Men's Health

Hope for prostate cancer patients as pioneering drug proves so successful they have already stopped the trials.

Medics at London's Royal Marsden Hospital were testing a powerful alpha radiation drug on 461 people while another group of the same number were being treated with a dummy drug.

Patients taking the new drug experienced less pain, side effects and lived longer.

Researchers were so astounded with the results they decided to stop the trial and started treating all 922 patients taking part in the study because they said it would be unethical not to.

When The Walls Come Tumbling Down

If you didn't see tonight's episode of Breaking Bad you missed out.

Best.

Show.

On.

TV.

Walt's world has finally come crashing down around him. Gus wants him dead. His wife... dead. His son... dead. His infant daughter... dead. His DEA Brother-in-law... dead. Neidermeyer... dead. Only Jesse's mercy keeps it from already being a done deal and Walt screwed that up royally.

When the going gets tough, the tough get the hell outa Dodge. It's time to vanish permanently. Walt goes to his secret stash getaway fund only to discover his wife has given over a half million to her boyfriend. After spending a bundle on the new Car Wash cover story, paying for his own cancer treatments, his Brother-in-law's therapy, lawyer bills, etcetera... he doesn't have the cash to pay for it.

Yowza!

2 episodes left this season. The show has yet again taken a wicked plot twist and next season will be the series finale. I have no idea where this is heading but I predict greatness.

SNL 37th Season Premiere

Alec Baldwin Set a new record hosting the Season Premiere of  Saturday Night Live. He's now the hosting record holder (16) by 1 over Steve Martin who stopped by to make sure everything was on the up & up and no performance enhancing drugs were being used.

The cold open was a parody of the Republican Debates. They tore Rick Perry to shreds and painted John Huntsman as The Manchurian Candidate.


Baldwin did not take his duties lightly. Besides playing Perry, he was a riot in several skits showcasing his wit and impeccable timing. He stole the show with his Tony Bennett impersonation on Weekend Update.

All in all I don't think you could have asked for much more from a season opener from SNL. Let's hope the rest of the season holds up as well as the debut.

I Need To Rebook My Flight...

I'm going to need an isle seat on an exit row and some singles, please.

Slicker version. (Like you're not going to watch it again.)

The Dakota Meyer Challenge To America

Medal of Honor recipient Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota Meyer was on David Letterman last night. If you didn't see it, you missed a great interview. The guy is as genuine as a mother's love as you will see in the first part of the interview.



The second half where he talks about the battle is only available on the full episode. I recommend watching.

One thing he took from his conversation over a beer with Obama was some advice about the importance of education. He has started The Dakota Meyer "Challenge to America". He hopes to raise $1 Million dollars (along with a matching $1M) for The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the oldest and largest need-based scholarship organization supporting military families. Learn more about them  here.

Sgt. Meyer has challenged us to donate $1 Million dollars by the MCSF's 50th anniversary on May 28, 2010. During the Letterman interview he stated so far they had raised $31,000.

Really?

I'm not one to go off willy nilly donating to the "cause of the week". Hell, I've been freeloading off Channel 13 for over 40 years, but you had me at Medal of Honor... I kicked in a few shekels out of respect and I hope all the South40 faithful will do the same. If this is how he wishes for us to say "Thank You", then I'm  happy to do so and hope you will as well. Give what you can, if you can give. It's certainly a worthwhile charity and I'm pretty sure the spokesperson is beyond reproach.

http://www.dakotameyer.com/challenge.html

Nightshift of the Living Dead

While not an actual photo of me at work today, it is an accurate depiction of what I probably looked like. I haven't wanted to call in so badly in years. But since I just gave notice, it would have looked like I was just blowing off work. I really like my Supervisor and didn't want to disappoint him.

This one was for The Gipper.

Good news is with the help of Gatorade, water, Imodium AD and Pepto I managed to survive the shift. But in lieu of eating, I took a 30 minute nap for lunch. I think that did as much good as anything.

FUBAR

Dear 8 pounds 6 ounces... newborn infant Jesus, don't even know a word yet... Please make it stop!


I won't go into gory details, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to say I got food poisoning Sunday. I've spent the last 2 days doing the "I hope I make it" dance/prayer between the bedroom and bathroom. 


My gut feels like Charlie Sheen's liver stopped by to redecorate.


Speaking of the "Rockstar from Mars", if you didn't catch the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen last night, you missed some serious funny. One of my favorite lines was from William Shatner, "I'm 80, you're 46. Why do we look like we went to high school together?"


Don't worry, I'm sure you will be able to watch it when it's rerun a few hundred times later this month. 


Now, if you will pardon me I have some urgent business to attend to...

Sgt. Dakota Meyer USMC and "that itty bitty ribbon"

WASHINGTON — President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor on Thursday to a young former Marine who ignored orders to stay put and fought his way five times into an ambush in an Afghan ravine, helping to rescue three dozen comrades and to recover the remains of four dead American servicemen.

In a ceremony at the White House, the president draped the medal over Dakota Meyer, describing him as a humble young man who repeatedly placed himself in extraordinary danger to save men he regarded as his brothers.

“Today we pay tribute to an American who placed himself in the thick of the fight — again and again and again,” the president said.

Mr. Meyer was the first living recipient from the Marine Corps to receive the award, the nation’s highest award for valor, for actions during the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Mr. Meyer, 23, now a sergeant in the inactive reserve, was an infantry corporal on Sept. 8, 2009, when an Afghan and American column headed before dawn toward the village of Ganjigal in Kunar Province.

The men in column — a mix of Afghan soldiers, border police officers and American trainers — were to meet with local elders. But they had been betrayed and walked into an ambush.

Corporal Meyer and another Marine had been assigned to secure a flank, and as Taliban gunfire began and the rest of his team was trapped, he was several hundred yards away.

Corporal Meyer listened on the radio as the rest of his Marine training team tried calling for help, and as Capt. Will Swenson of the Army, who worked with the border police and was also trapped, shouted into his radio for artillery support to suppress the Taliban fighters.

Officers at the nearby Army headquarters denied the request for artillery support, leaving the men, many of them wounded, to fight on their own until helicopter gunships arrived. (Investigations later suggested the Army officers decided that because the trapped troops were unaware of the precise locations of all of the other troops on the operation, artillery fire might have endangered them and was best withheld.)

Corporal Meyer asked permission several times to go into the ravine and to fight. He was told to remain in place, but decided to rush to the village nonetheless.

Meyer’s Medal of Honor citation details that day’s intense combat:

“When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Corporal Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Corporal Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers. Four separate times he fought the kilometer up into the heart of a deadly U-shaped ambush. During the fight he killed at least eight Taliban, personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded, and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe.”

“On his first foray his lone vehicle drew machine gun, mortar, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued five wounded soldiers. His second attack disrupted the enemy’s ambush and he evacuated four more wounded Marines. Switching to another gun-truck because his was too damaged they again sped in for a third time, and as turret gunner killed several Taliban attackers at point blank range and suppressed enemy fire so 24 Marines and soldiers could break-out. Despite being wounded, he made a fourth attack with three others to search for missing team members. Nearly surrounded and under heavy fire he dismounted the vehicle and searched house to house to recover the bodies of his fallen team members.”

Combined reports from The Washington Post and The New York Times .

One small step for man...

One giant "WTF am I doing?" for The South 40

As of the end of this month I will officially be self-employed/retired. I submitted my resignation yesterday.

I've got some surprises up my sleeve that I'll be sharing with you in the months to come. But it's safe to say some travel is on the horizon and maybe we'll finally have something worth reading around here.

Who knows, I might just go all Anthony Bourdain on you. I've got a sweet digital HD camcorder, a laptop, I love to eat and I love to travel. Don't forget I've already been featured on a national cooking show!

(OK, the segment was about the smoker and not me, but in the media world it still counts on your resume!)

I do have several Bucket List items that need checked off. Daytona 500, Talladega, Bristol, Hawaii, wait... what? 

I'll finally have the time and (if all goes as planned) money to pull this off. But I'm tellin' ya, that first step is a doozy!

If a tree falls in the woods, does it smash a minitruck?

 

I'm telling you that was one of the strangest things I've ever had happen to me. There I was typing away at a quick blog entry before getting ready for work when I heard a strange snapping/crackling/popping noise for a few seconds. It stopped then a louder crash/scrape/general mayhem noise.

My first thought was the cows had wandered thru the fence somewhere and were on the patio. Boy, was I wrong. 

As you can see in the pictures there are leaves on the tree branch that broke, so it wasn't dead. There was no sign of insect damage or disease. It was damaged in the fire that swept thru my place a few years ago and I'm sure that weakened the tree considerably. But there wasn't much wind, either. It just broke.

Luckily, Lil' Suzi is "Tokyo Tough" and the RV is in the shop getting wiring repaired or it would have been sitting right there. It also missed my covered patio/carport by a few feet. That's a hefty tree limb, about 8 inches diameter, and it fell 12-15 feet. Had it taken a different angle, I'm sure it would have done quite a bit of damage.

Littlesister has already staked a firewood claim on it.

Burn, baby, burn...

How quickly things can change

Haven't posted anything in a few days. It's been slow around here and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

We did manage to break 100 days of 100 degrees. (That's Wichita Falls' count) Yay?

Do have one bit of good news, DirecTv is finally broadcasting AMC-HD. Now you can watch Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead and everything else AMC has to offer in HD without waiting on the BluRay. Now if they would only get TCM in HD.

There is some sort of mutant strain of upper respritory bug that has been floating around. I know several people that have been sick with it, but luckily I've dodged it so far. Howie Mandel would be proud of the germaphobe precautions I've been taking.

The NASCAR regular season is over and The Chase has begun. I have a feeling Kyle Bush will win.

HOLY CRAP! A tree just fell over and missed the house by a few feet, but landed on my minitruck! Gotta check this out...

Is it just me?

Or is this picture disturbing?

I'm a gun owner and I fully believe girls should know how to hunt and defend themselves with firearms just like boys... BUT this is irresponsible parenting and gun ownership in my book. A single shot .22 is one thing, but there is no practical reason for a child that age knowing how to fire (much less actually firing) an AR-15.

I can't help but think of the child soldiers in Africa when I look at that.

