Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I never watched the Virginia killer's videos of his murders, and I doubt if I ever will. But I don't begrudge those who did.  But for me, it would be like watching one of those old Faces Of Death videos -- which I never did either. 
• Side note: When's the last time you heard a Faces of Death reference?
• I couldn't believe the father and the boyfriend of the slain reporter were giving sit down interviews yesterday. 
• There was already some talk of gun control laws yesterday, but if 20 dead elementary school children at Sandy Hook didn't cause it to happen, it never will.
• I'm a fan of the Slate's Spoiler Specials podcast where they review movies with the understanding they'll reveal the ending. I haven't listened to many lately because I had backed off on my movie watching, but I did listen to the one for Gone Girl. It was three reviewers who had all read the book, and one believed that the movie's huge flaw was that the book treated the husband and wife characters as almost equally despicable, but the movie depicted her as evil yet makes him only a very flawed yet sympathetic guy. As a guy who hasn't read the book, my reaction was: He was evil in the book? 
• I also listened to their podcast on Birdman. For three very smart critics, they were spot on about one thing: It is beautifully filmed. However, they were clueless regarding what the movie was really about. They leaned towards it being a film about the writer/director's attitude towards action movies. Are you kidding me? And none of them interpreted the ending scene as I did. (So, of course, they must be wrong.)
• I don't know if it has merit, but a federal lawsuit regarding wage discrimination based upon gender has been filed in federal court by a woman who worked in Bridgeport.
• Last night Fox 4 Weatherman Dan Henry showed a couple of old National Hurricane Center projections from 10 years ago before Hurricane Katrina hit. They were dead on as they correctly predicted the path of the Hurricane on late Friday.  Henry told us that those who went to bed early on Friday and "went about their business on the weekend" might have been caught off guard when the Hurricane hit on Monday morning. I'm not sure the struggling people of the Ninth Ward were generally worried about the weather. 
• Had an odd trivia question come up last night concerning when "We Got The Beat" by the Go-Go's was released. Shocking answer: 33 years ago. 
• Fox 4 also had a news story on a wedding cake baker under "fire" for refusing to make a cake for a same sex couple. Uh, is there anyone else under assault because of same sex marriage other than wedding cake bakers?
• The Texas Legislative Medal of Honor was given posthumously to Lt. Col. Ed Dyess, the namesake of Abilene's Dyess Air Force Base yesterday. He survived the Bataan Death March, and I could have sworn I had written about him when I read the death march book a while back (but Google can't find anything that I know exists on Liberally Lean.) Gregg Abbott presented the award and Rick Perry flew back to be there as well. Good for Perry. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact press magnet Chris Kyle was also honored. 
• Email spam I received: "The #1 mobile Breathalyzer solution for proving sobriety in child custody cases. Real-time results are collected throughout parenting time and transmitted from the device to a secure online portal. Immediate notifications are sent out in the event of alcohol consumption."  Are you kidding me? 
• Faster than we are descending into Idiocracy, we are hurling toward a future world of a 24/7 documentation of every  movement you make (GPS), every possible consumed substance that could be considered harmful (alcohol, drugs, caffeine, sugar, cigarettes) will be noted, as well as health indicators (pulse rate, respiration, blood sugar count, perspiration, temperature. blood pressure).  I'm not sure how it will be done, but anyone want to bet against it? Think of a futuristic Fitbit in 20 to 30 years. 
• I'm kind of surprised by the photo choice by this Virginia newspaper. Most of them show the victims: