NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cleveland
Don’t have anything witty or profound or perceptive to add here.
Your NFL loser update: week 6, 2016.
October 17th, 2016As seen at the grocery store…
October 12th, 2016
For when you really want to get hammered.
(7.5% ABV. The label describes this as a “breakfast IPA”.)
(I’ll be here all week. Try the veal and remember to tip your waitress.)
The story you are about to hear is true.
October 11th, 2016Today was pretty much a write-off. You know how it is, one of those days where you end up feeling you got nothing productive done, and all you can do is give up on the day and tell yourself you’ll do better tomorrow.
I was at loose ends for dinner, so I went down to the Mandola’s Italian Market in Bee Cave. (They have some good happy hour appetizer specials, and a soup I like. I wasn’t really that hungry, having had a bowl of noodles from DFG Noodles (one of the few bright spots in the day) for lunch, so I figured a cup of soup and some cheese would do me.)
Anyway, guy behind the counter asks me how my day’s been. It’s slow (this is before the dinner rush on a weekday) so I tell him what I just told you about the whole day being a write-off, etc. I pay, they bring my food out to me, I eat…
…and as i’m sitting there sipping my drink, the guy from behind the counter, Jonathan (not 100% on the spelling there) walks up to me, hands me a chocolate eclair, and says, “Here. This is on me. I hope it makes your day a little better.”
Which it did. What can you say to that except, “Thanks, Jonathan.”? Which I did say, just for the hysterical record.
I’ll also be emailing Mandola’s tomorrow morning, but I wanted to get this up tonight.
Your NFL loser update: week 5, 2016.
October 9th, 2016NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cleveland
At this point in 2015, there was only one team left in contention for the Owen Sixteen trophy. At this point in 2014, there were only two teams left standing (and one had a bye that week.)
Do the Browns have a shot? Ask me again in week eight.
Obit watch: October 3, 2016.
October 3rd, 2016Sir Neville Marriner, noted conductor.
Oscar Brand, folkie. I actually do own one of his albums: Presidential Campaign Songs: 1789 – 1996 is kind of fun, if you have a sense of history.
This is one that I also thought was kind of “amusing” (to the extent an obit can be “amusing”): Carroll Wainwright Jr. He was kind of a sensation in 1934.
Wainwright’s mother divorced his father and remarried (“hours later”, according to the NYT) in 1932. In 1934, the family went to Bermuda for the winter.
So, one fine late November day, the young Wainwright stowed away on the S.S. Queen of Bermuda, only to emerge when the ship was out to sea and he got hungry.
What he had not bargained for was the effect his disappearance would have on his mother and stepfather. The terrible fate of the Lindbergh baby, kidnapped and murdered just two years before, was still fresh in the public mind, and the couple, fearing Carroll had been abducted for ransom, called in the Bermuda police.
The police were stymied until someone thought to radio the ship. The captain radioed back that Carroll was aboard, safe and sound.
The ship arrived safely in New York, and Wainwright’s grandmother paid his full (first class) fare. I kind of wonder what her reaction was to a) having an eight-year-old show up unexpectedly at her door, and b) having to come out of pocket for his fare. But reading between the lines, it feels like there may have been more going on than a desire for sledding and Christmas trees: Wainwright’s mother died in 1937 of what the paper describes as “alcohol-related liver disease”.
And this is a nice note to end on:
Your NFL loser update: week 4, 2016.
October 3rd, 2016NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cleveland
At some point, I’m thinking I should post an analysis of the loser update. I want to say that I have fairly ready access to about ten years worth of data: I’d like to do an actual breakdown of, on average, how many teams remain standing at each point in the season.
I’ve also been thinking, based on a comment from Lawrence, about doing a breakdown of time between winning national championship and getting fired for college coaches, but that may require more work.
Where there’s smoke….
September 30th, 2016…there may be flaming tax-fattened hyenas. And also, Monty Hall.
I intended to write about Dawnna Dukes and her sudden retirement announcement (too close to election day for her to be taken off the ballot, so we’ll probably end up with a special election next year). Lawrence, however, beat me to it.
But there’s a new development since Lawrence wrote his post.
The DA isn’t commenting on any deal, but she does say Rep. Dukes’ retirement “will affect how we act but it’s not determinative,”
By the way:
Notes.