The Great 2011 Dove Hunt

See any dove?

Neither did I.

I was out at dawn, Remington in hand, waiting for the feast. And I waited and waited and waited...

Finally around 10am a lone dove made it's way past me on the way to the stock tank but just at the far range of my gun. I took the shot and caught a few feathers, but no kill.. An hour or so more and I called it quits. But to add insult to injury, while rolling up my driveway not 1, but 2 of the fattest dove you've ever seen flew right across the hood of my truck.

Just a second I thought, "my windshield's already busted and my gun's in the backseat, I can do this..." then common sense took over and I decided it wasn't worth it.

There is still hope, a "cold front" is predicted and maybe it will be enough to get the dove migrating.

I've got bacon, onion, garlic and jalapeno on ready alert.

• It's the 900th post on The South 40!  Who knew I was this full of authentic frontier gibberish? 
• Don't answer that...
• Eyeball update: It could be better. I didn't realise I would lose what close vision I had and now have to carry a pair of reading glasses everywhere. I can't complain about vision beyond arm's length. It's like going from an old 1960's TV with a rabbit ears to a 1080p HDTV. I just can't see the clicker.
• I've finally switched to mp3's. To be honest I never had that many CD's, but it's much easier to carry everything in my Droid and there are some pretty cool apps out there like the DJ mixer I loaded to use this weekend when I take the PortaPole out to a party. Things should go much smoother this time. 
• Put the Space Shuttle in the shop. A big fat rat decided to attack it and chew thru the main coach wiring harness pretty much disabling the whole thing. That really ticked me off because the interior was in perfect condition when I bought it. Fortunately, the engine wiring wasn't touched and I was able to drive it there no problem.
• Tractor Supply sells great rat poison.
• Looking forward to dove for lunch!

Note To Liberally Lean: The New Family Truckster

Saw this car on Top Gear US last night and found this comparison online from The Smoking Tire. Since the Gangstamobile got crunched you might want to consider a replacement Family Truckster.

$65K+/-
Now that's a lot of money, but when you compare the performance to world class cars that cost over 3X the money and can't fit more than 2 people it's a steal.

My Favorite New Ad Campaign

Speaking of advertising...

Littlesister Would Be Proud

I've been needing a new bedroom dresser for quite a while. The stacked laundry basket motif is getting dated and really screwing up my Fung Shui. Since I've been spending money lately like it's growing on trees I decided to go ahead and chop down what was left of the stump and buy a cheap dresser. 

I went to Furniture Superstore next to Pronto's on 380 in Bridgeport. OK, after you stop laughing about "Superstore" and "Bridgeport" being in the same sentence we'll continue.

Seriously, I can wait all day... Don't make me turn this blog around!

To be honest, I was impressed with the inventory. It was sparce, but mostly quality stuff. I was expecting "Pressboard City" but found a decent selection of quality solid wood construction. The owner was quick to help me without being pushy. I told him what I was looking for and he gave me 3 or 4 options to look at. Then he pulled a rabbit out of his hat and showed me the backroom where he had a dandy of a deal.

An Ashley "Camdyn" dresser he just received that had a loose roller track on 1 of the drawers. I took a look and quickly figured out a screwdriver and 1 screw would permanently solve the problem. This was a $700 solid wood dresser with cedar drawers, but I picked it up for $300 (plus 15 cents for the screw).

An Ashley Furniture dresser for $300? America, what a country!

He asked me about how I heard of the store and how his advertising as working. I said "What advertising?, I used to buy lightbulbs here!". So tell 'em the South 40 sent ya! I'm not making anything off it, but a fair deal deserves word of mouth.

If you're in the market for some quality furniture at a more than fair price I highly recommend checking out Furniture Superstore in Bridgeport. Just get all the giggles about the name out of your system before you walk in.

It would be rude to snicker.

Let's go live to Tucker on The Boardwalk

And you thought the girls they send up 287 to stand on an overpass when a ice storm blows in had it bad.

Reporter Gives Update Covered In Sea Foam: MyFoxNY.com

Seafoam? Uh..... no.

MYFOXNY.COM - A local news reporter from Washington, D.C. ended up getting covered in what is probably the remnants of raw sewage as he delivered live hurricane reports from Ocean City, Md.

WTTG-TV reporter Tucker Barnes was providing live updates for stations around the country as a wall of what he described as sea foam poured over him.

Barnes was on the boardwalk as Hurricane Irene hit the coast of Maryland

He noted that he had immersed himself in organic material.  That "organic material" was most likely the effects of raw sewage pouring into the water during the storm.

"It doesn't taste great," he said.

He said it had a sandy consistency and added, "I can tell you first-hand, it doesn't smell great."

A Rare Saturday Off

So just what did I do with it?

Go dancing/ hot girl chasing?
Go gambling/ hot girl chasing?
Go drag racing/ hot girl chasing?

Ummm, no...

Follow up eye exam in Irving.
Quick (as in I doubletimed thru the place like zombies were after me) shopping hike thru Grapevine Mills.
Got a haircut.
Dinner at Arby's drive-thru.
Watched Brad Keselowski win at Bristol.
Now I'm sitting here watching the original pilot episode of Firefly.

