March 14, 2018
Obit watch: March 14, 2018.
March 14th, 2018I don’t feel like I need to say much more than that, but I like this quote:
Ollie Ollie Ollie get your pink slip here…
March 10th, 2018Kevin Ollie out as men’s basketball coach at the University of Connecticut.
Even better: the university is claiming “just cause” for the firing. Apparently, it’s not just that the team had a non-so-great season, but there’s also a possible recruting scandal simmering.
Possibly more later on.
Another one I missed.
March 8th, 2018Seriously, for the past few days, I’ve had crud oozing out of my eyes and nose continuously. Up until today, I could just barely stand to look at a computer monitor.
But that’s a digression. Remember the Fyre Festival? Wasn’t that a hoot?
…
He told the judge, Naomi Reice Buchwald, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, that he had begun organizing the festival with good intentions but had “greatly underestimated the resources” it would take.
But that’s not fraud. Poor judgment, maybe, but not outright fraud.
Charging documents filed by prosecutors said that Mr. McFarland, 26, had provided investors with false financial reports, including one that listed millions of dollars in talent-booking revenue for Fyre Media. In reality, the documents said, the company had earned only about $57,000 in bookings in the year leading up to the festival.
Mr. McFarland was also charged with showing investors bogus financial documents to claim that he owned more stock than he actually did so that it would appear he was in a position to personally guarantee an investment. And, prosecutors said, he used inflated revenue numbers to induce a ticket vendor to pay $2 million for a block of advance tickets for future festivals.
Oh. That’s different. (And it sounds like this is just what the government claimed: we don’t know what he actually admitted to in his plea.)
My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, Ken White thanks you, and I thank you.
Random.
March 8th, 2018He died doing what he loved: drinking whiskey and complaining about the Oscars.
“Ironically, he was giving his opinion of what someone was wearing that he thought was ugly, then asked (his wife) Patti to refill his whiskey,” Michael Solomon, former chief executive of Tower, said.
He died by the time his wife came back with his drink.
I’m not clear on what was “ironic” about that, and the obit is useless: who was wearing the “ugly” clothes?
Kevin Stallings out as basketball coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers after two seasons.
Obit watch: March 8, 2018.
March 8th, 2018I bet you didn’t know George Gershwin had a son. That’s okay: apparently, George didn’t know either.
I kid a little bit. But this is a long, fascinating, and kind of sad obituary:
Flames, hyenas, etc. (#48)
March 8th, 2018Apologies for being a little behind on these. I’ve been having some issues the past few days and am slowly getting back up to speed.
Hyena number one: Dawnna Dukes got curb-stomped in Tuesday’s primary.
Hyena number two: the mayor of Nashville resigned on Tuesday. This was part of her guilty plea to charges of felony theft.
Nashville isn’t my usual beat, but I’ve been sort of following this story from the edges. In brief: the mayor was having an affair with her “head of security”, and the felony theft charges apparently involve payments for overtime and travel expenses to her partner (who also pled guilty to felony theft charges).
…
One thing I picked up elsewhere: apparently, the plea deals include deferred adjudication. Basically, if Barry and Forrest keep their noses clean (and, I assume, make restitution), they can have the felony conviction expunged from their records.
Open question: what’s going to happen to Forrest’s pension? He retired the day the affair was announced, and was approved for $74,000 a year. But that figure was based, in part, on the overtime payments Forrest collected while he was Barry’s lover…
Edited to add: I got to wondering, and I’m sure all of you were as well. According to this article from 2015, former mayor Barry was not a member of Crooked Mayors For Disarmed Citizens. But it wasn’t for lack of trying:
…
Despite the push among some mayors demanding action on guns, Barry at this point isn’t part of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
…
Mayor’s office press secretary Sean Braisted said Barry has no plans to join Mayors Against Illegal Guns at this time.
Obit watch: March 5, 2018.
March 5th, 2018Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile under four minutes.
One of the things I always wondered: how does a medical student find time to become a record setting runner? Sort of an answer:
And I rather like this quote:
David Ogden Stiers. It is perhaps worth calling out that he was more than Major Charles Emerson Winchester III: he was the announcer in “THX-1138”, Cogsworth the clock in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (and he had other roles in a lot of Disney films), and acted in four of Woody Allen’s movies.
I’m throwing this in so I have an excuse to mention: over the weekend, I caught an episode of “Match Game” with Ms. Swit. She was wearing a very unfortunate yellow and black striped outfit: it made her look like a giant bumblebee.
Sometimes, I miss the 70s. Then I’m reminded of why I shouldn’t.