We will all be dead this time tomorrow.  There is a winter weather warning in effect for North Texas until 9pm CST. Merry Christmas!

Fancy words:

00z model guidance follows the trends of very aggressive 18z runs 
so have made some significant changes to current forecast. Have 
issued a Winter Storm Warning for northwest portions of North Texas with 
a Winter Weather Advisory a little farther south. See wswfwd for latest 
information. 


Powerful upper level storm system continues to be a little slower 
than previous model guidance indications with colder air now more 
likely to make it into North Texas before moisture pulls off to 
the east. All of the guidance indicates significant wrap around 
moisture coinciding with moderate lift in the 700-400mb layer... 
with saturation in the favorable area for snow production. 
Although indications are that instability is not quite as 
impressive above the strongest frontogenetic forcing as we would 
like it to be...snow is still likely. The combination of snow and 
strong winds will create near blizzard conditions at times...therefore 
warranting a warning. With air temperatures just above freezing and soil 
temperatures quite warm...accumulations are likely to be limited to areas 
where snow bands set up. 

NWS does not advise consuming pets and children for sustenance; however 
make sure you have plenty of steak sauce on hand.

I have to keep short as I am on an abbreviated lunch break.  First I want to say that we should all pray in our own way for all those affected by this incident.  Can you imagine what it would feel like if any of those casualties were your family?  I mean you almost assuredly dread it every time they are deployed to a combat zone, but the fact that these people met their end so violently here at home on a military installation...that's just crazy. 

I have some questions about this, though.  And some of it may sound cold but I want you to know right up front that I don't mean it to be that way.  They're just quesitons.

The shooter, who is apparently still alive, acted alone.  He had two handguns.  I've never been in the army but I assume officers are issued the standard M9 9mm pistol, and he may have got another somehow or maybe used different guns all together.  But if he used M9s, as I understand it they can only hold a maximum of 20 rounds in an extended magazine plus another in the chamber.  Between two guns, that would of course account for 42 rounds.  13 people were killed and another 31 were wounded.  That adds up to 44 rounds, and I think it's a safe bet that he didn't hit his mark with every single shot.  In fact he was taken down in an exchange of fire with a civilian police officer. 

Anyway, the point is he had to reload at some point.  Now it does take a little time to reload a pistol like the M9 and it's not very much, but I have trouble understanding how in a room full of trained soldiers this guy wasn't taken out before he shot so many. 

I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around how this guy did this.  You cannot fire two handguns simultaneously with any degree of accuracy.  I've tried and I've seen far better marksmen than me try, and that was always at a shooting range.  Even if the guy could do it that would explain how he shot a lot of people quickly, but even then at some point he would have ended up with two empty guns. 

I just don't get it.  There's something I'm missing.  What is it?  I've been hearing about this story on the radio all morning and it's been bothering me on several different levels.  Any ideas about how, though?  And yes it appears the guy as a muslim or something but let's please not get into that or politics or anything.

So I was thinking about my favorite GOOD movies.  You know we all have our guilty pleasures that we enjoy watching more than films we may like and think are important culturally, so I had to cut out such greats as Gross Point Blank and
The Hudsucker Proxy (both of which I think are brilliant but probably not examples of great film making).

Following is a poll with a list of some of my favorite good movies, and I was wondering which of them the community liked best.  Hope that a good discussion follows, too.  I have included an "all of these suck" option for those of you with no taste whatsoever.  Anyway, they're in no particular order.

I live just barely south of Downtown in a very large apartment building situated on Lamar Street, and yet I cannot find one decent place that will deliver here.  I used to get my pizza from Carmine's, a little place on San Jacinto.  But they've changed their ingredients or something and it's not good anymore. 

It's my God given right as a Murican to be able to order decent NY style pizza and have it delivered to my door if I want to pay for it.  And I do, yet I cannot find the place.  I've searched Yelp.  I've talked to friends but they have their heads up Zini's ass, and that's horrible pizza.  I know some of you have to work downtown and you have to know of a good place.

Gotta bum ankle.  Don't really feel like driving to go get it. 

You can complain all you want about me making this fan post, but I do not care.  Worse tripe has littered the fanposts lately and hell I'll even delete this one if I get an answer.

Thanks.

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I was going to put this in the post-game thread, but it's not up yet and this seems to be a pattern anyway.

