September 2006 Archives
27 September 2006
Off to the woods
Things will be quiet here for a few days, as I'm headed out tomorrow for some backpacking.
Technically, I won't actually head into the woods tomorrow. I'm taking off for the Ouachitas in the afternoon, but I won't actually hit the trail until Thursday morning. The weather looks like it's going to be nice -- 70s for highs, and around 50 for the low (although 43 is forecast for Thursday night), low chance of rain.
It's going to be nice to escape the crazy city for a few days!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/27/06 00:08 | Outdoors | Technorati | Comments (3)
24 September 2006
Big 12 Wrap: Week 4
It's time for another Big 12 Wrap, my weekly pithy review of the games in the conference.
Here we go:
Texas 37, Iowa State 14
Iowa State -- or maybe the weather -- kept this from being quite as big a blowout as it might have been, but it was all Texas after Iowa State narrowed the score to 16-14 at one point. I-AA Sam Houston provides a final tuneup before the Cotton Bowl.
Oklahoma 59, Middle Tennessee State 0
The Sooners finally get the complete game that has eluded them so far this season, scoring at will and holding MTSU to under 100 yards. The competition will be a little stiffer in the Cotton Bowl in two weeks.
Nebraska 56, Troy 0
These Trojans were a little easier than last week's.
Missouri 31, Ohio 6
Mizzou quietly shoots out to 4-0, and should manage 5-0 with Colorado in Columbia next week.
Texas A&M 45, Louisiana Tech 14
Another meaningless win that does little to prepare A&M for conference play. But hey, after last week's near loss, a blowout is progress in Fran-land.
Kansas 13, South Florida 7
Who would pay to see this game? Seriously, would you go to this game if the tickets were free? I wouldn't.
Army 27, Baylor 20
Baylor just can't finish. Sadly, being in games against bad teams at the end represents progress at Baylor.
Houston 35, Oklahoma State 24
Oklahoma State comes up short in the battle of two teams with porous defenses. Road games at Kansas State and Kansas start OSU's conference season after a bye next week.
Louisville 24, Kansas State 6
The cupboard is bare at Kansas State, so I expected Louisville to score twice as much as they did (injuries and all). Moral victory for KSU? Roadtrip to Baylor next week could be a battle. That's how far things have fallen.
Georgia 14, Colorado 13
I watched a lot of this game. I still don't understand how Colorado led a very good Georgia team for much of it, or how they managed to let it slip away at the end.
Big 12 Bullies Beat Hell Out Of I-AA Weaklings
Texas Tech played a I-AA weakling this week. We do not discuss such "contests."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/24/06 22:13 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (1)
Simms has emergency surgery following hit
Simms has spleen removed (Bucs Beat)
Quarterback Chris Simms had his spleen removed in emergency surgery after Sunday's 26-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers, Simms' mother Diana has told the St. Petersburg Times. She said her son's spleen apparently was ruptured early in Sunday's game.
Diana Simms said her son was listed in critical condition.
I firmly believe that we are going to see a quarterback die on the football field in the coming years.
Players are stronger, larger, and faster than ever. They are literally going to break some QB in half.
We saw Trent Green get knocked out cold recently. The injury to Drew Bledsoe that led to the emergence of Tom Brady was life threatening. And so was the hit to Simms today.
It's only a matter of time. Sadly.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/24/06 21:08 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 September 2006
Bad Sports: Accidentally ahead of the curve!
Some Hot Recorders for Those Cool Podcasts (Larry Magid, NY Times)
There are basically three types of digital flash recorders on the market. There are digital voice recorders like the Olympus VN-3100PC ($69) that are mostly used for dictation and other voice-recording tasks. Also, some digital music players, like the iRiver T30 ($40 for the 512-megabyte model), have recording abilities, and there are accessories for the iPod like the TuneTalk Stereo for iPod ($69) from Belkin.
