Bag of Randomness
Friday, June 5, 2026


Andy Rooney famously tackled the disappearing “pound of coffee” in his classic 60 Minutes commentaries. He frequently pointed out how manufacturers would advertise a pound of coffee but quietly reduced the net weight of coffee cans, dropping from 16 ounces to 14, then to 13, 12, and even 11 ounces, while charging the same price. I thought about that when I saw this sign in my neighborhood. Mini-gallons?!


In light of Scott Pelley’s firing, this short segment with the late Morley Safer about story approval and management oversight is very telling of how 60 Minutes is getting murdered by Bari Weiss.

Long-time readers know my admiration for Scott Pelley, who grew up in Lubbock and got his start locally at WFAA. He’s just a great, salt-of-the-earth, kinda guy. A man from another era.

Other than CBS Sunday Morning, I’m not sure I’ll watch any of their programming.


If you were wondering about the letter the Musers were reading from Keith about the percentage of high school football playing surfaces that are now synthetic, with a brief mention of Santo, TX- yep, that was me.


I recently took both dogs to the vet for a check-up and vaccinations. DogGeedingII is 15, and I was told that his mother, who is four years older than him, died earlier this year. I was pretty optimistic going into the appointment. However, he’s been diagnosed with a bad heart, and I have to give him medication twice a day.


Ted Turner died last month on May 6, 2026. I sorta had a negative impression of the man, but I recently watched a five-part documentary on him and have changed my tune.

However, the funniest comment I read about his death, and I’m sure he’d even get a kick out of it, was this tweet. And for anyone of my generation who doesn’t get it, shame!

The documentary also referenced the Turner Doomsday Video. He chose that song because he learned it was the last thing played on the Titanic.

The Turner Doomsday Video is the internal title of an apocalyptic video intended to be broadcast by CNN at the end of the world. The video, created at the direction of CNN founder Ted Turner before the network’s 1980 launch,is a performance of the Christian hymn “Nearer, My God, To Thee” performed by multiple members of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine bands in front of CNN’s original headquarters at the Turner Broadcasting Techwood Campus in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia.

The recording was made right after “The Star-Spangled Banner” was recorded for CNN’s sign-on (which also appeared in TNT’s sign-on from 1988). After they recorded it, Turner asked if they would record a song just in case the world came to an end. At CNN’s launch, Ted Turner declared, “Barring satellite problems, we won’t be signing off until the world ends”:

We’ll be on, and we will cover it [the end of the world] live, and that will be our last, last event. We’ll play the National Anthem only one time, on the first of June [1980], and when the end of the world comes, we’ll play “Nearer My God To Thee” before we sign off.


I hope they prove me wrong, but there’s no way DART rail will run near the future home arena of the Dallas Mavericks. Like Jerry, there’s just too much money to make when it comes to parking. They call that area of 635Hell-BJ for a reason.


Tampa school zone catches 6,000 speeders in 2 days as city weighs $100 camera fines

  • City records show the decision comes after a RedSpeed traffic study looked at 31 school zones across 29 campuses. Investigators discovered severe speeding issues at 18 of those locations, with daily averages ranging from 200 to more than 3,000 violations per school zone. 
  • Cameras counted 17,044 total vehicles and flagged 6,043 speeding violations, which averages out to 3,021 violations each day. The data tracked speeding during morning arrival, afternoon dismissal and the standard school hours. 

At the first divorce support group session I attended, I made a friend, and we’ve remained close, especially since our experiences were eerily similar in many ways. He said he would never marry again, and he would do everything he could to prevent me from doing the same. However, he met someone and quickly fell for her. Next thing I know, he surprised her with a trip to Paris to watch the Olympics and proposed to her while eating at the Eiffel Tower. They even had a child together, who I think just turned two. He called me yesterday to talk as he left the courthouse after filing for divorce.


WIRED He Blew the Whistle on DOGE. Then His Brakes Were CutA federal IT staffer filed a complaint about DOGE, then went public. Shortly after Elon Musk boosted a post calling his claims false, his brake lines were cut. Now he’s suing for defamation.


Trump Interstate? After U.S. Senate loss, Cornyn says it’s no longer a priority

Now he says that bill “may not make it into my priorities the next seven months.”


ESPN has an article that has just about everything you’d probably want to know about that UFC stage sitting on the front lawn of the White House. Some highlights:

  • It’s owned and being constructed by a Belgian event-staging company called Stageco.
  • The company shipped most of the equipment in 18 containers by boat and flew other pieces from Germany and Belgium.
  • It was assembled in Pennsylvania for a test run, then shipped in 14 trailers for the Secret Service to inspect as it was guarded at a holding facility.
  • Disassembly will take seven to ten days, though I’m sure you’ve heard Trump tease it will be a forever structure like the Eiffel Tower.

