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RE: JOSH BENTON

Of course. I was just really impressed with Benton’s introductory graph. (Yes–yes that’s the ticket.)

RE: WHY DOESN’T JOSH BENTON WRITE LIKE THIS IN THE PAPER?

Um, Paul? Benton didn’t write that. He was posting Dave Levinthal’s words. IJS.

RE: DOLLARS, TAXES

A numbers-oriented FrontBurnervian reads a little closer:

The important part was that Dallas has the highest per capita Total Gross Taxable Resources. We are so productive. That’s why our rate can be low.

Yay, us.

WHY DOESN’T JOSH BENTON WRITE LIKE THIS IN THE PAPER?

Is it because he saves the grander “Joshua Benton” for his columns? In any case, this is funny stuff. Informative, too. (Thanks to the fellow-blogging FBvian for the link.)

WIRED ROCKS

Many magazine readers eagerly await Conde Nast’s Portfolio, which promises to be a new kind of business magazine and promises to be good (mostly because of big-name hires like Dallas’ own Kurt Eichenwald). But media critic Jon Friedman says Conde Nast already publishes the best business magazine in the market. He says Wired beats Fortune, Forbes, and that whole lot. (One assumes he hasn’t been getting DallasCEO.) I happen to agree with him. I’ve like Wired for years–a magazine designed for magazine-savvy people–but only recently appreciated its business appeal.

MY UNCLE LIVES IN DOLLARS, TAXES

(He doesn’t. One lives in Huntington Beach, the other in Panama City; but it’s always fun to quote Chico.) A new report by the Independent Budget Office says New York City residents have the highest tax burden of the nine cities it surveyed. The lowest? Yep. Yer livin’ in it. About $5.20 of every $100 of taxable resources goes to local government taxes in Dallas, compared to $9.02 in NYC. The full report is here, but an AP version of it can be found here.

RE: HOLD ON, LAURA MILLER

Well shucks, Paul. I may be farm-raised and turnip-reared, but I reckon neither the New York Times nor the Dallas Observer are scientific studies. [on official review, touchdown stands.]

RE: HOLD ON, LAURA MILLER

What can I say, Trey? I link to scientific studies. You link to editorials and–no kidding–something called “Junk Science.” [Personal foul against the offense. Replay second down.]

I DARE DAVID BONDERMAN TO EMAIL ME

C’mon, David. Tell me what you think of this post. I bet he won’t. Not only because he’s No. 4 on Fortune’s Private Equity Power List. More so because of the Fun Fact that accompanies the brief bio of the Fort Worth-based co-founder of Texas Pacific Group:

Bonderman does not do e-mail. Instead, his secretaries fax him the messages, and he dictates his responses.

Chicken bok-bok.

RE: HOLD ON, LAURA MILLER

What can I say, Paul? It’s a pretty sweet victory when even the New York Times acknowledges that, gasp, skepticism still has a place in the scientific method. [endzone dance]

ABOUT THE NEW SITE

Someone likes it. They really, really like it.

Because I know change is hard, and you’ve probably received umpteen million hate-emails from people who are complaining (I remember those from back in the GuideLive days — went through a couple of changes that resulted in death threats), I thought I’d send you a list of the things I LOVE about the new site/blog:

- MUCH easier to navigate, very logical and intuitive
- Simple, basic colors that do not interfere with the content (someday Belo will figure this one out)
- Clear links to archives by month
- Ability to subscribe to individual authors via RSS (ooooooo, filters!)
- Addition of categories (what did we ever do without them?)
- Ability to subscribe to categories (seriously, you guys rock)

Congrats!!! I’m impressed….

RE: COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

A Fort Worth media-type FrontBurnervian writes:

Per a story broke by the Star-Telegram last December (sorry, shameless plug), the National Football Foundation has moved its offices from New Jersey to Las Colinas. The NFF oversees the College Football Hall of Fame, which is still located in South Bend, Ind. The NFF just signed a new five-year lease with South Bend, but attendance at the CFB Hall has been disappointing. There is speculation that since the NFF national offices have moved to this area that the CFB Hall would eventually wind up in this area, perhaps in proximity to the new Cowboys’ stadium. The executive director of the NFF is Steve Hatchell, former commissioner of the Southwest and Big 12 conferences.

So there.

