Peter Shaffer, noted playwright (“Equus”, “Amadeus”).
I’ve never seen “Equus”, either the play or the film; I wouldn’t mind seeing Burton, but I’m also oddly fascinated by the idea of the Nimoy version.
Obit watch: June 6, 2016.
June 6th, 2016It’s not the bullet that kills you…
June 3rd, 2016…it’s an allergic reaction to the sulfa drugs they were giving you to manage infection, this being in the days before modern antibiotics.
At least, that’s what a medical professional of my acquaintance told me yesterday; this is not a theory I had heard previously, but I trust this person implicitly. It seems like the one thing we know about the death of the Kingfish is how little we really do know.
For example, this may not be a bullet hole at all: it may be just “an imperfection in the marble”, according to that NOLA.com article I linked yesterday. I’m not sure I agree with their police work there, Lou. It looks awfully strange to be just an imperfection in the marble. But on the other hand, it also seems to be in a strange spot for a bullet hole. If you’re facing the pillar, I’d say it is roughly at a 270 degree angle from the front, almost around to the back side. Maybe someone trying to hide could have been hit there? Maybe it is a hole, but from a bodyguard’s gun?
Context:
Expanded context:
One more.
June 2nd, 2016I was going to crop and enhance this, but I imported it into Shotwell, took a look at it…and I’m actually kind of happy with the way it came out, unenhanced and uncropped.
Louisiana’s Old State Capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is distinct from the new State Capitol, which is where Huey was actually shot (more on that later) but the gun and bullets on on exhibit in the old one.
Taken with the little Nikon Coolpix S6500.
Random gun geekery.
June 2nd, 2016Also: a historical note, suitable for use in schools.
Taken with the iPhone camera, cropped a little, and enhanced in Shotwell:
I like the use of the word “supposedly” there, but that’s another discussion for when I have more time.
And don’t forget who else used an FN 1910.
A little more context on Weiss, Guerre, and the bullets, along with a lot of the assassination mythology, here.
Musical interlude.
June 1st, 2016Apropos of nothing in particular:
Historical note, suitable for use in schools.
May 31st, 2016Today is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland.
I confess, this would have gotten completely past me. Except Weaponsman has an excellent post up at his blog, keying off this Vimeo animation of the battle. (I haven’t had time to watch the latter yet, but it sounds right up my alley.)
Yes, this is sort of half-assed history, but Weaponsman writes much better than I do, so I’m really doing a public service here by pointing you his way.
(Not historical, but this is also a swell Weaponsman post, and the one that finally got me to add him to my blogroll.)
Things I did not know until now.
May 30th, 2016Robert “Simply Irresistible” Palmer’s favorite author was Jack Vance, at least if Wikipedia is to be believed.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that: I just have a little bit of trouble reconciling a fondness for Jack Vance with Mister “Addicted to Love”. But people are a funny old lot; they’ll surprise you sometimes…
Firings watch.
May 30th, 2016University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido has been “reassigned to a role as special assistant to the athletic director”. Which basically seems to me like a nice way to fire him without actually firing him.
At UT, his teams won two national championships (in 2002 and 2005) and went to the College World Series eight times.
Obit watch: May 27, 2016.
May 29th, 2016Angela Paton, character actress who played Mrs. Lancaster (the innkeepr) in “Groundhog Day”.
Obit watch: May 27, 2016.
May 28th, 2016Angela Paton, character actress who played Mrs. Lancaster (the innkeepr) in “Groundhog Day”.
Obit watch: May 27, 2016.
May 27th, 2016Angela Paton, character actress who played Mrs. Lancaster (the innkeepr) in “Groundhog Day”.
You know what Germany needs?
May 27th, 2016Strict anti-tank rocket launcher control.
I hate to be all WP all the time, but I did want to make note of this too, if for no other reason than: the Baader-Meinhof Gang is back, baby!
Hey hey hey, it’s Fat…Leonard?
May 27th, 2016Leonard Glenn Francis ran Glenn Defense Marine Asia. His company specialized in providing services to US Navy warships (things like fuel, food, water, and sewage disposal) and was quite successful at it.
How did he do this?
…
…
There are claims that over 200 other people are “subjects” of the ongoing investigation.
In December, Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, summoned about 200 admirals to a special gathering in Washington.
Without naming names, he revealed that about 30 of them were under criminal investigation by the Justice Department or ethical scrutiny by the Navy for their connections to Francis, according to two senior Navy officials with direct knowledge of the meeting.
…
Strippers. Always with the strippers. The only thing missing from this story is blow:
“Can u set up some clean, disease free wome[n]when I am there?” Simpkins emailed. A few days later, he added: “Whats the plan to meet up and maybe do some honeys?”
“Honeys and bunnys,” Francis replied, confirming the date.
There’s even a rogue NCIS agent.
Random thought.
May 27th, 2016Is there a use case for a shot timer app for an Apple Watch?
I’m aware of existing ones for the iPhone; I’m just wondering if having the same information, or a subset, available on your wrist – probably linked to your phone – is something that people would find useful?
On the dropping of shoes.
May 26th, 2016I have avoided writing about this for the past few days because there were a lot of rumors and “unconfirmed reports” floating around that claimed to be true, but were denied by the university.
Now I feel like I can write about this, because we finally have an official statement from Baylor University:
Art Briles out as football coach.
Ken Starr out as university president:
Both ESPN and the Statesman report that while Starr is staying on, he will have “no operational duties at the university”.
All of this is fallout from a major scandal: basically, several people, including one Baylor athlete, stated they were sexually assaulted by other athletes (mostly football players, though “a former tennis player is the lone suspect in a sexual assault case that has been active for more than eight months”), and that the university responded badly: