Star Telegram Story On Wise County Growth

Here. I would have never have found it on the web site had I not bought a hard copy of the paper.

Say What?

A faithful reader emails "Breaking news: Horse drawn carriage hit by mini-van in Bridgeport."

Edit: Even mentioned on WBAP a second ago.

Edit #2: A Joe Duty speeding alert has been issued.

Edit #3: As one of the commentors reminded me, didn't someone post a comment under an earlier post expressing "surprise" that the horse drawn carriage hadn't been hit at that site before? I'll track it down later. (Update to edit: Found it. What follows was posted on 5/21/08).


Edit #4: An emailer sends in a pic of the way the carriage looked before the Incident of June, 2008.


Edit: I'll be dang, it made the Dallas Morning News.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

- Who is this Rebecca Flores who is doing morning traffic for Fox 4? She's appeared, the best I can tell, after faithful blog reader (really) Todd Carruth resigned. I can't find her on the website but she is hawt.
- This morning we've got a black man who will be the Democratic nominee for the president of the good 'ol USA. Just think how long it would have taken if the South had won the Civil War?
- And Obama might not win it all (the right wingers call him "unelectable"), but his supporters care far more about him than the Republicans care about McCain. You never see that kind of enthusiasm at a McCain rally. And you never will.
- This is from the 3A state championship game in Georgia. It sure looks like the pitcher and the catcher conspired to bean the umpire.
- The Best Buy in North Fort Worth is open. But haven't been there yet. I'm guessing it looks like any other Best Buy.
- You've probably seen the "bait car" story that lead to the death of the elderly lady in Dallas. (Guy steals a car the police own and are watching, crook flees, crook hits and kills lady.) Yeah, the bad guy deserves 99% of the blame, but the bait car idea - just like fake prostitutes - is stupid. Why not put a bag of money out in the Walmart parking lot and then arrest those that attempt to walk off with it?
- I've begun watching The Savages (which I had never heard of until that girl over at Incidental Smirkings mentioned she had watched it.) Incredibly depressing. Incredibly good.
- No, wise guys, I didn't go see Barry Manilow.
- Ironically, I can't remember the last time I ate at Dairy Queen.
- Still one of my favorite videos at the 1;14 mark.
- After about four years, I finally found an old remote control to my bedroom TV and discovered it had a sleep timer. Yahooty! For most of the past decade (or more), I've fallen asleep with the TV on. Will still do that, but at least it'll go off on its own now.
- There was a guy who failed to show up for his felony trial in Decatur yesterday.
- Who says the Cotton Bowl is going downhill? They just announced that Texas A&M-Commerce will play East Central University of Ada, Okla., on October 18th. Now where did I put my East Central pennant?
- Speaking of sportzzz, watched a little of the Aggie girls lose in the softball world series last night. Based upon the end of the game, there is lots of crying in softball.
- Never before have there been so many lawyers in Texas not knowing what they are doing.
- Singer John Mayer has a car that could be in Death Proof one day.
- Houston vice is still picking on strip clubs and The Smoking Gun has the mug shots of the ladies recently arrested. That first one looks like she could be Mrs. Green #9.
- Another reason boat owning is a beating: It was incredibly windy on Memorial Day. Incredibly windy last weekend. Suppossed to be the same next weekend. Considering that boating is basically a May through August recreation, that's quite a chunk of the season already ruined.
- I once paid $5,000 to have my 200 hp outboard motor rebuilt for my now ex-boat. Perhaps that's why I'm bitter.
- I don't mind the Miranda chick from Sex And The City being gay. Wait, I do mind!
- How there is not a wreck on FM 51 within Decatur every day is beyond me.
- I've always thought that Maggie Gyllenhaal was smoking hot (and could she be any more sexy than in SherryBaby?), and this new pic doesn't change that.
- Somewhat homeless guy kisses reporter during live spot.

Jumper On I-30. Or, Potential Jumper

A faithful reader just emailed me that he had taken this pic and sent it into the D Magazine blog, FrontBurner. Apparently this guy is thinking about jumping off the I-30 overpass in Dallas.

Thanks, David.

Fox and (Not My) Friends

Since I live for rumors, within the next 24 hours there is supposed to be a bombshell videotape of Obama's wife released*. That would explain why Hillary had stuck around all this time. The rumor has her going off on "Whitey" at the infamous church she and Obama used to belong to while seated next to Louis Farrakhan. *So says Bob Beckel on Fox & Friends this morning. (Per the Mark Davis Show on WBAP.) I think this has been floating around for quite some time. But the "chatter" on the subject has really heated up today. We'll see. Could be a big bag of nothing. Edit: Mark Davis on Wednesday morning now backs down from this story. Fine job, Mark.

