Archive for February 9th, 2011

Impressive.

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Actual HouChron headline:

Actual text of article:

The White House has rejected a request from the U.S. agency that monitors weapons sales to give them emergency authority requiring firearms dealers near the Mexican border to report multiple purchases of high-powered rifles.

I see the Journalist’s Guide to Firearms Identification is still in use.

Posted in Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Followup roundup for February 9, 2011.

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Staff Sergeant and Medal of Honor recipient Sal Giunta is leaving the military when his current tour ends in mid-June.

Giunta, 26, plans to move with his wife to Fort Collins, Colo. and will use the G.I. Bill to continue his education, according to Army spokesman George Wright.

You know, if I ran a public (or private) university somewhere, I’d come up with the money to offer Sgt. Giunta a full free ride for four years. Maybe he’d be willing to work part-time, perhaps as a mentor to younger students who could use some help?

The NYT reports on the controversy over early “Spider-Man” reviews.

Lucky J’s Chicken and Waffles has opened their sit-down restaurant. Until I visited their website, I had no idea how tough these guys have had it. I knew about the trailer theft, of course, but the death of a child, divorce, and reconstructive hand surgery? This guy sounds like Austin’s own version of Job. I’m going to try Lucky J’s this weekend; not because of the suffering, but because I like the idea, and because it’s sort of on my usual weekend path. (Man does not live by Torchy’s Tacos alone. Though I have to admit, the new location on Burnet Road is much nicer than some of the others I’ve been to.) Full report to follow.

The LAT would like for you to know that cockfighting is bad, m’kay? And not just because people sometimes get stabbed to death by roosters with blades.

Posted in Clippings, Food, Heroism, Theatre | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: February 9, 2011.

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Ken Olsen, the founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, has passed away.

I came in right at the end of the DEC era, and never really had a chance to work on a PDP-anything, a VAX, or a DEC-XX. (There was, at one point, a scheme to purchase a used PDP-8, but nothing ever came of that.)

I still smile, though, whenever I see a reference to one of those machines (or, for that matter, one of those machines in person at DEFCON).

In honor of the late Mr. Olsen, here’s a link to SIMH, which will let you emulate much of the DEC line.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Obits, Retrocomputing | 1 Comment »