Hey, A Music Post!

Beyond amazing.

Above The Fold

Haven't watched yet. Going to guess it's cool.

	TVNweather (@TVNweather)
11/19/14, 8:46 AM Aerial drone footage from yesterday's snow storm in West Seneca NY: youtube.com/watch?v=5m6oXJ…

Let's Start Getting In The Christmas Spirit

Oh, yes. 

Oh, no . . . 

I'm Coming To Help You, Gab!!!

Source – An intoxicated New Smyrna Beach man wanted Taco Bell, but employees wouldn’t serve him because he was on a bicycle in the drive-through lane, authorities said. They called New Smyrna Beach police when Gabriel Harris, 33, refused to leave after placing an order at the drive-through window as the restaurant was closing just after 3 a.m. on Sunday. Reports said police found Harris sitting on the bicycle at the speaker. Police said as officers asked Harris to leave they spotted a Swiss Army knife on his belt loop. An officer reached for the knife, but Harris grabbed his wrist. The officer wrestled Harris to the ground and arrested him.
Harris faces a charge of resisting arrest with violence.

If a man can't order a Burrito Supreme while drunk on a bicycle in a drive through at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, then what rights do we have left?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm not particularly interested that the new Tarrant DA has hired the head of the civil division, but including a sentence in the press release that "He represented clients in litigation" while in private practice is the most generic thing I've ever read. 
• Sports: (1) My headed exploded last night when Baylor didn't jump TCU, remained at #7, and was jumped by Ohio State. (2) Make no mistake about it: If the committee can keep Baylor and TCU out of the Top 4, they'll do it.  This is beginning to look like an ESPN controlled college football ratings based upon potential TV ratings. Ohio State will bring more eyeballs than a couple of private schools from Texas.  (3)  There's a Dan Jenkins and Tiger Woods war.  I'll catch heck for this from the old-timers, but I've never thought Dan Jenkins was a fraction as clever as people make him out to be. 
• Yesterday I was reading an article (behind a paywall) about the lawsuits prompted by the Aggie Bonfire tragedy that happened 15 years ago. A Fort Worth lawyer was quoted at the end of the story saying that, despite the millions that were collected, the "most important" thing was the agreement that was reached requiring safety precautions which must be followed if the bonfire ever returns. Really? The lawsuit wasn't primarily about money? It was about safety in the future? Seems like that would have been easy to resolve. 
• But the fact that crazy bonfire structure, which was like putting an elephant on stilts, was built on the campus of one of the greatest engineering schools in the land is beyond ironic. 
• I want to be clear about something when I post the old Shootin' Blinds: That was the way it was back then. Hey, when I was born, there were still a few "Black Only" water fountains still in existence. 
• Heard some talk about Happy Days on the radio this morning. I had no idea it ran until 1984. (And almost everyone of them was directed by Jerry Paris, the dentist/neighbor in the old Dick Van Dyke show.) Man, I'm getting old. 
• Wikipedia's entry for Decatur says five "Union supporters" were hung here. Is there an independant source for that? 
• That failed Keystone Pipeline vote in the Senate is bizarre politics. The only reason it was brought to a vote was because the currently Democratic controlled Senate forced the vote to help a Democratic Louisiana Senator who is in political trouble. Democrats generally oppose the pipeline but the Senator is in a runoff and she wanted to vote for the pipeline so she could campaign on how she tried to bring jobs to the state. Republicans, even though it was a political ploy by the Democrats, had to vote unanimously for the pipeline because they are, after all, Republicans. But it didn't pass by one vote. But now: (1) The Louisiana Senator can campaign that she at least tried to get jobs to the state, and (2) The Republicans can easily pass the legislation anyway once the new Senate comes in.  Oh, politics. 
• Had the ol' smoke-detector-battery-is-low-beep go off at about four a.m. 
• I think telephone conversations are shockingly inefficient. They may serve other purposes (bonding, opening a dialogue, creating a relationship), but they are not efficient. 
• It always seems weird that a school district will buy hundreds of Macs when the average person can't afford a Mac. 
• Caught about 30 minutes of Cold War Roadshow last night on PBS which was about the 13-day American tour taken by the Soviet premier, Nikita S. Khrushchev, in September 1959. (I had no idea.) Everything went relatively great. And President Eisenhower was set to return the favor by visiting the USSR until they shot down one of our spy planes which we denied existed. I guess we made it colder. 
• "Bachelor party bungee jumping prank."
• That snow in the Buffalo area coming off the lake is insane. Four to five feet is expected or has already accumulated. Pic. (And we went nuts over our Sunday night "dusting".)    

