When I lived where

My brother Chas recently posted on an e-mail thread all the places he has lived. I went into a little more detail, and here are the different cities where I have spent at least three months:

Start Date	End Date	Location	Start Age	Years
July 1957	August 1975	Appleton, WI	0	18
August 1975	June 1976	Madison, WI	18	.75
June 1976	August 1976	Marcona, Peru	18	.25
August 1976	January 1976	Madison, WI	19	.5
January 1977	August 1977	Greenville, IL	19	.5
August 1977	June 1978	Madison, WI	20	.75
June 1978	December 1978	Kemmerer, WY	20	.5
December 1978	June 1980	Madison, WI	21	1.5
June 1980	July 1981	Houston, TX	22	1
July 1981	July 1982	Denver, CO	24	1
July 1982	April 1993	Houston, TX	25	10.75
April 1993	January 1995	Caracas, Venezuela	35	1.75
January 1995	October 1996	Singapore	37	1.75
October 1996	Present	Houston, TX	39	11

I don't even know what to say about this.

Charges dropped in sherry enema death case | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Two true. too true

The Recipe

French-Style Pot Roast (after Cooks Illustrated)

This takes about 5 hours

A medium-bodied, fruity red wine such as Côtes du Rhône or Pinot Noir is best for this recipe. The gelatin lends richness and body to the finished sauce; don't omit it. To prepare this dish in advance, follow the recipe through step 7, skipping the step of softening and adding the gelatin. Place the meat back into the reduced sauce, cool it to room temperature, cover it, and refrigerate it for up to 2 days. To serve, slice the beef and arrange it in a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Bring the sauce to a simmer and stir in the gelatin until completely dissolved. Pour the warm sauce over the meat, cover it with aluminum foil, and bake it in a 350-degree oven until heated through, about 30 minutes.

Serves 6 to 8

1	boneless beef chuck roast (4 to 5 pounds), pulled apart into 2 pieces and fat trimmed
2	teaspoons kosher salt
1	bottle red wine (750 ml), medium-bodied
10	sprigs fresh parsley leaves
2	tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
2	sprigs fresh thyme
2	bay leaves
	Ground black pepper
4	ounces bacon , preferably thick cut, cut into 1/4-inch pieces crosswise
1	medium onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
3	medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1	tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
2	cups beef broth
4	medium carrots , peeled and cut on bias into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2	cups frozen pearl onions
3	tablespoons unsalted butter
2	teaspoons sugar
1/2	cup water , plus 1/4 cup cold water to bloom gelatin
10	ounces white mushrooms , wiped clean, stems trimmed, halved if small and quartered if large
	Table salt
1	tablespoon unflavored gelatin (powdered)

1. Season meat with kosher salt, place on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet, and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, bring wine to simmer in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes. Using kitchen twine, tie parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves into bundle.

3. Pat beef dry with paper towels and season generously with pepper. Tie three pieces of kitchen twine around each piece of meat to keep it from falling apart.

4. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Cook bacon in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate and reserve. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat; return Dutch oven to medium-high heat and heat until fat begins to smoke. Add beef to pot and brown on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes total. Transfer beef to large plate and set aside.

5. Reduce heat to medium; add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, 2 to 4 minutes. Add garlic, flour, and reserved bacon; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add reduced wine, broth, and herb bundle, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Return roast and any accumulated juices to pot; increase heat to high and bring liquid to simmer, then place large sheet of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid. Set pot in oven and cook, using tongs to turn beef every hour, until dinner fork slips easily in and out of meat, 2 1/2 to 3 hours, adding carrots to pot after 2 hours.

6. While meat cooks, bring pearl onions, butter, sugar, and 1/2 cup water to boil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until onions are tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high, and cook until all liquid evaporates, 3 to 4 minutes. Add mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon table salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned and glazed, 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Place remaining 1/4 cup cold water in small bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top.

7. Transfer beef to cutting board; tent with foil to keep warm. Allow braising liquid to settle about 5 minutes; then, using wide, shallow spoon, skim fat off surface. Remove herb bundle and stir in onion-mushroom mixture. Bring liquid to simmer over medium-high heat and cook until mixture is slightly thickened and reduced to 3 1/4 cups, 20 to 30 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Add softened gelatin and stir until completely dissolved.

8. Remove kitchen twine from meat and discard. Using chef's or carving knife, cut meat against grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Divide meat among warmed bowls or transfer to platter; arrange vegetables around meat, pour sauce on top, and sprinkle with minced parsley. Serve immediately.

9. Guard remaining meat against canine predation.

Boeuf a la Mode and the dog

On Sundays, we usually cook. It is not a hard and fast tradition (sometimes we see friends, sometimes we go out) but it is pretty common for us to do so. Today, we cooked French Style Pot Roast from the latest Cooks Magazine (usually called Boeuf a la mode). (The recipe is at the end of the posting).

IT is a fairly straightforward braising recipe – brown the meat in fat, sauté aromatics, add an acidic liquid, cook in the oven for several hours. Here are the photos of the meal:

We had a very nice 2005 Domaine de la Charbonnière Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Mourre des Perdrix with the meal. It was really a simple meal, and one of the things we value about cooking like this is the leftovers. We have ever purchased a food saver to give us more time to consume these meals.

Another Sunday evening pastime we usually partake in is watching old TV shows on Doreen’s computer. This evening we watched some of season three of Gilmore Girls and season three (1992!) of Law and Order. (Hey, I don’t get to choose all the things we watch!)

At one point I went back to the kitchen to get a tad more wine. One of the cats was on the counter, about to help himself to some of the pot roast. But it was too late! This is all that was left:

This is what we started with:

Our sweet dog had eaten almost four pounds worth of meat!

So much for leftovers…

Something we all aspire to

Well, maybe not all of us. But I certainly do. And now I have instructions!

How to Become a Charming Eccentric | eHow.com

Trains and planes and boats and busses

Characteristically

Evoke a common attitude of Blue

Unless you have a suitcase

a ticket and a passport

and the cargo that their carrying is you.

---Tom Waits

San Antonio

I drove to San Antonio today. My company is exhibiting at the Society for Exploration Geophysicists annual convention. This is a pretty big deal for us – it is our biggest convention of the year. We get clients and prospects from all over the world coming by to see what we have new.

Conventions are not fun. I have to go there this evening and have a few drinks we people I see only occasionally, and almost always in a business setting. I have to be nice, because nice sells. I am by nature pretty nice, but this is small talk for cash. It is work.

The drive over here was pretty nice. It is almost exactly 200 miles door step to door step. I did it is about 3 hours (legally. The speed limit is 70) There was not much traffic so it was clear sailing most of the way. This was the longest trip I had made in the new car since I got it. Now I am contemplating a cross country road trip.

I listened to some “books on tape” (actually short stories on DVD, but who’s counting) and enjoyed them quite a bit. It is sort of like getting bedtime stories read to you. The narrators even did voices.

Back to work!

aperçu

Your word of the day.

See it here.

I am going to start having aperçus daily.

Lawsuit against Google

Techdirt: Handwritten Lawsuit Accuses Google Having A Name Similar To Accuser's Social Security Number

Amazing. This person is suing Google because if you turn their Social Security number upside down, and scramble it, it spells Google.

He is asking for $5 Billion.

Tony's for Dinner

For our anniversary dinner, we decided to go someplace we have never been before. It is sort of hard, for while we don’t go out every week, we do not hesitate to go out when we feel like it. So we thought about all the old favorites, and then decided on Tony’s – one of the old line fancy places to eat in Houston.

Now, Tony’s is one of the places where the movers and shakers eat. That means that the tables are pretty far apart (so that you can have a private conversation) but the place is relatively well lit (so you can see who walks by. This is a place for your business, not your mistress). The décor is quite nice (be sure to check out the link above) and we even saw a mover and a shaker while there. David Dewhurst, the Texas Lt Governor, came in while we were there for supper.

I had called the place earlier in the day (Doreen made the reservations) to find out about a dress code. They said “No athletic shoes, no shorts, coats preferred, ties optional”. I went with my chinos and a blue blazer. Doreen, as always, looked much better than I did in her Pucci skirt, scoop necked blouse, and little pink sweater. (it was chilly)

In spite of my sartorial banality, we were greeted with much pomp by the valet. Doreen’s door was opened and she was “handed out”. My door was opened, as was my rear door. The valet grabbed my sport coat (too hot to drive with it on here in Texas) and helped me on with the coat. Nice. He then stepped in front of us both so that he could get the automatic door started and then pulled the interior door open. The Maître‘d was ready and waiting for us. As it was a week night, we were eating rather early (7:00 PM) and the place was not too crowded.

They led us to a nice table with a view of the room. Doreen also had a view into the kitchen, which was visible through a large glass window. It is always nice to watch a kitchen work. The waiter came by asking about a drink, and we each ordered a coup of the Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut Rosè from Epernay. We both love champagne, and pink champagne is always a delight.

But much to our chagrin, about five minutes later, the waiter came to tell us they had sold out of the Feuillatte last weekend. We had to “settle” for some Taittinger. It did its job nicely.

After a while the menus were brought by and we started looking at what was available. There were some special appetizers and entrées, and we thought about each of them.

We had preordered the Whole Salt Crusted Gulf Coast Snapper, which I had read about as being their signature dish. I had no real idea what it was, but it sounded good. But we still had to decide on appetizers.

Doreen chose one of the specials – which was Burrata Cheese with Prosciutto and Figs. I ordered the Beef Carpaccio. At the same time, the waiter wanted to know if we were going to have a soufflé for dessert. You need to order these well in advance as well. We decided “What the heck!” and Doreen ordered the Pralines Soufflé, and I ordered the Bananas Foster Soufflé.

We also had to order a wine for the meal. I am a big fan of white Burgundies, so we chose a 2004 Meursault, “Les Clous” from Domaine Bouchard. A nice, deep minerally chardonnay.

The wine came and was poured. Very nice. The appetizers followed. My Carpaccio was outstanding, but Doreen’s Burrata was unbelievable. The cheese, a mozzarella type cheese was rich and flavorful. Almost nutty. It peeled off in strips that you would then wrap with the prosciutto and stab a fresh fig. The play of salt, fat, sweet, and savory exploded in your mouth. An outstanding treat.

We cleaned our plates and chatted some more, watching the room like a couple of tourists. Oddly enough, Doreen is certainly a mover and a shaker in the park world of Houston, so she knows many of the politicos in town.

As we were talking, the waiter came by our table and set up a serving tray. On the tray he placed a mallet and a chisel. Ha! I though. Tough salt.

About five minutes later, Doreen almost gasped, and then broke out laughing. From the kitchen, a waiter held a platter that was about 3’ long. On that platter was a brown fish shaped mound about 18” high. It was in flames. He walked slowly around the entire room, while everyone “ooed” and “ahhed” at it. It was then placed next to us as the table directly behind us broke into applause.

The fun began as the Maître‘d came by to crack the salt with the chisel and hammer. It was quite a spectacle, and the whole place watched. Underneath was a beautifully cooked red snapper that was quite large. He skinned it and extracted the choice bits for our plates. (the plates were full of fish). He then spooned some Barolo red wine reduction on the fish. There were four asparagus spears on the plate, and for side ordered we had French Whipped Potatoes and Sautéed Roman Artichokes.

The Maître‘d then made a small plate of the fish for the table behind us. One of the fellows there said that they had wanted to order the fish, but were deterred by the hour it would take to prepare. So they got a taste anyway. (I fussed jovially at the table and the waiter for stealing our fish)

The Potatoes were good, but they were no Joel Robuchon. That is a hard standard to live up to.

Finally the Soufflés came. They were both great, the Bananas Foster a bit better. They had sparklers on top to honor our anniversary, along with a complimentary Berry Tree. They table behind us clapped.

We were stuffed full as we waited for the evening to wind down. The table behind us ordered a big Chocolate Soufflé to share, and had the waiter carve us off a bit. Chocolate is a great way to end a meal.

We waddled out the car and drove slowly home. It was a fun evening.

Six Years

Today is our sixth anniversary.

We got married one week after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington DC. That was not the original plan (I had hoped for a 2/2/02 wedding. You would never forget that date! 9/17/01 on the other hand is not notable numerically)

But one forgets the emotions involved during and immediately after the attacks. We decided that it would be better to be married rather than not married.

Additionally, since we have the option to be married, an option that many of our friends do not have, we felt it would be the right thing to do.

Being married is a good thing. I am a very lucky man

Oslo again

I am in Oslo just winding up a quick business trip. This wasn’t too bad, but I got almost no sleep last night. Oh, and the internet connection in my room doesn’t work. That is a pain in the butt.

I remember when you didn’t always have a phone with an RJ11c connector in your room. That made it very difficult to plug in your modem. Heck, I remember traveling to countries where they only had rotary dial phones! I had to carry a little “tone machine” that I bought at a Radio Shack so that I could check my voicemail.

Those were the days…

Moray Eel

A Moray Eel has two sets of jaws.

Below is a quicktime movie (also referenced above) showing them in action.

Creepy!

moray_sm.mov (video/quicktime Object)

Lights in the Sky from the Earthquake in Peru

Watch this. Notice at about 46 seconds into it, the sky lights up. This is from that big earthquake that hit near Pisco, Peru.

This is why you don't want to fly on Third World Flag Carriers

Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god | Oddly Enough | Reuters

Lasagna

We cooked some Lasagna last night.

See the photos here.

It was a Cook's Illustrated recipe. It had little meatballs instead of meat sauce. And it had six, SIX, layers of noodles. That's a lot of noodles. And a lot of working making all those tiny meatballs.

It was quite tasty.

Mark Trail Likes Squirrels

Squirrels

Cats in Sinks

Cats in Sinks - for all your cat and bathroom needs

Where is MY 2 and 20???

Workin' private equity. - By Michael Kinsley - Slate Magazine

Don't Let's go to the Dogs Tonight

I just finished reading Alexandra Fuller’s book about her childhood in Africa entitled Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight. She was born in 1969, so she really catches only the end of the Rhodesian/Zimbabwean conflict, and she was just a child. But she does an excellent job of evoking the desperation and harshness that the war and its aftermath created.