While those can be used for podcasts, the sound quality and versatility will not be as good as the higher-end dedicated systems like the Marantz PMD 660 ($499), the Edirol by Roland R-09 ($399) and the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 ($350).
I tested each of the three recorders and found the sound quality more than adequate for podcasts and professional voice broadcasting like the radio reports I do. I also used them to record music, which sounded very good to my ears, though audiophiles often debate the nuances of sound quality. All are able to record as either uncompressed WAV files or compressed MP3 audio.
Ethan and I are SO cool (I guess), since we've been using the little M-Audio device for podcast recording since we started the thing. I actually purchased it for recording live music, but it's well suited for the podcast, and I record more podcasts than live music these days (really can't stand the smoke at live country music dives any more *cough* *cough*).
Anyway, the little M-Audio device can be found for considerably less than list price if you search around a bit. I'll warn that for very loud live music, it's not perfect out of the box. You'll want a battery box and (depending on your mics) an adaptor that allows you to plug your mics into its phono input (because the plug-in-power mic jacks don't handle loud sounds well, and the plug-in-power gets "dirty" at high levels ).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/22/06 09:00 | Tech | Technorati | Comments (0)
21 September 2006
Don Walser, RIP
'Pavarotti of the Plains' Don Walser dead at 72 (Michael Corcoran, Austin American-Statesman)
There's never been a more special relationship between a musician and his fans in Austin than when rotund National Guardsman Don Walser started over in the music business in 1990 at the now-defunct Henry's Bar on Burnet Road. His improbable rise and signing to Sire Records, the label of Madonna and the Ramones, at age 64 was the feelgood story of the Austin music scene. Dubbed "the Pavarotti of the Plains" for his clear, powerful tenor, Walser was embraced by gray-haired two-steppers and tattooed punk rockers alike, which was the basis of a February 1996 segment on "ABC Primetime Live."
Walser passed away about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday after a long illness. He was 72.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/21/06 09:49 | Music | Technorati | Comments (1)
20 September 2006
Here's hoping the dead guy was the one peeing in the stairwells
Man Shot At Galleria-Area Nightclub (KPRC-2 News)
A man was shot at a Galleria-area nightclub days after another man was killed and another was injured following an argument at the same club, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The shooting happened in the parking lot of the Roxy on West Alabama Street near Sage Road at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Houston police said the man was shot in his buttocks and is expected to recover.
One man was killed and another was injured after they argued with a group of men at the Roxy on Sunday. No arrests have been made in that case.
A couple of months ago -- probably at the beginning of the summer -- the geniuses who manage the parking garage at work decided to start letting the fine patrons of Roxy start using our parking garage at night (the parking garage is across West Alabama from Roxy). Ever since, we frequently get to walk through where they've made an emergency pee break in our parking garage stairwell. That's a really pleasant way to start the work day.
Maybe one of these days, we'll find one of them shot in the stairwell. I'm guessing that might be enough for our fine parking garage managers to rethink the whole idea.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/20/06 23:26 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (2)
Oregonian Eye For The Confused Replay Official Guy?
Replay official Riese takes this blown call pretty hard (John Canzano, The Oregonian)
Football is a game, you're thinking.
Right up to the point where an Oregon player touches an onside-kick attempt a step too early, turning the scramble for the ball into a melee where players are rushing the field celebrating, and the ball is squirting through everyone's legs like they were wickets in a human croquet match. Then, the officials on the field blow the call. Then, the review process, instituted to rectify situations just like this, upholds the bad call, causing many of us, including some self-important university president at Oklahoma, to wonder, "Was Mr. Magoo in the replay booth?"
Well, no.
It was Gordon Riese in the booth. He has a name, he has a life.
And after visiting with him on Monday, and learning more from some others about what happened in that review booth, I'm convinced that every honk who criticized Riese in the last 72 hours owes the man a swift apology.
Said Riese: "I'm having a difficult time letting the blown call go. I always prided myself on getting it right. I didn't get the job done. I didn't get it right."
