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13 July 2010
Louise Whited (1943-2010)
Louise Whited passed away on Sunday, July 11 2010 at Jane Phillips Medical Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Louise was born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma on May 28, 1943 to Joe Smith and Mary Katherine “Mitzi” Smith.
As a young woman, Louise enjoyed exploring new places, and spent time working in both Denver and the Grand Canyon areas. She later returned to Pawhuska, where she worked for some years at the Manhattan Cafe and Duncan Hotel restaurant. She married her husband of 42 years, Frank Whited, on March 20, 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii. After a short time in Orange, Texas, they returned to Pawhuska, where she devoted herself to family. In recent years, she worked as an Avon representative and also was active on the internet.
Louise is survived by her husband Frank, son Kevin and his wife Callie, sister Sabra Trochta, brother Charles R. “Chuck” Smith, and numerous nephews and nieces. She was preceded in passing by sister Sandra Jackson and brother Joe “Brownie” Smith. She was a devoted daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt, and friend.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, July 15 at 10 AM in the McCartney’s Johnson Funeral Home chapel. Longtime family friend Rev. Lottie Adams Ozbun will officiate. Interment will be in the Pawhuska City Cemetery.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/10 07:44 | Other | Comments (8)
09 July 2010
Think Ford might like this one back?
Photo of the gas cap from our Ford Fusion rental (a below average compact class car) in Alaska:
I’m thinking Ford might like that one back about now.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/10 21:48 | Other | Comments (1)
24 June 2010
Linkpost (06/24/2010)
Oh yeah, I have this blog going again…. I better put something up before BigBro yells at me.
- The Dangers and Difficulties of 'Bottom Kill' (Philip Bethge, Spiegel)
- McChrystal Told the Truth (Rowan Scarborough, Human Events)
- Afghan mission impossible (George Will, Boston Herald)
- Obama's Greek tragedy (Victor Davis Hanson, RCP)
- Politico Opens the Kimono. And then Pretends it Never Happened (Jay Rosen, Press Think) Chron.com does that post-publication editing all the time. It’s pathetic. And let’s not EVEN get started on journos who get so close to their sources they forget how to be journos.
- The true story of American soccer (Dave Eggers, Slate)
The beauty of soccer for very young people is that, to create a simulacrum of the game, it requires very little skill. There is no other sport that can bear such incompetence. With soccer, 22 kids can be running around, most of them aimlessly, or picking weeds by the sidelines, or crying for no apparent reason, and yet the game can have the general appearance of an actual soccer match. If there are three or four coordinated kids among the 22 flailing bodies, there will actually be dribbling, a few legal throw-ins, and a couple of times when the ball stretches the back of the net. It will be soccer, more or less.
- Free furnace for man who lost arm in boiler accident (AP) Umm… I guess he won’t get cold while he contemplates his missing arm?
- Nigeria: Attackers Drive Nail Into Politician's Head (AllAfrica.com) Screw term limits. The Nigerians may have a better idea.
- Aegean Airlines Joins Star Alliance June 30th (View from the Wing) Eventually, we’re going to be able to put together a very nice reward ticket all the way through to a Greek island. And Aegean is nice to fly (esp compared to Olympic, although they are in the process of merging).
- Sarah Palin: Libs Hate Her Because She's Beautiful, Not Like That Michelle Obama (Hair Balls) It’s so sad to see a one-time professional journalist reduced to this.
- The downside to unelected officials (Off the Kuff)
I don’t know anything about the particulars of this case, but that’s not important.
If that were important, there would be a severe reduction in the blockquote blogging! LOL - Strange things the dailies say (Perry vs World)
- Kasra feeds the imagination, vividly (Alison Cook, Houston Chronicle) It’s a cool place, and even within walking distance (this would surely shock the Smart Growth Inner Loop Booster types!)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/24/10 20:44 | Other | Comments (0)
20 June 2010
Happy Father’s Day…
... to all you dads out there!
We’re headed back to Houston later today after spending the weekend with my dad (who’s busy cooking us breakfast, ‘cos some dads just don’t take a holiday no matter what the greeting card industry decrees).
Posted by klw2005 @ 06/20/10 07:50 | Other | Comments (2)
19 June 2010
Linkpost (06/19/2010, the “made in Oklahoma” edition)
- Gulf War Three (Mark Steyn, NRO)
Barack Obama was supposed to be the best, the very best, and yet he is always, reliably, consistently mediocre. His speech on oil was no better or worse than his speech on race. Yet the Obammyboppers who once squealed with delight are weary of last year’s boy band. At the end of the big Oval Office address, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and the rest of the MSNBC gang jeered the president. For a bewildered Obama, it must have felt like his Ceausescu balcony moment. Had they caught up with him in the White House parking lot, they’d have put him up against the wall and clubbed him to a pulp with Matthews’s no longer tingling leg.
- He was hired to be Obama, not to lead the country (Brothers Judd)
- Obama's Answer To Spill Comes Up Short (Charles Krauthammer, IBD)
- Stop the Barges! Stop the Barges! Where are the lifevests? (The Fat Guy)
- Internet 'Kill Switch' Would Give President Power To Shut Down Web (Bianca Bosker, HuffPo) For work, I pay attention to countries that may be at risk of coups when state radio/tv go dead or start to play patriotic tunes. I never expected a US Congressman ever seriously to consider giving a US President the power similarly to control an element of state media.
- Your Government At Work (Sallie James, Cato) The folks who want government to run all aspects of the lives of its “subjects” can never really explain how that can work when we have so many examples of government idiocy. Luckily, on the few occasions Americans have given those folks control of all three branches of government, they’ve made such a mess of things that it doesn’t happen again for decades. To that end, see the next two links.
- Dereliction of Duty (Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard)
- Prepare Yourselves For Speaker Boehner (William Galston, TNR) That’s so alarmist. Don’t we know from LibDem partybloggers that this is all a figment of Rasmussen’s imagination? LOL
- Mitch Daniels, genial Jeremiah (Michael Gerson, RCP)
- TCU's pipeline to Houston leads to first Omaha trip (Sam Khan, Houston Chronicle) Todd Whitting was on Rayner Noble’s staff when UH was among the best, and was not as UH sunk below mediocrity. He should get a call from Mack Rhoades to be the next head coach at UH.
- Katharine Shilcutt Will Be the Next Food Critic at the Houston Press (Eating Our Words) An inspired choice. Very good mesh.
- Cereal killers (Trent Seibert)
- 36 Hours in Bordeaux (Seth Sherwood, NY Times) I should probably stop screwing around on the web as much as I do, and spend that time learning French/Greek (to help with fully enjoying trips).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/19/10 11:53 | Other | Comments (1)
15 June 2010
Linkpost (06/15/2010)
- Solitude and Leadership (William Deresiewicz, The American Scholar)
- Obama is too friendly with tyrants (Saad Eddin Ibrahim)
- How’d we lose Brazil, Turkey and Lebanon? (Richard Grenell, Daily Caller)
- The Gulf Spill, the Financial Crisis and the Failure of Big Government (Gerald O'Driscoll, WSJ)
- Marine Techie: End Gulf Oil Spill With ‘Mother of All Bombs’ (Noah Schachtman, Wired)
- Why nuking the blowout is a very bad idea (Red Ink: Texas)
- Texas Democrats Sue After Green Party Secures Ballot Spot (Miguel Bustillo, WSJ) But isn’t the LibDem meme that the TXGOP wants to restrict the ballot? So hard to keep the narrative straight!
- Robb Walsh Bryan Caswell Bill Floyd = Reef Gone Tex-Mex? (Eating Our Words) Sure to be a new BorgFav!
- Robb Walsh's 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #25 Special Enchiladas-A-La-Taylor at Spanish Village (Eating Our Words) Callie’s fav at the joint, too.
- Turns out Longhorns have plenty to keep them in the Big 12 (Tom Shatel, Omaha.com)
Did Texas set this up to chase Nebraska away? Quite possibly. If so, who cares? Not Nebraska. The Huskers are big winners here.
The main problem for the Huskers is that they haven’t been “big winners” in a long, long time. They can blame UT all they want, but UT has brought much more glory to the Big 12 in the last decade than Nebraska has.
At least the craziness is over for now, which is good—Kuffner and Burka can stop writing about a topic they know little about and get back to blockquoting and repeating consultant gossip (respectively). Everyone wins! - Retracing Jefferson’s Steps in Burgundy (Ann Mah, NY Times)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/15/10 20:53 | Other | Comments (1)
10 June 2010
Linkpost (06/10/2010)
- The Perry camp’s response (BurkaBlog)
I do think that White just wasn’t very smart about the way he handled his business. When you hold office, especially an executive office in which you have a lot of power, and you have a lot of investments at the same time, there is a simple way to insulate yourself against the kinds of trumped-up charges the Perry campaign made: You create a blind trust. Rick Perry is smart enough to know this. Why wasn’t Bill White?
