11.20.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Had forgotten about that. There were lots of JFK posts this week 10 years ago 
because of the 50th anniversary. 

  • This story happened on Friday, and that's one heck of a photo to go along with it. 


  • On Friday, the Texas House bravely voted in favor of an amendment that killed school vouchers from the school funding bill.  Unfortunately, local reps didn't join in. (A no vote was to keep school vouchers in the bill.)



  • There are strange things happening with the leadership of OpenAI, the leader in AI in the United States, the creator of ChatGPT, and and the company that Microsoft has invested $6 billion in.
    • On Friday, the Board of Directors, without notice and without any reason given, fired the "father of AI" and its CEO, Sam Altman. There was no hint of malfeasance, just a disagreement over "vision." It caught everyone off-guard. 

    • On Saturday, after an investor revolt, there was a crazy effort to reinstate him and have the Board of Directors resign instead.

    • On Sunday, Altman was hired by Microsoft as head of a new "AI team", and OpenAI hired the former head of Twitch as interim CEO. 

    • Now most of the employees want the board to resign or they will -- and head to Microsoft's new AI team. You know, this could be the biggest thing to happen to Microsoft since Windows. 
  • Our governor is the ultimate lapdog.


    • Hey, look, not only were your tax dollars used on this, but the $345,250 Man was there, too! 
  • Dallas has a weird relationship with JFK and although I'm a big fan of the Sixth Floor Museum, I'm not so sure about those banners they have up right now. Story.

  • How that guy is the richest man in the world is one of the world's greatest mystery. 

  • Fun little sport wrap up on this holiday week: 
    • That's quite the tidbit they offered up:

    • Auburn scheduled New Mexico State as a cupcake opponent this weekend, but it backfired with a 31-10 loss. But this fact is wild: 


    • Kim Mulkey had a bizarre press conference with focus on her star player not being with the team, and then ended it saying she might have COVID or the flu and didn't care if others got it.  Video.

    • I can't get enough of The Sphere on the Vegas strip (where the F1 race was this weekend.)

    • Scenarios to get to the  Big 12 Championship game are mind-numbing. 

at 8:30 AM

11.17.2023

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




By all reports, it was the first tie vote anyone could remember in Wise County. Of course, they didn't take my advice, it went to a second vote, and Sanders won by a not-so-close 120-34.

  • A misdemeanor assault case tried to a jury in Wise County was affirmed on appeal yesterday. 
    • Legal nerdy stuff: Oral arguments in that case were only 10 days ago. The speed from oral argument to written opinion might be some kind of record, 
  • I clicked on this headline to find out what happened to the dog, and determined that they might have buried the lede: "The Parker County Sheriff's Office says deputies, along with Weatherford police K9 officer Jack, were serving a warrant on Hancock Drive around 7:30 p.m. when the person they were serving fired at the deputies. Officers returned fire, killing the person they were serving."

  • The Texas House could vote today on school vouchers.   It will take a handful of Republicans who care about public schools, along with all the Democrats, to kill it. 

  • Breaking Politics: Attorney General Ken Paxton has endorsed the opponent of Jacksboro's David Spiller.  And he wasn't kind in doing it. Good lord!

  • Formula One is on the streets of the Las Vegas strip this weekend. The practice session, which started at 8:30 p.m. last night, was shutdown after nine minutes when the Ferrari car, driven by Carlos Sainz, hit a drain cover causing significant engine and frame damage." (Video: Driver view. Spectator, in a restaurant, view.)  The practice session didn't begin again until 2:30 a.m. and all fans were banned. It's going great. 

  • The painter (yes, painter) of the Jaws shark and swimmer has died.  The image was first created for the paperback edition of the book and was later used for the movie poster. One of the most iconic images of all time. 

  • The habitually lying Rep. George Santos finally said he won't seek re-election yesterday after a scathing House Report found, among other things, that he used campaign funds on OnlyFans. (He once denied knowing what OnlyFans was on Fox Business where the interviewer responded, in a fantastically funny way, "you just can't tell the truth." Video, 22 seconds long, here.)

  • Something weird is going on here.

  • Back in the day we would have said these guys look like "punks." "Five incidents were reported to police between 10:50 a.m. and 12:37 p.m. The residents said someone with a pellet gun in a grey sedan shot at them. Four residents were hit by the pellets, in another incident the pellet hit and shattered a storm door.  Three people hit by the pellets were taken to the hospital."

  • I didn't expect Osama Bin Laden to make headlines this week.  It all started when some young lady with only 371 followers on TikTok posted a video expressing her surprise at how eye-opining Bin Laden's 2002 Letter to the American People was.  Then things got weird when, with the help of Twitter, the video and comments went viral with people supporting her views and criticizing them. Then things got even weirder when TikTok banned the video, prohibited any similar ones, and The Guardian, which had first printed the letter and kept it on its website for over 20 years, took it down. (Here's a smart article on Slate discussing it all.)



  • Let's check in on Fox News.  I swear, that network spends all day trying to find something to be pissed off about. 

  • Legal nerdy stuff: Dear judges, don't do stuff like this. It doesn't make you "cool."

  • New episode of my show, It's Warehouses, People!™:

  • Idiocracy: "The Big 12 and WWE will introduce a custom-made title belt for this year’s Most Outstanding Player, a co-branded logo in-venue and on-field, and other Championship integrations featuring WWE Superstars." Official press release.

  • Random high school playoff score from last night: Brock won 76-13 over Muleshoe after leading at halftime, 62-0.
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 4 years and 134 days.


at 8:30 AM

11.16.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



I still can't believe this happened. Full post, with more of the transcript, here.

  • Yep, Wise County on the Web was down yesterday. It's back up now. 
  • The Washington Post has an article/photo essay today of the carnage capabilities of an AR-15, and it includes never before seen photos of Uvalde and other mass shootings. Don't look away.  (Free link.) 


  • Fun fact: When President Biden met with Chinese President Xi yesterday, they did so in the house featured in the opening credits of Dynasty. 



  • My favorite part of this story, other than his head tattoo, is that he told the officers "he could 'order up to a pound of methamphetamine' and 'a bunch of guns' in exchange for letting him go."


  • Speaking of face/head tattoos, this great picture comes out of a trial in Wichita Falls. I love the expression of his public defender in the foreground. (Credit to Trish Choate who I've praised before for her writing up there, but she's also now a great photographer.) 

  • Legal stuff: In the Georgia election-overturn case, videos of prosecutor interviews of Sydney Powell and Jenna Ellis were leaked to the press and yesterday, in a hearing about how it happened, a lawyer fessed up to it so "he could sleep at night."  It's not hard to be honest. (Audio.)

  • Greg Abbott is using your taxpayer dollars to support Trump for a media photo-op in Texas.  Incredible.  

  • Bus drivers needed in Brock. Especially today:

  • It's been slow, but we will finally start seeing more and more of this. 

  • I like my Jesus to be good looking, too. But you think at least one would have a tuxedo t-shirt.

     

  • Messenger - Above the Fold. 

at 8:32 AM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)