In great haste, because my lunch is about to end and I’m busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest: former Providence, Rhode Island mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr.
ProJo coverage. I expect I’ll have more to say later.
Obit watch: January 28, 2016.
January 28th, 2016More Marvin.
January 27th, 2016I really like this remembrance of Marvin Minsky by Stephen Wolfram.
Edited to add: By way of Lawrence, Kevin D. Williamson in National Review on Minsky and economics.
Not Minsky, but worth linking to: Hal Linden on Abe Vigoda.
Crime and punishment.
January 27th, 2016The first three paragraphs of this article push one of my hot buttons, so you might take that into account when considering my recommendation.
However, I really like Kathryn Schulz’s “Dead Certainty”, about “Making a Murderer” specifically, and the general trend of reporters conducting their own “extrajudicial investigations”.
Schulz puts her finger on something that’s bugged me for a while. I’m not proud of this, but I used to watch “America’s Most Wanted”. Sometimes, it reminded me of a scene from “Fahrenheit 451”, where Montag is being pursued and the pursuit is broadcast live on television, complete with a host who sounds a lot like John Walsh.
I don’t have a dog in this fight: I didn’t watch “Making a Murderer” and I didn’t listen to “Serial”. But I think what Schulz says is worth thinking about:
Obit watch: January 27, 2016.
January 27th, 2016For the historical record, Abe Vigoda: NYT. A/V Club. abevigoda.com.
I loved “Barney Miller” (and really need to pick up the complete box set when it gets cheap), and I don’t remember being a fan of “Fish”. And I actually saw the Broadway revival of “Arsenic and Old Lace” with Vigoda and Jean Stapleton the last time I was in NYC. That was a lot of fun.
But the one thing that stands out for me when I think about Vigoda is this:
It might be because I saw it again recently, but I think this is an amazing scene. Watch Vigoda’s face, and the range of emotions he goes through: shock, disappointment, resignation, and that heartbreaking last line: “Tom, can you get me off the hook? For old times’ sake?” Who else could have played that scene?
Marvin Minsky.
January 26th, 2016NYT obit. 1981 profile from the New Yorker by Jeremy Bernstein.
Dr. Minsky was another of my personal heroes that I never got to meet. I first read about him in the pages of Hackers, which was a Christmas gift from my mother one year (and about which I’ve written before).
Later on, I got interested in AI, which led me again to Minsky by way of The Society of Mind. (Which, oddly enough, I have also touched on before.)
I wish that I had more to say, but I’m struggling to find words right now. (I blame this mostly on allergies.)
Obit watch: January 25, 2016.
January 25th, 2016I didn’t get a chance to note this over the weekend, but Bill Johnson, downhill skier and Olympic gold medal winner, has died.
I’m not a huge follower of the skiing sports (though I find them fun to watch) but Johnson’s obit is one of the saddest ones I’ve read recently in the NYT.
Henry Worsley has also died. Mr. Worsley was a British explorer who was trying to recreate Ernest Shackleton’s attempt to cross the Antarctic: he was within 30 miles of finishing when he was forced to call for a medical evacuation, and passed away in a hospital a day later.
Obit watch: January 21, 2016.
January 21st, 2016David Hartwell, noted science fiction editor and personality, has died.
SF Signal. Scott Edelman. Lawrence. Kathryn Cramer.
I’ll leave it to others to discuss and dissect his impact on the field. I did not know him well. I was at a few conventions with him, and I think maybe he could have picked me out of a police lineup. But in the limited interactions I had with him, and what I saw of his interactions with others, he came across as one of the nicest people in the world. I think it is fair to say that he was a gentle man, and a gentleman.
The world is a lesser place today.
TMQ Watch: January 19, 2016.
January 20th, 2016How does Gregg Easterbrook deal with the fact that Chip Kelly won’t be returning to college football, but instead will be coaching the Santa Clara San Francisco 49ers?
The answer after the jump in this week’s TMQ…
Obit watch: January 19, 2016.
January 19th, 2016This was a long long time ago, when I was a professional small child.
My family’s primary car was a Chevy Suburban. I don’t remember what year it was (though I know it was purchased used), but I do remember that it had an 8-track tape player. At the time, my sister and I thought that was pretty cool.
One year, for Father’s Day (I think) my sister and I decided to pool our funds and get another 8-track tape for my dad to play in the car. We went down to Foley’s…
(To give you some idea of how long ago this was:
- 8-track tape players and tapes were still a thing.
- Foley’s was still a thing.
