Archive for February 22nd, 2011

Leadership Secrets of Non-Fictional Characters (part 6 of a series).

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

There is no way that I can, in good conscience, continue to do this series and not call out Ambulance Driver’s essay “On Teaching, Mentoring, and Stewardship“.

Academics in all disciplines struggle with teaching attitudes and behavior, and few succeed at it. Those that do are easy to spot. Chances are, you’ve seen them yourself. If you think back on all the teachers you’ve had in your life, I’ll bet you could pick out one or two that had the most positive influence.

In your moments of greatest stress and indecision, whose advice do you crave? Who do you first think of when you want to share the elation of a professional triumph? When you feel beaten and discouraged, whose voice whispers your mental pep talk? Who plants the metaphorical foot in your ass when you need the motivation?

Right now, you’re probably smiling, thinking of just such a person.

Your mentor.

Please go read the whole thing. Yes, AD is writing from the perspective of an EMS professional, and there are EMS specific references scattered throughout. But, just as I do with every other “Leadership Secrets” entry, I trust my readers to be able to analyze, synthesize, and apply what’s applicable to their own situation.

The only complaint I feel like I can make about AD’s essay is that he didn’t write it 15 years ago, when I really needed to hear it. Then again, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears”, and I doubt I was ready 15 years ago.

Posted in Clippings, Leadership | Comments Closed

“…the mysterious affair of Lieutenant Chevis and the Manchurian partridge”

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

We consider ourselves to be connoisseurs of murder. Not the drive-by shooting or the street homicide (unless Snot Boogie is involved) but more the kind of murders described by De Quincey’s characters.

Anyway, we were previously unaware of the bizarre murder (or was it?) of Lieutenant Hubert G. Chevis until today’s Dinosaur Comics (really!) brought it to our attention, and we, in turn, commend it to yours.

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Your latest Spider-Man update…

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

…can be found here. Briefly, they’ve hired Paul Bogaev, who is described as “a veteran musical supervisor and conductor”, to “help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers”.

The NYT speculates that the opening, currently scheduled for March 15th, might be delayed again. The paper also reports rumors that the producers are talking to “script doctors”, and may be looking to hire a “co-director”.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Music, Theatre | Comments Closed

Public service announcement #3.

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

The planned closure of I-35 at Ben White/Texas 71 this weekend is still on.

Even better, the Texas Department of Transportation is also planning to close I-35 the weekend of March 4th as well. Yes, that’s two weekends in a row.

Next to come, [TXDOT spokesman John] Hurt said, will be various weeknight closures for the construction of flyovers linking eastbound Ben White to southbound I-35 and northbound I-35 to eastbound Ben White.

And:

…installing beams for the flyover linking northbound I-35 to westbound Ben White will once again require weekend closures of the I-35 main lanes, Hurt said. It is unclear when that work will occur or how many weekends might be involved.

Is there any good news?

The $26 million project and all four bridges should be done by September.

That would be just in time for the start of the UT football season. Anybody think that’s a coincidence?

Posted in Bridges, Clippings, Roads | Comments Closed

A few notes from the music world.

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Marian Elliott-Said is recovering from breast cancer. WCD extends our best wishes to her.

By the way, Marian Elliott-Said is perhaps better known as “Poly Styrene”, front woman for the X-Ray Spex. After the jump, we’ll embed some X-Ray Spex video.

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga claims her new perfume smells “like an expensive hooker”. If someone told her this was an effective advertising strategy, they were wrong.

And something a bit more pleasant to think about than Poly Styrene and Lady Gaga: the NYT has a longish piece about the Internet Music Score Library Project and some of the copyright issues experienced by the site.

The Borromeo String Quartet plays from laptops with downloaded scores instead of sheet music. The digital music library is one of its major sources.

We wonder if the growth of the iPad and other tablet devices is going to result in more groups replacing sheet music with electronic devices. Not that we’re music experts – we tend to rely on other people (ahem) for that – but we can see some possible advantages to going all tablet, all the time.

(more…)

Posted in Clippings, Music | 4 Comments »

Happy happy joy joy.

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Oh, look:

The popular “Guns 4 Groceries” program that debuted in Central Texas last year to overwhelming interest will return Saturday, officials announced today.

Yes, once again, the Greater Austin Crime Commission is “co-sponsoring” the event. Oddly, there is no mention of this “co-sponsorship” on their website or in their Twitter feed at the moment. (Edited to add 2: Since I originally posted this at 8 AM, the GACC has updated their website to mention the buyback program.)

Participants can collect $200 for each assault rifle, $100 each for handguns and rifles and $10 apiece for air guns, BB guns or replicas, sponsors said. There is a two gun limit per participant.

Yeah, wouldn’t want anyone hurting themselves by carrying more than two guns. (By the way, they gave out gift cards, not cash, last year. I’m uncertain from the Statesman article if this year’s program is gift cards or cash.)

This year, the program is allotting $25,000 to $30,000, shorter hours and plans for multiple lines rather than just one, [Cary] Robert[s (sic), of the GACC] said.

And where is this money coming from? The GACC is a 501 (c)(3). Might be interesting to get a copy of their tax filings.

Donations have been underwritten by the Jastrow Family Foundation, Roberts said. Former Temple-Inland Inc. Chairman and CEO Kenneth M. Jastrow II is a board member for the commission.

I can’t find a website for the “Jastrow Family Foundation”. I sense a need for more research on this topic.

Although it’s a “no questions asked” program, weapons are still checked to see if they have been used to commit a documented crime, Roberts said. Last year, none of the weapons turned in were connected to any crimes, he said.

Do they check to see if the weapons were reported stolen as well? The Statesman doesn’t say.

Once again, I’d be tempted to go down and offer $125 cash for each Smith and Wesson, but it looks like I’m going to be tied up all weekend.

Edited to add: Neither the “Greater Austin Crime Commission” or the “Jastrow Family Foundation” show up in Charity Navigator.

Posted in Clippings, Guns | 2 Comments »