I can tell from the pixels, and from having seen a few ‘shops in my time.
And they might have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids bloggers, and:
Edited to add: From the FARK thread, this Photoshop just about made me fall out of my chair laughing. But I’m a sucker for the tiny giraffe commercials.
This is still a developing story, but a (currently unnamed) APD officer was shot and killed early this morning. I expect to have more to say about this as information comes in, but two immediate points:
Edited to add: The deceased officer has been identified as Jaime Padron.
In other news, there was also a fatal officer involved shooting in East Austin last night.
And:
I have a subscription to the digital version of the NYT: partially for blog purposes, partially because I needed access to the archives for my final project in last year’s 20th Century History class. (The NYT offers a reduced rate for educational subscribers.)
When the LAT erected their paywall, I signed up at the initial 99 cent rate. I got a bill from them today at the new $3.99 a week rate. Even for blog purposes, and with no educational discount, I’m not paying $4 a week for the LAT. So I called them to cancel.
After I got to a customer service rep (note that they make it relatively hard to do so) and told her I wanted to cancel, she wanted to know why. I explained that the digital LAT isn’t worth $4/week to me.
At that point, they started playing “Let’s Make A Deal”. The initial offer was $2.99 a week. I turned that down. Then they offered me $1.99/week as their “final offer”. I agreed to that, but now I’m wondering if I could have gotten them down to 99 cents a week.
Point of this story, besides the LAT being willing to slash prices; I’d appreciate it if people would let me know if links to LAT stories don’t come up for you. The NYT, as I understand it, still has the hole in the wall that lets you read stories for free if they come from an external link, but I don’t believe the LAT offers that feature.
Also, talking about the LAT and bargain shopping gives me an excuse to use this picture, which tickles my funny bone:
Nobody beats the Los Angeles Times!
…the headline on this story had me all excited:
Then I clicked through. Apparently they mean something different by a “shotgun”, something involving music and house parties.
Too bad, because I think a shotgun near you is a good idea.
Former New Orleans Police Department Officer Robert Faulcon Jr. was sentenced today to 65 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Officer Faulcon shot Ronald Madison, a mentally handicapped man who was 40 years old, in the back with a shotgun. Faulcon was convicted of six counts of depravation of rights under color of law, three counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Kenneth Bowen was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Bowen jumped out of a rented truck loaded with police officers and fired an “AK-47” at a concrete barrier that people were hiding behind. Bowen was convicted of six counts of depravation of rights under color of law, two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, two counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Robert Gisevius Jr. was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Gisevius was in the same truck, and also jumped out of it and fired a “M-4 rifle”. He also helped cover up the events at the Danziger Bridge. Gisevius was convicted of five counts of depravation of rights under color of law, two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, one counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department officer Anthony Villavaso II was sentenced to 38 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Villavaso was also in the truck, and also jumped out and fired an “AK-47” at unarmed people on the bridge. Villavaso was convicted of five counts of depravation of rights under color of law, two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of civil rights conspiracy.
Former New Orleans Police Department Sergeant Arthur Kaufman was sentenced to 6 years in prison for his role in the Danziger Bridge shootings. Kaufman was not actually involved in the shootings, but was convicted of having “authored several reports and draft reports containing false or fabricated information”; in short, assisting in the cover-up. Kaufman was convicted of four counts of falsification of records in a federal investigation, three counts of giving false statements, two counts of “civil rights conspiracy for false prosecution” (translated into English, I believe that means he tried to have innocent people falsely prosecuted to cover up what really happened), and one count of conspiracy.
(For those who are unfamiliar with the Danziger Bridge incident, one of the sidebars to the linked article is a handy PDF explaining what really happened. The short version is that during Katrina a bunch of trigger-happy NOPD cops shot a bunch of folks on the bridge and then tried to cover it up.)
Excuse me, but antelope are not deer, thank you very much. There’s a reason the lyric is “where the deer and the antelope play”, not “where the deer and the deer play”.
John Motlz, one of the small number of authentic geniuses the Internet has produced (right up there with Kibo, Roger David Carasso, and Jim Treacher), is back with a new website.
You may remember Mr. Moltz from such websites as Crazy Apple Rumors (and I swear some day I am going to visit Tacoma and stay at the Silver Cloud Inn), American Drink (which I don’t visit nearly as often as I should), and the occasional post at In The Line Of Duty.
But what of his new site, you ask? It’s very nice.
…money can only make you so happy. And writing, well, that can make you miserable forever.
Jars of mayonnaise are also banned from carry-on luggage in the U.S.
Thank God for the TSA, protecting us all from the threat of mayonnaise, the vile emulsion.
Sunday’s Statesman ran a couple of articles on rabies in Texas. Briefly, there was a 30% increase in reported cases over 2010; the drought is being blamed for that. Here’s an interesting list of the most rabid counties in Texas by way of the TM Daily Post. (That links back to one of the Statesman articles.)
The aspect of the coverage that intrigued me, as an amateur neurologist, was Brenda Bell’s article about treating rabies. As I’m sure many of you know, once symptoms develop, rabies has been pretty much 100% fatal. I recall reading that there was one documented case of a 6 year old boy in Ohio surviving in the 1970s, but other than that nothing. (And I can’t find a reference now.) (Edited to add: This site claims that there were actually three documented cases in the 1970s, all involving patients who were given vaccine before symptoms presented.)
This was the case until a few years ago, when a 15-year-old girl survived after being given highly aggressive treatment (an induced coma, combined with antivirals). That course of treatment became known as the “Milwaukee protocol”. There are two problems:
(Edited to add: If you want to get really technical, here’s an article from the CDC’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” (aka the lazy journalist’s friend; at least every other week, I can find an article pulled straight out of MMWR) about the 17-year-old patient in Houston mentioned by the Statesman.)
In other news, the NYT is sad that the black golf caddie is disappearing. Gee, I wonder why that is? Oh, yeah:
Plus, golf carts, and fewer caddie training programs. Plus:
Not really anything new, but by way of the Statesman, we learn that Damien Hirst is having a retrospective exhibition, opening on Wednesday at the Tate Modern.
You may remember Mr. Hirst as one of WCD’s favorite modern artists, responsible for such works as “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”:
Yeah, that one. I believe last time we touched on Mr. Hirst’s work, he was making wheel covers for 4x4s.
According to the exhibition’s website, the shark will be there. Which raises some questions: last we heard, the shark was not in the best of shape. (EtA: I forgot about the NYT article stating that they were replacing the shark.) And how do you move a tank full of formaldehyde with a shark suspended in it? (Answer: “Very carefully.” Thank you, I’ll be here all week.)
My other favorite quote:
“like flies over a cow’s head in a Damien Hirst installation” is my new favorite analogy, replacing “The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.” I encourage people to join me in making frequent use of this turn of phrase.
