The town of Van got hit by a tornado recently and WifeGeeding called to check up on her family that lives there. To her surprise, she found out her uncle is the mayor. It seems one of the biggest problems at the moment is keeping sight-seers away. Here’s one interesting tidbit about the town, all the streets are named after states and trees. State named streets all go in one direction (east and west) and tree named streets go in the other (north and south).
DaughterGeeding has really surprised me with what she’s capable of doing the last three days. I caught pouring herself milk from a gallon jug and not spilling it. She stacked several items on top one another in order to reach the garage door opener button in the garage, which is scary, but she wanted to get us ready to go for church by saving us the trouble of opening it ourselves. And now she can open and close the car door all by herself (those things are heavy to move for a kid), but she makes sure her brother is properly buckled in before she buckles herself.
With all the rain we’re getting as of late I decided to mow the lawn yesterday just because there was a moment of dryness. But man, I sure wish our friends out in West Texas could get some of the stuff hitting us.
I use to be open to that rumor of Prince Henry not actually being the son of Prince Charles, but after looking at this Buzzfeed picture of Henry, there’s too much of a resemblance to Chuck for him not to be his son.
I bet the NFL wouldn’t have come down as hard as they did on Tom Brady if he would have been more cooperative with the investigation, something I wasn’t aware of until yesterday. Many will want to compare Brady’s suspension with the original Ray Rice suspension for knocking out his wife with a punch. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I will say the NFL has certainly learned its lesson.
This potty training confession had me laughing pretty hard.
As we approach the ‘Mad Men’ finale this Sunday, I have a feeling we won’t be seeing any more of Joan and Pete. I think creator Matthew Weiner wrapped up their storyline. In that regard, I doubt we see Betty and the kids, though I wouldn’t rule out a Don and Sally conversation. Something I’m sure we won’t find out but still has me wondering, who will die first, Betty or Glen Bishop who will be fighting in Vietnam.
The new ‘X-Files’ mini-series will debut with a special two-night event beginning Sunday, Jan. 24 at 10 p.m. Hopefully it will stay on Sundays, it just wouldn’t feel right if it was on any other day of the week.
The character Maester Aemon in ‘Games of Thrones’ is supposed to be 102-years-old. The actor that portrays him, Peter Vaughan, is just about that age at 92. They sure are rolling the dice on how long he’ll actually be around for filming.
I passed a Google Maps car going through Coppell yesterday.
Keith – is it true that Texans think President Obama is planning a hostile takeover of Texas this summer? I heard that from someone this week. If true, it's as hilarious as it is frightening. Such paranoia!
I would say the same percentage of Texans believe that believe President Obama is planning a hostile takeover of Texas is akin to the same percentage of New Yorkers that think 9/11 was planned by the federal government. Unfortunately, this small group is very vocal and has a bit of an on-air following, and sadly they have our new governor’s ear. Heck, even former Gov Rick Perry thinks out new governor has gone too far.
A Rasmussen poll found that "56% of conservative voters are concerned that the training exercises will lead to greater federal control."
Regarding 9/11 conspiracy theorists: according to Rasmussen, "Overall, 22% of all voters believe the President knew about the attacks in advance. A slightly larger number, 29%, believe the CIA knew about the attacks in advance. White Americans are less likely than others to believe that either the President or the CIA knew about the attacks in advance. Young Americans are more likely than their elders to believe the President or the CIA knew about the attacks in advance.", "Thirty-five percent (35%) of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know, and 26% are not sure." and "Republicans reject that view and, by a 7-to-1 margin, say the President did not know in advance about the attacks. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 18% believe the President knew and 57% take the opposite view."
All of these numbers seem extremely high. I am actually quite astonished to read them. People actually literally really believe these totally nonsensical ideas?
Sadly, while these numbers seem awfully high, I suspect they're valid. We're rapidly transitioning from a society who places importance on facts and hard data to one that places that same level of importance on feelings and beliefs. And all of this is reinforced by TV "news" shows who, in an effort to fill the unquenchable 24-hour news cycle, feed into this by setting up "debates" that are centered around false equivalencies. Ivy-League scientists are set up to debate science with politicians, and whoever talks loudest "wins."
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
― Isaac Asimov
I agree completely with your assessment of 24-hour cable "news" shows. Their constant demagogy neither informs nor illuminates, it simply incites more anger.
I think on a national level this is a bit over-hyped. "Hey, look at what those gun-toting Texans are doing now!" I watch the local news regularly and the story was never at the top of the newscast, and if mentioned, there's not much coverage on it. I'm not arguing against the Rasmussen poll, this place is full of conservatives and some of them are very, very far right, but that number does surprise me. As I said earlier, it didn't help that our new governor decided to give credence to it. It's all surprising because Texans love the military, there's lots of military pride around here, but many just can't get past their unwarranted fear of the current administration.
I'm afraid you may be right re: Joan and Pete. We could possibly have seen the last of Peggy, too, with her badass walk into McCann, but I doubt that was it for her. I'm trying to give myself the expectation that this finale won't have the same sense of satisfaction that Breaking Bad delivered. Of course, the Mad Men concept has always been about ambiguity and uneasiness, so why would the series finale be any different?