Get Me This Panda Who Likes Rolling Around In The Snow!

What The Heck Did I Just Watch?

Who was that gang? It was like the Crazy 8s from Kill Bill but without the swords.

And what is up with the dude just drinking coffee the whole time? He either is the calmest man in Russia or the ring leader of this whole deal.  Just a Little Putin in the making.

Index - 1968

I was so hoping this was the movie referred to was the following,  but it didn't come out until six years later:

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Stuff I don't care about that other people do: Radio stations 93.3 and 94.5 switched to "Classic Hip Hop" format over the weekend.  I'm just disturbed that Hip Hop has been around so long that there are now "classic" songs.  
• Currently, Bridgeport ISD has 161 students in its English as a Second Language Program with "five denials" which, I think, means the parent wants the child in English only classes regardless of language proficiency.  
• By the way, the Junior in the House received a 95 on her catapult project (actually, yes, a "Trebuchet" project). I learned two things: (1) Hitting the target on a bounce was acceptable, and (2) There might be some pretty laxed grading going on in public schools.
• Charles Manson is getting married to a 26 year old. (Photos). We all support love, right? (And the funniest comment I read yesterday was: "Charles Manson is getting married? What is he, crazy?" ) No word yet on where they are registered. [Inappropriate locations considered as a joke were typed here and then deleted.]
• Is it OK if I support that marriage more than the marriage of the parents of Honey Boo Boo?
• Had someone call me this week who I know only because they were involved in a criminal case I tried 21 years ago this month. And it was about the case. 
• A Miami Marlins player signed a contract yesterday for a $25 million a year for a guaranteed 13 years. Holy cow. Get this: This comes out to a little over $68,000 per calendar day. 
• Has anyone ever compared professional sports to drugs? I mean, the American public will spend a great deal of valuable money and time to enter into an altered mental state for a few hours. 
• The Junior in the House came up to me last night and asked me to name a "nonconformist song". I told her there's a million of them, but nothing was jumping into my head. She told me to cheat and use the Internet. I did and the first one that popped up was My Generation by The Who. "Yeah, that's definitely one." She asked intently: "Is that your choice?" Me: "Uh, yeah." And then she walked off. I wonder if that will come back to haunt me. 
• I'm not all that interested about the allegations of Bill Cosby drugging women back in the day for sex, but someone dug up an old standup routine where he joked about women being drugged with the "Spanish Fly" and how excited he was to know of its existence. 
• "Incoming [Texas] AG Ken Paxton returns another lawyer's $1,000 pen he picked up at courthouse metal detector." Dang it. He could have used it to sign a lawsuit to challenge that crazy federal law that tries to bring healthcare to the poor. 
• This morning it was announced that Vikings' Adrian Peterson would be suspended for the rest of the season. I mention this only because I've held on to him all year long in my fantasy football team!!!!! I knew Roger Goodell should have been removed. The man is out of touch with my needs. 
• Wouldn't there be less chance of violence in Ferguson if the Governor had not declared a State of Emergency before the grand jury's decision on whether to indict the officer?

That "Pop Right Back Up" Ability Is Impressive

The Mexican Cartels Are Causing Death In Texas In (Un)Alarming Rate!!!

DPS just released a self-serving report on its border security efforts complete with inflated numbers regarding the value of drugs seized. But what really got my attention was this little graphic at the bottom of one of the pages:

That's it? 6.2 a year? (And that's even when using the ambiguous word "related".)  Hey, we're a big state. I was curious about the most recent Texas crime data that was available and I found this:

So the Cartels are responsible for about 1/2 of 1%? But wait. "Homicides" and "Murder" are not the same thing.  "Homicides" also includes the death of people due to the criminal negligence of others. So it's not even 1/2 of 1%. 

