The B-2, the B-2, the B-2 is on fire!
(We don’t need no water. Let the mother—-er fly!)
Exxon denies the allegations and defies the alligators.
Archive for March, 2014
Random notes: March 20, 2014.
Thursday, March 20th, 2014Bad journalist! No biscuit!
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014I was going to put this in one of the random posts, but simply forgot. It probably deserves a separate post anyway. Back in December of last year, the LAT ran a story about Occidental College. Specifically, the LAT alleged that Occidental had failed to report 27 incidents of sexual assault in 2012: the paper stated that the college was required, under the terms of the Clery Act, to report those incidents. It appears that there was some back and forth between the college and the LAT over this, and…
Some of the incidents were “sexual harassment, inappropriate text messages or other conduct not covered by the act”. Others took place off of campus property and thus did not have to be reported. Others took place in 2011 and were reported then. So, basically, the LAT‘s article was bullshit. But wait, there’s more!
Can you say, “conflict of interest”? Can you say, “the Times fired the reporter’s ass“? I knew you could. (Hattip: Romenesko.)
A double handful of randomness.
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014The arson puppies of Las Vegas. Yes, I know that sounds like I’m just stringing random words together, but this a real story. Plus: puppies!
Hey, you’ll never guess who is running for a Congressional seat in Louisiana. Edwin Edwards. Yeah, that’s right, Edwin Edwards. You know, the former governor of Louisiana who spent eight years in prison after being convicted of bribery, extortion, and fraud? That Edwin Edwards?
Always nice to see a classical reference in the news.
Obit watch and other random notes for March 18, 2014.
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014Clarissa Dickson Wright. Damn, this sucks. I was a fan of “Two Fat Ladies”.
For the record, here’s your David Brenner obit: I’ve been just a touch busy. Sorry.
Part of that busy has involved visiting various Half-Price Books locations: would you believe I can’t find a used copy of Fatal Vision
Once again, I don’t care about college basketball. Once again, I’m rooting for Gonzaga just because I like saying “Gonzaga!” I think this might be their year. And, once again, I’ve bet Lawrence $5 that Gonzaga will win the championship.
And baseball season is about to get started as well. Everyone knows what that means: yes, I’ve also bet Lawrence $5 that the Cubs will win the World Series.
Noted.
Saturday, March 15th, 2014Gene Weingarten, the subject of previous posts here, has a short but nice appreciation of Joe McGinniss and Fatal Vision
(Although this is dated March 11th, it only came to my attention today. There’s a note on it that says it originally came from Weingarten’s online chat.)
I am probably shooting a gigantic hole in my credibility as a true-crime buff. But, while I have read many of the “classics” of the genre (and some crap, too), I confess that I have not yet read Fatal Vision. Both Weingarten and Bill James
Edited to add: Discussion question for the huddled masses: was the Dreyfus affair really a “true crime” story? I would say “yes”: treason is, after all, a crime. Does the fact that Dreyfus was wrongly accused change that classification? Not in my mind: does the fact that O.J. was acquitted make the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman any less a true crime story? Would it change my mind if it turned out there was no actual treason? I don’t think so; there was still a criminal accusation and trials, which to me qualifies it as a “true crime” story. Which raises the question: could you have a “true crime” story in which, not only is the accused innocent, but the crime itself never happened? For example, a murder charge where the alleged victim actually turns up alive and testifies for the defense? I am inclined to say “yes, and that’s a book I’d want to read”.
Bad day for rat-like creatures.
Friday, March 14th, 2014Quiznos has followed Sbarro into Chapter 11.
How about a completely amusical interlude that explains why Quiznos went bankrupt? At least, many people I know date the start of the chain’s decline to this:
(And I had not heard of “Hot Dog on a Stick”, so I wasn’t even aware they’d gone Chapter 11, too.)
Am I crazy?
Friday, March 14th, 2014I know, I know, but seriously: am I crazy?
John Gruber linked to an interview with “The Setup” (“What do people use to get stuff done?”) by John McAfee. Yes, that John McAfee.
In the photo, it looks like he’s holding one of those GSG MP-5 clones in .22 LR. I’ll admit I could be wrong about that: it may be one of the Umarex guns instead, but I am 99 44/100ths percent sure it is one of those two .22LR clones. (The magazine is a dead giveaway.)
Quoth Mr. McAfee:
I will confess that I have not had a lot of occasion in my life to shoot through car doors. After all, I am not a tactical operator operating tactically in operations with tactics.
But a silenced .22 penetrating one? Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m going to have to see the Box of Truth or somebody shoot through a car door with a silenced .22 before I believe that.
Happy Pi Day, everyone!
Friday, March 14th, 2014I’ve been messing around a little with QuickPi 4.5 on my free time at work; that’s a fun little program.
And here’s a Pi Day article from the LAT which includes complaints from the usual bunch of whiners who think pi should be replaced by tau. I bet these same people think Pluto isn’t a planet.
These people are why we can’t have nice things any longer.
Edited to add: So apparently, Tau Day is June 28th. Interesting. You know what else June 28th is? That’s right: Gavrilo Princip Day!
Edited to add 2:
o Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3740QM CPU @ 2.70GHz detected
o Processor speed measured at 2.70 GHz
o Single processor with eight cores and 2-way SMT per core
o 4.0 GB of memory available
o Using custom training data
Computation of Pi to 1,073,741,824 digits
Method used : Chudnovsky
Started : Fri Mar 14 10:07:24 2014
Series size : 75713477 (1,073,741,838 digits)
Computing series, time : 2144.09
Computing final value, time : 397.05
Total time : 2541.15 seconds (42 mins, 21.15 secs)
Total memory used : 4,259,072,015 (3.97 GB)
Total disk space used : 3,319,660,544 (3.09 GB)
Time spent swapping : 198.01 (153.65 reading, 44.36 writing)
Processor utilization : 274.33%
Howard Waldrop, call your office, please.
Wednesday, March 12th, 2014By way of Popehat on the Twitter, NPR’s counterfactual series, “What If World War I Had Never Happened?”
“Do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins?” I can’t lie; this made me smile, as did “a very Austro-Hungarian problem” and “Is this how you greet visitors, by throwing bombs at them?”
(See also. Also, I have to admit to some curiosity; what kind of sandwich?)
Edited to add: Well. Well well well. Well.
Also, wouldn’t “Gavrilo Princip’s Sandwich” be a great name for a band?
Obit watch: March 11, 2014.
Tuesday, March 11th, 2014Edited to add: LAT obit. Not sure why I didn’t link this one this morning; I want to say that the obit I saw when I was doing my morning rounds was a crappy AP one.
Yet another legal update.
Saturday, March 8th, 2014Last June, I wrote about the Samuel Kellner case. Summarizing briefly, Mr. Kellner believed his son had been molested by a Hasidic cantor. He collected evidence and managed to get the cantor charged with and convicted of sexual abuse: however, the cantor’s conviction was later overturned, and Mr. Kellner was charged with extortion and bribery.
Obviously, I wasn’t there, and only know what I’ve read in the NYT. But this smells a lot like a failed attempt at revenge by the cantor’s supporters, possibly with help from the Brooklyn DA’s office.
And: