Of all the books published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the history of the company, the LAT highlights the “Curious George” books?
Archive for May 21st, 2012
Curious George and the bankruptcy lawyers.
Monday, May 21st, 20121.21 gigawatts!
Monday, May 21st, 2012Last week, my great and good friend Chris sent me a link to this Oatmeal comic.
Now, I love Chris like a brother (especially since he and the lovely and talented Mrs. Chris took me out for a steak dinner last week as well, and thanks again, guys) but this comic bugged me for several reasons.
One that I pointed out to Chris is that “the only thing Edison truly pioneered was d’baggery” is wrong. Edison did a great deal of leading edge work on telegraph systems; the money to build Menlo Park came from that work. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but Tom Standage’s The Victorian Internet
Anyway, Chris is a great admirer of Telsa, and a great friend of mine, and I don’t like arguing with people who feed me, so I let sleeping dogs lie.
I was pretty surprised, though, when the Y Combinator newsfeed showed me this article from Forbes: “Nikola Tesla Wasn’t God And Thomas Edison Wasn’t The Devil”, which takes on the assertions in the Oatmeal comic and debunks many of them. Knapp’s comment “Because every narrative needs a villain, right?” particularly struck home with me, for reasons that have nothing to do with Edison and Tesla and everything to do with recent events in the blogosphere.
The Oatmeal has come back with a response to the Forbes article as well, should you care to follow the discussion that far down the rabbit hole.
Primary colors.
Monday, May 21st, 2012Over at Tam’s place, she asks the musical question: “What is a man’s favorite color for a gun?”
I thought I’d answer over here, since the comments there are kind of cluttered, and I want to see if there’s anyone out there that feels the same way I do.
Here’s the thing: I don’t like shiny guns. There’s a part of me that says I have tacticool ninja reasons for that: “O. M. G. The reflected sunlight off of my nickel plated Model 29 might give my position away!” But I think my reasons go deeper than that, though I can’t really articulate them beyond: shiny guns don’t look right to me.
That goes for stainless steel, too: I acknowledge the practicality of stainless, and can see good reasons for owning something like a Kit Gun in stainless. But it still doesn’t look right or feel right to me.
Make mine blued.
I think that has something to do with my upbringing. My dad didn’t own anything in nickel or stainless, I don’t think my grandfather on his side of the family did, and I want to say the same thing goes for at least one of my uncles on that side as well. I guess I didn’t grow up with an appreciation for shiny finishes, or with a practical need for stainless steel.
How about some of you other gun bloggers? If you’re a big nickel or stainless steel fan, do you think part of it may be your upbringing? Did you have a father or uncle or aunt who carried a nickel plated gun in the line of duty? Did you grow up on one of the coasts, or around water, where stainless steel was the most practical thing to own?
Art (Acevedo) damn it, Art! watch (#P of a series).
Monday, May 21st, 2012I apologize. I think I may have missed a firing or two along the way. I plead the pressures of various things and throw myself on the mercy of the court.
Today’s APD firing is a doozy.
Det. Richard Munoz worked in the burglary division. Apparently, back in December, someone brought up concerns about how he was handing their case. In the ensuing investigation:
- “Munoz told officials he had conducted an “interrogation” of a burglary suspect over the phone, but did not record it, and did not document other steps he had taken during his investigation, the memo said.”
- Munoz didn’t return calls from victims, didn’t properly document evidence, and didn’t follow up with witnesses.
- “During this investigation, Munoz said he was “running fast and loose doing investigations,” and also provided statements to officials that proved untrue when compared to statements from other officers, witnesses and documents on record, the memo said.”
Interestingly, former Det. Munoz (who can still appeal his firing) had been suspended six times since he started with APD (in 1995) and was actually fired in 2006 “for policy violations related to his honesty, use of force and documentation of incidents”. He was reinstated by an arbitrator, and suspended in 2008 for public intoxication. After that suspension, Chief Acevedo apparently told him “one more, and you’re out”.
Also: