Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• There was a news conference yesterday by the severely injured Joshua teen, along with her parents, whose parachute didn't open. Key sentence: "Now, her parents say they are turning their attention toward regulations governing skydiving." Hey, dumb parents! You let your daughter skydive in Oklahoma because Texas requires someone to be eighteen years of age before they jump out of a plane. (And she was uninsured.) 
• Channel 8's Dale Hansen, whose gay tolerance Unplugged segment has gone viral, will be on Ellen today. (I promise I saw a photo last night of Hansen on stage with Ellen, but I heard this morning the interview was via satellite. I'm so confused.)
• This Hansen-going-viral is a social science phenomena right out of Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. Hansen has been doing those bits for years - and they are great - but for some reason this one takes off.
• Has there ever been a bigger and quicker cultural shift in America than its attitude towards gays?
• Ten years ago today we had over three inches of snow on the ground. I'm trying to remember it without success. 
• Sting and Paul Simon performed at American Airlines Center last Sunday, and Sting did a couple of songs with Simon as he, in essence, assumed the role of Art Garfunkel. That would have been great to see. (But it is crazy to think that Sting is in his 60s and Simon is in his 70s)
• You kind of get the impression that everyone competing in the Winter Olympics grew up as a rich kid. (At least those raised in a free market.)
• I'm very confused by the story of Olympian Katie Uhlaender (the artificially red-headed skeleton racer). NBC ran a story two nights ago of how she had taken over her family's farm in Kansas -- with the obligatory footage of her driving a tractor on the farm. But last night, KXAS 5 had a story profiling her "hometown" of McGregor, Texas and how the town was so excited about her success. To confuse matters, all official sites list her hometown as Breckenridge, Colorado.
• As I was falling to sleep last night, I swear I saw an Olympic sport of team ice skating racing around a very short track with about a krillion skaters on the ice at the same time -- many of whom ended up busting their arses into the sideboards. Fun. 
• Tomorrow's hockey game between Russia and the U.S. is pretty historic. It's the first rematch on their soil since the 1980 historic Miracle on Ice. 
• I always write about the NPR radio show This American Life, and today Google's home page pretty much has a new episode of it featured in candy hearts. I clicked on the first one and heard the familiar voice of Ira Glass. 
• SI's cover for this year's swimsuit issue has been released. Always a "Hey, Now."
• Gordon Keith's column today in the Morning News is about Valentine's Day and Those Who Have Divorced. There are so many gems in there. Read it.
• I've watched a lot of Teen Jeopardy this week because I can actually answer some of the questions. 
• There's a strange case of a woman found dead yesterday who had gone missing last month after going for a walk in a San Antonio suburb. She had just finished spending two years traveling around the world with her husband and blogging about it, and some family members have speculated that she was having trouble facing "regular life". That's the story lead story below. (I noticed the side story was about a judge who will resign after allegations surfaced he reduced bail in exchange for car repair services. Good grief.)