After Rhodesia lost the war, her family stayed in Zimbabwe for a short while and then moved to Mali, (Malawi), Tanzania, and Zambia. It is a sad trek across a sad continent.

Great Map Site

Maps For Us

Lucy

Last night Doreen and I visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see the exhibit which includes the actual fossilized bones of Lucy, the most famous Australopithecus afarensis that exists in the world today.

We arrived a bit early for the 6:00 PM open, and had a plan to get in before the huge crowds that we anticipated. We were both surprised at how few people seemed to be there. We got 6:15 entry times (as with many exhibits these days, you get a ticket for a specific time. This helps to reduce crowds) and settled back to wait.

While waiting, Doreen spotted the special events director for the museum. (Did I mention that the museum is inside Doreen’s park?) We talked about the exhibit and the controversy it has engendered. He said he feels that this exhibit will be twice as big as Body World 3, the plasticized bodies exhibit. It was interesting talking to him.

Here, here, here, here and here are links to article about the exhibit, and the controversy surrounding it.

The doors finally opened and we walked in. As we wanted to spend as much time with the fossil as possible, we skipped the food and went straight to the exhibit. We were the only people to do so. We wandered about the Ethiopian Treasures part of the exhibition for a while, completely alone. But we quickly wandered back to the fossil itself.

It was amazing to see this in real life. It is 3.2 million years old, and quite remarkable. We were alone with the bones themselves (I felt as if I could reach in and take one as a souvenir. I don’t think that Doreen would have approved) But something was wrong. We were just TOO alone.

We stayed in there about a half hour, and as we were starting to leave a couple of folks started wandering in. It just seemed that nobody was really that interested in the exhibit. There were plenty of people eating and drinking in the museum proper, but the exhibition was almost empty. Now, it may have gotten crowded later, but we didn’t stick around to find out.

I really don’t think that this is going to be a blockbuster show. I really wanted to see it (and have been bugging Doreen for months to make sure we got these tickets. She is very patient with me) but I don’t think that it has grabbed the popular appeal that something like Body World did. After all, only 40% of people in the US “believe in” evolution! (I wonder how many of those people “believe in” gravity). So the broad appeal of a fossil like this may not be forthcoming.

I hope I am wrong in this assessment. The museum has put a lot of money and pride into getting this thing going. I am very happy that they did, for my own sake. I just hope others in town will be as moved as I am.

Lunar Eclipse

This last Tuesday morning here in Houston we were in the path of a Total Lunar Eclipse. I love these sorts of astronomical events.

Our alarm went off as usual at 5:00 AM. We usually listen to the news until 5:30, when NPR tells there little funny story of the morning. But that morning, our local weatherman mentioned that the total eclipse was in progress (unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse stays total for quite a while. In this instance, it was total from 4:52 AM to 6:22 AM.).

SO I rousted Doreen out of bed and we were treated to a beautiful red moon as the clouds parted long enough for us to enjoy the sight.

High Tech Cities

How Did Your City Do? - Popular Science

Tell me things like this happen in Milwaukee...

Man Lassos, Ties Another Man To Bush - Local News Story - KPRC Houston

Scrap Iron is gone...

Astros Fire General Manager, Coach - Sports News Story - KPRC Houston

Airlines hate passengers

Loren Steffy: The Spirit in which it was meant

Ribs

Last weekend we had my lovely and talented niece Josienne and her financé Jared (the vegan) visit us. Jared is thinking of applying to the Jones School (the Rice MBA) school for an MBA. We hope he does.

They generously sent us some Rendezvous Ribs today as a thank you for the visit. What a great deal for us! We heated them up on our charcoal grill, warmed up some Rendezvous sauce and had a delightful (and fattening) meal. We accompanied it with some Argentine Malbec that was recommended by a friend of Doreen’s.

It is a wonderful world.

Real movie of a jumbo squid

Hey Matthew!

THIS is for you!

enjoy.

LA Times doesn't like Google.

Hard to believe:

Techdirt: LA Times: Publishers Think Google Is Worse Than Terrorists

So much for the free market.

Out of Town Visitors

My niece and her fiancé are visiting from Memphis. He is planning to apply to the Rice MBA program. We have been showing them around Houston.

Yesterday morning we had a behind the scenes tour of the zoo, and it was great fun. We were able to pet and feed the elephants (they have a new baby there – it was able to untie Josienne’s shoes! It LOVED untying her shoes), get licked in the face by an Okapi; get a close up view of a Tawny Frogmouth. They also let us into the Meerkat exhibit. That was a blast, they let us feed them mealworms. Josienne and Jared took some photos and videos. I will link to them once they get the online.

Yesterday afternoon we took a tour of the Jones School. That was quite interesting. I have been to many events at the school, but this is the first time I went on a tour. It made ME want to get an MBA.