No wonder I'm still the most eligible bachelor on The South 40. I'm too much of a party animal.

Speaking of Grapevine, that place is a nightmare to drive thru now. I could not believe how bad the construction was. For you guys that have to drive thru that mess daily, you have my sincere condolences. I started to take the back way out of the mall thru downtown, but thought "how bad could it be?" and took 114 West.

I didn't realise they had routed the freeway onto the service road and a traffic signal that had obviously not been reprogrammed for the load. After sitting for what seemed like forever we crept up on a sidestreet that several were taking as an escape route. I went for it and for a minute there I was feeling a little cocky as I cruised past a mile of gridlock to the intersection of  Tate & 114.

Didn't take long to get over that. The light changed.

I sat there and watched as all the cars I was sitting behind cruised past along with another 1000 or so.

I Can See Clearly Now

All I can say is WOW! I should have had LASIK 10 years ago when I chickened out.
I'll have to wear reading glasses now, but I can live with that.

The smell of burning eyeball wasn't that bad, but when he said "everything will go dark now" as he sliced my thick corneal flap when the procedure started I did have heaping helping of second thoughts. My reply was "OK, I'll just lay here thinking about 'Final Destination 5'."

That got a mixed reaction of laughs and one loud "Oh my God!".

Zombie Tractor?

Never underestimate the power of a redneck armed with a tractor and beer.

She ain't pretty. She'll never be the bell of the ball. But she's always there when you need her. I'm not talking about a booty call (unfortunately), I'm referring to my 1977 Massey Ferguson 235. When the nuclear winter is over and mankind hangs on by a thread, it will be riding on that tractor, I kid you not. I've sunk a 12 point chisel as deep as it would go in hard ground and all it did was stand on the rear tires and pull! It's out plowed tractors that are newer and bigger.

I've not been kind to it either. It's sat in the sun and weather since I bought it in '99. The thing is indestructible and will not die.

Can I get one just like it with power steering, a bucket and a cab? OK, ok.. let's not get greedy. But a man can dream. At least it has a beer holder!

The weather was perfect for working the roadbase, but Willie Jack did such a good job spreading it that there wasn't much to be done other than filling the gully working it's way up the northside of South40 Boulevard off 101. We'll see how it holds up when it finally rains.

LOL, yeah right... rain.

Road Work Ahead

Getting a bit of resurfacing done to South 40 Boulevard. Erosion (and getting a loaded 18 wheeler stuck) has taken it's toll on a couple areas. I got Willie Jack's Trucking to haul the base material out today and I'll work it with the tractor and boxblade tonight after work. It's too freaking hot to be out on a tractor right now, but it sounds fun later tonight.

I'll have to pick up some Bud Light on the way home. Remember kids, hydration is very important when operating heavy machinery on a hot Texas night.

Move Over Penicillin, There's a New Kid in Town

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022572

The brainiacs at MIT have been at it again. Meet "DRACO" (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizer) , a universal anti-viral drug that may be able to cure anything from the common cold to HIV.

Early tests have had outstanding results in the lab and in mice. 11 out of 15 viruses were killed in dishes and mice were cured of H1N1. The poetic part is the drug causes infected cells to "commit suicide". I like the thought of that for some reason.

Lots of testing still to be done, but if this pans out it may be the biggest leap forward since Penicillin. That might also be it's downfall. Nobody wants to make a one size fits all miracle drug, there's no money in it. They want to make designer cures for specific diseases.

DRACO may go the way of the car that runs on water, man.

Ground Control to Major Tom

Ran across this on a message board I visit.

Weather balloon... check.
Styrofoam... check.
Duct tape... check.
Cell phone with GPS tracking app... check.
Camera... check.

Clear for liftoff!

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Politically Incorrect... But Funny

A HUGE NSFW LANGUAGE WARNING. View at your own risk.

Reekris?

Makes sense to me

Just hold perfectly still...

Well I finally committed to taking the leap and getting LASIK surgery on my eyes. I have to confess I'm a huge freaking coward about it. The thought of the surgical procedure gives me the willys. Don't explain every step to me, just give me one of those George Clooney head nods, smile and say everything is going to be just fine.

You had me at Hello.

My corneal flap is thick and should make for excellent cutting? Thanks for sharing that. I'll be awake thru the whole thing and may smell something like burning hair? That makes me feel confident about my decision. Honest to God just shut the hell up and tell me to sign here, here and here. I don't have any questions because I've been researching/talking myself into this for 10 years and you are not helping.

I chose Dr. Tylock in Irving. He's the guy that does all the corrective surgery for the Rangers, Stars and Mavericks. There's signed jerseys from each of the players he's treated in the hallways of his clinic including Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Hamilton. He's also got the latest and greatest equipment available. If the NBA and AL MVP's trust him to slice open their eyeballs, then he's the guy I'm going to use.

Just do us all a favor and quit telling me what you're going to do to my eyeball, m'kay?

I wonder if they will let me listen to some Pink Floyd when it's go time. I used to love laser rock shows.

Ooh That Smell!

I woke up to an unfamiliar sound... thunder. It is a freakishly cool 95 at noon and you can smell the rain in the air. How sweet it is!

Now comes the tricky part, actually getting any rain! Once again it looks like we are going to miss out the good stuff and the storm is going to stay North of The South40.

