Bag of Randomness for Friday, February 5, 2016

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  • For over a decade I’ve noticed this one church near the border of Lewisville and Flower Mound with a very tall cross, perhaps 40-feet in the air. It wasn’t large or unsettling to the eye, it was basically a very tall flag pole with a simple cross at the top, and I thought it was kinda cool. Recently I noticed the church has leased the space just underneath the cross and now it serves as a cell phone tower, which makes me uncomfortable for some reason. Here’s a pic if you are interested.
  • About a decade ago WifeGeeding and I was in New York and invited for breakfast at a loyal reader’s house. In our email exchanged, he asked my breakfast preferences, and half jokingly, I stated as long as there wasn’t any seafood I’d be fine. Nothing grosses me out more than food from water and I thought there was no such thing as breakfast made from such stuff. But hey, I’m just a boy from the sticks and I was visiting the cultural melting pot of the world. Thankfully he and his wife cooked an amazing breakfast. However, last night while watching one of our new favorite sitcoms, ‘Life in Pieces’, they were eating something I’ve never heard of for breakfast, lox, which is brined salmon traditionally served on a bagel with cream cheese, and is usually garnished with tomato, sliced red onion, and sometimes capers.
  • My sister says she loves me unconditionally except for how I “disgrace” my East Asian heritage by not eating anything from the water.
  • I say “anything from water” instead of seafood because crawdads and catfish aren’t sea creatures. There’s probably a term that includes all of them, but I don’t know my enemy well enough.
  • WifeGeeding isn’t much for cuddling, but I’m an advocate.
  • The inside of this new passenger 787 without any seats looks fun to play in.
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (someone I’ve always admired) had a good critique of Dirk Nowitzki up until he called him “a one trick pony.” Of all the responses, I liked Chandler Parsons’, “Carried franchise for almost 20 years, Finals MVP, regular season MVP, 6th all-time? Wish I was a 1-trick pony.
  • I know there’s a lot of drama going on with Cumulus Media (owners of The Ticket) management, and their stock was trading around a quarter, but I decided to roll the dice and pick up some shares earlier this week.  Don’t take my investing advice, I’m no Peter Lynch nor have I slept in a Holiday Inn recently.
  • Tomorrow is the birthday of that Wise County blogging lawyer. Whenever I reference him like, I’m reminded of a quote from one of my all-time favorite shows, ‘Ed‘ on NBC when he’s referred to as the bowling alley lawyer, “I am a lawyer, I own a bowling alley. Two separate things.
  • That Wise County blogging lawyer made a post yesterday about Martin Shkreli’s congressional hearing. Like many others, I thought the lady behind him looked like Spock in drag.
  • Buzzfeed – A Mouse Has Died Inside A 155-Year-Old Mousetrap In A Museum Exhibit
  • This concrete that comes in rolled sheets is an interesting product, they claim it’s cheaper and easier to use.
  • Goofy interactive political site of the day that allows you to toot your own horn – TrumpDonald.org
  • Quentin Tarantino can get a little too real sometimes – The victim was an authentic Martin from the 1870s, on loan from the Martin Guitar Museum, Ulano said, and everyone was pretty freaked out when they realized what happened.
  • Oil-rich Venezuela is now importing U.S. oil 
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA! – The average American will spend 43 days of his life on hold – People who live in Kentucky are the fastest to hang up, followed by those in Ohio, North Carolina, New York and West Virginia. Meanwhile, people in Louisiana, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Minnesota will stay on hold the longest.
  • Consumerist – Hasbro, Mattel Reportedly Talking About Making One Big Toy Company To End All Others – There’s a Monopoly joke somewhere in there.
  • Imgur – I checked the Rotten Tomatoes percentage for every Best Picture nominee in Academy history. Here’s who they think should’ve won
  • An air of mystery – Schlitterbahn: World’s tallest water coaster coming to Galveston – Schlitterbahn’s MASSIV watercoaster under construction in Galveston will be 926 feet long and will be the world’s tallest watercoaster, with the exact height and opening date yet to be announced
  • The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic. Here’s a picture of it before the Titanic sank, and here’s a picture of it after the sinking, complete with lifeboats.
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13 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Friday, February 5, 2016

  1. Ben W. says:

    The cross may be slightly unsettling because, at least in that picture and to my eyes, it almost looks like a person is hanging up there.

    Interestingly, a New York deli would be the best place to get bagels and lox. It's a Jewish thing.

    Life In Pieces is fantastic. The "turds on snow" line made us literally pause the show and laugh–hard–for at least 90 seconds. It reminds us of Modern Family in the way that it's very well written, and consistently has something absolutely hilarious that comes out of left field. Also, at our age, we can identify with several of the family units (but not the grandparents…yet).

    That 787 picture makes me wonder what is the highest number of seats that you could put in there where everyone was still comfortable? And how many will they actually put in there? I can't answer the first question, but the answer to the second is, clearly: too many.

  2. John Mackovic says:

    – I didn't like Kareem because he didn't work hard enough on defense. Lots of times, he didn't even run down court.

    – Lox sounds disgusting.

    – Your birthday gift to Mr. LL was pretty clever.

  3. Gary says:

    Ed! One of the greatest shows ever. Most people look at me confused when I mention it. We might have been the only people watching!

  4. Brad Johnson says:

    lox — smoked salmon — is delicious. It's good as an entree, or for breakfast as you describe above, in eggs, or as a "salmon benedict." I love it for breakfast with just a homemade dill/onion sauce. While "de gustibus non est disputandum," there is such a wide variety in tastes and textures in seafood that I've got to believe you'd like some of it if you gave it a try.

    Have you started smoking your own meat yet? You have a lot of stuff about places you've tried or articles you've read, but there's nothing better than just doing it and experimenting until you've found what works for you.

    • Geeding says:

      You're right, Brad, I got to start experimenting with smoking. I've been gifted a smoker and haven't made use of it other than Thanksgiving. It's time I up my game.

      • Brad Johnson says:

        The only trick is that it's tough to find a small brisket to experiment with, and if you do a whole brisket for just your family, you'll be sick of it before it's gone — I give away half of what I smoke when I do a full brisket. Try buying one, cutting it into thirds/quarters, and only smoking a portion at a time (freezing the remainder) until you find what you like. For my last couple, I've brined them with a Worcesterchire-based brine, and they've been fantastic.

  5. Bryan says:

    The best picture graphic is interesting. 1994 was a big surprise to me. I think most people would assume that Shawshank or Pulp Fiction would come out ahead of Quiz Show. I'm also a little surprised about Brooklyn leading amongst critics this year. Of the BP nominees I've seen (6, Mad Max and Bridge of Spies left), it wasn't the best, but it was the one I enjoyed the most.

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