Articles for September, 2009
Diebold Sells Allen-based Elections Unit
As this partisan blog notes, Diebold’s sale of Premier Election Solutions today comes after its voting machines were accused of having some problems.
Holocaust Museum Launches Series With SMU
Sometimes PR people ask to have items posted on the blog. And sometimes I feel like doing it. And sometimes I’ll even spend a minute to find information that was left out of the release:
In recognition of the 70th anniversary of World War II, The Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance is collaborating with universities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on a series of programs and seminars called “Holocaust Legacies: Shoah as Turning Point.” The programs will explore topics ranging from music composed by Holocaust prisoners to the theological implications of the Holocaust. Two photography exhibitions are also planned as part of the series. All events are free and open to the public. The kick-off event is September 9th. (more…)
Nouns Group’s Mosley Disses Plano Upbringing
Some blog called “Swan Fungus” has done an interview with Christopher Mosley of the formerly of the band Nouns Group, and formerly part of Early Lines. He’s from Plano, and seems less than enamored of his hometown:
Plano is not very conducive to being young, or playing music, or hanging out, and especially not to all three of those things together.
And after a discussion about Plano’s sordid history with heroin and steroids:
I think that suffocating conservatism, unspeakable tragedy, and an oppressed adolescence all amongst a serene backdrop is quite the character builder. I do not however, recommend that sort of formative experience to anyone, and I probably won’t live here for much longer.
UPDATE: Mosley wrote in to say that he’s no longer with Nouns Group either. He’s now with Marriage Material.
Martellus Bennett Says: You Best Watch Out, Minnesota
Well, one of the clues that Blue left was on the computer screen. The others were on the G (G) key and the question mark key (?/). Mmm, I wonder if he wants me to use my computer. Thinking … thinking … thinking … thinking … thinking … thinking … thinking. Ok, I got it. He wants me to use the computer and google things to do in Minnesota. Here’s the list:
1. The Mall of America. (I love shopping.)
2. Minnesota Zoo, which features 2,300 animals. Mmmm, that’s not even enough for all my twitter (@Jupiters_Crunch) followers to have a pet. SMH
3. Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, which happens to be the nations largest professional theatre. Soooooo what?! As long as my food is good, we good. GNR
4. Children’s Museum. Kids can touch, climb, splash, crawl, push, and press on pretty much anything in there. A couple of problems: I don’t have any kids, and if I did, I wouldn’t want em touching on all the stuff the other kids were touching. I don’t carry wipes or hand sanitizer, so that’s just the Swine Flu waiting to happen.
5. Underwater Adventures Aquarium, bursting with 1.2 million gallons of water and over 3,000 living sea creatures. Mmm, now this is pretty cool. Least we won’t be thirsty.
6. BEAT THE VIKINGS.
Ticket to the game: $76. Cab ride from the hotel to the stadium: $17. Hotdogs: $8. Umbrella for when it starts raining: $37. MartyBTV: mm, that’s free. To watch the Dallas Cowboys win: priceless.
There are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MartyCard.
MartyCard: Think Rich….
Holla At Cha Boy,
Leading Off (9/3/09)
1. Remember that e-mail Tim posted yesterday where the Plano parent was grousing about President Obama’s live speech to schoolkids? Turns out, Plano ISD has buckled like a belt and now decided not to show the talk. In fact, many local school districts are making it optional or not showing it. Way to show some backbone, guys. Jeez.
2. They should take a cue from the Weatherford man who was growing 10-foot pot plants on his property. That’s a guy who doesn’t bow to pressure.
3. You know who else doesn’t do things just because people might get mad? “Mark,” the guy who sold duplicate tickets to two soldiers just back from Iraq, as well as six other people, causing all eight to get kicked out of last Saturday’s Cowboys game.
E-Readers, Transition Plans in DMN Future
Jim Moroney III of The Dallas Morning News sees the print paper surviving at least until 2020, in part because it’s successfully raised the price of home delivery. In a talk to the Dallas Assembly today, the DMN publisher and CEO said classified and display ads have plummeted, moving to online venues, so the paper’s trying other things, like the subscription increase, to compensate for the lost dough. Next month, he said, it will make “free e-readers” available to subscribers. He expects the Obama Justice Department to ease antitrust restrictions soon on newspapers battling online sites that co-opt their work. And he doesn’t expect the DMN Web site alone to keep the operation robust. “We have a newsroom with 325 people–a $37 million annual investment–and we don’t make $30 million a year off digital ads,” Moroney said. “So … we’ll make the transition [to a sustainable model], but it won’t be just to dallasnews.com.”
