By Wyatt Earp | November 18, 2008 4:30 pm
Note: I do not want to demean the loss of Sergeant Simpson, but I needed to post something a little light right now. Please accept my apologies, but I am trying to get past the sadness of the day.
The missus and I at my in-laws' anniversary party.
Snigs sent me an e-mail this week asking how the very pregnant missus was holding up during my recent laid-uppedness. (Yes, I am making up words and terms now. Ya wanna fight about it?) As you can plainly see from this photo - taken last month - she seems happy enough. Of course, she is smiling not because she is happy, but because she knows that right after this picture is taken, I will be on my deathbed for about 18 days.
But I digress. Snigs wanted an update, so figured I’d post the goings on in a Top Ten List. Enjoy!
The Top Ten Earp Family Updates
10. When I drink, the liquid no longer flows out of my incision.
9. Captain America’s constant construction is getting really annoying!
8. My sister Allison was promoted to bartender at her other job. Sweet!
7. Watching my team instead of playing hockey with them kinda sucks.
6. It would be nice if we had one Christmas where the wife wasn’t pregnant.
5. Yesterday, SYLG topped the 1,000 hit mark (1,230) for the first time ever! Thanks!
4. Kyle (7) went from an undefeated hockey season to a winless soccer season.
3. Erik’s (4) hair grows so fast that I’m referring to him as Fabio.
2. Baby Kevin is so big that he is on the undercard of UFC 94.
And the number one Earp family update is . . .
1. Baby Girl Earp is due January 3, but in true Earp fashion, she will probably arrive at 8pm on Christmas Eve - thus screwing Santa’s plans.
Topics: All About Wyatt | 1 Comment »
By Wyatt Earp | November 18, 2008 10:00 am
Jesus Christ, not again. I worked with Tim Simpson in my first patrol assignment. Good man. Ironically, he took over Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski’s squad after he was killed in the line of duty earlier this year. It is also the second LODD in the 24th District - where I worked for six years - in six months. His is the fifth Line of Duty Death we have had this year.
A Philadelphia police sergeant was killed in violent collision with a suspected intoxicated driver in Port Richmond late Monday night.
Sergeant Timothy Simpson, 46, was reportedly responding to a robbery call when he was involved in a crash with a black Camaro at the intersection of Allegheny and Aramingo Avenues at about 10:30 p.m.
Witnesses reported the Camaro was traveling at a high rate of speed and had run a red light at the time of the collision. The impact sent Sgt. Simspon’s cruiser into a nearby building while the Camaro struck a light pole. Rescue crews rushed Simpson to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 11:05 p.m.
Sergeant Simpson, a 20-year veteran with the 24th District, is survived by a wife and three children.
Police reportedly recovered drugs in the vehicle and the driver is believed to have been intoxicated at the time. The identities of the two have not been released, but Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said both have been taken into custody and have lengthy criminal histories.
The deadly crash remains under investigation. Sgt. Simpson is the fifth officer killed in the line of duty in the past year. (H/T - CBS3)
This year cannot end soon enough. Please pray for Tim and his family. I will post any information about a memorial fund when it is announced.
Topics: Simpson Murder | 10 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 18, 2008 7:00 am
Yeah, warming. Right.
Yeah, we all know it’s a bunch of garbage, but I can’t resist posting another article that rejects Al Gore’s bunk. Well, the bright side is that Gore’s right-hand man o’ stats has been doctoring his data.
Color me surprised.
A surreal scientific blunder last week raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming. On Monday, Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore’s chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.
This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China’s official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its “worst snowstorm ever”.
But, but, that can’t be right! Um, right?
So what explained the anomaly? GISS’s computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.
Wow. I would think that the smartest man on Earth - Al Gore - would have better methodology and reporting.
Yet last week’s latest episode is far from the first time Dr Hansen’s methodology has been called in question. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s. (H/T - UK Telegraph)
Lovely. Apparently “Doctor” Hansen has an agenda here, and it his agenda has nothing to do with accurate reporting of climate change. Looks like we can all go out and buy Hummers and gas-powered lawnmowers, kids! It’s not going to matter one damn bit!
Topics: Snarkasm | 10 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 18, 2008 12:00 am
My divisional headquarters just got a little brighter.
PHILADELPHIA ― Three of Philadelphia’s fallen heroes were honored during the unveiling of a massive mural in the Olney section of the city Monday.
Family, friends and fellow officers gathered at Broad and Champlost Streets for the unveiling of a mural depicting three officers in the 35th District who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Officer Walter Barclay, Officer Robert Hayes and Officer Chuck Cassidy were memorialized in the outdoor mural on the side of the 35th District headquarters.
“For people to still, after all these years in some cases, to remember those that have fallen in the line of duty is something very special,” Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.
Loved ones were offered a chance to help paint the huge mural. Former Police Officer John Marynowitz and his family picked up a brush to honor his partner, Officer Robert Hayes, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop on June 17, 1993. (H/T - CBS3)
The artists and the officers’ families have been working on this for a few weeks now, and I can tell you that it looks much better in person that it does in this photo. I can think of no better way to express our gratitude to our fellow officers who served my division with honor. Good job to all involved!
Topics: Cassidy Assassination, The Job | 3 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 17, 2008 8:00 pm
But, I guess it can always be worse. I could be a cop in Canada . . .
(H/T - Ace of Spades)
Topics: The Job, Video | 10 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 17, 2008 4:00 pm
Bawahahahaha!
For those of you not in the know, Cuban is the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. He is an arrogant, ignorant tool, in my opinion, and I take great pleasure in seeing these charges.
Of course, people have told me that I have a snarky streak. I don’t know.
NEW YORK — Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, was charged Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading.
According to the SEC, Cuban sold 600,000 shares of Internet search company Mamma.com in June 2004 using non-public information.
Cuban is accused of calling his broker and instructing him to sell all of his stock from Mamma.com after receiving the confidential information from the company.
The SEC said Cuban learned that the company would raise money through a public offering, and he knew the stock price was about to fall.
When the offering was made public, the stock fell 9.3%, and Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000 by selling stock the day before, the SEC report said. (H/T - CNN)
And there it is. Cuban avoided a tremendous loss, while the Average Joe probably lost his shirt. I say throw the book at this knucklehead.
Topics: People I Hate | 5 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 17, 2008 12:00 pm
Can we just stop with this? That fat jackass Ed Rendell still has two years to ruin this state further than he already has. Of course, the prospect of someone - anyone - other than that bloated New York carpetbagger gives me reason for optimism.
Bring it on.
Pennsylvanians won’t elect their next governor for two years, but signs are popping up all over that the 2010 campaign is already in progress.
In Miami, state Attorney General Tom Corbett and Patrick Meehan, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, were among gubernatorial prospects from across the country honored as “VIP guests” at the Republican Governors Association meeting this week, according to GOP consultant Mark Holman, who also attended. Both veteran prosecutors have been publicly coy about their political intentions.
In Harrisburg, state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf, a former York County businessman and generous Democratic campaign donor, said he was stepping down after nearly two years in Gov. Ed Rendell’s Cabinet to pursue “another option in public service.” Wolf refused to elaborate, but has previously expressed interest in running for governor.
In Philadelphia, businessman Tom Knox, who pumped $12 million of his own money into his 2007 mayoral campaign before he lost the city’s Democratic primary to now-Mayor Michael Nutter, has already put up a “Knox for Governor” Web site.
But those are only the most visible manifestations of what could be a crowded campaign. (H/T - FOX29)
Forget all of that. After the presidential election, I am convinced that “Change” is the way to go in the Keystone State. Therefore, I am pleased to introduce Pennsylvania’s next governor. She is smart, she is funny, and she can forecast the future of the state . . .
Oh yeah, she has my vote.
Topics: Politics | 6 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 17, 2008 7:00 am
Oh joy of joys! The Beatles are releasing a FOURTEEN-MINUTE “experimental” track! Is this what we have been reduced to - waiting with baited breath for some lousy bonus track from a band who hasn’t been relevant for 30 years? Please.
LONDON, England — A “lost” Beatles track recorded in 1967 and performed just once in public could finally be released, according to Paul McCartney.
“Carnival of Light” — a 14-minute experimental track recorded at the height of the Beatles’ musical experimentations with psychedelia and inspired by avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen — has long been considered too adventurous for mainstream audiences.
In an interview for BBC radio, McCartney said his bandmates and their producer George Martin had vetoed its inclusion on the exhaustive 1990s “Anthology” collection, according to UK’s The Observer newspaper.
McCartney confirmed he still owned the master tapes, adding that he suspected “the time has come for it to get its moment,” The Observer reported. “I like it because it’s the Beatles free, going off piste,” McCartney said. (H/T - CNN)
You want “piste?” Take a look at me when this track comes out! Remember the other “lost” track the Beatles put out thirteen years ago? It was terrible. Trust me, this new track won’t exactly be “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Friggin’ hippies.
Topics: Snarkasm | 9 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 17, 2008 12:00 am
Who on Earth would empty them?
You gotta love those Sherpas; they’re always thinking.
KATHMANDU – A young Nepali climber is seeking to popularise a toilet fashioned from a plastic bucket with a lid to promote eco-friendly climbing on Mount Everest.
Hundreds of climbers flock to the world’s tallest peak at 8,850 metres (29,035 feet) every year, with many simply squatting in the open or hunching behind rocks as the Everest base camp has no proper toilet facilities.
Dawa Steven Sherpa, who led an eco-Everest expedition in May to collect trash dumped by previous climbers, said his team used a plastic bucket as well as a gas-impervious bag designed to safely contain and neutralise human waste and keep in odour.
“I want to promote anything that manages human waste on the mountain.”
In addition, his team also brought down 65 kg of human waste produced by its 18 members, which it handed over to a local environment group at the base camp for management.
“To date, no other container designed for human waste exists in this size, weight or strength,” Sherpa said of the U.S.-designed bucket, which is 11 inches tall and weighs 2.4 pounds, and has an opening that is eight inches in diameter. (H/T - Reuters UK)
They brought down 65kg of human waste? Holy crap! Heh. Talk about your Dirty Jobs. Will someone please call Mike Rowe and get him out there?
Topics: WTF? | 5 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 16, 2008 7:30 pm
The championship is Johnson’s third in a row. Pretty damned awesome, if you ask me.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Until recently, there were three sure things in sports. But with Tiger Woods on the shelf and the competition catching up to Roger Federer, that leaves Jimmie Johnson as the surest athlete on the planet.
That’s right, Johnson, who on Sunday became just the second man ever to win back-to-back-to-back NASCAR titles, clinching it with a 15th-place finish in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
When you stop to think about it, it’s a remarkable accomplishment, really, considering all the variables a race car driver faces on a weekly basis.
There’s a reason only two drivers in NASCAR’s 60-year history – Cale Yarborough being the other – have won three straight titles. It’s hard. Really hard.
Not only do you have to minimize mistakes, but you have to be good enough the rest of the time to make up for them when they come. And they will come. That’s inevitable. (H/T - Yahoo!)
I really like Jimmie Johnson. Next to Jeff Gordon, he is probably my favorite driver. (Dale Earhnardt, Jr is a close third.) He’s the most dominant driver in the world, but he is also the most humble. It’s nice to see a genuinely good guy win not one, but three consecutive championships. Good for him.
And while I’m at it, I reckon it’s time to congratulate Robert, who whupped our sorry asses in our NASCAR Fantasy League this season. He could have benched his entire team this week and still won comfortably. Well done, chief!
Topics: Racing | 5 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 16, 2008 4:00 pm
Secret Squirrel, Secret Service, what’s the difference?
Media outlets across the land exposed Barack Obama’s Secret Service code name - and the names of his wife and children - is a stunning display of glasnost. Of course, these code names were supposed to be secret, but I guess the Secret Service is just a Service anymore. Oh well, the release made for good fodder for my article at Family Security Matters. Here’s a sample:
Since the early 1950s, during the Eisenhower administration, the United States Secret Service (USSS) has used code names for presidents, politicians, and other important individuals. These code names are assigned by the White House Communications Agency, and while they may be changed, the public does usually not know them.