More on the blown call later.
First, you need to know that Riese met his wife, Susan, while they were high school students. They had a math course together, and after an extended illness put her behind in school, the teacher assigned Gordon to be her tutor.
They've been married 42 years, had two children, and two grandchildren — Jeff, 5, and Alex, 4
And you should know that Gordon's real job was teaching math for 34 years.
No, I really don't need to know any of those things.
What I do know is that the replay system failed on three crucial calls (the Oregon player touching the ball before it went 10 yards, the Oklahoma player recovering the ball anyway, and the tipped pass), and this guy was the replay official.
There may well be mitigating circumstances, and it would be really useful if we knew about those. But we don't, because the Pac 10 has a policy that they don't discuss these sorts of things (beyond saying "we screwed up -- so sorry!").
I'm sure Mr. Riese is a perfectly nice man. His family is probably really pleasant. He doesn't deserve death threats, and the people who made the death threats are jackasses.
But I really don't need a Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy approach to the thing from a journalist from Oregon. It doesn't change anything. Feh.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/20/06 22:51 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (3)
19 September 2006
Bramanti is good for business
So, I was having lunch with Bramanti earlier today.
He gets a news alert text message of some sort about the military coup in Thailand.
I had been following these rumblings earlier in the day, but that sort of sealed the deal.
Coups and such are very exciting for political risk analyst types (though not so much for the residents of countries where they actually take place -- except in this case, it may be more of a popular revolt as expressed by the military than a more straightforward, strongman type coup).
I need to lunch with Bramanti more often. He's good for business!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/19/06 16:22 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)
Strange complaint from Stoops
Big 12 teams pay price for 12th game (Milenko Martinovich, FWST)
Oklahoma and Texas Tech accepted the difficult challenges of playing ranked teams on the road last weekend and lost. Now the worth of such games are being questioned.
"You're not rewarded for going on the road, playing a tough schedule," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, whose Sooners lost to No. 13 Oregon 34-33. "All everybody looks at is the wins and losses."
That's a strange bit of whining coming from Stoops, given the fact that his team backed into a BCS title game one year (that many folks think was undeserved) largely because of his team's strength of schedule.
However, blasting the Pac-10 clowns who blew those calls in the game with Oregon is perfectly legit. That does make a person question the sanity of scheduling a tough Pac 10 road game.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/19/06 10:37 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (6)
17 September 2006
Big 12 Wrap: Week 3
This wasn't a good week for the Big 12, as Pac 10 and Mountain West teams had their way with Big 12 teams.
Here's a quick look at the games (the order of the games gives a rough idea of where I rank the teams in the conference right now).
Texas 52, Rice 7
Rice played better than was expected against Houston and UCLA, but Texas is a few orders of magnitude ahead of those programs. This amounted to a free Houston recruiting trip for Mack Brown, and the recruits should have come away impressed.
Oregon 34, Oklahoma 33
This game was not won by Oregon so much as awarded to them by clearly blown replay calls (as illustrated by this video). Still, an Oklahoma offense that played very well in the second half couldn't put the game away with TDs instead of field goals, and the supposed strength of the team (the defense) is, at this point this season, the worst of the Stoops era.
USC 28, Nebraska 10
Bill Callahan finds out that USC is a little better than Lousiana Tech, Nicholls State, and the other creampuffs that have loaded Nebraska's schedule during Callahan's tenure.
TCU 12, Texas Tech 3
Mike Leach had a chance to make a statement that his team belonged among the big boys of the Big 12 (at least in this down year). Maybe next year.
Missouri 27, New Mexico 17
Missouri may be Nebraska's only competition in a weak north.
Oklahoma State 48, Florida Atlantic 8
About the only real interest from this game came from the old fool Howard Schnellenberger carrying on about winning national championships at Florida Atlantic during game week.
Iowa 27, Iowa State 17
Iowa State extended their in-state rival in what is always a tough game, but came up short in the fourth quarter.