The first evening they were here we ate at Dolce Vita, our favorite pizza place in town. Then last night we started out at Max’s Wine Dive for a nice glass of wine and some treats. It was our first time there, and the food was great, the wine was a bargain, but it was VERY loud. I am too old for such a place, but I think that J&J were OK with it.

Tonight we are going to my sister’s for a party. That will be fun.

A letter to the Houston Metro

I am contemplating sending the following letter to the Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority, the organization that runs our bus and light rail service here in town.

Am I being unreasonable? Should I let this fellow slide? Comments welcome.

------------------

I had the unfortunate experience of serving on a jury with one of your drivers. His last name was XXXyyy; I do not recall his first name.

The reason I am writing this letter it to convey to you the extremely negative image that Mr. XXXyyy portrayed to me a citizen of Harris County and an infrequent bus rider. I want to explain in detail three things he said that I found extremely offensive.

The first two relate to his job, the third his attitude towards race.

While in jury duty (Judge ZZZZ’s court – the ABC^nd District Court) there is a lot of time to talk. And talk Mr. XXXyyy did.

In the two work incidents he was bragging about how he would “get back at” riders who displeased him for one reason or another. In the first case, he talked about a man who got on the bus brusquely, jostling past two women who were trying to get off the bus. He said he asked this man to just let the ladies off the bus, and the man was somewhat rude to him in his reply. Later, as the man stood up to leave the bus at his stop, he started to light a cigar. Mr. XXXyyy informed him that smoking on the bus is not allowed (rightfully so!). The man snapped something about getting off, and then left the bus.

Mr. XXXyyy said that he then picked up a couple of passengers, and the man with the cigar was walking down the street in the same direction that the bus was heading. He noticed that there was a large puddle on the side of the road, and he made sure that he was driving at full speed as he hit the puddle, subsequently splashing the poor fellow who was walking down the sidewalk. As Mr. XXXyyy put it: “I extinguished his cigar for him!”

The second incident involved a man who got on his bus and was verbally abusive to Mr. XXXyyy. Now, please don’t take from this letter that I believe that people should either smoke cigars on the busses or abuse the drivers. My point is more the actions that Mr. XXXyyy took in reply to these circumstances.

Mr. XXXyyy and this man evidently verbally sparred with each other for some time, with the man in question using especially foul language (which, by the way, Mr. XXXyyy shared sotto vocco with the rest of the jurors). Mr. XXXyyy ultimately ejected this fellow from the bus, (again, rightfully so) and told him that he “Never forgets a face, and payback is hell”.

Two months later, according to Mr. XXXyyy, he was driving the last bus of the evening (I cannot recall which route) and observed this same man burdened with several packages waiting at a bus stop. Mr. XXXyyy said that he slowed his bus, and as he drove by, pointed to his face and shouted to the man “Remember this face? Payback is hell!” and then drove off, leaving the man at the bus stop.

Now, I understand that when some individuals feel that they have a platform from which to expound that they will exaggerate their actions. But my question to you is: Do you want a driver who brags in this way?

The final episode I found especially offensive. The case on which we were jurors involved a young black man accused of theft. As we were discussing the case, Mr. XXXyyy opined that “I work with a lot of black people, and I know how they think. They don’t think like we do (the jury was all white)” He was shouted down by two jurors, myself being one. He persisted in his comments about how “They aren’t like us. I know them” My question to you in this case is: How can a fellow drive a bus in the City of Houston all day long with an Us and Them attitude towards his fellow humans? I found this not only offensive, but almost criminal.

Thank you for letting me speak my mind.

Chiasmus

Good website about an interesting rhetorical technique:

Chiasmus

Jury Duty

I received a jury duty summons about a month ago. The date for my appearance was August 13^th – last Monday. I put it on my calendar, and did not really think about it. I have been called to jury duty three times before, and only empanelled once. I did not think that I would get through the voir dire process.

The day of the summons came, and my sweet ever loving volunteered to take me to the Jury Assembly Room, as there is little parking around that building. Also, it has been very hot here in Houston – highs breaking 100 for the past couple of days. This was a generous offer that I accepted happily.

The assembly process is pretty slow. But at about 10:30 (I arrived at 8:15) we were shuffled off to the courtroom. We were told to wait in the hall (with 130 other potential jurors outside the courtroom. There are exactly 24 chairs on that floor (the 15^th floor of the Harris County Criminal Court Building).

We got called in for voir dire at about 11:30. There were 65 people in the room, and they had to select 12 jurors and an alternate. Again, even though I was juror number 16, I did not think that I would be picked. The defense attorney even called me out to ask what it was my company did.

But yeah, howdy, when they called off the juror numbers, mine was amongst them. I shuffled into the jury box as the rest of the people were dismissed.

It was another couple of hours (they bought us pizza) before the trial started.

