In The Valley Of The Shadow Of . . .

. . . the Star Telegram home page as of this moment. (Even the first story resulted in a death.)

Man, There Are A Lot Of Rules To Follow

Story. (Thanks emailer)

Father Of The Year

Now I'm no engineer, but I'm pretty sure I saw "disaster" written all over that stunt even before little Johnny got launched down the ramp. But at least the little tyke had the protection of a plastic roll bar. But I am disapointed that I didn't hear dad say, "Here, hold my beer" before he embarked on that father/child bonding experience. And (I'm stealing this next line): Did I hear a monkey at the end of that clip?

Anybody Else Having Trouble?

And, oddly, this site say's the Messenger's URL doesn't exist - which can't be right.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Anybody else see the commercial for the movie Quarantine that was shown during the Cowboy game last night? Seemed a bit too intense for prime time football.
• Here are nine minutes of fans jacking with a sleeping guy at Shea Stadium. As much as I never thought I'd watch all nine minutes of it, I couldn't turn away.
• I'm thinking about growing my hair longer again. I tend to alternate every year.
• The Cowboys are great, but I just have a bad feeling about this team.
• Probably mentioned before: If I take an afternoon nap, it takes me an hour to fully wake up. And I'm incredibly confused when I wake up thinking that it is morning.
• Texas Tech is in the Top Ten for the first time in forever. (But we don't know much about them since they've only beaten Eastern Washington, Nevada, SMU, and Massachusetts.)
• The Dallas Morning News implemented a "comment section" on most of its stories about a month ago, some times it doesn't know how to deal with them. Case in point, Barefoot Sanders (the federal judge who presided over the Dallas ISD desegregation) died over the weekend. Most of the initial comments were racist diatribes which were immediately taken down.
• Odd note from that Barefoot Sanders story: "1936 -- Is named freckle champion of the State Fair of Texas." Say what?
• I always wanted a cool nickname. I don't think "Barefoot" is cool.
• It seems like only yesterday that we didn't trust the reliability of email. Now it's a rare occurrence if one doesn't make it to its recipient.
• Another home invasion in northwest Tarrant County, and another home intruder dead. What is up with these stories?
• Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM were injured in a plane crash this weekend that killed four but they survived. I think I've heard a Blink 102 song, but I had never heard of DJ AM.
• That "Eveyone's Going To Choctaw" jingle is getting on my nerves.
• I attended one game in Yankee Stadium and saw a fan blow out his knee as tried to hop down a several rows of empty seats.
• Craziest obituary ever in the Dallas Morning News?
• So the federal government is going to buy $700 billion in bad loans? Does anyone else think this magic wand trick may one day implode?
• And I've said it before, if you are a simpleton like me and want to understand how this mortgage crisis came to be, you have to listen to the one hour speciall of This American Life: A Giant Pool of Money. I actually listened to it for the second time this weekend. Fascinating.
• I've seen maybe 15 minutes of Grey's Anatomy but I bet it's pretty good.
• Edit: The Ticket just mentioned that the holder on Martin Grammatica's failed field goal yesterday (the game doesn't matter) was wearing a watch while on the field yesterday. Off.

I Don't Even Know If I Should Be Proud Of This

What I posted two weeks ago: What I wrote: What actually happened:

Diamond's Supermarket In Bridgeport On Fire?

Unconfirmed report. Developing.

News

Looks like the big news this morning is a bomb explosion at hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. Forty dead and counting. It was a Marriott property which the chain advertised on its web site like any other hotel it owns. That was a nice place. The cheapest room last night went for $200. But, man, Pakistan is a violent place. Just look at the list of attacks at the bottom of this wikipedia page.

The Briefest Random Thoughts

• Caught about 30 minutes of No Country For Old Men last night on cable. I had seen it in the theater and walked away with a "good but not great" review. I might have been too harsh.
• Great Baylor game last night. It's fun just to be competitive again (although it's kind of sad that I'm happy with that.)
• ESPN's College Game Day is more fun in theory than in practice.
• I need to mow the yard.
• I'm not sure I know one song on Billboard's Top Ten - I haven't listened to music on the radio in the last six months. I need to fix that.
• I can't sleep late any more.
• Edit: If you didn't see it, the I Hate This Hummer guy from Southlake turned himself in. He's 72. He probably wants a do over.

