Whipped Cream Difficulties

NRA annual meeting: a collection of random photos of varying quality.

April 20th, 2026

You can’t buy firearms at the NRA annual meeting, so I had to leave the gun.

But: I did take the cannoli.

(Yes, I do realize that was a long way to go for a joke. But the setup was right in front of me, and I had to take advantage of it.)

It is Jerry‘s world. I just live in it.

I thought this was quite interesting. It is a CZ-75, but it is part of a special edition CZ is doing to honor the Czech fighter squadrons that fought alongside the RAF in WWII. The styling is “influenced” by the Spitfire. Below is a photo of the explanation from CZ’s display, which covers it in more detail: click to embiggen, and I hope you can read it.

I have no idea how much they will sell for, but I admit to being mildly tempted.

Edited to add 4/21: CZ’s page on the CZ 75 RAF, with many much better photos.

Staplerfahrer Klaus, call your office, please.

I guess if you need this, you need it.

This commemorative Barrett is actually much more tasteful than I expected. I’m sorry I don’t have a photo of the other America 250 commemorative, but there was a huge clot of people in front of it, and I wasn’t about shoving people out of the way.

This didn’t come out as well as I would have liked, but I wanted to immortalize it for “Ohio At War!”.

Total distance walked yesterday: 3.3 miles.

I plan to post more, but I’m going to be busy tonight and tomorrow night. It may be Wednesday before I’m able to do a more comprehensive post. Which will include some gun book blogging. Yes, I got a deal in Houston, though not at the show.

Posted in Guns, History, NRA, NRAAM, Photography, Planes | No Comments »

NRA annual meeting: day 2.

April 19th, 2026

Miles walked yesterday: 3.1.

I’m sorry I didn’t blog last night, but we got back from dinner fairly late, and I was so knackered I pretty much went straight to bed. I am getting too old for this (stuff). (My birthday is tomorrow.)

I did end up seeing everything yesterday, or at least I’m pretty sure I did. It seems like a smaller, more subdued show this year.

Number of protestors seen or heard: zero.

We had a great conversation with the folks behind Lox and Loaded, “A Jewish Owned and Operated Shooting Club”. I am not, of course, Jewish, but I support my Jewish brothers and sisters, and I think more Jews (and others) shooting is a great thing.

These same people also make a waterless hand cleaner, Tactical Grit, which they claim is highly effective at getting lead off your hands after shooting. Three of us bought some, so look for reports on that to come.

I bought a couple of shirts. Including a Hawaiian shirt…from Trijicon. After action report to come.

We had a chance to talk to folks at Ruger, and got answers to two burning questions: they are ramping up production of .22 Creedmor rifles. (We saw some in the retail channel around Christmas, but were told they were a special run for a distributor.) And they are planning to produce more left-handed guns, but would not promise a .22 Creedmor in left. “If the demand is there…” was the way they put it.

I hope to be able to post more later. If not tonight, over the next few days. Though Monday is mostly going to be a travel day.

Posted in Clothing, Guns, NRA, NRAAM, Religion, Ruger, Shirts | No Comments »

NRA Annual Meeting: day 1.

April 17th, 2026

Miles walked today: 4.1.

I got my press credentials with almost no trouble. (They couldn’t find my name at first, but that was resolved with a quick phone call.) I would provide you with a photo but…they’re the same credentials I’ve been given every year. Seriously, NRA, you could at least think about changing the color of the badge holder from green to, maybe, red? Then again, they may have a big investment in those green ones and a whole warehouse full.

I got kind of a late start, but in spite of that, I think I managed to cover about 2/3rds of the show, and I expect to finish the rest fairly early tomorrow. That should give me time to revisit some places where folks I wanted to talk to were tied up.

I had a great conversation with Andy of Andy’s Leather. He makes awesome rifle slings, and I’ve bought four of them. We commiserated over our addiction to Scout rifles…

…and Andy told me that Hi-Lux makes a Scout scope that he’s been very satisfied with. So I went over there, chatted with them a little bit, and got a catalog. I also checked out their scope: seems pretty nice. (I bring this up because most manufacturers, including Leopold, have discontinued their long eye relief scopes. Only Burris, BSA, and Vortex, in addition to Hi-Lux, seem to make any kind of long eye relief scope.)

I also had a good conversation with someone at the Wolfe Publishing both, mostly concerning my praise for Terry Wieland. Turns out, Mr. Wieland was actually there at the time, but he was talking to another person, so I didn’t get to say hello. Maybe tomorrow.

