Paris For Halloween

Hey, now.

Random Haunted House Thoughts

I went to this Haunted House last night - probably the first time I've done that in 15 years. Observations:

- Man, there are a lot of people that like haunted houses
- And they are all young and can't stop texting to save their lives
- I invested in a "Speed Pass" (meaning pay more to bypass the line). I almost felt guilty about it, but it was worth every penny.
- I bet it took over 30 minutes to get through the entire presentation - maybe longer.
- Lots of walking down long corridors. If you didn't have someone in front of you, you had to feel your way through. Creepy.
- The production was top notch. Lots of people working very hard to make that thing go. Overall, it was great.
- Best surprise of the night was a 10 piece talented band you walked by about halfway through. It was kind of like a Zombie Blue Man Group that banged on a variety of objects. Very cool. Very good.
- They put you in a maze near the end. I don't think there was an exit. The lights come on after about five minutes and you are instructed to go to the then visible exit doors.
- Some of the rooms were like being at a rave with all the fog and lasers. (But, admittedly, I've never been to a rave.)
- The funniest part was at the end when you had to walk through a 20 foot tunnel that was being engulfed in soap suds.

Random Death Penalty Thought

I noticed that a woman was just sentenced to death in federal court. That got me thinking. How many federal executions (as opposed to executions at the hands of the State) have occurred?

Answer: Not many. And only three since the death penalty was re-instated in the 1970s (with one of those being Timothy McVeigh.)

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

You've probably seen it before, but it's still grade A comedy.

A Visual Aid . . .

. . . of the cost of the Iraq war. (Credit: Kevin.)

California Fire Pic . . .

. . . by a professional photographer. (Click to enlarge.)

Edit: On a related note ...... FEMA stages fake news conference with P.R. people playing the role of journalists

The World Series Brought To You By Taco Bell

I kind of watched a little bit of the World Series last night, but I was overcome by the hype of Taco Bell. The company has some type of promotional stunt where it will give away a free taco to everyone in America if someone steals a base. Fox kept reminding me. Over and over. . I saw an interview with the President of the company (or someone like that) in the stands, and they showed (and obviously staged) mic'd up Royce Clayton talking about it in the dug out.

Stop it.

But the promotion is genius. Yeah, you have to give away one crappy taco but, in exchange, your average overweight American - who can't possible say no to a Burrito Supreme with extra sour cream - has to come in your store to get it. And I bet the Taco Bells will be packed with people that will spend $2.00 on gas to get to a 59 cent free taco.

We'll find out. Get 'em free on October 3th 30th from 2 to 5 p.m.

Reader Submitted Pic

Yep, taken in Wise County tonight. (He's been working on it for a couple of nights.)

Ron Burgundy Had A . . .

. . . story tonight on a person allegedly posing as a Brinks Security expert in Runaway Bay in order to . . . (look really seriously into the camera) . . . "try to get into homes and con homeowners out of cash."

The story was pretty boring but the High Sheriff made an appearance.

Gold

A fellow friend and defense lawyer just got through trying a case in a nearby metro county. He emailed me some of the jury questionnaires that were used to ask the prospective jurors what they thought of cops, prosecutors, and defense lawyers. (Click to enlarge.)

Winter Has Benefits

English lingerie model Danielle Lloyd braved the cold to launch the new Ski Republic website yesterday in London.

(Click to seriously enlarge.)

Not Sure . . .

. . . why this routine drug bust in Wise County made Fox 4 News.

Edit: Sheesh, this even made the Star Telegram.

Edit 2: Yeah, I'm a wuss. I'm shutting down the comments. Suffice it to say, your wrath has been heard.

Back Online . . . Finally

Frustration

Maybe a little quiet around here since our office Internet went down. A call to Communicomm simply led to a "call this other number for customer assistance before we send someone out." Throw in the fact that the Internet connection has been spotty at best over the last three months, and I'm thinking about using a different ISP (if there are choices.)

Props Cheapen Story

The Today Show this morning had a pretty good story of neighbors in California fighting one of the wildfires. We were told they fought the fire with "a water hose and two shovels."

Amazingly, they were still holding the hose and shovels!

Brit Can Clean!

Mike Huckabee Exercises Poor Judgment

Press release.

Lake Dallas & The Colony Last Weekend

It's kind of odd that when kids are "dirty dancing" more than ever, your average high school streaker does his running in his underwear.