I’m surprised the article didn’t mention that U2 had a version of the claw, four of them, actually, that was part of a world tour.

One of them is a permanent fixture at a Utah aquarium.


She didn’t even want to do it until her husband told her it would be funny. The two black actors she interacted with wrote the lines.


Random goofy promotion for the new He-Man movie.

 

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Friday, June 5, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Monday, June 1, 2026


DaughterGeeding turned 16 yesterday. That will come as a shock to some of you, longtime readers, all of whom I really appreciate.


I used to mark DaughterGeeding and BoyGeeding’s height on a door frame when we all lived at GeedingManor. Before we sold it and moved out, I actually cut the thing out and took it with me. It’s been a while since I last measured them. It looks like DaughterGeeding won’t be getting any taller, but BoyGeeding (age 14) has had a nice growth spurt.


Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan faces a challenge from a familiar-sounding rival – Dan SullivanThe National Republican Senatorial Committee accused Democrats of planting a candidate with the same name to throw off voters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The race over whether incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, will keep his seat is one which has gained national attention after former Democrat congresswoman Mary Peltola threw her hat into the ring, but Peltola is far from the only person running to unseat Sullivan, and the latest name is one familiar to both Alaskans and Sullivan.

Because it’s Dan Sullivan.

Dan Sullivan, a Petersburg candidate who has the same name as Alaska’s sitting U.S. senator, announced Friday that he’s entering the race for the senate seat. And no, he’s not the former Anchorage mayor, also of the same name.


For some reason, this article about Snow’s BBQ thought this cut of brisket looked appealing. Snow’s is legendary, and it’s a shame that photo was used. I highly doubt Ms. Tootsi would cook such an abomination.



Don’t fall for this rumor.

 

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Here’s the truth:

No, the robots spotted around Dallas World Cup sites are not scanning fans’ faces, company says

Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots are being deployed at designated World Cup venues to perform perimeter security inspections and will be used to assist security personnel with investigating things like suspicious packages or other potentially hazardous materials. The robots do not have facial recognition capabilities.”


The series usually airs as a marathon on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and I always make an effort to watch it. So, reading this People article meant a lot to me. Granted, there’s not much more than the headline.


Could Stephen Colbert Save PBS? Inside the Campaign Working to Make It Happen

 


“It feels like if I go to sleep now, tomorrow comes instantly, and I’m just not ready to be a person again yet.”


From The Guardian: Republican mistrust in healthcare widens US health gap, study findsRepublicans increasingly avoid doctors and vaccines, widening health gaps with Democrats, researchers say

Past research has found that Republicans’ hesitation to vaccinate against Covid-19 has meant they suffered more death from the pandemic than Democrats. But O’Brian’s study showed that even different vaccination rates don’t completely explain the difference in health outcomes – a lack of overall trust in the medical system is also contributing.

The study relies on survey data collected in 2024 and O’Brian suspects that the health gap has only continued to worsen during the second Trump administration, which began in January 2025.


I didn’t know a Stranger Things-like music video of a kid being dared to go to the top of a haunted Baker Hotel on Halloween existed. Two thumbs up on his costume choice of “Benny the Jet” Rodriguez from The Sandlot.

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Monday, June 1, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Friday, May 29, 2026


I’ve been a huge fan of HBO’s Hacks. I’m a sucker for anything when it comes to the art of stand-up, and Jean Smart is a brilliant actress. Last night was the series finale. It was heavy, and I think best described as a long goodbye.


I’m about 75% sure I visited this cemetery when I returned my mother’s remains to Vietnam in the spring of 2006. It was a long trip driving north from Mỹ Tho, and this place wasn’t far from the beach where we scattered my mother’s ashes. During the trip, I distinctly remember one sign for “Vietnam’s Only Golf Course.” A quick Google search tells me there are now 65-70 operational golf courses in Vietnam.

You can read the article here. While I want to respect the dead, y’all know I’ve never been one for burials or preserving a dead body. Really, who visits the grave of anyone beyond a grandparent? But I do get an uneasy feeling of bothering the dead, and would feel weird living on land that used to be a cemetery. But that may be traced to a movie I saw as a kid about a neighborhood that was built on a slave cemetery: Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive.