Washington State 17, Baylor 15
An improved Baylor squad can't quite finish, as Washington State hit the winning field goal with seconds left in the game.
Toledo 37, Kansas 31
Toledo was a pitiful 15 of 47 passing, and only generated 237 yards of total offense. How in the world do they score 37 to upset Kansas? Oh yeah, five Kansas turnovers. Whoops!
Texas A&M 28, Army 24
Coach Fran's plan to save his job with a cupcake schedule seemed to be in jeopardy at the end of this one. Inexplicably, Bobby Ross gave the game away at the end by running the ball (and running out the clock) instead of throwing to the end zone twice.
Kansas State 27, Marshall 3
Kansas State seems to be improving under Ron Prince. Or maybe Marshall's just that bad. Hard to say.
Arizona State 21, Colorado 3
Four ASU turnovers seemingly kept this from being the expected blowout.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/17/06 22:10 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (10)
16 September 2006
Sweet Caddy convertible
This sweet automobile was parked at the Randall's on Shepherd this morning. I had to snap a couple of photos (click for a larger view). Wow!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/16/06 20:19 | Other | Technorati | Comments (3)
15 September 2006
Sleepless over Shanahan?
Simms sleepless after horrid opener: Former Longhorn takes heat for poor play in Bucs' loss (Rick Stroud, St. Petersburg Times)
Sleep did not come easily to Chris Simms.
After his stunningly poor performance in a 27-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback kept punching his pillow.
Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms is taken down by Baltimore's Ray Lewis during the Bucs' opening-game shutout Sunday. Simms threw three interceptions, and his team didn't score a point.
When he would nod off, he was shaken awake by the memory of his three interceptions.
Soon, the number rose to six. Then 12. And still no final buzzer from the alarm.
"You know, I sleep. But 5 o'clock in the morning rolls around and I wake up just like everybody else does for a couple seconds and I get visions of Chris McAlister running down the sidelines," Simms said Wednesday of the cornerback who returned a interception 60 yards for a touchdown Sunday. "Things like that. That's the honest truth. I fall back to sleep eventually, but it's not the most peaceful dreams in the world.
I think he was really dreaming about Kyle Shanahan.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/15/06 10:45 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)
14 September 2006
Ann Richards, RIP
While I disagreed with much of her political agenda, Ann Richards was one of those larger-than-life Texas figures who commanded respect. There was never any whining about "glass ceilings" from Ann Richards -- like a good Texan, she just decided to overcome barriers that frustrate others. And ascend she did.
There are various accounts of her life from the state's major newspapers today:
May she rest in peace.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/14/06 08:56 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 September 2006
Commitment to excrement
Raiders back to drawing board after flop in opener (AP)
Art Shell was brought back to the Oakland Raiders to return the team to its level of the old days.Only those days weren't supposed to be 1961, the only time the Raiders were blanked in a season opener before Monday night's 27-0 loss to the San Diego Chargers.
The Raiders are just a mess.
I love the fact their offensive coordinator hasn't been an NFL coach for over a decade, instead playing Bob Newhart at a B&B.
I also love the fact that they brought in Jeff George for a few weeks to see if he could help them at quarterback (he couldn't). I'm thinking Ken Stabler and Jim Plunkett might as well get a look, too, while they're bringing back the golden oldies.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/13/06 21:23 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (3)
11 September 2006
Remember
Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People (President George W. Bush, 9/20/2001)
It is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day, and to whom it happened. We'll remember the moment the news came -- where we were and what we were doing. Some will remember an image of a fire, or a story of rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/11/06 07:53 | Other | Technorati |
10 September 2006
Joel update
Tonight on The Tube, Joel Osteen said it's bad to be so critical of others (good advice for some of his followers). He says not to get dragged down with negative thoughts (not bad self-help advice either).
He finally says if you're obedient to God, God will reward you. The intimation seems to be "here on earth" even though it was not stated explicitly.