The trial was the alleged theft of 760 cartons of cigarettes (worth $21,568.05) from a Grocer’s Supply truck. Well, sort of. It was not really all that simple.

Here are the basic facts of the case:

A Semi-truck with the cigarettes and other grocery supplies was parked in a motel’s parking lot. Sometime during the night, someone (unknown. Not this defendant) broke into the truck and stole the cigarettes. Somehow these cigarettes got from this secured, monitored parking lot to a street behind a 12’ security fence in a residential neighborhood.

That evening, our defendant (Charlie Smith, Jr) was driving down that street behind the parking lot for the motel, and spotted the cigarettes. He and his buddy (to whom he had loaned the truck that day) got out a started collecting the boxes of cigarettes. A roller (police cruiser) happened by and spotted them loading the truck.

The policeman stopped, told them to get on the road (at gunpoint, according to the cop, no gun, according to Charlie) on their bellies. They complied, and some moments later two more rollers showed up. The suspects were cuffed, questioned, and ultimately released.

They were arrested a couple of days later for the crime.

That is really pretty much it.

We, the Jury, decided that the prosecuting attorney did not prove Mr. Smith’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. That process took about two hours. (the first vote was 7 to 5 to acquit) It took a lot of jawboning to get the numbers switched to 12-0.

Did I mention that Mr. Smith had been in the Big House several times before for theft? That did not really matter to the jury – it barely came up.

Did I mention that Charlie’s friend plead out? We didn’t know that until we rendered our verdict.

Justice was done, and I am proud of my part in it.

Houston Chronicle article about Google Street View

Some people are dopes. One woman wants the image of her house removed.

Huh?

Does her house have a right to privacy?

Houston's close-up on Google raises privacy concerns | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

This is our 'hood

The Houstonist is a pretty good local blog:

Houstonist: Urbanist: Lower Westheimer

After reading that story, go and read about the Duck Dumping in Hermann Park (Doreen's Park)

Public Images

Google Map has extended their Street View option to Houston. Here is the Street View of the corner of Montrose and Westheimer. I call it the Metaphorical Heart of Houston. Our street is not visible with Street View. The rumor is that they may roll their little cameracars around more of the city, but Houston is pretty big.

Microsoft, however, has a picture of our house on their Live View. Click on the “Bird’s Eye View” and then zoom in (you can’t zoom in TOO far)

Mine Disaster

I hate reading about coal mine disasters. Having worked underground, I can identify with the emotions of the people involved. When you work in a mine, you are trained and trained and trained for safety. But there is no way you can anticipate some of the problems that will occur. You can’t predict an earthquake. You can’t anticipate an unrecorded oil well location (which is what flooded that mine in West Virginia a couple of years ago). You never have a great idea of the integrity of the rock you are digging into. A friend of mine worked in a gold mine in Durango, CO where they “glory holed” (punch through) into a lake. Needless to say, the lake flooded the mine.

But reading about this mine made me wonder what are the most dangerous occupations. As with everything these days, it seems as if the Internet is your friend. A quick Google gave me this link, with this table:

The 10 most dangerous jobs by fatality rate are:

Rank	Occupation	Deaths/100k	Total Deaths
1	Logging workers	92.4	85
2	Aircraft pilots	92.4	109
3	Fishers and fishing workers	86.4	38
4	Structural iron and steel workers	47	31
5	Refuse and recyclable material collectors	43.2	35
6	Farmers and ranchers	37.5	307
7	Roofers	34.9	94
8	Electrical power line installers/repairers	30	36
9	Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	27.6	905
10	Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	24.2	67

Taxi drivers? Who knew. I guess it is because the US 42,636 people were killed in vehicle accidents in 2004 (http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/RNotes/2005/809897.pdf)

The other interesting conclusion that I drew from this chart is that there are not really many more pilots in this country than loggers (91,991 loggers vs 117,965 pilots)

And here is a little tidbit from the report I linked to above:

“Fatal injuries from being struck by objects jumped 12 percent...that is now the third most common fatal event, surpassing homicide on the job, which dropped 9 percent to 551. That continued a steep decline from a peak of 1,080 on-the-job murders in 1994.”

“on-the-job murders”???

I guess I am glad that I worked underground afterall.

Crazy people online,

I follow a small number of online forums and newsgroups. It is amazing the emotions that can be raised by, say, whether you steam your milk BEFORE or AFTER you pull your shot of espresso. Or maybe the type of waterplants you have in your backyard pond. I have seen numerous threats ("Come down to Atlanta and I will beat your face in") but never heard of anyone actually carrying them out.

Until now:

Techdirt: Taking 'Flamewar' A Bit Too Seriously: Man Drives 1,300 Miles To Burn Down Home Of Online Critic

I guess the moral of the story is: Don't upset crazy people who don't have anything better to do than drive across the US to burn down your house.

