We love the way police give some criminals clever monikers, like the Leprechaun Bandit or Scarecrow Bandits, so we wanted to get in on the act.
Check out this loser, um, suspect fleeing the scene of his bank robbery on a bike he probably stole from a sixth-grader. One thing's for sure, he won't get far.
In the latest sign that we're at least as cool as Southlake, Fort Worth is getting its own Apple Store in University Park Village. This hasn't been the best-kept secret. Rumors have been swirling since early this year, but we spied the slick Apple logo over what used to be The Gap store this morning. Kinda looks like the Bat Cave right now.
A friendly construction site foreman told me the store is slated to open Aug. 23, which is a day before my birthday -- just in case you were having a tough time coming up with gift ideas. Bowling stuff always works, too.
When you vote for a president, you aren't just voting for the person who will rule the free world. You're also voting for that person's better half.
Here's a little quiz to test whether you know the most basic thing about the 2008 presidential contenders' spouses -- their names.
-- John Metz
For those who hadn't heard, the Star-Telegram's publisher Wes Turner announced his retirement today. He's a beloved figure 'round these parts; the kinda guy you wanna be when you grow up.
A leader. He can bowl on my team any day of the week.
If I never hear these two names again -- Michael Vick and Harry Potter -- that'll be just fine and dandy with me.
Vick's an NFL quarterback, not a head of state. If he's guilty of being the lord of the dog fighting ring, let justice do its thing. But for now, let's stop acting as if the world as we know it will colla
pse if he doesn't start training camp for the Falcons next week. It's not like Vick is T.O. or anything.
As for Master Potter, he's a fictional character -- not a god. But in Israel some shop owners are thinking of opening on the Sabbath to sell the final book. And the cries rising up from the masses about who will die and potential spoilers for the book, well, it's just reached a frenzy. I blame the terrorists.
Perhaps it's not a bad thing that people can be galvanized around anything anymore, particularly in our world of attention deficit media and marketing. I just wish we could focus on something of true value -- like bowling.
Sermon over. Go back to work now!
The word geeks at Merriam-Webster have updated the 2007 edition of the Collegiate Dictionary and added an exaggeration that every teacher and parent has heard from an overexcited kid for at least the last five years: ginormous.
It's a mix of gigantic and enormous, and as any kid who's eaten a Freebirds burrito can tell you, it means "extremely large," like this, or "humongous." (Remember when that one got added? 1983, after about 20 years in circulation -- a combination of huge and monstrous.)
Being a bit of a snob when it comes to the language, I was mildly put off by the addition of ginormous at first. But on further reflection, even with its enormity, I guess it's harmless.
There are about 100 new words in the latest edition (11th). My favorite so far is nocebo -- kind of the opposite of placebo.
Perfect storm made it this year. So did crunk and smackdown.
Another that made me kind of cringe: viewshed, as in "watershed."
Yeesh! OK, maybe I'm not such a purist.
Pick your favorites, and least favorites, here.
-- T-Bone, uhler@star-telegram.com
P.S.: I hope you all duly noted this recent notable anniversary. If not, please do so now.
So the top two nominees to play Richard Earl Kemp in Leprechaun Bandit, The Movie are ...
.
And then there's always this guy, though he seems a little perky ...
Awhile back I wrote about the Metroplex's Curse of Overconfidence. Looks like it struck little Samir
Patel of Colleyville yesterday at the National Spelling Bee. He couldn't have been a bigger pre-game favorite, and he, well, you saw what happened. It's C-L-E-V-I-S!!!!!
Samir joins the Mavs, fumble fingers Romo and the 'Boys, the Stars, the dead-last Rangers and ... oh, must I go on? When will the dark clouds lift!?
Meanwhile, the Bee went on without Samir and 13-year-old Evan O'Dorney of Danville, Calif., won. The worst part is, he doesn't even like spelling, which must sting for Samir, who poured the last five of his 13 young years into that endeavor.
Evan, who is home-schooled (good thing because he would be in for a steady diet of stolen lunch money at public school), would rather do math or play music. He only spells because, well, the rest of us are idiots.
Appeal denied. Samir, over and out. He's had a good run and should be proud of his accomplishments -- and leave it at that.
The National Spelling Bee field has been narrowed to 15, and look who's still spelling:
Claire Zhang, the 13-year-old who got dinged on her first word even after she spelled it correctly. I'll be rooting for her tonight, when the finals are broadcast on ABC at 7 p.m.
Also, there's a lone Texan left. Amy Chyao from Dallas. She spelled pschent in the sixth round to advance, so she knows her stuff, too. Go, Amy.
The Star-T's Dave Montgomery is on the scene at the Grand Hyatt in D.C., and described the tense mood surrounding Samir Patel's appeal, which, by the way, ESPN is reporting has been denied.
No official word yet.
Davey Joe said Samir, his mother, Jyoti, and word list manager Carolyn Andrews darted into a kitchen backstage, all with tense looks on their faces. Andrews called security to keep a small group of reporters at bay. Then they went upstair to a room in the hotel to talk more.
Samir's father, Sudhir, comfirmed that Jyoti, Samir's coach, had filed an appeal but did not know the reason or the outcome. "I'm not the coach," Sudhir told reporters. "I just do a lot of the work in the background."
For now, Samir and his mother are not commenting. Stay tuned ...
Meanwhile, the spellers are still going strong nearly four hours after they started.