SIX NEW RESTAURANTS TO OPEN AT BABY DOE’S OLD SPOT

Ah, Baby Doe’s Matchless Mine. I recall it fondly. I took My Fair Lady there for a Valentine’s Day dinner back in, oh, 1995. Even though we had a reservation, we waited an hour and a half for a table–and then finally just left. Anyhoo, enough about me (for now). Nancy, whose monkey paw is apparently incompatible with the new blogging interface, tells me she has learned that the Trammell Crow Company has purchased the Goat Hill spot where BD’s used to sit and has plans to build six–six!–new high-end restaurants there. Bring it.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

Yesterday brought news that the Cheerleader Hall of Fame was looking for a home and might pick Dallas, especially if the College Football Hall of Fame moved here. Last I’d heard, it was only considering it. But a real estate-knowing FrontBurnervian shared this tidbit:

The College Football Hall of Fame has moved to Dallas, or rather to Irving, at Waterway Tower in the Las Colinas Urban Center.

News to me.

RE: MORT MEYERSON LIKES SKIING

As noted yesterday, Dallas-based SP Land bought a couple of Vermont ski resorts. After some nearly competent research, I deduced that Mort Meyerson was the skier behind the deal. He kindly corrected me:

Adam, you are fast and almost totally on target BUT I like skiing, but snow shoeing better. SP Land is a predecessor of E2M not part of E2m and closely related. I should hope to get a free ski pass from the outfit, but Paul Rowsey is very tight with the budget. Paul is the CEO of E2M and the rightful author of the deal.

Happy skiing. Or shoeing, whatever the case may be.

HOLD ON, LAURA MILLER

If Madame Mayor wants to stop TXU from building 11 new coal plants, she, or anyone else in Austin this morning, shouldn’t read this story. A new study by MIT faculty members says it’s unclear which technology, the gasification kind Miller wants to see, or the pulverized kind TXU has proposed, will better capture carbon emissions at coal plants.

Aside from the Wha? it induces, I read the aforementioned story and I wonder how Trey will respond. The nut-case, global-warming-is-bunk Trey will surely bug out and say, See? See? Conversely, that same Trey must be confused by the news, since it comes from the bastion of all things eco-friendly and left-leaning, the New York Times.

Trey, your thoughts.

THAT NEW JFK VIDEO, EXPLAINED

Fingers of Fury has been all over the release of the new JFK video. He and everyone else have said it’s kinda boring–just shows the president passing by in his motorcade about 90 seconds before the shooting. But turns out, at least for this JFK author, the video proves the single bullet theory.

[T]o assassination researchers, the footage definitively resolves one of the case’s enduring controversies: that the bullet wound on Kennedy’s back, as documented and photographed during the autopsy, did not match up with the location of the bullet hole on the back of his suit jacket and shirt. The discrepancy has given conspiracy theorists fodder to argue that the autopsy photos had been retouched and the report fabricated.

Kennedy’s suit is clearly bunched in the video. This means, ballistically speaking (and how often do we get to speak ballistically?), that the wound in Kennedy’s back aligned with the bullet’s entry point in Kennedy’s suit. Hence, single bullet.

Then again, the guy writing the Op-Ed is the author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of J.F.K.

RE: TAMMY (DOMBECK)

Here you go, Rod. This sexy picture of Tammy Dombeck should help. Did you hear that, Google? This post contains the words “sexy” and “Tammy Dombeck.” Not to mention Alexa Conomos. Oops, just did mention Alexa Conomos. (And here’s the original post whence it came.)

TAMMY CAN YOU HEAR ME?

No, I’m not confusing you with Roger Daltrey. I just pray that given the Blogkiller, I mean redesign, the only thing I can think of to bring back our short-attention-span (or long-suffering) FB Nation is the one proven hit-maker–you. So if you have any jpegs of yourself, in or out of the studio, please forward to Uncle Ernie (Tim) asap. Even this post will draw hits. Hey, I don’t make up the rules.
(As backup, we will also accept any photos of council hotties Angela Hunt or Elba Garcia).

(As desperation, anything depicting Laura Miller or Mike Snyder, but not together).

FRONTBURNER CONTINUES TO LOOK LIKE MYSPACE PAGE SET UP BY 12-YEAR-OLD

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know where the boxes came from. Maybe our Bangladeshi programmers got bored while we were sleeping. Thank you for your continued patience.

Update: The boxes have left us. Hallelujah. One more note: to those who’ve asked about the speed with which the page loads, we’re also in the process of upgrading our server(s). So that should remedy itself soon, too.