- Foley’s still sold recorded music, including 8-track tapes.
)
Anyway, we bought Hotel California on 8-track tape. Really, I am not making this up. I’m pretty sure this was my idea, and that I’d heard the title track on the AM radio.
I’m not sure if my dad actually enjoyed the Eagles, or just tolerated them for the sake of his children. (Speaking of which, this is a swell essay by Ken White, if you haven’t read it.) I do know that we played the crap out of that tape, as it was one of the handful we had. (The only others I remember were a tape of trucking songs – probably from Radio Shack – that included “Wolf Creek Pass”, with the track break right in the middle of the song, and “The Muppet Show” album. To this day, a vital part of my brain is occupied with part of the lyrics to “Lydia the Tattooed Lady”, and “Good grief! The comedian’s a bear!”)
All this is by way of saying: rest in peace, Glenn Frey. A/V Club.
Obit watch: January 17, 2016.
January 17th, 2016Catching up on a few from the past couple of days.
Dan “Grizzly Adams” Haggerty, for the record. NYT. A/V Club.
Both of the times Mike the Musicologist and I have gone up to Tulsa, Haggerty was a “special guest”. I thought about getting an autograph and maybe even a photo with him – if nothing else, as a present for my brother – but somehow, in all our wanderings around the show (and remember, it is a huge show) we never made it past where he and the other guests were sitting. I kind of regret that now…
Noted Austin public radio personality Paul Ray died on Friday. Statesman. KUTX.
Those Darn Episcopalians!
January 15th, 2016Credit on this is due to Lawrence, who sent me a link yesterday. I also mostly stole the title from him.
I’m not Episcopalian (or Anglican) and, while I don’t talk about my religion here, I am fascinated by the way various religions work (or don’t work, as the case may be). The link Lawrence sent me pushed my hot buttons, but to be honest, I had to re-read it a few times before I felt like I understood it.
So the archbishop of Canterbury apparently called a big meeting of the archbishops of the Anglican Communion. As I understand it, the Anglican Communion is sort of the governing body of the Anglican churches. This may be a poor analogy, but it seems like you can think of the archbishop of Canterbury as the Pope of the Anglican church, with the other archbishops sort of being the equivalent of their Catholic counterparts. (But there’s a lot more democracy and fellowship involved.)
In this case, the meeting was of what the church calls “primates”, which (again, if I understand correctly) are basically the archbishops who head up the regional Anglican churches in the Communion.
Results of this meeting leaked out yesterday, and the Primates were forced to issue a beautifully written statement:
Today the Primates agreed how they would walk together in the grace and love of Christ. This agreement acknowledges the significant distance that remains but confirms their unanimous commitment to walk together…
This agreement demonstrates the commitment of all the Primates to continue the life of the Communion with neither victor nor vanquished.
But what did they actually decide?
The Episcopal Church is basically the branch of the Anglicans in the United States. The Communion is stripping them of their ability to participate in decision making, and seems to be saying the American church is not “in full communion”.
Why? What brought this on? Three words: same-sex marriage.
The NYT summarizes these developments.
I’m kind of torn by this, even though I don’t have a dog in the fight. On the one hand, I support same-sex marriage. On the other hand, I also support the rights of churches and individuals to make their own decisions based on their faith. I’d violently oppose any governmental effort to force the Episcopal Church to allow same-sex marriage, but if they reached that decision independently, that’s their choice.
It’s more…curious to me than anything else. I had it in my head that the Anglican Communion, and especially the archbishops of Canterbury, were extremely liberal. If anything, I would have expected the communion to go in the opposite direction and allow same-sex marriage in all the churches.
And I’m wondering if this will cause an even bigger split:
I’d welcome discussion of this here, especially from Anglicans/Episcopalians who want to correct my misunderstandings of the church or doctrine.
Quick notes: January 14, 2016.
January 14th, 2016Obit watch: Lawrence Phillips, former Nebraska running back, first round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams, and current prison inmate.
He was also suspected of having killed a cellmate. His death is believed to have been a suicide.
Well. Chip Kelly is the new coach of the San Francisco 49ers. This should make Gregg Easterbrook’s head explode.
Obit watch: January 14, 2016.
January 14th, 2016I was actually going to embed my favorite Rickman moment here, but the NYT beat me to it.
I’d kind of like to see Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny
TMQ Watch: January 12, 2016.
January 13th, 2016As always, after the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Obit watch: January 13, 2016.
January 13th, 2016William Del Monte passed away on Monday at the age of 109.
Mr. Del Monte was the last known survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.