Category: Uncategorized

boot camp for pew

I just found out that my Pew Fellowship will also include a 2.5-day training course run by the Centurion Risk Assessment Group. It’s called “Hostile Environments and Emergency First Aid Training,” which is a shortened version of this five-day program.
Among the issues covered: ballistics awareness, how to react to a hostage taking, the pros and cons of wearing personal protective equipment, mines and booby traps, working with helicopters/light aircraft, and my personal favorite, “Controlling bleeds (gunshot/stab/mine blast injuries, etc.)”
Basically, British ex-Marines will yell at me for extended periods of time. Boot camp for budding foreign correspondents. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am.

monkeyphonecall update

Evidence No. 2,304 that crabwalk.com gets things done: Remember that post last month about monkeyphonecall.com and its Dallas connections?
Well, it just so happens that a crabwalk.com reader also works for D Magazine, our local city mag. Which is why in this month’s issue, you’ll find this crabwalk-inspired piece (second item).
Among the revelations: Mr. Monkeyphonecall has grossed around $10,000 with his e-biz. That’s more than amazon.com! And this great quote: “When I was a kid, my mom always used to tell me, ‘Lars, just do what you love, and one day you’ll figure out a way to make money doing it.’ I think she intended that I would love being a doctor or an attorney. But the truth is, I just love making monkey noises.”
Sadly, the article only uses Lars’ first name. I have no such restraints, Lars Hundley of 5200 Martel Avenue!
(Also, props to Adam for uncovering Lars’ connection to origamiboulder.com, which my research had not uncovered. Now complete with vaguely offensive Charlie Chan dialogue!)

strom’s black daughter

Now that ol’ Strom has finally kicked off, it’s a good time to mention the little-known fact that he has a black daughter. (Well, “fact” may be a bit strong, since there’s a nest of half-denials around it, but I sure as hell believe it.) More here, including all the pertinent evidence.
Not that I would wish harm on anyone, but I’m not in the habit of shedding tears for unreconstructed racists like Strom and Lester Maddox. Particularly those hypocritical enough to build a career attacking the “mongrelization of the nation” while spreading his bigot seed wherever he damn well pleases.
One last link disproving the oft-repeated myth that Strom suddenly became a racial moderate in his old age.

chanda wins again

Chanda wins again, 6-4, 6-4 over a pained Amy Frazier. Next is, as predicted, Silvia Farina Elia. I’m just not seeing any difficulty for C.R. until the quarters.
Here’s a good Chanda story saying that “[n]ever in her 12-year pro career has Rubin been in a better position to reach the final of a Grand Slam.” It’s positive enough that I’ll forgive the writer’s silly Louisianaisms (“the whisper-quiet young woman from Carencro, La., a Lafayette suburb where there are more bayous than streets” — puh-leeze).
Did I not mention that Chanda won at Eastbourne last week, beating Capriati before finishing off Conchita Martinez? Or that it’s her second straight year winning Eastbourne?