It’s not a matter of smart. He truly doesn’t see it as an ethical issue, as he made clear today. That’s a real problem. - Gov candidate White: no wrongdoing in investment (Michael Graczyk, AP)
“I liked their business plan,” White said. “I made an investment in the company. I didn’t stop investing because I was mayor.”
That’s a problem. The whole thing just kind of smells like the sometimes fetid Houston Way. - The Alien in the White House (Dorothy Rabinowitz, WSJ)
- Obama Meets Toto (Dan Henninger, WSJ)
- BP Parody on Twitter Posts a Disclaimer (Brian Stelter, NY Times)
- UH unveils plan to build new football stadium (Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle) Will the timing be good enough to improve their conference?
- Nance, et. al., on realignment and facilities expansion (Steve Campbell, Cougars Blog)
“The last time there was a major re-alignment, unfortunately for political reasons we got left out,” Nantz said. “It should have never happened. It should have never happened. You start comparing markets. Would you rather have Houston, or would you rather have Lubbock? Would you rather have Houston, or would you rather have Waco? Would you rather have Houston, or would you rather have Stillwater. Take all those three schools combined, and let’s brag about the history and heritage of what they have produced. I think combined, it won’t equal what the University of Houston has produced athletically.”
- University of Colorado Joins Pac-10 (Pac-10.org) For better or worse, it’s on. Bye bye, Big 12 (at least historic Big 12). And bye bye Big 12 Wraps (‘cos a 16-team conference is too damn much work).
- Conference realignment roundup: Reports say Nebraska on its way to Big Ten by Friday (Daily Oklahoman)
- Big 12 blew it by eschewing playoff (Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports)
- Nebraska's animosity toward Texas opens the floodgates (Kevin Sherrington, DMN) Texas certainly did its part to boost its new conference over the years. Nebraska’s mediocrity over many years, on the other hand, was a big drag. Good riddance.
- The Big Zero (Joe Posnanski, SI.com)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/10/10 21:40 | Other | Comments (0)
03 June 2010
Linkpost (06/03/2010)
Leroy Stick – the man behind @BPGlobalPR (StreetGiant.com)
I don’t want to get on this dude’s bad side!
The danger of a government with unlimited power (George Will, WaPo)
Wilsonian government, meaning (in Wilson’s words) government with "unstinted power," is hostile to Madison’s Constitution, which, Madison said, obliges government "to control itself." Thus our choice is between government restraint rooted in respect for nature, or government free to follow History wherever government says History marches.
I never viewed Will as a Natural Right v. History Straussian (okay, I still don’t), but it’s good to see him taking cues from the Claremonsters on the topic, which they get right most of the time.
Economic growth is key to our national security (Carl Schramm, Robert Litan, and Dane Stangler, RCP)
Agreed. Too bad the Dem leadership is ramming through a redistributionist/regulatory/borrowing agenda instead of a growth agenda, hmm?
History returns to Europe (Victor Davis Hanson, RCP)
‘The Euro Zone Has Failed’ (Vaclav Klaus, WSJ)
Economic growth in Europe has been slowing down since the 1960s, thanks to the increasingly damaging economic and social system which started dominating Europe at that time. The European "soziale Marktwirtschaft" is an unproductive variant of a welfare state, of state paternalism, of "leisure" society, of high taxes and low motivation to work. The existence of the euro has not reversed that trend.
Rotten Food Complicates Chávez’s Reign (Dan Molinski, WSJ)
Venezuelan authorities discovered nearly 1,200 shipping containers full of rotten food at a state-run warehouse and have arrested a former top official in the government’s food distribution network.
The discovery of the 30,000 tons of out-of-date milk, rice and wheat flour at the warehouse in the port city of Puerto Cabello is seen as an embarrassment for President Hugo Chávez, who has been blaming opposition forces and private industry for a recent rise in food shortages.
President Chávez, addressing the issue late Tuesday, said the food was left to go bad due to "mistakes, inefficiency" and "bureaucracy" within the government, but also said corruption was likely involved. He promised his administration would prosecute those responsible.
That sounds a little too close to our own Purveyor of Hope!
Al Jazeera: More powerful than ever (Economist)
James Hansen: 2010 likely the warmest year on record (SciGuy)
I am sure, however, that his data will be roundly questioned and criticized. Of the validity of the criticisms I cannot judge.
Berger can play untrained meteorologist all day long when it comes to witnessing for the Faith of Global Warming, but vows never a critical word/thought because, really, how could he ever know? Wow.
Tom Franklin Cements Ties With Cougars (Hair Balls)
Good news for Cougar fans! TF does a nice job for UH.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/03/10 21:26 | Other | Comments (0)
02 June 2010
Linkpost (06/02/2010)
We’ll try a little linkpost for the first time in ages—composed in Windows Live Writer (if everything works correctly, which is doubtful).
It’s a little less crazy than it sounds.
It doesn’t sound crazy at all.
Genius!
Is there still hope for (American) Syrah? (Eric Asimov, NY Times)
The French do beautiful things with the grape. The American approach rarely suits me.
In a welfare state, how much is ‘enough’? (Jonah Goldberg, NRO)
Obama doesn’t have a clue (Dick Morris, The Hill)
Who would have thought that this president, so anxious to lead us and so focused on his specific agenda and ideas, would turn out not to know what he is doing?
Umm, most anyone who looked at his career and achievements and experience running anything (actually, nothing)? Sadly, we were the cranks while all the smart people were drugged out on Hopium during the last election cycle. *shrug*
UPDATE: Live Writer ditched because it just produces some fugly output. It’s MS, so I shouldn’t be surprised probably.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/02/10 21:42 | Other | Comments (3)
24 December 2009
White Christmas!
We’re in the midst of quite a winter storm at the moment in NE Oklahoma (screenshot courtesy WeatherChannel.com):
There has been a pretty heavy downfall of sleet pellets for the last few hours. Actually, that’s not quite right. The wind is roughly 20-25 mph gusting to 40+ mph, so it’s more of a blast of sleet pellets than a gentle downfall. I had to step outside to bring in presents that stayed in the Rogue overnight due to our late arrival, and let’s just say that was… invigorating.
The Rogue isn’t used to this weather. I think TR is shivering
Brrr. The forecasts suggest this stuff will turn to snow later, so I think a White Christmas is definitely on tap here in NE Oklahoma. Here’s wishing you a great one, whatever the weather!
UPDATE: A few hours later, the sleet pellets are starting to turn to snow:
UPDATE 2: Last photo before sunset.
We’re definitely in for a White Christmas!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/24/09 00:12 | Other | Comments (0)
13 December 2009
Yes, we are still here
Closing the Borders at Westheimer and Gessner (Swamplot, 7 December 2009)
Oh sure. I got to the new neighborhood three days too late to save the bookstore within walking distance.
Blar.
A little over a week after the move, though, we are almost unpacked. Look for new substantive posts from the new homeowner soon…. (and about missing that last 2009 regular season Big 12 Wrap… who cares, ya know? The conference this year overall wasn’t as good as the Mountain West. Good riddance to this mediocre football season—although I’m not sure that next year will be any better since Colorado retained their loser and Kansas chased their winner).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/13/09 06:51 | Other | Comments (1)
03 November 2009
Blogger space? Power strips?
The Annise Parker mayoral campaign has done pretty decent new-media outreach. They sent out this info last night about their watch party:
The Annise Parker Campaign will be hosting the Election Party at the Hilton Americas on Tuesday at 7pm on the second floor ballroom. We’re inviting all bloggers to join us on Election Night and will also provide a space and table for blogging needs. Power strips will be provided, but we suggest bringing an extra battery. We are still confirming wi-fi access with the Hilton and will update on Monday with details. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
That might have been tempting…. six years ago.
But today’s bloggers are much more sophisticated. We need booze. Preferably complimentary. Definitely lots of it.
Power strips…. *harrumph*
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 05:18 | Other | Comments (1)
My cue to stop reading any political blog post
When a blog post begins this way, it’s a great time saver for me:
I just got off a blogger conference call….
When that pops up in the feedreader, I know it’s safe to move on to whatever is next without wasting any more time.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 01:31 | Other | Comments (0)
18 July 2009
Wienermobile suffers sudden acceleration into house
Oscar Mayer Wienermobile loses control, crashes into Racine home (Amy Kant, Fox6Now.com)
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile got itself into quite a pickle when it crashed into a Racine home Friday morning.
Neighbors tell FOX 6 the Wienermobile took a wrong turn and ended up on the dead-end street, Kenilworth Avenue in Racine.
While trying to get turned around, the woman driving the hot dog on wheels accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake and lodged the Wienermobile under a house.
Officials say no one was injured in the crash.