Likewise, I went by the Hornady booth, but the podcast people were talking to others. Maybe tomorrow.

I did make it by the WACA and S&WCA displays, both of which are very nice. Many of my friends from the Association are here, and I’m looking forward to talking more with them before the weekend is over.

And speaking of S&W, a close family member texted me tonight and asked me to tell the S&W corporate people how much she loves the Bodyguard 2.0 she got as a birthday present last year. She had a Bodyguard 1.0 and hated the trigger pull on it: the difference between 1.0 and 2.0 is night and day for her. She loves it. So I’m putting this here in case I forget to share this feedback with S&W’s team.

GruBee was also there with their excellent rifle scopes (though they were sharing the booth with Ranch Products, purveyor of fine moon clips to a grateful public). The owner mentioned to me while we were talking (I have a GruBee scope on a Browning SA-22, I love it, and I told him so) that he’s looking to retire and is talking with another large company about selling the business to them, as he (and I) think it is a perfect fit for their products. I hope this goes through.

Gun Owners of America had a cocktail mixer at Collector’s Firearms tonight. Two of the people I’m down here with are big GOA fans, and they talked the rest of us into going. So we went…and of my little group of five, two them won raffle prizes. (One was a interesting decanter set, the other was a package with the S&W 2nd Amendment bourbon and some cigars.) Sadly, we did not win the big prize, which was a SIG pistol. Not that I’m complaining.

I have more I want to write about, but I want to save something for tomorrow. I plan to be here until the show ends on Sunday, and then head back to Austin sometime on Monday.

Edited to add: Oh, I did end up buying a gun, but on the 16th, not the 15th. I personally give people a little leeway around the April 15th date, but that’s up to y’all.

What did I get? Well, one of my friends who is here with me had two S&W Shield Pluses in .30 Super Carry…so I took one off his hands. Yes. Seriously. I am not making this up. I bought a gun in .30 Super Carry. Why? Well, you know I’m fond of oddball calibers…

Hey, at least I haven’t bought anything in ~~6.8×51~~ .277 Furry. Yet. Though Sig is here.

And speaking of Sig, they had a Sig Cross at their booth…chambered in .22 Creedmoor. My .30 Super Carry friend wants one, but Sig says they aren’t in the retail channel yet. “Real soon now.”

Posted in Guns, NRA, NRAAM, Smith and Wesson | No Comments »

Happy Buy A Gun Day!

April 15th, 2026

Feel free to post about your purchases here, if you wish. You can remain monogamous if you’d like.

What did I get?

Nothing. I went out on Saturday, but there was nothing that really spoke to me. I think this year, it will be accessories and ammo for the guns I’ve already bought.

(And my birthday pricing from Midway USA has kicked in! Hurrah!)

Specifically, and by my count, I need at least two scout rife scopes and one pistol scope. Possibly a second pistol scope, or a dot/magnifier combo (if it will fit on that pistol).

Tomorrow, I head out for the NRA Annual Meeting. I’ve already received approval for my press credentials, and (assuming there are no problems at pick up) I will be covering the meeting for you, my loyal readers, as a member of the working press. Reports will come as time permits.

Posted in Guns, NRA, NRAAM | 4 Comments »

Obit watch: April 14, 2026.

April 14th, 2026

Sid Krofft. THR.

The shows could feel hallucinogenic, and many older viewers read drug references into them that the Kroffts maintained were not intentional. (Titles like “Pufnstuf” did not make that argument more believable.)
“If we did the drugs that we’ve been accused of doing all these years, we wouldn’t be here answering your questions,” Mr. Krofft said in an interview with The Washington Post in 2009.

Lawrence sent over an obit for noted SF writer Ian Watson. I don’t have much to add to this, as I have not seen this reported elsewhere.

Valerie Lee. She was one of the children who played Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz”. It gets a little confusing, at least for me, but as best as I understand it: they recruited some child actors to play adult Munchkins alongside the actual little people in “Oz”.

About a dozen children of average height were hired so they could be used for background fill. Sources differ on the number of children used for these roles ranging anywhere from 10 to 12. The names used for the women are maiden names with known aliases present in italics and quotation marks.

According to Cox, Priscilla Montgomery Clark, 96, another child Munchkin, is the last surviving person to have appeared in The Wizard of Oz.

John Nolan, actor. Other credits include “The Sweeney”, “The Prisoner”, and “Return of the Saint”.