Book List

My brother Chas, who recently moved to Wyoming, years ago encouraged me to keep a book list. I have been doing so for about 12 years now.

Through the miracle of Google, I now have that document online. It can be viewed here. This should be (may be?) a live document.

I apologize for all misspelling and typos. This was an unedited document. I’ll fix it by and by.

See how walkable your neighborhood is!

Walk Score - How walkable is your house?

This is why!

A note from my niece:

Go Badgers!!!

Just the fact that I participated in Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge is an enormous reason for why I've been hired at great firms in the past.

Alors, the UW Madison Concrete Canoe team /*follows the rules*/. This may seem quite simple, however, it takes hours of dedication and some nights of sleeping in the lab to accomplish. A hefty packet of rules comes out each year which has various changes from the previous season.
The majority of these changes pertain to the concrete mix itself (the amounts of water, cement, ash, glass beads, etc). We paid a lot of attention to this and up to 40 different mixes were cast into cylinders, tested under ASTM standards, and documented in the technical report - another portion of the competition. A surprising amount of teams do not entirely obey these concrete mix regulations and, thus, get disqualified.

This is all good and proper, but UW takes it 100 steps further with the amount of time each teammate dedicates to the effort. Let's not forget the races. The paddlers on our team practice together as though they were training for the Tour de France. This is clear if you've ever been to a Concrete Canoe competition.

Another thing that always makes us stick out is that our concrete canoe literally feels as smooth as glass. When I was on the team (and I'm guessing they still do this), shifts were set up so that several students were in the lab sanding the canoe - all day long for many days.
This helps with the aesthetics portion of our score.

Beyond that, the technical presentation is practiced many, many times and the co-chairs always put canoe before everything else for that school year. Several sub-committees are set up to allow for more concentrated efforts on each division of the competition as well as _fund raising_! The companies which support the team are really what allow us to be so successful since, without them, we'd never be able to afford all the needed supplies for the mix and mold. UW takes it extremely seriously, but we have tons of fun (for lack of a much less cliche expression).

Joining the team was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I made in my college career, along with my beloved, but far less known, Steel Bridge Team (which demands just as much time and effort).

Well I tried to make this as brief as possible, but there is much to say about the Concrete Canoe team.

Please do not hesitate with more questions! I enjoy reminiscing.

So why does UW dominate in the concrete canoe game?

Badgers do a 'fivepeat' to rule 20th concrete canoe event

Five in a row cannot be a coincidence. One of my nieces used to compete in this event.

So, Domi, why is the UW the big dog in concrete canoes?

Puns

(1) King Ozymandias of Assyria was running low on cash after years of war with the Hittites. His last great possession was the Star of the Euphrates, the most valuable diamond in the ancient world. Desperate, he went to Croesus, the pawnbroker, to ask for a loan. Croesus said, "I'll give you 100,000 dinars for it." "But I paid a million dinars for it," the King protested. "Don't you know who I am? I am the king!" Croesus replied, "When you wish to pawn a Star, makes no difference who you are."

(2) Evidence has been found that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers. However, all the Swiss league records were unfortunately destroyed in a fire, and we'll never know for whom the Tells bowled.

(3) A man rushed into a busy doctor's office and shouted "Doctor! I think I'm shrinking!!" The doctor calmly responded, "Now, settle down. You'll just have to be a little patient."

(4) A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. One day, his supply of the birds ran out so he had to go out and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises.

(5) Back in the 1800s the Tates Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for watches, they used them to produce compasses. The new compasses were so bad that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California . This, of course, is the origin of the expression, "He who has a Tates is lost!"

(6) A thief broke into the local police station and stole all the toilets and urinals, leaving no clues. A spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We have absolutely nothing to go on."

(7) An Indian chief was feeling very sick, so he summoned the medicine man. After a brief examination, the medicine man took out a long, thin strip of elk rawhide and gave it to the chief, telling him to bite off, chew, and swallow one inch of the leather every day. After a month, the medicine man returned to see how the chief was feeling. The chief shrugged and said, "The thong is ended, but the malady lingers on."

(8) A famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and found his name missing from the town register. His wife insisted on complaining to the local civic official who apologized profusely saying, "I must have taken Leif off my census."

(9) There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant, and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys. This goes to prove that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.

(10) A skeptical anthropologist was cataloging South American folk remedies with the assistance of a tribal brujo who indicated that the leaves of a particular fern were a sure cure for any case of constipation. When the anthropologist expressed his doubts, the brujo looked him in the eye and said, "Let me tell you, with fronds like these, who needs enemas?"

What a difference a comma makes!

Blind, drunk man shot entering wrong home | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

"Corpse closet"?

BA sat corpse in first class - Times Online

DO you think that if you ask nicely they would let you sleep in the Corpse Closet?