The gospel of prosperity is so much easier than all that icky Biblical textual analysis and theology and stuff!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/10/06 23:04 | Other | Technorati | Comments (7)
Big 12 wrap: Week 2
It's time for another Big 12 wrap, my pithy weekly review of Big 12 action.
No chit chat this time, we'll just jump right into the games.
Ohio State 24, Texas 7
Before Vince Young, Mack Brown had a lot of trouble winning games against opponents with comparable talent. The first big test after Vince Young has to worry Texas fans. While this thumping was disappointing, UT will still almost certainly be favored in every remaining game.
Oklahoma 37, Washington 20
Oklahoma struggled mightily in the first half before putting away a bad Washington team in the second half. Against two bad football teams this season, the Sooner defense that was supposed to be a strength has instead been leaky -- so leaky that two starters were benched during the game against Washington. The Sooners will have to play much better to win at Oregon next week.
Texas Tech 38, UTEP 35
Every year we hear that Mike Leach's defense will be much improved, and that will allow them to make a run at the South title. Tech's giving up 35 points and being outgained by a well-coached UTEP team suggests that people who said such things this season were confused.
Missouri 34, Ole Miss 7
Brad who? Mizzou's quarterback Chase Daniel dazzled again this week, and did it against an SEC opponent (as opposed to I-AA or Sunbelt non-competition).
Iowa State 16, UNLV 10
Iowa State survives a controversial finish, and moves to 2-0.
Colorado State 14, Colorado 10
It beats losing to Montana State.
Bullies beat up Sunbelt weaklings
Texas A&M, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State all prove they could be a powerhouse in the Sunbelt Conference if not the Big 12. Well, maybe not Kansas actually.
Bullies beat up I-AA weaklings
Nebraska and Baylor can beat I-AA weaklings. Bully for them.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/10/06 21:22 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (1)
Pollyanna journalists should just hand over the Heisman to Thompson
Sooners stumbling upon dynamic trio (Dave Sittler, Tulsa World)
Go ahead and laugh. But I'm dead serious in my belief that Oklahoma's on the verge of giving birth to its own set of triplets.
Two games obviously isn't enough time to place quarterback Paul Thompson, tailback Adrian Peterson and receiver Malcolm Kelly anywhere near the same league as college football's original set of triplets -- Nebraska's trio of Turner Gill, Mike Rozier and Irving Fryar.
[snip]
And perhaps this combination will never deserve to be considered anything more than a poor man's triplets. But their rendition Saturday afternoon of "The Triplets" was impressive in the 37-20 win over the Huskies at Memorial Stadium.
[snip]
If Saturday's performance was any indication, Peterson and Kelly have nothing to worry about. A fifth-year senior who was making only his third start at quarterback, Thompson has continued to make rapid improvement in the month since he returned from wide receiver to quarterback.
Yes, Thompson did have two turnovers for a second straight game. And one of them could have been an absolute game killer, when he lost a fumble on OU's 4-yard line.
But here's the encouraging deal: That fumble wasn't Thompson's fault. Neither was the pass he had intercepted. Both times the culprit was OU's offensive line.
Thompson looks good for OU; defense becomes trouble spot (Berry Tramel, Daily Oklahoman)
The Sooner offense has been more than Stoops or Thompson or anyone else could have hoped. Thompson committed two more turnovers Saturday; that’s four in two games, and that better stop. Two turnovers could get Oklahoma beat in Oregon. But otherwise, Thompson’s passing and decision-making have grown from encouraging to impressive.
Thompson helps OU pull away in 2nd half (John Helsley, Daily Oklahoman)
Thompson’s second half was near-flawless: 9-for-11, 170 yards. He was intercepted once when hit as he threw. And he did lose a fumble, but only after getting blindsided as he was trying to pass from the end zone.
Pollyanna Groupthink really seems to have set in among the major Oklahoma columnists who cover the Sooners.
I especially like Pollyanna Helsley's bizarre formulation. The blockquote is accurate. Helsley really does describe Thompson's TWO second-half turnovers as part of a "near-flawless" performance. Even Pollyanna Sittler said one of those turnovers could have been a gamebreaker before going on to HIS praise of Thompson's play.
Thompson has done some good things, but he has also done some very bad things. One hopes he will do fewer bad things the more snaps he gets, and the more he acclimates himself to major college football game speed, but that is hardly a given. He has some talent around him, and the challenge for Thompson and the coaching staff is to utilize that talent without asking Thompson to do too much, because he is not a good enough quarterback to do too much. Thompson and the coaches will obviously have to do better as the competition improves, because they have had a fairly tough couple of games against two bad football teams.
Columnists who cover the Sooners need to step back and try to be a little more objective in their coverage. Paul Thompson does not deserve to be compared to Turner Gill, which ought to make people laugh out loud. And the notion that Paul Thompson is having a great season if you just take away the turnovers because they really were someone else's fault is pretty funny too, since MOST quarterbacks look pretty good if you take away their bad plays!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/10/06 17:23 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (0)
09 September 2006
Going light
I recently posted about lightweight solo backpacking tents, and my difficulties picking from several different models. I finally decided just to order a couple, evaluate them, keep one and return one (for those who think this is impolite, I would add that this is a pretty common practice with backpacking gear suppliers). I suspect the Eureka single-wall model will beat out the Alps model, because of the combination of weight and features.
A couple of packs really caught my eye:
The Osprey Atmos 50 and the Gregory Z-Pack
I'm planning on hauling in my typical 3-day base gear (sleeping bag, pad, old tent, food, camp clothes, stove/water purifier/cookware, all in stuff sacks) to REI, loading up both packs with it, and seeing which pack handles the load best.
As Scott Chaffin points out, REI is very cool about letting gear addicts come in and test out stuff this way, and they have an incredible return policy. So if I wind up dropping even more cash on a new state-of-the-art lightweight pack, it's Chaffin's fault. :)
UPDATE (09-10-2006): The Osprey pack won my in-store gear test, AND my mom found a nice 15% off REI coupon that was pretty sweet (thanks mom!). Target date for my return to solo packing the Ouachitas: Next weekend or the weekend after. Woo!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/09/06 12:31 | Outdoors | Technorati | Comments (0)
07 September 2006
Bizarre news
Snyder (OK) police chief’s wife at the center of scandal (Ron Jackson, Daily Oklahoman)
On Main Street, Snyder offers the trappings of most small towns in rural Oklahoma - a country store, a weekly newspaper office, several churches and leisurely pedestrian traffic.
The setting belies the controversy that has beseiged this town of 1,500 people in recent weeks and prompted a state investigation.
Doris Ozmun, wife of Snyder Police Chief Tod Ozmun, struggles to understand that controversy, which swirls around her adult porn Web site.
Last week, more than 70 residents crammed into the town’s tiny City Hall chambers to demand that her husband be fired. Mayor Dale Moore took a firm stand, saying Tod Ozmun would remain police chief as long as Moore remained mayor.
The debate continues to spill into the streets and into a few Sunday morning sermons.
District Attorney John Wampler, meanwhile, called the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday to request an investigation into the pornography.
“I can’t believe this has been blown so far out of proportion,” Doris Ozmun, 43, said Wednesday. “I don’t understand. I just don’t understand. I could if I had done something illegal, or if I had murdered someone. But this is amazing ... You know what I call this? I call this a witch-hunt.”
Ozmun said she has decided to shut down her Web site.
“This has mortified my family,” Ozmun said. “And it has caused a lot of hurt and destruction, not only for myself, but also for my husband and family.”
Yeah, well, start an adult porn website in a conservative rural Oklahoma town where your hubby is expected to uphold the community's values as a law-enforcement official, and you can expect to be ostracized (for better or worse).
Two arrests made in case of man's brutal attack: Victim owed suspect's mother back rent (Laura Whitley, KTRK-13 news)
Two men are in custody for the beating death of a double amputee, who investigators say was attacked because he owed money to his landlord. One of the suspects is the landlord's son. The victim, 57-year-old Barney Goodman, was laid to rest on Thursday.
Goodman bravely fought for his life several times over his 57 years. Shrapnel scared [sic] him in Vietnam. He lost both legs to diabetes. And most recently, he eight hours up a river embankment off FM 2090, searching for help. Help came, but Goodman lost the battle for his life.
Liberty County Sheriff Greg Arthur says two cousins left the Vietnam vet by the riverbank. Kenneth Dollery, 22, and Hollis Buckley, 21, both face capital murder charges.
"This investigation found that Goodman was taken under the bridge by Dollery and Buckley and beaten and robbed," said Sheriff Arthur.
Sheriff's investigators say the pair told them they threw Goodman's prosthetic legs into San Jacinto River. The man knew each other because Goodman, who also went by the name Shane, rented a room in the home of Hollis' mother, Shirley Buckley.
They threw his legs into river and killed him?! Unbelievable.
The world is going mad.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/07/06 22:35 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)
06 September 2006
The problem with this argument...
Bell’s Mondale Moment: the Gift that keeps giving (Robert Black, Perry Alliance Blog)
It’s Thursday afternoon, August 31, 2006 and Chris Bell still wants to raise your taxes. It’s been three months since Governor Perry and legislators reformed the business tax, and Chris Bell still wants to raise the rate (see today’s Austin American Statesman.) It’s been four months since the comptroller certified a $8.2 billion budget surplus and…you guessed it…Chris Bell still wants to raise your taxes.
Hmm, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that Governor Perry and other legislators raised (not reformed) taxes via the new business tax, and Chris Bell thinks they should have raised taxes even more?
"We raised taxes, but our opponent will raise them more!" would be an appropriate motto from an unexceptional candidate.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/06/06 10:25 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (0)
05 September 2006
Danger train collision
As the local media stopped reporting every Danger Train collision and said number of collisions has declined somewhat from the record-breaking early days, Sudden Acceleration Syndrome has sort of taken the place of Danger Train hijinks here on the little personal blog for entertainment purposes.
Nonetheless, I forgot to mention this bit of Danger Train fun that I posted over at the hyperlocal blog.
If Rep. Culberson hadn't nixed rail down Richmond, we might have had a whole new installment of Danger Train pinball, given the amount of traffic and cross-traffic along that street. For this, the Richmond people seem very thankful.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/06 12:31 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 September 2006
Decision time
Temps in the Ouachitas are finally starting to ease a bit. I just looked at a ten-day forecast that had 80s/60s listed for highs/lows. That's getting into the territory of nice fall backpacking weather.
I'm still trying to decide on a new solo tent.
There's this one made by Cabelas, and there's this one made by Alps.
The Cabelas tent has a nice side door, which I find preferable. However, it doesn't seem to have much mesh, which makes it more susceptible to condensation and less suitable for stargazing.
The Alps tent has a front door, which I don't especially like. However, it has lots of mesh and seems ideal as condensation/stargazing go.
Both have a full-coverage rainfly, are free-standing, and are comparable in weight, so it really just comes down to those other features. I'm leaning towards the Cabela's at the moment.... Decisions, decisons.
UPDATE: Hmm, there's also this little number from Eureka. The single-wall construction is a little scary, though...
UPDATE 2: What the hell, let's throw out one more possibility.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 16:52 | Outdoors | Technorati | Comments (4)
Big 12 Wrap: Week 1
Football season is finally upon us (thank goodness!), and so it's time to start doing the weekly Big 12 Wrap, my pithy review of the week's action in the Big 12.
Let me emphasize "pithy." I used to put a little more effort into this roundup, but it just became a time sink. Nevertheless, it helps me to keep up with teams other than the Sooners/Longhorns/Aggies/Red Raiders to do a "light" version of the roundup, and some readers seem fond of the whole thing. As usual, the order of the games gives some indication as to where I have the various teams ranked, top to bottom.
