Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

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• Decatur fire truck sirens at 7:46 a.m. With all that fog out there, that's probably not good.
• A kid from a private Christian school was suspended for attending a secular prom with his girlfriend at a different school? I have no problem with that. Private institutions bossing people around who have voluntarily decide to associate with them seems reasonable. Government bossing you around, on the other hand, would be a different story.
• Isn't it weird how some people consider you to be the equivalent of the Plague yet others light up when you enter the room?
• I think I observe the world for 95% of the time and live in it for the remainder. I need to work on that.
• Whenever you see something that symbolizes the dumbing down of America, it is referred to as "Idiocracy" (after the movie.) I saw a bit of it last night at the grocery store.
• Karl Rove gave the commencement address at Texas Tech School of Law a couple of days ago. Really.
• Crazy sight: A huge runway baggage container was sucked into one of the jumbo jet's engines at LAX yesterday.
• I'm headed down to Baylor this weekend for my niece's graduation.
• With changes in the law regarding court appointment of attorneys and Wise County's skyrocketing criminal cases, I'd love to know the amount the county spent on indigent legal representation fees last year. It has to be exploding.
• Note to Wise County Messenger: That would be a good story.
• And we don't have a skyrocketing criminal docket because of more crime, it's because you will get arrested for the slightest of transgressions these days.
• A soldier in Iraq flipped out yesterday and killed five other soldiers. The Drudge Report had a great yet disturbing headline for the story: "Full Metal Jacket."
• Limited interest: I saw Margaret Hoover ("Republican Strategist") and Gretchen Carlson (co-host of "Fox and Friends") in a debate on Bill O'Reilly last night. Dumbest. Women. Ever?
• Mark Cuban rant: (1) He tells one of the Nugget's player's mom on Saturday that her son is a "thug", (2) the mom is at the AAC last night and taunted by fans, (3) Cuban finally apologizes to her on his blog last night at 1:30 a.m. You couldn't just have walked over to her last night and said you're sorry? That guy is classless.
• And Cuban won' be in Denver tomorrow night for Game 5 citing a prior engagement. Riiiight.

Little Did We Know

The movie Hannibal, the gawd awful sequel to the brilliant Silence Of The Lambs, included this scene/screenshot when a detective was trying to track down the famous killer. The film was released in 2001 but before 9/11. And, yep, that's "Usama." (Photo of poor quality since it's of my TV.)

Can We Throttle Back On "Breaking News"?

In other news, I had a headache earlier. Then I recovered. That was the 105th case of Headache Head in the county that was confirmed today. (From the Update.)

For The Sweet, Clean Ticket Listener

Link. And for the non-Ticket folks, Williams was raised in Boyd.

Wreck News

Looks like we've got a big one in Decatur and the "JP has been called." Never a good sign. Anyone know anything? Edit: Might have been someone pulling out of McMaster New Holland to go northbound on 287. But that's uncomfirmed.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• There was a special on the History Channel last night about Angels and Demons. Now I want to go to Rome. Not Rhome. Rome.
• And the movie looks about as bad as the Da Vinci Code. It's just impossible to transfer those books into movies because it requires the characters to walk around and give history lessons every step of the way. It's interesting, but not natural.
• Welcome to Dallas where we run over you and then go through your pockets.
• Crazy Texas Mom. I'm not sure how I found that blog but she is brutally honest. She'll make you laugh. She'll make you cry. She could be a professional writer.
• I feel weird walking outside in a robe.
• I can't tell you how much I despise Mark Cuban. Classless.
• I think, in the end, Lebron James will be considered to be better than Michael Jordan.
• Wanda Sykes was funny at the White House Correspondent's Dinner this weekend. (Either you already now about it or you could couldn't care less.)
• Channel 5 had a story on LeaseTrader.com which allows you to "have someone else assume your car lease." First, I wonder if that's a paid commercial disguised as a news story. Second, if I'm the company leasing you the car, I'm not letting you shift the responsibility of paying to some third party.
• I'm insane now: The Simpsons' theme song done a capella.
• 44 cents for a stamp? And how can I feel that it is both ripoff and a bargain at the same time?
• Somebody plowed into a guardrail on 287 south of Decatur over the weekend. Amazingly, the always confusing "Guardrail Damage Ahead" signs are already out.
• Star Trek's opening weekend was a whopping $72.5 million. I like the original Star Trek even though I detest all science fiction (including any subsequent Star Trek tv series.)
• Remember when Channel 11 was an independent channel?
• Some guy had his tenant's rent check bounce and then complained to everyone except the United Nations that our local DA won't prosecute. Note to guy: Don't use a prosecutor as your own private collection agency.

Screenshot Of Mav's Coach Being Interviewed

Saw it tonight on Fox 4. I'm sooo getting me one of those hats.

Random Family Photo

I just couldn't stop staring at it. (From awkwardfamilyphotos.com. Thanks, Keith.)

Premature Election Count?

OK, the numbers may very well hold up. But still seems a little close to say it has "apparently failed."

Random Mavs Thoughts

I didn't watch any of the game which makes me an expert. Mark Cuban shoved a reporter after the game? How Cuban got rich is beyond me. The NBA admitted that a critical foul was not called. There were 89 free throw attempts? Sheesh. Bring on college football season.

Star-Telegram Story

Photos of the casket in the boat soon found their way to a popular Wise County blog — Liberally Lean from the Land of Dairy Queen — with the headline "How you bury a Baptist deacon who loved fishing." Curious folks wanted to know the story behind the photos.

Here it is.

Link.

(And the paper credits local attorney Mark Howell for one photo.)

Prime (Time) Real Estate

In case you've been needing a little more space around the home, Deion Sanders is selling his little fixer upper in Prosper. Let's see, his jersey number was 21 so take a guess what the asking price is. Listing is here.

Dirk's Girlfriend

In the front in black. Girl, I'm sorry I ever said anything negative.

Ann Curry Twitter Feed This Morning

That gal is deep. And, if I've got my geography correct, the only way she could see the "sunrise in the crown of the Statue of Liberty" is if she woke up in New Jersey.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Around 10:30 p.m. last night, my front door made the sound as if someone had walked quickly to it from the outside, pushed the handle trigger, and then hit the door hard with their shoulder like they were surprised it didn't open.
• That scared the crap out of me. After ducking for cover, I looked out the window and didn't see a thing.
• I own a shotgun.
• Firing a shotgun in a house would make a mess.
• The history behind the "coffin in a boat" blog entry will become a feature story in Saturday's Star-Telegram. I talked to an editor yesterday who is pretty excited about it.
• I've been naive about this: If a political party were responsible for granting immunity to every illegal alien, the children of those aliens - born on American soil and thereby American citizens - would become a voting block that would be unbeatable.
• My family truckster, which is on its last legs, is burning oil like nobody's business. Dumb question: If I don't have a leak, where does the oil go?
• Heard often: "Man, you've got some crazy people that read that blog of yours."
• I had a childhood friend who lived on my street contact me yesterday on Facebook. I had not seen her since we were teens. Facebook is cool.
• There's a petition floating around Rhome requesting a council person resign. Seems easier just to find a candidate to run against her.
• Got behind the dreaded slow-self-checker-grocery-lady last night. You know: Pick up product. Hold it in front of you and slowly look for bar code. Slowly slide bar code over scanner. Take a step to grocery bag. Slowly place item in bag. Repeat.
• I rarely open up .wmv files that people send me via email. I figure if it's not on youtube or some other flash video site, it's probably not worth looking at.
• Women are excited about Sam Moon's opening this weekend in North Fort Worth. I have no idea what a Sam Moon is.
• It sounds like the end is near for Farrah Fawcett. And is sounds like she has suffered horribly over the last couple of years.
• I'm supposed to have an 8:00 a.m. appointment. Hadn't heard from the guy yet.

Chico "Scandal"

Link. Channel 8 actually ran this story last night. (Trying to see if they'll post the video.) It is incredibly vague and I'm not sure "scandal" is the most appropriate term.

Manny Ramirez And An Afternoon Pick Me Up

But I really don't care about the newest steroid scandal in baseball. Hey, what's the spare guy doing back there in the photo?

What Was That?

Anybody else hear that huge BOOM that rocked Decatur at 1:36 p.m. ? Edit: Got confirmation that it rattled Bridgeport and Paradise. Edit: Heck, it was heard in northern Tarrant County. Edit: If it was a sonic boom, it's the loudest one I've heard in 20 years. Edit: The bloodhounds at Fox 4 are on the case. Edit: Star-Telegram now has the answer.