Radar vs. Photo

I was driving to Fort Worth around 6:00 and noticed the huge storm that looked like it was just south of Newark. The picture was taken about one mile north of Rhome headed southbound on 287. The screenshot of my iPhone shows the actual size and location of the storm at the time. Cool. Edit: Then that little blob grew, split in half, and headed towards Decatur landing at around 7:50 p.m. Edit: Radar on Channel 21 at 8:12 p.m. Email from downtown Paradise: Email from a Decatur reader (Holy cow, those things are huge): This from emailer James in Decatur: And another: And one that looks like a Medieval weapon: From emailer Mary "about two miles north of Decatur":

Hottest Girl Ever To Get In A Bar Fight

Link (with pictures involving blood so you know it's good.)

Are You Smarter Than A Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader?

Tryout for the squad began in Grapevine this weekend and, sad to say, I was cut after the first round. Well, I would have been cut after the first round because I'm not sure I could have passed the test given to all would-be booty shakers that includes “80 to 100 questions covering the Dallas Cowboys football team, the cheerleaders’ history, the National Football League and current events.” Eight sample questions:

1. Where will the Cowboys play their final home game this season? [I have no idea]

2. Where will the Cowboys hold their 2009 summer training camp?[I think Oxnard but is it back to San Antonio?]

3. Name the Cowboys legend who served as head coach for the team’s first 29 years. [Ok, that's easy. Barry Switzer.]

4. What year was the Cowboys’ first season in the NFL? (A) 1960 (B) 1962 (C) 1964 (D) 1965 [I think it was 1960 but I wouldn't rule out 1962]

5. How many stars are on the Cowboys Cheerleaders’ uniform? [No idea]

6. Who is commissioner of the National Football League?[I actually know that because I don't like the guy]

7. How many yards are in an NFL end zone? (A) 10 (B) 20 (C) 30 (D) 50 [That's easy unless I grew up in Canada]

8. Name one country that borders Iraq. [I know Iran. I know Kuwait. But I'm not sure who it is to the north.]

Source.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Someone asked me whatever happened to Prestonwood Baptist Church minister Joe Barron who was arrested when he drove to a location to meet what he believed to be an under-aged girl. I have no idea.
• I was without Internet and TV for half the day on Sunday. You know, after my initial panic was over it wasn't a bad experience.
• I caught a little bit of the first Cowboys Super Bowl (1993) under Jimmy Johnson last night on the NFL Network. The NBC broadcast pointed out that no one on the Cowboy defense made the Pro Bowl that year. Really? Edit: Hey, 5:54 p.m., I said the first Super Bowl under Jimmy Johnson. Pay attention.
• After a Cowboy touchdown near the end of second quarter to make it 28-10, the PA played "Don't Blame It On Texas."
• New this morning: We will have an hispanic female on the Supreme Court. Here wikipedia page is here.
• ABC's Ann Compton reported on the radio this morning that the prospective judge was a Harvard Law School graduate. Wikipedia says Yale Law School. I wonder who is right?
• My office a/c won't kick on this morning. That is a very bad sign. Edit: Penny arrived and diagnosed the problem in about, uh, five seconds.
• North Korea tested a nuclear weapon yesterday which sent earthquake like shock waves for miles around. All of the world condemned the test.
• I've never understood how some sovereign nations believe another sovereign nation can't have a nuclear weapon. If I run North Korea and hear George W call me part of the "Axis Of Evil" and then watch him order the invasion of Iraq without provocation, one of the first things I do is develop nuclear weapons. At the very least, it will give me respect at the negotiation table.
• I saw a lady buying a home drug testing kit at the grocery store the other day.
• I like the Goo Goo Dolls -- which, now that I think about it, is one crazy name.
• I saw Danica Patrick interviewed after her third place finish at the Indy 500. I bet she is insufferable.
• TO blames Romo via Twitter.
• I saw a Bentley like this in Fort Worth the other day. Cool. (And the photo link was taken at the Byron Nelson.)
• The most grateful I am for any course I've taken: One year of high school typing.
• That was the ultimate let down as the Rangers hosted the Yankees yesterday. But from the sound of the crowd over the TV, it seemed like half the fans were Yankee fans.
• WBAP sports guy Steve Lamb said today that he has no idea what "boom goes the dynamite" means.

