- I’ve been enjoying all the wild Kate Middleton conspiracy theories. I haven’t given any credence to any of them until yesterday. It’s hard to believe how embarrassingly bad their PR team has blown all of this and made things worse. Here are some of them in detail.
- Mystery Deepens as “Manipulated” Kate Middleton Picture Pulled by Agencies – Reuters, AP, AFP and Getty Images have all ordered “photo kill” notices over the image shared on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Instagram account.
- Mystery Deepens as “Manipulated” Kate Middleton Picture Pulled by Agencies – Reuters, AP, AFP and Getty Images have all ordered “photo kill” notices over the image shared on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Instagram account.
- I saw Texas’ own Shiner Bock Beer is using Texan Jesse Plemons as a spokesperson. That’s a good and smart call.
- I’m still astonished at this, it’s not like they were flying in the Amelia Airhart era – 10 years on, is the world any closer to finding MH370?
- I’m just now getting the memo that Jenny McCarthy and Melissa McCarthy are cousins.
- I enjoy seeing Bradly Cooper getting nominated but never awarded an Oscar. He knows what he did. And, he’s an Eagles fan.
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The Savannah Bananas are the best story in sports.
The team's owner, Jesse Cole, went from managing a minor league team with $268 in his bank account to owning his own team that sells out MLB stadiums.
So cool.pic.twitter.com/VUuSZp5bst
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) March 10, 2024
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First class on a Singapore Airlines plane pic.twitter.com/SCAGwFcn6h
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 9, 2024
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This pool design is amazing! pic.twitter.com/bbNjCBX4jj
— Figen (@TheFigen_) February 21, 2024
Bag of Randomness for Friday, March 8, 2024
- Even as a liberal and someone who respects and appreciates the current president, it was a white-knuckle ride for me. But then again, I tend to be overly critical of my party, and I guess that’s to prove I don’t walk around the world in rose-tinted glasses. He seemed to speak too quickly at times. He’s always had a stuttering problem, but it seemed a bit worse. I thought he showed energy and vigor and was mentally sharp and quick-witted, but there was a noticeable mumble and his enumeration wasn’t crisp. He spoke best when he wasn’t relying on reading from the text but from memory and improv. There appeared to be several planned attempts to try to shake him with the lack of decorum and heckling, but he wasn’t rattled as he and his team planned on it happening. It was easily predictable. Yes, he’s going to get my vote, I just wish he was ten years younger. And hey, I’m not comfortable with how old the other guy is as well.
- I didn’t plan on watching the Republican response, but Sen. Britt spoke like she was about to tear up every fifth word. It was a bit surprising she didn’t mention her party’s leader, especially in an election year. I don’t think the opposing party’s response to either party after a SOTU has ever worked out well.
- I don’t think this is trolling, but it is funny.
Biden trolls MTG without even speaking. pic.twitter.com/09EKvW9tjg
— Surveillance FBI Van Damme™ (@FBIAgent42) March 8, 2024
- I’m sure this Oklahoma senator is going to hear it from his colleagues in his party and his constituents. Liberal super PACs are going to run with it.
As President Biden references what was in the bipartisan border deal, Sen. Lankford mouths, "That's true." pic.twitter.com/yH7jXZAML7
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 8, 2024
- I’ve been on a DC kick lately, really focused on a lot of Batman material. For other Batman fans, this was all the rage yesterday – Zack Snyder Says DC Is Making Batman ‘Irrelevant’ If He Can’t Kill
- One of the best decisions I’ve made to simplify my life and lessen stress was to start paying for a secure password management app. The big dog in the industry is LastPass, and I subscribe to their premium plan. It’s the best $36 I spend every year. However, their app left me with a headscratcher yesterday. I log into the app and see a message that says, “Your premium plan expires tomorrow.” It provides me with two options, “Remind me later” and “Renew Now.” OK, I’ll renew now. When I select that option it tells me, “You’ll be able to renew after your expiration date.” Why provide me the option to renew early if it is not possible to renew early?
- Today’s dog-related one-minute Rumble video: 10 Adorable Dog Quirks – I’ll tell you upfront what’s going on in the video doesn’t match what’s being described. Still, all of this is part of the experiment I’m conducting, so even if you don’t want to watch it I would appreciate you opening the page even if you are going to close it immediately.
- I don’t think I’ve seen this done before.
HIT HIS HEAD ON THE RIM pic.twitter.com/HpaXwmUziI
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 8, 2024
- I couldn’t help but laugh and think about the Cowboys’ home stadium’s persistent problem of blinding players on the field with sunlight when I spotted this in an article about the A’s future Las Vegas stadium.
- A kindness shown to a Chinese American family by a Black couple 85 years ago is being repaid in the form of $5 million in aid to college students.
- I’ve been following this man’s tweets about the loss of his son and the donation of his organs all week. The loss of a child is the unimaginable.
“Rest of the Story”
Just heard from the organ donation organization. My son’s gift saved four lives this week already. His lungs to a man in FL, one kidney to a man in AZ one to a 20yr old 9 yrs on dialysis, his heart to a father in TN, liver to research due to uniqueness of it. https://t.co/DEJbUmNSOV— Papa Ron (@RonaldCocks) March 7, 2024
Bag of Randomness for Thursday, March 7, 2024
- I’ve been experimenting with Microsoft’s AI image generator. This is what it produced using the following descriptor:
- “A superhero with a large cape, short brown beard, bald head, with a paper bag logo on his chest that says BagOfNothing with two small dogs singing on stage with U2 at the sphere”
- I then followed it up with:
A superhero with a large cape, trimmed short brown beard, bald head, with a paper bag logo on his chest that says BagOfNothing, walking two small dogs, singing on stage with all four members of “U2” during halftime at a dallas cowboys game at at&t stadium
- “A superhero with a large cape, short brown beard, bald head, with a paper bag logo on his chest that says BagOfNothing with two small dogs singing on stage with U2 at the sphere”
- Today’s cute dog video of the day on Rumble
- TwitterX was so much better before its current ownership. I’ve noticed when looking at replies on popular video tweets, that written comments are sparse. When I look at the replies, it’s mainly posts of other videos that don’t relate to the original tweet. It didn’t always used to be this way, it’s annoying, and ruining TwitterX. Thanks to one of my followers, I now understand why. It’s because blue checkmarks now get paid for “content creation” which includes getting likes on posts. So they just glom onto popular posts and reply for the likes. Most are probably run by bots now. Super annoying.
- I’ve always wondered avout this, and finally took the time to find the answer. It all comes down to money. – Why Do Candidates ‘Suspend’ Campaigns When They Drop Out?
- Campaigns rack up a lot of debt. Per the Federal Elections Commission, a campaign isn’t completely over until its debts are paid off, loans are settled, and its cash has been transferred into other accounts. Suspending a campaign is a plea for donors to help the candidate to eliminate their debt. I couldn’t find any record of a political campaign coming out of suspension. The closest I could find was in 1992 when Ross Perot dropped out in July and reentered in October. Several sources cite he funded his entire campaign, which in retrospect is HIGHLY impressive, but it appears he never officially suspended his campaign. I was lucky enough to be invited to an engagement party at his daughter’s house, shook his hand, and had a short conversation with him as we were the only ones in the house’s library. Taking pictures with a camera phone wasn’t mainstream back then. I haven’t read that old post in a while, but couldn’t help but notice the date. Little would I know that my mother would unexpectedly pass less than two weeks later.
- A man deliberately got 217 Covid shots
- A correspondence published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases outlined his case and concluded that while his “hypervaccination” did not result in any adverse health effects, it also did not significantly improve or worsen his immune response.
- Everyone has their values. It’s interesting what will sway a voter. I remember how after 9-11 some politicians didn’t feel a need to wear an American flag lapel pin. Those who didn’t suffer in the polls. Eventually, they all caved.
Trump supporter on why he supports Trump:
"How many presidents — how many politicians have come out on stage and hugged the American flag? That really means something to me." @Acyn pic.twitter.com/qxVqs2voNM
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) March 6, 2024
Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, March 6, 2024
- Austin, especially its skyline, has changed a lot since 2014.
- I remember toying with the idea of going to law school as I was about to graduate from college. It was all because a friend told me she had no idea what she was going to do. On a whim, she took the LSAT without studying, scored well, and got accepted to that Baptist law school in Waco, all in the span of four months. Looking back at this, I wonder how much of that was true. But I remember thinking about how much time lawyers spend looking up all sorts of reference material, past court cases, and the vastness of law libraries.
- At that time, I’d only been exposed to the internet for two years but kept thinking about its potential, especially in the legal profession looking up old court cases. It didn’t occur to me how readily available that information would be online. I thought every lawyer in the future would have a collection of CDs similar to the year-old Encarta encyclopedia I owned. High-speed internet for every student was how fast their dial-up modem could go. I don’t think any of my friends could afford a 56Kbp modem. The thought of how long it would take to transpose or scan the most common law reference materials and make them available on CD or online made me wonder what year would be best to enter law school.
