Bag of Randomness for Monday, December 4, 2017

  • Just a small piece of advice to our current president – end all tweets you personally make with your initials so we know it’s from you and a staffer or a lawyer.
  • There’s a new Apple holiday commercial which easily grabs your attention. It’s the one in which two strangers find each other and dance in the snow under moonlight. If you think they have great chemistry, it’s probably because in real life they are married. The New York-based couple actually met at a dance theater audition. You can also take dance lessons from them at the Broadway Dance Center.
  • Kate Winslet was on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ and they talked about Titanic. She revealed she auditioned with Matthew McConaughey.
  • Waffle House customer cooks his own meal after finding staff sleeping
  • Texas Tech Head Football Coach Kliff Kingsbury was nice enough to send a hand-written letter to a University of Texas player.
  • Christian Film Starring Kevin Sorbo Giving Away AR-15 Rifle as Christmas Promotion
  • What a fascinating piece of engineering –After 37 years, Voyager 1 has fired up its trajectory thrusters
    • This week, the scientists and engineers on the Voyager team did something very special. They commanded the spacecraft to fire a set of four trajectory thrusters for the first time in 37 years to determine their ability to orient the spacecraft using 10-millisecond pulses. After sending the commands on Tuesday, it took 19 hours and 35 minutes for the signal to reach Voyager. Then, the Earth-bound spacecraft team had to wait another 19 hours and 35 minutes to see if the spacecraft responded. It did. After nearly four decades of dormancy, the Aerojet Rocketdyne manufactured thrusters fired perfectly.
  • 2 men caught with heroin, weed after parking car in police chief’s spot
  • This story from China reminded me of the ‘Seinfeld’ episode where Kramer paints over the stripes on the highway – Man fined for painting road signs to aid his commute
    • He was captured on camera on 27 September with a can of white paint painting new arrows onto the road to redirect traffic, and told police it was the result of frustrations over the long delays on his daily bus journey to work.
  • BoyGeeding will sometimes surprise me with his observations. While listening to the new U2 album, he asked me if Adam was playing his guitar in a particular part because it sounded slow and the music was deep. About a week ago he asked what instrument each person plays and I tried to explain the sound of Adam’s bass guitar.
  • Here are the two U2 performances from SNL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efi4SCY0TA0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQceLMdrZpk

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4 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Monday, December 4, 2017

  1. Brent says:

    No thoughts on the SNL performances? Not my favorite. I haven't heard the new album yet…does Bono use the megaphone on every song?

  2. Alec666 says:

    Therapy dog

  3. Dude says:

    If this in fact, a therapy dog, then might I suggest train travel?

    Much like the proliferation of Disabled Parking placards, there is practically nothing needed to designate your pet as a therapy dog.
    http://usdogregistry.org/

    From the website FAQ:

    "Is there any application to fill out?

    There are no applications to fill out and you do not need a doctor’s note.

    Can I have a service dog?

    If you have a disability (a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual) then you are entitled to a service dog to do work or perform tasks for you. You are never required to disclose what your disability is to anyone, nor is anyone allowed to ask about your disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the service dog, or ask that the service dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

    What breed of dog can be considered a service dog?

    Under ADA law any breed of dog can be considered a service dog.

    Do I have to pay any extra fees?

    No. No businesses, apartments or airlines can charge you extra fees in order to have your service dog by your side.

    Is PTSD covered?

    Yes, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is covered under ADA Laws and as long as your service dog is able to calm you during an anxiety attack then he/she is considered a service dog.

    Can I take my service dog anywhere?

    Once your dog is considered a service dog you can take them with you anywhere the public has access to as long as they are not misbehaving.

    What if someone has a fear or allergy of dogs, will my service dog be allowed?

    Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service dogs. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service dog must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility."

    Can you imagine the fun on your next flight when the last scenario is played out?

    • Ben W. says:

      I've had to travel more than I'd like for work over the last year, and I can count on one hand the number of flights I've taken that have NOT had a dog on board. The abuse of the ADA service-animal provisions is maddening, and I am certain that it is eventually going to result in people who actually need service animals paying the price for the people abusing the system because they just can't make a trip to Wal-Mart without their "emotional support" animal.

      FWIW, several answers in the Q&A you included are either wrong or a misrepresentation of actual ADA law. First, the only service animals recognized by the ADA for which accommodations are required are dogs or miniature horses. And those animals must be individually trained to perform specific tasks to aid the disabled person. Service dogs for PTSD sufferers are specifically trained for that. If just having a lap dog with you makes you feel "more calm," that doesn't cut it.

      And it's true that no one can ask what your disability is, but if it's not obvious what tasks your service animal performs (like a dog for a blind person) then they can ask two specific questions: is the dog a service animal required because you're disabled, and what specific work or task(s) the dog has been trained to perform.

      But the big kicker is that you can't charge extra for a service dog. This means that airlines like Southwest, who allow dogs for a fee, have to let you bring your dog without a charge if it's a "service" animal. So while therapy (or "emotional support") animals are NOT covered by the ADA as service animals, there is not a single airline or company that is going to push back against people. The $50 in lost revenue just isn't worth the bad publicity. So you end up with things like dogs barking through a flight, or snapping at other passengers, or running in a terminal and getting its leash wrapped around another passenger's legs–all things I've seen.

      Like I said, I think the end result of this is going to be enough people get bitten or otherwise harmed by "therapy" dogs and the airlines (and other industries) will lobby for some sort of national registration or identification requirement for actual service dogs, which will only harm the people who truly need them. Some state legislatures have enacted laws that make it a crime to present your animal as a service animal if it is not, but it's hard to imagine a scenario in which that would ever yield an actual prosecution.

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