Monthly Archives: June 2002

Trivia time

Posted on June 30, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Trivia time Who is the only NBA player taller than 7’2″ who has played on a championship team? Read this article on the life and times of the league’s biggest players to find out. Anyone who gets this right is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Where’s the outrage?

Posted on June 30, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

TAPped recently printed this excerpt from a dreadful Cal Thomas column: On the eve of our great national birthday party and in the aftermath of Sept. 11, when millions of us turned to God and prayed for forgiveness of individual … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Houston “fitness czar” controversy

Posted on June 29, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Houston “fitness czar” controversy Sigh. No matter how much people like me defend Our Fair City, it’s stories like this that give the Randall Pattersons and Katherine Mieszkowskis of the world their ammunition. Houston’s new “fitness czar” is using the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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HMO successfully sued

Posted on June 29, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

HMO successfully sued A jury has awarded $13 million to the widow and daughter of a man who died days after an HMO forced him out of a skilled nursing facility. The 83-year-old man was back in the hospital the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Just checking

Posted on June 29, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

To all those who have come by lately looking for pictures of the Women of Enron or Shari Daugherty, I have one question: You do know that Playboy has, like, a web page, right? Just checking. Continue reading →

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RIP, John Entwhistle

Posted on June 28, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

RIP, John Entwhistle The bassist for The Who is dead at 57. I saw The Who at the Astrodome in 1989, which was the first of their reunion tours. It was an awesome show, made even better by having Stevie … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Redneck neighbor

Posted on June 28, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Redneck neighbor Think you’ve got bad neighbors? Read this and be thankful. Via my cousin-in-law and faithful reader Emilie. Continue reading →

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Citizens vs. the Katy Freeway expansion

Posted on June 28, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The Katy Corridor Coalition has taken its first steps towards challenging the proposed widening of I-10 west of Loop 610. The notice, which you can read here, focuses on the lack of any high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, which allegedly violates … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

First Enron indictments

Posted on June 28, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

First Enron indictments Three former British bankers who stole over $7 million from Enron via secret investments in an Enron partner company have been indicted for wire fraud. Next up on the Justice Department’s shopping list: Fastow and Skilling: The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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That other freeway

Posted on June 27, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

A nice little article in the Chron about community participation in the debate over widening I-45 north of downtown. Neighborhood groups, including my own, were there to oppose plans to widen I-45 beyond its existing right-of-way, as this would require … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Maybe they’re looking to boost their hit count as well

Posted on June 27, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron uses its whimsical puns quotient in this front page story on the Women of Enron, then gets all metaphorical on the editorial pages: It’s blushingly appropriate for the times, some would say, that on the same day WorldCom … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Free speech controversy

Posted on June 27, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The University of Houston is apparently going to disregard a court order that allowed an anti-abortion group to display large photos of dead fetuses in the heavily trafficked Butler Plaza area. U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. ruled last week … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 1 Comment

Rockets end the suspense, pick Yao

Posted on June 27, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

And right now everyone’s happy about this pick, including his new teammates and the ever feckless Chron sports columnists. Not that anyone outside of Houston noticed, but the Rockets also appear to have gotten a steal with their other first … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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More on the gender gap numbers

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

More on the gender gap numbers Atrios notes that one of his commenters has pointed out that the real driver behind the college gender gap is the larger discrepancy among nonwhite students. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make very much difference. If … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The college gender gap

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The college gender gap Fritz Schranck finds Instant Man’s reaction to this article about the gender gap in American universities surprising. I confess that I’ve never been all that impressed with Reynolds, so I’m not that surprised. Is Reynolds unaware … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Deformed frogs update

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Alert reader (I’ve always wanted to say that) Frank writes in to say that he recalled seeing news articles about bacteria being a cause of the rash of deformed frogs. I did a little more Googling, and found that bacteria … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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First view of the Women of Enron

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

First view of the Women of Enron Via the Chron, which at least had the decency to not do any dime store moralizing as it was gleefully exploiting the story and snapping color photos. This Enron model highlights one of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