Friday Night Happy Feet

Decatur 0 Argyle 45 Oh, my. City View 25 Chico 45 Somebody check the water Godley 21 Boyd 35 Finally getting their feet underneath them Windthorst 0 Alvord 14 Off season chaos having no effect Paradise 40 Bowie 16 Rolling. Baylor 28 Connecticut 31 Chance to win at the end falls short

Getting All Artsy

I was asked to promote a play going on over in Bridgeport to which, of course, I refused. Then it was called to my attention that I would be considered a "community organizer" if I were to do so. Hello, resume builder. The information is here. These type of plays are either really good or really bad. Either way, you've got you some local entertainment. Alternatively, you've got karaoke at Frilly's, or the North Texas Singles Club which will meet Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Armondo's in Decatur. Good times.

Oh, My

Mark Cuban releases some of the emails he has received regarding Josh Howard's less than patriotic rant released this week. We might want to throttle back on that "there is no racism in America" belief.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Stock market talk is giving me Tired Head.
• Problem solved: More government regulations with the silent realization that the government will bail you out if all goes wrong ---- ah, yes, the cornerstone of free enterprise.
• Baylor plays on Friday night for the second time in two weeks. Please no high school football jokes, please.
• If I don't read Newsweek on the first day that I get it, I never get around to it before the next one arrives.
• Snakes On A Plane is on cable every now and then. Man, that was awful.
• It took me years to learn it, but drink coasters are important.
• There's a hot air balloon festival in Plano this weekend. I've never been to one much less on a balloon. (And Fox 4 played 99 Luftballoons in the background while reporting on it.)
• Had some kid roll down his window and bark like a dog as I jogged pasted his car the other day. So odd.
• I feel lazy when I buy those salad-in-a-bag products.
• It seems that every wrongfully convicted guy released in Dallas after being imprisoned for 20+ years is never bitter.
• With all these bailouts by the government (which is nothing more than printing money), why won't inflation go through the roof?
• A lady in Granbury protests the high school flag which is that pirate-jolly-rogers-skull-and-cross-bones thing. "I appreciate our teams and coaches, too. But I have to stand up for my biblical convictions," she said. I soooooo wish she lived here.
• I ran across a pic of hottest girl in a bikini top with an amputated leg over at What Would Tyler Turden Durden Do. I was debating about whether to post it until I realized I was spending precious moments of my live life involved in that debate. Edit: Man, I struggled with the keyboard on this one.
• Got this email on a "way for your blog to make money." Here was the pitch "Right now we are doing promotional giveaways. You write an article about a product. Then you encourage the viewer to click on a link that is imbedded in the article. To enter the contest, the viewer has to retrieve some information from the advertisers web site. For example, we might get the viewer to pick out there favorite color. They post a comment with their favorite color. Then, we pick a winner."................ It's boring and confusing.
• The new paved roads in Decatur are actually impressive. Much better than the "throw down some tar and gravel" that was used last time.

More High Sheriff Pics

We've Got Some Political Gold Going On

Meet Andy Lacasse. This man was a registered Democrat until Obama won the nomination - now he's voting Republican. (You boys proud to have him?) And if you "liberal weenies" are thinking about touching his yard sign, think again. "I got a club sitting right over there," he said. Ooooookay. The only down side is that he's from Florida (which I find hard to believe because I'm pretty sure I saw him in the Decatur Walmart in the firearms section on Tuesday - right after I bumped into him in the wife beater clothing section.) And, as though I have some special karma with this guy, the story associated with these pictures utilized the "[sic]" which we studied in class just a couple of days ago. Dear Lord (or Allah for all of you Muslins who support Obama), please let election day get here. Soon.

There Would Be Some "Confused Head" At The Polls

The chance of this happening is a million to one, but wouldn't it be fascinating? I think McCain would still win Texas in a write-in campaign but it would at least make it one crazy race. Both Obama and McCain would have to rely upon people being smart enough to write their names in - a dicey proposition to say the least. And straight party voting would help neither one of them if their names weren't on the ballot. Delicious. And if Obama was smart, he should take the position that Barr is right - that both the Republican and Democratic nominees should be thrown off the ballot. I mean, there's no way he's going to win Texas so it couldn't hurt his chances. (I so love the Libertarians but I can't stand Bob Barr.) Edit: Someone wrote that you have to "file" as a write-in candidate and it's too late to do that. And, I'll be dang, he/she was right.

Campaign Spending: Just Last Week

It's an obvious point, but forget about "national polls". Those states listed in the chart are those that will decide the presidency. On election night, your ears better perk up every time you hear Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. (And wouldn't you like to own a TV station or newspaper in one of those states for the ad revenue alone.) (Source)

Kind Of Startled Me . . .

. . . as I rounded the corner in Decatur at lunch and looked up. (Just south of Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes.) Edit: Sheesh, people. You can't say stuff like that. And, by the way Jarhead, one post was directed at you but I left it on my Comment Laboratory Floor (although it was pretty funny). And RandR, that was borderline. I'd just be up to my eyeballs in cat comments if I let it through.