Nothing but “The Whole Truth”, that is, which is now the latest canceled series this season.
Archive for October, 2010
Nothing.
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010Random notes: October 26, 2010.
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010Obit watch: Alex Anderson, “the cartoonist who first drew Rocky the flying squirrel and his buddy”, though he was “not directly involved in the production of the television series”.
Speaking of “This time for sure!”, the Austin Police Department has come up with a brand new set of charges that they hope will allow them to fire Officer Leonardo Quintana. (Previously.)
And in another follow-up, Randy Adams, the former police chief of Bell, California, has been accused of suppressing an investigation into corruption in Bell. You may remember former Chief Adams from such classic bits as “hire me for the job of police chief in Bell, then immediately grant me a huge tax-free disability pension.”
Playing chicken.
Monday, October 25th, 2010Here’s another interesting story from California.
Apparently, Riverside County has a “shortage” of judges and courtrooms, and the defendants in these cases refused to waive the right to a speedy trial, so a trial judge dismissed the cases. (I’m not 100% sure why a defendant would waive the right to a speedy trial to begin with, unless they’re making some sort of deal with prosecutors. “Waive your speedy trial right, and we won’t oppose your bail application,” maybe? I wonder if Patrick or Ken might be able to comment.)
Riverside County prosecutors seemed to be contending that there were judges available, if the court had called upon probate, family law, and juvenile judges to hear the cases. (I’m not 100% sure about the courtrooms, but is there a constitutional requirement that cases be heard in a courtroom? As opposed to, say, an unused meeting room at a public library, or the gym at the local middle school?)
The state Supreme Court, on the other hand, seems to be taking the position that if the California Legislature won’t hire new judges, then they’ll just start throwing out felony cases. By God, that’ll show ’em!
And the California Legislature, of course, doesn’t feel like it has the money to hire new judges and build new courtrooms…
Yeah, I don’t see this ending well.
This one’s for Mike the Musicologist.
Monday, October 25th, 2010Stephen Sondheim’s 1966 made-for-TV musical, “Evening Primrose”, starring Anthony Perkins (no kidding) is coming out on DVD Tuesday.
Just in case you were wondering where you could find it and how much it goes for, here’s a link to “Evening Primrose
Interestingly, Tuesday is also the day that Sondheim’s Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes
Norts spews.
Monday, October 25th, 2010The Austin Aztek are leaving for Orlando, Florida.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have to say, “Who?”
Edited to add 2: Breaking! The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (stet) will not be playing in the AFL next year.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have to say, “The AFL? I thought they folded last year.”
Edited to add 3: The above led to a discussion with Lawrence about the various developmental leagues; for example, did the players actually have to pay to play in the developmental leagues? The Information Supercollider is unclear, but it did lead me to this.
The New United States Football League? Seriously, guys; the best you could come up with is to associate yourself with a legendary failure?
Bonus: The San Antonio Gunslingers.
And that’s not even the most bizarre Gunslingers story, but I’m leaving the footlocker one out, out of deference to the more sensitive members of my audience.
Edited to add 4: I was going to post a whine, “When are the 30 For 30 movies coming out on DVD?” but I checked the Google. It looks like the first 15 are coming out December 7th. And that’s wonderful, because the first 15 include “Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?“, Barry Levinson’s “The Band That Wouldn’t Die“, “The Legend of Jimmy the Greek“, and “Without Bias“. I don’t have cable, and iTunes seems to be pretty spotty about making the 30 For 30 films available, so this is relevant to my interests.
Amazon preorder link here
Rizzo watch.
Monday, October 25th, 2010Robert “Ratso” Rizzo, the indicted former city administrator of Bell, California, has lost his horse owner’s license. The license was suspended after he failed to appear at a hearing to answer charges of “conduct detrimental to horse racing”.
According to the LAT, Rizzo owned “dozens” of horses
including a thoroughbred named Depenser de l’argent — French for “to spend money”
See also the Daily Racing Form‘s summary, which gives more details on Rizzo’s racing ventures.
Your loser update: week 7.
Sunday, October 24th, 2010Dallas doesn’t play until Monday night, so don’t expect a coach firing until Tuesday.
What the heck, Saints?
This week’s Asteroid Bowl (as in, I’d rather see the stadium hit by an asteroid strike than have one of these two teams win): San Francisco – Carolina.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Buffalo
Oooooooooookay….
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010This is what my EyeTV program guide is telling me about tonight’s episode of Cops:
Click to embiggen.
Weirdest damn episode I’ve ever seen, but okay…
I blame George Bush.
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010The Texas Rangers are in the World Series.
Let me repeat that: the Texas Rangers are in the World Series.
Yes, those Texas Rangers.
You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!
Thursday, October 21st, 2010Unless you live in the City of Chicago, where Daisy (yes, the airgun company) is on the Chicago Police Department “Roster of Unsafe Handguns“.
Note that “Where a model or type is not specifically referenced, all models from the listed manufacturer are designated unsafe.” It seems to me that could easily be interpreted as not only banning Daisy handguns, but even the Red Ryder and other Daisy long guns. I know, it sounds silly, but do you really want to trust the jackbooted thugs of Daley and the CPD?
Hattip on this to Jay G., who also points out that the list bans Smith and Wesson models with “spur triggers”. Smith and Wesson hasn’t made a gun with a spur trigger for over 100 years.
Art (Acevedo), damn it! watch. (#N of a series)
Thursday, October 21st, 2010I know, two updates in one day about Austin’s police chief, but this is too good not to share.
Remember the APD officer who got fired for DWI? The one who shot an 18-year old back in May of last year? Yeah, this guy.
Remember how Chief Acevedo’s firing and promotion decisions keep getting overturned by arbitrators?
Can you guess what’s happened now? Yes. Officer Quintana has been reinstated by the arbitrator.
Bell update.
Thursday, October 21st, 2010Robert “Ratso” Rizzo has been charged with two more crimes: conflict of interest, and “misappropriation of funds for a value exceeding $1.3 million”.
If he is convicted of the second count, Rizzo would have to provide a DNA sample.
But he won’t have to provide a DNA sample if he’s convicted of the first crime, or any of the other 53 felonies he’s been charged with?
(Edited to add: Well, according to the California Attorney General’s web site, “Starting January 1, 2009, Prop 69 requires that the Department of Justice begin taking samples for any adult arrested or charged with any felony offense.” So it seems that Rizzo should already have had to give up his DNA based on the previous 53 felony charges; I’m not sure why the LAT felt that it needed to call out #55 in particular. I’m also not going to comment on the whole “any adult arrested or charged with any felony offense” thing.)
And I wanted to note this yesterday, but it snuck past me. Guess where at least some of the money to pay Rizzo’s salary came from? If you said “a fund that was supposed to be used to provide housing for low-income residents“, take two gold stars and advance to the next blue square.