Who’s the Guy in the Picture With Fun-Time Dirk?
You remember these classic pictures of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash after perhaps a few too many beers? Did we ever learn who the grinning guy in the ball cap was? If you know, hit me up directly.
Dirty Hippies to Denton Council: Don’t Pass Gas
The protesters’ signs have improved since I complained. But opposition to gas wells across from a park and a hospital in Denton doesn’t seem to have grown much.
I’m sympathetic to their cause — or at least, I like to see people get passionate enough about a cause to march on the Denton Civic Center. But it’s plain that their efforts would be more fruitful if the entire enterprise weren’t being spearheaded by college-age kids who seem to embody the worst stereotypes of flaky young liberals.
Watch the video and you’ll see: 1)A guy sporting the Jesus look 2) Dreadlocks 3)A guy sipping a latte while holding his sign and 4 ) They call themselves members of the International Socialist Organization.
Maybe I’m being too hard on them. Their hearts are in the right place. And, like one of them says “[The wells have] the potential of releasing cancer-causing agents into the air, so that’s, you know, like a very big hazard to people’s health.”
Stefan Merrill Block Digs Plano Coyotes
If you know the name “Stefan Merrill Block,” then you probably read his well-reviewed debut novel, The Story of Forgetting. If you don’t know the name, then no matter. You should read his essay from today’s New York Times about coyotes in Plano (among other things). Good stuff.
Help a Consortium of Local Blogs Get Picked To Go To the SXSW Interactive Festival
Three local blogs — In This Economy?, Five O’Clock Dallas, and I Live In Dallas — have teamed up to create a potential panel discussion at the Interactive portion of next year’s SXSW music/film/etc. shindig. (Topic: Citizen journalism.) Below is an entertaining video they put together to drum up support for the aforementioned potential panel. If you like it (there’s more information here), give them a thumbs-up at the link I just linked to and help send them on their way. And now, “Who is CJ?”
Carol Reed: Leppert ‘Looking At’ Senate Race
The DMN’s basically advised him to stay put. But now, Paul Burka and Unfair Park are reporting that, behind the scenes, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert may be exploring a race to succeed Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate anyway. Their reports mention a recent closed-door meeting attended by political consultant Carol Reed, so we put the question to her: Is Leppert getting set to run? “I’ll tell you what Tom says–he’s been approached about it, so he’s looking at it,” Reed said. Who approached him? “I’m not going to get into that,” Reed said. But, with heavyweights like David Dewhurst also contending, wouldn’t Leppert face tough sledding? “Special elections don’t come along very often,” Reed said. “So everybody’s looking at it.”
UT Austin Stops National Merit Scholarships, Ctd.
This UT-alum FrontBurnervian tells a story that is representative of four emails I’ve received:
OU has 196 National Merit Scholars this year. My daughter is one of them, and I was amazed at how much attention she got from OU and how little she got from UT, my alma mater.
OU sent a representative to her high school to sell the school to all the kids who made one of the National Merit levels. The OU people sent us many pieces of mail, made some phone calls, invited her up for a personal tour of the campus in which she met three potential professors one-on-one. UT invited her to a two-day colloquium, which we attended, and sent a few pieces of mail. The difference was eye-opening. OU said they’d love to have her. We got the sense from UT that it was the other way around.
The price difference amounted to about $6K per year, which in our case will be the difference between her graduating debt-free and not. I guess for future students the difference will be $9K, although I suppose UT will find a way to make offers to students it really wants.
Field of New Rangers Owners Narrows to Six
I don’t subscribe to Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, so I can’t read the entire article, but an alert FBvian points us to this report saying that six buyers are interested in the Rangers. I’m just spitballing, but Mark Cuban? David McDavid? Your speculation is welcome. Comments are on.
Jack Britton Makes a Funny Joke in the Wall Street Journal
Jack Britton is a 24-year-old Dallas accountant who shows up in this WSJ story about how ridiculously long store receipts have grown. His quip:
“You feel like you have a very special document in your pocket, when in reality you bought a Sprite at a Best Buy.”
Well played, Jack Britton.
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