Archive for October, 2023

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Obit watch: October 18, 2023.

Wednesday, October 18th, 2023

Dr. James Irving Wimsatt, professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, passed away Sunday morning, He was 96.

Dr. Wimsatt was a personal friend of mine, and of many other readers of this blog. I met him through his son, Andrew.

He was a great guy. I always felt intimidated by him: I described him to someone (no disrespect intended, Andrew) as “scary smart and tough as a bus station steak”. He was walking several miles a day on a regular basis well into his 90s. And he remained in full possession of his facilities pretty much right up until his death (though he’d been in and out of hospitals and rehab).

I thought this was kind of a neat entry from encyclopedia.com:

In Chaucer and His French Contemporaries: Natural Music in the Fourteenth Century, Wimsatt provides a wide range of information and analysis that treats comprehensively Chaucer’s reciprocal relationships with fourteenth-century French poetry and poetic theory. In addition to considering the works of Chaucer, Wimsatt addresses the efforts of such poets as Guillaume de Machaut, Jean de le Mote, Froissart, Oton de Granson, and Eustache Deschamps, writers who have previously been dismissed as mundane or not worth literary examination. However, Wimsatt considers them all viable poets and pays close attention to their lyric styles in particular. He also looks at the climate of the culture at the time and how this affected the themes of these writers’ works and any overlap in ideas. Jane H.M. Taylor, writing for the Review of English Studies, remarked that “Wimsatt’s breadth of knowledge is remarkable; his contribution to Chaucer studies is valuable, and indeed, on the rather neglected Oton de Granson and Eustache Deschamps, he offers insights which French scholars too might well find worthwhile.” Ardis Butterfield, in a review for Medium Aevum, dubbed the book “a substantial and reliable guide to Chaucer’s connections with fourteenth-century France.”

He wasn’t just a Chaucerian, though my understanding is he was a damn good one. He also wrote a lot about other poets. Dr. Wimsatt was kind enough, at one point, to give me a copy of his Hopkins’s Poetics of Speech Sound. I haven’t read it yet, being backlogged, but I wish I had before he passed.

He also served honorably in the US Navy. And he was a pretty regular member of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.

“He that loveth God will do diligence to please God by his works, and abandon himself, with all his might, well for to do.”
–Geoffrey “Big Geoff” Chaucer

I believe that Dr. Wimsatt did indeed please God by his works, and he’s up there laughing with all those other English professors of that generation.

(Crossposed to the Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)

Posted in Food, Obits | Comments Closed

Random gun crankery.

Wednesday, October 18th, 2023

There have been some gun related news stories over the past few weeks that I want to make note of.

1. Vista Outdoor is selling off their ammunition business to Czechoslovak Group a.s. for $1.91 billion. The Vista Outdoor ammo business includes Speer, Remington’s ammo side, CCI, and Federal.

I can’t find as much information as I would like about Czechoslovak Group. It looks like they currently own Fiocchi, and they are not the same company that owns Colt CZ Group. Czechoslovak Group seems to be big in the defense industry, with the sporting ammo component being relatively small. Perhaps they are looking to expand?

To effect the transaction, Vista Outdoor will separate its Outdoor Products business from its Sporting Products business, and CSG will merge one of its subsidiaries with Vista Outdoor (holding only the Sporting Products business), with current public stockholders of Vista Outdoor receiving shares of Outdoor Products (recently rebranded as Revelyst) and approximately $750 million in cash in the aggregate. This will be treated as a taxable sale of a stockholder’s Vista Outdoor shares for the Outdoor Products shares and cash consideration they receive in the merger, allowing stockholders to recover tax basis and recognize built-in gain and loss in their Vista Outdoor shares.

…

Revelyst will leverage meticulous craftsmanship and cross-collaboration across its portfolio of category-defining brands. Brands include Fox, Bell, Giro, CamelBak, Camp Chef, Bushnell, Simms Fishing, Foresight Sports, Bushnell Golf and more. Eric Nyman will continue as CEO of Outdoor Products and become the CEO of Revelyst upon transaction close.

So it looks like what’s going to be left of Vista Outdoors Revelyst is going to be fishing, camping, golf, cycling helmets, Camelbacks, and golf. Disclosure: the “gun hedge fund” (which is neither a hedge nor a fund) owns some shares in Vista Outdoor, and may make some money off of this. Vista Outdoor has been one of the best performing stocks in the group, though it’s down considerably right now. ($24.81 a share as I write this.)

