This weekend has been rather busy, so I’m a little behind in blogging.
Friday was the annual barbecue roadtrip, in which a group of us rent a nice car and drive out into the Hill Country in search of barbecue.
After the jump, photos and commentary from the roadtrip, as well as the Texas Linux Fest:
The NYT finally got around to publishing an obit for “Coots” Matthews.
Also among the dead: Morris Jeppson, one of the two men who armed the atomic bomb on board the Enola Gay.
By the way, “new” copies of The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back
Here’s the Statesman summary of the first day of the Billy Joe Shaver trial. It is hard to judge from just the prosecution’s side of the case, but I’m not thinking it looks good for Mr. Shaver; all the testimony so far is from people stating the shooting was unprovoked.
Edited to add: The LAT is reporting the death of Malcolm McLaren, former manager of the Sex Pistols.
February 2010 added.
The aggravated assault trial of musician Billy Joe Shaver began today.
Shaver is accused of shooting a man outside a roadhouse in Lorena, near Waco.
“Until yesterday, I didn’t know who you are, and I couldn’t care less,” one female prospective juror told Shaver while being questioned by prosecutor Mark Parker.
“Ditto,” said Shaver, who has been called the poet laureate of Texas music and has penned tunes such as “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” and “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal.”
It amuses me that Mr. Shaver and Willie Nelson are scheduled to play at my parent’s church on April 25th. (I’m not going. The cheapest ticket is $30.50 including service charges.)
While browsing Wikipedia for unrelated reasons, I discovered that today is the 40th anniversary of the Newhall incident, which was a contributing factor in the start of the officer survival movement.
Ayoob’s summary of the incident doesn’t seem to be available online, but can be found in Ayoob Files: The Book
Edited to add: Obit watch: Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Mankiller met snide remarks about her surname — a Cherokee military title — with humor, often delivering a straight-faced, “Mankiller is actually a well-earned nickname.”
Yesterday’s HouChron had an article (that I can’t find now Here we go.) stating that the Astros will win 81 games. As Lawrence put it, “Where can I bet the ‘under’ line on that prediction?”
Here’s the line on the Astros this season.
Meanwhile, the Astros lost the first game of the season at Minute Maid Park. The bad thing about this is the Astros won’t be able to sell beer at the games this year…because they lost the opener.
(Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal, and remember to tip your waitress.)
(And the Cubs lost to the Braves: 16-5. I’m still optimistic, even though FARK claims the Cubs have been mathematically eliminated.
Edited to add: I was kidding when I posted that comment, but now…)
…”Perhaps this will refresh your memory.” The District Attorney suddenly thrust a heavy automatic at the quiet figure on the witness stand. “Have you ever seen this before?” Walter Mitty took the gun and examined it expertly. “This is my Webley-Vickers 50.80,” he said calmly. An excited buzz ran around the courtroom. The Judge rapped for order. “You are a crack shot with any sort of firearms, I believe?” said the District Attorney, insinuatingly. “Objection!” shouted Mitty’s attorney. “We have shown that the defendant could not have fired the shot. We have shown that he wore his right arm in a sling on the night of the fourteenth of July.” Walter Mitty raised his hand briefly and the bickering attorneys were stilled. “With any known make of gun,” he said evenly, “I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet with my left hand.”
—James Thurber, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
Back when I was a teenager in the suburbs of Houston and dinosaurs roamed the earth, I would practice “practical shooting” in my back yard. I’d spend a hour a day, two or three days a week, practicing drawing from a holster and trying to hit shotgun shells from 25 feet away. These were the glory days of the Second Chance matches
I hadn’t met Karl yet, so my ambition was to be as fast as Jeff Cooper. Or as fast as this guy:
(The curly haired guy with the shotgun is Jim Zubiena, actor and IPSC shooter. That’s not visual trickery; the fast draw is for real. And, yes, I was out of high school by the time Miami Vice came on the air. What of it?)
Anyway, stuff happens. I didn’t get my first pistol until November 7, 2000. (I remember that date for a reason.) And I didn’t shoot a formal sanctioned match until this past Saturday.
The NYT “At War” blog gives a rundown of some reasons why the Taliban are poor rifle shots.
Short summary:
(Hattip: Say Uncle.)
There’s a interesting article in the LAT about why everyone hates Alice Waters. I exaggerate a bit, but there does seem to be substantial and increasing animosity to Ms. Waters.