Wow

From the MSNBC home page this morning: Car plows into bicycle race in Mexico on Sunday. (Largest pic I could find so far.)

Edit: Picture somewhat larger here.

Edit: And my buddy Keith over at bagofnothing.com emails this link which is the best of all.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

- In watching one of the million stories on the capture of the very sillily (sp?) named "Scarecrow Bandits" last night, Fox 4's Shaun Rabb actually said, in regards to the capture of one of them, "Police made him eat asphalt until they had him handcuffed."
- I'm about an hour and half into the Mary Tillman's book: Boots On The Ground By Dusk. It started a little slowly (didn't really care about her three years as a soccer coach), but it has really picked up.
- Music podcast I might like
- Man I tossed and turned last night with the craziest dreams. I have this vague recollection of every rooftop on the Decatur courthouse square being a functioning piano bar.
- Steve Eager does a segment every night on Fox 4 News called the "The News Edge." It's so odd because he quickly covers three stories but abandons his "neutral" anchorman position and fires off some hot sports opinions. Well, opinions.
- I was surprised to learn yesterday that kids were still in school in Wise County.
- I normally get a Morning News on Sunday but last weekend I picked up a Star-Telegram. You know, I think it might be better. (But I'll give the edge to the first one that abandons Parade magazine.)
- 82 year old "Racehorse" Haynes had 11 jury trials last year and he's at it again.
- I never mind having to enter my zip code when I'm making a gasoline purchase by credit card. And for the first time in my life this morning, a fill up cost me over $60.
- Saw on the news that media outlets are offering up to $15 million for the first pics of the soon to be born twins of Angelina and Brad Pitt. Heck, I'd sell my twins for $15 million.
- The Indy cars are out at the Texas Motor Speedway this week. A few years back I went and watched qualifying for the event and the sound was deafening.
- I've never cared who Nolan Ryan recommended for foundation repair.
- The very absent Paul Harvey's "News and Comment" was sponsored this morning by Greenwood/Mount Olive Funeral Homes. Dark?
- Apparently there was a hockey game on NBC last night that went into triple overtime and didn't end until midnight. Can you imagine Jane and Mike sitting there at their anchor desks waiting to go on the air for two hours? I bet they just stared at the teleprompter waiting for the red light to go on.
- My StumbleUpon button took me to a collection of weird photos called "Childhood Fears." Uh, very weird.
- I remember when Jessica Alba was a stripper in Sin City. Now she has a basketball in her belly.
- If you are interested in legal stuff. relationships, and the federal government (quite the trifecta), you'll enjoy this read. And the biggest shocker comes at the end.
- Finished There Will Be Blood. Verdict: Incomplete. What's up with all these movies that are artistically pleasing to look at, have a fairly decent story line, and then just end in the middle of nothing? (See e.g. No Country For Old Men) A and someone told me Daniel Day-Lewis played the same part that he did in Gangs of New York (which I've never seen.)
- Executions begin again tonight in Texas. How did we survive without them? But I noted one guy refer to them as "Texecutions."

Did I Miss This?

A guy jumped off of 287 in Fort Worth onto I-30 last Friday. Was this on the news this weekend? (And it's a crazy story, by the way.)

That's a Google Street View pic of I-30 with the 287 overpass.

"Your Love Is Better Than Ice Cream"

And 40 year old Sarah Ann McLachlan doesn't look like she's eaten much ice cream.

Just When I Think I'm Smmwarrrrt

I rarely read all the way through the A section of the DMN or ST because it's mostly full of world AP stories that don't interest me or I've already seen. But I did look at one story last weekend that began with the sentence above. I felt kind of toopid (as one of my friends calls me) when I ran across a word that I didn't understand. And I'm not talking about "foreigners" (pronounced locally as "fur-nirs")

Expand your mind here.

What's this country coming to when a man like this can't sneak under a table in a library and spray women's feet with an unknown substance from a syringe just so he can try out his new camera?

America, I don't even know you any more.

(Proof.)

Something New

So I was looking at another DWI videotape when I noticed something different on the screen . . . Latitude and Longitude coordinates. I'll be dang. There they were:

33n12'56 and 97w45'83

I checked them out on Mapquest and Google maps and found out that Bridgeport police had arrested the guy in China. Yep, right there where the red star is (which is fitting.)

