I did not know Dr. Duvall; I was sent this obit by a family member. But Dr. Duvall sounds like someone I would very much enjoyed knowing, and taking classes from.
(I do wonder how much overlap there is in the Venn diagram of “English professors” and “Marines”. I also wonder how many of the people who fit in both categories teach at W&L.)
Hey, remember A.G. Sulzberger? We wrote about him, and his struggle to find vegetarian food in Kansas City, back in January.
Well, according to Jimbo (actually, Jimbo is linking to a report on another website that I have a policy of not linking to), he’s leaving Kansas City and going back to New York “to work on the Metro desk”.
Boy, that was quick.
There’s a market in everything. But did you know there was a substantial market in paintings of dogs?
There’s even a dog painting specific auction (which takes place after the Westminster Dog Show, and where the above sales took place) and a dog painting specific gallery in Manhattan. (That’s one thing I love about New York; say what you will about the city, but no matter how esoteric and specific your interest is, there’s almost certainly a store in the city catering specifically to it.)
Cutting off the punchlines…
And in case you were wondering, Lawrence, Labradors and golden retrievers are apparently the most popular dog painting subjects today. Personally, I’m wondering how anyone gets a golden retriever to sit still long enough for a painting, but perhaps that’s just me.
Mike the Musicologist and I were exchanging emails last night about Highlight, the latest “social” application
designed to help you connect with people you don’t know just yet: your Facebook friends of friends.
I observed at the time that what used to be considered creepy stalkerish behavior now had an app for it, and that there was probably a blog post in that. It turns out that, yes, there was a blog post in that – and Tam beat me to it. (Stupid Capstone class. Grumble. Grumble.)
It has been one year since Prakashanand Saraswati disappeared, ahead of his sentencing on charges of indecency with a minor. How close are we to catching him? It looks like law enforcement thinks he’s in Baja, and that he’s running out of funds. Plus, we’re talking about an 82-year-old guy in a wheelchair…
The NYT reports from Whiteclay, Nebraska. You may remember Whiteclay as the wide spot in the road near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where beer is sold, leading the Oglala Sioux tribe to file a lawsuit against various parties (including the Whiteclay stores and several brewing companies).
At some point, I need to write a longer and more thoughtful post about this issue. I can almost understand what the goals of the Sioux are, given how hard the reservation has been hit by drinking. At the same time, the Libertarian side of me says “Look, this paternalistic, Prohibition-driven approach to the problem clearly is not working. Maybe you need to find another approach.”
(And I wonder: if the Whiteclay stores stop selling beer, how long will it be before folks start brewing their own beer on the reservation? I’d be shocked to find out it isn’t happening already.)
Edited to add: Oops. Forgot something. “Terra Nova” is dead, and I’m delighted. But what will TMQ have to kick around next season?
I went around and around about posting this, because I was worried about spoiling the broth boring my readers. But I think this is worth noting.
Over the weekend, David Hanners, the Dallas Morning News reporter who did the early coverage of the Cook case, posted a long comment in response to Michael Hall’s post, “What the ‘Tyler Morning Telegraph’ Failed to Tell You about Kerry Max Cook”. The Texas Monthly blog promoted that comment to a full post (in the process cleaning up the formatting so it is more readable): that post is here.
Summarizing, Hanners also has issues with the daily paper’s coverage of the case, and doesn’t believe Cook is guilty.
Hanners also mentions a couple of things about the police investigation that I didn’t know, and are frankly shocking. The police apparently did not interview the victim’s co-workers until they complained, then “the detectives went out to the school and basically waited for people to come to them—in full view of Mr. Mayfield. [the other suspect in the case -DB]”
Then there’s the missing stocking. Police initially found just one sock at the crime scene. The prosecution claimed that the killer mutilated Linda Edwards body, and took body parts away from the crime scene in one of her stockings. Apparently, there were no body parts taken…
And, now that there’s DNA pointing to someone else…
Just in case you haven’t had your fill yet, Patrick Healy in the NYT covers the latest filing in Julie Taymor’s court case.