Ratatouille

We went to see the movie Ratatouille this weekend. If you have not heard of it, you are probably not a “foodie” or a “wine geek” While it is an animated Pixar film (implying that it is aimed at kids) it is in reality a very sophisticated representation of the modern Celebrity Chef and Three Star (not five as in the movie, oddly enough( restaurant phenomenon.

From what I understand, the restaurant that is featured in the film is the Tour d’Argent, a place widely considered to be over the hill by many critics. This is based on the look, and location of the film restaurant.

Thomas Keller, the brains behind The French Laundry and Per Se was a consultant in the movie. It really shows – people (well, pixels) are really cooking in this movie. Guy Savoy and Ferran Adria also helped.

Here is a review from the San Francisco chronicle.

The movie is about a rat (yes, a rat) who wants to be a chef. He is a “super taster” in the rat world, and knows how to combine flavors to make new, and more spectacular food experiences. All he needs is a place to cook. And so on.

One interesting thing is that the rats in this movie look like RATS! Scary, nasty dirty rats. At least for part of the time. Beady little eyes, brown or black fur, scurrying about on all fours.

It was a fun two hours.

On a scale of 0 to 100...

I enjoy wine. And if you enjoy wine it is impossible to get away from wine ratings. The following blog puts ratings in perspective:

The Point of It All - The Pour - Dining & Wine - New York Times Blog

Empty Space

The link below is a hydrogen atom. In scale. Make sure you scroll to the right.

Hydrogen Atom Scale Model

That's a lot of nothing!

Hot goes on the left.

I always heard that there are only two things a plumber needs to know:

1. 1. Hot goes on the left

2. ((water) flows downhill.

But when you Google this phrase, you get a couple of very funny variations:

1. (water) flows downhill

2. Never, ever lick your fingers

1. (water) flows downhill

2. Don’t chew your fingernails

1. (water) flows downhill

2. Payday is Friday.

So I guess plumbers need to know four things.

This was prompted by the fact that the sink in our new kitchen at the office has the hot on the right.

Yesterday's Birthday

Yesterday was my 50^th birthday. I did not work, and Doreen took the afternoon off. After the requisite napping, we had two events that evening. One was the wedding of the son of a good friend, the other was my birthday dinner.

It was raining so hard that the wedding was delayed for an hour. We got there on time (thank goodness and the Harris County Toll Road Authority for EZTag lanes) but most of the people didn’t. It was inside, but the weather yesterday was cool. The wedding was nice, and it included a martial arts display. The son is an instructor. The food was good, though we just had a taste due to the dinner we were about to attend.

After that we went to eat at Mark’s American Cuisine. Doreen had one last gift there on the table waiting for me. It was Roy Blount Jr’s new book Long Time Leaving – Dispatches from The South. And it was inscribed to me! She wrote his agent and asked if he would autograph it. He said:

To Dan: Happy 50^th. Doreen must love you very much to give you such a great present.

We laughed and laughed about that.

Earlier she gave me the book Timothy by Vernon Klinkenborg

The meal was great. We started with a glass of pink champagne, and it was a seafood medley after that. Fried Puget Sound oysters with some raw oysters as well, covered with some greenery and lump crab meat. I ordered a nice Gruner Veltliner to go with the meal. It was very aromatic. This looked like the photo on this page.

For our main course we had fried soft shell crab. It looked just like the photo on this page. It also had lump crab meat on the side. Oh my, but it was delicious.

For dessert Doreen had a Blackberry and Butter Pecan cake, I had the blueberry tart. My tart looked like the photo on this page. We each had a glass of the 1999 Rieussec Sauternes.

The Ethical Mind

This is a pdf of an article in the Harvard Business Review:

harvard study.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Read and heed!

Rice Biz Plans

I have been a judge at the Rice Alliance Business Plan competition for three years now. I enjoy it more than any of the other organized events I attend.

36 schools from all over the world come to Houston and compete for over $300,000 in prizes. They present real business plans for real businesses. In some cases the businesses are already generating some revenue. In others, they are just getting started.

I participate in several of the events. The first is the feedback round. This is an informal round where teams present their plans to a group of judges and they get (unscored) feedback. This is the best. It is very interactive, and the teams generally take the feedback and make their presentations better.

The next is the Elevator Pitch competition. This is where each team has 60 seconds to pitch their idea and company. Intense! Some of these are quite amusing.

Then I judge the competition itself, followed by the while card round. (The wild card round is the #2 teams from each of the 6 flights). I don’t judge the final round. Too hard to make a decision!

The awards dinner is tonight. I know who my favorite is.

Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

St. Patrick's Day

Today is St Pat's day. I have not really celebrated this holiday for a while. But we do have an Irish Sports Bar down the street from us called Griff's.

All the street parking is full, and you can hear the music pounding in the yard. It is 2:12 in the afternoon.

Erin go Braugh!