By luck, I figured out that a negative sign went in front of the 97.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts - On A Slow Moving Blogger Website Today

- Watched the MTV Movie Awards last night. Other than a very funny bit by Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr. and Ben Stiller that is hard to explain, it wasn't very good.
- Host Mike Myers hyped his new movie, The Love Guru, all night long. It looks awful.
- Only 17,661 at the Ballpark in Arlington yesterday. I had it on for some reason and I think the 7th inning lasted two hours.
- 100 greatest movie posters.
- The Becky Simpson murder-for-hire story was on Dateline Friday night but I missed it. I don't know if it was an original or a repeat. Edit: Here's the web page which includes a book in photo I've never seen before.
- I wear only one contact. Put a new one in yesterday. Put it in it's case last night. And it wasn't there this morning.
- Pete Delkus is filling in on WBAP this morning. That guy's not as near as charming as he thinks he is.
- Texas A&M is playing in the softball world series tonight which I'm guessing is on ESPN.
- Northwest is going to host a Student Council Convention will will bring in 2,000 people. In school, I always thought the Student Council was silly because it truly had no authority which seemed very hypocritical to me.
- If it doesn't get to 77 degrees this morning (it's 78 at 5:30 a.m.), that will set a record for the highest low for June 2nd.
- I bet I haven't used a toaster in 20 years.
- Ted Kennedy is having brain surgery this morning (just got a blurb about it, I think.) That can't be good.
- Ever since I became proficient at podcast syncing and audiobooks, I've listened to less and less radio. It just seems silly to have to listen through seven minutes of commercials for ten minutes of content.
- I want to drive by the new Cowboy's stadium but I bet I haven't been down I-30 in over a year. But, man, is it going to be a show place.
- There was another kid-ran-over-in-the-driveway story in Dallas yesterday.
- There was a fire this weekend at Universal Studios in Los Angeles which destroyed some old movie sets. I've been there - at the demand of an old girlfriend when I visited the city a few years back. But I went begrudgingly because of all the things to see in the city we were going to a Six Flags like movie park.
- I always struggle with The Spin, and I was worried today that my Major Award reference would be lost on most people. (And I've written 427 of those things - maybe more since a few have been lost to the accidental delete button.)
- We live in one of the windiest areas in the United States.
- Third best month ever for viewership on Liberally Lean last month but the numbers have leveled off. Maybe more scantily clad women would help.
- Watch a Boston Red Sox fan meet the business end of security after running onto the field over the weekend.
- Update on the lady rowing across the Pacific. Girl doesn't get very far in a week.

Grex And The City

So I went yesterday to see Sex And The City at the Movie Tavern off of Hulen. (But allow me to digress for a second. To H.B. Zachry & Company: Your company is run by morons who decided to needlessly take I-35 southbound to one lane all day Saturday. But I'm not bitter.) So on with the review:

- Overall: Very good. But it's just odd that this was a "movie" since it really wasn't any different than what you would see on HBO. But it was all you would hope for. But if you had never seen the TV series, there's no way you'd be interested in it.
- Man, there were a bunch of women there. I'm guessing a 9:1 ratio, and I might be underestimating the female population
- At one point in the picture, a male character admits to his love interest that he has had an affair. At that moment, I heard the loudest "gasp" ever to come from a movie audience. I wanted to stand up and say, "Hold on, ladies! He's probably got a good explanation! Hear him out!"
- The other big crowd reaction came when Samantha told a generic obnoxious-friend-of-the-groom to, uh, shut up at the rehearsal dinner. It was like this female crowd had been wanting to do that all their lives.
- The four stars are getting a little old. And as the final scene ran with some random twenty something female foursomes roaming the streets of New York - in a message that there will always be other other Carrie Bradshaws & Company to take their place - I felt a little old myself.
- I've always wanted to be like Mr. Big.
- Carrie Bradshaw's written excerpts makes makes me think she is a horrible writer.
- Sidenote: Seeing a film at the Movie Tavern (there's also on one in the Bedford area) is great. It's about the only way I'll see a movie in theaters anymore.

Glen Carano's Daughter

Who?

Reader Submitted

Yes, I Love Technology. But Not As Much As You, You See

This is a little tricky to explain, but I shall try. The Star Telegram is experimenting with some type of program that automatically pulls out "key words" from every story and then lumps them out to the side as "tags". From there, just hover over one the tags and get links to "related stories."

See how well this works? That guy in the picture fled an angry mob by running into the PrimaVera apartments. Now I learn, through the magic of tags and hovering, that "Campania Pizza makes a great impression." And it gets better. Since the guy's name is "Craft" the word "crafts" becomes a tag. Hover over it and get a link to "cookbook" by "the stars." I was thinking about cookbooks when I read how this guy set fire to the PrimaVera apartments in order to escape said angry mob.

See for yourself.

Everybody Be Productive On Saturday

Well, that lawn ain't gone gonna mow itself.