Posted in 1970s, Books, Movies, Obits, Theatre, TV | No Comments »

Noted.

April 11th, 2026

Today is the 40th anniversary of the FBI Miami gunfight.

Mike Wood has a good piece up at the RevolverGuy blog. I have heard through the grapevine that he’s working on a book about the incident, but I haven’t confirmed that directly with him. I still recommend Edmundo Mireles’s FBI Miami Firefight: Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau as the best current reference on the subject, followed by Massad Ayoob’s Ayoob Files 1985-2011 collection (which includes multiple columns about the gunfight).

(Previously.)

In other, more cheerful news, DACK Outdoors has shut down and is planning to file for bankruptcy. I never dealt with them, because Mike the Musicologist did, and they tried to screw him over. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Posted in Books, Cops, FBI, Guns, Heroism, History | No Comments »

Obit watch: April 10, 2026.

April 10th, 2026

Afrika Bambaataa, early rap/hip-hop guy. (Edited to add: NYT (archived). This wasn’t working for me earlier today.)

(I actually asked ChatGPT to explain the difference between rap and hip-hop to me last night. I don’t trust the results.)

By way of Lawrence: Thomas Tessier, horror writer.

Jim Whittaker. He was the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

On May 1, 1963, a decade after Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest, and at a time when fewer than 10 people were known to have matched that feat, Mr. Whittaker set out into a storm with his climbing partner, Nawang Gombu, a Sherpa guide.
The conditions on the South Col of Everest were less than ideal for a summit push, but Mr. Whittaker did not hesitate.
“You always start up,” he told The Seattle Times in 2013. “Because you can always turn around.”
Mr. Whittaker became the first American to top Everest at about 1 p.m. local time on May 1. He and Mr. Gombu were the 10th and 11th climbers known to have gotten there and part of the only expedition to reach the summit that season.

Posted in Music, Obits | No Comments »

Well! Isn’t THAT special?

April 10th, 2026

No, seriously, this is damned special.

Eleven years ago, my great and good friend (and award-winning SF writer) Pat Cadigan was diagnosed with recurrent endometrial cancer. If you look that up, the prognosis sucks.

That was eleven years ago.

Yesterday, her oncologist told her she was cancer free.

Which is the most awesome thing ever in the history of awesome. This is the kind of thing that would make me want to go out in the backyard and fire off a full magazine from my AK-47 (with the shoulder thing that goes up) in celebration, except I think that would hurt Pat’s feelings.

It’s nice to know that Pat’s going to live forever: I figure at this point, she’s frightened Death enough that she, and anybody geographically close to her, is probably safe from the Grim Reaper.

Posted in Admin | No Comments »

Jesus Christ and Saint Peter were unavailable for comment.

April 9th, 2026

Chicago’s American League team will give fans who purchase special tickets to their Aug. 11 game against the Reds a White Sox-themed pope hat in honor of Chicago native and White Sox fan, Pope Leo XIV.

For the record, I did ask Ken White if he had any comment, but he had not responded by the time I posted. If he does respond, I will update here.

Posted in Religion, Sports | 1 Comment »

One week.

April 8th, 2026

National Buy a Gun Day is one week away!

Am I going to buy anything this year?

Well…Provident Arms has a used gun that tempts me. If I make it out there on Saturday, and it is still there, I may think about it. Sportman’s Finest also has something that I’ve been thinking about, and which seems like a real bargain. But it’s kind of big and heavy relative to the caliber, and I’m going back and forth on it.

Also, I’ve bought more than a few guns recently. You never know what’s going to show up when you actually get to the store, but I may skip BAG Day this year to concentrate on accessories, ammo, and other things.

Speaking of ammo, and taking off from Angus McThag:

.356 TSW: none available at Midway.¹

9mm Makarov: seven loadings listed, one in stock (Buffalo Bore 95 grain JHP), one out of stock, backorder okay (Fiocchi 95 grain FMJ), all others out of stock.

.221 Fireball: six loadings listed, three in stock, three “coming soon” (all from HSM).

.220 Swift: seven loadings listed, five in stock, two out of stock.

1. I have a birthday tradition of buying a box of .356 TSW from Midway every year. No, I don’t have anything in .356 TSW: yet.

Posted in Guns | No Comments »

Firings IV: Electric Boogalo!

April 8th, 2026

This is a little outside of my normal coverage, but it amuses me: Jeff Shell out as president of Paramount. NYT (archived).