Get Me This Dog That Only Walks Through Doorways Backwards!!!

This Is Pretty Much My Life Living With A Bunch Of Girls

Index 1968

Posted mainly because of the "Sipes On Sports" column.  Hot opinions that were coming out of nowhere.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• On Friday and Saturday, all the local news stations led with the stories about the impending weather and showed us . . . wait for it . . . sand trucks on standby. 
• There was an article in Dallas Morning News warning about the difference between metroplex quick health care places you'll see on the corner and quick emergency rooms that look like pretty much the same thing. The difference in the amount of the cost you'll be hit with is staggering. (And, I'll admit, I have fallen victim to the corner ER place.) 
• Disconnect: I think Anchor Man 2 is stupid. Mrs. LL thinks Ali G/Borat is stupid. Edit for commenter: I did get the "deeper meaning" of Anchor Man 2-- it wasn't that deep. In fact, when all the news stations started their broadcasts last night with the insignificant snow story, I told Mrs. LL, "This is kind of like Anchor Man 2. There was someone yelling 'Let's go with the snow! Let's go with the snow' during a pre-production meeting." I just didn't think AM2 was funny.
• Family Pup 2 didn't move it all on Friday and was taken to the vet. No real diagnosis, but she made the most remarkable recovery since the dog in There's Something About Mary. (Funny moment: Mrs. LL took the dog to the vet in a travel dog crate and then walked in back later with the crate empty. I jumped up because I thought they put the dog down. But it was walking behind her.) 
• The Aaron Rogers commercial with Hans and Franz is weird. It starts with Rogers looking at them and asking, "Hans and Franz?"  And then seconds later when they tell him they are going to "pump you up", he responds with "What?"  So we are supposed to believe he knows some 1980s characters but doesn't know a signature phrase that was beaten into our brains? 
• I was still sick all weekend (but a little better today.) Nothing is taken more for granted than health -- at least until you feel unhealthy. 
• Of everything on TV, Mrs. LL and I stumbled upon and got locked into a 1998 movie called Slums of Beverly Hills.  A very funny dark comedy. (And if you're an Arrested Development fan, you'll get to see Lucille Bluth playing, in essence, what would become Lucille Bluth.)
• The Dallas Morning News did a silly piece entitled "Perry Promoted Aide With Three Alcohol Offenses on Record." I was more taken back by this: "Perry made him budget director in December 2001 and appointed him to the State Pension Review Board in 2009. The board of the cancer fund, known as CPRIT, appointed [him] to his current position."  Man, that sounds like a lot of tax dollars being wasted on lots of boards. And a lot of cronyism. 
• Stolen From The Update: "QUANAH EXHIBIT – The Paradise Historical Society and Paradise ISD are hosting the Quanah Parker Exhibit: One Man, Two Worlds, 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Paradise High School library. Rarely seen photographs of Quanah, artifacts and other Native American exhibits will be on display."  Hey, after reading the great book, Empire of the Summer Moon, I'm interested. (And that book references a Comanche kidnapping near Chico which is the subject of this historical marker.)
• Sports: (1) How does Florida State survive time and time again? But that game against Miami felt like the good ol' days.  (2) The TCU/Baylor fight continues. I'm beginning to believe that both may end up on the outside looking in. (3) Feel bad for RG3. Something weird is going on. (4) The Decatur Volleyball team has been great for the last few years. But, from what I can tell, when a team wins a best of 5 match in 3 straight sets, a high school volleyball game takes less than an hour. 
• Random discovered sentence: "The Bulls boast a veteran, talented group of receivers highlighted by seniors Raby Hawkins and Jake Simmons and junior Keenan Holdman – godson of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban."

Triple Winter Blast Alert From Delkus!!!!!

Meteorologist Ashton Altieri is roaming roads tonight. He said snow is starting to stick to the roads in Wise County. pic.twitter.com/EcC7P81z2Z
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) November 17, 2014

And In Decatur Girls Volleyball Last Night

Decatur beat Big Spring 25-19, 25-13, 25-14 in the regional semi-finals last night. An emailer sent me this clip. Does a defensive player get credited with a "dig" if she prevents the spike with her face? Decatur's Caroline Lowery on the blast.