35-year sentence for HIV-positive spitter worries some | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News: "Prosecutors convinced a Dallas County jury this week that HIV-positive saliva should be considered a deadly weapon.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and countless doctors say no one has ever contracted the virus from spit.
And that's why several AIDS advocacy groups and many individuals contend that the 35-year sentence Willie Campbell received Wednesday for spitting into the mouth and eye of a Dallas police officer was excessive."
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Dead Heat -- Dick Francis and Felix Francis
This book marks the first time Dick Francis has shared author credit on one of his novels, though it's widely known that both his wife and son aided in his research on earlier books.I've been reading Francis's novels for 40 years or so now, and I don't think I've missed a one. I've also never failed to enjoy one, this latest is no exception. Max Moreton is a chef, but he's like all the other Francis heroes: competent, smart, brave, and in plenty of danger. When food poisoning afflicts many of the diners at a catered party Moreton gets the blame, but he knows he's not at fault. He starts looking into things, and soon he's got all kinds of trouble. And, of course, like all Francis heroes, he suffers plenty of physical hardship before arriving at all the answers.
Francis's straighforward style still reads as easily as ever, his characters are just as engaging, and the story moves along as fast as one of the horses that Francis used to ride. I recommend this one.
CSI: Croatia
Woman found after 42 years | The Daily Telegraph: "POLICE broke into a flat to check who lived there 42 years after its owner was reported missing - and found the mummified remains of the woman sitting in front of her TV.
Croatian police say Hedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, had apparently made herself a cuppa and sat down to watch her black-and-white television before she died.
Officers believe that would have been in 1966, when she was last seen by neighbours. They said one day she seemed to have just disappeared and they thought she had moved to the capital Zagreb."
Croatian police say Hedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, had apparently made herself a cuppa and sat down to watch her black-and-white television before she died.
Officers believe that would have been in 1966, when she was last seen by neighbours. They said one day she seemed to have just disappeared and they thought she had moved to the capital Zagreb."
Sheriff Dan Rhodes, Take Note
The Associated Press: Alabama sheriffs feed inmates on $1.75 a day: "BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance, and some sheriffs are actually making money on top of their salaries."
Hey, Kids, Let's Go to the Penis Museum!
Male organ on show at museum ( pics) - New Zealand's source for oddstuff - strange, weird & bizarre news on Stuff.co.nz: "Sigurdur Hjartarson is missing a human penis. But he's not worried: four men have promised to donate theirs to him when they die.
Hjartarson is founder and owner of the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which offers visitors from around the world a close-up look at the long and the short of the male reproductive organ."
Thanks to Doc Quatermass for the link.
Hjartarson is founder and owner of the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which offers visitors from around the world a close-up look at the long and the short of the male reproductive organ."
Thanks to Doc Quatermass for the link.
Iron Man
You already know all you need to know about this one. Robert Downey is having fun. Gwyneth Paltrow is a great redhead. Stuff blows up all over the place. The Iron Man suit is cool. And you should stay past the end credits for a scene that will tell you something about the sequel. Judy and I both had a good time.
School Daze
This is your big chance to see what I looked like on my first day of school. I'm guest blogging over on the Writers Plot, and there's even a photo. Check it out.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Fourth jewelry heist in month nets $1.4 million for armed robbers | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "A roving band of armed jewelry thieves targeting traveling salesmen struck again Thursday, marking the fourth such violent robbery in the Houston area within the past three weeks, authorities said.
The latest heist happened about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday when three masked men followed the victim into a Waffle House restaurant on Westheimer near Hayes, officials said.
'They pistol-whipped the salesman and took his merchandise,' said Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, with the Houston FBI office."
The latest heist happened about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday when three masked men followed the victim into a Waffle House restaurant on Westheimer near Hayes, officials said.
'They pistol-whipped the salesman and took his merchandise,' said Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, with the Houston FBI office."
Gator Update (Ride 'em, Gatorboy, Edition)
Deputy bitten by alligator - Tampa Bays Local News: "DELTONA, Fla. (AP) — A Volusia County sheriff's deputy is hospitalized in serious but stable condition after being bitten by an 8-foot-long alligator he was trying to subdue in a parking lot.
Authorities say Deputy Keith Baughman responded to a call late Thursday about an alligator roaming around the Deltona apartment complex. Witnesses say the deputy put a towel over the gator's head, jumped onto its back and tried to grab its snout.
One witness says the alligator “went crazy,” throwing off Baughman and biting him on the leg."
Authorities say Deputy Keith Baughman responded to a call late Thursday about an alligator roaming around the Deltona apartment complex. Witnesses say the deputy put a towel over the gator's head, jumped onto its back and tried to grab its snout.
One witness says the alligator “went crazy,” throwing off Baughman and biting him on the leg."
Once Again, . . . Oops.
Did a 13yo buy hookers with dad's credit card? - New Zealand's source for oddstuff - strange, weird & bizarre news on Stuff.co.nz: "A widely published story that a 13-year-old has been convicted of fraud after stealing his dad's credit card and ordering two prostitutes from an escort agency may be a hoax.
The original story said Ralph Hardy used the card to take his friends on a $US30,000 spending spree that ended with them playing Halo on an Xbox with prostitutes in a Texas motel, according to a Money.co.uk report.
However police from the county where the alleged incident was supposedly took place say the story doesn't stack up."
The original story said Ralph Hardy used the card to take his friends on a $US30,000 spending spree that ended with them playing Halo on an Xbox with prostitutes in a Texas motel, according to a Money.co.uk report.
However police from the county where the alleged incident was supposedly took place say the story doesn't stack up."
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Garland man finds fossil of mosasaur in Duck Creek | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News: "Charles Amyx had seen fossils in museums, but he didn't buy into the notion that dinosaurs ever existed.
'How can these be 3 million years old?' he asked, citing his belief that the world is much younger.
But the 62-year-old school bus driver has no doubt that the mosasaur bones he unearthed in the river bottom behind his Garland home are something special. Members of the Dallas Paleontological Society agree."
'How can these be 3 million years old?' he asked, citing his belief that the world is much younger.
But the 62-year-old school bus driver has no doubt that the mosasaur bones he unearthed in the river bottom behind his Garland home are something special. Members of the Dallas Paleontological Society agree."
Oakley Hall, R. I. P.
Oakley Hall, 87, Novelist Attuned to the Old West, Is Dead - New York Times: "Oakley Hall, the author of the novels “Warlock” and “The Downhill Racers” and a literary heir to fellow California writers like Wallace Stegner, died Monday at his home in Nevada City, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Nevada City, Squaw Valley and San Francisco."
Thanks to Jeff Meyerson for the link.
Update: Here's a personal remembrance from David Laurence Wilson, whose name you may have seen on a few introductions in Stark House volumes:
"Oakley was a good guy, with a distinctive voice that I will hear
until the end of my own years. I knew him for almost forty years,
more than two-thirds of my life, ever since my first week of college,
when I won a lottery and was admitted into one of his writing
classes. He turned me from a Biological Sciences Major to whatever
it is that I am now. I wasn't part of the UCI Writing Program, since
I was an undergraduate, but I was editor of the newspaper at the
school, and Managing Editor for the literary magazine. In his own
undergrad days Oakley was at San Diego State, in a class with Sid
Fleischman and Bob Wade and Bill Miller, who wrote under the name
"Wade Miller". San Diego had never had it's own Private Eye
character but "Wade Miller" gave it one, followed by Sid Fleischman
and then Oakley, with his first effort, Murder City. Like a lot of
writers, Oakley was particularly known for one novel, Warlock, but he
had a lot more affection for that effort that many other novelists so
afflicted. He'll be missed by a lot of writers whose horizons were
expanded by this fine teacher."
David Laurence Wilson
Thanks to Jeff Meyerson for the link.