In a statement, Paramount’s board of directors said that Shell is stepping down as president of the company and from the board “to focus on this lawsuit” brought by high-stakes gambler RJ Cipriani, the man who made claims against him.
Shell had been facing an internal investigation after the notorious gambler and whistleblower alleged that he disclosed non-public information about the company.

…

[Shell] also previously served as CEO of NBCUniversal, but was let go after claims of harassment were made by a former CNBC anchor. One source said that the public scrutiny he faced played a role in the decision to step aside imminently.

Posted in Firings | No Comments »

Even more firings!

April 7th, 2026

Tom Fitzgerald out as general manager of the New Jersey Devils.

Although the Devils (40-34-3) entered Monday still mathematically eligible for the playoffs, they were seven points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with five games left.

The way I read the ESPN article, they actually started out okay this season. But they lost a key player (Jack Hughes) to a “freak hand injury in mid-November that kept him out for 18 games”.

Missing Hughes was only the beginning, with the Devils losing five straight to end November and begin December. It was the first of four separate four-game losing streaks that made it difficult for them to attain consistency in a challenging Eastern Conference landscape.

Posted in Firings, Sports | No Comments »

More firings!

April 6th, 2026

Shortly after my previous post, word came out: the Chicago Bulls have fired general manager Marc Eversley and “executive vice president of basketball operations” Arturas Karnisovas. Tribune. Sun Times. ESPN.

Karnisovas and Eversley were hired to run the Bulls front office at the start of the 2020-21 season and went 224-254 across six seasons. Chicago achieved only one wining season under Karnisovas’ leadership, in 2021-22, which is also the only year the team made the playoffs — a five-game, first-round exit to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022.

…

At the trade deadline, Chicago flipped over a large portion of its roster, dealing away seven players, including fan favorites such as Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu in an effort, as Karnisovas deemed it, “to get out of the middle.” But Chicago’s deadline moves did not dramatically improve their lottery odds or gain any pieces the team sees as part of its future, sources told ESPN. One of the players the Bulls acquired, Jaden Ivey, was dismissed last week after several social media posts ranging on topics including religion, anti-gay sentiments and depression.

Posted in Firings, Sports | No Comments »

Firings watch.

April 6th, 2026

Patrick Roy out as coach of the New York Islanders.

The Islanders have lost four in a row and seven of their past 10 games, going from comfortably in a playoff spot to needing help down the stretch in a competitive Eastern Conference race.

Amaka Agugua-Hamilton out as head coach of the University of Virginia women’s basketball team.

This is mildly interesting: UVA got as far as the women’s sweet 16 this year.

Agugua-Hamilton led the Cavaliers to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. She went 70-58, including a 29-42 mark in ACC play.
Virginia became the first double-digit seed to reach the regional semifinals since 2022 and pulled off the upset of the tournament, knocking off No. 2 seed Iowa on the road in double overtime in the second round.
It became the first First Four team to advance this far, before falling to TCU.

But: the backstory seems to be that she “created an environment where her support staff had feared for their jobs due to abusive behavior towards them and threats to fire them”.

Virginia sports reporter Jerry Ratcliffe reported, following the announcement, that the entire women’s basketball team, except for two players, had been preparing to enter the transfer portal.

Posted in Firings, Sports | No Comments »

Happy April Fool’s Day!

April 1st, 2026

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives quietly published a new guidance document Tuesday morning titled Clarification of Terms Related to Firearms, Firearm Accessories, Firearm Components, Firearm-Adjacent Items, and Other Items Which May or May Not Be Firearms Depending on Circumstances and Configurations, and before you ask, yes, that’s the actual title.

…

Page 39 introduces the concept of a “firearm-adjacent device,” which the document declines to define, but notes that such devices “may be subject to future rulemaking.”
The document also helpfully clarifies that forced reset triggers are not machine guns, except when they are.

My brother sent this over. It is an oldie, but a good one.

By way of Revolver Guy, the NAA Plug:

The NAA Plug is built around a detachable, AR-style pistol grip that’s been modified to accept the small, single-action rimfire when it’s folded into a recess in the front strap of the grip.

I can’t tell if this is an April Fool’s joke or not: Smith and Wesson is giving away third-generation autopistols. (Explained.)

Not gun related, but I do find today’s XKCD kind of clever, if theologically unsound. (Who would be there to ask for dark mode support? Humanity wasn’t created until the sixth day.)

Posted in Guns, Religion, Smith and Wesson | No Comments »

Your loser update: April 1, 2026.

