First Looks category archive

Surprise politeness is the politest kind.

There was a startling sound and a frightening situation inside a hotel in Sharonville Saturday night.

A man in a nearby room called 911 after a gun was fired.

“The room next to us, somebody’s shooting and it’s coming into our room. We need, uh, we need help here now,” the man said.

Sharonville police said Booker was drinking and fighting with his girlfriend at the Quality Inn and Suites on Sharon Road, when his 9mm gun “went off by accident.”

The wheel fell off the tractor.

In other words, there are hardware issues down on the farm. Blogging will be sporadic until they are remedied.

Update:

The most excellent tech support at my ISP determined that my cable modem died. I’ve had it for a number of years, and, as my old auto repairman used to say, it doesn’t owe me a dime.

I have my beefs with my ISP, but they are mostly policy-related. Their tech support is competent and capable.

In the meantime, I’ve been using my cell phone’s hotspot capability, and it has worked quite nicely; indeed, it has exceeded my fears expectations. It’s not as fast as cable, but it’s faster than DSL.

I won’t mention my carrier’s name, but I’ve used it since it was called Voicestream, and I have no intention of changing, because, with it, I get what I pay for.

Update De-Dum-Dum:

It turned that it was the router, not the cable modem, that was kaput. I got a new router, a Netgear, today, and configured it up and it’s working quite nicely. I still need to tweak it a bit, but I am favorably impressed with the interface.

I never liked the Belkin anyway. I’m glad it’s kaput.

The tech from my ISP who identified the culprit was adept and competent, as well as pleasant to deal with.

Via The Bob Cesca Show Blog.

Always be packing. Every noise you hear is a potential target.

The boy and his stepfather had been watching the Perseid meteor shower from a remote area in Nome near Highway 90 and Highway 326 when the shooting happened according to a release from the Jefferson County Sheriff”s Office.

While the two were walking back to their vehicle the stepfather told deputies that he heard something, which he though might be a animal, running up behind him according to the release.

The stepfather, who was carrying a pistol, pulled it and fired and immediately realized he had shot his stepson the release said.

Jesus. The stupid.

Stalked by unknown twits.

Shortly before Twitter was launched a decade or so ago, I heard an interview of its founders on NPR, probably on Terry Gross’s show. They predicted great things would come of their creation, great things of openness, communication, community-building, and the like.

Boy, were they wrong.

Via Job’s Anger.

Off to drink liberally.

Another picture from my brother in Virginia’s Northern Neck:

When fellowship is needed, join us . . . .

When: Thursday, August 9, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.

Midnight Cab.

This is an excellent and quirky mystery series from the CBC. It stumbles a bit towards the end, but regains its stride in the last episode. Click the “More Information” button for more, well, you know, information.

It’s all about the algorithm.

I guess ESPN just gave up on competing with the baseball all-star game.

While we’re at it, can’t we agree that cornhole is a most unfortunately yclept pursuit?

(Missplet wrod corectted.)

Shaun Mullen keeps track of the Russia investigation so I don’t have to.

The Wars of the Jews, by Flavius Josephus.

Surprisingly enough, this is a rip-snorter. If you want to learn about Roman siege tactics, this is the book for you.

A couple of warnings:

When Josephus refers to a rebel leader named “Josephus” in the text, he refers to himself. He was initially one of the Jewish rebels against Rome, then was captured by the Romans, and ultimately concluded that the rebels were, as my old boss would have said, “in error.”

Also, the translator wastes much energy in trying to align Josephus’s words with the Christian scriptures, but, fortunately, such is confined to the footnotes.

Also, if you can, kick a few bucks to Project Gutenberg. It is one of the best things on the inner webs.

Off to drink liberally.

When fellowship is needed, join us . . . .

When: Thursday, July 10, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.

Via Job’s Anger.

Patent pending.