I'm thinking of renaming the place if it will help.

Update: Got a nice 20 minute shower! I don't have a rainguage, but it was around a tenth. Now just have to hope the sun doesn't burn it off this afternoon.
Update Part Deux: The sun did come out and burn off a lot, but I think we'll see something from the rain. I predict a bright green field of coastal for about 30 minutes tomorrow morning before it turns back to brown. During the shower the temp dropped to 70. I was doing my best Lt. Dan in the front yard.

Rick Perry's A&M Transcript

Rick Perry's Texas A&M Transcript

To be fair, nobody ever accused him of being a genius.

A's- 2
B's- 18
C's- 25
D's- 8 (including Economics)
F's- 1

A Cry For Help

No, I'm not perched on a ledge. But, I do desperately need your help! I've been searching for a photo of Oscar's Bar B-Q on NW28th Street in Fort Worth and I can't find one.

The place was an icon with a Cessna crashlanded into the roof and the name across the wings. World's greatest BBQ with sawdust on the floor, giant frozen goblets of beer and tender juicy brisket that melted in your mouth in a near spiritual experience. The sliced sammich came with a pickle spear, a slice of sweet onion and no sauce. You didn't need any, but there was a squirt bottle of Oscar's private recipe on the table along with a bottle of  Louisiana sauce if you wanted to ruin perfection.

Oscar Thurmond (sp?) once ran for Ft. Worth city council. I remember seeing his campaingn posters hanging on the walls...  I usta koodint spel barbakue king, now I iz wun!

Your task is at hand, find that pic!

To quote Steve Martin "But first, a little Foggy Mountain Breakdown!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys!

I think the one in the orange shirt is their tour manager.

These kids are AWESOME! I'd never heard of The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys until I caught a Letterman rerun last night.

WOW!

Hanson they ain't. These brothers aren't some marketing gimmick slapped together to fit a demographic, they are 3 gifted brothers that have legit skills. Probably the reason why you haven't heard of them before. Did I mention they've only been playing for a little over 3 years?

Serious tip of the South 40 Resistol, boys.

And before you get the Deliverance jokes going, these boys are from... New Jersey?

Git a rope.

Here we come, walking down the street...

No this isn't a Monkees revival. It's a welcome to the scam revival. ERCOT  says demand outweighs supply and threatens to start rolling blackouts to prevent a systemwide crash. What they don't tell you is if they switch providers to keep you online and what those providers charge for service.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Texas on it's own electric grid because we had more generation than usage and if the national grid collapsed Texas could stand on it's own?

Don't Mess With Texas

This year is the 25th anniversary of the famous CAF Don't Mess With Texas public service announcement. It was IMHO, the best one of the bunch and they had some pretty good ones in that ad campaign. But I always thought the B-17 looked so low because of wide angle lenses, zoom and camera angle.

BOY, was I wrong!


This behind the scenes video shows just how low they actually got. That's some ballzy stuff in a 50 year old warbird! I kept waiting for a propstrike on that van. It also looks like the Fortress pilot had more huevos than the fighter jocks. The Pony and Wildcat didn't make the final cut.

Intruder Alert!

The South 40 has a new follower.

KERA would give you a Tote Bag or something for signing up.

Send me $300 and I'll find a T-Shirt that I'll "custom engrave" for you.

Pa! Pa!

I love old TV westerns. Maverick, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Gunsmoke, Have Gun / Will Travel, The Big Valley, Laredo, Wagon Train, Bonanza, Lawman. I'm a sucker for a classic TV western. But there was one series that was always my favorite, bar none... The Rifleman.

I never knew it was Sam Peckenpah's baby when I started watching The Rifleman in the 60's on Channel 11's Saturday night western lineup. I just knew it was a show about a father and son struggling in the old west depending on each other to survive. I may have never tried to emulate James Colburn's knife throwing cowboy in The Wild Bunch, but I broke more than one finger trying to duplicate Lucas McCain's rifle spin with my old lever action .22 (and so did about 99% of my friends) .

Two words that will be forever etched into my brain, even on my Alzheimer's riddled deathbed are "Pa! Pa!" You could also depend on the soundtrack to tell you the story even if you happened to lose track of what's going on when you ran to the fridge for a brew.. The show had to be ultra low budget because there were only about a half dozen music tracks used during the entire series and almost all revolved around the theme song. The rest were shootout/stressful scenes that also happened to have a theme song flavor. A change in speed or chord was all that was needed to indicated the mood/disposition of the scene. I hope that songwriter got his fair share of the residuals.

It really messed with my head when Chuck Connor's played a hippie sympathizer mad bomber in "The Mad Bomber" and the hip/shady bodyguard in Soylent Green. Lucas McCain would have never done that because Mark would have been disappointed in him.

You can get your weekly Rifleman fix Saturday mornings on AMC.

BTW, he fires 11 shots then reloads.  Or did he????

Speaking Of Heat

After 52 years, this film has still got it.
Well, nobody's perfect. But. Billy Wilder was WAY ahead of his time.

ESPN Finally Gets It

From The Daly Planet:

As Dr. Jerry Punch faded in the booth time and time again, it became clear that ESPN needed to return the good doctor to pit road and bring in someone with a better play-by-play style of presentation. ESPN looked around and Vice President of Motorsports Rich Feinberg made a decision. It would be IndyCar and NHRA veteran Marty Reid taking over that role beginning in 2010.

Now in his second season, it's become clear that Reid's lack of a NASCAR history has handicapped him in the TV booth. After five months of working the Nationwide Series telecasts this year, Feinberg finally made a move. Just a week before ESPN starts its fifth season of Sprint Cup Series races, a new face would head the team.

After restarting his TV career in 2007 as a Nationwide Series pit road reporter, Bestwick finally gets the chance to return to the spotlight. While Reid will continue on the Nationwide telecasts, Bestick will call the Sprint Cup Series races for ESPN and ABC.

It seems ironic that rather than utilize Bestwick in this role from the beginning, it has taken ESPN five years to put the pieces of the puzzle in the right places. Now alongside of Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree, ESPN is poised for the first time to come at the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series races with Bestwick leading the charge.

In all the media releases, interviews and social media conversations over the past five seasons there has never been a moment where Bestwick has complained about his role, about any of his fellow announcers or even offered a negative comment.

During a media teleconference on Tuesday, Bestwick was asked how he felt about getting the opportunity to return to a TV role he enjoyed in a sport he cherished. He simply said it was an honor to get a tap on the shoulder from the coach asking him to get in the game and play.


Never was a broken leg more costly to a career. Allen Bestwick is arguably the best NASCAR announcer in the business. He worked his way thru the ranks and knows NASCAR inside out. He "gets it". He's charismatic, informed and above all, a professional. 


I miss the old days of watching him on Speedvision along with Johnny Benson, Kenny Schrader, Michael Waltrip and the occasional garbage truck emptying the dumpster in the alley behind the studio on Inside Winston Cup Racing. That show was wheels off in more ways than one but AB never failed to keep the circus train on the track and always signed off "see you next week, network executives willing".


His is a story of a genuinely good, hard working guy that had the rug yanked out from under him (not once, but twice!). But instead of giving up, he hung in there, did the grunt work without complaint and is once again at the top of the pack. There are few people that can call a race like Allen Bestwick and it's good to have him back where he belongs.

Chillin'

Had the a/c condenser fan replaced yesterday at Chico Auto Parts. Care to guess what it cost?

Less than I expected actually. Only $120 to replace the fan cowling and drain/recharge the a/c system. I was planning on a $200 minimum. But when you add the parts I already purchased ($120) and labor it all came to $240.

$240 for a repair that should have cost no more than $12 and done in the backyard with simple tools? I'm not blaming Chico Auto. The problem I have is with Dodge.

But at least I have frosty cool a/c hitting me in the face on the way to work instead of medium/well done grasshoppers at 60MPH with the window down.

Homeboy

I have a friend that thinks this song is hilarious. I had to explain it's a sad song, not a parody.

Not sure he really grasped the concept.

I am a lineman for the county

CenturyLink is back up... for now.
Allegedly the problem was a circuit board near Killeen...

CenturyLink Out Again

Same song, 7th chorus.

Engineered Income

The condenser fan went out on my '02 Dodge Ram. As you know all too well, this is not the time of year to be without a/c in Texas, so I bought a replacement fan and shroud for $120.

$120 for a 12 volt plastic fan and shroud? That's a pretty darn good profit margin if you ask me, but then I'm not a Dodge engineer.

As I set about removing the fan shroud that was held on with only 2 bolts I discovered it was also the condenser mount. OK, I'll have to unbolt the condenser, but I cant get to the bolts because the refrigerant lines are holding everything in place and they are routed THRU the shroud not around it like any logical human being would do.

This means the lines will have to be taken apart to remove the condenser to change the shroud and replace the fan. That means having to drain the gas, then vacuum & recharge the a/c system. Yet another expense on top of replacing the fan.

What should have been a simple 30 minute backyard job (remember this was a 2 bolt deal when I started) has suddenly become a labor intensive task that can only be done in a well equipped shop by a trained technician with the proper tools and a credit card machine, simply because someone decided to route the a/c  lines an inch to the left when an inch to the right would have worked fine and be much, much simpler and user friendly to repair.

What Up With That?

What's up with the nice new 4 lane divided concrete highway being constructed off 101 North of Bridgeport? Is that a new entrance to the off-road park?

They could have paved half of West Side for what that road cost!

Somebody send me some pics!

Breaking News:(Literally) CenturyLink Outage Texas

I might be slow, but I'm faster than The Messenger (and LLDQ)... Unless your ISP is someone other than CenturyLink/Embarq/Sprint you have been without service most of the last 24 hours.

In case you are keeping track (and I am for when I call for a rebate)  this is the 5th time in the last 30 days CenturyLink has gone offline.

Oh yeah, it's back on now...

Come Fly The Friendly Skies... For Free

Ingenious. I'm amazed Littlesister didn't think of this first.

