Bag of Randomness
Monday, April 20, 2026

Y’all heard me talk about my buddy Jimi before. We met in kindergarten, were college roommates, worked next to each other at Fidelity Investments, roomed as adults a few times, and continue to be there for each other despite wronging each other numerous times. He turned 50 last week, and on Saturday, his mother threw him a birthday party.

DaughterGeeding agreed to drive me there. As you know, I like car trips because they are great bonding opportunities, and I like showing her off to my friends and parents, who I was close to as a child. She turns 16 in 35 days, and I like to give her as much practice as I can with driving, especially on things she doesn’t get to practice often, like highway driving, long-distance driving, and driving in stormy weather. Yup, it rained quite a bit on our drive. Surprisingly, on I30, while in the middle lane, she hit a spot that caused her to hydroplane. She handled it well. She didn’t panic and didn’t overreact. This was one of the reasons why I had her drive, so I could be there to coach her along. And if something bad were to happen, I’d be there for her. I’d much rather have her go through something like that when I’m with her than for her to go it alone. I think it’s better for her to learn to drive in inclement weather with me in the passenger seat, rather than doing it for the first time alone. I made sure to praise her on what she did right, but also added a few pointers on avoiding how to hydroplane, why it’s not a good idea to slam on the brakes, and even though natural instinct is to turn in the opposite direction, it’s better to go with the flow of the skid.

At the party, DaughterGeeding was greeted warmly. One of my other close friends likes to converse and quiz her about her life. When he found out she drove, as he also has a 15-year-old daughter, he was shocked and bewildered that I allowed her to drive in the rain, and how he wouldn’t allow his daughter to do that even if he was in the passenger seat. Maybe he didn’t mean to, but it really felt like he was judging my parenting. It was one of those moments when I thought, if I tried to explain myself, it would just make the situation awkward, so I basically didn’t say anything; other than she handled it like a champ. But it does surprise me how one wouldn’t think it’s a good idea as a parent to have your kids practice going through adverse situations with you there, so they would be better equipped to overcome them when they are on their own.

Jimi’s mom had a scrapbook that was hard for me to put down. It had a lot of sports articles. And since we were both on the same teams, it was great being able to read about my small accomplishments. The children of Mineral Wells really don’t know how lucky we were to have Craig Holamon document our memories and put them in print. A lot of certificates from teachers were included in the scrapbook, stuff like “A Honor Roll.” In the past, I used to think they weren’t keeping. But each one had a teacher’s name on it, and it was nice to be reminded about those teachers I loved and haven’t thought about in decades from Robert E. Lee and the junior high.

Jimi’s mom also spread a great arrangement of childhood and teen photos on a table, which flooded me with memories. She did a great job arranging the whole thing. But truth be told, on the way back, I almost teared up. Because, in a strange sort of way, looking through the scrapbook, examining the table of photos, and reliving memories with other friends about Jimi, it gave me funeral vibes. I’m sure I’m the only one who felt that way, but I guess that’s the sort of stuff that goes through one’s mind after experiencing a lot of loss in life.  Well, happy Monday, folks!

At least we didn’t encounter this on the highway.

I always thought this was one of Dallas’ cooler buildings, and there is a local skyscraper similar to it.

The iconic Providence Towers office complex at Spring Valley Road and the Dallas North Tollway in Farmers Branch is up for grabs again.

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— The Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews.com) April 16, 2026 at 8:00 PM

I guess Dallas likes buildings with keyholes. At least ten years ago, it was free to visit the building’s Sky Lobby observation deck, which is a better deal than paying to ride up Reunion Tower.

The Stars will be wearing the alternate ’99 Championship Sweater throughout the playoffs for all their home games. I really like them, always loved the outline of the star on it, but the Stars really stunk it up in game one of the playoffs sporting them.

Some key elements include:

  • Championship Collar: The inside collar features “3OT 1999”, paying tribute to the triple-overtime victory that secured the ’99 Stanley Cup.
  • Bridging the Eras: The star-stripe design connects the iconic look of 1999 with the identity of today.
  • Logos Reimagined: Legacy logos are reinterpreted through our current colors, blending past tradition with modern energy.

Nearly 80 students forced into 400+ push-ups at San Angelo school, many diagnosed with permanent kidney damage, lawsuit says

The lawsuit alleges that on Feb. 25, 2026, the head football coach at Texas Leadership Charter Academy in San Angelo ordered about 80 students to perform “continuous, whistle-driven push-ups for an entire class period — about 45 minutes or more — without water, rest or breaks.”

The students estimated they were forced to do between 300 and 420 push-ups while five coaches walked among them “berating any child who showed signs of fatigue,” the suit alleges.

The following day, students said they returned to school in agony, with many unable to raise their arms to eat, brush their teeth or dress themselves, the suit alleges. Despite this, coaches required them to do push-ups for two more days.

Government Workers Say They’re Getting Inundated With Religion – “This has never happened before,” one government employee tells WIRED. “I have never gotten a message like this from anyone.”

The USDA is not the only agency espousing overtly religious rhetoric: At the Department of Health and Human Services, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Labor, federal employees have been alarmed to watch Christianity’s creep into the government since President Donald Trump’s return to office.

On February 7, 2025, Trump signed an executive order establishing the official White House Faith Office as well as faith offices across government agencies. The White House Faith Office is led by Paula White-Cain, a pastor and televangelist known for her controversial invocations throughout Trump’s various presidential campaigns.

Since then, faith offices have sprung up across agencies, and Christianity has started appearing in office life.

This photo of dinner served on the USS Abraham Lincoln, sent to a family member of an anonymous crewmember, went viral on Friday. I guess that’s what you call “shoe leather,” but I wish I knew exactly what it was, other than some sort of military spam.

I thought President Trump was going to instruct either Ken Paxton or John Cornyn to drop out of the Senate race. I think he set a withdrawal deadline of March 17. What happened to that? The runoff is set for May 26.

Texas launches $750M plant, targets growing New World screwworm threat

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground Friday on the facility at the Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, which will produce 100 million sterile flies per week by November 2027, according to a recent news release. The major development is designed to serve as a safeguard against a New World screwworm invasion.

New World screwworms are deadly, flesh-eating parasites that threaten cattle and other livestock. At the new facility, scientists will mass-produce sterile male flies and release them into targeted areas. Because female screwworm flies mate only once, pairing with a sterile male ensures their eggs never hatch.

 

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Monday, April 20, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Thursday, April 16, 2026

While driving home close to midnight on Friday night from a friend’s house, I had to stop at a red light at a four-way intersection. For over a minute, it was just me and a red light, and I couldn’t help but think how stupid and inefficient this was. Surely, sometime soon, AI will be integrated into a city’s traffic light network to keep traffic flowing and ease congestion.

But that did get me thinking about a conversation I heard about the future of self-driving cars and how that will dramatically change the world. Remember when people owned their own music and movies, and how they have been replaced by subscription services? Soon, there will be a subscription car service. It will be bigger than just Uber or Lyft, and the cars will be autonomous. That, in turn, will reduce the size of parking lots because they won’t be needed. Of course, the Cowboys and Rangers are going to hate losing that revenue from charging fans for parking. The cars will just go off and pick up another passenger or get recharged.

For those of you thinking charging will take too long, the Chinese have already solved that problem. Their BYD electric car can achieve 97% charge in under 10 minutes (10% to 70% in 5 minutes), with a range of 644 miles. The Biden Administration placed a 100% tarrif on those cars, so you won’t see them here anytime soon, but Europe, Canada, and Mexico are heavy buyers. Here’s an example.

This is amazing. We need these types of charging stations here. Game changer.

