The year that was... animals amok - Northern Territory News: "MONSTER crocodile came within a metre of making a meal of Israeli fisherman Novon Mashiah on a NT river when posing for a photo."
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Croc Update (Photo of the Year)
The year that was... animals amok - Northern Territory News: "MONSTER crocodile came within a metre of making a meal of Israeli fisherman Novon Mashiah on a NT river when posing for a photo."
Mummy Update
Queen's Mummy Found In 4,300-Year-Old Pyramid: "Parts of a mummy found inside a 4,300-year-old pyramid could be Queen Seshseshet, the mother of the first pharaoh of Egypt's 6th dynasty, archaeologists have announced.
A skull, pelvis, legs, and pieces of a torso wrapped in linen lay inside a 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) pyramid—the third 'subsidiary' tomb found next to that of the pharaoh Teti, who ruled for 22 years before he was assassinated.
Seshseshet's pyramid was discovered last November in Saqqara, the vast burial ground near modern-day Cairo that was part of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis."
A skull, pelvis, legs, and pieces of a torso wrapped in linen lay inside a 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) pyramid—the third 'subsidiary' tomb found next to that of the pharaoh Teti, who ruled for 22 years before he was assassinated.
Seshseshet's pyramid was discovered last November in Saqqara, the vast burial ground near modern-day Cairo that was part of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis."
Iron Age Gold
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Suffolk | Huge Iron Age haul of coins found: "One of the UK's largest hauls of Iron Age gold coins has been found in Suffolk.
The 824 so-called staters were found, using a metal detector, in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market.
Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15."
The 824 so-called staters were found, using a metal detector, in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market.
Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15."
Monday, January 19, 2009
Clint Ballard Jr., R. I. P.
Clint Ballard Jr., Writer of Hit Songs, Dies at 77 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Clint Ballard Jr., a Texas-born songwriter whose songs, heard on 10 million records, included the 1965 hit “The Game of Love” and Linda Ronstadt’s No. 1 single “You’re No Good” from 1975, died on Dec. 23 at his home in Denton, Tex. He was 77.
His friend Jacqueline Martinez said that he had a stroke two and a half years ago and that his health had steadily deteriorated.
Ms. Ronstadt included “You’re No Good” on her “Heart Like a Wheel” album, which was released in 1974 and itself reached the top of the Billboard album chart in 1975. Dee Dee Warwick and Betty Everett had earlier recorded the song, both in 1963. The next year, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a Top 10 hit with it in Britain.
Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders made “The Game of Love” a No. 1 hit in the United States and a No. 2 hit in Britain in 1965. It was one of the songs the disc jockey portrayed by Robin Williams played in the 1987 movie “Good Morning, Vietnam.”
With Fred Tobias, Mr. Ballard wrote “Good Timin’,” which Jimmy Jones took to the top of British charts and to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1960. The Hollies reached No. 1 in Britain with Mr. Ballard’s “I’m Alive” in 1965."
His friend Jacqueline Martinez said that he had a stroke two and a half years ago and that his health had steadily deteriorated.
Ms. Ronstadt included “You’re No Good” on her “Heart Like a Wheel” album, which was released in 1974 and itself reached the top of the Billboard album chart in 1975. Dee Dee Warwick and Betty Everett had earlier recorded the song, both in 1963. The next year, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a Top 10 hit with it in Britain.
Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders made “The Game of Love” a No. 1 hit in the United States and a No. 2 hit in Britain in 1965. It was one of the songs the disc jockey portrayed by Robin Williams played in the 1987 movie “Good Morning, Vietnam.”
With Fred Tobias, Mr. Ballard wrote “Good Timin’,” which Jimmy Jones took to the top of British charts and to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1960. The Hollies reached No. 1 in Britain with Mr. Ballard’s “I’m Alive” in 1965."
A tip of the old 45s to Jeff Meyerson.
I'm Going to Buy Some of These. . .
. . . if I don't forget.
'Memory pill' that could help with exam revision could be available soon - Telegraph: "A 'memory pill' that could aid exam revision and help to prevent people forgetting important anniversaries may soon be available over the counter."
'Memory pill' that could help with exam revision could be available soon - Telegraph: "A 'memory pill' that could aid exam revision and help to prevent people forgetting important anniversaries may soon be available over the counter."
Frankly My Dear I'm Dead -- Livia J. Washburn
Livia Washburn, like her husband, James Reasoner, can write just about anything. And has. This one's a comic mystery set in Atlanta, Georgia. Delilah Dickinson is just starting her new business of arranging literary tours, that is, tours based on a particular work of fiction, in this case, Gone With the Wind.Naturally Delilah wants things to go smoothly, but they don't. Her recent divorce continues to worry her. Bickering with her family members, who are also her employees, is another of her problems, which come to include the murder of Rhett Butler. Okay, just kidding to see if you were paying attention. Rhett isn't murdered, but the actor portraying him at the imitation Tara plantation is. Right in the middle of the ball. This isn't at all the way Delilah wanted to start her new career.
Amateur sleuthing with, of course, an interesting man (a professor of literature) for Delilah, and lots of fun for the reader. The book is about murder, but it has plenty of laughs, loads of local color, Gone with the Wind lore, and a well-honed plot. Sure, it's a cozy. You wanna make something of it? Check it out.
Will the Persecution Never End?
Video-gaping at Paris Hilton's joyride: "If you want to discover more of the dark underbelly of L.A., where celebrities hang side-by-side with drug dealers and other criminals, Mark Ebner’s upcoming book “Six Degrees of Paris Hilton” is for you.
It’s the story of Darnell Riley, who held “Girls Gone Wild” millionaire Joe Francis at gunpoint and videotaped him in a compromising position; bought 14 hours of naughty Paris Hilton video from Russian thieves; who boxed with Rick Salomon and picked up girls with Mickey Rourke."
It’s the story of Darnell Riley, who held “Girls Gone Wild” millionaire Joe Francis at gunpoint and videotaped him in a compromising position; bought 14 hours of naughty Paris Hilton video from Russian thieves; who boxed with Rick Salomon and picked up girls with Mickey Rourke."
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Happy Birthday, Edgar Allan Poe!
Two hundred years ago, in Boston, Massachusetts, Edgar Allan Poe was born on this date. His work is still being read, and the great debate about what city should claim him rages on, thanks mainly to the Philly Poe Guy. Poe gave form to the detective story, wrote some memorable verse, led an interesting (and troubled) life, and died an interesting death. I visited the Poe grave in Baltimore last fall, and put a penny on the stone as so many have done before.Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Richardson City Council limits overnight parking in front of residences | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas-Fort Worth Transportation News | Dallas-Fort Worth News: "Parking in front of your neighbor’s house overnight is now against the law in Richardson.
City Council members on Monday night approved rules that limit parking on streets. Only people who live in or are visiting a home may park in front of it from 2 to 8 a.m. Residents or guests who park elsewhere can receive a citation, with a fine of up to $500."
City Council members on Monday night approved rules that limit parking on streets. Only people who live in or are visiting a home may park in front of it from 2 to 8 a.m. Residents or guests who park elsewhere can receive a citation, with a fine of up to $500."
Clint Eastwood's Early Career
After seeing Gran Torino, I started thinking about Clint Eastwood's start in movies. Here's a great scene from Revenge of the Creature (1955).
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Thin Man Turns 75
His Camera-Ready Comedy - WSJ.com: "By TOM NOLAN
'The Thin Man,' Dashiell Hammett's fifth and final novel, turns 75 this month.
Written in the wake of the same author's hard-boiled 1930 private-detective classic, 'The Maltese Falcon,' and his bleak 1931 thriller of civic corruption, 'The Glass Key,' the amusing and flippant-seeming 'The Thin Man' (in which almost all violence occurs offstage) took readers by surprise in 1934. Reviewers' judgments at the time were mixed: The New York Herald Tribune thought it 'a new hard-boiled opus worthy to stand beside the best of his other works,' but the New Republic found it 'a less excitingly fresh performance.'
The author himself made no great claims for his creation. 'Nobody ever invented a more insufferably smug pair of characters,' he said of the book's married protagonists, Nick and Nora Charles; and in 1957, four years before his death, he would claim that ''The Thin Man' always bored me.'
Yet Hammett -- often as hedonistic in life as the heavy drinkers in his stories -- was sober and industrious while writing the novel during his tenancy in an unimpressive New York hotel managed by his friend and fellow author Nathanael West; and, one way or another, the book and its characters would earn Dashiell Hammett (according to biographer Richard Layman) close to a million dollars."
Check out the whole article.
A tip of the Crider fedora to Art Scott.
'The Thin Man,' Dashiell Hammett's fifth and final novel, turns 75 this month.
Written in the wake of the same author's hard-boiled 1930 private-detective classic, 'The Maltese Falcon,' and his bleak 1931 thriller of civic corruption, 'The Glass Key,' the amusing and flippant-seeming 'The Thin Man' (in which almost all violence occurs offstage) took readers by surprise in 1934. Reviewers' judgments at the time were mixed: The New York Herald Tribune thought it 'a new hard-boiled opus worthy to stand beside the best of his other works,' but the New Republic found it 'a less excitingly fresh performance.'
