Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, August 16, 2016

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  • We were filling out a questionnaire in which BoyGeeding had to provide the answers, all simple stuff, like favorite color and food and such. But one answer stood out, and it goes with his way of thinking – What’s your favorite place? His answer, “The middle.”
  • BoyGeeding had his first soccer practice. A parent of one of his teammates is someone that sat next to me when I worked at Fidelity Investments way back when. And in case WifeGeedingII is wondering, nope, you don’t know him.
  • BoyGeeding snuck in a nap before that practice.
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  • YouTube – 90 yr old Dick Van Dyke singing “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in a Denny’s‏
  • When I was younger and hear “Adult Ed”, I thought it was “Special Ed” for adults.
  • I was reading the Lewisville newspaper at a local restaurant waiting for a burger and found an article about how the school district is looking into moving graduation ceremonies from the University of North Texas Coliseum (or, Super Pit, for us locals) to the new Dallas Cowboys headquarters, The Star, in Frisco. The deal for use of the Star is $90,000 a year, a 181% increase over the $32,000 per use cost of going to UNT.  From Lewisville High School, the trip to Frisco would be 2.2. miles shorter. However, this covers more than one graduation – people tend to forget how big that school district is, it covers “all of Lewisville, The Colony, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Copper Canyon, and Double Oak as well as portions of Plano, Carrollton, Frisco, Hebron, Coppell, Grapevine and Argyle.”
  • I was watching a Spike TV biography on JFK Jr. and BoyGeeding walked in and asked if I was watching Batman. I told him no and asked him why, and he said, “Because Bruce Wayne is on TV.” I never thought about it before, but I guess JFK Jr. would have made a good Bruce Wayne.
    • I always respected how he rode the subway to and from work and bucked family tradition of going to Yale Harvard and opting for Brown, trying to set his own course.
    • Loved how Jackie tried to keep him humble, like the time she sent him to a ranch in Wyoming to do grunt work.
    • The episode did a poor job of telling the viewer how these people they were interviewing were connected to him. I was already aware some of the relationships, like Chrstiane Amnapour was a classmate, but wasn’t sure about connections with Ann Culture (I later found out she wrote for his magazine), Chris Cuomo, Robert De Niro, Cindy Crawford, and all the other non-celebrities.
    • He was very keen on the idea of trying to earn things on his own and not on privilege, or at least the perception of it. For instance, the media made a big deal about him failing the bar exam twice. But what’s not mentioned is that because of a learning disability, he was allowed additional time to finish, but refused because he didn’t want people thinking he was being treated differently.
    • The magazine he founded, “George”, was ahead of its time, but I’m sure it would have still failed if he lived. It mixed politics and pop-culture, which was a bit weird for the time, and now the two are quite blended.
    • He seemed very polished when speaking to the media, like he knew exactly how they would spin something, so each answer to any question was very poised.
    • The conspiracy theory that the CIA caused the plane crash always entertained me. They feared his future was getting into political office and having access to files about how the CIA was behind the death of his father.
  • Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, resembles her Jackie quite a bit.
  • I don’t think Jacie ever did an interview, at least a televised one, after leaving the White House.
  • Buzzfeed – 27 Things You Might Not Know About “The Americans”
  • Had a few family members say that U.S. swimmer Nathan Adrian looks like the high school version of myself. I just see similarities in the eye squint and smile. One day, when I decide to update my half-Asian Hall of Fame, I’ll be sure to add him.
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  • Darth Vader toothpick dispenser
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  • This Is Why There Are So Many Ties In Swimming‏
    • In a 50 meter Olympic pool, at the current men’s world record 50m pace, a thousandth-of-a-second constitutes 2.39 millimeters of travel. FINA pool dimension regulations allow a tolerance of 3 centimeters in each lane, more than ten times that amount. Could you time swimmers to a thousandth-of-a-second? Sure, but you couldn’t guarantee the winning swimmer didn’t have a thousandth-of-a-second-shorter course to swim. (Attempting to construct a concrete pool to any tighter a tolerance is nearly impossible; the effective length of a pool can change depending on the ambient temperature, the water temperature, and even whether or not there are people in the pool itself.)
  • U.S. Olympic Medalists Must Pay ‘Victory’ Tax
    • I remember Senators Rubio and Schumer trying to fix this, but I guess it fell through.
    • I forgot medal winners are actually given a cash bonus – Olympic medals and the bonuses—$25,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze
    • Athletes can offset their potential tax hit with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses they’ve likely racked up for training and traveling, if they treat their sport as a profession.
  • Before there was a Chewbacca Mom, there was a little chubby ChewbaccaGeeding.
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  • Deadspin – The Story Behind The Perfect Photo Of Olympic Pain
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  • Nike is getting beat by its rivals during the Rio Olympics
  • New Audis will count down to the light turning greenIf you’re driving the right car. On a supported road. In a compatible city.
  • Absolutely love how Michael Phelps And Katie Ledecky recreated this photo.

Phelps’ favorite athlete and biggest fan @kledecky is joining us on #OlympicLateNight 12:35a ET

A photo posted by Ryan Seacrest (@ryanseacrest) on

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7 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, August 16, 2016

  1. Ben W. says:

    I was a frequent reader of George, and even subscribed for a year or two (back when magazine subscriptions were still a thing people did). Through my teens and early 20s, I spent a great deal of time reading and watching politics, so I found the magazine to be generally enjoyable. But I think you're right – any magazine is difficult to keep afloat now, sadly.

  2. Michael Willoughby says:

    I thought the Kennedy family tradition was to attend Harvard, not Yale.

    • Geeding says:

      You sir, are absolutely correct. I confused the two, and should have known better, with Harvard being in Boston.

  3. ALEC says:

    I saw the race. I thought Mary Decker was a big drama queen and heaped great blame toward Zola Budd. I guess she was easy to hate (Budd) I think because she was from South Africa and at the time they were not allowed in the Olympics, yet she found a way to compete. Mary Decker knew this and portrayed her as the sole reason she didn't win. She played that victim card a little too long for my taste (same goes for Nancy Kerrigan)

  4. John Mackovic says:

    – You do look like Adrian, I think it's the eyebrows 🙂

    – Why should the athletes avoid taxes?

    – I wonder if Brazil taxes them.

    – It's amazing to think that two of the three big football stadiums in Frisco ISD are also professional sports venues.

  5. Suzi says:

    I was reminded of a funny episode of This American Life. A guy named Ed was speaking, talking about how when he was a kid and in remedial classes, he thought "Special Ed" referred to him :-/

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