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— Dan🔭🚀🔬☮️🕊️ (@dan401w.bsky.social) April 9, 2026 at 5:22 AM

If car ownership is no longer a thing and subscription car services become a reality, the house of the future will no longer need a garage. That’s extra house space. I’m guessing the average garage is about 1/5th of the size of a house, larger than most bedrooms. Existing garages will be remodeled or used solely for storage. Truckers, drivers, and cabbies will have to find another profession. Cities will lose revenue from parking violations and other related things.

Autonomous cars will also decrease the death rate. There will be fewer car accidents. Drunk driving will become a thing of the past. Interestingly, this will also affect organ donation, but perhaps AI will help humankind find a way to create an organ compatible with the human who needs it, using CRISPR or genome editing. Speaking of which, some of those thoughts came to be because of this video.

What’s up with the narrator’s English or British accent for a Dallas Morning News story?

I’ve really enjoyed watching Jeopardy! over the past month, especially now that Jamie Ding is now in 5th place all time, winning for a 24th time last night. He always wears orange, and when he explained why, I couldn’t help but root for the guy.

“What’s with the orange?” Jennings asked.

“My parents grew up in communist China. You didn’t get to make choices there,” he said. “So, my mom has never had a favorite color. When my neighbor asked me, ‘What’s your favorite color?’ She didn’t expect me to have one, but I said, ‘Orange!’”

“Since then, my childhood bedroom, I made them paint it orange, every knick-knack. Since I got a disposable income, I’ve started buying orange things because I can. I rarely regret buying something just because it’s orange, but there’s a couch that I got from Amazon that was $80 that’s pretty bad. Maybe they make decent orange couches.”

Also, he and his sister have an Instagram dedicated to their love of General Tso’s chicken. They review it at different restaurants and post them online.

Funny thing about game show contestants: a lot of them have a LinkedIn profile you can peruse.

Here are two other tidbits about him:

  • He also has the highest Final Jeopardy! wager lost with $44,200.
  • He has the most correct questions in a single game of Jeopardy! (including Final Jeopardy!) with 45 (tied with Ken Jennings)

In case you are wondering, he s still 50 wins away from Ken Jennings’ record of 74 wins (2004), and 13th on the all-time money list (including tournaments), according to TheJeopardyFan.com.

US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, breaks record for longest deployment since the Vietnam War

Plano ISD plans to use AI to announce graduate names, but some students are petitioning against it – The district plans to use NameCheck, an AI-powered pronunciation tool that allows students to record and train the system to say their names correctly.

The scientists initiated this research to understand a specific political dynamic. They noticed that Donald Trump tends to retain widespread support even after facing severe accusations, including accounts of sexual misconduct, abuse of power, and efforts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the January 6 Capitol attack. To make sense of how voters mentally navigate this conflicting information, the researchers examined the situation using the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance.

The research suggests that when people face information that conflicts with their deeply held beliefs, they tend to reduce their mental discomfort by denying the allegations, focusing on policies over personal behavior, or claiming that other politicians commit similar acts.

Full Article

Dogs clearing the way for an ambulance . 😍

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— omgisme (@omgisme.bsky.social) April 15, 2026 at 9:50 AM

Witness the absolute pinnacle of military discipline and precision!] On April 11, 2026, the elite service members of the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard Drill Teams went head-to-head at the annual Joint Drill Exhibition. Hosted by the legendary 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) at the historic Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., this event showcases the flawless execution, dedication, and intense training of the nation’s premier honor guards.

Watch as the best of the best execute complex, synchronized maneuvers and gravity-defying rifle tosses in a battle for branch supremacy.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness
Thursday, April 16, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Friday, April 10, 2026

If there’s one sporting event that annoys the living heck out of me, it’s The Masters. But I like this photo.

Hopefully Artemis II lands safely near San Diego today. They certainly took some amazing photos. They fought hard to make the Nikon D5 their camera of choice. They seem to hold up well to radiation, and here’s something the typical person wouldn’t think about: it also has to compensate for any shaking from the photographer. Not to mention, a major part of their training is to learn how to take photos, and this is the camera they’ve been training on. And yes, the Nikon D5 is already slotted for the moon mission in two years, even though it was discontinued in 2020.

