LBY3
The continuing adventures of Beau Yarbrough

How Capricorn am I?

Monday, August 28, 2006, 17:13
Section: Geek,Miscellany
You are 60% Capricorn
  • In completely unrelated news, I now have, in my hot little hands, my hard copies (one hardcover, two paperback) of the Koboldnomicon, my first (modestly) paying professional game-writing gig. (I wrote up Wikanby the kobold wizard and six spells.) It looks a lot better as a hard copy than as a PDF. My journey to the dork side is now complete.


Rock Star: Supernova, the wheat and the chaff

Monday, August 28, 2006, 10:16
Section: Arts & Entertainment

I was looking at the Rock Star Wikipedia page and realized the separation of the wheat from the chaff is pretty obvious: Up until now, no one who has ever gotten an encore has ever been eliminated. Starting this coming week, that’s no longer possible.

It’ll be interesting to see if getting more than one encore/special performance marks the same sort of line between contestants. Storm and Lukas are the only two of the six remaining who have only had one encore/special performance.

(And yes, once the show ends, I’ll find something else to talk about incessantly.)



Impersonating a journalist is a crime

Friday, August 25, 2006, 21:00
Section: Journalism

It’s true.

Ryan Leli loves the Mets.

The Suffolk County teenager loved the Mets so much that authorities say he posed as a reporter to get into Shea Stadium and talk with players.

Police arrested the 18-year-old Leli Friday night at Shea just before the start of the New York Mets-Colorado Rockies game and charged him with impersonating a journalist, the Queens District Attorney announced Saturday.

Prosecutors say Leli told New York Mets management that he worked for NBC Universal and showed a fake NBC employee identification card so he could get press credentials.

Leli first used the press pass to attend an Aug. 10 game between the Mets and the San Diego Padres. Authorities said Leli used the pass to approach and chat with players including Mike Piazza before and after that game.

Leli used the fake NBC identification again Friday to get another press pass for the Mets-Rockies game.

Mets management apparently became suspicious and contacted authorities.

Leli was also charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal impersonation and criminal trespass.

Leli could get up to seven years in prison if convicted on all charges.

I know, I know, the jokes write themselves.

(Source. And a big, big congratulations to Todd and Lauren on the birth of their second daughter, Natalie Jane, on August 22nd!)



Casino article in the LA Times

Friday, August 25, 2006, 20:05
Section: Journalism

The proposed Barstow casino is one of the casino projects touched upon in a new article from the LA Times this week:

Rich tribes also oppose two other deals the governor struck with poor tribes, which would allow off-reservation casinos. Those pacts involve the Los Coyotes band and the Big Lagoon Rancheria.

No tribe has less than Francine Kupsch’s Los Coyotes. About 70 of the 380 members live on the 25,000-acre reservation in homes built with federal aid. Many collect welfare. They receive federal commodity cheese and charity turkeys at Thanksgiving.

Casino developers have concluded that the land, in the northern San Diego County mountains, is too remote to support a casino. The nearest settlement is Warner Springs, down a narrow road. The closest city is Temecula, 40 miles away.

Now, Los Coyotes hopes to open a casino in Barstow, off Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. That proposal is controversial — the desert town is two counties and more than 100 miles from the reservation. The group would need permission from the U.S. Interior Department for an off-site casino, but Congress is considering banning off-reservation gambling.

Schwarzenegger suggested that the 21 Indians who make up the Big Lagoon Rancheria join Los Coyotes in the Barstow project. The lagoon that gave the tribe its name is 700 miles from Barstow, in Humboldt County in far Northern California, and Schwarzenegger was hoping to preserve their stretch of largely undisturbed coast.

Each band could have 2,250 slot machines in the Barstow deal. But the compacts announced last year to allow the deal have languished in the Legislature.

You have to register to read the article, unless you use BugMeNot.com or, better yet, the BugMeNot plug-in for Firefox, which should be your browser of choice anyway.



Casino Stalker, the Google Maps mash-up

Thursday, August 24, 2006, 19:11
Section: Journalism

If you’re one of the folks wanting to know what casinos are coming where — and have discovered that I can’t answer that question when you call the Hesperia Star (because I can’t, other than to give you an unsatisfactory update to the Hesperia casino situation) — check out Casino Stalker, which merges Google Maps with a growing database of information about casino projects around the country.

(Oh, and there will be a new Hesperia casino story in next week’s Star.)


 








Copyright © Beau Yarbrough, all rights reserved
Veritas odit moras.