Monthly Archives: December 2003

Grocery Googling

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

So last week, Tiffany asked her mother, who is hosting both Christmas Eve and Christmas, what food we should bring. She expected to hear something like “oh, bring a vegetable”, but instead was handed two recipes and a shopping list. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | 6 Comments

It’s official: iFest is moving

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

As expected, the Houston International Festival is moving out of downtown. The 32-year-old Houston International Festival is moving, not quite to the ‘burbs, but to a tract of manicured grass and two parking lots on 27 acres at Reliant Park. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 3 Comments

Final arguments

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Final arguments will be given today in the redistricting trial. I’m not sure if the judges will have a ruling by today, but surely they’ll have one soon. After that, it’ll be on to the Supreme Court regardless of who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Final arguments

She doesn’t know squat about guy movies, either

Posted on December 22, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

While it’s true that the author of this silly review of Return of the King, which has been rightfully mocked by Ginger and Jim, clearly knows nothing about what kind of movie women like, she also clearly knows nothing about … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 1 Comment

DUI plateau

Posted on December 22, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities has stopped dropping over the past few years. Bad news, right? Well, let’s take a closer look. Alcohol-related traffic death rates increased or held steady in 19 states between 1998 and 2002, according to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 3 Comments

Hey, guess what? There’s gonna be a special session!

Posted on December 22, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Get out your hip-waders and prepare to defend your wallets – there’s going to be a special legislative session in the springtime to finally address that big unfulfilled Republican fantasypromise of replacing the Robin Hood school finance system with something … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 4 Comments

Really getting ahead of ourselves

Posted on December 22, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Clay Robison gives his year-end wrapup of political news and gossip, which mostly consists of snarky potshots at rehashed events. One noteworthy item: H — Hutchison, Kay Bailey. Another theory has the senior U.S. senator from Texas running for re-election … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Really getting ahead of ourselves

Right idea, wrong analogy

Posted on December 21, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

In the first paragraph of this article on a rift between the City of Houston and the president of the foundation that runs the popular International Festival, reporter Rachel Graves uses the following framing device: At the heart of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 3 Comments

Resisting the irresistable force

Posted on December 21, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations to St. John’s and their head coach John Gagliardi for doing what my Trinity Tigers could not do last year: beat the best team in college football in the Stagg Bowl for the Division III national championship. Yes, I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | Comments Off on Resisting the irresistable force

Ouch!

Posted on December 20, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

You thought you had a bad day at the office last week? Not compared to this guy you didn’t. An African cobra capable of projecting its venom 10 feet sank its fangs into the finger of a 26-year-old local pet … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 4 Comments

Recount resolved

Posted on December 20, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The recount is over in the City Council District G race, and the winner is the same: Pam Holm, now by 24 votes instead of 27 over Jeff Daily. After Friday’s recount, final but unofficial results had Holm at 18,412 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | Comments Off on Recount resolved

Justice Department OKs remap

Posted on December 20, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t say it’s a surprise, though it’s certainly a disappointment, that the Justice Department gave its stamp of approval to the new Congressional map. They took their sweet time about it, and the Democrats have charged from the beginning … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 2 Comments

One down, one to go

Posted on December 19, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron’s John McClain notes that after this week, a dubious achievement will no longer be associated with Houston. If Detroit loses at Carolina, as expected, the Lions will own sole possession of a record they have shared with the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 2 Comments

Did too! Did not!

Posted on December 19, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The state began its case yesterday, which essentially consisted of a consultant and a few politicians contradicting the plaintiffs’ testimony that there was a racil aspect to redistricting. Other than some comic relief from state Rep. Ron Wilson, there’s not … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 1 Comment

TRM fundraiser paid with corporate money

Posted on December 19, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Remember how the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, the one that helped elect a bunch of new Republicans to the state House so that Tom DeLay’s redistricting do-over could be rammed through, claimed that they’d only ever used corporate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 1 Comment

A-Rod and the Red Sox

Posted on December 19, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

There’s been a lot of caterwauling over the now-dead deal that would have sent Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez and enough financial transactions to keep a fantasy accountants’ league busy for the rest of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 3 Comments

How do you bury something in a vacuum?

Posted on December 19, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

From the Gifts For People Who Have Everything Dept: Send your remains into outer space. Celestis Inc, a Houston-based firm that in 1997 arranged the launch of 1960s pop icon Timothy Leary’s remains, is planning an April send-off in Russia … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 1 Comment

TAB to reconsider ads

Posted on December 18, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

If you’re looking for good things resulting from the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform, here’s one: The Texas Association of Business is reconsidering whether to replicate a corporate-financed advertising campaign that it says helped elect … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on TAB to reconsider ads

Over to the defense

Posted on December 18, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Testimony for the plaintiffs should be pretty much over by now, and the state is expected to begin its case today. Yesterday’s main feature was State Sen. Royce West, who spoke about the public hearings and District 24. Mr. West … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 7 Comments

Not the kind of buzz they’re talking about

Posted on December 18, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

All right, I can’t stand it any more. I’ve come across the story of Texas’ notorious Felonious Sex Toy Selling Housewife too many times to not comment on it. As there really isn’t much one can actually add to a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 6 Comments

Recount!

Posted on December 18, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

When you lose by 27 votes out of over 36,000 cast, asking for a recount should be expected. Houston City Council candidate Jeff Daily, who narrowly lost in a runoff election to Pam Holm, on Wednesday filed an anticipated recount … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 4 Comments

Abbott v. ADA followup

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I received the following comment from my post about State Attorney General Greg Abbott and his legal assault on the ADA here in Texas. The commenter, Garth Corbett, is one of the plaintiff’s attorneys: I am the attorney for Advocacy, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Abbott v. ADA followup

Math miscellania

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Michael emailed me a link to this article, which was also noted by Teresa, about a breakthrough in understanding an obscure work by Archimedes in the field of combinatorics. Both the NYT article and Teresa’s observations are interesting, though I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on Math miscellania

The return of MEChA

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Ted Barlow has a long and detailed email interview with some members of MEChA, the Chicano student organization that was assailed as being a “hate group” during the California recall election. It’s a great read, so go check it out. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 2 Comments

Today’s redistricting lawsuit update

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The big news out of yesterday’s testimony came from State Rep. Glenn Lewis (D, Fort Worth), who spoke about making deals and GOP concerns about the Voting Rights Act. During his testimony, Mr. Lewis said that in May he pleaded … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Today’s redistricting lawsuit update

Feel the power of my influence

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Ginger was kind enough to email me a link to BlogRunner’s list of Top Authors, which it determines by “counting unique references to articles and posts authored in the last 60 days”. A who’s-linking-who popularity contest, in other words. I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 3 Comments

Sounds good to me

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever one may think of the invasion of Iraq, I believe we can all unite behind August’s suggestion of what to do with Saddam Hussein. We can now find out if Saddam has seen the South Park movie. And, if … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 1 Comment

Long live the revolution!

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a little quiz, from something I saw in the news yesterday but didn’t get around to commenting on. See if you can identify the speaker and the subject of the following quote. “Because those who are fighting against it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 1 Comment

I’m glad you see it that way now, but…

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

On the one hand, I suppose I should be glad that one of the prosecutors in the Andrea Yates case is now telling health care professionals that Yates was very, very sick when she killed her children. Andrea Yates had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 1 Comment

Forget it, I’m gonna be a Whig

Posted on December 17, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I think Roy and Jesse have the right idea, so from here on out whenever you hear me criticize the Republican Party or any one of its members, assume I’m speaking as a fellow Republican. In particular, I’m a Republican … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 2 Comments

Perry Tales can come true

Posted on December 16, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

If you, like me, believe that there’s nothing like a rousing round of cheap shots to brighten up one’s day, then head over to the Yellow Dog Blog and vote for your favorite Perry Tale of 2003. Was Governor Goodhair’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 2 Comments

Did the Supremes give Ronnie Earle an early present?

Posted on December 16, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Carlos Guerra looks at the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform and wonders if this will benefit the ongoing grand jury investigation into donations made by the Texas Association of Business and Texans for a Republican … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Did the Supremes give Ronnie Earle an early present?

Switching sides

Posted on December 16, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

More testimony yesterday in the federal lawsuit to stop implementation of the new Congressional map, with the highlight being that of Rice professor John Alford, who had testified for the state in 2001. Let’s start with the Dallas Morning News: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 6 Comments

And the nominee isn’t…

Posted on December 16, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I’m pretty sure that the maker of The Golden Globes: Hollywood’s Dirty Little Secret will not be getting a Best Documentary nomination from them. The Golden Globe nominations will be announced Thursday. But casual viewers of the annual awards show … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 2 Comments