Bag of Randomness for Thursday, August 6, 2015

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  • You’ll still have BagOfNothing.com to start your morning, at least for the next two years.  Yesterday I finally made the effort to call GoDaddy to renew hosting and domain names.  Even though I only renewed hosting for two years I decided to renew BagOfNothing.com for five, and Geeding.com (which redirects here) for another ten.  Thanks to those of you that wanted to contribute financially to keep this thing going.  It’s tempting to accept such a gesture, but I’d feel weird doing so.  I’ll stop doing this thing if my life gets too hectic or if I find there’s a lack of readers either thought comments or daily page visits.
  • To give you a rough idea of what I pay to run this thing, it’s close to ten bucks a year just to keep the domain and a little under a hundred for hosting.  I’m sure I could get a better deal if I shopped around, but I don’t want to deal with the trouble or stress of moving things over.
  • I appreciate all the comments about pocket knives.  Heck, y’all knowledge about them is pretty impressive. I could easily carry my father’s, and it will one day be given to my son, but I think I just enjoy less clutter in my pocket and that’s why I’ll start with the key knife I bought and will go from there.
  • This Insane Corn Dog Has Five Different Sausages Inside Of It
  • San Antonio is getting Google Fiber, and I’m jealous.
  • I get the impression from Donald Trump that he’s not too involved in debate prep.
  • I wonder what will get higher ratings tonight, Fox News that will carry the debate for the Republican candidates, or Jon Stewart’s final ‘The Daily Show’.  I’m going with the debate as it hits more demographics.
  • I think it’s odd that many Fox News personalities attack Stewart.  The man is a comedian first and first most, of a fake news program of all things.  If he was a member of the actual media, a politician, or a pundit, I could understand why they give him so much attention.  But then again, maybe he’s an easy target for a demographic that can’t stand the man and that pulls in ratings.  Somewhat similar to the Yankees and Cowboys – no matter what, love them or hate them, you want to watch them, to cheer them on or see their demise.  No matter what, they get ratings.
  • Arby’s has been a punching bag of Stewart’s for a long time, so I got a kick out of last night’s show’s open which was actually sponsored by the fast food joint and they also had the first commercial spot which had a special goodbye to him.
  • Louie CK was Stewart’s guest last night, and I never saw CK so well groomed.
  • Staten Island news – Lawyer seeks trial by combat to resolve lawsuit
  • Mississippi – Mississippi trucker wins Democratic gubernatorial primary after spending $0
  • Today’s does of ‘MURICA
  • Techcrunch – Graava Is A $249 Action Camera That Edits Highlight Videos For You
  • A neat little interactive map – What if your hometown were hit by the Hiroshima atomic bomb?
  • Wired – Inside the Company That’s Made Viral Videos Big Business
  • I finally watched the season finale of ‘Halt and Catch Fire’.  There are lots of rumors that due to its low ratings, AMC will cancel the series, but it’s loved by critics.  I like it because it’s based in the early 80’s and it’s in Dallas and it’s fun to pick up on local stuff.  For instance, Belt Line was mentioned.
    • The Atlantic – The AMC drama found its legs in season two, and it could prove a worthy successor to Breaking Bad and Mad Men if it scores a third season.
    • TIME – Halt and Catch Fire Became the Next Mad Men When It Stopped Trying to Be
  • Thanks to one loyal reader, I’m enjoying another AMC show, ‘Humans’.  It’s great sci-fi with solid drama about the moment of singularity with robots that resemble lifelike humans. Thankfully it has just been renewed for a second season.
  • Robert Downey Jr. is the world’s highest paid actor … again – Some of us are old enough to remember that no studio wanted to take a chance on him because of his behavior and drug use.  It looked like his last role was going to be on ‘Ally McBeal’ and he even had to be written out of the script because of drug abuse, again.  Of all people, it was Mel Gibson that helped revive his career.  He’s fortunate he’s gotten many second chances and guidance, many are never able to kill those demons.  His first wife, Deborah Falconer, has a prosthetic eye.  I only know this because she was featured in a video in which you can’t tell which eye is fake, and we were told to watch the video as WifeGeeding was about to have the procedure.
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7 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Thursday, August 6, 2015

  1. Rusty in McKinney says:

    I understand the reluctance of wanting to accept money from your readers. But I recently noticed how disappointed I was whenever I visited your site or liberalylean.com and found nothing new. I hadn't realized how important both of your sites were to starting my day. So let me please encourage you to set up a donation page at patreon.com. If you're unwilling to do that I will still figure out some way to pay you back for all the entertainment you've given me throughout the year at Christmas time. So for right now just let me say thanks for making every workday start a little better.

  2. John Mackovic says:

    – Thanks for continuing the blog, I enjoy it. I may not make comments all that often, but I do usually read it daily.

    – As for Google Fiber, if any San Antonians read this blog, don't get too excited. They announced it a year ago for Austin, and IIRC, it's still only available in a couple of neighborhoods down there.

    – I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart qualifies as pundit. The ole "You can't take me seriously because I'm a comedian" bit is a little disingenuous.

    • Geeding says:

      Thanks for the nice words, I appreciate it. As for Stewart, I don't think it's disingenuous to think of him as a comedian and not a pundit. He's always been known as a comedian (and bad actor) and has (for a little while long) a show on a network that only shows comedies, and his show is a comedic look at the news. He's never authored any serious book, just those of the comedic nature about our country's history and the planet. He might have been a guest of O'Reily since Bill is often a target, but you've never seen him on any legit political talk shows like Meet the Press. I can certainly see how one can see comedians like Bill Maher and Janeane Garofalo as pundits, as they both have or had radio or television shows directed at politics and are actually active in politics, but I can't say the same for Stewart. I'll agree that there's some meaning or seriousness behind his comedy, and that he has influence, but I certainly don't see him as a pundit. For me, a pundit is first dedicated to politics, and Stewart is dedicated to comedy. I'm not trying to change your opinion, just providing some perspective from my point of view, and as always, appeciate you taking the time to help me see things from another perspective.

      • Ben W. says:

        In some ways, I'd say Stewart is similar to George Carlin, in that Carlin would poke fun at issues and events, but wasn't afraid to sprinkle in non-comedic commentary.

  3. The Legend says:

    Every time they strike back at Stewart it shows he is really getting to them and also raises awareness of his influence.

    WARNING: Personal opinion here:Over the past ten years Fox News, as a news station, has really been raising the anger and fear level among its elderly viewers…and we don't need that right now, People who react out of fear or anger get careless.

    What I will miss about Stewart was that his humorous take on the news was merely designed to help us lighten up in the face of all the fearmongering.

  4. wordkyle says:

    i agree that Stewart wouldn't be considered a "pundit," a person having expertise on politics. But many Liberals based their political beliefs, and understanding of political issues, in a large part on his commentary. (This point is on vivid display in the comments of the lawyer's blog.) Jon Stewart may have been a comedian, but he was not *just* a comedian. He had to be taken seriously by those on the other side. They were forced to address his commentary because of his influence on the political conversation.

Comments are closed.