You shouldn’t take financial advice from me, but I really don’t see “Revelyst” being a growing business, or one I’d be interested in continuing to invest in.

2. I’m having trouble finding what I think of as really reliable sources for this, but: “According to multiple news sources, the Lake City ammo plant has cancelled all of its commercial contracts.”

This is swell news, he said with some sarcasm, as Lake City produces an estimated 30% of the 5.56 ammo on the civilian market. So if you thought things were rough before…suck air, grab clusters, and stock up on 5.56 if you find it at a good price.

My first thought was that this was stealth gun control by the Sleepy Joe administration: if they can’t restrict the guns, why not restrict the ammo? (“Reloading? What’s that?”) A more rational thought (and what seems to be the conventional wisdom) is that the government is stockpiling ammo, both to refresh the Ukraine and against a possible land war in the Middle East.

Disclaimer: the “gun hedge fund” (see above) also owns stock in Olin Corporation. Olin runs the Lake City plant under contract, and our Olin stock has been the best performer overall in the fund. As a matter of fact, our Olin stock is the only stock in the “fund” that’s currently in the black. ($48.12 a share as I write this.)

3. The Recoil website reported this about two weeks ago: BATFE has banned importation of “non-lethal” training ammo unless it is for use by military or law enforcement customers.

Maybe.

So far, it seems like the only report of this is on Instagram. The post is actually a letter a company called Ultimate Training Munitions sent to Sage Dynamics, but this is backed up by a statement on UTM’s website.

The other big maker of “non-lethal” training ammo is Simunition, which apparently imports from Canada. As far as I know, they have not made any public statement on this yet, even though they have been asked by Recoil, and I assume other outlets.

It is unclear what authority BATFE has to ban import of “non-lethal” training ammo. Perhaps the “sporting purposes” clause. Then again, when has BATFE ever gotten hung up on pesky questions of “legal authority”?

Posted in Guns | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: October 17, 2023.

Tuesday, October 17th, 2023

Lara Parker, actress.

Other credits include the good “Hawaii Five-O”, “Sword of Justice”, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”, and “The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo”.

Joanna Merlin, actress. Other credits include “All That Jazz”, “The Killing Fields”, and “City of Angels”.

Posted in 1970s, Movies, Obits, Theatre, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 16, 2023.

Monday, October 16th, 2023

Suzanne Somers. THR. Tributes. IMDB.

Posted in 1970s, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 15, 2023.

Sunday, October 15th, 2023

I’m aware of Suzanne Somers, but all the obits I’ve seen so far have been preliminary. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow on this one.

Piper Laurie. THR.

Other credits include two episodes of the 1985-1986 “Twilight Zone” revival, “The Bunker”, “The Eleventh Hour” and “Breaking Point” (both of which I was just recently reading about, and which I would love to see on home video), and three episodes of “St. Elsewhere”.

Colette Rossant, cookbook author and popularizer of French food. She may have been a bit obscure for most of you: I know of her because she was a great friend of Calvin Trillin, and he wrote about her multiple times in “The Tummy Trilogy”.

In a 1981 article in The Times with the headline “The Inspirations of a Global Cook,” Craig Claiborne, the newspaper’s august food critic, wrote that he “found it impossible to refuse an invitation to a Rossant meal, which turned out to be a feast,” including a blend of fresh and smoked salmon christened with rillettes of fish as an appetizer, a roast of veal “cooked to a savory state in milk” and other delicacies.
Mr. Claiborne noted that Mr. Trillin, the celebrated author, humorist and food writer, had once written that whenever he was invited to dine at Ms. Rossant’s, his wife, Alice, was “forced to grab me by the jacket two or three times to keep me from breaking into a steady, uncharacteristic trot.”

Tommy Gambino, of Gambino family fame.

He was the nephew of “Big Paul” Castellano, who succeeded Carlo as the head of the family but was rubbed out in 1985 on the orders of eventual Gambino godfather John Gotti.
Tommy Gambino arrived at Sparks Steakhouse on East 46th Street just moments after Castellano and his driver, Tommy Bilotti, were gunned down outside the eatery.
Tommy Gambino, once described as the a “quintessential Mafia prince of New York City,” was convicted in 1993 of two counts of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy for controlling gambling and loan sharking operations in Connecticut.
He served in federal prison from 1996 to 2000.
The prosecution’s evidence in his trial included secretly recorded conversations with Mafia turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.

Posted in 1970s, Food, Law, Movies, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Your loser update: weeks 6 and 7, 2023.

Sunday, October 15th, 2023

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:

Carolina

Next week, Carolina and Houston (along with a few other teams) have a bye week.

I call out Carolina and Houston specifically because they play each other in week 8 (on October 29th): it will be a home game for Carolina. As I write this (and with the understanding that this is two weeks out) Houston is favored.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Pho pas.

Saturday, October 14th, 2023

State Fair time has rolled around again. And I have been negligent in covering this year’s offerings.

Various people have sent me links to stories, so it isn’t anyone’s fault but mine. I think I’ve just been too busy naval gazing.

Anyway, by way of the paper of record, I have learned that there’s a scandal at the State Fair.

Ms. Le, a vendor at the fair, is being accused of stealing their deep-fried pho recipe.

Yes, you read that correctly. You are not having a stroke. “Deep-fried pho”.

The version at the state fair, which costs $24, is deep-fried and the size of a salami. The hulking phorrito at Cris and John, a Vietnamese Mexican restaurant, is pan-fried, as stocky as a cocktail shaker and starts at $10. Each is served with broth as a dipping sauce, though Ms. Le’s is a light, aromatic infusion, while the phorrito’s accouterment is somewhere between traditional pho broth and birria consomé.

It’s a little more complicated, though: Cris and John were offered a slot at the fair, but they would have had to close on Saturday (that seems like a non-starter), and Ms. Le apparently offered to work with them before the fair. However, Ms. Le also says she’s been working on deep-fried pho since 2011.

Mr. Pham and Ms. Mendez, who recalled painful criticism of their third-culture fusion cuisine when they opened their restaurant in 2017, are the first to relinquish credit for the phorrito. They based their version on one sold by the Los Angeles restaurant Komodo.

Also: gratuitous photo of “cheesecake swaddled in chocolate and Biscoff cookie crumbs”. On a stick. Of course.

Posted in Food, On a stick | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 14, 2023.

Saturday, October 14th, 2023

Mark Goddard. THR.

Other credits include “Quincy M.E.”, “Adam-12”, “Perry Mason”, and (the original) “The Fugitive”.

Louise Glück, poet and winner of the Nobel Prize (also the Pulitzer and the National Book Award).

Posted in Books, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Perhaps you’re NOT going down in flames. Also, while you may be tax-fattened, hyena might be a stretch.

Friday, October 13th, 2023

Mike the Musicologist sent this over to me, asking if it counted as flames. I told him I thought it was worth noting, but didn’t think it was a flaming hyena. To which MtM responded “It’s your publication. You make the call.”

Inna Vernikov is a councilwoman from Brooklyn. She’s a Republican from a “conservative” district. She’s also Jewish. And she has a concealed carry permit.

Councilwoman Vernikov went to a “pro-Palestinian rally” at Brooklyn College yesterday.

Councilwoman Vernikov was carrying a “Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter pistol”.

She was “observing a pro-Palestine protest” when she was seen with the butt end of a firearm “protruding from the front portion of her pants”…

She couldn’t afford a decent IWB holster?

Cutting to the chase, the councilwoman has been charged with “criminal possession of a firearm”.

You see, even though she had a concealed carry permit, it seems like:

1. Being seen with the butt of the gun protruding from her pants isn’t “concealed carry”.

2. Quoth the tabloid of record, “Although Vernikov has a concealed carry permit, it is illegal in New York state to have a firearm at sensitive locations such as protests or school grounds.”

So why no flaming hyena? I question her judgement in not using a good, discreet holster. I halfway want to question her judgement in going to the rally armed in the first place (“Avoid stupid people in stupid places doing stupid things”) but she may have felt obligated to as a politican, and may have felt she needed to be armed for her protection.

And: I Am Not A Lawyer, But: I think the ban on having firearms at “sensitive locations” is very likely to get overturned if it ever goes to the appellate level. And as I’ve said before, it’s hard for me to sling imprecations at someone who’s committing a crime that I don’t believe should be a crime.

Posted in Guns, IANAL, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 12, 2023.

Thursday, October 12th, 2023

Walt Garrison, legendary Dallas Cowboy, rodeo competetor, and Skoal endorser.

His best season was 1971, where he scored 10 touchdowns and had 1,174 total yards, and it was capped off by a 24-3 Super Bowl victory over Miami. He was named to the Pro Bowl that season.
A knee injury Garrison suffered while steer wrestling in 1975 ultimately ended his NFL career. He retired from Dallas as the third-leading rusher and fourth-leading receiver in team history.

