Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• In the first playoff ranking released last October, Ohio State was #16.
• For some reason, there was a photo of a male appendage on WFAA's website yesterday. (Hey, you go look for it if you want.)
• A goofy Texas Republican Congressman compared the President to Hitler. And then apologized. 
• My long term nemesis Ann Curry is out at NBC.
• Does anyone know shorthand anymore? I know one lady at the courthouse who used to practice it, but I haven't seen her use it in almost twenty years.
• Someone questioned me on whether gas prices were above $1.00 in the late 1970s. Someone back me up on this. As a new driver back then, I know! Gas pumps back then could only be adjusted to 99.9 cents (sheesh I feel old). So when gas prices went to $1.04, the stations would set the pump price to 52 cents and put a handwritten sign on it that said "Price is for 1/2 gallon. Total price will be double what you see on pump." 
• A Texas player gave an OU player a longhorn decal for All-Star game. The OU player turned it upside down and put it on his helmet.  I'm not sure if that is the UT player in the background of the pic laughing, but if it is: That is exactly the type of guy UT needs to keep out of the program in the future.
• Of the 62 Democrats in the new Texas legislature, only 7 are white. Of the 116 Republicans in the Texas legislature, only 8 aren't white. Source. 
• There's a story in the news about a former football player falling overboard and swimming nine miles to shore. That sounds fishy.  Deadspin wrote an article about it which implies the same thing. 
• Twenty years ago (well 12 days from now, actually) opening statements began in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. I actually watched a little about it on a CNN special last night and had forgotten that Mark Fuhrman, after having been caught lying on the (irrelevant) issue of whether he had ever used the n-word, took the 5th Amendment when asked, "Did you plant evidence in this case?"  Sheesh. That alone would give the jury a reasonable doubt. 
• The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed a relief pitcher who was "banned for life by the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2009, for allegedly accepting benefits from gamblers to throw two baseball games." Holy, cow. What's everyone going to think the first time he loses a game by leaving a curve ball hanging over the plate? 
• "A potentially disastrous situation at sea turned into a stunning stroke of luck for a 22-year-old man who fell overboard from a cruise ship and was then rescued later by another passing cruise ship after another passenger heard him calling for help in the open ocean." That story is beyond amazing. Heck, the coast guard has trouble finding someone when they know they are in the ocean, and this guy was spotted by someone in a passing cruise ship?! The odds of that happening have to be astronomical. 
• "Y'all'd've: Best contraction ever?" - Stolen from. And when I first saw it, I knew exactly what it meant. Heck, I sounded it out to see if I was guilty of uttering it. Verdict: Absolutely.
• I certainly support the French paper's right to publish satire, but if you keep poking a rattlesnake don't you expect to get bit?