Even cosmonauts use them on the ISS.

One of the more popular photos was this one of the Earth ever so gently blocking the sun.

What a lot of folks fail to see or appreciate is the aurora borealis, found at 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock.

How is Artemis II sending all the photos and data back to Earth? This is a first, and something under-reported. A laser. That’s a HUGE upgrade from the radio frequency (RF) systems of the Apollo era.

The median download internet speed in the U.S. is approximately 242–306 Mbps. Where are they beamed?

Ground stations in Las Cruces, New Mexico; Table Mountain, California; and Haleakala, Hawaii, receive these beams, chosen for clear skies despite challenges like clouds or spacecraft wobbles.

Here’s another article on the laser transmissions, if you’re interested. I guess that’s one reason it took so long to transfer the Death Star plans from Scarif to Yavin 4.

This dog in Ireland has no patience for his owner’s return.

The Utach Mammoth unveils new Zamboni design: ‘Zammoth’ – Team redesigns old ice resurfacing machine from 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics

Zambonis have come a long way from the very first one, the Model A made in 1949 from surplus Army parts. Before the Zamboni, hockey rinks deployed teams of workers who used hoses and squeegees to resurface the ice by hand.

I forgot that George Brett’s last at-bat was against the Rangers at ol’ Arlington Stadium.

 

It was nice to see Pudge, in this third year, give Brett a sidehug. It would have been funny if then-manager, Kevin Kennedy, had stopped the game to put Nolan Ryan in for relief. But he would have been unable to, because a month prior in Seattle, Ryan tore a ligament, ending his career two starts earlier than planned.

Is this the sort of education one can expect from Southlake Carroll? Good at football, bad at science.

Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy insists 1969 moon landing didn’t happen: ‘Genuine propaganda’

“There is a zero percent chance we went to the moon,” McElroy said. “Zero. Total, genuine propaganda.”

Trump team eliminates 400-mile border wall plan after Texans push back – Local sheriffs call for ‘technology-driven, and terrain-informed’ solutions to illegal crossings, which Big Bend residents argue is simply not an issue in their region because of its difficult geography

“I wish the president would be more informed as to what’s going on,” said Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez about the work. “It’s a place where, if you cross the border, you got to at least walk three or four days… you don’t just walk across the river and expect to get picked up.”

‘Snoopy’, ‘Adolf’ and ‘Password’: The Hungarian Government Passwords Exposed Online

Baptism news from across the pond.

Pastor charged with manslaughter after man drowns during baptism ceremony

This happened on March 26 of this year. I admire the guy for shooting his shot. I just wish I could find a follow-up story. Anything, like, did he get to go backstage?

Just some church architecture I thought you’d appreciate.

Borgund Stave Church (Borgund stavkyrkje), located in Lærdal, Norway, is the best-preserved of Norway’s 28 remaining stave churches. Built around 1180–1200 AD, this iconic wooden, triple-nave structure features intricate carving, Viking-inspired dragon heads on the roof, and is a major tourist attraction operated as a museum.

The church of Borgund Stavkirke is one of the most beautiful in Norway 🇳🇴

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— ContempraInn 🌹 (@contemprainn.bsky.social) April 9, 2026 at 12:02 PM

 

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Friday, April 10, 2026

Bag of Randomness
Monday, April 6, 2026

I don’t understand the need for businesses, like my property management company, to access a $2.95 “e-Check” fee when there are options like the ACH, Bill Pay, Zelle, and Venmo. My guess, it’s just another way to make a little extra money. The only way I can avoid the fee is to write a check, drive from Grapevine to Southlake, and physically deliver it to their office during regular business hours.

Every now and then, I’ll pick up my copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, flip to a random page, and read for a little bit. This one line stood out, so I thought I’d share.