Phyllis Coates, actress. Other credits include three appearances on “Perry Mason”, “Midnight Caller”, “The Untouchables”, and “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”.

Jeff Burr, director. IMDB. (Hattip: Lawrence.)

Michael Chiarello, celebrity chef.

Rudolph Isley, of the Isley Brothers.

Rudolph left the Isley Brothers in 1989 to pursue becoming a Christian minister. However, he has often reunited with his brothers over the years, including when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, an honor that was presented to them by Little Richard.

Posted in Food, Movies, Music, NFL, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Thursday, October 12th, 2023

Running a little behind here, but: the Red Sox fired Dave Bush (pitching coach) and Carlos Febles (third-base coach) on Monday.

This is an…interesting…story. John Roth, “chief operating officer” of both the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, has been fired. Also fired: Kathryn D’Angelo, “general counsel and senior vice president of business administration” for the Bills.

The alleged reason? Roth and D’Angelo were allegedly involved in a “romantic relationship”. Which, once again, consenting adults, etc.

But: D’Angelo apparently was one of Roth’s direct reports. It seems like dating one of your subordinates is generally frowned upon in this establishment. As a matter of fact, I think it’s generally frowned upon in most ethical workplaces.

Things between Roth and D’Angelo “got too brazen” in London, where the Bills suffered a 25-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, and it “became an issue that had to be addressed.”

(I apologize for not linking to “The Athletic”. While I apparently have “limited” access to the site as a NYT subscriber, it wants me to “customize my feed” before I do anything. To heck with that.)

Posted in Firings, Sports | 1 Comment »

Collectables.

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

My regular readers know that one of the obsessions of this blog is the Inverted Jenny.

Inverted Jenny #49 is going up for sale again.

Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, which will sell No. 49 on Nov. 8, had it graded by two organizations of stamp experts. Each gave it a 95 on a scale of 100, a rating that Scott Trepel, the president of Siegel, said was the highest grade an Inverted Jenny “has ever received or will receive.” Robert Rose, the chairman of the Philatelic Foundation, one of the groups that graded it, said, “It’s really one of a kind.”

Here are some good images of it.

In other news, I had an interesting discussion at my local gun shop last night. I went in on Monday because I got hosed out of going on Saturday (NOT THAT I’M BITTER OR ANYTHING.)

The used gun buyer was there. He’d been out sick for a couple of weeks, so this is the first time in a while that I’d seen him, and we spent some time catching up.

My regular readers also know that one of the obsessions of this blog is the pre-1964 Model 70 Winchester. They’ve had one on the shelf for a few weeks: based on the serial number, it’s a 1949 gun complete with a Lyman Alaskan 4x scope. I jokingly referred to it as “the Jack O’Connor starter kit”.1

The gun buyer told me, “Oh, yeah. That gun belonged to some famous Hollywood guy. Give me a minute and I’ll tell you who.” So he went back through his emails and eventually found it. That Model 70 previously belonged to…

Sid Caeser.

Yes, Sid “Your Show of Shows” Caeser. Sid “dangled Mel Brooks out of an 18th story window” Caeser. Sid “punched a horse” Caeser. That one.

The past was another country, and lots of celebrities owned guns back then, so this shouldn’t be so surprising to me. I think it might be the odd combination of someone who you don’t think of as a gun guy owning guns, and that gun showing up in an Austin gun shop.

People often say, “You’re not paying for the gun, you’re paying for the story behind it.” So how do I know this story is true?

There’s backup for it. I checked the serial number, and it’s right.

I wasn’t considering purchasing it. The gun fund is a little tight, we’re planning to go to a gun show in November, and I’m lucky enough to already have temporary custody of one pre-64 Model 70 in .270 Winchester. But the associational element, combined with the price, is making me think.

The same shop also has a few more of Sid’s guns: there’s an older Husqvarna bolt gun in .308, a Sako (which they may have sold: the gun buyer couldn’t find it on the rack) and I think they also got a couple of Sid’s Browning shotguns.

1. As you know, Bob, especially if you’ve been around me long enough, Jack O’Connor was a big fan of the pre-64 Winchester Model 70, especially in .270 Winchester. And the very thinly disguised version of Jack O’Connor in Stephen Hunter’s Pale Horse Coming uses a pre-64 Model 70 in .270 Winchester with a Lyman Alaskan 4x scope to great effect.

Posted in Guns, O'Connor, Stamps, TV | 1 Comment »

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