NTTA Causes FrontBurnervian to Headdesk

I really like getting e-mail from all of you. Generally, save for the once weekly, “You are a horrible writer,” e-mail I get from the same person, you are all as kind, funny and delightfully sarcastic as you are here. I’d totally invite most of you to a place that is not my house or anywhere near my house, have drinks with you, and then drive evasively home.

So last night, I got an e-mail from a FrontBurnervian who is a once and future resident of the Dallas area. Nowadays, he’s living elsewhere, but will soon move back. Because he’s living elsewhere and he’s a generally law-abiding citizen, he has an out-of-state license plate on his car. On his last occasion to visit Dallas, he took toll roads several times, opting to try out the Zipcash feature. I will let him explain the rest, after we jump: (more…)

Is the Dallas Morning News Planning More Layoffs?

Back at the last round of layoffs, I added DMN Cuts, a blog dedicated to tracking the cuts, to my Google Reader. Today, I noticed a new post, which hints at a possible new round of layoffs. The poster, who calls himself Spartacus, said that there have been layoffs of non-newsroom positions over the past few weeks, but that rumor has it the newsroom will also face cuts – specifically editors and production editors, because newer technology has made it easier to do production, meaning fewer editors would be required.

Spartacus goes on to say:

It is possible that none of this is true. This will be a place where people who know better and want to share will be able to let the rest of us know.

One other consistent rumor is that this layoff will not the same as the last ones. Instead of an announced date where the cuts will happen, if the rumors are right, these will happen when they happen. That would mean no warning and no way to know if they’re over.

Leading Off (7/22/11)

I’m Your Ice Cream Man, Stop Me When I’m Passing By. Now, you’d think that since it is as hot as the face of the sun out there, ice cream – a cool, refreshing treat – would be in high demand. But according to ice cream man Moustapha Diop, it is now so hot that nobody will venture outside for the five seconds it takes to flag down the purveyor of frosty treats.

Pervez Musharraf, Rick Perry in Weirdest Game of Telephone Ever. From this story, we can either surmise that the governor of Texas and the former president of Pakistan are total besties who OMG, tell each other everything, or that Perry said something and Musharraf is a big ol’ gossip. Loose lips, Mushy. Loose lips.

Ozzie Canseco Is Not Jose Canseco … and some guy named Damon Feldman can totally tell the difference and that’s why the former Ranger now has to pay him some money for sending his brother in to fight in a celebrity boxing match that he was supposed to fight in. File this under “Loose Definition of Celebrity.”

You Probably Won’t Get That To Inflate In Hell. Someone stole Spirit and Indigo’s giant inflatable swimming pool, and they’re very sad. And hot. So if you have it, just put it back. Reinflate it if you can, and fill it with water. No wait, unicorn tears. Yes. Inflate it with the breath of wizened fairies and fill it with the tears of unicorns, you mean hooligans.

Play Along. Now, last week, AmyS was the only person to play along with this. So listen, it’s gonna be hot again today, and you really have nowhere to go because you don’t want to sweat or just combust (seriously, you go out there, and you run the very real risk of just you know, Boom! Fire). So just play this game. Here are your quotes. Use them randomly in comments all over the blog today. Because it’s fun.