We lost the better part of the day yesterday to jury duty, so we’re late getting this up. We apologize for the convenience.
After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
TMQ Watch: January 13, 2015.
January 15th, 2015Random notes: January 15, 2015.
January 15th, 2015Obit watch: Phil Africa, “a high-ranking member of the Philadelphia-based black-liberation group Move”. You may remember MOVE from the 1985 Philadelphia police stand-off and bombing. Phil Africa was not involved in that, as he was already serving time for killing a police officer in the 1978 shootout.
I’m just going to take a wild guess here and suggest he was wearing body armor because HE DIDN’T WANT TO GET SHOT!
(Oh, and for the record: both the gun and body armor were stolen from a sheriff’s deputy.)
Neat story:
Some more detail here and here. (Interestingly, at the time I’m writing this, that story is the most-read one on the WP website.)
Norts spews.
January 13th, 2015Well. Well well well. Well. Yes, I am happy about Ohio State winning; as my regular readers know, I have ties to the Ohio area.
Since I don’t have cable, I mostly followed the game on FARK until I dozed off after halftime (yesterday was a rough day at work). From what I can tell, it might be a good idea for Ohio State to spend some time in the off season working on HOLDING ON TO THE DAMN BALL!
I don’t have a lot to say about the John Fox “firing” right now, except that I think it will be interesting to see how things play out after the Superb Owl. I may have more to say once this week’s TMQ goes up.
Obit watch: Roy Tarpley, former center for the Dallas Mavericks. As my regular readers know, I’m not a basketball fan, but the Tarpley story is sad and worth noting:
He was suspended by the NBA after five games in the 1989-90 season after being arrested for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. In 1991, he drew another suspension after a second DWI arrest and, a few months later, had a third violation and was banned from the league for violating the NBA’s drug-use policies.
He returned to the Mavericks briefly in 1994 but then was permanently barred in December 1995 for violating terms of his aftercare program.
Obit watch: January 12, 2015.
January 12th, 2015
Obit watch: January 9, 2015.
January 9th, 2015Jethro Pugh, former player for the Dallas Cowboys.
And yes, he did play in the Ice Bowl.
I missed this one, so I’ll direct you over to Lawrence for Lee Israel.
Quote of the day.
January 7th, 2015Technically, tweet of the day, but who’s counting?
#jesuischarlie pic.twitter.com/N99i5QEq0v
— Josh Weinstein (@JElvisWeinstein) January 7, 2015
TMQ Watch: January 6, 2015.
January 7th, 2015Sex! Gambling! After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
The Shipping News.
January 7th, 2015Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Why, indeed, did “The Last Ship” fail (and cost the show’s producers their entire $15 million investment), even though Sting himself joined the cast?
Could this be…a clue?
Obit watch: January 5, 2015.
January 5th, 2015Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945, television personality, and political figure, passed away on December 14th, though her death was not widely reported until today.
“a pernicious confirmation of the values of a morally bankrupt middle class.”
January 2nd, 2015Confession: I have not read all of this yet, but I am linking it here. I think some people will be interested in it.
New Yorker discussion of Michael Moorcock, “The Anti-Tolkien”. The title of this post is a direct quote from Moorcock, as is this:
Obit watch: January 2, 2015.
January 2nd, 2015Not this crap again.
December 31st, 2014…
Because of the quantity of meat stolen, [APD Detective Ricky] Jones said it was a safe assumption that Avery was selling the meat to a restaurant.
“I have yet to know a person who could eat that much meat in that short of a time,” Jones said.
I was going to offer to introduce Detective Jones to Lawrence, but “that much meat”, in this case, is entire shopping carts full. I can honestly say I have never seen Lawrence eat an entire shopping cart full of meat.
When he is successful, Avery would make off with upwards of $900 in meat in each theft, Jones said.
Previously on WCD. When they catch Avery, I will be interested in seeing if APD manages to track down his customers. Granted, it doesn’t seem like this is pants meat, but I’m sure the restaurants in question had no idea how long Avery and company were driving around with their stolen briskets.
Edited to add 1/5/2015: Avery is now in custody. The briskets are safe.
Down to the sea.
December 31st, 2014I hope all my readers are either enjoying a day off, or a quiet day at work if they have to work.
To fill time, I offer this long but fascinating piece from the NYT, “The Wreck of the Kulluk“.
The Kulluk was a drilling rig that Shell bought for use in the Arctic. Things did not go well at first. Then they started going badly. Then things got really bad.
There are times when I think it’d be interesting to become a seaman. Then I read things like this or Wired‘s story about the Cougar Ace and I remember why I didn’t choose that career.
Obit watch: December 31, 2014.
December 31st, 2014I’ve seen coverage of this elsewhere, but I wanted to note it here.
Christine Cavanaugh, noted voice actress, passed away on the 22nd, though her death wasn’t widely reported until yesterday. Her major credits included the voice of “Babe” in the first movie, the voice of Marty Sherman on “The Critic”, and the voice of Dexter in “Dexter’s Laboratory”.
ETA: A/V Club.
TMQ Watch: December 30, 2014.
December 30th, 2014We hope everyone had a good Christmas – or, if you do not celebrate Christmas, a good version of whatever seasonal observance you do celebrate.
In this week’s TMQ, the purge.
No, not that one (though we commend to your attention the “The Purge” episode of “Phil and Lisa Ruin the Movies”), but the annual NFL coaching purge, or as we call it, “Bloody Monday”. After the jump…