Archive for June 9th, 2011

A-.

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Bob Geren out as manager of the Oakland A’s.

Under Geren, who was the best man at Beane’s wedding, the A’s have lost their last nine games and have been swept in three consecutive series.

Oakland is currently 27-36, and in last place in their division.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Let the bodies hit the door…

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Lawrence was all over the mass grave that wasn’t in Liberty County, but I wanted to note an update or two.

HouChron interview with the “psychic” who says “she never wanted any attention and fears the worldwide interest in the case will destroy her life if her identity is known publicly.”

She strongly denied telling officers that they needed to search for bodies or that anyone was dead.

“They did not act on what I told them,” she said. “My biggest concern is definitely the children,” she added. “I think they are hungry and thirsty. They are still alive.”

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a standard fake psychic trick? “Oh, no, I never said {X}. I said {Y}. It’s their fault if they thought I said {X}.”

From the WP: “How the story of dismembered bodies at a Texas farmhouse fell apart”. “dismembered bodies”, “fell apart”. Someone at the WP was having a bit too much fun.

In other news, can we say that this story marks the official start of Silly Season 2011? When are we going to get the next shark attack?

Posted in Clippings, Stupid | Comments Closed

Shade-Tovo watch: June 9, 2011.

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Oh, look! Randi Shade’s got a new TV ad and a new web video bashing her opponent, Kathie Tovo!

Oh, look! Kathie Tovo and her people say that Shade’s claims are “misleading and hypocritical”.

Oh, look! Water is wet!

Stay tuned for more stunning news on the campaign front.

Posted in Austin, Clippings, Politics | Comments Closed

Make no little plans.

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

That’s Daring Fireball on the Apple campus plans, quoting Daniel Burnham.

Bear with me, please, as it is about to get geeky in here.

Here’s an image of the proposed Apple campus, hotlinked from TechCrunch:

 

This is the best regular image I could find of the General Atomics campus in San Diego:

Slightly better overhead shot:

I think there’s at least a superficial similarity. But so what, you ask? Well, General Atomics was the company that brought us Project Orion.

Remember Project Orion? If you don’t, there’s a pretty good book on the subject: Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship. (Don’t pay those prices. You should be able to find this used.)  The basic idea was: let’s build a giant spaceship on top of a pusher plate, then set off atomic bombs under the plate to drive the spaceship.

“Make no little plans”, indeed. Can you imagine Apple building their campus on top of a giant metal plate, and then one day when the trans-humanist revolution comes, launching the entire site and all the employees into orbit? Of course, there’s minor details to work out in advance, but isn’t this the kind of plan that stirs the blood?

Is this what Jobs has in mind? Probably not, but a boy can dream, can’t he?

Posted in Apple, Clippings, Geek | Comments Closed