September 30th, 2016The Chicago Cubs have been eliminated from postseason contention.
Oh, wait. Did I say the Chicago Cubs? I’m sorry. I intended to say “the New York Yankees”. My bad.
Obit watch: The Carnegie Deli. I’m sad for the people who will be losing their jobs, but:
Now I want to spend one night in Bangkok and try her pastrami and cheesecake
Isn’t it interesting how everything is the ex-husband’s fault?
Quel frommage! Seriously, it seems like it would be kind of hard to stay in business in New York City when you have to stay closed for nine months. Even if you also own the building. The one with the janky gas hookup.
Here. Have some sad.
September 29th, 2016I’m feeling down in the dumps to begin with, but I’ve been intending to make note of this story anyway.
His dad put in 33 years with the NYFD and retired as a battalion chief.
Michael Fahy also made it to battalion chief.
Michael Fahy died on Tuesday. He and his men responded to a report of a residential gas leak: the house exploded and Chief Fahy was hit by pieces of it.
Sometimes there’s just nothing you can say.
Obit watch: September 29, 2016.
September 29th, 2016Agnes Nixon, soap opera creator. (“One Life to Live”, “All My Children”)
Nobody ever calls me “Sir”…
September 28th, 2016…unless they follow it with “You’re making a scene.”
Seriously, there’s a story in Austin that provides some food for contemplation. In brief, a crazed child molester tried to grab an eight-year old girl in the bathroom of a public library branch. Luckily, good citizens stepped in and the bad guy is in jail.
Before he tried to grab the eight-year-old, he tried to grab another girl:
The father is now second guessing himself.
He did call 911, but it was after they left the library and were on their way home. By the time he called, the bad guy had already tried to grab the second girl.
I’m not criticizing the father in this situation at all. I can understand the desire to leave and just not make a scene. And it doesn’t seem like he had complete information at the time; only after they left did his daughter give him the details that triggered his 911 call.
But it does kind of make me think. The emphasis in license to carry training is on de-escalation, and rightly so. Famous quotes (and I forget who deserves credit for them): “Every bullet out of your gun has a $50,000 lawyer’s bill attached”. “Your best defense is a lifelong commitment to avoidance and de-escalation.”
All of this is true. No normal person wants to shoot anyone. A commitment to avoidance and de-escalation is the right (and practical) thing to do.
But we can’t avoid the world.
We talk about scenarios as a way of furthering our situational awareness. “What would I do if that guy came at me with a broken milk carton?” Maybe, just maybe, one thing we should be doing is thinking about when we shouldn’t make a scene – when we should de-escalate – and when making a scene is justified.
Obit watch: September 28, 2016.
September 28th, 2016For the historical record, Shimon Peres. NYT. WP.
Herschell Gordon Lewis, noted film director (“Blood Feast”, “Two Thousand Maniacs!”). A/V Club.
Breaking news from the blotter.
September 27th, 2016Suspect number three in the shooting of Judge Kocurek is now in custody.
According to the Statesman report, he was run to ground in New Orleans.
It seemed to me that the HouChron (at least online: I don’t see the print edition these days) was awfully quiet about the chase, the search, and the $10,000 reward that was offered for this guy.
Impressive resume, even without the “tried to kill a judge” part.
Your NFL loser update: week 3, 2016.
September 27th, 2016Damn. I knew I was forgetting something. Late start this morning. Sorry
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cleveland
Jacksonville
Chicago
New Orleans
We’re starting to get down to it now. Only four teams left standing. For personal reasons, I hate to think Cleveland has the best shot at the Owen Sixteen trophy, but objectively it is starting to look that way.
I’m a little surprised Easterbrook hasn’t held forth on the football gods waxing wrothful against the Saints, or something like that. But the season is still young.
(And there’s still no word I’ve seen on TMQ this year.)
Fall is here.
September 26th, 2016There was just a very slight chill in the air when I left work today. I drove all the way to my destination without having to use the air conditioner.
And in another sign that fall has arrived, we have our first major coach firing of the college football season: Les Miles out at LSU, along with offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. ESPN.
He was 114-34-0 overall at LSU. But the team was expected to be a national contender this year; they had a strong squad returning from last year. Instead, they started 2-2, losing to Wisconsin in their opening game and Auburn this past week. (Their two wins were against Jacksonville State and Mississippi State.)