Sounds Like the Opening Scene in a Classic Mystery Novel

ke leaves debris, mammoth tooth in Caplen front yard | Front page | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "CAPLEN�— A homeowner whose beachfront property in Texas was destroyed during Hurricane Ike has found a football-size fossil tooth in the debris.

Dorothy Sisk and her colleague, Lamar University paleontologist Jim Westgate, visited her Bolivar Peninsula home after Ike hit. Together they found something unusual in Sisk's front yard: a 6-pound fossil tooth.

Westgate believes the fossil is from a Columbian mammoth common in North America until around 10,000 years ago."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

theNewspaper.com : For jurisdictions that treat all red light camera tickets, toll violations and parking citations as civil penalties, it does not matter who was behind the wheel when the alleged infraction occurred. Under civil procedures, the vehicle's registered owner is automatically responsible for paying once an accusation is made, regardless of individual guilt. But if the general public were to follow the example set by Travis County employees as revealed on Tuesday, fewer motorists would bother paying citations mailed by the state of Texas or the city of Austin.

"There are some employees using county vehicles on a toll road and they are not paying the tolls themselves," the county's executive manager for transportation, Joe Gieselman, said. "Therefore the toll agency sends the county the bill because they go search the license plate and sure enough Travis County is the title holder and, voila, we have the toll is not being paid. And none of these departments have budgets or authorization to pay tolls."

The problem, however, extends far beyond toll skipping. Over the past four years, county employees have been blowing through red lights and parking in handicapped zones. County law enforcement vehicles have been nabbed for parking in tow-away zones. In total, the county has racked up $10,000 in unpaid parking fines with Austin, and that city now wants its money. After the city began booting county vehicles to encourage those officials to pay up, the county commissioners court scheduled a meeting to discuss the issue.

Mike Ripley's Latest Column Now On-Line

Packed with info, as always.  Click here .

Appaloosa

Judy and I saw this at a Friday matinee, and I was a little surprised by the size of the audience.  The movie hasn't gotten a lot of publicity, and it slipped into the Houston area with no fanfare at all.  People found out about it, though, and there was a good group in attendance.

First of all, I have  to say that it was great just to see a western on the big screen again, and a traditional western at that.  Well, traditional in a lot of ways, and unconventional in others.   When I say traditional, I mean it's not a hyped-up action flick like the recent remake of 3:10 to Yuma.  There's action and violence, but when it comes, it's quickly over and done with.  I found this very effective, but it means that there are stretches of the movie devoted to character development and dialog.  Some might find that a bit slow, and as we left the theater I heard a guy say that was his reaction.

If you're read Robert B. Parker's novel, you know what to expect.  Ed Harris, who plays Virgil Cole, worked on the script, and he pretty much filmed the novel.  It's been a while since I read the book, but the movie follows it point for point as I remember it.  It uses a lot of Parker's dialog, too.

Harris and Viggo Mortensen (who plays Everett Hitch) are a team of professional gunmen, sort of free-lance lawmen you hire when you want your town tamed.  They're hired by the Appaloosa town fathers to take care of Bragg (Jeremy Irons), who's killed the town marshal and his deputies.

Both Harris and Mortensen are excellent.  Just about everything they do is right, including Mortensen's haircut.  It's worth watching the movie just to watch these two at underplaying everything for all they're worth.  Irons gets to be a little gaudier, but he's good, too.

It wouldn't be a Robert B. Parker story if it didn't have a woman for Cole to have a weird relationship with.  Renee Zellweger plays Allie,  who drifts into Appaloosa for no apparent reason other than to be that woman.  She's the unconventional part of the movie, definitely not the virginal school marm or faithful wife and/or lover.  Zellweger does her best, but she wasn't convincing to me.  Where's Lana Turner when we need her?

All in all, I liked this quite a bit.  I have to say again how good it was to see a movie like this in the theater, and I really hope that Harris will take on the sequel, Resolution.  I'd buy a ticket in a heartbeat.

10 Unusual Recipes

Click here.  As for me, I'll just have a burger and fries, thanks.

Technology Lurches Forward (Part 2)

Amazon Kindle 2 e-books its way to BGR : Boy Genius Report: "Yes, people. You’re looking at the first shots of Amazon’s Kindle 2. The follow-up to their popular e-book reader. Our ninja sent us a ton of shots, and we have to admit, they look pretty good. The unit didn’t go down too much in size which is unfortunate, but then again, you want something pretty large so it’s comfortable to read on. He says that the unit is a little wider and a little longer, but it should help those that thought the first unit was a little too awkwardly-shaped. What’s even better is that with the new unit, while holding it, you won’t accidentally flip the page like the old one. Hit the jump for the rest!"

Hat tip to Dwight Sliverman's TechBlog.

Who Says the Bush Administration's Economic Policies Aren't Working?

This morning while out for my usual slow (okay, very slow) jaunt through the strees of Alvin, I found $3.25.  The quarter was in one place, and the three bucks in another.  This is quite a haul for me.  Not that I haven't found money before.  I find pennies fairly often (yes, I pick 'em up; can't resist), and now and then I find a nickel or a dime, but finding a quarter is unusual.  Finding folding money, while not unheard of, is a rare event.  So I'm well on the way to making up all those losses in the Market recently.  Only a few hundred thousand dollars left to go.

Technology Lurches Forward

Technology News: Handheld Devices: Sony Takes Swipe at Kindle With Touchscreen Reader: "Just in time for the 2008 holiday season, Sony (NYSE: SNE) unveiled a new addition to its line of e-book readers Thursday. The PRS-700, which features a six-inch touchscreen, will join the PRS-505 on store shelves in November.

