Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I turned on Wimbledon for a second yesterday and caught Mrs. LL staring intently at the screen. Tennis fan? Nope.  She wanted to know why it was necessary for the ball boys to sprint to get the ball once play stopped. 
• If you were interested in the Denton prosecutors-being-fired story, you have got to read this from the Record Chronicle from over the weekend. At least one of them got a raw deal. 
• Here is Channel 8's coverage of the teenager killed by a train in Alvord on Saturday. Photos included.
• Got caught in the weird rain storm when the sun was brightly shining yesterday. I've mentioned before that the weather oddity was referred to as "The Devil must be beating his wife" when I was a kid. 
• I saw most of Road House for the first time yesterday.  It may be the greatest bad movie of all time. Never have so many fights broken out in so many places.
• Chinese guy walking a tightrope backwards while blindfolded.What could go wrong?
• My next yard project was to put limestone edging around a tree.  We're talking about a 10 foot by 10 foot square that is on a pretty good slope.  Let's just say that after working on it all day Saturday I discovered that I am not an engineer.
• I've never seen players scramble off a baseball field like they did last night at the Ballpark in Arlington after the lightning strike. But it is funny to watch all the reactions. 
• I may have lots of flaws but not being disciplined is not one of them. 
• Mrs. LL will text one of the kids who is in another room from time to time. I guess it's better than yelling. 
• Denton cops have now killed someone.  Do you kill someone for simply not dropping a rifle when ordered?

An Update

She and two guys were going to burglarize a home and she got shot when "gunfire was exchanged"?

And it's one of the few times I've seen the use of the "felony murder" rule: "A person commits the offense if he commits or attempts to commit a felony [i.e. burglary] and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life [exchange gunfire with someone] that causes the death of an individual." The key to that law is that the person doesn't have to intend to cause a death.

"Guy hit by train in Alvord"

Edit: Turned out to be a teenage in Alvord who was walking on the tracks. Sounds like he had earphones in. There was at least one witness.

I think this is the fourth teenager killed in Alvord in the last couple of years.

Edit: The Messenger apparently posted a picture which they subsequently took down. I didn't see it. 

Taking You Into The Weekend

Dallas pool party.

And Another - Fort Worth

Another strong entry. (Edit: Star Telegram story.)

Maybe her in 2003 (this is Lubbock where she used to live):

Puppies Wake Up

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Unemployment news announced this morning: It remains at 8.2%.  I wonder how many right wingers wanted more people unemployed for political reasons?
• Britney in a bikini with her kids in a living room. (Facebook.) Attagirl.
• Lots of Mark Cuban hating going on in the talk radio world. I can't wait for his first interview where he'll say something like, "Have you read section 11 of the collective bargaining agreement? You haven't?" And then he'll fire off a bunch of terms that he knows the interviewer doesn't understand to take control of the conversation. Does it every time. 
• Mrs. LL took the kids to watch fireworks along the Trinity River Wednesday night. I learned yesterday they grabbed inner tubes and actually got in the river. She's always had a certain glow about her, but now I wonder if it will be radioactively induced.
• The Running of the Bulls begins today. A few years back ESPN would carry those daily runs live (they last about two minutes each time.) Love that stuff.
• Shout out to Tara in the County Attorney's office who gave birth yesterday to Olivia Paige. (She strong-armed me into promising I would mention this day a few months back.)
• Absolutely worth a watch: DART bus plows into stopped cars on the Tollway last Friday. Whoa. 
• I wonder if I can talk Mrs. LL into seeing Savages?
• Some how, some way, Mrs. LL has completed the entire series of Lost in record time. About ten episodes from the end I asked her is she was just "riding it out." Her (defeatedly): "Yes. I've come this far."  Me: "Lots of people on the island?" Her: [Failed smile.]
• I love Fiona on Fox 4 but recently she's been tweeting and facebooking that we should watch her "antics" on the morning show.  Others can say a person does wacky "antics" but the person doing the "antics" can't. It violates some rule. 
• Sports Talk Radio: Take a listen to Chris Arnold on The Fan in the evenings. The former Ticket host and Mavs MC may be the most clueless guy on radio. (But you have to fight through Gavin Dawson's made up opinions to listen to Arnold.) 
• Still love this line: "Mitt Romney has an albatross around his neck of providing health care to poor people while governor." 
• Adrianne Curry "Hey, Now."

Remember This Morning When I Made Fun Of Mark Cuban . . .

. . . because he had to settle for signing Jason Kidd because he had missed out on every other free agent? Well, I spoke to soon.

(But, remember kids, watch Shark Tank!)

Edit: Man, the Dallas Morning News was all over this story at 3:00 this afternoon. (And the link was still good two hours later.) "Pretty much official" is not the same as "official", we've learned.