The driver should have blamed sudden acceleration syndrome.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/18/09 04:15 | Other | Comments (1)
17 July 2009
Horrific Sudden Acceleration
A man who had just picked up his new driver’s license mistakenly hit the accelerator as he returned to a far southeast Houston home shortly before 10 a.m. today, lurching into the garage and killing his wife and mother-in-law and seriously injuring a 6-year-old boy, police said.
The women, who were cooking, were pinned against the back wall, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. A Houston policeman who lives in the house and heard the commotion ran into the garage, backed the car up to free the victims and unsuccessfully performed CPR.
Police said the victims were 66 and 41. No names were released.Our condolences go out to the families. What a horrific accident. Many people would have blamed “sudden acceleration syndrome” rather than their own error.
Speaking of errors—that Chron copy as of the time of posting is pretty ugly. One would think professional journalists could churn out better copy, quickly, in this internet age of ours.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/17/09 00:39 | Other | Comments (1)
09 July 2009
Rough foreplay
Prosecutors: Woman shot man during foreplay (Peggy O’Hare, Houston Chronicle)
A woman accused in the shooting death of her common-law husband told police her gun accidentally fired while they were playing a game of “dirty cowboy” during sexual foreplay, a Harris County prosecutor said.
The Chron commenters are having quite a time with this one.
We noted that former prosecutor-turned-defense-attorney Murray Newman was quoted in the article. I guess that means he won’t be blogging about “Dirty Cowboy” anytime soon.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/09 10:17 | Other | Comments (0)
18 May 2009
Their youth gives them away….
Girl Crashes Car Into House, Boy Hurt (KPRC-2 News)
HOUSTON—A 12-year-old boy was hurt when his sister crashed a car into their northwest Harris County home, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The 16-year-old girl’s mother was teaching her how to drive on Wellington Meadows Drive near Billneys Park Drive at about 12:30 p.m.
Cypress Fairbanks volunteer firefighters said the girl was pulling into the garage when she accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake.
The car went into the house and the 12-year-old was pinned underneath.
If she were a few years older, she would know NEVER to admit what actually happened, but rather to blame it on “Sudden Acceleration Syndrome.”
Sometimes, even, you can be married to a hack at the “local” Village Voice publication, and your sudden acceleration story spreads all across the empire, with nary a mention of the relationship! Evil carmakers and their evil accelerators!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/09 08:28 | Other | Comments (1)
10 May 2009
Happy Mothers Day
To my mom, and all others. Enjoy your day. You’ve more than earned it!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/10/09 07:42 | Other | Comments (0)
26 April 2009
Sudden Acceleration, Prius/Village Voice Media edition!
Wild rides (Paul Knight, Houston Press) (also appearing in slightly reworked format across the Village Voice empire)
The second problem happened while Sherman was driving into Winter Haven, waiting at a stop sign to turn onto a busy street. The traffic cleared a bit and Sherman sped up to merge, but quickly had to hit the brakes for an approaching stoplight. Trouble is, her Prius kept going.
“It was very scary, but finally after stomping it a few times, I finally did stop without hitting anyone,” Sherman says.
The dealer told her that the floor mat probably caught the gas pedal, but she says the “floor mats were nowhere near the accelerator.”
“Of course they made excuses, and then they said something about the computer, all gibber-jabber,” Sherman says. “I told them, ‘Garbage, I was driving it, and I know what happened.’ There definitely is a problem.”
The dealer was being more polite than honest. There’s no reason to insult a good customer, after all.
On the other hand, the older lady isn’t my customer, so here’s the likely problem: When you panic and stomp the accelerator instead of the brake pedal, there is acceleration. It is sudden. And quite often, it creates problems.
Toyota probably should quietly redesign the pedal layout of these cars. That would probably help a great deal with this mysterious sudden acceleration problem.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/26/09 02:52 | Other | Comments (0)
10 April 2009
Sudden Acceleration (Good Friday 2009 edition)
Priest runs over churchgoers on Good Friday (AP)
FOREST HILLS, PA—Authorities and witnesses say a woman lost her leg and at least five other people were injured when a priest drove into a group of people after a Good Friday service in western Pennsylvania.
The crash happened in the parking lot of St. Maurice Catholic Church in Forest Hills, just east of Pittsburgh.
Authorities and witnesses say the priest drove into a group of people on a patio where older people typically wait for rides.
Angela Thomas, a nurse and parishioner, says she saw the woman’s severed leg and gave her belt to use as a tourniquet. She also tended to a man pinned under the car.
Thomas says the priest told her the accelerator just went.
Those poor people.
It sounds like a clear case of Sudden Acceleration Syndrome to me.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/10/09 10:02 | Other | Comments (1)
