Bag of Randomness for Thursday, September 7, 2017

  • It seems like hurricanes and tropical storms hit Florida often and I often see news footage of residents and businesses boarding up windows. I always wondered if some of their homes and businesses are built with the ability to easily board up windows so they don’t have to ruin the exterior with screws and such. You know, like some sort of quick attachment system that snaps or clamps on.
  • Not all heroes wear capes – Dennis Rodman Offers to ‘Straighten Things Out’ Between Trump and Kim Jong-un
  • Sometimes I feel like I need to find a purpose for this blog or steer it into one direction or another. But then remember why I chose the domain name. It’s whatever I want to make of it at any time of my choosing.
  • The Edge recently spoke to someone about the new single and album and this quote  stood out, “Perfection, as it turns out, is the most boring thing possible because it doesn’t reflect humanity.”
  • Certain lines from songs jump out at you more depending on where you are in life. In the case of U2’s new song, here’s the line that resonates with me, “Oh, you’ve seen enough to know it’s children who teach.”
  • Chance The Rapper is starting a new awards show for teachers
  • Air freshener sparks car explosion outside B&Q in Essex – The explosion blew the roof and doors off a Ford Focus left in the car park of a B&Q store in Essex, according to the Southend Echo.
  • Trump’s campaign website is selling Presidential Medals for $45.00.
  • Binge Watching TV Makes It Less Enjoyable, Study Says
  • GIF – An impressively long table
  • Free walkie-talkie app tops App Store charts ahead of Hurricane Irma– It’s already being used by rescue workers in Houston
  • A few more thoughts and tidbits from my book about the relationships amongst presidents:
    • When it comes to Nixon, there are times I found him vile, times I wanted to hug him, and times I just felt sorry for the guy.
    • In 1970, Nixon urged Texas Congressman George H.W. Bush to run for the Senate. Bush was apprehensive about it, so was his father. But before deciding to put his hat in the ring he stopped by LBJ’s ranch to ask the former president’s advice who told him to do it and that the difference between the Senate and the House was chicken salad and chicken shit. Not to mention, if Bush thought he might want to be president one day, it would be a great stepping stone. I’m guessing Bush’s father, a former senator, was friends with LBJ and helped arrange the meeting. To my surprise, Bush tells the story referring to LBJ as “Lyndon”. That’s surprisingly informal. There are certain people you just always refer to as “Mister” or use their title. LBJ is one of them. I think Jerry Jones is one of them, as well as the current president.
    • Bush ended up losing to Lloyd Bentson in that election. Nixon tried to help him out, but Bush took the high road this time:
      • But after reading through all the anti-Bentson material, Bush set it aside. This isn’t how the game is won Bush thought. The White House even offered to send down political henchmen Bob Dole and Spiro Agnew to go after Benson if Bush wouldn’t. No thanks, Bush said, “I’ll do this in my way.” George and Lloyd were gentlemen running a gentlemen’s race said Richard Whalen, a former Nixon speech writer who worked for Bush that year. But the men in the White House were not gentlemen.
    • In the defeat, Bush wrote a letter to his four sons and included this:
      • Listen to your conscience. Don’t Be Afraid not to join the mob if you feel it’s wrong. Don’t confuse being soft with seeing the other guy’s point of view
    • Even though Bush lost the race and didn’t accept Nixon’s help, Nixon gave him the U.N. Ambassador job. That’s not a bad consolation prize. It somewhat reminds me when John Ashcroft ran for the Senate and lost to a dead man but Georg W. Bush selected him as the Attorney General.
  • A nice moment between Phil Mickelson and a kid.

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6 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Thursday, September 7, 2017

  1. Ben W. says:

    I grew up on the coast, and most people used plywood for window protection. A lot of people installed anchors in the framing studs around the windows, to make it easier to quickly attach the plywood with screws. A lot of people also had hurricane shutters, of all types, which were a permanent solution. Here are a few examples: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/shutters/index3.html

    That video with Mickelson is great.

  2. Ben W. says:

    I grew up on the coast, and most people used plywood for window protection. A lot of people installed anchors in the framing studs around the windows, to make it easier to quickly attach the plywood with screws. A lot of people also had hurricane shutters, of all types, which were a permanent solution. Here are a few examples: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/shutters/index3.html

    That video with Mickelson is great.

  3. Mike Honcho says:

    Re: Blog Format…

    Thanks for the format of this blog. Its one-part genuine shares your life and one-part random things that are interesting. It's "no-part" political rant. Those blogs are a dime-a-dozen.

    I tell my kids this often and maybe its worth sharing; if you constantly complained and griped to your friends every time you saw them, do you think you would see them after a while? No. No one wants to listen to their friends constantly complain and argue. Soon, you won't have friends, you will just have echo chambers who agree with your tirades or enemies who love to argue with you. Both will sap your life. Social Media and the Internets are the same, perhaps even more so. *steps away from soap box and kicks it back in the corner*

    Keep up the format and the good work. Reading your blog is a positive in my day. And that's a good thing.

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