Articles for February, 2010
The Basketball Jones Does Dallas
My favorite NBA podcast/online show, The Basketball Jones, is in Dallas for All-Star Weekend. Below, their first video on location. Stay tuned here, and expect many more.
TBJ Does Dallas: Early Birds from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.
UNT Doctors May or May Not Know Something New About Osteopathic Treatments and Pregnancy
Putting aside that Reuters doesn’t know the difference between the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth and something it calls the “University of Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth,” their article about how osteopathic techniques “may” lessen back pain for pregnant women points out one of the difficulties when we in the news media try to report on the latest medical or scientific studies. Buried inside the piece:
Over the course of the study, women in the osteopathic group reported improved back pain and related symptoms, Licciardone noted in an email to Reuters Health. The sham ultrasound group reported no pain improvement and those in the standard care group reported increased pain. However, none of these differences were statistically significant.
Let me repeat: None of these differences were statistically significant.
Translation: We don’t really know anything new yet.
Science moves way more slowly than the news cycle.
Marc Stein and Gina Miller Try To Make Sportswriters Eat Better Food
Last week, I got a message from Marc Stein, the locally based senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. He and his friend Gina Miller, who does sports for TXA21, had heard where some of their fellow sportscasters and writers were planning to eat upon arriving in town for the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities. I won’t mention any specific places, but let’s just say they were horrified. Both foodies, Stein and Miller could not let that stand. They asked if they could write up a list of recommendations for us. We happily obliged. Check it out here. And maybe don’t do it on an empty stomach.
Bad News For Kay in Collin County
According to this poll by Republican political consultant Joe Counter, she’s tied with Medina in the Republican-rich northern suburbs. Once again, I don’t know the methodology, margin of error, etc., but since all the polls suggest ta strong Perry lead, the question on the table is whether the governor will win without a runoff.
It is often noted that Hutchison has $10 million in her war chest for the presumed runoff. The question her team must be considering this morning is whether she’ll need to spend it just to get into the runoff.
Texas Tribune… Bikini-Babe Voyeur Video, Ctd.
An enterprising FrontBurnervian points out that the aforementioned video attributed to Wayne Richard, GOP candidate for state representative, is back up on You Tube. At least for now.
Ladies-Who-Lunch, Getting Going!
SweetCharity reports on the status of the mega-fashion extravaganza St. V-Day Luncheon & Fashion Show benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of North Texas.
Leading Off (2/11/10)
1. Remember six years ago when Facebook was brand new and a couple Harvard students weren’t sure what they were doing with this start-up networking site? Well. It’s changed a lot since then (actually, it changes just about every other month with homepage layouts and news feeds and whatnot). One woman learned that the Internet is a dangerous place when her account was hijacked. Her friend, Mike Rhyner, co-host on the Hardline, responded to a desperate Facebook message by wiring her more than $1,000.
“This woman is on my no questions asked list. If she needs something from me, I’m there; period, case closed,” [Rhyner says].
One question: how can I get on that list?
2. Ralph Janvey has the worst job ever. He is trying to get back $1.8 million in donations from R. Allen Stanford, who was indicted in June for a scheme with high-interest certificates of deposit. Only $88,000 has been returned so far. Some people promised to give the money to charity, but not even that has happened. So, Janvey’s mailing out a new round of letters asking for the money to be returned. Yeah, letters, that’ll do it.
3. Booting companies are now required to give customers a receipt, thanks to a vote by Dallas City Council yesterday. I don’t really understand why this is a new thing. I feel like it should have been in place before, but it’ll go into effect in time for the festivities this weekend. I wonder if the sticker-removing fairy had something to do with this.
Yet Another Poll Says Perry Has 49%
This one puts Perry near the magical 50.1, with Hutchison at 29, and Medina at 19%. A curious fact: both polls show Hutchison with about the same level of support; the variance is between Perry’s and Medina’s numbers. It could just be methodology, or the margin of error (which I can’t find in this new one, but here are the cross-tabs for anyone who wants to do my work for me). For the sake of argument, let’s assume both polls use roughly the same methodology, with a margin of error of 4.8%. That would say to me that a substantial number of voters are swinging between Perry and Medina. The idea that Medina is taking votes from Hutchison appears to be fanciful.
UNT President Gretchen Bataille To Step Down
Does University of North Texas President Gretchen Bataille’s (pictured) announced resignation mean she’ll be spending more time with her grandkids?
Dallas Public Library’s Lillian Bradshaw Has Died
SweetCharity reports funeral plans.
Medina Now at 24% in GOP Race?, Ctd.
Good comments on my original post below. A non-resident FrontBurnervian political analyst adds his:
A Short Interview with Charles Barkley About the All-Star Game
When I interviewed Charles Barkley for my oral history of Dirk Nowitzki, one of the conditions of the interview was that I speak to Chuck about the All-Star Game, since TNT broadcasts it and they’re the ones who set up the chat. So I did. After the jump, you’ll find a handful of Qs and As that — I’ll be honest — I sort of raced through to get to the Dirk stuff. One genuinely funny response from Barkley about a former NBA ref had to be excised, because I promised a panicked TNT publicist in the heat of the moment. Stupid ethics.
An Artist’s Assessment of the Dallas Art Fair
We have been chatting about the Dallas Art Fair in this space over the past week or so. But what is an art fair? What does it mean for Dallas? And was the Dallas Art Fair any good?
These are the questions British artist and Dallas resident Richard Patterson takes up in a lengthy essay on FrontRow today. Assuming the tone of Miss Jean Brodie, the school teacher and title character of Muriel Spark’s novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Patterson takes a hard look at the fair and the role it could play in forming Dallas’ reputation as a cultural center. Some highlights:
Since arriving here I have heard the phrase, “we must take baby steps” in relation to Dallas’ art and culture, to which I say: “Time to step into daddy’s shoes, ready or not.” The world is too competitive not to, and third chances are rare.
Casual and benevolent Dallas art world rubber-neckers thought the fair marvelous, jolly and very successful. People who had little interest in contemporary art no doubt found it utterly mystifying. The participants who will ultimately underwrite its success are more critical.
If they can’t guaranty a far higher number of respected bigger galleries to participate, the Dallas art fair will be an entirely meaningless hoedown by year four and gone by year five.
So go on now – get reading!
How to Stalk Jet-setters Coming to NBA All-Star Game
I mentioned yesterday that it looked from our downtown vantage point yesterday that private jet traffic into Love Field was picking up, and I guessed it was because of the All-Star Game. Someone pointed out in the comments that the private jets normally take a different landing route and that they’d been rerouted yesterday for some reason, which would explain why to me it looked like traffic had picked up (when, in fact it hadn’t). In either case, a snoopy FBvian points us to this site, where you can watch the traffic into Love. It only gives tail numbers, so you’ll have to do some more work to find out who is actually onboard. For that, it would help to know someone who works at the Love Field FBO.
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