So says the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals, in ruling that the phrase “under God” violates the Establishment Clause. “A profession that we are a nation ‘under God’ is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | 2 Comments

Perry v. Sanchez, round 1 of many

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Perry v. Sanchez, round 1 of many Governor Goodhair and Tony Sanchez went at it during their first joint campaign appearance. I found this bit amusing: But the Republican governor rebuked Sanchez for claiming that he could use businesslike efficiency … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Yao will join the Rockets

Posted on June 26, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like the path has been cleared for the Rockets to draft Yao Ming. Here’s a statement from the Rockets web page: Rockets general counsel Michael Goldberg issued the following statement today: “I received a letter early this morning from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Women of Enron update

Posted on June 25, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Women of Enron update Apparently, the women who will be featured in Playboy‘s Women of Enron pictorial will be signing copies of their issue on Thursday evening, according to the Chron‘s Ken Hoffman, who is always an invaluable resource in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 1 Comment

Les Expositifs

Posted on June 25, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Jonah Keri lays out a reasonable plan to help the Expos win ther NL East. Stranger things have happened, and lesser things have been worth rooting for. Go Expos! Continue reading →

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Poor Anna

Posted on June 25, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Times are tough for Anna Kournikova, who was bounced from Wimbledon in the first round and drew criticism for her behavior in a postgame interview. Continue reading →

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A plague of frogs

Posted on June 25, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Mac recently had some fun with this article about giant bullfrogs which are terrorizing Germany. Mac notes that these are introduced species. As funny as a plague of frogs in Germany is, it’s unfortunately the case that bullfrogs are causing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Airport security

Posted on June 25, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Airport security I was fairly impressed with the security at SeaTac Airport. They frequently repeated the instruction to relieve yourself of anything electionic or metallic when passing through the metal detector, which was apparently set to a pretty sensitive setting, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Travel update, volume V

Posted on June 25, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

On Friday we headed north to Vancouver. To those who say that the Canadian border is a sieve, I can tell you that if you try to enter or exit Canada via I-5, you’ll need to show proof of citizenship … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Another perspective

Posted on June 24, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

One of the benefits to travel, in my opinion, is the opportunity to look at another city’s newspaper(s). I find it moderately annoying that Seattle, a city which is much smaller than Houston, has two daily papers while we’re stuck … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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I’m back

Posted on June 24, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like there’s been some spirited discussion in my absence. I’m back now, so I’ll try to get into some new and improved trouble. Look for a final trip report and some thoughts on airport security tomorrow. Continue reading →

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Debating Owen and Josh

Posted on June 21, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve read Owen and Josh’s defenses of the alliance between American Christians and the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC) on matters of abortion and gay rights. Owen points out that the OIC is made up of over 50 countries, mostly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Travel update, volume IV

Posted on June 20, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Travel update, volume IV Today Tiffany and I went off on an adventure to Orcas Island to meet up with Jenny, a college friend of hers. We had stayed at Jenny’s house on Bellevue on Sunday, but as Jenny and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Equal time

Posted on June 20, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Josh Trevino and Owen Courreges respond to the condemnations of the UN alliance between American Christian conservatives and Islamist states. Both make good points, and I recommend that you read what they have to say. Continue reading →

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Even conservatives agree with me

Posted on June 19, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Andrew Sullivan asks why the Bush administration should want to ally itself with Islamist states on issues like women’s rights and gay rights. The Bull Moose practically echoes my sentiments: Haven’t these folks heard the President’s “axis of evil” speech? … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Travel update, volume III

Posted on June 19, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Today after a hearty breakfast of hash browns and eggs, we packed up the minivan and headed off to the historic town of Langley, on the other end of Whidbey Island. Langley is another small older village on the coast … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Travel update, Volume II

Posted on June 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

We took the ferry to Port Townsend for a little shopping and sightseeing this morning. The road signs refer to it as the “Pt. Townsend Ferry”, so naturally when I first saw one of them as we were driving in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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