So, on to a Week One that saw Big 12 teams load up on lightweights that unexpectedly caused some teams trouble.
Texas 56, North Texas 7
UT rolled over a clearly inferior opponent convincingly. Colt McCoy made a fine debut, but the real story is that Texas defense. This team may well stand above the Little Eleven again this season, but Ohio State provides a big test next week.
Oklahoma 24, UAB 17
Just like last year's home opener, Oklahoma struggled with an underdog opponent. Unlike last year, Oklahoma rallied from a second half deficit (?!) to beat said inferior opponent, riding a healthy Adrian Peterson to victory. Unlike last year, Oklahoma has no freshman stud quarterback to turn to after Paul Thompson's bumbling effort. UAB's shredding of what was supposed to be a top-notch defense combined with Paul Thompson being "the guy" could translate into another tough season in Norman.
Nebraska 49, Louisiana Tech 10
Nebraska fans had to be a little grumpy when Louisiana Tech cut the lead to 14-10 late in the second quarter, but then Nebraska put the hammer down and cruised to nearly 600 yards of total offense against a clearly inferior opponent.
Texas Tech 35, SMU 3
New quarterback, same results for Mike Leach, as Tech rolls to 500 yards of total offense in an easy win against hapless SMU.
Iowa State 45, Toledo 43
MAC opponent Toledo gives Iowa State all it wants, but the Cyclones finally beat the overtime blues they've had in recent years.
TCU 17, Baylor 7
Baylor gave TCU all it wanted in the first half, but mistakes caught up with an improving Bears squad in the second half.
Bullies beat I-AA opponents handily
We can't have a playoff because it will mean extra games, but we can have extra games of BCS Bullies beating the hell out of overmatched I-AA opponents, such as Oklahoma State taking on Missouri State, Missouri taking on Murray State, Texas A&M taking on the Citadel, and Kansas taking on Northwestern State. The Big 12 should not be scheduling this class of opponent. It's embarrassing. These games will not be discussed.
Bully barely escapes I-AA opponent
Bill Snyder's scheduling philosophy always involved weak non-conference opponents, including I-AA lightweights, and he remade the nation's worst football program that way. He's left the cupboard pretty bare for his replacement, as evidenced by Kansas State's narrow 24-23 win over I-AA Illinois State.
Bully LOSES to I-AA opponent!
I-AA Montana State shut out Colorado in the second half in Boulder, rallying for a 19-10 victory. The only thing that would make this more delicious would be if Gary Barnett were still around for it. It looks like zenmaster Dan Hawkins will be vying with K-State for sorriest program in a declining BCS league this year.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 07:48 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (5)
03 September 2006
Joel update
I missed some of Joel O$teen on The Tube while out recording this week's Bad Sports podcast.
However, the thrust of this week's "sermon" seems to be that once you repent, then you can think all sorts of good thoughts about yourself.
So, one presumes that once Mr. Osteen's lovely wife repented for her temper tantrum on a Continental jet, she quickly moved on to thinking good thoughts about herself. We would expect no less from Mrs. Pastor Osteen.
This is some kind of religion the Osteens advocate!
BTW, Callie says she saw David Carr as the camera panned the crowd before I got home. I hope he has repented and is feeling good about himself. However, as we pointed out on the as yet unposted podcast, it's not likely to matter much against Philadelphia.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/03/06 22:54 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)
02 September 2006
blogHOUSTON Bad Sports football pool
We decided to do a football pool over at the little local sports blog/podcast, but non-Houstonians are more than welcome to join.
It's free, and the picks/scoring are handled by CBS Sportsline, so people who are already participating in a pool there are more than welcome to join the fun.
We'll offer some sort of prizes to the top finishers at the end of the season, although we haven't settled on what those will be yet.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/02/06 14:35 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)
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