Archive for February 3rd, 2022

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#80 in a series)

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022

I wrote about Tennessee state senator Katrina Robinson’s indictment on theft, embezzlement, and wire fraud charges.

Unfortunately, I missed the results of her trial:

A judge acquitted Ms. Robinson of 15 charges against her, and a jury found her guilty last year of four counts of wire fraud, relating to about $3,400. Last month, a judge acquitted Ms. Robinson of two of those charges.

The facts that she was acquitted of 15 charges, and has had two convictions thrown out, do give me some pause. However, they apparently do not give the Tennessee State Senate pause: two is enough.

The Tennessee State Senate voted on Wednesday to remove a senator from office because of her conviction on federal wire fraud charges, the first time the chamber has removed a senator since at least the Civil War.
The senator, Katrina Robinson, 41, who was convicted of wire fraud involving federal grant money, was removed from the legislature after a 27-to-5 vote. The tally fell along party lines, with 27 Republicans voting for expulsion and five Democrats voting against, and split over arguments about whether the Senate should continue to let Ms. Robinson’s court case play out. One Democrat was absent for the vote, said Eddie Weeks, the legislative librarian.

…

Ms. Robinson has consistently denied any wrongdoing, said Brandon Puttbrese, a spokesman. In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Robinson, who is Black, denounced the vote, calling it racist.
“I think the vote today was an attack on the Black vote, Black political power,” she said. “I think it is misogynistic. I think it was racist.”

Posted in Law, Politics | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: February 3, 2022.

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022

John C. Koss, headphone innovator.

Mr. Koss and his friend Martin Lange Jr., an engineer, developed a portable stereo phonograph in 1958 that they called a “private listening station.” It had a turntable, speakers and a privacy switch that let users plug headphones into a jack. But most of the headphones available, like those used by telephone operators, shortwave radio users and pilots, were incompatible and not stereophonic.
So they rigged up cardboard cups that contained three-inch speakers and chamois pads from a flight helmet, and they attached them to a headband made of a bent clothes hanger covered with a rubber shower hose.
“And, oh man, whew, it was just bouncing in my ears,” Mr. Koss said in an undated video interview on the Koss Corporation’s website. “It was a great sound. Now the whole thing was there. Anybody that listened to it, it was like the first time you drove in a car or the first time you did anything.”

…

“For many industry professionals, the Koss Pro/4 headphone was the entry into good stereophonic sound that could be heard on headphones,” Jim Anderson, a professor at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, said in an email, referring to a product first produced in 1962. “Koss set a standard for construction quality and audio for many years and had the market virtually to themselves.”

Jean-Jacques Beineix, French director. His first movie was “Diva”.

I wanted to see “Diva” when it was theatrically released because: moped chase in a subway. But at the time, this was impossible for me. I don’t recall it ever playing when UT had a film program. But now, it is available in a reasonably priced Kino Lorber blu ray (affiliate link). And I believe it is on the list: if not, it will be shortly.

He also directed “Betty Blue”, which seems to have divided critics. Interestingly, before “Diva”, he worked as a second assistant/second unit director on several films…including “The Day the Clown Cried”.

Sister Janet Mead, Australian nun…and, with all due respect, musical footnote.

Sister Janet’s recording of “The Lord’s Prayer,” which featured her pure solo vocal over a driving drumbeat — she had a three-octave range and perfect pitch — became an instant hit in Australia, Canada and the United States. It soared to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 during Easter time in 1974, and she became one of the few Australian recording artists to have a gold record in the United States.
The record sold more than three million copies worldwide, two million of them to Americans. Nominated for the 1975 Grammy Award for best inspirational performance, it lost to Elvis Presley and his version of “How Great Thou Art.”
Along with Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” famously covered by the Byrds in 1965, “The Lord’s Prayer” is one of the very few popular songs with lyrics taken from the Bible.

…

She later described the period of her record’s success as a “horrible time,” largely because of demands by the media.
“It was a fairly big strain because all the time there are interviews and radio talk-backs and TV people coming and film people coming,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Shunning the spotlight, she declined most interview requests and all offers to tour the United States.

…

Sister Janet later withdrew from the public eye almost entirely, and her third album, recorded in 1983, was filed away in the Festival Records vaults. The tapes, including a 1983 version of “The Lord’s Prayer” and covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Cat Stevens, were rediscovered by Mr. Erdman in 1999 and included on the album “A Time to Sing,” released that year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sister Janet’s hit single.

Posted in Movies, Music, Obits, Religion | Comments Closed

Noteworthy II.

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022

I used to pay a lot of attention to the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship awards (the “genius grant). I don’t pay as much attention these days, because reasons.

However, I did know that Josh Miele, who I have written about before, was one of last year’s recipients.

Here’s a pretty cool profile of Mr. Miele and what he’s doing now. In brief, he’s working for Amazon on accessibility.

For example, when Miele joined Lab126, the group was working on Show and Tell, an Alexa feature for Echo Show devices that uses the camera and voice interface to help people who are blind identify products. Employing advanced computer vision and machine learning models for object recognition, Show and Tell can be a vital tool in the kitchen of a customer who is blind or has low vision. A person holds up an object and asks, “Alexa, what am I holding?” and gets an immediate answer.

…

Miele helped the team understand that they needed only to provide useful context, even just a word or two, for a person who is blind or visually impaired to identify the product. The team focused on kitchen and pantry items — things that come in cans, boxes, bottles, and tubes. The goal: Recognize items in Amazon’s vast product catalogue, or if that wasn’t possible, recognize brands and logos that could give the customer enough information to know what they held in their hand.
“If I touch a can of something, I know it’s a can,” Miele explained, “but I don’t know if it’s a can of black beans or pineapple. So, if I’m making chili, and I open a can of pineapple, I’m going to be pretty irritated.”

…

“I realized that the work I was doing in accessibility was both rewarding to me and something that not many people could do at the level I was able to do it,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘There are plenty of people who could be great planetary scientists but there were not a lot of people who could design cool stuff for blind people and meet the needs of the people who were going to use it.’”

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

Noteworthy.

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022

I don’t listen to any gun related podcasts on a regular basis these days for reasons. However, I do go out of my way to listen to individual episodes of podcasts if someone brings them to my attention and if I think they’re worthwhile.

In this case, Mike the Musicologist brought to my attention the latest episode of the Texas State Rifle Association’s “2A Ricochet” podcast. This episode features FotB and official trainer to WCD, Karl Rehn.

You can go here for the podcast, or search for it in your favorite podcast client. Or you can watch it on YouTube. Or you can watch it here:

This is about 55 minutes long, and is part one of two. I have listened to all of it, and think it is worth your time if you carry.

Posted in Guns, Holsters | Comments Closed