Montage County Jail Makes National News Again With New AP Story

Link. I'm pretty sure all the Montague inmates are still in the Wise County jail.

The Wisdom Of Ann Curry via Twitter

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The round table discussions on Sunday morning news shows are fairly interesting. The interviews that begin the show, not so much.
• It would be cool if there were a reality show called "Hot Girls In Scary Places." Well, I'll be.
• Baylor got invited to the play in the NIT. That's like being asked out to go to Denny's.
• Fox 4 tells me that Lake Bridgeport is over 9 feet low?
• The driver's license hearings I always go to are always held at 1:00 in the afternoon. But today, due to a weird course of events, they will have a special setting at 10:30 in the morning just for me.
• I watched some of the Will Ferrell's HBO special, "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George Bush." It was funny but not that funny.
• I just saw on Facebook that a buddy I graduated from high school with is celebrating his 24th wedding anniversary today. That's shocking in at least a couple of ways.
• I bought some black K-Swiss tennis shoes last summer. The moment I walked out of the store I had a little bit of regret and that feeling has never gone away.
• But I saw a stylish black guy wearing the same shoes a couple of months later so that helped.
• Getting on a bus to drive to Austin to "meet with legislators" does not sound like the way I would want to spend my day.
• Last year, the Aggies made the NCAA Tournament as the 9th seed and they played BYU. This year, they ended up as the 9th seed and will play BYU.
• I've never gone anywhere for "Spring Break."

I Knew There Was Something About Madoff That Was Bugging Me

This Is Either The Decatur Walmart At Christmas . . .

. . . or chaos outside of "America's Next Top Model" auditions.

We've Hit The Big Time In A Bad Way

A faithful reader points out that Decatur was referenced in The New York Times yesterday. (Thanks Jake.)

That Sound You Heard Was The Death Star Exploding

Baylor 76 Evil Empire 70 The Bears hit 12 of their last 13 free throws.

Math Question

Just thought about this and need some help from The Big Brains on Brad out there. Baylor and Texas play tonight. Baylor has lost 24 straight times. Let's assume that in each of those games Texas entered the contest with a 90% chance of winning. With that being said: What were the odds that Texas would win 24 in a row? My guess is the equation would be 90/100 to the 24th power. But I have no idea what I'm saying. Edit: Thanks, guys. I chose the 90% assumption for each game in order to see how incredible it is to win 24 in a row (even if one team is an overwhelming favorite each time.)

Say What

From The Today Show this morning.

The last person to see a 5-year-old Florida girl before she went missing — who is also the new teenage bride of the child’s father — acknowledged that there are inconsistencies in the stories she’s told investigators, but was unable to say why her account has changed.

Link and video here.

This Made Me Laugh. Not Really Sure Why.

The Messenger's "Tree v. Jeep" Video From Yesterday

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Convenience stores in the metroplex seem to feel more dangerous these days.
• Had this discussion yesterday: Most, if not all, sin is based in selfishness.
• For some odd reason, it is the Chicago Tribune that reported on a story that is gaining legs: Cops in a small Texas town seizing a ton of property and money from motorists and then taking it, via the state's forfeiture laws, in exchange for not charging them with a crime.
• This happened to 140 people over a two year period which is a shocking number. I bet less than 10, maybe less than 5, forfeiture actions are filed in Wise County every year.
• The Dow is up three days in a row? Economy. Solved.
• Saw a lawyer in a driver's license hearing yesterday in Fort Worth that did not have a clue what he was doing. It's always uncomfortable when that happens because every lawyer in the audience starts looking at one other with cocked eyebrows.
• That Geico stack-of-bills-with-eyeballs is weird.
• I think I saw a story about Texas considering paying students for good grades. ($20 for an A, $10 for a B, etc.) Anybody else ready to give up?
• Update: Forgetting Sarah Marshal didn't do much for me.
• I always expect a convenience store clerk to become overly excited when I pay with exact change. Rarely happens.
• I'm not sure what I think about the overly pillowed bed.
• Lawyer news: A huge firm in Texas has canceled next summer's associate program. I've never heard of such a thing.
• I TIVO'd the Travel Channel's "Bridget's Sexiest Beaches" with Bridget Marquardt last night. It looked like a "Hey, Now" kind of show based upon the previews.
• NFL Draft thought: Everyone always says "Take the best player available." Um, ok. The tricky part is figuring out who that is.
• I really like today's pic.
• Drives me nuts: Driving down the highway in the rain and having someone pass me on the left only to immediately get right in front of me and spraying me with gunk.
• Finally heard a radio interview with the Dallas Mavericks' coach. Sheesh. That guy is a tremendous jerk.
• St. Patrick's Day is coming up. I hope I remember to post my favorite video of "I wanna know where da gold at!"

And You Know What This Means?

It means the Evil Empire is now in the cross-hairs of the Basketball Playing Baptists. Austin, you're on notice. Tomorrow evening in the Big 12 Semi-Finals, we're going to walk all over you like you're a pebble on the Road to Damascus. Get behind me, Satan, indeed! (And you think Baylor is intimidated by having lost 24 in a row to UT? Well, think agai.......woah........24?........Sheesh.....Nevermind.)

Random Golf Post

Rumor Mill

Someone just wrote that 36 people just got laid off at POCO in Decatur? Anybody confirm?

Dallas Morning News: March 11, 2009

Larger.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• "A Baghdad court has sentenced an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush to three years in prison for assaulting a foreign leader." I hope they don't suffocate from all that new found freedom over there.
• A commenter is now furiously typing, "But Saddam Hussein would have put him to death!!!" I call that the, "Oh, yeah? What about you?" argument: The method of distracting criticism by comparing the criticized conduct to something worse. I bet there's a technical name for that.
• I made it halfway through Forgetting Sarah Marshall last night. Pretty funny, but it's no The Heartbreak Kid - a movie that I like 100% more than anyone else.
• Forbes has released it's list of World's Richest People. Hey, there's a drug lord on there.
• This obituary of a teenager goes with this shocking crime out of Graham. (Credit.)
• My junior high basketball coach once told our team, "If you can't beat a man one on one, you don't need to be on this court." That's always bugged me.
• An irate caller on KLIF this morning said our country is "fat, lazy and stupid" and it wouldn't hurt for us to have to learn what it is like to "sacrifice and suffer." Probably right.
• He also added that sometimes he thinks it would be a good idea to let the country implode in order to see if the current generation, when faced with the crisis, is "worthy of America." I think I agree with that, too.
• As a long time Baylor supporter who is a fan of Hall of Fame linebacker "Mike Singletary" it's weird to watch a Texas Tech basketball game who has a pretty good player named "Mike Singletary."
• For Ticket Fans only: The Fake Billy Tubbs and the Ed Carter Sports Reports may be my favorite bits.
• As I still consider my trip across the South, I found a tour of mansions in Natchez, Mississippi. Ten years ago I wouldn't have been remotely interested in such a thing.
• I've started watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart again. His monologue is always funny, but something has happened to his "chit chat with our correspondent" segment.
• Random thing heard on the news this morning: Do people still wear galoshes?
• There's a K&G commercial disguised as a news 911 call. I hate it.
• If I were in charge of commercial/ad design as my job, I'm pretty sure after my presentation to sell it to the client I would hear, "That's just weird" a lot.

That "Family Values" Thing Can Be Tricky

It's easy to say now, but when I saw her interview a couple of weeks ago it seemed like something was up with the boyfriend. Story. (Thanks for the quick tip, Steve.)