EDIT: Oh, what do you know, the entire movie is on YouTube, and it stars Patty Duke. The scene that freaked me out was a child can be watched here (41:07 – 42:03), I even have it queued up for ya. It’s a nothing-burger, but as a kid, it freaked me out. The woman who played Happy Gilmore’s mom is in it.


Corporations Can Vote in Some Delaware Elections, Judge Says


Wisconsin news:

Son allegedly plotted to kill his mother — but only after a final stop at Dairy QueenThe 27-year-old told cops he had thought about killing his mother because she had been ‘mean to him’


Charges dismissed for Florida woman without right hand cited for holding phone while driving


Iowa man received survivor benefits as a teen after dad’s death; the government wants it back decades laterChristopher Storm received roughly $500 a month in survivor benefits as a teenager after his father died. Now the government says he owes almost $8,000.


Yesterday, the Musers discussed FIFA, the NFL, the use of natural-grass fields, and the priority on player safety. I was led to see what percentage of Texas high school football fields use synthetic turf vs. grass. After all, wouldn’t we want to do what’s best to protect our children?

Sources vary slightly, but I found approximately 48% of Texas high school football stadiums feature natural grass. The remaining 52% have transitioned to artificial synthetic turf.

While attending a game in the small town of Santo, I asked a fellow parent how the school board and community could justify the cost of their fancy-looking turf field. According to him, it came down to not having to water or maintain the field during the summer and early fall. Basically, drought conditions and water restrictions led them to install the fake stuff. Of course, Idiocracy solved this problem by watering fields with Gatorade.

As for safety, I did find this interesting 2024 UT Southwestern article: Natural grass may pose greater risk for football concussions – Young players suffering head-to-ground impact on grass have more – and worse – symptoms than those on artificial turf, UT Southwestern study finds.


San Antonio Express News: Texas’ curriculum overhaul would add Christian history lessons and Bible readings across all grades

I’m not familiar with this group.

Second graders and high schoolers would learn about the so-called Black Robe Regiment, which the board proposal describes as a group of colonial pastors who preached about freedom and served in the revolutionary forces.

The term appears to have been popularized by David Barton, an evangelical activist and former vice chair of the Texas Republican Party who served as an advisor on the board’s social studies overhaul. It has been primarily used in some modern-day evangelical circles as a rallying cry for pastors to become politically involved.


Ken Paxton went to Baylor. Figures. He earned both a B.A. in psychology (1985) and an MBA (1986) from there, and served as student body president.  The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. I can never get past the Dave Bliss, Art Briles, Ian McCaw, and Ken Starr stuff (Starr also served on Jeffrey Epstein’s legal defense team, helped secure Epstein’s controversial 2008 non-prosecution agreement, and even had him on campus in 2012 and referred to him as a prince), especially when it comes to a Christian university. And I used to be such an admirer of that institution, but it turned evil with two big scandals within 20 years. Two other notables are Robert Jeffress and Louie Gohmert. Paxton later earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Somewhat related, this October 2025 Texas Monthly article has stuck with me: The Secret Society That Has Driven Baylor Administrators Crazy for Almost a CenturyOver a few days last fall, I learned how the profane group known as the NoZe Brotherhood has thrived at such a pious institution.

In particular, this part:

During the football team’s sexual assault scandal a decade back, the brotherhood tied a rug to the back of a pickup, and the brethren, carrying brooms, swept things under it. This did not go over well with the pearl-clutching set at America’s largest Baptist college. “That outraged people,” said Robert Darden, an emeritus journalism professor at the school. “But that’s the point.”


Texas’ discipline push sends kids to ‘jail-like’ campusesLawmakers increasingly view disciplinary alternative programs as a solution to behavior problems. Critics say they harm students.


CDC seeks employee volunteers for Ebola screening after staff cuts


DFW Airport has the longest walk to the farthest gate, report says

A new report from KURU Footwear in 2026 identified Dallas/Fort Worth Airport as having the longest walk to its farthest gate at 1.50 miles. Conversely, Trenton–Mercer Airport was found to have the shortest walk, measuring just 0.03 miles.

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Friday, May 29, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Spotted in the Van, TX, Dairy Queen.

In a move of pure comedic genius, the night after The Late Show’s final episode, Stephen Colbert was back on late-night television… hosting a public-access show in Monroe, Michigan. Colbert returned to Only in Monroe and the 11:35 p.m. time slot on Friday night, joined by the White Stripes and Detroit native Jack White, who served as musical director, using some “older” technology.

Colbert once hosted the show 11 years ago between the end of The Colbert Report and the start of his run as host of The Late Show. His guest on that show was Eminem, who also made a brief appearance as the fire “Marshall.” On this episode, his celebrity guest was Michigan resident Jeff Daniels.

Steve Buscemi appeared in a commercial “public service announcement” for a local pizza place called Buscemi’s, and alerted the audience he is in no way connected to the restaurant.

On the final Late Show, Colbert threw a few hints that this might take place, though no one picked up on it. At the top of his final CBS monologue Thursday night, Colbert paused to mark the occasion: “Tonight is our final broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater. No, no, we were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years, all right? Can’t take this for granted,” he said. Though technically our first show in July of 2015 was from a public access station in Monroe, Michigan, for an audience of 12 people. Show business being what it is these days, that’s probably where you’ll see me next.” It turns out that was more than just a punchline. And then there was this nugget as he and Paul McCartney turned off the power.

His first guests on Only in Monroe was with the actual hosts, one of whom is former Miss America 1983. He closed out his interview with the two women by offering them the opportunity to guest-host Comics Unleashed, the show that will fill the timeslot for The Late Show, before FaceTiming the real Byron Allen, creator and host, who readily agreed.

I enjoyed the whole show, and you can watch it below.


Prediction: Donald Trump and his businesses have a well-documented history of failing to pay contractors, with hundreds of lawsuits, liens, and government records documenting withheld payments over several decades. So, while his ballroom is going to be built, I predict multiple lawsuits from those construction companies for not getting paid. Surely, one of those prediction markets already has this as an option. Bet the farm.


Nobody born after 1935 has ever walked on the moon.


Seeing all these GOP campaign runoff commercials, in which each candidate tries to out-MAGA the other, makes me feel like I’m inside an SNL sketch. It’s hard to believe anyone with any morals, especially those aligned with Christ, would want to be associated with the Commander in Chief.


Armchair political consultant: Senator John Cornyn literally ends all his commercials with, “I’m John Cornyn, and I approve this message. Join our team and give today.” It’s a bad idea to make the last message you give voters is to give you money. It shows you what the candidate really values. And it’s tone-deaf when you consider how bad inflation is, as well as the cost of gas.


I doubt he would ever be healthy enough to even go on a small tour again, but this is encouraging. It’s a life regret that I never saw him in concert. My wife at the time said she would go begrudgingly, and I didn’t want to make her do something if her heart wasn’t in it.


Things I didn’t know about the great Lou Diamond Phillips until reading this article: he attended the University of Texas at Arlington as a theater major, and he’s half Asian.

“I’m half Filipino with some, you know, Hawaiian, Chinese, a lot of sort of Pacific theater stuff going on there. And then, believe it or not, you know, like Scott Irish English, you know, there’s a healthy dose of Scandinavian in there as well, and a drop of Indigenous blood,” Phillips said.


If you enjoy college softball and sports drama, you’ll enjoy this story of former NBA star Jason Williams’ daughter, who transferred from Florida to Texas Tech. They beaned her a lot, but she shut them up by hitting homers.


This Fortune article is almost a month old, but I still think it’s worth your time – Palantir and other tech companies are stocking offices with nicotine products to increase worker productivity

Tech companies like Palantir and Hello Patient are stocking office vending machines with nicotine products to increase productivity among employees—and it seems to be working.

Nicotine startups Lucy and Sesh have installed branded vending machines in Palantir’s Washington, D.C., office, full of nicotine pouches that are leaving employees zipped up and ready to work.

Long a safer (and legal) alternative to the drugs that Wall Street bankers of old would use to follow market updates, tobacco products have started to make a comeback in the workplace, especially in the form of nicotine products as companies like Zyn and On! offer a less invasive way to get that nicotine high without clouding up office air.

Now, as companies stock their fridges with these pouches—usually the size of a piece of gum that remains tucked between one’s gums and cheek—they’re seeing an increased byproduct of the new office treat: If you can’t get them hooked on the work, get them hooked on the office perks.

The pouches are available for free in Palantir’s offices for employees and guests over the age of 21, a Palantir spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. Palantir, which did not respond to requests for comment, pays to stock the products.


Ohio data center tax break cost $1.4 billion more than expected in 2025New data from the Ohio Department of Taxation indicate a sales tax break for the technology companies behind Ohio’s data center boom is far more lucrative that previous forecasts have estimated.

That’s eleven times more than its original estimate. I guess the same guy who did that estimate did the one for the White House ballroom. That’s a lot of money that could have gone to public schools and healthcare instead of Big Tech CEOs’ pockets.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2026