Obit watch: May 24, 2024.

May 24th, 2024

Kabosu, the Shiba Inu who became a symbol of Dogecoin.

Hatitp to RoadRich, whose eulogy I will borrow: “Much sad. Very respect. No bite.”

Bob McCreadie. This is kind of a weird one, but actually not that weird by NYT standards. He was a prominent dirt track racer. Dirt track racing is apparently a big deal in parts of the East Coast, but not so much in NYC. The slightly surprising thing to me is that the paper of record treats him and his career with respect:

McCreadie was dirt racing’s perfect Everyman: Scrawny, bespectacled, with a bushy beard, he chain-smoked, cursed vigorously and hauled his racecars with his own pickup truck instead of the fancy trailers that many of his contemporaries used.
In northern New York, where he lived, the news media covered him with roughly the same exuberance with which New York City newspapers covered Babe Ruth in his heyday. The Post-Standard of Syracuse mentioned him more than 1,200 times in his career.
“He looked like a country bumpkin,” Ron Hedger, a longtime writer for Speed Sport Insider, said in a phone interview. “The fans identified with him, and they really loved him. There was always a mob of people waiting in line for an autograph.”

He started racing in 1971 and won his first race four years later. He then began dominating the circuit. In 1986, he won the Miller American 200 at the New York State Fairgrounds — the Super Bowl of dirt racing. His best year was 1994, when he won 47 of 93 races.

In his best year, McCreadie won somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000 in race prizes. But his aggressive racing style had an occupational hazard: dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of crashes.
“You’re looking at someone who’s run thousands of races,” he told The Post-Standard in 2006. “If you tried to do percentage-wise out of the total — maybe 5 percent.”

This just in: Caleb Carr, author. You’ve probably at least heard of The Alienist:

Mr. Carr had first pitched the book as nonfiction; it wasn’t, but it read that way because of the exhaustive research he did into the period. He rendered the dank horrors of Manhattan’s tenement life, its sadistic gangs and the seedy brothels that were peddling children, as well as the city’s lush hubs of power, like Delmonico’s restaurant. And he peopled his novel with historical figures like Theodore Roosevelt, who was New York’s reforming police commissioner before his years in the White House. Even Jacob Riis had a cameo.

He was also a prominent military historian. And he was horribly abused as a young boy by his father, the Beat author Lucien Carr.

“There’s no question that I have a lifelong fascination with violence,” Caleb Carr told Stephen Dubner of New York magazine in 1994, just before “The Alienist” was published, explaining not just the engine for the book but why he was drawn to military history. “Part of it was a desire to find violence that was, in the first place, directed toward some purposeful end, and second, governed by a definable ethical code. And I think it’s fairly obvious why I would want to do that.”

Morgan Spurlock, of “Super Size Me” fame. NYT (archived) which I prefer:

But the film also came in for subsequent criticism. Some people pointed out that Mr. Spurlock refused to release the daily logs tracking his food intake. Health researchers were unable to replicate his results in controlled studies.
And in 2017, he admitted that he had not been sober for more than a week at a time in 30 years — meaning that, in addition to his “McDonald’s only” diet, he was drinking, a fact that he concealed from his doctors and the audience, and that most likely skewed his results.
The admission came in a statement in which he also revealed multiple incidents of sexual misconduct, including an encounter in college that he described as rape, as well as repeated infidelity and the sexual harassment of an assistant at his production company, Warrior Poets.

Obit watch: May 23, 2024.

May 23rd, 2024

C. Gordon Bell, pioneering computer developer.

Called the “Frank Lloyd Wright of computers” by Datamation magazine, Mr. Bell was the master architect in the effort to create smaller, affordable, interactive computers that could be clustered into a network. A virtuoso at computer architecture, he built the first time-sharing computer and championed efforts to build the Ethernet. He was among a handful of influential engineers whose designs formed the vital bridge between the room-size models of the mainframe era and the advent of the personal computer.

At a time when computer companies like IBM were selling multimillion-dollar mainframe computers, Digital Equipment Corporation, which was founded and run by Kenneth Olsen, aimed at introducing smaller, powerful machines that could be purchased for a fraction of that cost. Mr. Bell was hired from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in 1960 as the company’s second computer engineer. He designed all its early entrants into what was then called the minicomputer market.
The PDP-8, a 12-bit computer introduced in 1965 with an $18,000 price tag, was considered the first successful minicomputer on the market. More important, Digital Equipment Corporation’s minicomputers were sold to scientists, engineers and other users, who interacted directly with the machines in an era when corporate computers were off limits to such users, housed in glass-walled data centers under the watchful eye of specialists.
“All the D.E.C. machines were interactive, and we believed in having people talk directly to computers,” Mr. Bell said in a 1985 interview with Computerworld, an industry publication. In this way, he presaged the coming personal computer revolution.