Healy links to the actual filing, but unfortunately that link is blocked at my office, so I haven’t been able to read all of the emails Taymor submitted. Healy quotes some interesting bits; for example
Of course, these are carefully selected emails representing one side of a lawsuit, and should be taken in that context.
This is to publicly document that I’ve bet Lawrence $5 that the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series this year.
From the Statesman:
Julie Taymor claims there was a ‘Spider-Man’ plot
Sadly, when you read the article, it turns out she means there was a conspiracy to kick her out of the production, not that there was actually a plot to the musical.
Holy crap. The Saints were paying their defensive players to injure opposing players.
I’m going to out myself here as something of a closet Saints fan, at least since Katrina. I thought they had a great comeback story, and I was delighted when they won the Super Bowl (especially after being so historically bad for so long).
But this? This is beyond the pale. This doesn’t even compare to what the Patriots did; say what you will about Bill Belichick, but illegal videotaping doesn’t even begin to come close to what the Saints have been doing.
This is the kind of thing where the NFL needs to get out in front of this story now. There’s talk of suspensions, fines, and giving up draft choices; my first reaction is that some people need to be tossed from the league for life. Gregg Williams, who is now defensive coordinator with the Rams, participated. Mickey Loomis, the Saints GM, was told by both the team owner and the NFL to shut down any bounty program that may have existed (the NFL has been investigating since 2009); he did not. Coach Sean Payton “was aware of the allegations, did not make any detailed inquiry or otherwise seek to learn the facts, and failed to stop the bounty program. He never instructed his assistant coaches or players that a bounty program was improper and could not continue,” according to the NFL
I would start with lifetime bans for Loomis and Williams, and a suspension for Payton, and work from there.
In other breaking TMQ related news, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold has been indicted on charges that he misused his personal security detail. This is still a breaking story, and details are sketchy, but the WP is currently stating that he had his security detail drive him to parking lots and wait around while he “engaged in sex acts with another county employee.” (Apparently, they used a separate vehicle for the sex acts, not the one the security detail was hauling Leopold around in. So at least he’s got that small element of class going for him.)
Continuing with the Kerry Max Cook coverage, the Tyler Morning Telegraph ran a story today about the case. There are some things mentioned in the Telegraph story that were not mentioned in the previously noted Hall story.
However, Hall disputes many aspects of the Telegraph‘s coverage, and has put up a second post in response.
In non-Cook related news, Durham County, North Carolina, is about to have their third prosecutor in five years. Prosecutor #1, Mike Nifong, was notoriously disbarred for his conduct in the Duke lacrosse case.
Prosecutor #2, Tracey Cline, has been removed by a judge because…she’s apparently batshit insane.
Really. I am not making that up. Rather than go into details here, I will point you to Patrick over at Popehat (who quotes parts of Cline’s statements, and has a link to the court’s opinion removing her from office), because:
1) I haven’t linked to Popehat recently.
b) I want to encourage the Popehatters to post more.
III) Patrick works in a reference to one of my favorite Al Pacino scenes.
In addition, Durham-In-Wonderland is also on the Cline beat: here and here, so far.
This is a little old, but I only just stumbled across it: a revival of “Carrie” has opened in NYC.
Here’s Ben Brantley’s review for the NYT. Spoiler: Brantley makes it sound less like a fiasco, and more like an exercise in tedium.
If you’re going to have cosmetic procedures done on your body, I recommend you seek out someone qualified to do so.
Generally, I think you’re best off with someone who has a degree from a medical school you’ve at least heard of (probably a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges) and ideally a board certification from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
I know, you’re thinking I’m just a tool of Big Plastic Surgery, and there’s nothing wrong with getting your cosmetic enhancements at a bargain price. Hey, it’s your body, you can make your own decisions.
But I think we can all agree that getting your cosmetic enhancements from “a self-described hip-hop/goth/pop and funk musician” or your beautician is a bad idea. I’d also suggest that, if you’re going in for cosmetic enhancements, and you see your doctor using the same kind of superglue you can buy off the shelf at Walgreens: run.