There Are Things I'll Never Understand

Billionare "hedge fund investor" (I've never been sure exactly what that is) Steven Cohen has paid Las Vegas casino owner Steven Wynn more that $100 million for two paintings: Van Gogh's Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat (1890) and Paul Gauguin's (who?) Bathers (1902). (Click on the painting's name to see them)

Football Junkies: Check Out Texas Tech Game Winning Drive Against Nebraska

1st-10, TXT33 [meaning from Tech's own 33] 5:02 C. Hodges passed to J. Filani down the middle for 31 yard gain 1st-10, NEB36 4:33 C. Hodges passed to B. Olomua to the right for 10 yard gain 1st-10, NEB26 4:06 C. Hodges sacked by B. Ruud 2nd-19, NEB35 3:22 C. Hodges passed to J. Hicks down the middle for 11 yard gain 3rd-8, NEB24 2:38 C. Hodges passed to B. Olomua down the middle for 6 yard gain 4th-2, NEB18 1:56 C. Hodges passed to J. Filani to the right for 6 yard gain 1st-10, NEB12 1:30 L. Smith intercepted C. Hodges for 12 yards. L. Smith fumbled. D. Amendola [for Tech] recovered fumble 1st-10, NEB18 1:04 C. Hodges passed to J. Filani to the right for 7 yard gain 2nd-3, NEB11 0:34 T. Henderson rushed up the middle for 1 yard gain 3rd-2, NEB10 0:27 C. Hodges incomplete pass to the right 4th-2, NEB10 0:19 C. Hodges passed to J. Filani down the middle for 10 yard touchdown. A. Trlica made PAT

Oh, The Pain

Texas 45, Oklahoma 12

Double Wow

"JOSHUA - Fire Chief Sandy Mason arrived at what appeared to be a minor traffic accident about 6:30 a.m. Friday. He quickly found out the situation was much more serious. Tammy Mallicote, eight months pregnant, was dead in the front seat of one of the cars. When a paramedic saw the woman's abdomen move, emergency personnel decided they had a chance to save the baby." Rest of the story is in today's Star-Telegram

Just Ignore Problems And They Will All Go Away

"GRANBURY BOOK CONTROVERSY Posted Friday, October 7, 2005 by countrynews. A Granbury woman says she plans to file a complaint with the school district over the contents of a book in the Acton Middle School library. Carol Sanders feels the book her 13 year old granddaughter read contains pornographic content. The book, 'Detour for Emmy' is about a 15 year old girl that becomes pregnant. Sanders says the descriptions of sexual relationships in the book were explicit and shouldn’t be on the shelves of a middle school library. Sanders intends to file a complaint with the Granbury School District. It will be up to the district's book committee to decide if the book should be removed from the school library." The book can be explored here. Most of the comments left by readers at Amazon.com speak of the book containing valuable lessons about the hardship of teenage pregnancy.

I Thinking About Getting A New Look

I Can't Wait . . .

. . . to be famous and impregnate a girlfriend outside the bonds of holy matrimony and tell all my fans that I'm so excited to be a father only to . . . . . . have to release the most uncomfortable press release ever.

Jessica Biel . . .

. . . is the "sexiest woman alive" according to this month's Esquire magazine.

I Keep Telling Myself, There Are Still Inventions To Be Made

Your dog gets neutered, he no longer has ..... er.....his "boys" as part of his anatomy. Do you think there would be a market for prosthetic....ok, i'll say it.....dog testicles? Yep, and this guy is getting rich off of it and, this week, has been acknowledged by Harvard because of his invention. I love this quote from him: ""Considering my parents thought I was an idiot when I was a kid, this is a great honor."

Random Flu Shot Thought (As I Watch Channel 5)

I have never received a flu shot, and I never get the flu. But then I see people who wouldn't think of going through the winter season without it. I hate needles, and I'll continue to press my luck. In fact, I hereby taunt the flu virus.

Texas Execution #14

Ronald Ray Howard was executed last night for the killing of a trooper during a road side stop thirteen years ago. "Howard told a grand jury [comment: his lawyer sent him in front of a grand jury?] that he was listening to Soulja's Story by Tupac Shakur before he shot Davidson. The song makes references to a young black male being pulled over by police, remembering Rodney King, then opening fire on an officer." "As the drugs were administered, he lifted his head from the gurney and mouthed that he loved them, urged them to be strong and said, 'I'm going home.'"

Random Tidbit From The Business Section

Some guy named David Duffield wants to build, get this, a 72,000 square foot home in Alamo, California - and he even has to demolition an 8,000 square foot home on the lot to make room for it. Who is this guy? He's some billionare who used to own PeopleSoft, Inc. (some software company). By the way, Bill Gates has to manage with only a 40,000 square foot house in Seattle.

Color Me Confused

New York City was placed under alert this afternoon about a possible terrorist attack on the subway system. Two oddities: (1) The "National Terror Alert" color scheme was not raised. (2) Mayor Michael Bloomberg held a press conference (video here) to warn New Yorkers about the threat but then said "I'm going to take the subway going up town and tomorrow morning I'm going to do what I always do: get on the train and go to work . . . . " So just what is it that New Yorkers are supposed to do?

I Promise This Pic Is Just A Pic - It's Not Moving - Or Is It?

Ok, Funny Girl, Take A Hike

"NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Southwest Airlines kicked a woman off one of its flights over a political message on her T-shirt, the airline confirmed Thursday . . . . Lorrie Heasley . . . was asked to leave her flight from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore., Tuesday for wearing a T-shirt with pictures of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a phrase similar to the popular film title 'Meet the Fockers.' " -------------------- For what it's worth: I don't have any problem with the gal being booted off the plane since Southwest is not associated with the government. Now if she had been kicked out of a public college, a public library, or arrested for wearing it in a public park, that would be completely different.

Not That I Want To Die In Any Particular Way . . .

. . . but this isn't one of them: "FORT WORTH - A contract worker was killed this morning when he was struck and dragged beneath an asphalt paving machine during a project at South Hulen Street and Overton Plaza." (Source: Star Telegram online addition posted today at 10:56 a.m. )

OU/Texas

It's this Saturday. Noon. Texas is now favored by fourteen. Fourteen!!!! I'm popping Paxil like candy because I'm so depressed.

Giggle