"Star Trek" Review

• I haven't been to a theater in a few months, but a holiday and a 10:20 a.m. showing at the Rave in North Richland Hills seemed like a crazy good idea.
• Overall: Not bad. Not great. But pretty good.
• Some say that you'd like it even if you haven't seen the original TV series. I'm not sure that's true. It's the subtleties that put it over the top.
• I kind of became extremely nostalgic during the movie. I grew up watching the Star Trek series as a kid on Channel 11 in the afternoons. Since then, I really haven't paid attention to the Star Trek developments, but the movie caused a ton of memories to come flooding back. That was nice.
• Side note: Every preview seems to involve a movie that is nothing more than CGI overload.
• I felt stupid that I didn't figure out that the character that played Chekov was also the kid that got murdered in "Alpha Dog." (Actor Anton Yelchin.)
• Same thing for not immediately realizing the guy that played Sulu was from the "Harold and Kumar" movies.
• Star Trek was on the brink of CGI overload.
• Quite a few senior citizens in the audience. (No jokes, please.)
• As I was walking to my particular theater, I passed a movie preview placard promoting a flick called "Drag Me To Hell." That powered me down a bit.
• During the opening credits (which are always confusing -- is it produced by Paramount? No, it's also by Dream Works? Now it's someone else) the screen shot came up of a still of the words "Bad Robot." I've seen that at the end of some sitcoms, but never as a credit at a movie.

After All, It Is Memorial Day.

Photo was taken today. I can't imagine. Background. Idea stolen from. (Edit: Oops. Link fixed.)

My Fox 4 News Night

Steve and Heather: The "blue screen" that the weather map is projected onto: The control room (you can see the teleprompter screen at the top): The weather center. Lot's of screens. Being a powerful member of the liberal media, I had a chance to visit the Fox 4 News set on Friday night. In a word, cool. In more words:

• The place is huge. I don't know why I thought it would be a small operation, but it was a pretty big building with tons of employees.
• Everyone I met was really nice and with a great sense of snarky humor.
• All the offices of the big time anchors are off to the side but are about the size of an office cubicle. They were all crammed packed with junk that I could have gone through for hours if no one were watching.
• The anchor desk and weather center are in two different rooms.
• Saw the girl who was responsible for taking phone calls from the public regarding news tips and monitoring the police scanner. I think there is the possibility that a lot of the public may make drunken news tips.
• I got to meet Heather Hays. Very sweet and a certifiable "Hey, now."
• I saw Steve Eager before the newscast sitting at a computer. He was actually working on his news script.
• The control room is incredible. Six people run show but I'm not sure what three of them did. The three main folks are the Producer (who I really didn't see do anything after the show had begun) and the Director who was telling the Technical Director (the man pushing the buttons) what to do at a rapid fire pace. That was impressive.
• You'd think that moments before they went on the air there would be increased intensity. Nope.
• In front of Steve Eager and Heather Hays during the newscast is only one guy despite there being three cameras. Two cameras are controlled by another guy in a different room by remote control.
• And those are the only people in the room of the anchor desk. No one else. That surprised me.
• Lots of talking in technical terms by the crew.
• I saw the script for the newscast. Everything is planned down to the second. Set up for throwing it to Emily on remote (9 seconds). Emily live. (27 seconds) Roll prepared video package (1:15) Back to Emily live (15 seconds). Back to anchor desk.
• Everyone reads from the teleprompter except the weather guy. He's on his own. I think that would be hard to do.
• And despite all the show being planned, no one tells the weather guy what to say or has the right to overrule his forecast.
• There are more computers there than at Microsoft

(Thanks, Alice!)

Picture Along 287 This Afternoon

A mushroom cloud can make a guy a little uncomfortable. (Thanks, Wayne.)

Snake On The Square!

We had a little excitement in downtown Decatur this afternoon. That baby was huge!

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

The lake: The beach:

• Three day weekends are a-good.
• I don't think most people understand the concept of "insurance" when it comes to medical/dental. It does not mean that every year you should receive more benefits than you pay for. That's not insurance at all.
• Eighty percent of the students at UT are admitted under the "Top Ten Percent" rule.
• In the South, "UT" refers to the University of Tennessee.
• I finished higher in my class at Baylor Law School than I did at Bridgeport High School.
• Huge power down feeling yesterday as I heard a ton of people talking about American Idol.
• The Cowboys might be getting rid of Greg Ellis. Good riddance. That guy has been whining about his contract(s) for 10 years.
• Hot tennis player to have breast reduction surgery. And just when my day was starting out OK.
• I've never been to a garage sale.
• There was a DWI trial in Wise County with some out of town defense lawyer. I heard the case involved a gal who left Bone Daddy's in Grapevine to go to her home in the same city but ended up in Wise County. Last I heard, the jury was deliberating yesterday evening.
• I keep my eyes shut for most of the time while getting a haircut.
• I think I should have kept my eyes open yesterday. She treated me like I was a sheep getting sheared.
• Why would anyone buy anything from a company that uses spam email with a misleading subject line?
• The high tone blogger Anobiter is in Ireland this week on one of her many vacations a year. She tweeted about five hours ago that she was "Going to have some great crack tonight at a group pub outing." I have no idea what that means.
• The uncertainty about the future of GM certainly can't be helping current car sales.
• I've got some friends that meet once a week for an early breakfast at a restaurant north of Decatur. I think that would be a beating.
• I've heard more out of Dick Cheney in the last month than I ever did during his 8 years as VP. Note to Cheney: You're not in office any more.
• Motorcycle wreck on LBJ in Dallas this morning at around 7:15 a.m. (Radio report.)
• I saw what looked like a pretty nice BMW on fire on the shoulder of I-30 yesterday in Fort Worth. And I mean it was flaming as the presumed owner watched from behind.
• Think that guy wants a do over?
• Then I looked up and had to avoid a metal stool bouncing on the highway that had just fallen out of a truck bed.
• My cat-like reflexes kept me out of danger.

Cross On Wheels

A faithful reader sent in this pic yesterday. A guy was bearing this cross (with wheels) between Denton and Decatur on 380. And he was headed our way. (Thanks, Chris.)

Britney Is Showing Up More And More

Uh......"Hey, now."

Taken From The Byron Nelson Golf Pavilion Today

But not by me. (Credit.)

The Newest Entry . . .

. . . from AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com That man needs to get control of his scene.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Sad news yesterday that Phil Mickelson's wife has breast cancer. It was certainly happier times last year when he won Colonial as a drunk guy jumped into the water hazard in the background.
• I fear the cancer.
• I've been reading a book on the religious aspect of suffering and if it really makes any sense.
• I haven't watched one second of American Idol. (Except for the girl in the bikini during the tryout stage), but you can't get away from hearing about the huge "upset" last night. My knee jerk reaction: AI fixed the results to generate publicity for its sagging ratings. Yep, I'm serious about that.
• And my brother believes that any sporting playoff event that goes to a Game 7 is fixed.
• We may both be crazy.
• There's a home in my neighborhood that has a temporary sign in its lawn that reads, "Voting Entrance In Back." I have no idea what that means.
• It's kind of fun to read police reports for the first time since you get to learn if the cop's version of the events matches what your client told you.
• I jumped back into an S&P 500 Mutual Fund yesterday. Obama, baby needs new shoes!
• Last night I dreamed/dreamt that I met my high school girlfriend for a date in Fort Worth and she surprised me by bringing her newborn baby. Then we tried to find a sitter by just walking around. Fail.
• Shameless plug: I'm slowly getting the bugs worked out of the Wise County Free Classifieds.
• The huge video screen at the new Cowboys' stadium will be fired up today for the media. Fox 4 showed it this morning with only a "test pattern" on it and it looks amazing.
• I'm no longer buying a daily copy of the Dallas Morning News. Quality down. Price up. Me apathetic.
• If I spend more that 30 minutes on the phone per month on non-business conversations, there's something wrong. I simply do not talk on the phone for fun.
• All the celebrity web sites have Hayden Panettiere bikini pictures over last two days as she vacations on a yacht. I just couldn't link to it because I knew you guys would barbecue me.
• Have you ever seen the fake Tiger Woods yacht?
• A Wise County elected official sent me an email yesterday and signed it "Double Fake . . . . "

High Speed Chase

Got reports last night of half of the county's law enforcement chasing a sports bike. Heard it went down 2123 out of Bridgeport and then onto 51 northbound back to Decatur. Last report I heard was "it didn't look good for the biker." Edit: Got a pic from an emailer. Bike looks fine.

I Have An Answer:

Because the guy is in a cold cell behind bars!!! That Q and A is is from the Texas District and County Attorney's Message Board and "JB" is John Bradley who is the DA of Williamson County --- easily the most conservative county in Texas. Yep, they would put Wise County to shame. I've dogged him on here for years but he's actually emailed me and seems like a nice guy. Last year he asked permission to use screen shots of The Blog for his presentation at the Texas Advanced Criminal Law Seminar where he was going to speak on lawyers, blogs, and legal ethics. I said "sure." I've still yet to hear what he said.

Wednesday Afternoon Pick Me Up

That's Kelly Brook in the Caribbean yesterday. And it would be even more interesting if I knew who Kelly Brook was.