April 1st, 2026

MLB teams that have a chance to go 0-162:

None.

There are currently five 1-4 teams (and one 1-3 team) as I write this:

Boston
Minnesota
White Sox
City Unknown Athletics
Colorado
San Diego

Is there any team likely to set a new record this year? Reply hazy, ask again later. I feel like it is too early in the season. But right now, I’m watching Colorado and the White Sox.

Posted in Loser, Sports | No Comments »

Obit watch: March 30, 2026.

March 30th, 2026

Dr. Henry C. Lee, forensic scientist. He may have been most famous for testifying at the OJ trial.

Dr. Lee testified for the defense, saying that there was “something wrong” with the way the Los Angeles Police Department had handled the blood that was collected as evidence.
His testimony supported the defense team’s suggestion that the evidence could have been tampered with and that officers might have planted Mr. Simpson’s blood at the crime scene.

…

In the mid-1980s, in the so-called preppy murder case, Dr. Lee was hired by the team defending Robert E. Chambers Jr., who was accused of murdering Jennifer Levin in Central Park. Dr. Lee was never called to testify because he told Mr. Chambers’s lawyer, Jack Litman, that his client was “guilty as hell.” Mr. Chambers pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1988.

…

In 2007, the judge in the murder trial of Mr. Spector ruled that Dr. Lee, a consultant for the defense, had removed something from the crime scene and hidden it from the prosecution.
Prosecutors contended that it was a piece of fingernail that would have shown that the actress Lana Clarkson had resisted having a gun placed in her mouth before being shot at Mr. Spector’s California home. The defense claimed that she had shot herself.
The judge did not hold Dr. Lee in contempt, and Dr. Lee denied taking anything from the crime scene. After the first trial ended in a hung jury, Mr. Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009.
In 2023, Connecticut’s attorney general agreed to a $25 million settlement with two men who had spent three decades in jail after being convicted of murder. Those convictions, which were overturned in 2020, had been based in part on testimony by Dr. Lee regarding the supposed presence of blood on a towel. A federal judge ruled that Dr. Lee had fabricated the evidence, saying that there was no corroboration that he had conducted any blood tests on the towel.
Dr. Lee defended himself in a statement, saying, “I have no motive nor reason to fabricate evidence.”

Mary Beth Hurt. Other credits include “Law & Order”, “Law & Order:SVU”, and “Lady in the Water”.

James Tolkan. Other credits include “They Might Be Giants”, “Bone Tomahawk”, “Serpico”, “Prince of the City”, and “The Hat Squad”.

Letizia Mowinckel, historical footnote. She bought clothes for Jacqueline Kennedy.

Impressed by her friend’s style and thrift, Mrs. Kennedy enlisted Mrs. Mowinckel to obtain clothes discreetly from French designers and send them to the White House. During the election, the press had criticized the chic Mrs. Kennedy for favoring foreign designers. She chose the American designer Oleg Cassini, long known for his work with Hollywood stars, as her personal couturier during her husband’s presidency, but her taste for Parisian fashions was unabated.

Among the clothes she bought: the pink Chanel suit.

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force One just before it returned to Washington, and Mrs. Kennedy, who stood next to Mr. Johnson, refused to remove the suit. Mrs. Johnson recalled, “Then with something — if you can say a person that gentle, that dignified, had an element of fierceness — she said, ‘I want them to see what they have done to Jack.’”

Posted in History, Law, Movies, Obits, Science, TV | No Comments »

Can you cache a small Czech?

March 28th, 2026

Thanks to a tip from FotB pigpen51, we have learned that J&G Sales also has CZ 82 pistols for $199.95. Or about four cents cheaper than PSA before they raised the price in my cart. For an extra $30 (or about $10 more than PSA’s increased price) J&G will “hand select” one with a nicer finish for you.

Comes with a package of one 12rd magazine, a leather mag pouch, and a holster (may be belt or shoulder style).

And it looks like they allow you to provide your own C&R license at checkout, too.

It’s too late for me, though they also have spare magazines (and I plan to order a couple) but if you’re interested in a CZ-82, I’d recommend shopping J&G.

Posted in Consumer, Guns | 3 Comments »

Your loser update: March 27, 2026.

March 27th, 2026

MLB teams that have a chance to go 0-162:

Toronto
Tampa Bay
Kansas City
Minnesota
White Sox
City Unknown Athletics
Houston
Texas
Seattle
Miami
Atlanta
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Cubs
Colorado
Arizona
San Francisco
San Diego

In other news, the Houston Astros lost to the Los Angeles Angels 3-0 at Daikin Park yesterday. As we all know, that means the Astros won’t be able to sell beer there for the rest of the season…

…because they lost the home opener.

