Bag of Randomness for August 1, 2018

  • I thought this was an interesting vending machine at the hotel we stayed at. I don’t travel much so this thing may be commonplace. A customer can buy a portable charging device, but I think what impressed me was that you could buy one fully charged and immediately use it. Though I have no memory of it, I bet there were similar machines back in the day which sold film for cameras. I only remember film being sold at the tourist shop inside a hotel or kiosks.
  • For some reason, I’m not a fan of the word “kiosk”. I don’t mind kiosks, I just wish they had a different name.
  • I was looking up Cal Ripken Jr. stats and landed on the Wikipedia page of Six Flags Over Texas’ Shock Wave rollercoaster. This year marks the ride’s 40th birthday, and that got me thinking about its safety and durability considering the age. I also had no idea that when it first opened, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world. It only held the title for a handful of weeks.
  • While looking up Billy Ripken stats,  I learned the father of Marcus Samuel and his brother Samuel Samuel (His name immediately made me think of ‘Newhart’s’ Larry and brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl.) owned an antique store which imported and sold seashells. When the brothers they got into the oil business, they named the company “Shell”, which you now know as the oil giant. The Samuel brothers also commissioned first purpose-built oil tanker, the Murex (Latin for a type of snail shell).  Also, the type of shell that’s used in Shell’s logo the Pectin, is from the Latin word for a comb or rake.
  • I forgot Larry, from ‘Newhart’, wore a quarter in his ear.
  • The Darryls never spoke until the finale when I think they claimed something ludicrous about Johnny Carson being their landlord or something like that. Also in that finale, Larry, Darryl, and Darryl get married to talkative women from Long Island, one of whom is played by Lisa Kudrow, a brunette at the time.
  • Lisa Kudrow was also on an episode of ‘Cheers’, also as a brunette.
  • Woody’s girlfriend on ‘Cheers” sure was a cute and wholesome person. It’s easy to remember her name because of the song Woody wrote and sang for her.
  • Whenever I’m flying into DFW I’m happy because it means I’m almost home. However, that enjoyment is short-lived because taxing to the terminal takes three-times longer than the actual flight. But this recent article states the airport is about to resolve that problem.
  • The teacher in Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” video is now 66-years-old. The voice of Waldo in “Hot For Teacher” video was performed by Phil Hartman.
This entry was posted in Personal. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Bag of Randomness for August 1, 2018

  1. AndreaJN says:

    I agree – kiosk is a strange and unnatural word. Hope you’re having a great time! 🙂

  2. Gabe Waggoner says:

    Funny that you mention Darryl. We recently started watching Babylon Five, and Derrick pointed to a guest star and said, “It’s Darryl!” Good times.

  3. Ben W. says:

    Fun fact about the FuelRod system – you’re not buying just one charger, you’re buying an unlimited supply. When the one you buy runs low, you just go to the kiosk and drop it into the slot at the top right (where it says “Insert Empty FuelRod”), and it dispenses another, fully charged one for you to use immediately. They have kiosks all over the Disney parks/resorts, and I’ve seen FuelRod kiosks in a lot of the airports I’ve flown through around the country. And your initial purchase comes with a charging cord, so if you can’t find another kiosk or don’t live near one, you use it just like you would any other charger. Pro Tip: Buy your FuelRod at a location outside a theme park, like an airport, and it only costs $20, not $30.

    Disclaimer: I apologize for the number of times I had to use the “K” word in this response.

  4. Bryan B says:

    I worked rides at Six Flags back in high school and early college and I still have contact with some people there. Shockwave is an older roller coaster, but it gets a lot of love in the way of maintenance. It was closed for several months a few years ago so that large portions of the track could be removed for refurbishment. The sections were stripped down, re-welded, and repainted to extend their life. When I worked there, it was one of the most reliable rides in the park and almost never closed for any sort of technical issue. It was also a fun ride to work because of the fast pace and the elevated, breezy loading station.

Comments are closed.