…Mr. Bell took what became a six-year sabbatical to teach at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, but he returned to the company as vice president of engineering in 1972. Reinvigorated and brimming with new ideas, he oversaw the design of an entirely new computer architecture: The VAX 780, a fast, powerful and efficient minicomputer, was a huge success, fueling sales that by the early 1980s had made D.E.C. the world’s second-largest computer maker.
“Gordon Bell was a giant in the computer industry,” said Howard Anderson, founder of the Yankee Group, a technology industry research firm that tracked the market in that era. “I give him as much credit for D.E.C.’s success as Ken Olsen. He believed in the primacy of engineering talent, and he attracted some of the best engineers in the industry to D.E.C., which became a place of great ferment.”

After he left the company, Mr. Bell was a founder of both Encore Computer and Ardent Computer. In 1986, he delved into the world of public policy when he joined the National Science Foundation and led the supercomputer networking effort that resulted in an early iteration of the internet called the National Research and Education Network. In 1987, he sponsored the ACM Gordon Bell Prize for work in parallel computing.

Shirley Conran, British author. She wrote a famously smutty book. Lace, which was a huge bestseller. It features unorthodox use of a goldfish, and the memorable line “All right. Which one of you bitches is my mother?”.

Her mantra, “Life is too short to stuff a mushroom,” became a feminist rallying cry, finding its way onto matchbooks, dish towels and throw pillows.

“Lace” was promoted to the hilt — some publishing industry types called it the “Mommy, Who?” book — not just in bookstores but also in clothing shops in Beverly Hills, and with giveaways like lace garters embroidered with the book’s title in gold. It was panned by critics: “It is a work of such transparent and exquisite cynicism that its triumphant march to the upper reaches of the best-seller lists seems divinely ordained,” Jonathan Yardley wrote in The Washington Post. But it fulfilled its promise, and Mr. Yardley’s prediction, selling many millions of copies (teenagers passed the book around like contraband), and inspiring a mini-series starring Phoebe Cates (critics panned that, too) and a sequel, “Lace II” (1985).

The time for action is over. Now is the time for senseless bickering.

May 23rd, 2024

J.B. Bickerstaff out as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

170-159 regular season, 6-11 in the playoffs. Cleveland’s made the playoffs two years in a row and seems to be improving, but they got knocked out by the Celtics in the second round this season.

ESPN.

Obit watch: May 21, 2024.

May 21st, 2024

I made it home in one piece, but I’m still catching up. Lawrence sent over a handful of obits:

Jim Otto, center for the Oakland Raiders.

Otto was an original Raider. He played for the team during its American Football League days, from 1960 to 1969, and then in the National Football League from 1970-74, following the merger of the two leagues. He started 210 consecutive games, was voted to the A.F.L. all-star team in each of its 10 seasons, and helped the Raiders win seven division championships. In 1980, the first year he was eligible, he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

…Otto offered a list of injuries that seemed more appropriate for a whole battalion in an army than for a single man. There were about 30 concussions, about 25 broken noses, a broken jaw, teeth kicked out, a detached retina, two cauliflower ears from getting kicked in the side of the head, several broken ribs, torn muscles, groin pulls, sprained ankles, a detached and torn diaphragm, two broken kneecaps, 150 facial stitches and arthritis in virtually all his joints. He once experienced amnesia so severe, he said, that he looked at his wife and thought, Who is she?

Gloria Stroock, actress. Other credits include “Death Car on the Freeway”, “Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy”, and “The Day of the Locust”.

Barbra Fuller, actress. IMDB.

Dolores Rosedale, also known as “Roxanne”, from the original “Beat the Clock”. IMDB.

Ivan Boesky, inside trader.

An inspiration for the character Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s movie “Wall Street” and its sequel, Mr. Boesky made a fortune betting on stock tips, often passed to him illegally in exchange for suitcases of cash. His guilty plea to insider trading in November 1986 and his $100 million penalty, a record at the time, sent shock waves through Wall Street and set off a cascade of events that marked the end of a decade of frenzied takeover activity and the celebration of conspicuous wealth.
As federal investigators closed in on Mr. Boesky, he agreed to cooperate, providing information that led to the downfall of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert and its junk bond king, Michael Milken.

NRA annual meeting day 3 notes.

May 19th, 2024

Miles walked today so far: 3.4.

We finished up around 4 PM. I think I can safely say we saw everything, even the stuff that didn’t interest us or that appalled us.

Not much to report from the rest of the upper level, to be honest. There were a lot of really nice displays from the collector’s associations in the area we looked at. My people, the S&WCA, had an excellent display of Schofield revolvers, and I got to chat with some of my friends in that group. The Remington collectors had a huge display of Remington Model 720 rifles that had been awarded by the Secretary of the Navy to winners of marksmanship competitions. The one that really blew me away was the Ruger Collectors display of Model 1 rifles…in every known caliber they’ve been made in. Which is something like 66 calibers total.

