Archive for February 7th, 2011

Public service announcement.

Monday, February 7th, 2011

The Texas Department of Transportation is doing some work this weekend at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Ben White Boulevard (aka Texas 71). Specifically, they’ll be working on some new flyovers in that area. I would embed a Google Maps image here, but apparently WordPress 3.0.4 has a bug with embedding iFrames. You can try clicking here.

Anyway, what does this mean to you, Al Franken? TXDOT is closing the entire freeway from “late Friday evening to early Monday morning”. Yes, you read that right, the entire freeway. They’re diverting traffic onto the access road:

The frontage road traffic lights at Ben White (Texas 71) will be on permanent green during the 50-hour plus diversion, meaning that the regular I-35 traffic will be able to move on through without stopping. But given that I-35 has three northbound lanes and three southound lanes in this section, there will be 33 percent less capacity for about a mile and all of those cars will have to exit and then re-enter the main lanes.

If I lived in the area, I’d stock up on popcorn. This is going to be better than the zoo and the circus combined. As for the rest of us, I think staying far away from I-35 for the duration is the best course of action.

Posted in Bridges, Clippings, Roads, Stupid | 2 Comments »

Random notes: February 7, 2011.

Monday, February 7th, 2011

I know I’m “rooting for laundry”, but I have a certain fondness for the Green Bay Packers. A major reason for that is their unique ownership structure. The Packers are a public corporation, with stock and everything. (The NFL will not allow any other team to adopt this ownership structure; the Packers are grandfathered in. This is the kind of behavior by the NFL that would make me want my congressman to start asking questions, if I believed in that sort of thing.) Anyway, here’s a good New Yorker piece that explains how the Packers work in more detail. And yes, my black little heart is filled with delight today. (Hattip: Gruber.)

We have previously mentioned the death of General Vang Pao, and the question of whether he would be buried at Arlington. The answer to that question was “no”; the Pentagon turned down the family’s request. Mark Arax has a good piece in the NYT about the General’s funeral.

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Obits, Sports | 3 Comments »

The Washington Post FAILS to make me testy.

Monday, February 7th, 2011

(I’m not going to put a “Part 1” on that because this is probably the first and last time you will ever see those words together.)

Stephen Hunter, former WP movie critic and awesome thriller writer (actually, scratch the “thriller” part) writes in the WP defending normal capacity magazines.

(Hattip: Say Uncle. Actually, one of his commenters.)

(Edited to add: Better Say Uncle link here.)

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Slow down, pussycat.

Monday, February 7th, 2011

Obit watch: Tura Satana, of “Faster Pussycat!! Kill! Kill!” fame.

($31.99? Are they pressing the DVDs out of solid gold?)

Posted in Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed