News

Slate’s just posted a piece by the suddenly omnipresent Mimi Swartz headlined “Waiting for Ike: The five stages of hurricane anxiety.” Which are, in order: anticipation, shopping, denial, panic and acceptance. To the latter point, Swartz writes from Houston, “It is time to admit that the only thing on television…

A Friend of Unfair Park shot us a link to an audio-video aggregator from the Texas coast, which, from the looks of it, compiles the raw, off-air video from pretty much anyone who’s got a news camera down there in advance of Ike’s landfall late tonight or early Saturday morning…

Texas Instruments has created a special Web site in honor of September 12, 1958 — the day Jack St. Clair Kilby introduced the integrated circuit, otherwise known as the technology that “makes the Internet, PCs, cell phones and, well, the world, go round,” as TI proudly puts it. Kilby, who…

View Larger Map Park Row, in the shadow of Fair Park, is a street lined with modest bungalows constructed mostly in the 1920s, many by and for Jewish immigrants who settled in the area early during last century — my grandfather among them. Thirty-one years ago, both Park Row and…

Last night, David Letterman devoted 14 minutes of his Late Show to Jessica Simpson, and most of that was spent talking Tony Romo — how they met, the jinx, whether or not he wears a cup. Not discussed: Whether or not she wears panties on live morning television. An epic…

As you can see from the latest rainfall projections from the National Weather Service, Ike’s tracking further east this afternoon than it was this morning — which means, at this point, less rain and slightly weaker winds are projected for the weekend. Which does nothing to calm the waters in…

A Friend of Unfair Park just texted with the message that the Frank Crowley Courts Building is being evacuated — “don’t know why.” Turns out, a fire alarm has gone off in the building — a regular occurrence, says an Officer Williams in the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department who really…

This eight-foot-long tartan couch’s for sale — not at a garage sale, surprisingly, but during an auction to be held October 4-6 at Heritage Auction Galleries right across Oak Lawn Ave. from Unfair Park HQ. Opening bid’s $1,700, though it does come with those paintings thrown in. Why so pricey?…

For those stocking up on Ike supplies that aren’t batteries or bourbon, here’s a suggestion: Snag the last of the goodies ever made by the Doughmonkeys in Snider Plaza. Because, yes, as Bill Addison noted late yesterday, once again and for reals this time, my boy’s favorite bakery in the…

For those so interested, this is the latest wind (and rain and tornado potential) forecast from the National Weather Service — and note the exclamation mark. And the NWS no like Ike: “Develop a personal hurricane plan,” it advises in its latest forecast. Mine involves a trip to the liquor…

From today’s City Plan Commission agenda. This is how you do a street name change. –Robert Wilonsky…

Mike Howard couldn’t take it anymore. For the past month, the young attorney had been shouldering a caseload he had never imagined possible when he was a law student at Southern Methodist University. This morning—a sweltering day in mid-August—was a perfect example. Sitting in the Frank Crowley Courts Building, he…

“The Anti-Dittohead,” by Sam Merten, September 4 Jett Wave Hey, I’ll listen. Good luck, Jack. If you’re half as entertaining on radio as you are on your [dallasobserver.com] posts, I think you’ve got a pretty good shot. Joe, McKinney, via dallasobserver.com Jett is very well-known in Canada and more recently…

Goin’ to the chapel: If Buzz were introspective, we would pause and contemplate the creeping conservatism that has overtaken us in middle age. It’s the thing that causes a vein to throb in our temple as we cry, “Oh, come on!” whenever we hear about the latest expenditure of tax…