Articles for June 4th, 2009

Kevin Sherrington Gets Totally Pwned

Gary Cartwright on DMN sports columnist Kevin Sherrington: “Sherrington’s offerings are, as they used to say, an inch deep and a mile wide, but his short, punchy style can be pretty funny. … At his best, Sherrington might qualify as Sherrod Lite.” Oh, no, he didn’t it!

posted by Tim Rogers | June 4th, 2009 4:17pm | filed under Sports |

Mag Cites ‘Hardball Tactics’ At Dallas Hedge Funds

Forbes has an interesting update on problems at Dallas’ Highland Capital Management hedge funds.

posted by Glenn Hunter | June 4th, 2009 4:16pm | filed under Business |

Fed CEO On What This Country–Texas–Really Needs

Might Gov. Rick Perry–who’s given aid and comfort to Texas secessionists lately–have a kindred spirit in Richard W. Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas? OK, so that’s stretching a little. But it sounded for a second like it when the Fed honcho and two other CEOs conversed on stage today with KERA-TV’s Lee Cullum at a luncheon marking the 100th anniversary of the Dallas Regional Chamber. Reminded by Cullum that he’d once called Texas the “most dynamic state,” Fisher said: “We’re pro-business, and competition is key. We have a low-tax environment. The one thing we’re lacking in the state is that we need oodles of Tier 1 universities. If we can win that race, we’ll win, period.” Then he corrected Cullum: “I didn’t say Texas was the greatest state. I said Texas was the greatest country!” Also appearing on the panel at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel were Thomas J. Falk of Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Terdema L. Ussery II of HDNet and the Dallas Mavericks.

posted by Glenn Hunter | June 4th, 2009 3:51pm | filed under Business, Local News |

Best Water Fountain In Dallas

runner-lauraI’ve been trying to convince Tim to include my very favorite local water fountain in the “Best of Big D” issue for about 22 years. Today, he rather cruelly broke the news that it’s never going to happen. Forget you, Tim; I’m taking my news straight to the people. Here’s the deal: I’ve gone for runs all over this town–from Oak Cliff to North Dallas–and I’ve sipped from a lot of fountains. In my opinion, no place has finer, colder water—year round, mind you—than the Highland Park Police Department. I don’t know how they do it, but I urge you, do something physical, pop into the dispatch office, and drink up. You’ll thank me. (Lucky for everyone, I just happened to bump into Elizabeth–and by bump into, I mean called her to meet me there–and she was able to snap this photo of me. The water makes everyone a star, apparently.)

posted by Laura Kostelny | June 4th, 2009 3:07pm | filed under Drinking, Local News |

Meet Blake Wright, a Funny Person With a Pen

At about the sixth illustration, you’ll realize this is not safe for work. But local illustrator Blake Wright makes me giggle.

posted by Tim Rogers | June 4th, 2009 2:22pm | filed under Arts |

Former Mav Austin Croshere Finds a Dallas Court Where He Might Have a Chance of Winning

Actually, I have no idea if Croshere and his wife Emily have a shot of winning their lawsuit (filed yesterday) against his former landlord. I do know it’s over the Crosheres security deposit (which allegedly wasn’t returned after he was traded to Golden State and the couple’s lease expired), and that Croshere probably needs the money, since he’s now at the point of his career where he’s signing 10-day contracts and basically serving as a warm body for practices. I also know that it was inevitable that Croshere would have spent some time with the Mavs at some point during his career, because the organization loves tall white stiffs like I love basic cable movies starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, or — where possible — both.

posted by Zac Crain | June 4th, 2009 1:56pm | filed under Law, Sports |

Attention Freelance Writers: Trey Garrison Will Be a No-Show

But you’ll still probably find this freelancing seminar useful. It’s this Saturday at UTA. The joint is being produced by the Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Trey was supposed to be on the panel, but I understand he has come down with a bad case of scabies. You’ve been warned and informed.

posted by Tim Rogers | June 4th, 2009 10:06am | filed under Media |

White Rock Local Market Launches Next Saturday

Those of us who live by the lake are pumped for the new White Rock Local Market. It’ll be held on the second Saturday of each month, and the first one is June 13. Meat, dairy, produce, even clothes — all of it made locally.

posted by Tim Rogers | June 4th, 2009 9:52am | filed under Events, Food |

Oncor Makes My Head Hurt With Technical Stuff About Electricity

Someone deep inside Oncor this morning sent me a link to the company’s Flickr site, whereon is pictured something called a static VAr compensator (or SVC) recently put into service. Oncor will have the largest concentration of these SVCs once a second array is installed in Plano later this year. So what the heck are they, exactly? Well, it’s a bank of individually switched capacitors in conjunction with a thyristor-controlled air- or iron-core reactor. By means of phase angle modulation switched by the thyristors, the reactor may be variably switched into the circuit, thus providing a continuously variable MVAr injection (or absorption) to the electrical network. Or so says Wikipedia.

My translation: in the summer, we use a lot of electricity. Except when we don’t. That fluctuation causes a big stress to Oncor’s delivery systems. These new widgets keep that stress to a minimum — and keep our air conditioners blowing.

Now can we get back to talking about The Bachelorette?

posted by Tim Rogers | June 4th, 2009 9:10am | filed under Science&Technology |

Leading Off (6/4/09)

1. If you were wondering if anti-war camping enthusiast Cindy Sheehan would follow former President Bush to Dallas, stop wondering.

2. I’ve read enough John Douglas to know that serial killers generally get their start by mutilating animals. So everyone in the Cross Roads area: keep your head on a swivel.

3. You can read this story about the best way to get to the new Cowboys Stadium, or you can listen to me when I say no matter what you do, what map you follow, what god you pray to at night in your footie pajamas, you are screwed.

posted by Zac Crain | June 4th, 2009 7:18am | filed under Local News |