From Forbes:

It goes something like this: The U.S. Mint, through a 2005 act of Congress, is required to place $1 billion worth of the golden presidential and Sacagewea dollars into circulation in an effort to stimulate general use. The only problem is, the coins haven't really caught on with the general public. But there is one group of people that have enthusiastically embraced their use: travel hackers, so called because they aggressively look for loopholes in promotional programs and for tips on travel websites for ways in which to make the best use of their travel dollars. Much of this "hacking" involves taking advantage of frequent flier programs in unique and innovative ways.


The dollar coin trick involves purchasing large amounts of coins with a frequent flier card, waiting for the Mint to ship the coins (free shipping!), and then taking the coins to the bank, where they are deposited and the money is used to pay the credit card charges. No money is lost, the frequent flier miles rack up, and travelers can use them for upgrades or completely free flights whenever they want. According to NPR's Planet Money, which broadcast a story about the scheme on Wednesday morning, the Mint caught on when some customers started buying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free coins, so it has since limited purchases to $1,000 every ten days. But 3,000 free frequent fliers miles per month still isn't a bad deal.

Contrary to some reports, the practice hasn't ended since the Mint enacted the new rules; it's only slowed down. You can find the web page for the Mint's coin program here.

30 Minutes or Less

Jesse Eisenberg, Danny Mc Bride, Aziz Ansari and Nick Swardson.
This could be great.

Box Cutter

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.
All Los Pollos Hermanos employees must wash hands before returning to work.

6353 Juan Tabo, Apartment 6...Yeah.

The new season of the best show on TV starts this Sunday night on AMC when Breaking Bad returns. In case you live under a rock in a Geico commercial, Breaking Bad is the best show on TV and that is in no small credit to it's ensemble of writers, cast and cinematographers. Bryan Cranston is a cross between the Dad from Malcom in the Middle and Tony Montana in Scarface. The stark New Mexico desert gives a gritty backdrop to the wildly tangled web of hope, lies, desperation and good intentions of a mild mannered man that's been screwed over his entire life and is making one last desperate effort to provide for his family only to have that also go horribly wrong. Series creator Vince Gilligan has hand crafted a masterpiece from top to bottom.

Gut busting humor one minute and gritty crime drama like no other the next. The fact it comes from a basic cable network that relies on old movies to fill airtime is astounding. The fact that same basic cable network also produces Mad Men, The Walking Dead and The Killing is simply beyond comprehension.

AMC is the little network that could.

All the previous seasons and special online webisodes of  Breaking Bad are available at: http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad

If you've never seen the show I highly recommend watching it from the begining and seeing the evolution of the characters, especially Walt and Jesse. Yeah I know, you've never seen the show despite my constant plugging and now you don't have time to watch it from the beginning. Well, you're in luck. Being the undisputed amateur media king of the Southwest blogosphere proper, I took the time to hunt down the Cliff Notes for you.

Here is Breaking Bad in 10 minutes.


Any show that can have you rooting for a chrystal meth cook can't be all bad. Tony Soprano ain't got squat on Walter White.

Did I mention it's the best show on TV?

Edit: Did I also mention I don't know the difference between Wantabo and Juan Tabo? Reason # 27 why I'm no longer a crackerjack journalist / cub reporter.

Netflix of the Week: Cancelled!

It's a dog eat dog world in the blog bit bidness. Less than a month after The South 40 retooled a dedicated recurring bit by plugging Netflix (free of charge I might add) they decided to jack the cost of their basic subscription rates 60%.

Add that on top of the recent DVD shipping debacle and the Tribal Council has spoken. The Netflix Tiki torch has been extinguished.

Movie Netflix Working Title of the Week will return after a brief hiatus.

Chloroform, chlorine... C'mon man, you're like MacGyver!

A quick webisode featuring Walt and Badger from the Breaking Bad archives.

The new season of the best show on TV debuts this Sunday night on AMC.
More to come...

Justin Timberlake: Ultimate Wingman

I've always liked Justin Timberlake. He can sing, dance, act, he's funny as hell and blog hit counter gold. I didn't think it was possible for him to be any cooler. I was wrong.

Now he's the ultimate wingman for a US Marine.


Last week (after reported watching Black Swan for the 132nd time) Sgt. Scott Moore, of the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines in Musa Qala, Afghanistan set up a YouTube page and posted a video asking Mila Kunis to accompany him to the Marine Corps Ball on November 18th in Greenville, North Carolina.

During an interview with FOX News for their film Friends With Benefits, the reporter asked Kunis if she had seen the invitation and co-star Justin Timberlake immediately went to work for the Devil Dog.



“Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? You need to do it for your country,” Timberlake asked Kunis excitedly, before sending out a direct message to Moore. “I’m going to work on this, man. This needs to go down.”

After questioning her publicist if she knew about the invitation, the clearly flattered 27-year-old actress agreed.

“I’ll go, I’ll do it for you,” she said, turning to Timberlake. “Are you going to come?”

“They don’t want me! They want you,” Timberlake responded. “You need to do it for your country.”
Kunis agreed. “I’ll do it!”

Semper Fi, JT! You are the man!

I'm definitely going to see "Friends With Benefits" now. (Like I wasn't anyway.)
(R Rated Trailer)

How To Make A Pepsi Sammich

First off I apologize because this post is absolutely useless without pictures and I was right there with a camera and didn't shoot a single drive-by. This is a good example of why I'm no longer a cracker jack journalist / cub reporter.

If you've noticed a bread shortage at Allsup's and a few other stores in Wise County it's because the TriState bakery truck and the Pepsi truck smashed each other in front of Allsup's in Chico last Wednesday. It was a bread-splosion on 101 as a rock truck crashed thru the TriState truck's trailer filled with bread and split it in half. Buns were flying as the two sections of trailer spun around and wound up wrapped around the Pepsi truck sitting in Allsup's parking lot.

KA-BOOM!

I was laughing so hard from the sight of it that I completely forgot about getting any pics or video. It was like a real life Top Gear bit. It would have definitely filled in the gap for the Liberally Lean vacation. Hopefully somebody out there has pics to share.

Edit: I have found an eyewitness with pics, but don't have them on my computer yet.

Netflix of the Week: Finally Updated

The Expendables

Apparently, the title was appropriate than I imagined because I didn't receive the BluRay that was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday.

1 out of 3 isn't bad I guess, but this isn't what I was hoping for. I filed a missing DVD report so when it finally gets here, you'll get my 2 cents on what looks like to be a last gasp testosteronefest for Hollywood's aging action heroes.

Prove me wrong, please...

UPDATE: The BluRay finally arrived and unfortunately they didn't prove me wrong. Here's the plot...

ACT 1:Shoot, explosion, old guy doing karate, explosion, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, explosion, old guy doing karate, explosion.

ACT 2: Old guy gets horny for inappropriately younger girl. Shoot, explosion, shoot, shoot, shoot, old guy doing karate, shoot, explosion, explosion, explosion.

ACT 3: Old guy fights old guy both doing karate, shoot, shoot, shoot, old guy, old guy, explosion, old guy, explosion, shoot, shoot, old guy fights old guy while shooting yet another old guy, old guy gets inappropriately younger girl.

The End.

On a Sylvester Stallone film scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being Cliffhanger and 10 being Rambo, this film barely rates a Rocky 5.

On the plus side I've discovered YouTube has a good library of movies online for absolutely free.

I Saw This In A Three Stooges Movie

From CNN:

A 19-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly trying to sneak her husband out of prison in a suitcase, according to authorities in the Mexican Caribbean state of Quintana Roo.

According to officials at the prison in the city of Chetumal, the state's capital, the woman identified as Maria del Mar Arjona was caught as she was leaving the prison, pulling a black-wheeled suitcase.

Authorities said that as she was walking up a staircase to leave the prison, Arjona hit the suitcase against the stairs. When something inside the bulky suitcase moved, guards noticed and stopped Arjona, who acted nervously. The guards then looked inside the suitcase and found her husband, Juan Ramirez Tijerina.

Cesar Manuel Castilla, a spokesman for Quintana Roo's Department of Public Safety, says that in any case it would have been extremely difficult for the inmate to escape in the suitcase.

"We have three inspection stations at the prison and he was caught in the first one," Castilla said. "In any case, she would have been asked to open the suitcase for inspection at the third and last inspection station. I don't know what they were thinking."

Pictures of the incident released by Quintana Roo's Department of Public Safety show the man curled up inside the suitcase in a fetal position. He was covering his face when the pictures where taken.

Ramirez is serving a sentence at the Chetumal prison after being convicted of federal drug trafficking charges.

He was immediately returned to his cell while Arjona was detained. She now faces multiple charges stemming from the Saturday incident. According to Castilla, Arjona is six months pregnant. She fell ill after being detained. Charges and a court appearance are pending while she recovers at a state hospital.

Arjona was at the prison for a conjugal visit, Castilla said.

4-year-old cold murder case still haunts detective

4-year-old cold murder case still haunts detective

Who killed Sheila Reed?

Think I Blew My Knee Out

Took an impromptu trip to Lake Texoma yesterday to spend some time with Little Sister and BrotherInLaw. They were camped on an island and invited me to come with them. I wimped out and didn't spend the night because the heat was wearing me out. That and my knee was killing me!.

The lake is very low and shallow this year. When we pulled up to the island I jumped off the stern to help tie off the boat. They said it was waist deep. Well if you are an umpaloompah it was waist deep, for me it wasn't even knee deep. I jumped off standing up and hit bottom before I could bend my knees.

C R U N C H !

Now my left knee feels like somebody tried to take off my kneecap with a crowbar and filled it with gravel when I walk.

Happy Independence Day!

Saw this on CMT tonight. Who knew Rob Hawkins was so funny?

Some Things Never Change

I remember the fireworks wars we had as kids using bottle rockets and roman candles. Somehow we survived without killing ourselves or burning down the neighborhood. At work yesterday, I overheard a conversation between a father and his sons that took me back to those golden days of yesteryear.

Sons: Dad can we get some roman candles at the fireworks stand??? 


Dad: Maybe, we'll see.


Sons: COOL!! Were gonna take hay bales and make forts and have a roman candle war!!!


Dad: Nooooooooooo!


Have a safe and happy 4th everybody. And please, no hay based forts near the fireworks.

I Hate Counting Inventory!

Just wanted to throw that out there for what it's worth. The good news is I lucked out and got a 4-Day weekend to make up for it.

We now return to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.