Bag of Randomness

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  • I’m not sure I’ve watched any of the original Star Trek series other than a few minutes, but I just streamed the pilot on Netflix.  Going in, I knew that Kirk wasn’t in that first episode and expected a bunch of outdated special effects and related goofiness, but I discovered the show isn’t about that but rather provoking thought.  All in all, it was better than expected.
  • As I watched the Star Trek pilot, I couldn’t help but notice that actor that plays Captain Pike, Jeffrey Hunter, looks a heck of a lot like actor Ray Liotta.  A quick Google search proves I’m not the only one with that thought.  Here’s a pic for comparison.  Hunter died four years after filming the Star Trek pilot from injuries filming a mafia movie – “Hunter was injured in an on-set explosion when a car window near him which had been rigged to explode outward instead accidentally exploded inward.”  Well, actually he survived that event but rather died later that same year from fracturing his skull after he struck his head on a banister falling or tripping off a three-stair set of steps.
  • Lewisville’s Vista Ridge Mall facing foreclosure – I can see this mall’s parking lot from my backyard, so I’m curious as to how it’s going to affect my property value.  That mall has been showing signs of weakness for the last decade, and the only thing it has going for it other than the anchor stores was when Cinemark constructed an attached 15-screen movie theater.  So if the mall does go down, I guess that will affect the Cinemark.  The real downer that will be personal to us is the mall Santa we’ve taken a real liking to.
  • I only caught part of the Christian Laettner ’30 for 30′ and was surprised to see Dallas native Larry Johnson wear his UNLV warm-ups with a University of Texas hat when he entered his last semi-final game.
  • I thought no would get get the ‘Twilight Zone’ picture I posted yesterday, but I was wrong.
  • Netflix God Mode smites the endless lists that plague its desktop site
  • I feeling like if I hear “All About That Bass” one more time, I’m gonna take hostages.
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson’s late night TV show will premiere on 4/20
  • How an Oregon vasectomy clinic created an improbable March Madness tradition
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA!
  • SoCal’s first ‘water coaster’ is driven by magnets
  • The village that fell asleep – For the last two years the residents of Kalachi have been falling into unexplained bouts of sleep – sometimes for weeks at a time
  • GIF – Eating food on a roller coaster 
  • 3D printer “grows” objects out of ooze – fast
  • Midtown Manhattan gets a ‘Mad Men’ statue
  • It’s worth the click just to see how futuristic the Mercedes looks – My ride in the sci-fi car of the future
  • Paul Shaffer was MIA last night on Letterman and it was just kinda weird.
  • To me, Romo got a warmer than expected greeting on Kimmel in Austin than I expected.  The interview wasn’t all that great but had a decent Bush43 story and one regarding Jerry’s age.
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12 Responses to Bag of Randomness

  1. RPM says:

    Holy cow. Get to the point, Tony! But I digress…

  2. Jason says:

    Star Trek was fairly racy for the day. There were lots of interracial relationships thinly veiled behind alien races, and it was the first TV show to do it. It was very similar to The Twilight Zone–corny as hell, but all of the corn disguised some bigger issues. It was almost subliminal.

    "I feeling like if I hear “All About That Bass” one more time, I’m gonna take hostages."

    Are you four or five seconds from violence, but two or three days from Friday?

    I'm kind of over Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He's great with kids, but fairly disrecpectful of adults with differing opinions. Especially on faith. I get disagreements, a scientist can't be expected to hold some of the same beliefs, but they don't have to be jerks about it. If not for his public image, I think he'd be one of those campaigning atheists.

    • Geeding says:

      Personally, I don't think NDT is being disrespectful towards people of faith. Often times he makes some sort of scientific statement and then will get beat up by certain people of faith, when he wasn't referencing faith at all, and then it makes headlines as if there's some sort of battle going on. I always found his responses respectful. Many think he's an atheist, but he's stated many times he's agnostic and as a scientist has to leave room for the possibility of a God, he just needs scientific evidence to make it certain.

  3. Jason says:

    I've seen him do what you're talking about and I agree that fundies can be charged up when it comes to science. It's not like I think the earth is flat, 4,000 years old, and the center of the universe, and I only believe in Adam and Eve to the extent necessary to remind the wife that she's the root of all evil. But I've seen him go beyond debate, and head toward derision.

    And from a Christian's point of view, it doesn't matter if you call it agnostic or atheist. That is a semantic, philosophical distinction.

    • Geeding says:

      As a NDT fan, I'm sure a lot of my observations may be biased, and no human can be tactful all the time, but overall I think he's taken the high road. I think the negativity may come out when hardcore fundies doubt evidence, especially when it comes to the age of the planet.

      That's an interesting point of view you have about agnostics and atheists. I head the same thing quite often when I attended Evangelical churches, but as I've gotten more familiar with Christians associated with the Mainline, Episcopal,Catholic churches, they tend to think there is a distinction. Of course, this is through my own observations.

      Man, I had a good laugh at your Adam and Eve line. Love your wit.

      • Jason says:

        I think we're probably just a shade of gray on each side of the line with NDT. I'm not really hating on him, I just thought he lowered himself a few times.

        When it comes to precision, there is definitely a difference. I know the difference, and I believe in it. But there aren't a lot of gray lines where Christianity is concerned. It takes one thing to be a Christian. Just one. And anyone who says there are other barriers to entry is a heretic, or other ways to get to heaven isn't a Christian.

        I know and like people of a lot of different faiths. And I even respect those faiths for what they are (lately I've been very impressed by Unitarian Universalists–non-Christian as they may be–although I wish the two groups hadn't merged. Unitarians seem like a real group, Universalists just seem like a grouchy debate club). But it's still one big group of "non-Christian". You can discuss the distinctions for the purpose of philosophy all day, and I would encourage that. But there is no difference where the main issue is concerned.

        My wife hates the Adam & Eve line. Especially when I yell "you shouldn't have eaten that apple" from across the house. At least the couch is comfortable, and in the same room as the PS3.

        • Geeding says:

          Today I learned that I might just not be a Christian and might be a heretic. 😉 I don't want to bog you down with a long response regarding the lengthy theological research I've done on this topic, and I don't want to say that you're wrong, but I'll just state that at one point I thought this was simply a black and white issue and now I see shades of gray. I know the majority of people that read this blog would vehemently disagree with me on this, so I'll stop now before I get in any more trouble and get put on a lot of prayer chains or get sent a bunch of links proving me wrong. But I'll end with this, your comments made me think of this scene, with the mental image of both of us dressed in part and acting it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrQUoRJ_W4&f

  4. sara says:

    All about that bass, about that bass, no tilapia.

    I really like NGT. And from someone who went to Catholic school from PreK – B.S, I can say that Catholic schools fully embrace science. We down with NGT. Even though it took a while, *cough* Galileo *cough*, the church has come a long way.

    • Geeding says:

      There's a lot of things to be upset about regarding the Catholic church, but I admire how they've embraced science.

      • sara says:

        Oh I agree. I am lapsed myself, even after all that. It's almost like it was forced for so long that I had enough. But, I find as time passes, and I've hit my 30's, I feel a tug to go back. You can attribute that to Pope Francis. I hope he sticks around.

      • sara says:

        And on the agnostic and atheist thing, from a catholic pov, atheists are the opposite of theists.
        Theists believe there is a god, atheists believe there is no god.

        Agnostics aren't sure, but think god might exist, and are open to the idea of god, or they do think god exists, but aren't sure about the specifics.

  5. John Mackovic says:

    "The Cage" was great sci-fi. I look forward to your reviews of subsequent Star Trek episodes.

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