We got to handle a TC86 rifle at Taylor’s and Company, and this is something both Mike the Musicologist and I are interested in. A takedown .45-70 lever gun that looks wonderful, and isn’t going for that much more than the revived Marlin .45-70 lever guns? You have my attention.

I did manage to make it to the Smith and Wesson booth, which was in a back corner of the upper level. It kind of felt like they had been exhiled to Siberia, though it may just be that was the only place they’d fit. I don’t have a whole lot to report from there, except that the wood stocked Model 1854 does look nice in person.

One vendor whose products interest me, though I didn’t get a chance to talk to them, was Oasis Scientific. They make wireless borescopes. I don’t know that I need one, but it seems like something worth having. Lyman also makes one now, too, which I did not know.

Mike reminded me that we had a really good time chatting with Gordon Bond, of Bond Arms. Mostly we chatted about the Cyclops, which is silly and something I don’t need, but which also looks like fun. If you miss the bad guy with your one shot, you’ll set him on fire with the muzzle blast. (Personally, I’m thinking about getting one of Bond’s .45 Colt/.410 bore derringers.)

I had a good chat with the Burris folks on Friday. According to their rep, Scout scopes are still an active product. They’re just backordered right now due to supply chain issues and the fact that everyone is buying them – at least, everyone who wants a long eye relief scope, because they are pretty much the only choice. Leupold discontinued theirs. As for a model with the features of the Veracity PH…seems unlikely.

We did get to talk to everyone we wanted to who was at the show. But there were a lot of people we expected to be there who were not: Steyr, Leupold, and Brownells were three absences that we noticed.

At this point, I feel like I need to get home, sleep for a week, and sort through all the stuff I picked up before I can write any more about the show. I’ll probably be trickling stuff out over the next few days. Tomorrow is a travel day for us, so light blogging ahead.

Addendum: Number of protestors seen or heard by me personally: zero. Our other two friends did say that they saw some near the city hall while they were walking back to their hotel, but I did not see or hear a single one. I also did not see any of the mobile sign trucks that they were using in Houston in 2022.

Edited to add: Apologies for the confusion. I don’t know what’s going on, but it feels like the WordPress app on the iPhone is eating my posts when I make changes and replacing them with previous drafts. I think I have this one back to the way it was now.

Obit watch: May 19, 2024.

May 19th, 2024

Brigadier General Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson Jr. He was 102.

Gen. Anderson was the last surviving triple ace of World War II. He is credited with shooting down 16 German planes.

He was a squadron mate of Chuck Yeager.

In his 30 years of military service, General Anderson flew more than 130 types of aircraft, logging some 7,500 hours in the air.
Piloting P-51 Mustang propeller fighters in World War II — he named them Old Crow, for his favorite brand of whiskey — he logged 116 missions totaling some 480 hours of combat without aborting a single foray.

His decorations included two Legion of Merit citations, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star and 16 Air Medals.

He went on to a distinguished post-war career as a test pilot.

“On the ground, he was the nicest person you’d ever know,” General Yeager said of General Anderson in reflecting on their wartime years.
But as he put it in his 1985 autobiography, “Yeager,” written with Lee Jonas: “In the sky those damned Germans must’ve thought they were up against Frankenstein or the Wolfman. Andy would hammer them into the ground, dive with them into the damned grave, if necessary, to destroy them.”

NRA annual meeting day 2 notes.

May 18th, 2024

The people at Underwood Ammo are really nice. Go buy stuff from them, please. It doesn’t even have to be .356 TSW ammo. I bought a shirt, because you can’t buy guns or ammo at the meeting.

Miles walked today: 4.2. We finished off the entire lower level and got about halfway through the upper level. I expect to be finished before the show closes tomorrow and have enough time to go back to a few places. We haven’t quite made it to the Smith and Wesson booth yet, but we have been within feet of it.

We’ve had excellent meals so far at Royal China (repeat, took friends, still great) and Taste of Europe.

Best swag today: nothing really outstanding, but Fiocchi did give me a hat. They seemed to be really pushing 5.7 ammo.

Someone else gave me a book: Rod Of Iron Kingdom, by Hyung Jin Sean Moon. They told me it was a Biblically based defense of the Second Amendment. I haven’t read it yet (we just got back to the room) so I can’t tell you any more about it. Here’s their website, but I can’t get past the front page on my phone.

Most interesting thing seen today: the LabRadar LX. It looks a lot like the Garmin Xero C1, and appears to be close in price. Unlike the original LabRadar, it can only measure out to 15 yards from the muzzle rather than 100. But the LX can measure up to 5,000 fps: the original LabRadar is limited to 3,000 fps. (I know, it probably sounds silly. But when I get around to chronoing my .220 Swift, I expect the loads to be well over 3,000 fps.)

