Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Hunt on for Montrose bank robber who took cab ride | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "A robber took a cab after he held up a bank in Montrose, FBI officials said on Friday.

The robber struck about 11:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Chase bank branch at 4313 Montrose near Richmond. He passed a threatening note to the teller demanding cash, FBI officials said.

When the bank employee handed over the money, the robber walked out of the bank and caught a Yellow Cab minivan taxi."

The Perils of Playing Strip Monopoly

Strip Monopoly ends in scuffle | The Sun |News

Joe Domenici, R. I. P.

Sad News: Joe Domenici, RIP Lawrence Person's Futuramen: "A poster on one of my Armadillocon photo threads said that Joe Domenici, former co-owner of Houston specialty SF bookstore Future Visions, and more recently a thriller writer living here in Austin (his first novel, Bringing Back the Dead, came out in 2008) died on Tuesday."

10 Ways Data Is Changing How We Live

10 ways data is changing how we live - Telegraph: "The availability of new sets of data has changed the way we live our lives: here are 10 examples of data which have changed everything from how we assess wars to how companies deliver milk."

10 Criminals Dumber Than the Crime

10 Criminals Dumber Than the Crime | Forensic Colleges

Today's Western Movie Poster

Washington Leads the Way

Washington Leads U.S. Cities in Auto Accidents, Allstate Says - Bloomberg: "Washington had the most accident- prone drivers of any U.S. city for the third straight year, according to Allstate Corp., the biggest publicly traded U.S. auto insurer.

Washington’s drivers get in a collision every 5.1 years, meaning that they have a 96 percent higher chance of being in an accident than the average American driver, Allstate said today in a statement. Baltimore was second, with crashes every 5.6 years, or 79 percent higher than the national average. New York, the most populous U.S. city, ranked 159th, with drivers crashing about every eight years."

No Comment Department

Earth 'facing mass extinction' | News.com.au: "THE world is facing a mass extinction event that could be greater than that of the dinosaurs, new Australian research shows.
[. . . .].
The findings, published this week in the international journal Science, showed a major extinction event was currently underway that had the potential to be more severe than any others in history."

A Syllabus and Book List for Novice Students of Science Fiction Literature

A syllabus and book list for novice students of science fiction literature: "Want to start reading some science fiction, but aren't sure where to begin? We've put together an introductory scifi lit syllabus just for you."

The Dirty Dozen

I Believe I Mentioned that They Are Everywhere

Mich. man gathering corn confronted by alligator: "A man gathering sweet corn in southern Michigan is the latest to have an unexpected encounter with an alligator. The animals have been showing up far north of their traditional habitats this summer."

Uh-Oh

Syfy readies a 4-hour Peter Pan origins tale, Neverland: "Syfy is bringing you the backstory to Peter Pan in a four-hour miniseries called Neverland."

Will the Persecution Never End?

Paris Hilton - Paris Hilton In Contract Breach - Contactmusic News: "Paris Hilton may have to pay around $160,000 damages to producers of her 2006 movie 'National Lampoon's Pledge This!' after breaching her contract."

New Story at BEAT to a PULP

BEAT to a PULP :: A Rip through Time: The Dame, the Doctor, and the Device :: Chris F. Holm

Six Brands In The Movies You Can’t Find In The Store

Six Brands In The Movies You Can’t Find In The Store - Weird Worm

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

Latest Getting Away With Murder Now On-line

Shots Ezine: Getting Away With Murder, The Mike Ripley Column - Get The Latest Trade News and Gossip from the Crime, Mystery and Thriller genres

Today's Western Movie Poster

Long, Long Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away . . . .

The Lasso, Yearbook of Howard Payne University, 1978 : The Portal to Texas History

Comic Book Wallet

Dynomighty Design - Comic Book Mighty Wallet®: "Printed with a collage of Golden Age of Comics (between the late 1930s until the late 1940s) when modern comic books created the archetype of the superhero."

You can design your own if you don't want the designs they already have.

Vance Bourjaily, R. I. P.

Vance Bourjaily, Postwar American Novelist, Dies - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Vance Bourjaily, a novelist whose literary career, like those of Norman Mailer and James Jones, emerged out of World War II and whose ambitious novels explored American themes for decades afterward, died on Tuesday in Greenbrae, Calif. He was 87."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.