It sucks

McFarland mall goes on market

Really, it does. Wherever you live, you know McFarland Mall. It's the depressing mall with a few second-tier stores and several empty spots, the mall nobody goes to anymore since the new mall opened -- twenty years ago. Blow it up and start over.

El Banco de Birmingham

Compass bought for $9.6 billion

The Spanish are buying Compass Bank? I didn't see that coming. The bank is headquartered in Birmingham but the buyers are mostly interested in its operations in Texas. They say there will be few cuts. To which I add, "for now". The once thriving Birmingham banking industry is now pretty much just Regions/AmSouth.

I really wish they would make up their minds

Study: Fish good for pregnant women - CNN.com

Seriously, what they should do is say that it's good for pregnant women for nine months, then say it's bad for nine months. Then in 18 or 20 years they'll have a nice cohort to study.

Come to think of it, they might be doing that already.

My elected representatives, everybody!

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall February 16, 2007 05:38 PM

Jeff "Evil Little Troll" Sessions isn't about to let Texas out-dumb us without a fight.

Come on, do it!

ABC News: Park Won't Lift Elephant With Human Hair

Not with one human hair -- that would be ridiculous. With a cable made of 320,000 human hairs. It would work! But those darned animal rights activists say that it would "scare" the elephant. Like that would scare an elephant. I wonder if these activists have seen a little film called Operation Dumbo Drop.

(Via Meryl.)

Texas: Making Alabama Look Smart Since 1848

Burnt Orange Report: Our Eyes Are Upon You, Texas.
Off the Kuff: Warren Chisum: Man of nonsense

As Kos puts it, even Roy Moore probably believes the Earth goes around the sun.

About time

NCAA rules committee proposes reworking football time-saving rules - USATODAY.com

I don't think that the NCAA has to try to be like the NFL, but the clock rules of last season were remarkably stupid and it's a good thing they were cancelled. I am concerned about this, though:

Starting the play clock before kickoffs and other free kicks as soon as the official hands the ball to the kicker.

That sure sounds like it would allow a team that took a lead with a minute to go to kill a few seconds before having to kick off, and would be a mistake.

Devastating

No state resident makes cut for 'Idol'

Such a nightmare. I mean, we've practically started putting "Alabama: The American Idol State" on our car tags.

Here we go again

Presidential $1 Coin

Look, it's another $1 coin! And it's going to fail, just like the others. The opinion seems to be, from what I can tell, that the last two failed because there were women on them or something. The new coin will have dudes, though the images aren't exactly flattering:



Adams looks like a giant baby, and Madison hardly looks human.

Anyway, this isn't going to work, and it's never going to work until the Treasury makes people use the coins, by withdrawing the $1 bill from circulation.

Why did the chickens sit in the road?

I-59, closed for 12 hours to clean up 40,000 frozen chickens, open again

12 hours! I would guess that at least some of the chickens found their way into workers' freezers. It's not like they'd thaw under current conditions.

Cluck

40,000 frozen chickens clog Interstate 59 in St. Clair County

I believe that this story is, in fact, the perfect Mac Thomason Blogging story. You have birds, you have Alabama, you have food, and you have horrible truck drivers. I'm almost reluctant to link to it, because what can top it? Well, maybe a gravy truck will crash.

Anyway, this is the third truck crash leading to a road closing in central Alabama in the last three days, that I know of. Monday night, another steel coil fell off another truck, shutting down a late of I-59 in Downtown Birmingham. Yesterday, a truck spilled a bunch of tar (instant driveway!) on the side of a road here in Tuscaloosa County. Now this. This happens way too much.

A fine use of the court's time

Rapist sues victim's advocate over parole

As everyone knows, juries love convicted rapists.

Kincaid says no

Reality denied for local police

As I mentioned yesterday, the reality show cameras will not be following Birmingham homicide detectives around, as the mayor has cancelled the agreement, saying that the chief exceeded her authority in making it. And said chief could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, probably because she has finally cracked and run away never to be seen again. That's just speculation, of course. Anyway, City Hall seems to think -- pretty reasonably -- that (in the words of the city attorney) "the homicide rate being as it is, the police should be allowed to do their job unfettered."

Sure, they have plenty of extras they can cut

Budget to get ax to avoid takeover

Unless the Birmingham City Schools can cut from $15-18 million from their budget -- by firing, among others, principals, teachers, and librarians, and closing a bunch of schools -- the state will take over the system. I am trying to figure out how a state takeover could be a bad thing, but then I am in part a product of Birmingham City Schools.

There will certainly be plenty of material

Reality show to follow city detectives

Want to make a negative -- like a skyrocketing murder rate -- a positive? Well, you could allow basic cable reality shows to film you, which is what the City of Birmingham Police are going to do. A&E is going to follow the city's homicide detectives around as they fail to solve a third of the city's many, many murders. (To be fair, the rate is down slightly so far this year and they're on pace for only about 90 homicides instead of last year's 109, but there's still plenty of time to pick it up.)

UPDATE: Mayor Kincaid says that the chief exceeded her authority in approving the show and that he intends to have the agreement cancelled.

Extreme Tolkien Nerditude

Tolkien Entry | J.R.R. Tolkien | Book News | Books | Entertainment Weekly

Is that supposed to be the Dragon-Helm? Because it doesn't look like a dragon to me.

Served Hot

From Eat Thy Neighbor: A History of Cannibalism (yes, I read books about cannibalism), p. 28:

[In] the north China kingdom of the Huns during the fourth century AD... during the reign of Shihu, dinner guests were served delicacies made from the most beautiful members of the king's harem. To demonstrate to his guests that he had not simply selected an ugly discard from among his many wives, Shihu had the girl's head displayed on the table during the festivities.

Fun people, the Huns. (And yes, sometimes the only reason I write posts is that I thought of a pun for the title.)