Update: Here's a personal remembrance from David Laurence Wilson, whose name you may have seen on a few introductions in Stark House volumes:
"Oakley was a good guy, with a distinctive voice that I will hear
until the end of my own years. I knew him for almost forty years,
more than two-thirds of my life, ever since my first week of college,
when I won a lottery and was admitted into one of his writing
classes. He turned me from a Biological Sciences Major to whatever
it is that I am now. I wasn't part of the UCI Writing Program, since
I was an undergraduate, but I was editor of the newspaper at the
school, and Managing Editor for the literary magazine. In his own
undergrad days Oakley was at San Diego State, in a class with Sid
Fleischman and Bob Wade and Bill Miller, who wrote under the name
"Wade Miller". San Diego had never had it's own Private Eye
character but "Wade Miller" gave it one, followed by Sid Fleischman
and then Oakley, with his first effort, Murder City. Like a lot of
writers, Oakley was particularly known for one novel, Warlock, but he
had a lot more affection for that effort that many other novelists so
afflicted. He'll be missed by a lot of writers whose horizons were
expanded by this fine teacher."
David Laurence Wilson
The Night Remembers -- Ed Gorman
Here's a forgotten book that's not entirely forgotten. It's back in print from Ramble House. Jack Walsh is a former cop who now manages an apartment house and does a little sleuthing. He's in his 60s and is dating a younger woman who has some serious problems of her own. The wife of his former partner keeps showing up at his office, trying to prove she can be a part of his life, maybe even become his partner in the agency. But those are the least of his problems. A prospective client shows up, Mrs. Pennyfeather, the wife of a man Walsh sent to prison when he was a cop. She wants him to prove that her husband, who's just been released, was innocent to begin with. Walsh refuses, but he finds himself drawn into a new case when a woman is murdered in the Pennyfeathers' back yard. What he uncovers is about as dark as it gets.
The Night Remembers was originally published in 1991, and it proves that Ed Gorman has been very good for a long time. But then you knew that. He gives us real people with real problems, trapped by their pasts and trying to deal with the present as best they can. Pick this one up from Ramble House if you haven't read it already. But don't read it when you're depressed.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Kids' novelist Rick Riordan on the brink of something big | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "In April, children's book publisher Scholastic, the company that brought Harry Potter to America, flew San Antonio author Rick Riordan to Bologna, Italy. There, Riordan's job was to help explain The 39 Clues — a forthcoming multiplatform series for children incorporating books, collectible cards, video games and $100,000 in prize money — to international publishing executives.
The 39 Clues is important to Scholastic since it represents the publisher's first serious attempt to replicate Harry Potter sales. Riordan (with a long 'i,' like 'fire') was hired to write The Maze of Bones, the first in the 10-book series, and to create the overall storyline."
The 39 Clues is important to Scholastic since it represents the publisher's first serious attempt to replicate Harry Potter sales. Riordan (with a long 'i,' like 'fire') was hired to write The Maze of Bones, the first in the 10-book series, and to create the overall storyline."
Happy Birthday, Katherine Anne Porter
Today is the birthday of a famous Texas-born writer, Katherine Anne Porter. I've blogged about my meeting with her before. (See here, here, here, and here.) In at least one of those posts, I told the story of how Charlotte Laughlin took a photo of Miss Porter's coffin, which she kept in a closet in her apartment. I don't recall that I've published that photo, however, so here it is.
Gator Update (Immortality Edition)
Metro - Alligator immortalized: "The most famous resident of Okefenokee Swamp Park in Waycross, Ga. — an alligator that attracted the stares of tourists for decades — will soon be immortalized nearly a year after his death.
The skeleton of Oscar is being assembled and will be put on display like a museum dinosaur. The four-metre, 450-kilogram alligator had roamed the swamp from the time the park opened in 1946."
The skeleton of Oscar is being assembled and will be put on display like a museum dinosaur. The four-metre, 450-kilogram alligator had roamed the swamp from the time the park opened in 1946."
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