- Here’s a tidbit about the word “modem,” it’s made of up the words modulator demodulator.
- As for Encarta, I found it ironic that the first source I found for my answer was an entry on Enclyopedia Britanica’s website:
- Microsoft discontinued Encarta, which then consisted of more than 60,000 articles, at the end of 2009. Only the free Encarta dictionary remained online.
- At that time, I’d only been exposed to the internet for two years but kept thinking about its potential, especially in the legal profession looking up old court cases. It didn’t occur to me how readily available that information would be online. I thought every lawyer in the future would have a collection of CDs similar to the year-old Encarta encyclopedia I owned. High-speed internet for every student was how fast their dial-up modem could go. I don’t think any of my friends could afford a 56Kbp modem. The thought of how long it would take to transpose or scan the most common law reference materials and make them available on CD or online made me wonder what year would be best to enter law school.
- In college, I only had to cite an online source one single time. It was for my final writing assignment as an undergrad, an email reply from my congressman. Does anyone remember Democrat Charlie Stenholm? At the time, our Little Brown Handbook writing guides didn’t even have any entries for how to cite anything digital. The last I heard of Stenholm was when he was representing a local horse meat company.
- Library cuts and teachers quitting: Texas’s takeover of Houston schools – Staff call for removal of state-appointed superintendent amid 600 teachers resigning and implementation of rigid curriculum
- An Oklahoma judge who sent more than 500 texts during a murder trial resigns
- An Oklahoma judge agreed to step down Friday after she was caught sending hundreds of texts from the bench while overseeing a murder trial in the killing of a 2-year-old boy, including messages that mocked prosecutors and were sprinkled with emojis.
- Shirtless US Senate candidate submerges himself in Wisconsin lake, issues challenge to opponent
- A shirtless candidate for U.S. Senate broke through the ice of a Madison lake Thursday hoping to pour cold water on any notion that he’s a soft Californian, not a hardy Wisconsinite.
- What’s old is new again – Elon Musk loses world’s richest person title to Jeff Bezos
- Pittsburgh Area Naturalists are hosting another Balls Out bowling event, where you can bowl in the nude.
- Minnesota: Woman accused of swapping places with twin sister after fatal crash kills two children – A woman swapped places with her twin sister after she killed two children by crashing into a horse-drawn carriage, police have alleged.
- These two videos caught my attention, but I’m sure one of them is staged. A bit of a language warning in the first video. Do I qualify as a “real man” like this guy? I was married to a woman who was literally half-blind. Maybe I’m just half the man that guy is. That’s it, I’m a half-white-half-Asian half-man.https://twitter.com/divyakumaari/status/1765089103522189631
- Yes, I know, U2 is no longer performing at Sphere, but I can’t stop thinking about how great of a concert experience it was and sharing it with the U2 community on TwitterX. Hey, Jon Stewart even mentioned he couldn’t stop thinking about it during an interview he was conducting on Monday, and The Onion had this article.
https://twitter.com/nversel/status/1764885146736476183Sphere Refuses To Release U2 Despite Band Fulfilling Terms Of Residency
It turns out Bram played it smart. Yesterday he wrote a letter to the fans. He said he chose not to get on the interest and ready anything about him or the band until after all is said is done.
The other day I mentioned how fans campaigned for 40 to be played, and I wrote about its significance. Devoted and keen-eyed fans spotted something very special at the end. Larry, the founder of the band, is the last to play and the last to leave the stage when 40 is the last song played. It’s his moment. It’s very poignant, and I think it’s one way the other three members and all the fans thank Larry for starting the band. Well, as you know, Larry was unable to play with the band because of neck surgery. Bono and Adam have already left the stage. The Edge looks at Bram, who Larry is a mentor and picked as his replacement. It seems like Edge is hinting to Bram that he’s about to stop playing an leave, and it’s ok that he is last to play and leave the stage. Bram says no way. He made sure Edge kept playing the bass*. Bram got up so the moment could stay Larry’s forever. You can see that moment here in this 22-second clip. Notice the eye contact and Bram shaking his head. Thanks for allowing me to share with you something that may mean little to you but a whole lot to me.
Maybe that’s the moment Bram said no to finish it. pic.twitter.com/6lk0KW6FWf
— U2gigs (@u2gigs) March 4, 2024
When I turned 40, my spouse gave me a canvas print of the words of the song. During and post-divorce, I came close to burning it (not out of hatred, but something else symbolic), selling it, or giving it away. Right now, at this very moment, I’m glad I kept it. But should I love again and my wife is uncomfortable with me keeping it, away it goes.
*Yes, I know Adam primarily plays the bass, but…