Superior Outfitters is opening a new store and asked me to note that. So noted: the new store is in Terrell, behind the Buc-ee’s, and they make a point of saying it is behind the Buc-ee’s, which amuses me.

Noted:

SIG Sauer XM7 in 6.8×51.

SIG Sauer XM250, also in 6.8×51 (or .277 Furry Fury).

No, we did not go to see Trump or Abbott. Nor did we go to the actual meeting, though our friends did. The big news is that the motion to move the NRA to Texas was rejected: it seems that people think it is premature and not enough work has been done on what it will cost.

I’ll vote that ticket. I went by Wilson’s booth to ask them about gunsmithing: I have a gun that I’d like for them to work on, but they aren’t taking any work for non-Wilson guns rught now. According to them, they have…two gunsmiths working right now. So nobody can get sick or take a vacation.

We went by the Hornady booth and I got to talk to the folks behind the podcast, which was cool. Thanks, guys! Also got a poster with all their bullets on it…I believe actual size.

We also had nice conversations with people at the Ruger/Marlin booth. The best was with one of their factory reps about the left-hand market and Ruger’s catering to it. According to this gentleman (and he was truly an old-school gentleman) 20% of the firearms market is left-handed. Many of them have learned to shoot bolt guns and other rifles right-handed, but Ruger thinks there’s a market for left-handed guns. They already have done left-handed Gunsite Scouts, and a left-handed 10/22. And there’s plans for something new this fall…

Worth more investigation: TagMe by Ocufil. This is a beacon system that transmits to a local base station: you can have up to 10 beacons per base station. The beacon is attached to something you want to protect, like a gun. When the beacon moves because someone picked up the item, the system sends an alert to your phone. It definitely isn’t like an AirTag or Tile because it doesn’t do motion tracking: it only alerts you if something moves your stuff.

Okay. I’m tired again. Strange how that works. I did also want to mention from yesterday the neat little Tippmann Ordnance .22 Gatling gun. You could have a bunch of fun with that.

Time for to go to bed. More tomorrow on this station.

Random NRA meeting photos.

May 17th, 2024

This one’s for Lawrence:

No springs!

NRA annual meeting day 1: short quick notes.

May 17th, 2024

Distance walked today: 4.7 miles.

Best swag bag: SAR USA. But that’s not 100% fair, since we haven’t made it to the Brownell’s booth yet.

Best swag so far: Sierra was handing out a really cool mat illustrating all of their bullets. It has a thinnish backing, so you could also use it as a work mat. But I wouldn’t hammer stuff on it.

Runner up: Shooter’s World combo pen/ruler (English and metric)/level. See, you don’t always have to go big.

Things that interested me: the Caliber Card. You pay for the card, and in return you get discounts and preferential treatment at participating ranges. There are about 100, as I understand it, right now. Unfortunately, due to the weather and power problems in Houston (where their IT is located) they haven’t been able to update the list.

Someone at the show is selling actual pen guns. I wasn’t able to get close to get a name or price, but I plan to swing back by.

Several of my friends spent a long time talking to a Beretta rep about the BRX1 and came away impressed. I admit, the idea of a rifle that’s ambidextrous and has interchangeable calibers intrigues me, too.

Magpul was showing off their version of Tracking Point. Heads-up display, atmospheric conditions sensor (it doesn’t do wind, but you can interface a Kestrel), and a round counter in the magazines so you know how many rounds you’ve got left.

It’s late, I’m tired, and WordPress ate part of my draft. More tomorrow.

Obit watch: May 17, 2024.

May 17th, 2024

The great Dabney Coleman, who was also a good Texas boy.

IMDB. I’m riding shotgun on the way to dinner right now, so I’ll just note: he was, among all his other credits, a “Mannix” three-timer.

I always liked him.

Well, that was easy.

May 16th, 2024

The email I got from the NRA approving my credential request said to bring a copy of the email, a photo ID, plus “proof of media employment (business card, press credential, online bylines, etc)“.

I printed out some of the gun related articles from the blog. I have a press pass (thanks LawDog) so I brought that. I printed business cards.

They didn’t ask for anything except my ID. I was in and out in less than five minutes.

Show starts tomorrow. Tragically, our hotel is charging $14! Dollars! A! Day! for WiFi. I may be limited to phone blogging, unless I decide to eat the cost for you, my loyal and tolerant readers.

You’re scheming on a thing, it’s sabotage…

May 16th, 2024

While Mike the Musicologist drives, I have just enough time to note:

The Mirage is closing.

My first reaction was: that’s a big space, what are they going to do with it?

Answer: they’re actually going to spend three years turning it into “Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas“.

There is no word yet about the volcano, though the press report mentions a “Save the Volcano” petition.