With the end of the minor league baseball season, comes the opening of The Salt Lick in Round Rock - on the Dell Diamond campus.
Some notes from lunch on Saturday...
Wow - this is a whole lot closer to me than Driftwood. The restaurant is on the south west corner of the campus, so turn left at Harrell Parkway.
The good: Air conditioning. Credit cards now accepted. A bar, for those who care for such things - the wall opposite the bar is dedicated to Nolan Ryan (appropriate, as he is principal owner of the Express). Yes, they have the Robin Ventura picture. Did I mention the air conditioning?
The bad: they are still doing family style dinners, of course, but they won't send you home with the leftovers. Apparently, that change will take effect at both locations.
Indiana Jones travels to a remote village in Central America to track down Patriots 19-0 memorabilia
Awww, show a little backbone, wouldja?
Mary Kate Olsen claims executive privilege in face of subpoena.
Required reading: Shumeet Baluja, ...
So somebody's job was spending the entire day sifting through child pornography, and Shipstone just went and automated it. What happened to "do no evil"?
The end of the Boston celebrity broadcaster. Hat tip to Bill Simmons.
It's not quite fair to say that their careers match my life - they all started between the time I was born and when I first started paying attention to anything other than the Children's Television Workshop.
Bob Lobel I'm sure I remember from the time he joined Upton Bell on "Calling All Sports" (254-5678 is the number to call); heck, I even remember thinking that they were brothers based on the surnames (Boblo Bell? why not).
Kulhawik if I'm remembering correctly, did movie reviews for the 30 minute entertainment program we used as a model when doing a video project in 4th grade - Leo Sakellarion playing Kulhawik's role as the movie reviewer (just in case any of his students are surfing the web).
You can't go home again.
Y'all seem to be watching a different trailer than I am.
for my friend stopped running today.
The last embrace of the mother welcome you home.
Neil, how could you do that to your own story?
And I just yesterday had gotten my receipt from iTunes, for I had downloaded Four Green Fields recently.
Fare thee well
Question for the day: was Randall Tobias paying Full Monty rates for his massages?
Trying to keep up with election night from here was something of a challenge. I'm 9 hours ahead of the east coast, which means the results are coming in the middle of my work day. Furthermore, I'm having trouble keeping the cast straight, since I've been away for four months ("which of those two is the good guy again?").
Now, am I having trouble counting on things, or does Democratic control of the Senate hinge on Lieberman staying bought? That's a bet I don't think I'll have any trouble laying off. What can the democrats offer that the republicans cannot offer two months sooner?
I like the gains made by the Dems in the house, and I'll stand up and clap for the grassroots, but I keep looking at the total and wondering what the American people are thinking? That things aren't going to handbasket? That things are going to handbasket, so we should throw out all the bums except my guy?
"If only he'd knock over a bank or something. By God, then we'd have him."
The world is better today than yesterday, but yesterday it was worse than I knew.
Ah, Rumsfeld resigns. Says the cynic Bush thinks this will push the election results off of page one?
Very Short Stories. via hanging fire.
In no particular order...
[more ]How is God's Own Party going to explain away leaving a "potential problem" with access to pages?
God's Own Party is simply going to explain that they've never been all that keen on the separation of Church and state anyway.
Hmm...
Well, I don't miss the time and money spent, but that didn't quite work, did it?
[more ]David Copperfield's next big illusion? Immaculate Conception.
The theological implications alone are staggering. Me? I'm looking forward to the Penn and Teller version.
I saw this at Echidne, but it was cross posted from The Gimp Parade.
Skinema has a list of characters with Albinism.
An impressive list. It's got a number of entries that make me think the list makers are a bit touchy (is Draco Malfoy albinism-like, or is he just a platinum pretty boy?) and in at least one case the description of the character is just wrong (in Pricess Bride, the Albino was not an executioner).
But even taking out the questionable entries (How much blame does Hollywood deserve for the notion that vampires have pale skin?), it's still lopsided enough that I wonder whether anyone has ever staged Othello, costuming the title character with albinism like features.
It would be nice to see a scene where someone asks a wheelchair bound person to grab a book for them "The blue one, top shelf", and then has the character hand the book over, with neither remarking on how that came to pass.
Digby brings to my attention the concept of a Purity Ball. Thanks buddy, I really don't think I wanted to know.
But ok, to some degree the basic concept isn't all that surprising. It seems to me that there have been a lot of cultures which value a young woman's viginity.
So my question, directed at any with a historical bent: have we records of any societies where the treasured and chaste virgin is the male? The only example I can think of is the pirates in Snow Crash.
I really don't want to support Dan Brown's book at all - a friend offered it to me when I needed "words in a row".
What do I think of it? I think I just read a Zork walkthru
And there's no particular reason to suppose that I'll like the movie any better.
Except Paul Bettany...
and Jean Reno...
and Ian McKellan...
and Alfred Molina....
If Opie Cunningham had cast Chow Yun Fat as Langdon and Johnny Depp as Neveu I'd have a real dilemna on my hands.
"Rommel, you magnificent bastard. I read your blog."
My blogroll keeps popping a new discussion of the recent study on how quickly readers judge websites (50 milliseconds). I've been skipping over those articles about that quickly, so clearly the study has the order of magnitude right.
My heart has joined The Thousand....
JoEllen Farricker, the World's Biggest Fan of my cajun shrimp, suffered a stroke last Friday and never recovered.
Sadly, she didn't get any of it this year. Typically when I arrive she's keeping the kitchen running, but this year I was early. She was trapped at the front desk getting everybody into the party and pointed in the right direction, and I - not realizing how much work she had claimed for herself - didn't think to bring a plate out to her.
No worries, we agreed - there's always another chance....
There is music, there is dance,
but we come not for these,
but for the magic shared by those who bring joy to our lives
High on the list of things I would never want to read about myself in a court opinion.
Simply put, Bonsell repeatedly failed to testify in a truthful manner about this and other subjects.
With surprising candor considering his otherwise largely inconsistent and non-credible testimony, Buckingham did admit that he made this statement.
Finally, although Buckingham, Bonsell, and other defense witnesses denied the reports in the news media and contradicted the great weight of the evidence about what transpired at the June 2004 Board meetings, the record reflects that these witnesses either testified inconsistently, or lied outright under oath on several occasions, and are accordingly not credible on these points.
...the inescapable truth is that both Bonsell and Buckingham lied at their January 3, 2005 depositions about their knowledge of the source of the donation for Pandas
Although Defendants attempt to persuade this Court that each Board member who voted for the biology curriculum did so for the secular purposed [sic] of improving science education and to exercise critical thinking skills, their contentions are simply irreconcilable with the record evidence. Their asserted purposes are a sham, and they are accordingly unavailing....
... although Defendents have unceasingly attempted in vain to distance themselves from their own actions and statements, which culminated in repetitious, untruthful testimony, such a strategy constitutes additional strong evidence of improper conduct....
Defendants' previously referenced flagrant and insulting falsehoods to the Court....
(excerpt from the Kitzmiller decision).
... for the [Martin/Jordan/Gerrold] sequel? Consider what that wait comes to in dog years.
Picked up Feast for Crows on Tuesday, started it yesterday, finished today.
Initial reaction: Plot pacing of Jordan, Timeliness of Gerrold. Of course, if GRRM holds to plan then book 5 will be out considerably ahead of Gerrold's pace.
[more ]From Wildernesse
My definition of well-educated for laypersons is whether you can explain a frequency-dependent selection model, a phylogenetic tree, and why humans are taxonomically classified as an ape. If you can’t do those things, what makes you think you know enough? I am arbitrary and I love it.[more ]
"By your leave, Mother, the trilogy is not yet done."
Adicts will already have a copy, and those who prefer stories with an ending should hold off for at least one more book. But if you are thinking about holding off because the last few books were disappointing, there is no need for such concerns - this one is pretty good.
[more ]I may spoil something, so off behind the break....