Edit:

Liberty And Stuff

It looks like we had six Vampire Blood Warrants issued in Wise County over the 4th of July.

(That's a picture of the construction at the World Trade Center site posted by someone within the last couple of hours while visiting New York.)

Idiocracy

I've never really understood "fan voting" for the All Star Game since there was no limit on the number of times you could vote.  Throw in a major market (LA, NY or even DFW) and, with proper marketing, how one of those teams couldn't get one of its players to the top of the list seems baffling.

Well, apparently we've ramped it up a bit. Now you can vote via Twitter without, once again, limitation. That's the official Texas Rangers twitter feed up there.  By simply tweeting with the "#VoteYu" hashtag, that counts as an actual vote recognized by Major League Baseball to get Yu Darvish into the All Star Game.  Do it as much as you want. See a tweet with that hashtag in it and simply hit the "retweet" button and that counts as a vote.

Have I done it? Noooooooooo. The Bush v. Gore case was more legitimate than this process. #PowerDown #Beating #TiredHead

Man With No Feet Qualifies For Olympics

South African 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius has made the Olympic team and will compete in London in the 400 meters. Qualifying run is here.

Since I'm a big fan of fairness, I'd like to state my let's-all-hug-and-come-together opinion as follows: This ain't right. Yeah, it's a heart warming story, he's overcome great hardship, blah blah blah, but those blades are like something a character in The Avengers might wear. How much does that improve his stride by? It's like launching yourself with each step.

Next thing you know they'll allow him to attach giant springs to the bottom of his legs and let him compete in the high jump.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I dreamed I was in an airline check-in line and it was so long that they brought out the greatest pizza buffet ever. (Truly a dream.) But before I could get to it, it was all gone. That's part of my constant dream theme: I can't get to something/anything in time.
• Something I never used to have to deal with: Buy something at the grocery store I really want and then discover it has been eaten by others two days later. 
• Most overzealous law enforcement officers in Texas: Game Wardens on a lake.
• The Mavs re-signed 39 year old Jason Kidd! They've re-signed Jason Kidd! Folks, get ready for the real Mark Cuban Era.  (That team has been carried by Dirk for a decade and Cuban had nothing to do with him coming to Dallas.) 
• The Ticket ran "Rotten Radio" yesterday which is a compilation of bits over the last 15 years. I wish they would do that every holiday, although it sure reminded me of how the station has declined.
• Former Wise County prosecutor Kevin Henry announced on Facebook yesterday that his 26 year old son had died in Los Angeles. No details were given. 
• 45% of the population doesn't know how the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare (15% incorrectly believe the court struck it down while an additional 30% have no idea at all about the ruling.)
• If you promise a Third Grader that you'll have a 4th of July party, she will not forget that promise.
• Former Bridgeport gal is now practicing criminal defense law in Waco and even got a press release. I've always said growing up on the mean streets of Bridgeport will give you an insight into crime.
• With all the technological changes in this world, why do fireworks look the same as they did 40 years ago? Oh, and did you see where all the fireworks accidentally went off at the exact same time to begin the big show in San Diego last night? It's fifteen seconds of fun.
• Did you see the story where an elderly couple in Mansfield claimed there home was physically broken into and burglarized of $20,000 of jewelry while they were watching TV with big headphones on? I guess I believe them. 
• Garland motorcycle death.
• Did any news station cover the Tarrant County DA's office silly "no refusal" news conference where one of the prosecutors would have his blood drawn in front of reporters? I didn't see anything on Fox 4. 
• My Mormon book update: The story about Joseph Smith is insane. 
• I think wisecounty.com is having trouble this morning.

I Miss Having The Wimbledon Finals On The 4th Of July

She wishes she would have ducked. But nice job on following through on the call.

On This 4th Of July . . .

. . .  I miss those "good old days" as much as you do. Andy was, after all, the government. And he understood that. I'm not sure at all that today's trooper, as he approaches a car, understands what a simple fictitious country sheriff did in the the 1960s.

One Random 4th Of July TV Observation

Actual tweet from Fox & Friends this morning. (Pic is old.)

My work is done here.

All American Mom Taking You Into The Fourth Of July

WFAA Shelly Slater Afternoon Pick Me Up

Two things about that bottom pic: (1) It was taken two weeks ago and then she announced this week she is pregnant with a due date in December, and (2) if that's not enough to ruin the pic, I'm pretty sure that's Scott Murray in the background.

Naked Man vs. Cops (And Security?) -- Who Ya Got?

There's so much going on here, my head is spinning. We've got guys in suits, cops, play-by-play comedy, stun guns, a haymaker that would cause Joe Frazier to go down, and a chick in a red dress holding some guy back trying to distract us all.

But that ending caught me totally by surprise. Ninja indeed.

(And I love one of the youtube comments:  "They censor the nudity so we can watch the violence . . . god bless the USA." )

Background.