The Caitlin Flanagan article in the Atlantic can be found here.
My own feelings about Ms. Waters and her movement are…complex, and I haven’t sorted all the way through them yet. But I do want to pull this quote for comment:
…she takes a dim view of In-N-Out, though it touts fresh ingredients and hand-cut French fries. “It’s probably better than any other chain,” she said, “but it’s not real or authentic. I’d rather eat from a street vendor in Sicily.”
:When a reviewer starts explaining how the preparation of a quiche Lorraine at the restaurant he has visited differs from the way one prepares a true quiche Lorraine, I always want to interrupt. “But did you like it?” I want to shout. “Did it make you happy? Did you clean your plate?” Any chance that I might someday acquire a serious interest in how closely what I ate resembled the true article disappeared one day at a block party near our house while I was eating some homemade gazpacho and talking about how it differed from the authentic gazpacho one got in Seville. The more I talked about the difference, the faster I wolfed down the gazpacho—until I realized that one way what I was eating differed from authentic gazpacho was that it tasted better.
Lawrence suggested that I might want to link to this Reason piece on the cocktail crackdown.
The makers of Tito’s Handmade Vodka have taken a plea in their pollution case.
Matthews worked closely with the legendary Paul “Red” Adair and Asger “Boots” Hansen in the oil well firefighting industry. Matthews and Hansen later left Adair and founded the Boots and Coots well control firm.
…Adair, Matthews and Hansen worked some of the industry’s most notorious blowouts, including a fire in Algeria in 1961 known as the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter.” Experts thought the fire, which billowed 450 feet in the air, would take years to extinguish. They did the job in just a few weeks.
Edited to add: John Forsythe. The LAT fails to mention his lead role in “Kitten With a Whip“, which Joe Bob Briggs argues is a vastly under-appreciated film. (If you haven’t read them yet, let me recommend Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies that Changed History
Here’s an interesting list of the 100 top-grossing independent restaurants in the United States.
I’ve been to two of these: Top of the World, and Aureole. I’ve been past the Harley Davidson Cafe, repeatedly; it looks like an enormous tourist trap, and I have no desire ever to eat there.
Lawrence and I both wondered about some Austin area restaurants. It would seem that both the Oasis and the Salt Lick could make this list, but maybe they don’t cooperate with R&I, or maybe we have an exaggerated perception of the volume at both.
It is also somewhat interesting that there’s a controversy about the Republican Party holding fund raising events at Tao, the top-grossing independent in the U.S.
(By way of Althouse: the comments section on this post is worth reading.)
I’m on the ThinkGeek mailing list. This morning, I sat down to read my email bef0re work (and coffee), and opened the latest ThinkGeek email.
“Liar’s paradox shirt? That’s okay. I’m not sure I’d buy one for myself…”
“2001 monolith action figure? 0 points of articulation? Do want.”
“Screaming chef’s knife? Interesting, but it’s probably a low-quality knife.”
“Tribbles ‘n’ Bits cereal? Ha.”
“Dharma Initiative alarm clock? Wait a minute…”
XKCD today is also geeky cool. (Edited to add 3: Our great and good friend Commvault Bryan points out that this XKCD is relevant to today’s prank.)
I’ll add to this post as I find more April Fool’s day stuff. If you’ve found something funny or interesting, please feel free to mention it in the comments.
Edited to add: This site appears to be reporting that Apple has purchased Dell. However, this is a French site, and I don’t speak their crazy moon language.
Edited to add 2: Locus Online has their April Fool pieces up. Certain writers may be familiar to some of you. (Edited to add 7: One of the Locus Online pieces gets praise on the Reason “Hit and Run” blog.)
Edited to add 4: Whole Foods Market action figures. Also, the “Don’t Eat That!” iPhone app, and featured recipes. The “Deep-fried Bacon-wrapped Bacon with Bacon Bits” sounds tasty.
Edited to add 5: My great and good friend Glen has a good one on his site. The “Lady GaGa” indeed.
Edited to add 6: PC World‘s Top Ten list. (Hattip: Mom.)
Lowering the Bar explains why they don’t have an April Fool’s Day post.
Edited to add 8: Dinosaur Comics deploys a very clever hack (see the newspost for details) that allows you to read the comic in the style of Penny Arcade. Or XKCD. Or Achewood.
