Monthly Archives: December 2004

Bill to kill traffic cameras filed

Posted on December 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Gary Elkins (R, Houston) has filed a bill to outlaw the use of traffic cameras by municipalities for the purpose of assessing civil fines to red-light runners. As Grits notes, the bill that outlawed assessing criminal penalties via … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 2 Comments

The Harris County Hispanic vote

Posted on December 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reports that President Bush increased his share of the Hispanic vote in Harris County by several percentage points. In 16 precincts where more than 90 percent of voters are Latino, the GOP share ticked up by as much … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

For the rest of us

Posted on December 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I confess, I was never much of a Seinfeld watcher, so I never knew anything about Festivus. Turns out the show’s writers didn’t completely make it up. The actual inventor of Festivus is Dan O’Keefe, 76, whose son Daniel, a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 2 Comments

New frontiers in gift ideas

Posted on December 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

There are times when I really pity headline writers. How can you possibly title a story about giving the gift of plastic surgery for Christmas without dipping into the Big Bag O’ Cliches? It’s the season of giving and getting, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 3 Comments

What’s missing from this story?

Posted on December 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a story about an outgoing District Attorney. Can you tell what’s missing? When Terry McEachern goes to court after Jan. 1, he´ll be gazing up from the defense table instead of the prosecution table he´s occupied for nearly 20 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Comments Off on What’s missing from this story?

Beer tank naming rights bought

Posted on December 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

If you wanted to secure the naming rights of the new Saint Arnold Brewey tanker, I’m afraid you’re too late. The winning bid was $970. St. Arnold’s chief executive, Brock Wagner, won’t reveal the name of the winning bidder until … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | Comments Off on Beer tank naming rights bought

Red light cameras approved

Posted on December 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Houston City Council has approved traffic cameras for certain intersections as a way to combat red light running. The ordinance cannot go into effect for at least 120 days, which would presumably give the city enough time to choose … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 14 Comments

The Perranoski Prize

Posted on December 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Kevin Hayden has announced a new set of blog awards called The Perranoski Prize, which is intended as a complement to Wampum’s Koufax Awards (nominations for which close at 5 PM Eastern time today, so don’t dawdle if you haven’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 2 Comments

RPI tinkering

Posted on December 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Pomeroy says that the NCAA is fixing to tinker with the RPI formula for ranking basketball teams. ESPN has the story. Road wins will carry more weight in the Ratings Percentage Index after unanimous approval by the NCAA championships … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 4 Comments

Soechting on Heflin

Posted on December 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting has a message for Talmadge Heflin and especially his attorney Andy Taylor. While I think he’s touched on all the important issues in this unprecedented power grab, I disagree with his choice of rhetoric. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 3 Comments

Jason McKrieth

Posted on December 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Tired of reading about bad things in the athletic world? Read this article about Rice University senior guard Jason McKrieth and feel better about sports and life. Found on the Owlzone fan board. Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 1 Comment

RIP, Mel Gabler

Posted on December 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Longtime conservative activist and textbook critic Mel Gabler has died at the age of 89. Gabler, who died Sunday, was a conservative who emphasized accuracy and a Christian perspective in his critiques of children’s schoolbooks. With wife Norma, he started … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 16 Comments

Perry endorsement update

Posted on December 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Clay Robison follows up on his thin story from last week on Governor Perry’s efforts to line up endorsements now ahead of his purported primary challengers, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Carole Keeton Strayhorn. No actual politicians yet, but the usual … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 4 Comments

More on Wallach and Google

Posted on December 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a front page story today on the efforts of Rice prof Dan Wallach and two of his grad students in identifying a security hole in the new Google Desktop Search application (since patched). Not much new info … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on More on Wallach and Google

New Harry Potter book in July

Posted on December 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will hit bookstores on July 16. “We are delighted to announce the publication date,” which also will take place in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, said the joint announcement by Nigel Newton, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 1 Comment

New MT release to fix comment problems

Posted on December 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Movable Type 3.14 has been released to address the problem of excessive server load when one is under attack from a comment spammer. From the Movable Type blog: Because these attacks are increasing in both frequency and severity, we strongly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 1 Comment

Best news I’ve heard today

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Slacktivist has started posting his analysis of the “Left Behind” books again. Today’s installment: Buck Williams as Arthur Dent. Check it out. Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Best news I’ve heard today

Westar mistrial

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like the federal prosecutors for the money laundering trial of former Westar CEO David Wittig aren’t as good as the ones here on the Enron task force. The federal fraud trial of former Westar Energy Inc. chief executive David … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Westar mistrial

Our stadium can kick your stadium’s butt!

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

In the midst of this article on the various Texas-based bowl games and how they position themselves in the market, Dale Robertson makes a remarkable (to me, anyway) observation: Understandably, the SBC Cotton Bowl and the Alamo Bowl have been … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 6 Comments

Google desktop bug

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a security hole (which has now been fixed) in the Google desktop search tool. The glitch, which could permit an attacker to secretly search the contents of a personal computer via the Internet, is what computer scientists call a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on Google desktop bug

The soundtrack of Christmas revisited

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has an op-ed today on the subject of Christmas music and why it’s the same thing every year. Consider that in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ annual ranking of the 25 most-performed holiday songs, oldies … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 5 Comments

How do you define “credible”?

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

In the comments to this post, Kevin says: I thought all those crossover voters were going to be the end of Tom DeLay in his race against Richard Morrison, whom many people here called “credible.” Oh, wait, yeah, that didn’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 8 Comments

Poker tournaments still illegal

Posted on December 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Poker tournament busted in Texas City at a nightclub owned by former Texas City Mayoral candidate Frank Skaggs. Texas City police received a tip about the “Texas Hold ‘Em” tournament planned for Dec. 5 at Shenanigans. They broke it up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Comments Off on Poker tournaments still illegal

Off to a great start

Posted on December 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Express News gives a preview of the 79th Lege and the election challenges it must resolve before it can get down to business. They focus on Tom Craddick and his professed desire to get past the partisan rancor that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

Everything old is new again…again

Posted on December 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Apparently, this is old news, but I hadn’t realized it until I saw a promo on USA while watching a “Law and Order: SVU” rerun: Ving Rhames is going to play Kojak in a new series set to debut in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 1 Comment

Let us now pause for some unintentional comedy

Posted on December 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

There’s not much I can really say about this Chron article on Tom DeLay. As sleazy and unprincipled as he is, he didn’t get where he is without being a damn good politician, and we’d do well to remember that. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 1 Comment

Ashley McElhiney

Posted on December 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Meet Ashley McElhiney, the head coach of the Nashville Rhythm of the American Basketball Association. At 23, she’s not only one of the youngest head coaches out there, she’s the only woman coach of a men’s professional team. McElhiney turned … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 2 Comments

Son of dark and cheesy

Posted on December 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Pete finally picks up the gauntlet I dropped on him awhile back regarding the BBC list of cheesy movie lines, and as expected, he comes up with a much better product. Check it out. Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 1 Comment

Who knew Santa had a branch office in Wilkes-Barre?

Posted on December 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Olivia received the following letter in the mail today, postmarked from Wilkes-Barre, with no name in the return address. Dear Olivia, HO! HO! HO! My elves are very excited, my reindeer are restless, and all because Mrs. Claus posted the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | 2 Comments

Bill Gates giveth, and Bill Gates taketh away

Posted on December 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Do you think that somewhere on the org chart in Redmond, WA, there’s a position for Director of Ironic Developments at Microsoft? Microsoft Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to offer frustrated users of its Windows software new tools within 30 days … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 3 Comments

Perry trolling for support

Posted on December 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Did I mention that the 2006 elections have already begun? Governor Perry certainly seems to think so. Gov. Rick Perry reportedly has been seeking support from other top elected Republican officials for his 2006 re-election race, apparently trying to defuse … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 1 Comment

Is that fear in your eyes?

Posted on December 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Daily DeLay has a long excerpt from a National Journal article about Tom DeLay’s status from the perspective of the other members of the House. This bit, about the implementation of the “DeLay Rule”, is pretty intriguing. [Some GOP … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Is that fear in your eyes?

Thus begins the Trans Texas Corridor

Posted on December 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I haven’t blogged much about the Trans Texas Corridor before, but with the announcement yesterday that an agreement has been reached to build the first piece of the corridor, a toll road between San Antonio and Dallas, I think there … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 8 Comments

An early look at 2005

Posted on December 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Like Greg, I expected the mayorless local elections next year to be duds. Turns out there’s more to look forward to than I thought. I’ll add a couple of thoughts to Greg’s: 1. I, too, like Jay Aiyer, though I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 4 Comments