The author himself made no great claims for his creation. 'Nobody ever invented a more insufferably smug pair of characters,' he said of the book's married protagonists, Nick and Nora Charles; and in 1957, four years before his death, he would claim that ''The Thin Man' always bored me.'
Yet Hammett -- often as hedonistic in life as the heavy drinkers in his stories -- was sober and industrious while writing the novel during his tenancy in an unimpressive New York hotel managed by his friend and fellow author Nathanael West; and, one way or another, the book and its characters would earn Dashiell Hammett (according to biographer Richard Layman) close to a million dollars."
Check out the whole article.
A tip of the Crider fedora to Art Scott.
Gator Update (Basking Rights Edition)
Toe-bit albino gator to be pulled for checkup: "(01-13) 16:49 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Claude the albino alligator has a swollen toe on his right front foot, and he's about to get the very best of medical care - even without a pay-for-service health plan.
The bright yellow swimming star of the California Academy of Sciences - more popular with the paying public at times than any of the fish in the academy's Steinhart Aquarium - was bitten the other day by Bonnie, his black female companion in the Swamp exhibit. The two often tussle for basking rights to the cozy flat rock in the center of their large and watery tank home."
The bright yellow swimming star of the California Academy of Sciences - more popular with the paying public at times than any of the fish in the academy's Steinhart Aquarium - was bitten the other day by Bonnie, his black female companion in the Swamp exhibit. The two often tussle for basking rights to the cozy flat rock in the center of their large and watery tank home."
Hat tip to Angela Crider.
Texas Country Singers -- Phil Fry and Jim Lee
I've known both Phil Fry and Jim Lee a loooooong time. Phil was a grad student with me at both UT and UNT. Jim was a professor at UNT and occasionally came down to Austin to take part in the grad student football games on Sundays in the fall.I also like country music, especially when it's sung by Texans. So you know I'm going to give Texas Country Singers a good review. It's short (87 pages) and compact. It has biographies of 25 Texans who should be in everybody's country music collection. Some of them probably are (George Jones, Jim Reeves, Bob Wills, etc.); some of them might not be (Milton Brown, Adolph Hofner). Reading about those folks is always fun, and you get the impression that Fry and Lee love the music as well as the people they're writing about.
One of the singers they discuss is Moon Mullican. The band my son, Allen, works with, the Cornell Hurd Band ("Country Music's Worst Nightmare"), had just released a CD of Mullican's turns, and you can buy it right here. As well you should. It's great. Trust me.
Mammoth Update
Possible Mammoth Tusk Found on SoCal Island : Discovery News: "Jan. 14, 2009 -- A complete tusk believed to belong to a prehistoric mammoth was uncovered on Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast, researchers reported Tuesday. If the discovery is confirmed, it would mean the tusked beasts roamed 62,000-acre Santa Cruz Island more widely than previously thought.A graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, came across the tusk while working in a canyon on the island's remote north shore earlier this month. Nearby were several rib bones and possible thigh bones, said Lotus Vermeer, the Nature Conservancy's Santa Cruz Island project director."
Croc Update (NBA Edition)
NBA FanHouse: "Nathan Jawai of the Raptors is the first indigenous Australian player in the NBA. His story is unique, having grown up playing rugby, not basketball, he is very quick on his feet for a big man. In this video he talks to us about dangerous encounters he experienced in the Australian Outback, including swimming nose-to-nose with a crocodile, one of nature's most vicious killers."
Gator Update: Yes, Another Drug Bust Story
CityNews.ca - Toronto's News: Live Alligator Among Items Seized In ETF Raid: "An overnight raid in 12 Division yielded the usual items - and one highly unusual pet.
It appears that a three-pound alligator (pictured) was among the goods seized after the Emergency Task Force entered a home on Eglinton near Keele.
According to police, officers with a warrant went into the home at 2675 Eglington Ave. W shortly before 3am Sunday.
Inside, they found a menagerie - and, allegedly, a more typical cache of weapons and drugs."
It appears that a three-pound alligator (pictured) was among the goods seized after the Emergency Task Force entered a home on Eglinton near Keele.
According to police, officers with a warrant went into the home at 2675 Eglington Ave. W shortly before 3am Sunday.
Inside, they found a menagerie - and, allegedly, a more typical cache of weapons and drugs."
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