Luckily, the brain surgeons at Yahoo have decided to release the code names for Barack Obama and his family before the president-elect even takes office.
Most Americans were unaware of this policy, but the Secret Service has code names for every politician and bigwig under its protection. Some are fitting, while others are truly perplexing. Since the mainstream media has no compunction about revealing super-secret government information anymore, these code names are available for the entire world to see. Imagine: thanks to the press, knuckleheads like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Il, and even Joy Behar are now privy to formerly classified information.
Strangely enough, the gabby gals on The View were discussing this very practice in between catfights this week, and Behar and company unleashed other formerly secret code names over the airwaves. Since there is no reason to close the barn door after the cows let the horses escape, here is a rundown of the previous unknown code names . . .
You can read the rest of the (hopefully) humorous HERE.
Topics: FSM | 5 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 16, 2008 12:00 pm
Pardon my French, but this is a dick move. You don’t fire a new coach - well, with a new team, anyway - 16 games into an 82-game season. The Tampa Bay Lightning management didn’t even give Barry Melrose a chance.
Again, a dick move on their part.
TAMPA, Fla. - A hard-nosed and aggressive player on the ice during an 18-year career, Rick Tocchet also was once suspended from the NHL because of his involvement in a sports betting ring.
Now, he’s the interim coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, replacing former television analyst Barry Melrose—fired Friday just 16 games into his second tour of duty as a head coach in the league . . .
Melrose’s dismissal came less than 24 hours after the Lightning allowed three third-period goals in a 4-3 loss to Detroit and three days after the coach stayed away from practice after admonishing players for poor play during a team meeting.
The motivational ploy didn’t work. The Lightning lost to Florida 4-0 on Wednesday and followed that with another mistake-filled loss to the Red Wings. (H/T - Yahoo!)
And a brand new GM decides to fire Melrose after a month. Weak.
Personally, I am indifferent to the Tampa Bay Lightning, although my son Kyle likes them almost as much as he likes the Boston Bruins. Now I hope the Lightning lose every game from now until the end of the season.
Topics: Ice Hockey | 8 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 16, 2008 7:00 am
I love these jilted boyfriend/girlfriend stories. They made me feel so well-adjusted by comparison. Read on:
TOKYO – A Japanese man depressed after his girlfriend dumped him was arrested for failing to pay for a 500-kilometre (300-mile) taxi ride back to his home town, police said Friday.
Jobless Kazuhisa Mashiko, 23, was arrested after he refused to cough up the 367,000-yen (3,800-dollar) fare for the eight-hour ride across Japan.
“I wanted to go back to my home town, because my heart was broken by my girlfriend,” he told officers in his home town in Ibaraki prefecture, according to a police official. (H/T - AFP)
Luckily for Mashiko, his parents are the heirs to the Mr. Sparkle fortune, and he easily paid the fare . . . and the ensuing fine.
Join me or die! Can you do any less?
Topics: Snarkasm | 3 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 16, 2008 12:00 am
I cannot agree with this more, because if anyone is a hot “piece,” it’s Theron. I mean look at her!
UNITED NATIONS – Oscar-winning South African-born actress Charlize Theron was named a United Nations messenger of peace on Friday, with a special focus on ending violence against women.
Messengers of peace, of which there will now be 10, are celebrities mainly from the fields of film, music, literature and sport who are charged with promoting U.N. activities and ideals through public appearances and media contacts. (H/T - Reuters)
Oh, she was named a Messenger of Peace? My bad. Shes still hot, though.
Topics: Babes | 2 Comments »
By Wyatt Earp | November 15, 2008 8:00 pm
Celebrating the Phillies’ World Series Victory: $0.
Climbing a municipal light pole: $0.
Getting struck with a liquor bottle and falling to the street: Priceless.
It is almost worth the other destruction, looting, and small riots when you see a drunken, jackass Phillies fan get what he most surely deserves. Enjoy!
Ouch, that’s gotta hurt! Go Phils!
Topics: Video | 7 Comments »
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