Inning/Pitches seen that inning/total pitches at end of inning/pitches per inning at end of inning)

1st – 12 (12, 12)

2nd – 19 (31, 15.5)

3rd – 7 (38, 12.7)

4th – 9 (47, 11.8)

5th – 17 (64, 12.8)

6th – 19 (83, 13.8)

7th – 9 (92, 13.1)

8th – 9 (101, 12.6)

9th – 8 (109, 12.1)

In five of the 9 frames, the Rangers failed to make the Yankees throw even 10 pitches. It should be embarrassing for another team to come on your field and screw you six ways from Sunday in front of all those people.

Also, Nelson Cruz hit a solo shot in the ninth to bust the shutout. Now down 11-1, FIREWORKS GO OFF AND MUSIC FILLS THE STADIUM??? I like what Chuck Morgan does, but I do not like that. There's not one fucking thing to celebrate when you're getting trounced at home and get a meaningless run in the 9th.

Okay.  So I'm 32 and I've had "ocular migraines" for years.  Since early college, anyway.  For those of you who don't know, an ocular migraine presents with strange visual phenomna.  Gray spots.  Feeling like your eyes are crossed when they aren't.  Flashing blobs traveling in front of your vision.  They're really weird, but aren't generally accompanied by pain.  Anyway they come on very quickly and go away just as quickly.  There one second and gone the next.  And, for me at least, they usually don't last long so I have never been too bothered with them.

Then my doctor tells me about five years ago that people with ocular migraines most often go on to have regular migraines.  A long time passed and that never materialized.  Until maybe a year ago.

They're getting worse.  I'm not going to say they're the worst thing in the world.  For me they're not, anyway.  But they do suck, and can sometimes debilitating when they are happening. 

I've been getting them with more frequency and for longer durations.  I talked to my physician about it maybe two months ago, and aside from some pills I'd really rather not take there doesn't seem to be anything that he can do about it. 

So, finally, my question is, how many of you live with this?  They're fairly common from what I understand.  For those of you who are on medication, does it help?  Side effects?  For those of you who are not, do you have any tips for living with them?  Since light literally hurts my eyes all I know to do is to hunker down in a darkened room.  That doesn't really help anything, though.  It just keeps things from getting worse.  What about accupuncture?  I'm not a big believer in holistic and alternative medicine but I'd be willing to give some things a shot, I suppose.

And sorry for posting this here.  I've been to some medical sites and forums, though, and haven't really gotten any basic, down-to-earth advice.

I should have hired somebody to do this like I have every year since I started making decent money.  But I didn't, and I want to watch baseball (priorities, man) so I had to file an extension.

Went to IRS website and was directed to get form blah blah blah, and when I went to fill it out it seemed like I needed to have my taxes done before I could complete it.

Fail. 

So I dug around the Google.  Turns out Turbo Tax will e-file an extension for you.  I followed the link and got in there, and at first it was almost as crazy as the IRS form.  Did manage to complete it, but then it only gave me an option to print and mail it to Austin.  Well, I don't have any stamps and live in the ghetto so that's no good.  Would rather not deal with it tomorrow, ya know?

But after some more digging on the Turbo Tax site it turns out that they DO have an option to e-file an extension and it required all of about thirty seconds of time.  So as a public service to my fellow Rangers fans, I am providing this invaluable link in case you're in a similar situation or whatever. 

So they'll do that for you and for free, and now you can hire someone who knows what they're doing to prepare your taxes.  Thanks, TurboTax!  I may even use them, who knows.  Any opinions on that?

In spite of not knowing much about it and not being a video game person, I've been intrigued by the concept of the Wii for a long time.  I have a hard time sitting still.  Anyway, I finally broke down and bought one yesterday.

It came with a DVD called "Wii Sports" or something, and it has golf, boxing, tennis and baseball.  I haven't tried golf but the others are amusing, at least.  Just way over simplified.  I'd like to get a real baseball game for the Wii, but I want to be able to "swing the bat" and "pitch".  You know, do something other than just sit there.

So I've been reading and am confused.  There are some baseball titles for the Wii, but from what I can tell not all of them take advantage of what the controller is capable of. 

I'd like to know what you guys think has the best balance between "fun" and an approximation of baseball.  I don't care if the characters are cartoon-like or not, but I would like it if it were MLB licensed with real teams, players, stats, et cetera even it's not super in-depth.

Any thoughts?