(Thank you. I’ll be here all season. Try the veal and remember to tip your waitress.)

Posted in Firings, Loser, Sports | 3 Comments »

Do as I say, not as I do. (PSA update)

March 26th, 2026

I can be very stubborn sometimes. Especially when someone is trying to frustrate me.

So even though I said, “Don’t do business with Palmetto State Armory” (and I stand by that, for reasons that I’ll get into below) I continued pursuing the CZ82.

I resubmitted my C&R FFL…and finally got an answer back, asking me what SKU I wanted to purchase. I provided all the information and PSA got back to me saying it was approved for C&R purchase. In order to do that, though, I had to:

place the order
select a FFL from their list when I placed the order
once I placed the order, I had to email PSA back with my order number, and then they would replace the FFL I had selected with my C&R FFL

This seems to me like a convoluted and stupid way of doing things. When I ordered a C&R gun from Collector’s Firearms in Houston, I specified in the order notes that I had a C&R FFL: Collector’s contacted me in a day or two, gave me the email address I could send the FFL to, and shipped the gun with no problems. Even ordering non-C&R guns from GunBroker is smoother than this.

But, anyway, I did the dance. And, by the way, PSA raised the price of the gun in my cart by $20 since I had started the process. PSA sent me an order confirmation with the number, I provided the order number to the appropriate people at PSA, they subbed in my C&R FFL, and sent me an order confirmation with a tracking number.

Shortly after I got the tracking number, I got another email from PSA’s “Compliance Department”:

In an ongoing effort to protect our customers and our business, we systematically evaluate every order that is placed. Your order has been flagged our internal assessment system. This is a comprehensive process that covers multiple data points so we are contacting you to confirm you placed order (#########) on (##/##/####).

I replied to the email. Never got any acknowledgment. Called PSA customer service again the next day (and, I’m pretty sure, talked to the same person I talked to last time). She said the order had been approved and shipped and I didn’t need to worry about the compliance department…

…and the final punchline to this is that the gun did arrive yesterday. It looks pretty nice: I think “very good”. PSA threw in what looks like a cheap generic nylon holster, but I only got one magazine. I need to get a couple more CZ82 mags. And some 9×18 ammo: none of my local gun stores seem to have any.

Would I go through this again? No. I’m sorry, but PSA seems disorganized, and I resent they jacked up the price of the gun in my cart $20. After all this frustration, I can’t see dealing with them again, no matter how attractive the offer is.

Posted in Consumer, Guns | 2 Comments »

Firings watch.

March 25th, 2026

Hubert Davis out as men’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina.

He was 125-54 in five seasons, and went to the NCAA Tournament four times. But the consistent theme seems to be: he couldn’t produce results. (Does that sound familiar to anybody? Lawrence?)

Including this season, half of North Carolina’s all-time first-round NCAA Tournament losses have come in the past two years.

UNC lost to VCU in the first round this year, and blew a 19 point lead while doing so.

ESPN.

Posted in Firings, Sports | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: March 25, 2026.

March 25th, 2026

Tracy Kidder, author.

I read The Soul of A New Machine, but in a Reader’s Digest condensed version, back in the day. I should really pick up a copy and read the real book.

When The Detroit Free Press offered Mr. Kidder a reporting job, he told Mr. [Richard] Todd [his editor – DB], “Maybe I can get a Pulitzer if I work really hard.” Mr. Todd responded, “You can get a Pulitzer staying here in Western Massachusetts and writing books.”

(For those who may not know, Soul did win a Pulitzer.)

Mr. Kidder wrote in endless drafts. “Tracy throws up on the page and cleans up afterward,” said Jonathan Harr, author of the best-selling book “A Civil Action.” “He was absolutely indefatigable in the writing.”

Posted in Books, Obits | No Comments »

Obit watch: March 24, 2026.

March 24th, 2026

For the record: NYT obits for Valerie Perrine and Brian Doherty.

Burning in Hell watch: Kermit Gosnell. I have my own opinions about abortion, which I’m not going to impose on anyone here. But the Gosnell case, as I recall, made even people who were pro-abortion sit up and say, “Hey, wait a minute, this is going too far.”

Posted in Law, Movies, Obits, TV | No Comments »