Skattershooting after one very, very long summer:

• Did you see that the winner of the Bassmasters Classic was Takahiro Omori.  Do you think that played well in Alabama?
  
• Since almost all my predictions are woefully wrong, I am pleased to announce that in August of 2001 I wrote that Quincy Carter "will not be in the league five years from now" and in September of 2002 I said that "Quincy Carter will never make it in the NFL".  He's hanging on for dear life as a back-up in New York.  This makes me a certified football genius.  Maybe not.
  
• President Bush came to Dallas on  8.3.04 to speak to the Knights of Columbus and it was reported that he first made a stop for a fundraiser at "the private home of a software entrepreneur". That man, I found out, was Larry Lacerte.  In case, you were wondering, in 1998, Lacerte sold his company to Intuit for $400 million.  That kind of money apparently will get you a lot of attention.
  
• Speaking of Quincy Carter, we forget that he was a second round pick and had a signing bonus of "only" $1.6 million. (I'm obsessed with Quincy).
  
• Can anyone explain why certain things are exempt from taxes on Tax Free Day and others are not?  (i.e. pajamas are tax free and but backpacks are taxed).  The complete crazy list is here.
  
• Martha Stewart is in prison and I feel so much safer.
• Ken Jennings won 30 straight "Jeopardy" episodes and then, and only then, did he crack the $1 million in winnings barrier. (He might want to consider "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" next time).
  
• There was probably no one more happy with Quincy Carter's release than Vinny Testaverde.  Expected to be a backup when the Cowboys signed him, his contract has a clause that allows him to make $3 million more if he is involved in 80% of the Cowboy's offensive plays and the team is at least 8-8.
• Testaverde is 41. Troy Aikman is currently 37.  I wonder .......
  
• Rick James died two weeks ago. His big hit, Super Freak, never got higher than 16 on the Billboard charts
• President Bush misspoke the other day and said "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." What is impressive is that the White House web site, which chronicles every official word the President says, put the text of his remarks on the web - mistakes and all. 
• From a letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News after yet another truck full of smuggled immigrants was discovered: "How safe are we? Illegals are being trucked into Texas every day - that could be a truck full of explosives."
• Random news article: Robert Howard competed in track and field events for the Arkansas Razorbacks from 1994-98. He was also on the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic team, and was an 11-time All-American, a 10-time NCAA champion, and an eight-time Southeastern Conference champion. Howard took last year off from medical school in an unsuccessful bid to make the Olympic team. He then killed his wife and jumped from a 10th floor window.
  
• Yahoo's Most Emailed photos seem to be obsessed with women's bodies and animals. I'm not sure what that means.
  
• Fahrenheit 9/11 will be on DVD in October before the election. Coincidence? Not a chance.
• "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6" - quote from an Ellis County man on Fox 4 news who put up a sign that he would use "extreme deadly force" against anyone who burglarizes him.
• Former Kansas City Chief Derrick Thomas died in an auto crash in 2000. Some of his family members sued General Motors afterwards for wrongful death. They lost. Tell me what catches your eye from the following blurb from an AP story about the matter: "Thomas' mother, Edith Morgan, his seven children and their five mothers sued GM, seeking at least $73 million dollars". 
  
• While preparing Gorton's Grilled Fillets frozen dinner (I do a lot of that these days), these were the microwave instructions: "Microwave on high as directed below. 1 fillet: 3 1/2 to 6 minutes." Is that range just a bit too large?
• Lawrence Phillips was a great running back for the University of Nebraska when the school won the National Championship a few years back. He was also the 6th overall selection in the 1996 draft. And then things went south. He recently sold his Big 12 Championship ring in a Las Vegas pawn shop for $20.
  
• University of Texas football coach Mack Brown received a $1.6 million bonus this year for staying with the University as long as he has. That is in addition to his base salary of $2 million.
• Love, Actually is a very good movie.
  
• The movie's beginning dialogue has Hugh Grant saying, as we watch scenes of people reuniting at an airport, "General opinion is starting to make out that we live in a word of hatred and greed. But I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the twin towers as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it I've got a sneaky feeling that you'll actually find that Love Actually Is All Around"
• Sliding Doors is great about demonstrating my firm belief that even the smallest of events (i.e. a second delay in catching a subway) can change one's life forever.
  
• Donnie Darko is a bit freaky but has become a cult classic
• I looked at the baseball standings on 8/28 to see how Texas was doing against division and/or wildcard opponents Boston, Anaheim, and Oakland. I noted that Texas had a streak of 7-2. Good enough I thought. Then I noticed that each of the other three teams had streaks of 9-1!
• Pudge Rodriguez has has only thrown out 14 of 50 base stealers.
• During 1969 and 1970, UT football was on television a total of five times. (And they won the National Championship both years). In the last year, they have been on TV 25 times. ESPN will televise 112 regular season college football games this year.
  
• Didn't Israel and Egypt used to shoot at each other? At least they did when I was a kid. What happened?
  
• The movie about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's story was presented in the movie Miracle. I was underwhelmed by the movie (but not the actual event). Did you know that just 13 days before the Olympics, the U.S. team played the Russians at Madison Square Garden and lost 10-3?  Another great note was coach Herb Brook's warm up speech before the actual Olympic game against the Russians: "If we played them ten times, they might win nine, but not this game. Not tonight."
• Want to hear your computer talk to you?