Weighing in at about 10 ounces and capable of storing about 350 average-length digital novels, the PRS-700 also includes an expandable memory slot for Sony's Memory Stick Duo media and SD memory cards. With the added memory, the reader can hold thousands of books and documents, according to Sony."

Whatever Happened to . . .

No 'Action!' for Hollywood vets - Entertainment News, Anne Thompson, Media - Variety: "A generation of lauded directors is MIA in Hollywood.
In an industry driven by buzz, heat, youth and momentum, many talented studio helmers now find themselves on the outside looking in.

While directors such as Lawrence Kasdan (“Grand Canyon”), Joe Dante (“Gremlins”), Phil Kaufman (“The Right Stuff”) and Jim McBride (“The Big Easy”) were once reliable makers of modest studio hits, enjoying both popular and critical success, they’re rarely tapped for new film projects. And they often hit a brick wall in trying to mount their own passion projects."

Hat tip to Hollywood Elsewhere.

They Live

Dracula Update

Dutton Wins New 'Dracula' - 10/3/2008 7:36:00 AM - Publishers Weekly: "Dutton publisher Brian Tart bested bids from several other publishers for U.S. rights to Dracula: the Un-dead, by Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Dracula documentarian and historian Ian Holt. The deal was made by Danny Baror of Baror International and Ken Atchity of Atchity Entertainment International. Baror and Atchity also sold U.K. and Canadian rights to the work for a combined total of well over mid-seven figures. The book is the first Stoker family-authorized Dracula project since the original 1931 movie starring Bela Lugosi. It opens in London in 1912, where someone is stalking the band of heroes who defeated the vampire a quarter of a century ago.

The new book will also zero in on several characters and plot threads previously eliminated during the heavy editing that accompanied Dracula's original publication. Through Stoker family connections, the writers had access to Bram Stoker’s handwritten notes for Dracula, which was originally to have been called The Un-dead."

And You Think National Politics Are Rough?

Saban: Arpaio a 'lying coward' for rape ad | Politicker AZ: "The Arizona Republican Party has dug up allegations of rape against Maricopa County sheriff candidate Dan Saban for a new ad against the Democrat, which Saban is calling 'despicable.'

The new ad alleges Saban 'misled a government agency about allegations of rape,' 'was investigated for exposing himself to a child,' admitted to 'masturbating on county time.'"

He should have waited until his break.

This Year's Ig Nobel Prizes

Stripper science earns frivolous fame - Science- msnbc.com: "BOSTON - Deborah Anderson had heard the urban legends about the contraceptive effectiveness of Coca-Cola products for years.

So she and her colleagues decided to put the soft drink to the test. In the lab, that is.

For discovering that, yes indeed, Coke was a spermicide, Anderson and her team are among this year's winners of the Ig Nobel Prize, the annual award given by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for oddball but often surprisingly practical scientific achievements."

Weird Al Leads the Way

Slashdot | Weird Al To Release Songs As He Records Them: "'Weird Al has announced that with the Internet he can now release his songs for sale as he records each one rather than waiting for a whole album to be produced.'"

Hat tip to Dwight Silverman's TechBlog.

Forgotten Books: THE MAN WITH BOGART'S FACE -- Andrew Fenady

In the first couple of paragraphs, a guy has plastic surgery to make himself look like Bogart, changes his name to Sam Marlow, buys a '39 Plymouth, and opens a detective agency. It takes a while for the clients to start arriving, but when they do, the fun begins.

And it's a lot of fun, for sure. Marlow has the Bogart patter down pat, and Fenady has the L. A. scene down the same way. You're probably thinking you saw the movie version, and that's the poster on the left. I liked the movie, too, but (as is so often the case) I liked the book a little better. Robert Sacchi had a nice run doing Bogart stuff (you can see him in commercials from the era). You might want to check Netflix for the movie, but get the book first.

Return of the Swamp Thing

Croc Update (7-Year-Old Sadist Edition)

&squo;Little sadist&squo; fed giant croc | The Courier-Mail: "A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD boy broke into a Northern Territory reptile farm and sadistically fed a stream of its main exhibits to the resident 3m crocodile."

We're Number 2!

Houston forms exclusive severe-smog club with LA | National news | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "HOUSTON — Houston has joined Los Angeles to become the second place in the nation classified as having a severe smog problem, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.

The EPA reclassified the smog problem in the eight-county Houston area from moderate so that the region has an extra nine years to meet federal health standards set in 1997. The state was supposed to meet the requirements in 2010 but now has until 2019."

Yes, I'm in the eight-county area.

Gee, I'm Shocked to Hear This

Delays stymie ground zero rebuild - Life- msnbc.com: "NEW YORK - The owners of the World Trade Center site on Thursday announced a delay in the completion of a multibillion-dollar transit hub but pledged to open a nearly finished Sept. 11 memorial by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

They set no firm schedule for the completion of the entire site, which includes four office towers and a performing arts center.

In a 70-page report on ground zero's tortuous rebuilding process, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the elaborate rail hub will cost $3.2 billion, $700 million more than planned, and should open in 2014, five years after the original projected completion date."

Pushing Daisies

Boy, was I glad we got TV cable back yesterday.   Just in time for me to see the season premier of Pushing Daisies in HD.  I really like the show.  I like the cast, I like the way it looks, I get some laughs.  Judy, who didn't watch last year, watched this one.  I think she's now a fan.