As a side note: AMC is running a full series marathon starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday night. They're running all the episodes in the series, nonstop and in order, up to the finale on Sunday. I've already set the DVR to record some classics, like the pilot, The Wheel, The Suitcase, etc. And, of course, I'm sure I'll drop in to watch a few minutes here and there, too.
Today's dose of 'Murica – if that's real, it's saddening. And, truth be told, it probably ties in with the article about the shifting participation in Christianity you posted above. I know that I am tired of seeing Christ attached to such nationalistic, jingoistic ideology, and surely I'm not alone in that.
I have heard an alternate ending for Pete and unfortunately it makes a lot of sense. Things went too good, too fast for Pete. He gets a dream job, reunites with Trudy and Tammy and gets his own private jet. Remember his Mom was killed on her "dream cruise" with Manolo and his Father was killed in a plane crash.
I'm afraid Pete, Trudy & Tammy die in a plane crash on the way to Omaha.
Keith – is it true that Texans think President Obama is planning a hostile takeover of Texas this summer? I heard that from someone this week. If true, it's as hilarious as it is frightening. Such paranoia!
I would say the same percentage of Texans believe that believe President Obama is planning a hostile takeover of Texas is akin to the same percentage of New Yorkers that think 9/11 was planned by the federal government. Unfortunately, this small group is very vocal and has a bit of an on-air following, and sadly they have our new governor’s ear. Heck, even former Gov Rick Perry thinks out new governor has gone too far.
A Rasmussen poll found that "56% of conservative voters are concerned that the training exercises will lead to greater federal control."
Regarding 9/11 conspiracy theorists: according to Rasmussen, "Overall, 22% of all voters believe the President knew about the attacks in advance. A slightly larger number, 29%, believe the CIA knew about the attacks in advance. White Americans are less likely than others to believe that either the President or the CIA knew about the attacks in advance. Young Americans are more likely than their elders to believe the President or the CIA knew about the attacks in advance.", "Thirty-five percent (35%) of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know, and 26% are not sure." and "Republicans reject that view and, by a 7-to-1 margin, say the President did not know in advance about the attacks. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 18% believe the President knew and 57% take the opposite view."
All of these numbers seem extremely high. I am actually quite astonished to read them. People actually literally really believe these totally nonsensical ideas?
Sadly, while these numbers seem awfully high, I suspect they're valid. We're rapidly transitioning from a society who places importance on facts and hard data to one that places that same level of importance on feelings and beliefs. And all of this is reinforced by TV "news" shows who, in an effort to fill the unquenchable 24-hour news cycle, feed into this by setting up "debates" that are centered around false equivalencies. Ivy-League scientists are set up to debate science with politicians, and whoever talks loudest "wins."
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
― Isaac Asimov
I agree completely with your assessment of 24-hour cable "news" shows. Their constant demagogy neither informs nor illuminates, it simply incites more anger.
I think on a national level this is a bit over-hyped. "Hey, look at what those gun-toting Texans are doing now!" I watch the local news regularly and the story was never at the top of the newscast, and if mentioned, there's not much coverage on it. I'm not arguing against the Rasmussen poll, this place is full of conservatives and some of them are very, very far right, but that number does surprise me. As I said earlier, it didn't help that our new governor decided to give credence to it. It's all surprising because Texans love the military, there's lots of military pride around here, but many just can't get past their unwarranted fear of the current administration.
I'm afraid you may be right re: Joan and Pete. We could possibly have seen the last of Peggy, too, with her badass walk into McCann, but I doubt that was it for her. I'm trying to give myself the expectation that this finale won't have the same sense of satisfaction that Breaking Bad delivered. Of course, the Mad Men concept has always been about ambiguity and uneasiness, so why would the series finale be any different?
As a side note: AMC is running a full series marathon starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday night. They're running all the episodes in the series, nonstop and in order, up to the finale on Sunday. I've already set the DVR to record some classics, like the pilot, The Wheel, The Suitcase, etc. And, of course, I'm sure I'll drop in to watch a few minutes here and there, too.
Today's dose of 'Murica – if that's real, it's saddening. And, truth be told, it probably ties in with the article about the shifting participation in Christianity you posted above. I know that I am tired of seeing Christ attached to such nationalistic, jingoistic ideology, and surely I'm not alone in that.
– For some reason, I think of X-Files being a Friday night show.
– I've only been to one of those Texas bars – the Dixie Chicken. Overrated.
I have heard an alternate ending for Pete and unfortunately it makes a lot of sense. Things went too good, too fast for Pete. He gets a dream job, reunites with Trudy and Tammy and gets his own private jet. Remember his Mom was killed on her "dream cruise" with Manolo and his Father was killed in a plane crash.
I'm afraid Pete, Trudy & Tammy die in a plane crash on the way to Omaha.
wow, that is an amazing theory, and sadly it makes perfect sense.