[more ]Roger Ailes pulls a quote from the archives of the Independent Weekly:
When the reorganization took effect on March 1, 2003, [Michael] Brown assured skeptics that under the new arrangement, the country would be served by "FEMA on steroids"--a faster, more effective disaster agency.
So now we have that much more proof of the debilitating effects of steroids - no wonder Congress got all bent out of shape about them.
How do I copyright "Joe Wilson is a liberal democrat bigamist, therefore refering to his wife did not actually identify the agent Plame"? I want to collect royalties when they run this one up the flagpole.
Report from Tim Spector at St. Thomas Hospital that
genetics is a significant factor in a woman's capacity for achieving orgasm.
George R. R. Martin announces that Feast For Crows is finished - through the magic of splitting his current effort into two books.
Of course, David Gerrold announced that he was going to use that device on his next book; which still hasn't been published.
The book isn't over until they start killing trees.
Security author Bruce Schneier notes that drivers under automatic surveillance have not modified their behaviors toward safer driving.
It seems to me, if you want to use cameras to penalize unsafe driving, you ought to be tuning them to enforce tailgating laws - get the drivers properly spaced in time.
I suppose in theory drivers might respond by neatly spacing themselves 500 feet apart driving 120 MPH. But that doesn't seem likely - I wonder what they would do instead?
From the department of I Know It Won't Happen But....
Wouldn't it be nice if John Edwards were to use his schtick to rip into the circus? "Yes, I'm in touch with Terri now - she has crossed over, and is free of pain. She's also seriously PISSED AT YOU PEOPLE. WHAT THE !@# WERE YOU THINKING? I'm sorry, I've having trouble capturing the tone, but believe me, she's really laying into you people. She says... no, I'm on television, I can't repeat that; I'll just summarize by saying you owe her husband an apology."
I realize that, when reading the views of someone I disagree with, I tend to require stiffer support for their arguments than I would for someone I agree with.
So I wonder if that is happening to me here, or if in fact my intial reaction is right - that the Honorable Judge Wilson is completely off his nut, having shirked his duty to the law to produce the opinion that he wants?
Also, does the fact that this is being played "by the book", without regard to the fact that Congress has reached beyond its competence, make new difficulties in the future seperation of powers?
You put the feed tube in
You take the feed tube out
You put the feed tube in
And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you pander to the Right
That's what it's all about
Inspired by Lair.
From the department of "Boy, is it going to be difficult for blogs to live up to the standards of the real media": Bruce Allen, of Boston Sports Media Watch, passes along a report that the Boston Globe dissembles when presenting the views of their own sports staff.
I wonder what the Globe spin will be? "A quick reminder these reports are not intended to foster belief in astrology, but merely to support people who cannot take responsibility for their own lives."
The challenge: to improve the decadence of a favorite dessert: dubbed chocolate raspberry death - a fancy name for what is essentially just an icecream sundae, made with
Godiva chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream
Freshly whipped cream (poured from a carton - there must be opportunity here)
Fresh raspberries
Sauce: in it's original form this was a raspberry fudge sauce (purchased), but I haven't found it since. Instead, I currently have on hand....
One possible improvement already on the agenda, but not yet tried, is to add a slice of brick (chocolate raspberry cheesecake).
Jeff Jarvis things God would roll his eyes, but can any Gaiman fans read this without coming away feeling that this is a classic "Let's you and him fight" con, right out of American Gods.
The Online Computer Library Center Top 1000 survey.
The methodology seems pretty sound, granting the US centric nature of the membership, yet I can't help but be disappointed that #18 on the list is Garfield at Large.
Even comic-book movies must obey certain unities. In the realm of science fiction -- and c/b movies are a species, even if a low one, of science fiction -- the golden rule is: You can have one highly implausible bit of science. The rest of the science should be sound, or at least should follow logically from the central implausibility.
Maybe the Howling Curmudgeons have a more informed opinion than mine, but I don't think this guideline works for the super hero genre.
If you limit yourself to one implausibility, you have to spend it on the origin of your hero. Now how do you challenge him, given that you've imposed a mundane limit on yourself?
One way is volume, but let's face it: 200 orcs, while more of a challenge, are not more interesting than 20.