It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you – inside or out.

Book 4, Verse 8

Artemis II

  • What’s in a name?
    • Apollo and Artemis are divine twin Olympians, born to Zeus and Leto on the floating island of Delos, fleeing Hera’s wrath. Artemis is the virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and moon, while Apollo is the god of music, prophecy, healing, and the sun. They often worked together, punishing those who disrespected their mother.
    • But get this, “Artemis was born first, immediately helping deliver her twin brother, Apollo.” With this in mind, perhaps NASA should have named the program in the Sixties after Artemis instead of Apollo.
  • I’m surprised that I haven’t run across anything calling this mission “woke” since it has such a diverse crew: a man of color, a woman, and a Canadian. That may be in part due to it starting in 2017, in the first year of Trump’s first administration.
    • I saw the Administrator of NASA, Jared Isaacman, being interviewed. Like all Trump Administration officials, he started off praising the leadership of Trump, even proclaiming how budget cuts to NASA would make the agency better. Here’s my prediction. Should this mission prove a success, and I think it will, be prepared for an announcement from the White House stating Trump’s name will be added to the Kennedy or Johnson Space Center. My prediction is that it will become the Trump-Kennedy Space Center. However, if I were an advisor, I would recommend not touching either but renaming Mission Control to Trump Mission Control. See, that’s how you stroke an ego.
      • Isaacman’s Wikipedia page states the co-founded Draken International, “a Florida-based defense aerospace company that operated one of the world’s largest fleets of privately owned fighter jets.” Honestly, I had no idea that fighter jets could be owned privately. I thought I saw something years ago stating that there was legislation to prevent any civilian from making or owning a fighter jet.
      • He broke the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet. The previous world record was set at about 82 hours. He and his co-pilot did it in 61 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds.
  • Did you know that all 50 U.S. states contributed to the Artemis missions? That certainly brings a nice patriotic feeling, especially when it comes to our nation’s 250th birthday, but it’s not efficient, and it’s stuff like that that is why these things take so long and cost so much.

Something hugely under-reported: Iraq trolling the U.S. with AI Lego videos.

Inside Iran’s meme factory – who is behind their viral campaign

From Lego Trump to anime-style battle scenes, Iran’s slick clips are being shared by millions. The ability to blend humour and propaganda using AI tech has surprised everyone, but Kevin L Schwartz and Olmo Gölz, experts in Iranian culture, argue that when you look at who is making it, nobody should be surprised

This is one of the latest aimed at Hegseth, even throwing in Epstein.

U2 surprised their fans with a beautiful little gift on Good Friday. They dropped a mini-album titled Easter Lily, offering songs of faith, hope, and love. Here’s a 54-page online magazine the band provided to accompany it. If you scroll down, you can view lyric videos for all the songs. If you are a fan of The Edge taking lead vocals, you’ll enjoy the first song.

Here’s a USA Today article about it.

Pure joy is getting to parent, like helping your son with his science fair project.

Nothing like firing the Army’s top chaplain during Holy Week, just the day before Good Friday. From Military.com.

Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains, has overseen religious support across the force and advised senior leaders on troop welfare and morale. A former enlisted soldier who later became an ordained minister, Green has served as a chaplain since the 1990s and deployed in support of operations in Iraq. He became the Army’s chief of chaplains in 2023 and was only recently promoted to major general.

From BaptistNews.com

Ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George says U.S. soldiers deserve “courageous leaders of character” in outgoing email

Surely, this will earn him that Nobel Peace Prize he’s been craving. And yes, this is real.

And, so is this: Trump seeks $152 million to reopen Alcatraz as active prison

A reminder of when our country was served by presidents who deflected vanity and understood the bigger picture. My, how we have fallen.

Source (PDF) and source.

BoyGeeding keeps stealing my desk chair, so I ended up buying one on sale for myself. I was surprised it came with white cloth gloves for assembly.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Bag of Randomness
Monday, April 6, 2026