Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• A horrific vacation story this morning out of, incredibly, Orlando: A two year old boy was attacked and dragged into the water by an alligator off the shores of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. He was wading in about one foot of water with his father at around 9:30 p.m. last night. He is still missing. 
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• The exact name of the body of water is Seven Seas Lagoon which is surrounded by Disney hotels and the monorail system. I swam in it as a kid. 
• I watched Part 2 of the 30 for 30 on O.J. last night. It's getting really good and far more of a history lesson than an O.J. lesson. (I had completely forgotten about Latasha Harlins  who was a 15-year-old African-American girl who was shot in the back of the head in 1991 by Soon Ja Du a 51-year-old female Korean-American store owner. It was caught on video. She received 5 years probation which led to racial unrest.)
• Donald Trump was supposed to make a stop in DFW but Grand Prairie said no and then Irving said no. The cities claim it was a logistics problem. Some think it was a potential protester problem.
• Speaking of protests, Trump's visit to San Antonio on Friday might be pretty eventful.
• I think this is big Texas news that is flying under the radar: "The Texas Attorney General's Office has found a new way to punish parents who are behind on child support payments: Blocking their vehicle registration renewal."
• I wondered how long it would take Alvord's native son, Danny Neighbors, to get back into coaching. 
• I do need to get out more: I had no idea that Frilly's had opened up a Tex Mex place and will soon open up a BBQ place at Sean's old location. (Speaking of BBQ, I've heard good things about the new place up near Alvord in the old Cow Camp location.)
• Bridgeport Police Chief Steve Stanford had a funny quote about Facebook which helped his agency solve a theft case: "Something positive finally came from social media."
• I've been listening to a multi-part podcast on World War I which I know nothing about. I was stunned by this number: On the first day of Germany's full blown invasion into France, France lost 27,000 men. Holy cow. The bloodiest one day battle the U.S. has ever gone through is Antietam in the Civil War which left 7,650 dead (and that includes those who died in later days and weeks from injuries.)
• I had a defendant (not mine) in court the other day who randomly started complaining to me about President Obama's portrait hanging on the wall. "Why?" he asked. "He don't even know how to put his hand over his heart."  I'm sure the guy didn't enjoy being called to court, but that was some misplaced anger right there.
• Did you know there are actually four stanzas of the National Anthem?  There are always over/under prop bets for the Super Bowl on how long it will take to sing the anthem and they normally come in at around 2:20. So to sing the whole thing would normally take nine to ten minutes. 
• Very random trivia: The longest #1 Billboard hit ever was Don McLean's American Pie which clocked in at 8:36. The Beatles Hey, Jude ranks second at 7:11. And, now, for the most random link in the history of ever: Listen to the Brady Bunch do a cover of American Pie here.
• I've mentioned before about how often I think flags are flown at half-staff. I'm right. Last year they were officially flown in that manner on 64 days (not to mention how local entities take it upon themselves to lower it on additional days for local incidents or deaths.)